AWjHS Spring Musical: FAME!

This weekend Emma is performing in her school's production of Fame Jr. the Musical.  Emma was cast as Mabel Washington, a struggling dancer.  She has an amazing solo that is sure to be a highlight of the show.  She is excited to perform with both the 7th and 8th grade casts.  This is Emma's first show of the year and is looking forward to many more throughout the Spring and Summer.

Check out Emma's Performance of Mabel's Prayer from the first show.  (excuse the quality)

WOW it has already been a year!

It is hard to believe that we have been in our house for over a year now.  As you know we have been busy running kids around and working on projects. We started with adding 3 rooms to the garage.  Each of the girls have one of their own and we have a "craft/play" room out there as well.  The last one is still in the works but, the girls have been settled in their rooms since spring.

Next we added our rabbit hutch.  I set it up to require the least amount of maintenance and time.  There were several revisions and things were going well until the weather cooled below freezing.  At that point I moved them indoors.

In June we had a pool put in. We got a lot of use out of it this year.  Especially during our countless number of campfires with friends and family.  A few weeks later we nearly lost it during a thunder storm when a large section of a tree fell right beside it.   

During most of the spring and summer we spent our free time in the garden and in the yard.  Our garden had some minor successes.  The heat from the sun was a killer for most of the summer and only a few of our veggies performed as we would have liked. 

August was taken up with the kid's activities and getting ready for school.  Both Hannah and Emma were starting at new schools and Caleb continued to homeschool. 

Towards the end of September we decided to get a pair of goats. We spend ALL of October building a shed with the help from Jamey's cousin Matt.  It was a lot of work but, by the end of the month we had two female Nubian goats on our homestead. 

And that brings us to today.  Who knows what is in store for our 2nd year on the farm. 

One week behind us...

Cailin and Belle eating at the manger I made this week.

         As of tomorrow we have had our two wonderful goats for a full week.  They might be the best goats ever.  Well we have nothing to compare them to but, the original owners felt the same way and they have had goats for many years.  They are very affectionate and playful.  Jamey has spent many hours hanging out with them this week.  They both seem to cry whenever we walk away.  They would love for you to come meet them soon!

        We are currently able to milk Cailin twice a day and we are getting about 4-4 1/2 cups of milk per day. That is fine for us because we are all still getting used to goat's milk.  It is much healthier than cow's milk and is the closet to human milk.  Four cups (2.5 lbs) is on the low end for goats but, this was her first pregnancy.  We are planning on breading her in December so we will have another kid in April.  Then it will be Bell's turn.   

Kent finishing up the double doors on the goat shed. 

The "goat pasture" in our side yard. 

             Special thanks to our parents who came through last week with a lot of needed help.  The goat shed is about 90% complete with only the goat access door, part of the fence and painting to go.  We will then work on getting an area set up for the rabbits in side for winter.

Another Show Under Her Belt

 This summer Emma was in a wonderful production of Titanic.  Since this year marked the 100th anniversary of the ships fatal voyage the production company went all out.  This was Emma's first full musical with a mainly adult cast.  She played several roles and had 4 costume changes (and we didn't even have to make them).  The cast and the music were amazing.  We were very proud of her.  She is already preparing for roles she hopes to get during next year's shows

1st Class Server (4th from right)

1st Class Passenger during the ball. 

3rd Class Passenger as the boat sinks.

Here come the goats...

This fall we have decided to add a pair of Nubian dairy goats to our small homestead.  One is already producing milk and the younger doe is ready to be bred this winter. We purchased them from a local retired couple who share the same passion for self sufficiency and small family farming.  We will be blessed with two does, Belle and her baby Cailin.  We look forward to bringing them home later this month.



Calilin (Belle's mom) (Born: March 2011)



Belle (Born: March 2012)



Goat Barn

Gravel for Pad

Pad completed (10/10)

End walls raised (10/12)



Back wall raised (10/12)



Sheeting completed (10/13)



Roof completed (10/18)



Last week we began to construct our new shed/barn to house the goats and the rabbits in the winter months.  We have gotten a lot accomplished in only a week.  We hope to have the bulk of the building completed this weekend and then we can start on the pens and the fenced in yard. 

Congratulations

Congrats to Hannah for being selected as the principle 2nd violin for the Toledo Youth Symphony Orchestra.  This is Hannah's second year with the TYSO and we can't wait to see them perform again.  We would encourage you to come out an see them play.  It is amazing to see how talented the High Schoolers are in the Toledo Area. 
Also congrats to Emma who was casted in 3B Productions, Titanic, this fall at the Maumee Indoor Theater.  They will be performing the first weekend in October.  Don't miss this amazing show with an incredible cast.

Once on this Island Jr.



This summer Emma was casted in another musical at the Toledo Rep.  She had a lot of fun playing Mama Euralie, one of the few lead roles.  The show includes elements of the Romeo and Juliet story; as well as the fairytale of "The Little Mermaid". The story concerns a peasant girl on a tropical island, who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes.  Emma played the lead character's adapted mother.  She was challenged both vocally and emotionally with the character.  She worked hard all summer and was so excited to spend time with her, "theater" friends. 



The cast of Once on This Island Jr. at the Toledo Rep (2012)





Emma and Jonathan take the stage.