Kass called us this morning - around 2:00 am - to say that she was at the hospital, and they were "keeping her".... baby Reagan was on his way into the world. I called her back around 6:30 am,( I had to work at the post,) but promised that I would be there as soon as I could. I made it to the hospital around 1:30... and everyone was hard at work. Kass of course... plus Nate (her wonderful hubby) and Diana (best friend and a labor and delivery nurse!!!)... I mostly watched, and gave encouraging words where I could.
Her labor went well.... and pretty quick for a first baby.... and little Reagan came into the world at 4:55 pm. Weighing in a little more than seven pounds, he is healthy and beautiful. Both Deb (Nate's mom) and I had the great pleasure of watching him arrive into the world. What a blessing - I have been able to see both my grandchildren born!!!!
Bearly a few minutes old.. and his camera crazy "baby" was already taking pictures!!! I know you have all seen millions of Abbie, well, now I have someone else to share!!!!!
Proud new parents!!!!!
And sweet new boy......
Mom and son getting some time to get to know each other.....
And Auntie Diana... who helped his Mom do the tuff work and now she gets to cuddle this precious little baby....
The journey has begun.............................
So, March came in like a lamb... which means it may roar out like a lion. We are still on baby watch, little Reagan can come any day now.....
Thinking I wouldn't mind having a couple of sheep, but the bees may be "enough" for this summer!!!!
Happy March!!!!!
So, after yesterday's snow... I was worried that today plans might not happen... it is our check in day at neads!!! But, we all agreed that if the roads looked OK, we were going - especially since it was mostly rain down towards neads. As I left home early in the am, I had to admit, we've had enough snow, but it sure is pretty......
Took some nice shots of the farm as I pulled away....
I like seeing the apple trees dressed in white, but it would be a "nice white" if they were apple blossoms and not snow!!!!!
And my favorite row of trees (at a neighboring farm) always look pretty......
I met up with the other puppy raisers at Rick and Kelli's house. While we were waiting I saw this beautiful view from their front window......
The trip down to neads was fine. The roads were clear and the further south we got, the less snow... they got mostly rain. So, I was happy that we didn't decide to cancel. We met and greeted all our pals there, and went into our round table time. The puppies are pretty used to the routine at the academy... Rylie went right into sleep mode.
We popped in to say hi to Gerry real quick. He always enjoy seeing the dogs when we go.....
And Bernice got a special surprise visit from T and his new owner, Donna. We puppy raisers always love to see our babies once again. T was dropped from being a service dog, but he sure loves being Donna's dog!!!!
Getting read to head into the city.......
Rylie says she's ready to go.......
We worked on the street for awhile.. it was almost warm in the city. Just being that little bit south can make a big difference.....
We went into the hospital to grab some lunch and "play on the elevators" and such... Rylie made a friend right away... and this gentleman liked her so much that I finally had to tell him that we needed to move onto our work. I know Rylie would have stayed with him all day if I had let her.....
Pretty high up wouldn't you say...... she seemed quite interested in watching how things went from large to small and back again. Elevators are no big deal her!!!!
From the hospital it was over to the train station. No troubles here either... since our trip to Washington, trains were no big deal.....
But, by the end of the day, everyone is ready to head for home. and actually this day at neads was a bit shorter than usual... because I had to get back home and get ready for school.................
That's BEE school I'm talking about, and that's another story!!!!!
There is something to be said about bad weather... it cancels dog classes, which means I can be home for birthday celebrations and since it's "kind of" Sadie's birthday tomorrow... we decided to celebrate tonite. Abbie was quite pleased with the choice of her Mom's cake.....
And even happier when I turned the decorating project over to her.....
Including the number of.. and placement of... the candles... ( I did limit them somewhat.. don't think Sadie would appreciate ALL the candles from the package on the cake!!!)
After the cake decorating, Abbie and Rylie decided to have a little dress up party. This puppy is so amazing with her, and Abbie isn't going to be the only one to miss Rylie when it's time for her to head to college... I am very fond of her myself....
Rylie loves Abbie and will do anything for her.....
Including wearing Minnie mouse ears!!!!! What a pair....
Abbie was thrilled when Mommy came in from work... racing to the door yelling "happy birthday -- I made your cake!!!" (nice looking family - wouldn't you say!!!)
Sing the song of Happy Birthday, blow out the candles and celebrate the "un birthday" year!!!! Three more years before another birthday!!!!! but --- happy, happy just the same Sadie!!!!
hummmm.... ya... I'd like to tell you that these photos are just "left overs" from the last snow storm that we got a couple day ago.... "sadly".... they're the photos from TODAY's storm.... I'm thinking that groundhog really didn't even have a clue!!!!
The funny thing about this storm is, depending on where you lived, was what you got... we went down town this morning to run some errands, and not even ten miles from the farm, it was raining.... seems when we got to the foot of the big lake, a line had been drawn and on the other side... rain....
We, however, live on the "other side of the line" and got another eight or so inches of very heavy wet snow... it stuck to everything!!!!
Course, that does make the best snowman snow... and Abbie and Jesse went outside to make the finest one in town. Well.... at least mr. Snowman has a big happy smile on his face...
And thinking that March is just two days ahead, I have a big smile on my face too. I have some exciting plans for spring, so it can arrive anytime......
Even Duke as he munched on his supper tonite seemed to be looking again with "again???" in mind... I have to say, one thing that is so wonderful, pulling down the bales of hay, cutting them open and seeing all that wonderful summer green inside. Ed said they have the most wonderful smell......
Maybe come August, I'll take a look at these pictures and think... how pretty....
but I think the color green is pretty too!!!!!
We are certainly in the winter season, never mind what the ol' ground hog said... it's February, and it's winter. We also seem to be in this "weekend snow storm" pattern... which I guess isn't so bad, at least - for me - it doesn't cancel "things".... We were expecting the church young group to come to the farm today for sleigh rides. I wanted to use our little red sleigh because I thought it could hold more .. thing is, we haven't hitch Duke to it.
So, with the snow already falling, we went out to give the red sleigh a practice run. It went beautifully, and I think I like it better than the box sleigh... I sit a little higher (and can see better) and the runner go well in the snow... I don't think Duke cares one way or the other.. for him it's still "work"... but he was his usual good boy.
He went along no big deal... and I haven't had him out since the New Year. I love having a horse that just "hitches and goes"....
Ed drove as well... he goes good for anyone, just gotta love this horse!!!!!
That evening, we decided to go and see a movie. We had been wanting to see "Lincoln" and Ed found it at a local theatre. We called our buds, Kelli and Rick, and since neither Moxie or Rylie had been to a movie, we brought both the service puppies. They did great... they had to squish between the seats....
And, of course, the theatre got dark, and the movie is very loud.. to which neither cared. Towards the end of the movie, Rylie got restless.. I was worried that she had to go out and potty... but turns out that she was cold. The theatre was very cool and the floor was cold... poor girl. I wished I had brought her little "bed" for her to sleep on.. next time, I will need to remember to bring it along... often floors in public places can be really cold.
It was raining down on the coast, but the closer we got to home the snow began again. Ed got the wood furnace filled for the night....
And the trees were getting pretty bent down with the heavy snow.... Spring isn't far off... so I have decided to just enjoy....oh, and since the snow was so wet and heavy - church was cancelled this morning and no youth group this afternoon.... :(
