Christmas

                                          Merry Christmas

To celebrate this Christmas season we decorated our house for Christmas. Some of my favorite decorations are our ceramic Christmas villages, stockings, and nativity scene. I also really like our Christmas ornaments. This year for the first time we bought a fake Christmas tree from Hobby Lobby.The tree is a nine foot Montana Pine.
On Christmas Eve we open the presents that we got from each other. I got a coupon book for game time, books, and a dice game called Farkle from my little brother. My sister gave me Temple Run the board game ,and candy. From my parents I got the Lego camper, Lego minifigures, Bobwhite quail, books, and an awesome pair of cowboy boots. My favorite thing(s) from my parents would be the Bobwhite quail. I really like the quail because: I can take them to the local livestock show, hatch their eggs in my incubator, and release some of them in the wild. I will keep you updated with the raising of my quail.

Bobwhite quail

The next day we got to see what Santa had brought us. I received more Lego products, a replica of the wild west playset, clothes,candy, and a bunch of other really neat items.

What did you get for Christmas ? Please comment and let me know.

Christmas cookies

 This year to start off the Christmas holiday, we made several batches of M&M, gingerbread men, spritz, and sugar cookies. After we finished baking all of the cookies, we delivered them to our friends, neighbors, and members of our church family. My favorite kind of cookie to bake is the spritz cookies because you   use a cookie press to make the cookie design. My favorite cookie to eat would be the sugar cookies. Although making Christmas cookies, giving and receiving presents and everything else that you do for Christmas is fun, make sure you remember that if God hadn't sent his Son Jesus Christ to be born on Christmas day we wouldn't celebrate CHRISTmas.  

Luke 2:9-14

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. (10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, (14) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” To read more Christmas bible verses click  here

Jesus is the reason for the season art taken from here

Gaylord Texan

My grandparent's wedding anniversary is on the first day of December. This year they celebrated 50 years together. My Dad planed a weekend trip to the Gaylord Texan for them,my aunt and older cousin,Steven, plus my family and I. Normally, the Gaylord Texan has authentic replicas of the River Walk, Hill Country, and the Palo Duro Canyon.  While we were there, everything was decorated for Christmas; there were giant toy soldiers, huge presents, trees, large Santa's boots,and a big gingerbread house. Also, there were toy trains decorated for Christmas, fake icicles, poinsettias and a tall rocking horse. They also had a lot of  Christmas activates for you to do such as; decorate gingerbread houses, observe gingerbread houses which chefs and college students made, and ICE, a life size display of 2 million pounds of carved ice.

A life size gingerbread house 

As you can imagine,with one-and-a-half million twinkling lights, 12,000 ornaments, 5,600 feet of garland, and an amazing 52-foot-tall Christmas tree everything was really festive. We were able to get to go to Ice! and it was wonderful. This year's Ice theme was Merry Madagascar Christmas Marty, Melman, Gloria, Alex, King Julian, and Mort. Plus lemurs, reindeer, Santa, a sleigh, and several ice slides were all carved out of ice. At the end there was a nativity, all carved out of clear ice, which sparkled and looked really nice. The Nativity was my favorite part of the ice carving display. The next day we ate a breakfast buffet on the River walk. After we ate, my Aunt Laura and cousin Steven went and picked up my Uncle Albert and my other cousin, David. They had just returned from Italy. Then we went and ate at a steak restaurant. The next day we went home.  

Lego replica of The Gaylord Texan 

A wall with plants growing out of it which I thought was cool.

Koi fish in a replica of the river walk in San Antonio.

My dad, grandfather, cousin, and my older sister under a replica
  of a tree called the "treaty oak" which cost $250,000.

Me in front of a giant Christmas tree.

My Grandparents, aunt and dad.

The Adventures of Andrew

My younger brother Andrew has finally gotten a blog!! Be sure to check out my other little brother, Andrew's new blog here! His post are about: what he has been doing, what books he has been reading, animals, and all of his adventures. 

Andrew at the food show.

Andrew holding my goat at the livestock show.

Happy Thanksgiving

                                        Happy Thanksgiving. 
Everyone came to our house this year, and I had a lot of fun! My cousins' younger cousins came with them this time. Their names are Charlie, Evan, and Corbin. Corbin is 1, Charlie is 6, and Evan is 8. Evan and I went and fed Benny, the horse, and played Blongoball. Also, my older cousin Steven and I went exploring and we had a good time, but we found a water moccasin!  Then after we ate Thanksgiving dinner which consisted of homemade turkey, ham,wheat rolls,crescent rolls, cheesy olive cakes, relish trays, mac & cheese, and tons of other delicious, homemade things!  We also had turtle cheesecake and apple cake for dessert. After we ate, my grandfather, Dad and I worked on stringing barbed wire on the pasture fence.

This year, I have decided to share what I'm thankful for. 
                                                        God and His Word 

                                                                      My family

My siblings and I 

                                                                   
                                                                      Wildlife

My family's pets 

                                                   

        Activities that I'm in such as 4-H, Teen Court, theater, 

Vet science program, and volunteering at the library. 

Me at the food show.


Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Please tell me what you  are thankful for.

    God's word http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/jefferson-bible-1.jpg
Top picture link
here

New Arrivals

My incubator was one of the best Birthday presents I have ever received, with this present I have hatched over fifty quail and chicken chicks in less than six months. I have been very blessed for almost all have been healthy. Every time a chick hatches it’s a wonderful reminder of God's amazing abilities. Yesterday evening and this morning eighteen Buff Orpington chicks have hatched out of their eggs. Over all I have hatched twenty eight chicks of this breed.  If you would like to learn about this  breed read on: 

• The Buff Orpingtons are one of the best egg laying breed of chicken.
• A breed called the Lavender Orpington lays lavender colored eggs.
• They were named after Orpington, England.
• They are one of the most docile breeds of chickens.
• Because of their build they do fairly well in very cold climates.

Thanks for reading

Cookies

Yesterday evening I made this delicious cookie recipe. My Mom found the recipe on the back of the Peanut Butter Chips package. She loves chocolate and these cookies deliver that taste and are moist and chewy. Be sure to set the timer and cook them only eight minutes. If you they look soft don't worry the cookies will harden. One of my favorite things about baking is when I can give the baked goods to friends and neighbors. I hope you have fun baking this recipe.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

DIRECTIONS

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. 2 Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. 3 Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not over bake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4-1/2 dozen cookies

I took the cookie recipe and the top picture from here.

Halloween at the Hatchery

For Halloween my family and I volunteered with our county's 4-H to pass out candy at the  Halloween at the Hatchery. Halloween at the Hatchery is where organizations can pass out information about their organization and candy for trick or treating children who come through the fish hatchery for candy. This year 4-H decided to dress up animals that you can show in 4-H. This idea was a big success. My family brought three of our Buff Orpington chickens to be the Dixie chicks and two of our rabbits. The rabbits were called Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood they of course were named by Laura Ashley, my sister. We had a great turn out, and had to leave because we ran out of candy half way through. It was really fun getting to  pass out candy to all of the trick or treaters.

Also, for Halloween my family and I volunteered at our church's Hallelujah Festival. Our church had bounce houses, a cake walk, free food, candy, face painting and a lot more activities for trick or treaters when they came in. I worked the punch and tea booth along with our deacon. Mom and Andrew, my brother worked the cake walk while  Dad and Laura Ashley monitored the bounce houses. Our church had a lot of kids with their parents come so we had a good turn out.  The Hallelujah Festival was also lots of fun helping with too.   

  Thanks for Reading,

  Christopher

Rabbits

Yesterday when we purchasing cages for my quail, my wonderful Mom was able to get this bunny free with the purchase of the cages. he is a male of the Mini Rex breed. Mom decided to name this rabbit Velvet because his fur was so soft. Recalling the moment she said,"I felt sorry for him because he was all alone. I really liked Velvet because he was so soft and handsome. Also, I wanted Christopher to be able to show Velvet at the local livestock show."

If you are wanting to know how to show breeding  rabbits, hear is how. First make sure you are registered.  When you get to the show with you rabbits, make sure you bring everything you need to make to them comfortable. You will be able to put your rabbits in pens provided by the fair grounds. In most shows you leave your rabbits at the fair grounds until the judging starts. Most of the time the rabbits have to stay over night.  When the judging starts, you have to wait until your rabbit's breed, gender and age is called. For an example, if I was a showing Velvet, I would wait until the judge or his helper called out; Senior male Mini Rexes. Then, I would take him up to the rabbit judging boxes and place him inside on of the boxes. Next, the judge would go and take velvet out of the box and position  him so that he would look like half of a basket ball. While he is judging him he will ask me questions such as how old the rabbit is and how many teeth a rabbit has. After that, the judge will look at the other rabbits and will come back to your rabbit again to compare him with the others. Lastly, the judge will hand out participant ribbons all the way up to first place. If your rabbit places first it will compete with the other breeds of rabbits there. Hopefully your rabbit will get a grand or reserve grand champion ribbon or belt buckle.
     Thanks for reading

Rabbit judging boxes.

Picture taken  of the rabbit judging boxes here: http://texasangorablog.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

Marguerite Henry

One of my favorite authors is Marguerite Henry. I like her works because they are educational and most are based on true stories. Also, I love horses. Her works include: Album of Horses, Black Gold, Born to Trot, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, 5 o' clock Charlie, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, and the Misty of Chincoteague series.        

 Marguerite Henry was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 12, 1902 to Anna and Louis Brithaupt.  Marguerite was the youngest of her five siblings. Mr. Brithaupt was a well respected publisher. When she was six, she was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. As her seventh Christmas present, her Father gave her a red table and writing supplies. Until she was eleven which was when she recovered from the rheumatic fever she spent a lot of her time writing on her table. Her first published story was called "Hide-and-Seek in Autumn Leaves". Later in Marguerite Henry's life she said ,"At last I had a world of my very own -- a writing world, and soon it would be populated by all the creatures of my imagination." Marguerite loved to read and got a job at the local library mending books. Ever since a young age she had always wanted to be a writer but deiced that it was not a practical career. She Graduated the Milwaukee State Teachers College and became an English teacher. During the summers Marguerite and her sisters went on a trip to a fishing camp. There she met Sidney Crocker Henry her future husband. Later, Marguerite and Sidney got married on May 5, 1923. 

During their sixty-four years that they were married, they didn't have any children instead they had numerous pets. Marguerite wrote her first children's book called Auno and Tauno it was about her friends stories about their native country, Finland. When she had finished writing Justin Morgan Had a Horse, she wanted to get it illustrated. She said,” I had just finished writing Justin Morgan Had a Horse, and wanted the best horse artist in the world to illustrate it. So I went to the library, studied the horse books, and immediately fell in love with the work of Will James and Wesley Dennis. When I found out that Will James was dead, I sent my manuscript to Wesley Dennis."  In 1945 Justin Morgan Had a Horse was published. Over all Wesley Dennis illustrated fifteen of her books. Sadly, her husband died in 1987. Just after she published Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, she passed away on November 26, 1997 at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Overall she had written fifty-eight books. 

Helpful websites I used are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Henry

Also I used http://www.yourlibrary.ws/childrens_webpage/j-author42001.html

           Thanks for reading 

          

The picture of Marguerite Henry with the horse is taken from this website.     http://horsesforliteracy.com/about/

The picture of Marguerite Henry is taken from this website. http://www.yourlibrary.ws/childrens_webpage/j-author42001.html0 

Incubator Update

Black bantam chick.

In one of my earlier post about my incubator, I said that I would give a update about my hatching status. Around two weeks ago, I hatched my first bantam chick ever. Its father won first place at our local livestock show. Since its dad placed so well, I'm hoping to enter it in the next show. My newest chicks were Buff Orpingtons. I was really excited to hatch these because it was my first time to hatch this breed and all of the eggs hatched. All of them are healthy and active but one has a club foot if any of you know how to treat this, please comment and tell. I like this breed because they are one of the most docile and best egg laying breed. I also like the color of this breed too.  

Buff Orpington chicks.

Happy Fall, Y'all

                    Happy Fall, Y'all

This is the pumpkin my brother Andrew and I designed.

Well, after a long and hot summer fall has finally come. I always look forward to autumn because it's not too hot and it's not too cold. I like autumn because it's perfect weather for being outside, reading books near a fire, and being thankful for what God has given us. One of my family's fall traditions is to carve pumpkins. Dad has always been our chief pumpkin carver. After we draw up the plans for the way we want our pumpkins to look, dad will carve them. No matter what  the design is, they always look just like our designs-if not better. When we finish carving our pumpkins, we butter and salt the pumpkin seeds and toast them in the oven. Another  fall tradition of ours is to go to the Dallas Arboretum and look at their magnificent pumpkin displays. My favorite types of pumpkins are the really small  Jack be little and the big Atlantic Giant pumpkins. If you live near Dallas you should definitely go to the Arboretum and see them.

My all time favorite autumn food would probably be Pumpkin bread. I enjoy pumpkin bread because it is a very healthy bread. The bread has canned pumpkin, raisins, and walnuts in its loaves  Instead of  using a regular loaf pan, I bake the bread in a mini loaf pan, that way I can bake more loaves to give to neighbors and family members. If you would like to learn how to make pumpkin bread click here to go to my recipe page.

Pumpkin bread 

Me with the seeds

Mom and Andrew buttering the pumpkin seeds

Andrew salting the pumpkin seeds.

Hogs

Picture of the hog that Dad shot.

 Today when our dogs started barking, we realized  that they were barking at three feral hogs. Dad ran and got his gun and shot the biggest one twice. Then, he tracked it down and found out that it was a male.
The reason Dad shot it was because that they will tear up our lawn (like last year) and they will eat our chickens. Plus they are very dangerous if you happen to run into them. If you would like to learn more about feral hogs read the following.

A different picture of the hogs on an earlier date. 

Diet: Feral hogs eat nuts, roots, grass, fruits, mushrooms, vegetables  bugs, small birds, rabbits, eggs, and even dead animals.


Size: they can be up to 5 feet long, and weigh 300 pounds.

Hunting Season: There is no hunting season because they are not native to Texas. 

Popularity: Many people don't like feral hogs because they compete with native animals for food. Also, they root up native plants and grasses.