Friday, April 30, 2010

chicks and... forklifts?!



notice the paper towel? maiko put that down so the chicks didn't get any poop in his forklift...



they seemed to enjoy perching on the forks... that is until the kids started moving them up and down... don't worry this torture isn't going on anymore, the chicks have moved outside and i have one more post of chick pics for you.

Monday, April 26, 2010

mornings with bee


every morning, after maiko catches the bus and before eislee wakes up, me and bee get a little quiet time together...


this particular morning i was very sentimental and after sitting there looking at her little cup of milk sitting next to the books she was "reading" i decided i had to take a picture....


then all of a sudden... whoa! what was that!?


"take a picture of this mom!" says bee flashing it in front of the camera (i swear she came out of no where!)


well... time to get ready for school :) hope you have a great morning!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

a tea party picnic


it was a beautiful day and layla decided we "needed" to have a picnic...

she thought it should be a tea party picnic so we made lemon tea, sliced apples, and some blueberry muffins. the muffins were delicious! you can find the recipe here and they are quite healthy with whole wheat flour, oat bran, wheat germ, walnuts, banana, and blueberries.... also, the recipe calls for buttermilk but we didn't have that on hand so we mixed a tablespoon of white vinegar with one cup of milk and let it stand five minutes and voila!



the ducks decided they wanted to join us... one of the great things about having ducks is that it's like living in a duck park... you throw a little muffin out and they come a quacking...
of course one of the bad things about having ducks is also that it's like living in a duck park... very messy...

little sister was there too... enjoying being out in the sunshine, she loves picnics :)

for the birds...





this was a lot of fun... although i don't know how much the birds will enjoy them, they're a little small... but, either way, we had fun making them. we have this reward system going on with the kids for doing schoolwork at home. they get points for the schoolwork they do and extra points for doing it with a good attitude :) they finally reached their fifty point goal which earns them a trip to the swimming pool! i decided to get them these birdhouse kits too, so that they had something special they got the moment they hit their goal (and of course i thought they would be fun for our summer birds that are starting to arrive). it was so fun watching them paint and maiko is so good at the building! they're hanging outside now and i just love the color it adds to the yard! so even if the birds don't use them, i love them :)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

in celebration of earth day...


we picked up garbage in the field next to layla's school (i was so surprised how much garbage there was). afterward they gathered in a circle and played duck, duck, goose. what a bunch of cuties!
layla and her "best friend" chloe :) so sweet.
i have a few earth day goals of my own...

1. start using cloth wipes. i use cloth diapers but never made the wipe switch. this weekend i plan on cutting out some simple flannel squares and zigzag stitching the edges and making this wipe solution (more on that later).

2. start using cloth napkins at mealtime. i think this will be a fun and easy switch, and i honestly think cloth napkins work much better than paper napkins anyway. so this is another thing i plan to cut and hem this weekend.

3. cut way down on the use of plastic, especially plastic that gets disposed of. now i have been working on this one for awhile but one thing i have been having a hard time letting go of is ziplock bags. so i decided for earth day that i'm going to work really hard to cut them out completely (well... except for freezing berries, i haven't come up with an alternative for that yet).

4. and finally water conservation. this is another that we already work on but i feel like we've been letting it slip lately and what a good time to make it a priority again. not to mention as a family of five we use a lot more water than the average family even when we're watching it, so we really need to take that step.

so tell me... what are your goals?


is there anything sweeter?

oh how we love baby chicks... you may be thinking, "do you really need more chickens?" no we don't. we are just addicted to baby farm animals. i'm telling you, they are near impossible to pass up in the feed store! so tiny and cute. sigh. but of course then they grow up and start scratching up my flowers and pooping on my porch, this summer i'm sure i will be complaining, "i don't know why we got more chickens, they are sooo messy!"

but for now i will just peek in to their tiny box and pet their sweet little heads and try really really hard not to bring any more home. i'm serious i really have an addiction :)

i do have a pretty good excuse for buying some more this year... i've started selling eggs to some people at layla's school! pretty exciting. the chicks went and visited the kid's classrooms too! lots of fun! well, don't worry these are not the only chick pics you will be seeing... i already have some more on the camera... even cuter than these! promise i'll get them up soon!

Friday, April 16, 2010

photos on the farm




notice the ducks in the background? (above) love it.


also loving how they love to explore... the orchard is now their territory...

thought i would include a house photo because we're planning on painting this summer, so here's your before photo...





where did maiko go?



in the mud of course... in the picture below he's telling bee that she shouldn't come in the mud because she dosen't have rubber boots on like him... hmm...



does she listen? nope.


well... i heard that playing in mud is good for brain development, so we'll just leave it at that.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

almost there...


this girl is getting more and more mobile everyday. she will be crawling in no time.

eating solids

eislee is eating a small variety of food now, she started with some bananas i blended up for her (i made the mistake of blending with a little orange juice and she dosen't seem to be a fan of the tang). i also made her some carrots, i just steamed them until they were soft and ran them through the blender. she likes the carrots a lot. she has had some baby oatmeal mixed with breast milk too. whenever we have butternut squash or sweet potatoes for dinner i usually mash up a bit of that for her. it's pretty exciting! i'm really looking forward to making some of the recipes on this site http://www.nurturebaby.com/
they have lots of baby and toddler recipes, including a great first birthday cake :) i can't believe how fast that's coming up!

Friday, April 9, 2010

random cute photos


little lollipop lady...




lookin for a baby smile? here ya go...



and the lemonade stand... early one morning maiko and layla decided we needed a living room lemonade stand... what a great idea :)