I am pretty confident it has been several years since we have seen snow like this here in Arkansas. In fact, I was searching as far back as 2013 trying to locate snow pictures of this magnitude and still didn’t find any. Nonetheless, it has been a week here at the tiny farm keeping everyone safe and warm. I am happy to report that all 31 birds, 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 goat are all doing great. Oh, and our family is doing good as well. The kids have had a lot of fun this week with our snow adventures. They both built their first snowman, went snow sledding in a kayak for the first time, had their first of many snowball fights, made snow angels, and got to go sliding in the snow from their playset.
Shorty Shepard had a tougher time trudging through the snow on the first day with snow being nearly at his knees. That didn’t stop him too long. He managed to plow his way through. This is his first ever snow.
Ava was 13 months for her first snow. (Photo 2017) Excuse me while I shed a few tears as she is 5 years old now.
Meet Olafina, our snow woman.
Everyone had their fun in the snow, but no one enjoyed it more than Bo and Ellie. They looked like little polar bears just tunneling through the snow and rolling around.
Poor Abby she couldn’t last too long in the snow. Not only was it pretty much her height trying to walk through it, she also kept getting little snowballs attached to her underbelly and her legs. She had her quick fun and returned to her warm bed.
This Week’s Books
We are still into books on gardening. Shepard has requested “Planting a Rainbow” every.single.day. Pretty confident he should be able to name some flowers when he sees them now.
Also a new favorite are Julie Gassman’s Dragon books. We have read “Do Not Take Your Dragon to the Library” and we were happy to find two additional ones. “Three Ways to Trap a Leprechaun” was one of Ava’s favorites for the week.
“Winter is Here” fit perfectly for this week. Ava also liked “Reindeer of the Year”. I think that also had something to do with being able to change his nose colors with sparkles.
Gluten Free & Dairy Free Menu
- Simple Hash with sautéed potatoes, green beans, and Italian sausage topped with Tessemae Habanero Ranch.
- Instant Pot pork tenderloin, sautéed cream cheese & onion potatoes, and sweet peas.
This simple hash was tasty and will probably one of my go-to staples for something quick and easy. It is nice to have a list of those to keep on hand!
- Grass-fed burgers topped with creamy ranch, jalapeños, red peppers, pickles, and avocado with sweet potato fries, and navy beans.
- Scott’s recreation on smores.
Scott made the kiddos a new special dessert. He combined marshmallow, honey nut Chex, and chocolate syrup to make a new rendition on smores. The kiddos approved it for taste, but maybe not so much on the ease of eating it. Regardless, it was very entertaining to watch them eat it.
Farm Animals
Our little coop has been a sanctuary this week for not only the chickens, but the ducks, and Sammy the goat. Sammy is separated in his own section, where the ducks usually are. The ducks are sharing room and board with the chickens. Luckily they share resources and we haven’t witnessed any spats between the birds. Even before this snow storm, they associated with each other and didn’t make a fuss. So, luckily transitioning them together wasn’t a shock.
You can’t really see from the picture, but their footprints in the snow are adorable…especially the ducks.
This henny was so ready to get back to her spot she didn’t care about the snow.
Fitness
I am always excited when I find something new and helpful. In the CatheApp, you can customize workout rotations or you can use her preset workout rotations, so you can just get to it without having to plan on what you wanna do. I think I will be giving these a try for the next few weeks because it at least takes one decision during the day off my plate.
On Another Note…
If I can talk Scootie into it, this is what I would like our quack shack to look like in the future.
I hope everyone was able to stay safe and warm this week. I found this scripture at a low point this week and it has helped me greatly. Not only that but even though things haven’t been the easiest this week, I would take my struggles over the struggles many people are facing in Texas.
