My apologies… some of these are a bit redundant, but Finn is particularly photogenic and it’s hard to quit clicking the camera when he’s posing.

They love those pine trees! A funny thing that happens during every walk is that Finn or Sputnik will rear up and stand on a branch to eat, which bends it way down. As soon as the shorter goats see Finn or Sputnik on a tree, several of them will usually race over and reap the benefits, so I don’t often see just one of them going at it.

I love the dusting of snow on his back

Much like Cuzco, Finn is gorgeous and he knows it.

The beauty of this place sometimes takes my breath away.

“Hi Sputnik!”

I love that dinosaur profile of his! Just look at the size of that Roman nose!

“Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up!”

“Close enough! Close enough!”

We had some more snow the other day and boy did it get cold this time! The babies love the snow and don’t seem to be bothered by the temperature drop.
“Chase Uncle Finn down the hill–Wheee!!!”

Rambo looks like he belongs on a Christmas card!

Little Coral was sure feisty yesterday! She tried to pick fights with everyone, but most of the goats weren’t having it. This little fuzzball showed up pregnant on her blood test, so she’s expecting kids in June!

The babies have discovered the joys of leaping onto rocks.

I’m not sure what got into TinCup, but she sure looks excited!

And in other news, Tigerlily is definitely starting to show. Look at that belly starting to droop! She’s expecting kids around April 10th.

Ladies at the salad bar.

Blackbird shows up good against the snow!

“Run faster, Skeeter! Get those ears flapping and maybe you can fly!”

Little tracks and big tracks.

Mmm… loose minerals.

A brief father and daughter moment before Petunia turned around and whacked him away. I love that my bucks are gentle with babies. Neither of them has tried to do more than sniff curiously at them, but mama is suspicious.

When mama wasn’t looking, Blackbird and Skeeter introduced themselves formally to Daisy. You can see the worried look on Daisy’s face. She adores baby goats, but Petunia has been protective of these two and has swatted Daisy and Pluto for looking too close.

True love. Mama isn’t around and Daisy’s in heaven. Look at that tail!

I have to say, of all the babies we’ve had around here, we might be having the most fun with these two. For one thing, these are the first kids that have not once pottied in the house, which means they get to come in the house a lot! We’ve had them in almost every night since they were born so they could sit on the couch and watch movies with us. They love this couch now, and lately they’ve taken to bouncing on it while we’re fixing popcorn or whatever.

I have to post these two pictures together. This is me and Skeeter the other night.

And here’s me and Sputnik almost four years ago.

I love how baby goats are almost fluid in their ability to curl up with their heads flopped over. It looks like Phil has a rag doll goat on his lap!

The kids came up to the office the other day to help Phil in his work. Blackbird mostly wanted to help eat my chair. Gotta start these kids early if they’re going to grow up properly! Can’t have a goat that doesn’t chew everything in sight–it just wouldn’t be a real goat!

“Let me up?”

How many goats are on Phil’s lap? Can you spot them both?

The problem with Skeeter is that she’s so darn flashy she drowns out her rather more beautiful black sister. But you gotta love that eager little face!

If I didn’t know better I’d say this was one of Sputnik’s baby pictures!

I am beating myself over the head for not remembering to grab the camera today. We got about six inches of snow last night and the babies were absolutely thrilled with it when we took our afternoon walk. I wasn’t sure if Petunia would bring them because of the snow, but she wanted to go walking herself and by golly she wasn’t going to stay behind to watch kids! Time for these babies to toughen up and march even if the snow is over their knees!

They loved it! The spent most of the walk bouncing, leaping, cavorting, and racing through the new powder. They got snow dumped on their heads when they stood under the trees where the big goats were pulling down pine needles.

At one point Blackbird raced ahead with Finn and Sputnik when they took off from the herd to stage a little sparring match. She got in their way and both boys stopped their fight and stared at Blackbird who was staring back at them. Finn showed her his horns but Sputnik gently nudged her away with his nose before resuming their argument on a gentler scale. Both kids were tired by the end of the walk and I’ll bet they sleep good tonight!

Finn, beautiful as always.

Sputnik just as beautiful.

But they’re more beautiful together, don’t you think?

Apparently they find each other attractive too.

“We interrupt this bromantic moment to bring you some baby goats!”

“Uh, did we sign up for babysitting duty?”

“Ok, that thing seriously looks like my mini-me with Sputnik’s face on it. Weirdness.”

“I take no responsibility. I’m outta here, folks!”

Despite Finn’s reluctance to associate himself with this crew, you can see the family resemblance. Petunia is Finn’s older half-sister, and she is also Sputnik’s mother. So that makes Sputnik the older half-brother to these new doelings and Finn is the monkeys’ uncle.

“Look at that there big goat, Blackbird!”

I think she feels safer on the stump.

Now it’s Skeeter’s turn to be brave.

Nope, this one feels safer on the stump too!

Petunia and Sputnik have always been very close. I love how she’s using him for a headrest in these shots.

“Mama, I saw you use Sputnik for a pillow.”

“Can I use you for a couch?”

“No! A pillow is good enough for anybody.”

All right, now you’re going to have to indulge me as I took WAAAYYYY too many pictures yesterday. But it was such a beautiful day and the kids are now so bouncy and curious and fun but still tiny and cute and soft. It’s hard to put the camera down.

They’re going out with the herd now. The first few times we walked, Phil and I had to carry the kids part of the way. Not any more!

It’s hard to see in the melee, but take a look at Sputnik introducing himself to Blackbird on the rock. She was terrified of that big boy and immediately jumped down and ran to mama, but he was only curious and quite gentle.

“Wait for us!”

“We’re coming!”

“Mama just isn’t fast enough.” Look at that tongue hanging out–I think Petunia is tired from keeping up with kids all week!

Is this the caprine equivalent of a water cooler moment?

Gotta love those airplane ears!

Racing babies!

I love sweet mama-kid moments.

Does this little gal look like a Finn/Sputnik mashup or what?

Oh good, they figured out how to use both sides.

I love that Skeeter prance!

Meanwhile, Blackbird practices balancing on three legs on two different rocks!

She’s black velvet, folks.

In sync.

Whether you’re eating them or standing on them, stumps are the best!

Petunia says, “How about some love for me!”

We had a bit of snow on Monday night so our walks were muddy for a couple of days. The kids didn’t seem to mind too much. They tend to stick to the rocks whether there’s mud or not.

Blackbird is very hard to photograph!

Skeeter, on the other hand…

We’re having so much fun with these little critters. They’re coming for walks now and we bring them in the house every night to watch a movie on our laps. They’re growing so fast we can almost watch it happen in front of our eyes. These photos were taken last Monday and already they look ancient because the girls have grown so much.

Blackbird thought this stick was delicious.

But then she saw what Skeeter was eating. It’s important to fight over the same teat. You wouldn’t want to use up both of them!