The winner is...

Jennifer =0). Congratulations, Jennifer- if you will contact me at robandlean@yahoo.com, I will get your ring out.

My olders helped to do the drawing yesterday and did the images, etc. They're not so great, lol. And unfortunately, I have sick kiddos today so I'm just posting this quick and postponing the next giveaway until we get back to normal. So far Rob is fine, and I feel semi-human and am vertical so I must be on the upswing now. Only a couple of the kids are sick but the ones that are sick are feeling pretty cruddy. Colds and viruses going through our house is one thing that I dread- we rarely get sick, but when we do, look out... it's not pretty.

Congrats again, and I'll be back as soon as I get us all up on our feet again. I just got a sock monkey from an awesome Etsy seller that we gave Levi for his birthday, and I want to share her shop with you guys. I'll do that as soon as I can.

Thanks guys!

We have a winner!

But I will need to post the pics in the morning- I'm so sorry guys but I'm s-i-c-k this weekend and have had a two day headache, queasy tummy- the whole nine yards. Definitely not what I had in mind for our first weekend back home =0(. So just stay tuned until tomorrow when hopefully I'm functioning a little bit better, and I apologize again for making you guys wait... again.

Ring giveaway, 07.22.10- Titanium and Blue Box Elder Burl Inlay Ring

I'm sorry that I'm a day late with this giveaway- we got back to real life yesterday and our first day back was a little more busy than I'd anticipated, lol. I didn't get a chance to get pictures of this ring taken like I'd intended yesterday.




So even though I'm a bit late, I'm still totally in love with this ring- it's a hand milled titanium band, size 9, that Rob has inlaid with blue box elder burl. It has a nice rounded profile and softened inside edges for comfortable wear. It's about a quarter inch wide, which makes it a nice band for either a man or a lady. I haven't listed this band in our shop yet, but I'll be doing that in the next day or so, and it will sell for $127.50.


To enter to win this band, simply comment on this post. On Saturday, July 24, we will draw a winner from all the people who comment. I'll announce the winner sometime on Saturday evening.


Good luck to everyone!!

This morning in the garden...

This is what we got:





A few peppers, lots of tomatoes, and seven squash. Rob and I are getting ready to take all of this over to my Grandmother. She only grows okra and tomatoes for herself but she doesn't have many ripe tomatoes yet. She loooooves garden tomatoes and we thought she'd like some of our extra. And we know she'll enjoy the squash.

It's actually raining pretty hard here today, so our plans to do something outside are on hold. We are going to go see a matinee today though- probably Dispicable Me (the kids really, really want to see it.) Hope everyone is having a great day!

Eggplant Fries!!

Yummy.

I had two nice eggplant this morning, so we thought we'd do eggplant fries with our lunch.

I don't do anything special to eggplant before I cook it- I know some people do- but this is how we've always done it, and we don't ever have bitter eggplant. For fries, I just cut the eggplant into strips:

Also, if you want exact measurements from me, I don't have them. I just throw and go- most recipes aren't scaled for the amount of food we need, so I've had to learn to eyeball and guess at amounts. Sooo, once your eggplant is cut into strips, you need to put them in some beaten egg (I used two), and just give them a good toss to make sure they are all well coated.

Once the eggplant is coated with egg, it goes into bowl of seasoned cornmeal- I just added salt and pepper- and again, I didn't really measure. I tossed them around again to make sure they were all well coated with cornmeal.

Then, they go into some heated oil in a skillet- about 1/4"- not enough to cover them completely but enough to brown one side. This only takes a few seconds, seriously, so don't put too many in there because they'll all get brown at once and you will end up not being able to get them all out quickly enough. Just turn to brown on all sides, then drain on a paper towel.

They're all done- crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside- and surprisingly light tasting.

This morning in the garden... (and a few other things)

I'm so thrilled with our garden this year... we're getting basketfulls of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and eggplant every day now, and we are still waiting for most of the squash, zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe, okra and the rest of the tomatoes to come in. In a few more weeks I hope to be putting up a few things for winter use. Here is today's harvest:





I have enough squash from yesterday and today to cook some for our dinner tonight. We like it sauteed with onion in butter with lots of salt and pepper. We also had enough eggplant yesterday to make eggplant fries (which are delicious- my kids love them.) It's been a challenge to eat all of the tomatoes we're getting, lol. Besides eating sliced tomatoes with practically every meal, we have done fried green tomatoes, homemade chili (with garden tomatoes and grassfed beef!), grilled cheeses with tomato slices (so good with homemade bread and Amish cheese!) And I've made a TON of fresh salsa. We have white, yellow, pink, purple and red tomatoes (all heirlooms) and using a variety of colors makes an interesting looking salsa. Our salsa is just diced fresh tomatoes, diced garlic, diced onion, whatever peppers we have on hand (diced of course)- usually a couple of green bells or banana peppers and one hot pepper, salt, pepper, and cilantro.... so fresh tasting and so good for us. Even my friend's picky-eater daughter who hates tomatoes enjoyed the salsa and finished up a huge helping of it with my girls.

Another cool thing we did yesterday is that we made goat milk butter. Goats' milk is naturally homogenized- it doesn't separate like cows' milk. Only a tiny portion of the cream rises to the top of our containers of milk, but we have faithfully skimmed this a teaspoon at a time and put it in a jar in the freezer. When it was full, we made butter. We poured it into a bigger jar and let the cream sit out until it was warm and slightly soured (this is the way they made old fashioned butter; the butter we buy at the store is not allowed to sour and that's why it's called "sweet cream" butter.) Then we just passed around the jar and took turns shaking it. We got about a stick of butter after saving cream for a few weeks, lol. We added salt and its really yummy. One of the things on my wish list is a cream separator so that we can get most of the cream from our milk and make our butter as we need it. The kids have requested some homemade bread with dinner tonight; they want to eat the butter they made, lol.

And speaking of goats, it's nearly time for the girls to start cycling and getting ready to breed. They will usually start in August, and stop in December. I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday giving everyone supplemental copper, worming, and trimming hooves. I'm trying to "flush" the does this year- that's where you basically increase the feed they are getting and add as much nutrition, etc., as you can before they breed to encourage multiples. We had two singletons last year, and I wasn't too happy about that. It's also supposed to be possible to breed for more girls by adding apple cider vinegar to their water- it may be an old wives' tale, but vinegar is cheap and it's worth a shot, lol. We only had one doeling born last year, and I wasn't too happy about that, either. All of our girls are in really good condition so I am looking forward to a great year and to lots of doelings. Goats have a five month gestation, so we can look forward to babies in January.

Otherwise, Rob and I are working steadily to get as much work completed and shipped out before vacation as we possibly can. I know that we will most likely work a little while we're supposed to be off (we always do but we'd like to not work as much as we usually would). I will check in here and probably post some pictures- we have plans to do some museums, state parks, the zoo, fishing, etc. We have to stick close to home but there's plenty to do here locally to keep us all busy =0).


I hope everyone is having a great day!

This week's winner, and a few other things...

First of all, I hope that this week's winner will email us at robandlean@yahoo.com so that we can mail their ring. We have had five giveaways, but only two winners so far have contacted us. I'm not sure how long I will hang on to these bands- eventually I'll put them back up for grabs because it's a real shame to not see them go to someone who will wear and enjoy them. Sooo, if you've won a ring and haven't contacted us, please go ahead and give us an email and I can send your rings right out.


We are very close to our vacation and looking so forward to it. This next Monday, July 12, there will not be a giveaway. We will hold our next giveaway on the 21st (Wednesday), when we get back. We're really looking forward to some family time! We have some fun things planned and intend to just relax and enjoy each other for a few days.

Today's winner was chosen by Joanna- she's 9 and was ready for her turn to choose a winner.



She didn't like Levi getting to draw the winner all the time, so she insisted that she get a chance this week. Here she is with all of this week's names in a bowl:



She's getting ready to draw a name:




She's chosen a winner:

And that winner is:

Congratulations, Caroline!! Email us at robandlean@yahoo.com and let us know where to send your ring- we'll get it right out to you.

Thanks so much to all of you who entered, and please check back once we get back from our vacation.

Giveaway 06.2010- Ti and Mokume Inlay Ring, size 7.5

This week's giveaway is our titanium and mokume gane inlay band. This ring sells in our shop for $170 and is quite popular. Rob inlays the sterling and copper mokume (random pattern) into a hand milled, rounded profile titanium ring.

Just post a comment to this blog post, and on Thursday we'll draw a winner. Be sure to check back on Thursday to see if you've won, because of the five bands we've given away so far, only two winners have contacted us for their rings.

Good luck to everyone!!

We're late!

We haven't forgotten about the ring giveaway this week; it will just be a day late =0). When I get through posting here I'll get pics of this week's ring and post again with the giveaway later today.

We didn't really intend to have a big holiday weekend, but you know how things can happen... we ended up with two other families and my Grandmother here for a cookout and fireworks on Sunday evening. We had chicken, cowboy beans, deviled eggs, macaroni salad, roasted potatoes, and lots of watermelon. Then the little kids got to play with a few sparklers and the big kids (that included Rob) got to do the bigger fireworks. All in all it was a great evening and we were so glad that we were able to have everyone over and enjoy the 4th. We hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend also.

Not holiday related, but I was excited this weekend to get to visit our local farmer's market for the first time. Since we grow a lot of our own stuff, I think that the veggies and milk there are expensive (especially for the amount of each veggie we need- it would cost us a fortune to feed our entire family veggies from the farmer's market. And the cost of milk is why we got goats, lol... I can't imagine paying $8 a gallon when we drink 2-3 gallons a day here. Yikes!) I went for one thing- grassfed meat. I am thrilled to have found a local source of hormone and antibiotic free grassfed beef, chicken, etc., at reasonable prices. We've already cooked some and were very pleased with the taste and thankful that we can enjoy meat from healthy animals that haven't been loaded with meds and hormones.

And speaking of veggies, look at our garden haul this morning! I'm so glad it's finally all starting to come in and produce. We got a basket full today and it looks like we'll have this much again tomorrow =0). I made a pint of hot pepper paste with our extra peppers last week, and will probably end up making salsa or something with our extra tomatoes this week. We love summer time suppers of just garden veggies- squash, eggplant, garden beans, and sliced tomatoes- yummy.

I'm trying to feed our family only minimally processed real food... it's a huge challenge and I don't manage it most of the time. It's nearly impossible to find food that hasn't been altered from its natural state in some way... even the cuts of meat at most supermarkets have been sprayed with bleach and most likely irradiated. Produce is often waxed or has chemical residues. And organics are expensive- too expensive for us to buy regularly. Our grocery cart doesn't look like the usual American-family-with-kids grocery cart. We don't buy boxed cereal or chips or cookies or boxed snacks. We stick to the outside aisles rule when we grocery shop and get the bulk of our purchases from the produce, meat, dairy, and bakery section and skip the inside aisles. I buy our flour, pasta, spices, beans, cheese, butter, etc., at a local Mennonite market.

Today's breakfast was one of my successes- grassfed lamb sausage with our own free range eggs (cooked with hormone and antibiotic free butter), sliced tomatoes from our garden, and fresh goats' milk. I'm blessed to have kids that not only eat this stuff but love it. And just in case anyone thinks I'm a food snob or don't let the kids eat junk food ever... I'm not, and I do. It's just that junk food and fast food have a place in our diets as an occasional treat and not as a big part of it. This approach doesn't leave them feeling deprived and it keeps junk food in the realm of "treats" instead of something they expect every day. Our kids are not overweight, they play OUTSIDE all day long every day, they're rarely ever sick, and they're pretty easy going most of the time. I attribute these things to a good, nutrient dense, minimally processed diet.

Anyway, this was a bit of a tangent, but I had a few minutes to sit and type, and I was excited about our garden veggies and about my breakfast success. I'll get pics of this week's giveaway band and post again in a bit =0).

This week's winner...

... and Levi is goofy =0).

This weeks photos are... interesting. Levi is 1) full of himself after his birthday and 2) "rich" with birthday money and loot. So he's been living it up, buying himself things like candy and gum (which we allow because you only get one birthday a year, right?) ANYway... we've laughed and laughed at his pics because he didn't want to spit his gum out, but he didn't do such a good job at hiding it. These pics (especially the last couple) are definitely gonna be the ones we pull out and show his future girlfriends...

So, here he is with the names and his overly large wad of blue gum... he's happy to be doing this:

Here, he and his gum are getting ready to draw a winner:

He and his gum have chosen this week's winner!

And this week's winner is:

No gum in that one, but you know it's there, lol. Your Average Joe Jr, if you will contact us at robandlean@yahoo.com and let us know where to mail your ring, we'll get it right out to you. And, CONGRATS!! Next week, we'll be giving away some sort of titanium ring- check our shop announcement or back here for details- we have made our minds up yet, lol. Thanks everybody and have a great week!

Giveaway 6.28.10- Titanium and Faux Carnelian Ring

I just can't tell you how excited we are about this ring- the images I took do not do it justice at all (but I'm not a good photographer- just a point and shoot and hope for the best type gal.) This is a new band, unworn, size 8.25.

Just comment to this post and we'll enter you in this week's giveaway... Levi (or Hannah or somebody, lol) will draw a winner on Wednesday and we'll announce a winner on Wednesday afternoon, then the winner can email us with their shipping address. Good luck to everyone!!

And, our official name-drawer, Levi, turned six yesterday! And lost a tooth a few days before that =0). He thinks he's practically a grown man now. For his birthday we took him out for a Happy Meal (little boys are so easy! Our nine year old daughter chooses sushi.) Then he got some "work" clothes, which are jeans, button down short sleeved shirts, and a pair of "work" boots; and a new bike (John Deere, from the feed store. He wants to be a farmer right now.) We also let him choose some baby chicks and guinea keets while we were at the feed store and although they aren't "his", he's pretty proud of them. After that, it was cake and ice cream at my Grandmother's house, so all in all he had a great birthday.

For me, it's a little bittersweet to see my "baby" growing up so fast, but I'm super proud of him- he's a great kid and I love him to bits.

Have a great Monday everyone, and good luck!

We have a winner! And, next week's giveaway!

Rob and I are so glad that more and more people are entering this drawing each week- keep on entering and we will continue giving away rings. This week's winner has been chosen!! Hannah drew this week's winner because Levi was super busy counting down the days to his birthday (there are four days left!) and couldn't be bothered. And Hannah wanted a turn =0).

So here she is... she just turned 8 a couple of weeks ago.

She's getting ready to draw:

And the winner is:

Congratulations, Helenfin! If you will e-mail us at robandlean@yahoo.com, we'll get your ring sent right out.

And everyone else, please check back with us on Monday, June 28, because we're going to give away a new ring- Titanium with Faux Carnelian Overlay. The overlay on this band is not real stone (it's a hard surface material similar to Corian), but it is a lovely shade of red with black graining. And, the whole ring is waterproof and doesn't need special care like a wooden inlay or overlay band would. Here's an image:

The band is an 8.25 (fits like an 8 since the band is about a quarter inch wide) and we'll draw for it next week. Thanks again!!

We're giving away a Textured Titanium Ring!

This is another really popular style from our shop; Rob takes one of our hand milled rings, gives it a rounded profile, and then grinds the band to produce this almost-faceted, textured finish. Or sometimes I do the grinding, but I don't think I'm nearly as good at it as Rob is, lol.

The Textured Ti we're giving away this week is a size 9. It's unworn, and has been in our display cabinet for quite some time. While we don't technically keep rings in stock, we do have different styles and sizes here- either from mis sized bands or shop mistakes, or left over from stock that we carried to craft shows. We're glad to be able to give these bands away.

And, just a reminder of how this works: post a comment to this blog post and we will draw a winner from all the folks who post a comment on Wednesday, June 23. I will announce the winner some time Wednesday afternoon, and ask the winner to email us with their mailing address.

Thanks, guys, and good luck to everyone!!

P.S. We did get a new camera cable, but I wasn't able to get the images we took of last week's drawing- they didn't get uploaded to our computer, but they weren't on the camera anymore either. I'm sorry about that, y'all.

Meet the new girls... Talulah and Matilda =0)

Since I can't upload images from my camera at the moment, I thought I'd share some (already uploaded) pics of our newest goats. They're Talulah and Matilda, grade Nubians, and they're soooo sweet.

We needed more milk... although the four girls we milk every day give us upwards of three gallons a day. That seems like a lot until we feed our three bottle kids and then let the human kids drink their share. After that, there's basically enough to cook with. We like to make yogurt, kefir, and ice cream and would love to make more cheese (I've made mozarella and ricotta once, and they were quite good), but we just didn't have the extra. And even though most people think that goats' milk is grody because they either: a.) tasted some once and it tasted like a goat, or b.) know someone who tasted it once and it tasted like a goat, I can promise you that properly handled, fresh goats' milk is just delicious. Our kids complain when we have to buy "store milk"- they say it tastes rotten.

So, enter these girls. They look awfully skinny in the first image, but they're really not- they were just a little nervous their first couple of days here, and didn't eat much. They're slowly coming around. Talulah, the black and white doe, is in milk and giving us about three quarts a day, and I think she'll give more once she isn't so nervous about us and decides that we're friends. Raisins, animal crackers, and corn chips go a long way towards making friends with goats =0). Matilda is the brown one, and she was actually being dried off at her former home. We're trying to bring her back into milk, but I'm not sure if we're gonna be able to do that or not. She's a little more skittish than Talulah, but I think she's starting to like it here.

One thing that's super sweet about these two is that they do NOT want to be separated. So, we have to take them out of the pen together, and put them up together, or they both cry. And if they are separated for a minute, neither of them will settle down until they can see one another again. Then they touch noses and check each other out to make sure everything's okay.

Next year we have several more does that will be in milk besides the five (six if Matilda will begin to produce again) we are milking this year. Quite a few more, actually. We will definitely have enough milk for yogurt and kefir and lots of ice cream and cheese and maybe even soap. We plan on getting a cream separator also, so that we can make our own butter and sour cream (and have fresh cream for our coffee! Can't forget that, lol.)

Right now my oldest daughter and I are the main goat milkers; my oldest son can do a good job in a pinch but he doesn't really like to milk. We milk two full sized American Alpine does: Snickers and Sha-nan-a-gans; one Nigerian dwarf doe: Pillow (her registered name is Buttin' Heads Pillow Scham- there aren't a lot of nicknames you can come up with for a name like that, so she's just... Pillow, lol); one full size Oberhasli doe: Nutmeg; and the new girl. It takes us about forty minutes from start to finish- goats don't take long to milk at all- and we have the process pretty streamlined. I don't know what it will be like next year when we have several more does to milk. It should be... interesting!

Anyway, I'm sorry my camera cord decided to die, but I had a great time showing these girls to you all. When my camera is functional again, I'll introduce our other girls and guys =0).

We have a winner!

Gentress Myrrh won this week's band!

Congratulations!! Just email us at robandlean@yahoo.com and let me know where to mail your ring!

I will get images up of the drawing asap- unfortunately we're having some camera troubles at the moment. I got pics of the drawing but I think we need a new cable- they won't upload to my computer.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and please check back next Monday because we're going to give away a Textured Titanium ring.

This week's giveaway: Chunky Sterling and Amboyna Burl Inlay Band

Before I talk about this week's band, I think maybe I need to clarify how all of this works... I have still yet to hear from the last two weeks' winners, and I'm afraid I haven't been clear enough in explaining things. We just ask that you comment on this post so that we can put your name in the drawing- it will be either Tuesday, June 14 or Wednesday June 15 when we draw. I'll post with details and with the winner's name once we've drawn a winner. The winner must then contact us via either e-mail at robandlean@yahoo.com or by logging into etsy and convo-ing us through our shop. Our shop is http://robandlean.etsy.com/ . I will need your mailing address so that I can make sure you get your ring. I hope this helps, and I hope to hear from the previous winners so that I can mail their rings out =0).

This week's giveaway is a sterling and amboyna burl overlay band. It's one of our more popular styles. This band is a size 8.5 and is unworn. Just comment on this post and you'll be entered in the drawing. Ideally we would like to draw tomorrow, but will hold off on it if there are not many people to enter at that time; if we don't draw tomorrow, we will draw on Wednesday.

Good luck! We're looking forward to being able to bless someone with this band =0).

Just a quick note to the winners of the drawings =0)

If you could contact us at robandlean@yahoo.com, we can mail out your bands. Or if you'd like, log on to Etsy and shoot us a convo =0). They're set aside and ready to mail out.
Thanks, guys!!

Meet Nutmeg and Cinnamon

They're American Oberhasli does. They're sisters, and they're six years old.

I bought them from my neighbor in February, after our oldest Alpine doe (Daisy, she was 11 and my best girl) died. I just needed to fill Daisy's spot in the herd because it seemed to be so empty without her. Plus, I've always thought Oberhaslis were beautiful goats. Our neighbor wasn't going to keep these girls, and I was glad to pick them up. They both look like Daisy in the face, and seeing them out there reminds me of her. They were, like my Daisy, SO skinny when we got them. Their feet were overgrown and they were wormy and they were.... lost. The image below is of Cinnamon, the day we brought her home... she's hiding...

And right now, let me say this: I can never be a serious breeder of dairy goats. I'm not snobby enough or cold enough to look at these girls as just livestock. I can't cull (kill) does that aren't perfect. I just can't. Goats have personalities. They feel true affection for us. They can be so annoying! And also funny and tremendously loving. I love having them and can't imagine my life without them. Our goats are not pets: we do expect our girls to earn their keep by having kids and producing milk. At the same time, we also don't see them as commodities to discard if they don't measure up. I figure that after a lifetime of providing milk for our family and having babies for us to either keep or sell, that a doe has earned a spot in our home while she is alive.

I also love a good rescue, which is what these girls were. I have never seen feet so badly overgrown, and four months after these girls arrived here, I'm still trying to straighten them out. In the beginning, every step for them was painful... now they can run. They were so very skinny, with protruding hip bones and prominent ribs. Now they're filling out nicely, although they aren't as sassy as the other girls (give me a while, and they will be!) We wormed them and gave them B-12 and just spent time with them. They acted like they'd been mistreated- shying away if we raised our hands, etc. It has taken them a while to trust us, but even in the beginning they seemed so starved for affection, and they'd lick our hands and faces, as if they were saying, "Thank you".
Two days after we got them home, Nutmeg gave birth to a single buck kid. He's a Nuberhasli (half Nubian, half Oberhasli). We named him Elroy. It was awful watching her try to give birth while struggling with painful feet. We've been milking her and her udder is ruined (like Daisy's was... you can't keep dairy goats and not milk them- it does bad things to their udders.) She started barely giving a quart a day but has slowly worked up to around three. It's not great production, but remember, she was super super skinny and is still not in top condition. I'm sure that when she freshens next year after a pregnancy with good nutrition, we'll see her production go up. Cinnamon hasn't freshened, and we aren't sure if she's pregnant or not. Probably not (although there is always a possibility.) She is just as sweet as her sister is, though. I'm looking forward to milking her next year, as well. We will be breeding them to our Nigerian dwarf buck, Trouper, for mini-Oberhasli babies.

I noticed when we bought them that they both had ear tattoos. We were able to track down their breeder and first owners with the tattoo sequence. The people who bought them from the breeder have been so nice, even emailing us copies of their registrations. Nutmeg and Cinnamon are really TSJ Gold Tic-Tac and Tootsie Roll. They were at a commercial dairy in Arkansas until '07, and we don't know what happened to them between then and when we bought them. I know that my neighbor bought them as part of a herd dispersal sale and felt bad for them with their feet and all- they difinitely weren't treated like the dairy animals that they are. I don't know if we can track down their papers or not- it would be great to be able to do that, but I'm just glad to know where they came from and some of their pedigree. There is good milk behind them, and good milk behind our buck, so we are crossing our fingers for nice miking daughters from both of them.Regardless, they both have a place here with us for the rest of their lives. And they definitely have a place in our hearts.

This week's winner!!!

It took me a while to wrangle Levi in from the yard this afternoon, and please forgive me because you know, he's just so grungy. After all, his shirt does say, "Messy" on the front.... trust me, there's a reason for that. Really, though, he's been out helping his older brothers clean out the barn in preparation for the hay that our neighbors are bailing for us, so he was all hot and sweaty (and happy! Little boys like to be dirty.)

As usual, you can see that he's totally serious about his job:



He's got The Bowl:



He's drawing the winner:



He's chosen a winner:



And that winner is:



Congratulations, Nathan!! Email us at robandlean@yahoo.com and I'll get your ring right out.

Next week, we will be giving away our Chunky Sterling and Amboyna Burl overlay band, so definitely check back with us.

We're giving away a mokume ring...

and I should have gotten this posted last night, but we're now into June, which is pretty much birthday month here. Our Hannah turned 8 on Friday, and Mitch is 15 today, so our weekend was all birthday related. We've cooked out and opened presents and made trips to the store so they can spend their birthday dollars. We have one more birthday this month (Levi will be turning 6), and then we get a little break until Rachel's birthday in August.

Whew.

Anyway, we are giving away this band:



It's listed in our shop here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/46840526/sterling-and-copper-mokume-gane-wave . The ring we're giving away is the actual band from the listing- the first one of these Rob ever made. It's unworn and has been in our display case since it was made, and we thought that it would be a great giveaway this week.

This is how it works: just comment on this blog post. We'll put everyone's name into a hat for drawing (Levi is our official name-puller-outer; he does a great job) either tomorrow, June 8 or Wednesday, June 9.

Also, if last week's winner, Cat and Luke, could email us at robandlean@yahoo.com, we can get your ring in the mail today!

Good luck to everyone!!

We have a winner!!

I want to thank everyone who entered and let you guys know that we are going to be giving rings away weekly again, so check back on Monday and enter the next drawing... we'll draw a winner on Tuesday.

Anyway... this is Levi and he draws the names for us when we do giveaways... he's five years old and he just lost his first tooth. He's super serious about his work (as you can see.)



We've put all five names on identical papers and put them in a bowl:



And then... drumroll... Levi draws the winner:



And the winner is....



Congrats, Kat and Luke =0). Just email us at robandlean@yahoo.com and give us your address, and we'll get this right out to you. We hope that you'll enjoy it, and thanks again to everyone who entered.

I'm not sure what we'll be giving away next week, but it will be one of our titanium bands. I'll post which one it is when we make up our minds, lol. Just check back on Monday for the giveaway post and comment =0).

Giving away a ring today!!

We're giving away a ring!!

This is a hand milled titanium band that we've inlaid with granite. It's a size 8.5, 1/4" wide.

This is how it works: simply comment on this blog post. Tomorrow, we will take everyone's name and have our five year old draw a winner (he's totally unbiased!) We'll announce the winner tomorrow afternoon and then contact you for mailing information. It's that easy. We used to do this every week and hope to do so again.

Good luck!

Our kids...

... are interesting people. They have lots of ideas. Some of them are good; some are not so good. They're really ambitious- they have that optimism that we all had when we were young: that we can do anything if we try hard enough. Sometimes we let them run with their ideas and projects, and sometimes we don't even let them get started (you know, if their idea might damage themselves, other people, or our property, lol.)

One thing they've been wanting to do for a very long time is dig a fish pond. Mitchell has probably been asking us to let him dig one for two years (if not longer.) Then his brothers and sister began asking. Rob and I envisioned muddy, half dug holes in our yard that would be abandoned once the digging got old. And we said NO, NO, NO. NO FISH PONDS...

...until we met another family of homeschoolers and visited their farm. They had not one but TWO ponds that their teenage son had dug. They weren't perfect, but they were really nice, and we could tell how proud he and his family were of them. And we got to thinking that we should probably lighten up a little and let the kids work on their fish pond idea. We had to adjust our thinking, stand back and realize that our kids aren't babies anymore, and trust that they're capable individuals. Instead of expecting the worst, we told them that they had permission to dig, and we sat back and expected the best.

Before I post pictures of the pond, let me say that Rob and I did not work on this pond at all. We did not dig on it, we did not line it, we did not move the rocks. All we did was offer advice if they asked us (we set limits on the size up front) and buy what they needed (liner, plants, fish, lights, and pump.) All of this was a collaborative effort on their part, from the oldest (almost 15) to the youngest (not quite 6.) We are super, super proud. They got the lights and pump set up (themselves) late this evening, and we all stood back to admire their work.



Is this pond perfect? No, it's not. Professionals did not build it. Our kids did, on their own, and we love it so much.



Joanna couldn't resist dipping her toes in the water...



...and neither could Hannah =0).

Rob and I are thrilled with the pond because the kids cooperated with one another, they saw it through to the end, and they did an excellent job. No cutting corners, no fighting amongst themselves, etc. They're proud of their accomplishment, and we're glad to see them feeling pride in a job well done. Plus, they just think the pond is cool, and stayed out there until waaay after dark... looking at the fish, and enjoying themselves.



And we think that's cool.