Chevre

On Monday, we had the cabin field trip to the beautiful Elodie Farms. We met the owner, Dave, the goats (32 in all), their guard donkey, Ed, and their pushy field mate, a paint named Sadie. We were able to tour the milk room and the little kitchen where the milk is pasteurized, made into cheese, and stored until it makes its way to the local farmer's markets, grocery stores, and restaurants. Afterward, the boys and their friends fed the goats sweet tarts, hard bread, and pretzels before we had our own delicious snack of various cheeses with crackers. My favorites were the Jalapeno and Sweet Pepper, while K and G particularly enjoyed the mild soft goat cheese. We weren't able to milk the goats this time as we had hoped because all of them were pregnant and no longer producing. Apparently goats are very, very fertile; it's unusual for them to not get pregnant.

The day started out sunny but cold, and soon became cloudy and very cold, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. We did get in some chicken holding time, so all was not lost. Any day is a good day if it includes holding a chicken!

Q is now an officially mobile baby! He is crawling, and trying to pull up, and can make it just about anywhere in the house. It's now time to really baby proof, something I have resisted with each of my kiddos until the absolute last minute. Well, it's officially the last minute! ;-) This week has been filled with lots of tears of frustration as Q tried to reach these latest milestones, and now that he has, he's back to his usual friendly, happy self.

My Christmas spirit is raging, as the boys will attest! We've been singing and listening to Christmas carols, and have rounded up all of our Christmas stories. We have our own plans for Thanksgiving this year, which don't include the Macy's Day Parade (we're saving that for a less crazy year, 2009 perhaps), but do include yummy food, a big bike ride, and lots of games. It's strange to think that we won't be with family this year, but maybe we'll set up the web cam on the laptop and invite our families over that way!