• Snow Animals!

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    Skipper jumping up to catch a snowball that was tossed into the air! She was having as much fun as the kids!

    Our outdoor pets were not quite sure what to think about the snow at first, especially the goats since the snow covered all their delicious leaves.  They did enjoy having the kids and the family outside more often this week to play!  The goats and Skipper followed the kids around the yard joining in the fun as much as they could.  Sometimes it was a little crazy riding a sled down the hill and having goats and dogs almost hopping into your lap, but it gave us a good laugh!

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    Skipper trying out the sled as Oreo watched.  She wasn’t overly excited about being on the sled by herself!

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    Our South Carolina dog enjoying the snow!

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    It was amazing the amount of snow that piled up on these two!  It showed up better on Oreo, but Snowball definitely had a thick layer too.  They didn’t see to mind the cold from snow at all!

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    Snowball hanging out with the family!  He was more camouflaged this week!

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    We always had a trial of critters following us through the woods.  The goats especially liked it when we rustled up some good leaves for them!

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    Snowball peeking around the tree at Skipper

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    Skipper still guarding the front porch!

  • Introducing……the Newest Members of Our Family – “Coconut,” “Oreo,” & “Snowball”

    The 3 newest family members of our family “Coconut,” Oreo,” and “Snowball”

    If you had asked me even a year ago if I would ever have goats as pets I would have laughed.  Goats, seriously!  I don’t know how to raise goats, what would I do with them…..  Guess what!?  Life has a funny way of changing my perspective.   We have GOATS!  Three adorable, fluffy, social, fun loving, goats that have become such a sweet part of the family!

    This one cracks me up……silly Oreo!

    The girls immediately loved these little balls of fluff…..and as hard as it is to admit it didn’t take long  before they had stolen a piece of my heart too.  They are always thrilled to see you.  I love driving into the driveway and seeing them come racing across the yard to greet us.

    Our little “Oreo Sunday”!  He is the smallest of the 3 but makes up for it with his colorful character!

    The girls are overjoyed to have goats.  They do a pretty good job of taking care of them too.  The goats love it when the girls are outside playing.  All three are very social and are great with kids.  The only thing we are still training them not to do, they’ve gotten better, is to not jump up on people. We have already trained them with several things already.  One of the best things we did for training was to teach them to head into the goat pen for their grain or a treat whenever we  rang a bell rings so when we need to put them into the pen it is really easy.

    Sweet baby “Snowball” coming to say hello!  He is the most timid of the 3 goats and especially in the beginning he would bolt to the pen whenever he saw Skipper or if he was startled.

    It has been over a year in preparation for these little guys.  They are a neat addition to our family or as the girls call it “our small farm”!  It all started with me reading an article on goats.  Followed by months of researching, building a goat house and pen, and finding the perfect critters to adopt into our family.

    Our “Toasted Coconut” chewing happily on some leaves.  Coconut’s our adventurous eater, he’ll try anything before the other two goats (even your hair if you get it too close).

    These little guys have been a fun addition to the family.  Skipper was excited to have more friends in the yard as well.  It didn’t take long to train her not to chase the goats and for the goats to not be scared of the big black lab charging through the yard.  After researching how to train them to stay in certain parts of the yard we decided to get them collars similar to what we use with Skipper (they wear the collars and the wire for their boundary is underground).  After a little trial and error it has worked like a charm.  The goats have their boundaries and Skipper has hers.  The goats are not allowed in the driveway because they would most likely climb on the vehicles or in the front yard (they would eat any of my flowers on the front porch or garden).

    Our twin goats munching on something delicious!

    The whole process has been an experience to say the least.  There was moments of excitement and even some moments of tears…..I will share a little more of that part of the story a little later.

    Curious Oreo, he just had to see what that silver shiny object was in my hands (my camera)!

    The goats are always munching on something.  They like anything from leaves, bushes,  flowers, fruits, vegetables, peanuts, hay, grain, and more.  We feed them grain once a day and in the cooler months make sure they have some hay to eat.  Most days they will spend out in the yard eating or lounging in the sun.  It has been a lot of fun learning what foods they goats love, for example, banana peels are a favorite as are peanuts (whole or just shells).  One of their special grain treats smells like black licorice.  Almost everyday after the girls get home from school they go immediately to see Skipper and the goats (usually bringing them treats).

    Oreo looking over his shoulder to see what was taking Karlie and Brina so long!

    All three goats Nigerian Dwarf Wethers and were born in February 2012 so they are not quite a year old.  Oreo was born in the mountains of North Carolina.  Our twin boys, Snowball and Coconut, were born in the foothills.  When the goats only grow to be about the size of a black lab.

    Buddies…..the girls love playing out in the yard and the goats love having the girls nearby.

    The girls were excited to see meet family members and they have spent hours playing with them.  It took us a few weeks before we came up with their names but everyone agreed on “Oreo Sunday”, “Snowball”, and “Toasted Coconut”.  It has been quite entertaining to have these little guys around.  They have a lot of personality and are always thrilled to see you.

     

    The goats like to climb up onto things….such as fallen tree limbs!  Karlie and Brina hanging out with the “billy-billies” as they call them




    Snack time!

  • Recipe: Snow Ball Ice Cream

    Vanilla Snow Ball Ice Cream!

    The girls woke us up at 6:30 this morning and announced that it had snowed outside.  We knew they would not be going to school because we received the phone call the night before letting us know that the school was closed.  It is bright and beautiful outside today.  I dug up another great Snow Ice Cream recipe that I enjoy.   This recipe uses milk instead of sweeten condensed milk like our Snow Ice Cream recipe.  We do not get a lot of snow in South Carolina so when it happens we have extra special treats.  We had over 6 inches already today and we have been having a blast playing in the snow.  I am not sure if the kids or the dog are more excited by the snow adventures!

    Snow Ball Ice Cream

    • 12 to 14 cups of Clean Snow
    • 1 package instant pudding (we usually do Vanilla or Chocolate depending on what’s in the pantry)
    • 1 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla
    • 2 cups cold Milk
    • 1 cup Sugar

    Mix the pudding, sugar, and vanilla together.  Add the 12 to 14 cups of snow.  Stir until evenly mixed.  Top with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, or whatever your family enjoys.

    Today we did vanilla pudding because it is what we had in the pantry.  A couple added chocolate to their ice cream and of course everyone had to have sprinkles!

    *The picture above is prior to us adding sprinkles to the ice cream!