Pop songs with Lilly

Lilly loves to sing. She will sing anything and everything, but what she sings the most are Christian radio and pop radio songs. This is what I heard her singing while painting a pumpkin.

More Patches....

The boy can't seem to keep holes out of his jeans. The school he goes to won't allow kids to wear holes in there jeans. Thus the delimma, constantly buy new jeans or start making patches. So the monster patch was born. For this last patch, I decided to do something different. the boy loves frogs, so that's what I tried.  I think it turned out all right. I might add a fly to the end of the tongue. The boy likes at and he can wear the jeans to school, so I proclaim it a success.

Here is the original monster patch with the new patch

The boy trying on the new patch with a serious case of bed head.

Chickens and Butter Mints - Things that Make me Happy

I'll admit it, I've been a horrible blogger this summer.  I've been in a bit of a funk, and haven't felt like posting lately.  Today though, I've decided to share with you my newest favorite things: chickens and butter mints. (not together of course.)

I can't remember if I wrote about the great chicken massacre of 2012, but long story short, all my chickens were killed.  Last week, I was able to procure 6 lovely pullets (chickens almost ready to start laying) and have sincerely loved watching them explore their new home.  I know this sounds silly, but cleaning out their coop, and watching them explore the yard brings me such a feeling of peace and calm.  I desperately need these few minutes everyday.  How I've missed having chickens.

Here's the run down of my new chickens.  I've got 3 Road Island Reds, my daughter has named them all Lovey.  Two Leghorns,  named Kazoo, and Lizzie by my son, and one Barred Rock named Bardy, palso named by my son. I'll update you more on them as they grow and start laying eggs.

Second, and probably the most harmful of my two new favorite things, are my homemade buttermints.  I found the recipe here on Pinterest, and cannot stop making them.  They are quite possibly the most delightful things I have every made.  I am a great lover of butter mints anyways. The recipe is easy to follow, though I don't add the food coloring.  keep them in the fridge for the perfect melt in your mouth treat.  Blame these when I end up 400 lbs.

A Rain Barrel at Last!

I've been trying to talk my husband into helping me make a rain barrel for a couple of months now.  Last weekend I finally wore him down. It's a slightly hillbilly rain barrel without a spigot, but hey it will work.  Well at least I hope it works, we haven't had rain in weeks, so it's really anybody's guess if this thing is going perform as it should.  I'm quite proud of it despite it's looks.

Here the boys are completely ready to help me.  They are so serious in their task.

This was the best place to place our barrel.  We needed to do a little pruning.

Why yes, that is me wielding a hack saw. 

Ty had to chop the gutter thing and refit it. (My terms are so technical aren't they?)

We cut a hole in the lid of the barrel, screwed and caulked some netting to the top of it, and voila. I can't wait for it to rain to see how it works. Super excited.  If it ever rains I will just have to open the lid and dip my watering can in to fill it up with the caught rain water. (I'm hoping to wear Ty down into putting a spigot on it next spring. We'll see how that goes.)

I Sort of Rocked this Tinker Bell Cake

My daughter turned 4 last weekend.  My sister and I have this tradition where we try to make an epic cake of the child's choosing every year.  Usually we do okay, but this year, I must say we totally rocked it.  My daughter requested a Tinker Bell cake, and after perusing Pinterest looking for ideas, we had a plan.

Haley came over the afternoon of Lilly's birthday, and we got the cakes I had baked earlier in the week out of the freezer, and got to work.

We mixed up the frosting

Then after applying it, I did this new trick I learned here, and smoothed the frosting with paper towel so it looked as smooth as fondant.

My sister added the trim, and I did my best at the curlicues.  Not to shabby.

Haley had the great idea of getting edible sparkles, so my son helped blow them on the cake

Here's the birthday girl showing off her new swimsuit and goggles on her way to her birthday party.

And here is out masterpiece.  Kind of awesome right? Haley and I are pretty sure it's the best cake we've ever made.  Maybe we should just retire now.

Lilly loved her cake, and had a fantastic birthday. Two points for me!

Dog Slippers for Babies

I have successfully made adorable dog slippers for a baby. I can know cross that off my bucket list. Okay, to be seriously, I had never really thought about dog slippers for babies until I came across the book called, Cutest Ever Baby Knits and found this pattern in it.  The timing was perfect since I had a baby shower I was suppose to go to that weekend.  I whipped these slippers up in no time, and have to admit they are pretty darn cute.

Planting, Playing and Catching Fish

This week I finally got off my depressed bum and tried to resume my life with a positive attitude.  The kids and I replanted the garden,(chemical run off from the field beside it killed half my garden), played outside in the gorgeous weather, and caught some fish. Here's the quick picture version of my week.

Here's one of two tepees I have for my beans to grow on.  It also doubles as a fort for the kids

Jumping on the trampoline

Fishing with my princess pole

Super excited about fishing with his new Lightning Mcqueen pole

Lilly with her first ever fish!

Lex holding Lilly's fish.  He caught a big bass, but it broke the line as we were pulling it out of the water.

Someday I'll Laugh About This......

I don't have a cute craft, or funny story about my kids today.  Instead, I have a ridiculous tale that involves myself, a scooter, darkness, a stubborn cheap husband, and a whole lot of rain.

Last night was bingo night.  Don't judge, I love to go to bingo with my mother and grandmother.  It's mostly for the conversation and the good food. I had asked my husband a couple of days ago if it would be alright if I went, and he had no problems with it.  I came home from work, got supper ready and was excited about my evening out, when my husband says, "you have to take the scooter into bingo. You can't go unless you take the scooter.  It's nice outside. You'll be fine."

For those of you who don't know Tyler, let me say this.  He loves me, but he is very, very money conscious. He will save money at any cost. ANY COST, as you will see. "I don't feel comfortable riding the scooter that far at night by myself." I said.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to ride my scooter.  It is fun and freeing, and I really really enjoy it DURING THE DAY.  My darling husband replied, "You'll be fine.  The more you do it, the more comfortable you'll feel.  You either ride the scooter or don't go." I rode the scooter, muttering angrily to myself the whole 25 miles and 40 minutes it took me to get to Kendallville  for bingo.

Bingo was delightful, and I enjoyed myself immensely.  At about 9:00 I got a call from my husband who sheepishly said this. "Umm, sugar....it's raining really hard here. Be careful driving home."  To which I said nothing.  I then told my mother that I hoped that I would die from pneumonia,and that it would serve him right.

Luckily I had packed mittens and my winter coat for the trip home, along with my full face helmet.  Needless to say I spent the next 50 minutes (I had to go slower in the POURING rain) hunched on my scooter driving down scary back roads in the pouring rain.

When I got home and was able to pry my fingers off the handle bars and park the scooter in the garage, I walked into a completely dark house. Yes, he didn't even wait up to make sure I made it home safely.
I then realized  that I was extremely cold, and extremely wet.  The rain had soaked through my winter coat, zip up sweatshirt, gray cardigan, long sleeve t-shirt, and tank top.  (Don't judge, I'm a layer-er.  At any given time I have at least 2 layers on.)

After putting dry close on, I continued to shake in my bed for 2 hours before I finally got warm enough to fall asleep.  When my husband woke up and tried to apologize, I told him to talk to his saved gas money because I didn't want to hear it.

Someday I'm sure I will laugh about this, but today is not that day.

New Patch!

Last night I had ANOTHER pair of my son's pants that needed a patch.   After my super cool monster patch, I decided to do another one.  Only this one is slightly different.  I'm kind of, sort of starting to like doing these patches!

Patches

My 5 year old son burns through jeans like a hefty bag full of rottweilers would.  It's insane.  At his school they are not allowed to wear jeans with holes in them, so this presents a little problem for me.  Either buy new jeans every two weeks or start patching them up. Being the thrifty mom that I am, I started patching.  After patching and re-patching some 10 holes throughout the last couple of months I decided to get a little creative with my patches.  Behold the monster patch!

I just put red fabric behind the hole to patch it, and then added some teeth and eyes.  I think it's pretty snazzy myself.  The boy seemed to like it too.  I guess  I'll be making monster patches from now one.

Hats and Glasses

This is going to be a quick little post so hold onto your skivvies. Lilly got a pair of fake glasses for Easter and wears them constantly! I couldn't help posting this picture because it is just so darn cute! I hope she doesn't get sick of these because chances are this girl going to have to get glass for real in the future.

Also, I crocheted this hat for a friend who wanted it for their newborn baby.  I haven't crocheted in years so I must say I'm pretty proud of this.  Cute huh? Who knew sock monkey hats would become so popular?

Knitting and Eventual Heartbreak

Lilly had been asking me to make her a cute little sweater like her brother's Frog Sweater. I found a sweater pattern by the same lady who made the frog sweater pattern.  It's for a bumble bee, but Lilly decided she wanted pink and purple instead.  So now it's some kind of lovebug, I guess.  Anyways, she picked out this cheapy yarn with sparkles in it, which is good since this story  does not end well, and I started knitting.

A sweater takes me awhile to knit since I only have time at night while I'm watching TV.  That girl just kept on pestering me, asking when it was going to be, was I done, can I finish it today.  So, with all this encouragement I decided to stay up late on Tuesday night and finish it as a surprise. (That's the end of the knitting part, now on to the heartbreak.)

I was so excited to show Lilly her sweater the next morning.  She squealed with glee and put it on. I took her to the mirror to show her how she looked in my knitted masterpiece.  She took one look at herself and said she wanted to take it off, and that she didn't want to wear it.  I didn't cry, I took it in stride and said, "Well, maybe you can wear it as a jacket today.  It's suppose to be a little chilly."  She ran off without replying.  When it was time to go, she told me she didn't want to wear it, and walked out the door to put her shoes on. I think she could tell she hurt my feelings because she came back inside and and told me she loved it and that it was beautiful, she just didn't want to wear it. I told her thanks, and then continued to try not to cry.

I was able to get her to put it on one more time later in the day so I could take these pictures. I think the sweater turned out really, cute, and maybe she will grow to like it. Or maybe not.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who has every knitted something for someone and they didn't like it, but man it kind of sucks.

Here it is in all it's unwanted glory.

I love the antenna. You can kind of see the sparkles in the pink yarn.

Lilly wanted flower buttons.

"can I take it off now"

Make this Today!

Holy Moly Canoli! I just got the new Ree Drummond cookbook, Food from my Frontier and decided to try some of the recipes.  Ok, that's dulling it down a little.  I got the book, screamed like a little girl, and then neglected my work whilst I ooooed and awwed over every page. I have her first cookbook and use it at least once a week.   As you probably know I am kind of addicted to Ree Drummond's Blog Thepioneerwoman.com go there just once and your life will never be the same.

So on Thursday I made the fabulously delicious apple dumplings featured in the book.  Here's the crazy thing.....they are made with Mountain Dew! Yea, I wasn't sure what to expect when I tasted them, but let's just say they are so addicting and wonderful that this is the 2nd batch I've made.  I don't feel right giving you the whole recipe since the book just came out this week, so go get the book and you won't be disappointed.  I also made the fried chicken tacos for supper and they were delightful I just forgot to take pictures. I was to busy stuffing my face!

Even the boy will eat them! He doesn't eat anything!

Chicken update: all four of our chicks are doing great, though I think I might have three roosters and one hen! What horrible luck.  Aren't they adorable? This is Princess.

Chicks!!!!!!

Isn't this a fantastic picture of a just hatched baby chick? Lex was transporting it from the incubator to the brooder.

We rushed home from work on Wednesday to find that two of our baby chicks had hatched early! The other two were soon pecking their way out of their shells.  Hatching chickens is something every family should do.  My kids were so amazed and awed watching those chickens hatch.  We had candled the eggs throughout the incubation process and they saw as the chick developed and grew bigger in the shell, until Wednesday they were finally ready to enter the world.  I'll admit I get as giddy as the kid do.  There is nothing sweeter than baby chicks.

This year we decided to hatch a different kind of chicken then we did last year.  We ordered 6 Barred Rock chickens.  My kids call them Zebra chickens because the adults have black and white striped feathers.  As chicks they are mostly black with a couple of yellow spots on their heads and wings.  If you thought yellow chicks were cute, you aren't going to believe these! I don't have any pictures right now of them with their feathers all dry and fluffed up, but even my husband who is a chicken hater, could not believe how cute they are! 

This one was the last in the group to hatch. Lex named it Kazoo

This is Lilly holding Princess. (Lilly named it)

Lex snuggling with Ally. (Lex named this one too)

Me holding Tinker Bell. (Lilly named this one too.)

Little Ballerina

This week is National Lutheran Schools Week at my kids' school, and today is hobby day.  My daughter decided she wanted to dress like a ballerina, because next year she gets to take ballet classes.  I put two adorable little sock buns in her hair and she was the picture of cuteness. I had to post the pictures.  Enjoy.

I don't know where she learned it, but that girls sure loves to pose!