Lambs, lambs, lambs!

We were so blessed to have a great lambing year.  Last year was... tragic.  We had one surviving lamb and I won't go into details here.  I'll just say that to have all the births go well this year felt like a miracle.

We had five pregnant ewes and now we have 10 babies!  Three of our ewes birthed twins, one had a single, and one had triplets.  (We weren't even home when the triplets were born; the high school students watching our critters were the first to see and hold them. They also got the honor of naming them.)   

The triplets: Astro, Marie, and Gravity.

For the first time, Clare, Nora, and I got to watch a lamb being born.  I wasn't sure how the girls would take it, but they were very matter-of-fact about it.  The ewe was grunting and Nora said, "it sounds like she has to poop."  At one point all we could see were the front hooves and Nora said, "Oh, it's so cute!"  The commentary was pretty funny.  This is the lamb they saw enter the world and they immediately named it Cow.  Later, they thought maybe Spot would be more fitting, but Cow had already stuck.  

Cow

Lena was the first of our kids to see Midnight's babies.  She immediately named the brown boy lamb "Chocolate Pudding".  Then a few seconds later she called him "Brownie".  Then later, "Chocolate Pudding" again.  

Such an adorable baby face.  This is Brownie, or Chocolate Pudding.

Clare with Gravity.  We love how his ears hang down.

Clover with her baby Starlight (Lena named her).

Cow and Freckle, an adorable set of twins.

Karl holds Pepper.  

The first set of twins included Pepper and Cinnamon.  Our nieces named them as they were visiting at the time.  Karl is holding Pepper above.  Cinnamon is very bold and loves to nibble.  I was admiring the babies sleeping in the sun when I felt a tug on my shirt.  There was Cinnamon, getting a taste.  

Cinnamon

King Jimmy, our ram, is a really mellow guy.  He climbs up on his stall wall when we enter the barn, hoping for ear and neck scratches.  In this picture he's annoyed because I stopped petting him to snap the photo.  He has no idea he's solely responsible for all the crazy rambunctious lambs bouncing around.

King Jimmy

Nora was out in the barn when I had my camera and insisted on getting a photo taken with most of the lambs.  Pepper and Cinnamon are getting so big, she can't hold them anymore.

Chocolate Pudding, or Brownie

Freckle

Cow

Pepper being curious.

It's cute how - in the midst of all those ewes and lambs - the sets of twins (or triplets) will seek each other out and sleep together.  Here is Brownie again with his twin, Cupcake.  

I think I posted photos of all the babies - Pepper & Cinnamon, Brownie & Cupcake, Cow & Freckle, Starlight, Astro, Gravity and Marie.  Yep, that's 10.