Sunday Afternoon

Michael is filling in for Ed at Sunday School for a couple of weeks. We decided our best bet would be to take two cars this morning to church. We can't get Dad into the building where Sunday School is held so we wouldn't be able to attend the class and would just be sitting around waiting for others for 30 minutes... Two cars worked well. 

After church we had lunch and came home to find - these two in our driveway! It's always fun to visit with Jared and Larissa. 

Michael has spent the afternoon working on his project to extend the foundation of the greenhouse. I started weeding the beds behind him and realized my hands are not as strong as they've been in year's past. I thought about it and have decided to go after the weeds with a hoe and then cover the beds with newsprint or cardboard and put compost on top of that.... I'll tackle them in the morning. Maybe I'll just put the chickens in there after the greenhouse is erected. So many options...

Sometime this afternoon Stacia decided she wanted to go sit on the sledding platform now that there was no snow on it. 

📷by Allie

Millie fussed until we let her out - she had a great time romping around with the girls. The main purpose of including a photo where you can't really see PEOPLE is to point out there is NO SNOW LEFT in the back yard! 

This year's chicks continue to provide us with entertainment. Some of them are getting little feathers. The barred rocks (black ones) crack us up. They run and "cannon ball" into the middle of the feeder or group of others. 

This heating plate keeps them warm and toasty...at night all 20 of them cuddle under it. 

I am looking forward to getting more eggs again. I am envisioning baked omelets, quiche and breakfast burritos in the freezer for breakfasts.  Our current 10 are basically keeping Grandpa in eggs. 

More Tidbits from the Week

I love everything about this photo! 

There is something undeniably sweet about grandblessings...and a grandblessing with a baby chick? Spectacular. 

Here are a few things I did not take photos of....lunch with Jennifer to brainstorm Women's ministry and connect, Allie's final pediatric dental cleaning, Dad's dental appointment, Bible studies with both Allie and Stacia, impromptu date with Michael and progress on the foundation for the greenhouse. 

Our days are getting longer, and those who don't sleep when the sun is up are getting tired. LOL  I believe we are gaining 5 minutes of sunlight every day. 

Summer is just around the corner when the coffee drive-throughs are giving out summery stickers! Right? 

Loving my outside walks - when I can fit them in. 

We took the Fall/Christmas/Valentines/Iditarod/Easter tree down. The sun has certainly arrived, and we know longer need it's cheer to brighten the house. 

The chickens and Dash LOVE the day after food co-op. I often am sent home with a box of spoiled produce - not good enough to pay for - but plenty good enough for the animals. 

Pietro is too proud to scramble with the hens. He oversees their mealtimes! He's a great rooster. 

This is the boys' year to host Mr. Gingerbread, but he's happy to enjoy a sleep-over with Livie and Willow. 

Whenever I am going somewhere I invite a girl to come with me to drive. They are making great progress! This week we continued driving on our highway and around town. We added roundabouts, 4 way stops and busy parking lots which increase their parking confidence. LOL 

In other car news, Michael and Alex took the Vibe to Anchorage for repairs. We told the girls we'll get it running ship shape and then it's up to them to keep up the maintenance. They replaced the clutch, a valve of some sort, the flywheel and the rocker cover gasket. It runs great now.  This required two trips to Anchorage. 

We are so happy life groups have begun again. We are enjoying reconnecting with previous members and getting to know new members. Dinners are a great addition to the evening. It is making for much more natural relationship building.  The young adults are always quick to pull out a game. Tonight, it was a "head bandz" sort of game. We spend the first hour visiting, playing games and eating and then another 20 - 30 minutes discussing various themes centered around loving God and others well.  Members in our group range from 12 - 72 (81 if Grandpa decides to attend). 

Stacia was the first to take a stab at the Fred Meyers parking lot. 

On Saturday we transferred the chicks from the Rubbermaid tote to the newly repaired brooder. This is an ingenious design created by Michael.  They have much more room in here for food and water to be separated.  At night they all huddle under the yellow heat plate. It has a top and is secured when closed.  As they reach their "teen" stage, we open the top and they hop in and out and wander around the yard. 

It's wonderful to have the girls home tonight. They had a great time at KrUke's. They earned some spending money doing a bit of yard clean up for them. Krista planned to take the girls shopping for Christmas and it never happened.  Stacia enjoyed spending her budget at Metro Cook and got some really cool new toys.  Allie spent her budget at Burlington and came home with some fantastic summery dresses, shirts and a pair of sandals to wear with dresses. 

📷by Krista

Krista sent home a loaf of the most wonderful bread from Great Harvest Bakery. This led to an impromptu tea party where the girls shared all the fun stories of their sleepover with Krista. 

Check out the tea cup.  I had a local potter make them. She originally went white with a butterfly until I convinced her I wanted the same glaze/look she gives her mugs. They are GREAT. Each of the girls got one at our Christmas Adam Tea this year. 

OH! The girls turned in their final work samples for the year and I submitted their grades as well.  They will continue ASL and Japanese through the summer - that's how we learn languages...and we have one final Brit Lit Tea to schedule for next week. That's a fun way to bring the class and the year to a close. I do wish we had a local tea house.   It's been a great school year; and it feels really good to end the year early! LOL 

Jennifer, a fellow homeschool mom, shared these thoughts on Facebook as she finishes homeschooling her youngest. They speak to me as we begin planning for Stacia's Senior year.  "I've been so busy with the journey, that the ending has taken me by surprise. The days are long but the years are short."  I plan to stay fully engaged in the journey, but I want to remember to celebrate the milestones as we finish this family journey of homeschooling.....we do have several grands who are homeschooling, maybe I can offer myself as a pinch teacher.  I really am quite befuddled to realize this is our BABY'S senior year we're planning. 

It's Hard to Believe!

Bella has turned six years old! We celebrated her birthday today as Izaak was home. Isn't her dress beautiful? 

Gideon loves to help open gifts! It was fun to listen to their comments as they opened gifts. 

📷via BreAnne

📷via BreAnne

📷Bre's Facebook 

Jojo (17 months)📷by BreAnne

It's amazing to think back to how much has changed in the six years of Bella's life. 

TGIF

Thank God it's FROSTING Day!  Yep, one can only take so much moist, from scratch, chocolate cake and frosting sitting around the house. I am GLAD it's time to assemble and decorate Bella's cake. Last week was just a trial cake - to drive us all crazy with temptation. Just take a look at the huge amounts of buttercream frosting in that pan. 

It turned in to this.  A retro princess cake. 

Before the cake came Bible study with Stacia, followed by a quick run to Freddies for a few supplies. Stacia had just enough time to make all the frosting before we ran out to visit the esthetician. The girls and I got our eyebrows waxed. We've been looking for a place we'd like in Palmer, we found it. In keeping with Michael's car philosophy... I told them I'd start them out with a good set of eyebrows and they could pay to maintain them. ::Snort:: 

Our next stop was the bank and then we were home again. Stacia decorated the cake. Michael worked on a project in the garage. I'm not sure what Allie worked on, I know she asked me a few college questions so I suspect it had to do with the ongoing enrollment process. I made a couple of beds, folded a couple of loads of laundry and ran a load of dishes. Grandpa wanted another nap. 

We had planned to take the girls to Anchorage to spend the night with Krista and take Grandpa out to dinner. Grandpa decided he didn't want to go out. The boys didn't want to go out either. That worked nicely as they stayed home, and I got to ride along. We took the girls to dinner. It was great to catch up with Chaplain N and we know the girls love to spend time with KrUke. Michael and I enjoyed a mini date on the ride home. The girls went out shopping....

Stacia, Krista, Allie 📷by Krista

I've been told shopping makes one hungry for ice cream. LOL 

The Chicks are Here

 

It's CHICK DAY! Our local chicken farmer has chicks. We seem to be 2 less than we ordered...but we have 20 new chicks. We had wanted 12 novogen and they subbed Bovans Goldline. I've not heard much about this breed, but he insists they are great layers, and he has lots of them on his farm.  We also bought 5 Barred Plymouth Rock hens and we had hoped for 5 "Colored Egg Layers" - these are some they breed for blue and green eggs. We only get 3 chicks.  I've been trying to reach them to either get a refund or get more chicks SOON....I wanted more color. LOL 

It's funny how everyone congregates when one has chicks in the house.  Michael made this wonderful brooder four years ago. Unfortunately, it didn't get put up in the rafters of the woodshed as we thought. The snow and ice cracked the bottom of the brooder. We were able to find another kiddie pool and Michael will fix this shortly. When it's fixed they'll have more space, it's fully enclosed and we can relax a bit about Millie. 

There's few things better than baby chicks!

Stacia gave Millie a look - she was curious. Then she began to train her. So far, so good. Millie is never left outside of her kennel if one of us are not right here with the chicks.  The chicks will soon be fully enclosed and then even if Millie jumps up she wouldn't be able to get to them. We'll move the chicks to the garage in a few weeks - it's still too drafty and cold. 

The price for hugging the chicks is one must then allow Millie to sit on one's lap and hug her! She's emotionally needy. 

Nothing says spring like a houseful of chicks!

Dad is amazed at how quiet they are - proof he needs to wear his hearing aids! 

Millie's Home Cut

When we realized a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't get Millie into the groomer until June 1st, we made the appointment and began to research other options. We called another place in town and they can't get her in until August...but they suggested we watch YouTube videos on doodle cuts.  There has been a bit of skepticism about how she will LOOK if we groom her, and how much time it will take...but SERIOUSLY...it's $125 every time we take her in, and she is supposed to go in every 6 weeks or so. We TRY to keep her in good shape. We DO brush her daily. We bathe her.  She's just a mess. 

My thought is to find some clippers and give it a shot...I mean if we butcher it, they can shave her in June or August.  Right? And if we learn how to do it, we can keep her shorter as it won't cost $125 to get her fit and trim. 

Her face is a mess. They leave it long....and since she can't see and we are not getting her in until August....I figured it was worth a try. 

Millie is smart. We let her get used to the scissors...she quickly learned if she came in close to cuddle, I couldn't cut her hair. 

Working together we figured it out.  We realize the cut isn't EVEN but she can see again. LOL 

This was all from her face. 

I am going to see if they have dog clippers at Animal Warehouse and we'll give her body and a leg or two a try next. I can tell it will be a rolling cut. LOL  As in it will take several days to get it done. 

She's already much more mannerly with just the face trim. LOL 

Pay No Attention

 Pay no attention to the young woman signing on the blog. LOL This is the simplest way to load a 4th quarter work sample for IDEA for Allie. LOL