Is it July already?

We have had a busy spring and beginning of summer here at Lonely Windmill.  I want to show you some of the highlights!

At the end of February and beginning of March we had 7 does (female goats) give birth to 11 kids!  We (of course) had more bucklings than doelings.  We have since sold 9 of our kids (which was quite a traumatic experience for our human children), and kept our favorite two, Majesty and Aria.  Here's our little ones:

Majesty and Aria exploring the barn

Lincoln brought the goats to the house!

Waiting for bottles

Skipper and Gilligan (named by the boys who love Gilligan's Island)

Daddy and Lincoln feeding Annie who was about to kid for the first time

Bonnie...our smallest baby goat, so we brought her to the house to keep warm

The highlight of our spring though, was the birth of our fourth son, Deacon Park Morford, on April 8, at 7:03 am in a very peaceful birth in our home.  My labor stalled out around 3:00 am, and we ended up sending our midwife home.  She had just stepped into her door at her home in Indianapolis when we had to call her right back!  He was my biggest baby weighing 9 lbs 2 oz!  We're pretty excited to have 4 boys, and we think he's quite a keeper.  We're also so thankful for our wonderful midwife for helping us deliver three of our sons.  She does such a great job, and I've learned so much from her over the past 3 years.  Here's a few pictures of Deacon.

 Our fourth precious gift from God within a hour of his birth

Daddy letting Canaan meet Deacon for the first time

The Morford boys: Lincoln, Gideon, Deacon, and Canaan

Some other spring highlights:

• Lincoln Gene turned 3!  So hard to believe that my first baby born at home is already 3 years old!  

Happy 3rd birthday, partner!

• We got a new (to us) vehicle.  We've been needing something that would hold all of our children and all of our soap stuff when we go to a craft show, and also we've been needing a car isn't so old it might fall apart at any second.  We got a Ford Excursion, and despite the gas it uses, we still love it.  It's big and it's green, so I was thinking we'd call it "The Big Green."  Some people refer to it as "The Beast," others like "The Green Machine."  Hopefully soon we'll find an affectionate name we can all agree on, because every time we tell the kids to get in the van/car/truck, they kindly remind us that the 'scursion is none of those things.
• We've been making lots and lots of soap in preparation for our craft show season.  Sometimes I feel like I eat, sleep, and breathe bath and body products!  At least it keeps my house smelling good.  :)

Greg working hard at making soap

• Also, we recently started potty training Canaan.  He's yet to go on the potty, but whenever he wets his pants,  he says, "Woohoo!  Potty!"  I'll take that as progress.  
• Lastly, we kicked off our craft show season last week at the Fisher's Freedom Festival in Fishers, Indiana.  It rained most of Saturday, but it was a really neat festival, and we enjoyed meeting new people there.  We're excited for the rest of our upcoming shows. In a couple of days, I'll be posting some of our new products that we've unveiled and tell you about some new soaps we're adding. 

Selling soap with Daddy!

The boys all dressed up to celebrate the Fourth!

Lincoln showing you his happy face over getting his face painted (I promise, he really did like it!)

Here's a quick list of the rest of the shows we'll be at this summer and fall:

Rushville Steam Show--Rushville, IN  August 1-4

Archway Days--Centerville, IN August 24-26

Canal Days--Cambridge City, IN September 7, 8

Preble County Pork Festival--Eaton, OH  September 21, 22

Riley Festival--Greenfield, IN October 3-6

YWCA Christmas Village--Richmond, IN November 8,9

We might add one or two more.  We'll keep you posted.

Well, I think that wraps up the spring pretty well.  We are pretty excited for the next coming months.  It's been awesome watching our family, goat herd, and business grow in the past few months.