Ava is a Big Sister!

Gabriella Audet was born August 22, at 3:45 pm.  She is 8 lb 4 ounces and is 21 1/2 inches long.  She is just beautiful!  Big sister Ava is very happy with "baby Gabby" and said that she is pretty.  She wants to hold "it" as much as she can.  I think Gabriella will have two mommies. 

Barely over two hours old!  Just precious!

The girls, Ava and Ella 

Gabriella and aunt Lydia

Congratulations to Gabriel and Shannon!    

What a sweet little family!

My Maman with her Angel's Shoulder Shawl

Laurence who was due on his dad's fiftieth birthday (April 26), was born May 8, on my mother's birthday.  A few weeks ago I sent my mother, Gisèle, a shawl knitted with Aloft from KnitPicks in Pennyroyal.  Today I received some pictures my dad took of his beloved wife wearing her Angel's Shoulder Shawl as he calls it.  Isn't she beautiful.  Je t'aime maman!  

My mother did the needlework of the Girl Reading using extra small stitches for the face and hands.  

I hope to be as lovely as my maman when I grow older.

Lydia's Graduation

This Saturday, May 12, Lydia graduated from Belmont Abbey College, our fourth child to graduate from this wonderful college.  It was also my brother's Claude's birthday. Bonne fête Claude!  

Lydia received a bachelor degree in Biology.  Since she is still undecided about graduate school, she is taking a sabbatical year.  We are are all happy to have her with us for a little longer. .  

Cum Laude, Yeah!  Good for you Lydia!

We are proud of you!

You are such a gentle soul.

You are truly beautiful inside and out!

Her fan club

Processing out.  I love the bagpipes!

In front of the Adoration Chapel.
Lydia's dorm room was right across the street.  She could see the chapel from her window.

These past years, Lydia spent many hours here in front of her Lord.

Lydia and Sébastien, who graduated  two years ago from Belmont.

Afterward, Sébastien grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers for us.  He lives in Charlotte.

Chicks, Goslings, Ducklings and Poults

Today, we received our BIG order from Cackle Hatchery.  The boys spent three hours in the coop, even skipping breakfast.  That's saying something!  We now have 66 chicks, 2 goslings, 3 poults (baby turkeys), and 6 ducklings.  

The chickens are 5 Light Brahmas, 5 Golden Laced Wyandottes, 5 Salmon Faverolles, 5 Araucanas, 5 Partridge Rocks, and 5 Buff Orpingtons.  We also ordered 2 White Pekin Ducks, 2 Rouen ducks, 2 Ancona ducks.   We purchased 10 Assorted Standard Cochins, and a Happy Cackle Special which includes a pair of ducklings (we think there are also Pekin Ducks), a pair of goslings that we believe are White Chinese since Cackled only carries two kind of white geese and we requested that they do not send Embden (we used to have some rather aggressive ones),  3 turkeys (they sent an extra one) those are Black Spanish for sure,  10 pullets, 1 rooster and 10 assorted rare chicks. It's going to be fun to try to identity what they are as they grow up.

A gosling, and a duckling (White Pekin) on Dominique's legs.

A poult.  They look so funny!

Matthias dipped each chicks' beak into the water, so they can find it later.

More ducklings.  We ALL felt in love with the ducklings!

I couldn't resist holding some of the chicks.

This one is very fluffy.  It is a Cochin, see the feathers on its feet.  It's probably a white one.

Busy at the feeder

Those little fuzz balls are so cute!

 They are already eating greens from the garden.  Look at the duckling pecking Dominique's shirt.

What a beauty!  Probably a splash Cochin.

They have to be handled gently.  Laurence is doing a great job!

Tenderness!  And look at Dominique's grinning face.

Laurence removed his boots to make sure he wouldn't crush any.

That's a lot of chicks!  They are all trying to get some of the hard boiled egg yolk we gave them.

All that fuzziness.

We have plenty of lettuce in the garden to supplement their feed.

Laurence's Birthday

Laurence is 10!  Oh, my....

I don't usually post twice in a day, but that's my present for my mom.  Bonne fête maman!   Lots of pictures for you.  We miss you.

What!

KITTENS!!!!

It didn't take long for Laurence to decide to name this one Martin (the Warrior).  A fitting name,  if your familiar with the Redwall books.

Mariel the brave!  

And this one on the left is Marlfox, very foxy indeed!

Madalyn is very smitten by the kittens!

After Laurence came back from the cinema, they went to see The Avengers, he had his birthday cake.  Notice the shirt.  This was totally unplanned.  Laurence just changed into it to go to the movie without noticing.  I realized the coincidence only after I downloaded this picture.  The shirt Leo wore for his birthday was the one Laurence wore at Leo's parents wedding rehearsal dinner.  This one on Laurence is a hand-me-down from Matthias.  Too neat!

Leo's Birthday Party

Leo's birthday party was last Sunday at Gabriel and Shannon's house.  Everyone had a grand time.

Happy three years old Leo!

He literally leaped of the coffee table in joy and excitement! 

A helping hand.

A loving embrace.

I caught a fish and it was that BIG!!!  Really!!!!

Here it comes!

The big red ball went bong on the little red head . Do it again!

"Holding" little cousin Eli..

A pink princess on a pink AND purple royal mobile. It can't get better then this., that is if you're a girl.

Leo thinks that a Nerf gun is all one needs.   When asked to unwrap his other presents, he and his little friends, just threw the tissue paper out of the gift bags without even a glance at the content, and he went right back to his gun. ;o)

Come on horsey, little Tobias is waiting for thee.

Here it is!

If there is a horse, you will be sure to find Maddie nearby.   Horses are her world!

Now everyone wants to feed the horses.  Aunt Lydia makes sure they remember to keep their hands flat. 

Laurence trying his hand at golf, to feel grownup like his big brothers.

More Ava's love.

Too cute!  Although Dominique might protest at being call cute!

I guess they are growing up.  They can swing by themselves now.  Follow the link to another party more than a year ago.   Actually Mamie did push them and they loved it, saying higher, higher!

Eli , the newest bundle of life!

Ah, the memories we keep from these milestones.  Next in line, Laurence.