With an oink oink here: New pigs on the farm.

Everyday on the farm is exciting in some way but when new animals arrive it is exciting in a special way. Everyone is alert. Chickens crowed around the fence, and the alpacas stand on high alert to find out what's up. 

Please let me introduce you to the latest members on the farm. Drum roll please......

"Where are we?" " I don't know, looks like a nice place."

Please meet Sherman (small black pig) and Melvin (big pig with spots). These two cuddly little oinkers are potbelly pigs that moved to the Yankee Belle Farm today. 

This seems pretty cozy

They even got a comfy ride in the new minivan. 

"Cheese!"

Melvin settled in with a little rooting and a nice nap. 

" Just a little deeper."

Sherman stuck with rooting for quite a while. 

We are so excited to have our new pig friends here and can't wait to see what sort of pig adventures Sherman and Melvin will have together. 

"Batman's" Bible Box

You might remember back around Easter I posted our resurrection eggs that we were using to learn about the true meaning of Easter. Well, these eggs were still being used after Easter had come and gone. " Batman" and "Strawberry Shortcake" LOVED the eggs. I took the Easter themed trinkets out of the eggs and put in other things that would tie into some of my favorite bible stories. So we continued to go on egg hunts everyday and do our devotion based on our eggs. Eventually I felt like the eggs needed to go and we needed a more permanent solution to continue this new tradition that we started. This is where our prayer box came from. "Batman" sometimes calls it his Bible box because we always read a Bible story after we open the box. No matter what the name of the box, it is an awesome way to fit in a devotion with little ones.

Materials: 
Decorating materials such as:
Paint
Glitter
Stickers
A small wooden box
A favorite bible verse to include on the inside

We spent time decorating our box and "Batman" put his finishing touches on his box.

Each morning I put something into the box that ties into a Bible story. I hide the box so "Batman and Strawberry Shortcake" can find the box like we are still hunting for eggs ( they love this part ). After "Batman" finds the box we all read our story together.

I hope this can give some inspiration on how to fit in a small devotion with your little one.

Attention Moms: Use that Mommy intuition!

I recently had a head on encounter with good old mom intuition. That little feeling way down deep that creeps up when for no distinct reason you, the mom, sense something is wrong. This mom intuition lead my little man to get his first pair of glasses.

He never not even once told me that he couldn't see. He didn't give me any indication that he couldn't see. He watched T.V. just fine, played the ipad, played sports no problem. The one thing he didn't want to do was anything with paper and pencil. He doesn't like to color, he will not write, he has trouble cutting, he even has trouble tracing letters. At first glance lots of people and even I thought he might have trouble with his fine motor skills. Luckily I have an Occupational Therapist for an Aunt who said his fine motor skills were great. Hmmm now what!? He even passed the eye exam they give at the pediatrician's office at their 4 year old visit. This is where the mom intuition comes in.  

I decided that I would take him in for an eye exam before he started preschool just to make sure everything was a-OK, I thought something might be off with his vision. It's a good thing I took him in because he left with a whopping prescription for a 4 year old. My little man is extremely farsighted. No wonder he didn't want to color, write, trace, or cut... he couldn't see any of it! Now he is happy to look just like Dad and see everything through new eyes.

I wrote this post to let all of you moms out there know that your mom intuition, gut feeling, or whatever else you call it means something. Just because your doctor tells you something is fine or you don't see the "right" signs for a problem don't ignore your instinct. Thankfully "Batman's" eyesight was a very fixable problem with an easy solution. Give yourself a pat on the back moms, we have pretty important jobs.