They're leaving

I'm so sad that my brother and his family are moving out of Bakersfield. Cory got a job a few months ago working on an Indian Reservation as the CFO and we were so excited except for the fact that it meant that the Randalls were going to have to move to Porterville to be closer to the Reservation. Well they found a great place in Success Valley and Mom and I took the kids up to see the house yesterday and meet Stephanie and her mom and the kids.
We started our day getting ready for St. Patricks Day and putting on all our green gear. I even made sure that Patrick was wearing green undies. When Grandma opened the door we made her laugh.

We drove to Porterville and up towards Springville and to Success Valley. Here is the front view from Cory and Stephanie's house. It is so green and beautiful. I tell you, I was in heaven. It was the perfect setting.

Here is the back of their house. Isn't it gorgeous!!!! They will be so happy here. The owner has acres of olive trees and he harvests them to make money.

He has tons of fruit trees and he said that Cory and Stephanie could have as much as they want as soon as they are ready to pick. He couldn't even remember all of them there were too many.

There is a beautiful pond that he says he swims in when it gets hot and he takes his little boat out and fishes. There is also this little pond house and a deck to sit on.

There is a barn too that he keeps his horses in sometimes. It was so cool to walk around in and look at the stalls and horse stuff.

The boys loved pretending to drive the tractor.

The beautiful green hills and the blooming fruit trees

I found a lucky horseshoe on St Pattys day.

I wanted to get a picture of Elena all cute by the pond but she was begging to go play.

I tried a little photo editing in iPhoto for some of these pics. Sorry, it was just for fun.

If we sat really still we could watch the fish swim under the deck.

Easy access to go swimming.

Beautiful blooms

We were picking oranges like crazy. Hannah played by this tree forever.

More scenic photo editing.

Here is a view of the olive trees from their backyard.

Here's the view from their back patio.

And the backyard

Hannah playing with the stone table which gives the yard some character. Not that it needs it.

And a view of the frond of the house. Isn't it great??
I'm really going to miss having them so close but at least its not an island and they're only an hour away instead of a 6 hour plane ride. We love you guys and we are going to miss playing with you at Grandmas all the time.

Jesús is out of town for business so I thought it would be fun me and the kids to have a fun St Patricks day dinner. We bought Smiths green thumbprint cookies and green Kool-aid. I made gold mac and cheese and we ate green jello and green yogurt on green dishes and in green cups.

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!!

Like the Fair without funnel cakes

We were lucky enough to go and see some baby pigs last Sunday. Sinjin Hayes has a pig that was about to have babies but it was in a room with two other pigs and one had given birth the day before. We were invited to come see and hold them.

Patrick was great and brave and held one of the baby pigs. Elena just buried her face in Jesús' shoulder and cried, she was so scared. He took her out while we held and loved the baby piglets.

They were so cute!!!!!

This was the runt. I wanted to take him home.

This site almost made me question eating bacon. But its too yummy to give up.

There were baby sheep, Elena was still scared but not as much.

And we got to meet Ellie the Pygmy goat. She was the only one we learned the name of because she was the most friendly. Elena was afraid at first but then she loved her!

And meet Peanut. I honestly thought someone had painted her. I have never seen a crazier looking pig.

She was also very sweet and liked nibbling on my shoes. When I walked out of her pen she tried to follow me and my shoes out. Patrick loved petting her and asking Sinjin questions about everything.

Writing all over the windows!

Patrick hasn't really had the desire to practice writing his letters at home and a goal that I have for him by the time he starts Kindergarten this fall (I know, I can't believe it either) is to write his name. I bought some books for him to work out of but he just was not interested. So I pulled out the dry erase markers and told him to write his letters on the sliding glass doors. Well he loved the idea and any letter I told him to write he would write very well and practice until he got it write. He also drew his first picture that represented a human being. He usually just scribbles and makes circles but he started drawing something and said that it looked like a head so he kept on going. He was so very proud of his drawing, I hate that I had to wipe it off.

Elena wanted to join in the fun too.

Don't look at the messy patio and backyard. I hadn't cleaned up out there yet. Its tidy now.

Dessert or Mess

I really wanted some White Chocolate dipped strawberries so I bought strawberries and some White Chocolate melties. We used our fondue pot which he haven't really had any success with yet, we just need practice I'm sure. However the chocolate turned into a lumpy mess and didn't stick to the strawberries so we ended up just dumping them onto wax paper and pouring the chocolate over them. It looked gross but it tasted ok. The chocolate flavor changed in the fondue pot. I guess I should try a double boiler next time, what a mess!