Zack’s first day of summer vacation starts tomorrow!! His mom is coming down to celebrate with us, and weather permitting, we’ll top off the first weekend of summer of with some camping! I am SO SO SO excited about Zack not having a summer job this year. I’m sure we will be doing a lot of work around here, but he will get to spend just about 3 months together without schedules!
I hope everyone has a lovely Memorial Day weekend!
We had a very productive weekend, despite neglecting our big projects. ^ We even fit in fifty or so belly rubs for sweet Rosie.
We started the weekend plant shopping. We loaded our car up with all kinds of beauties. I’m someone who wants the inside to look as much like the outside as possible.We have enough for the inside, porch and deck. Friday night was better than Christmas for me!
We killed our first two chickens. They were our two biggest, and the bullies of the bunch. They were destroying (and in some cases, killing) our other hens. Hopefully now, the other hens can flourish, and live a happy, stress free life.
We may also have a rooster in the mix. We don’t want a rooster, so if we do keep him, he may have to roam free from the ladies. We don’t want our chicken population to get out of hand. We may end up giving him away (unless his papa is already attached…he has his daddy’s appreciation for all things birds).
^ Amelia tried to steal Daddy’s broom. She’s kind of a job thief. ^
Penelope was a mama’s girl big time! I am blessed with two snuggle bugs, and Miss Penelope delivered big time this weekend.
The girls found some canvas boxes and had races & train rides for days.
Every year we find new plants popping up around the yard. ^ This bush is one of them. We also have several patches of pink flowers, and some orange wild flowers (so far).
Rosie has been getting a lot of time with us, and even gets to come in for a bit most days. She lays just like ^ this ^ in the kitchen the whole time. I guess she just likes being closer to us…or she likes the cold floor.
We also went grocery shopping!!! Since we cook three full meals from as-close-to-scratch as we can, we run short of stuff quicker than we’d like. Noodles, rice, and beans are pretty much the only things we get that keep a while.
Zack has four and half days left of school! By lunch time Friday we plan to be celebrating by camping and enjoying the river! The rain can stay away for a day or two, right? It hasn’t shown any evidence that it is capable of staying away, but if it does, we’ll be camping!
Its no secret that we love our town and the people we’ve met here. They just keep giving and inviting. Saturday one of Zack’s students brought by a bunch of plants because he knew we were in search of plants that did well in full shade. He is also the guy who helped us build our coop last year.
^ The BEST smell!! ^
Aside from the layer of pollen on everything, spring here has been so nice. Once we paint our house we can really get into landscaping the yard. I can’t wait!!
All week I have been so sleepy and a rather boring mama. On occasion I am okay with giving myself a lazy day (or three…), but I don’t want to make a habit of it. Its not fair to the girls (although they don’t complain when mama feels not so great).
Anywaaaaaaay, its Friday and perfect outside. We shoveled oatmeal into our faces threw clothes on our backs and fled from the house this morning with no plan in mind.
Penelope earned a $1.25 for taking a carton of eggs to the neighbors yesterday, so our first order of business was to buy some bread and hunt down some geese. Geese in this town seemed to be unsure of our intentions, and acted as though our bread was poisoned. We eventually gave away the entire bag of bread, and the girls were thrilled about the whole activity! On our way back to the car, they stopped to play at a playground.
We walked over to the library and scored a bunch of books. I had every intention of attending Friday story time, but of course the day I remember what time it starts they stop in for the summer. Boo.
We cheered right on up when Zack told us he was on his lunch break! I had peanut butter and apples already in the car (never know when a picnic opportunity will present itself!) so we drove right on over to the school. Ping pong and conversation! Whooo!
We were on our way home for nap time when I decided to pass our house right on by. Three quarters were stilling in the van’s change tray and we couldn’t let them sit unused any longer! Fish need to be fed. :)
We used Daddy’s hat as the fish food holder…he won’t mind…
Penelope enjoys finding the number posts. On our way our of the park she told me she was sad that she didn’t find them all. She was too busy having fun, poor thing.
We stopped into one of the museums in the park. We often over look them, but someone had to go potty. Penelope literally jumped for joy when she found ^ ^ ^ this ^ ^ ^ rock collection. No joke.
On our way out of the museum, a lady working the front desk told us about a tree people take photos on. Three years and I never once noticed it! The girls were all too happy to humor me.
Spontaneous days always seem to be the most fun for us. Thankfully this one didn’t disappoint!
It rained all weekend here. Naturally, I fought the urge to crawl in bed and sleep away my days. We managed to work all weekend and make head way in quite a few projects, and deep cleaned (most of) the house.
^ She is drawing Mommy and Daddy hugging and Penelope and Amelia hugging. :) She is getting so good at drawing!!
This lady ^ ^ ^ made mac and cheese with hotdogs start to finish all by herself!!! I’m so proud of her! I didn’t even supervise, in fact I wasn’t even in the room.
We also made apple fritters from scratch, and ended the weekend with some pizza that involved a new crust recipe.
There is evidence of on going projects all around the house. Someday we may just finish one!
Zack is putting a cedar tree in the new coop for the hens to perch on! Right now it is nearly the size of our porch. He’s so creative. We sat on the porch during a downpour of rain and pealed of some bark. Well, I watched Zack from the comfort of the porch swing while he peeled some bark off of the tree. Moral support. :)
My brother, Ben, came to visit us (from Alabama) for a few days before we all head up to St. Louis to spend spring break with the rest of our family. I has been so nice having him here. The girls are completely smitten!
Since it was warm outside we took him up to our favorite park for supper.
Penelope taught him how to throw rocks over the cliff. Her skills cannot be beat. He tried his best, though.
We packed the girls Nutella & banana sandwiches + Craisins, instead of what we were eating, since we knew they wouldn’t want to wait. They also had most of Uncle Ben’s baked beans later.
She likes to eat all food front first.
Best buds.
“Mama who?” is the vibe I get around these two.
Ben also helped Penelope use a sling shot. She had trouble keeping the rock in it, but ended up being very good.
Could she be any cuter?? Her favorite game was throwing rocks down the hill. They always went directly to the left of her. We learned to get out of the way pretty quickly.
Bean thief. Okay, ‘all of your food thief.’ She soon learned Ben was an easy target.
Amelia counts. Penelope hides. :)
Ben played a few rounds of hide and seek with the girls while we packed up the dishes and hammock. They really enjoyed being able to roam without having to hold an adults hand (because of our secluded spot.).
The guys also did some archery at our house, and we made milkshakes and played games until we finally folded and called it a night.
