Robin's 9th birthday

We had a Cinderella themed party.

Robin invited 7 friends to go see the New Cinderella movie. 6 friends could made it.

Most of the girls dressed up in princess type dresses to go see the movie, Robin even had the tiara Ella wore in the movie on her wedding day

They chose to sit at the very top row. The girls ate lot and lots of popcorn and washed it down with so much water I felt like 1/2 movie I was in the Bathroom with them.

I wanted to make these but I quickly realized without a mini vice I was going to drill a hole in my hand before I made it through the gumballs. ...Maybe next time

 So instead the girls got  crazy straws. Who doesn't love those? And pearlized gumballs.

The movie was great we all loved it. It was very similar to Ever After with Drew Barrymore ( we LOVE) that movie.

After the movie we went down to the mall for cupcakes topped with plastic sea turtles. ( Robin loves Sea Turtles and all things ocean)

Then present time, she was very excited to see how well her friends knew her and got her some great things. Most of all she was happy to be with friends and just hang out!

She loves everything but this heart box was her favorite.

This journal was so clever because her birthday in on Earthday!!

Mama and Papa Bird got her

On her actual birthday we went out to eat at a Lebanese place she likes All of my little birds get to choose where to eat on their birthday.

Grandma joined us and gifted Robin with some Ocean stuff for her new Ocean themed room. She picked it all out but I tricked her into thinking they did not have it at the store when Grandma went to get it.

Workout Wednsday ..... What is that?

Time to get fit...... again....

I was working out after I had Canary. I dropped weight, I was doing good.

Then we bought a farm and I have been working on the new house and the old house all day. Working yes but not working out. I looked in the mirror today as I was getting in the shower and I knew that  things need to change!

I got on the scale...............168.5! WHAT!!!!

Okay time to change.

The trouble with me is that when I do something I like to dive right in and do it hard and fast. I want to  do a 10 day  juice fast to reset my body but I cannot do that while nursing ( you detox though your breast milk  because it is really just a modified sweat gland.)

So time to start  sweating and changing up my diet again.

I need to focus on me and  getting fit and  not focus on those who are around me who want to live lazy unhealthy lives, Maybe my change will cause those around me to change as well.

I saw this on Facebook last week, As for today I am getting on my bike and leaving 14 yr old Falcon with the 4 littles while I go bike ride around the new city.


To health.... cheers!

Moments of joy this week.

 Watching baby C. share her sucker with Falcon

 Ducklings and baby C together = so much cuteness. She just reached over and grabbed Mr. Yum Yum ( that is what I named our Peking duck  because we are gonna eat him)

 On Easter I lead our 4 week old Khaki Campbells to the pond for the first time, they loved it and now happly march out there every morning.

 That moment when you squat down while painting ( the old house) and split open your pants! I had to laugh it was so funny. Robin took this pic while I was touching up the ceiling.

Canary at her first music class- she LOVES all this music.

Life is good, busy and full of joy when you are open to it.

Just a smattering of schooly stuff

Art time: let's draw a fox....

Owl  did very well, I even made a tiny fox to go in my project life album. ( New years resolution, to create more art)

Strange that Duck made a colorful fox. Usually it is Owl wanting to make whatever we are doing in all colors of the rainbow.

Robin said her fox looked like a Red Squirrel so she made sure to rename hers!

Just a random photo of an ice cream shop near us  with people lined up outside in the snow to eat!

MATH  time

Using our inchanimals to measure things around the house. It is Girl Scout cookies time! Here is an amazon link to that toy 

Baby C. was measuring her kittens when she decided they needed to nurse. This is the best toy ever the mama cat has magnetic nipples so the kitties can drink.Here is the link to purchase it on Amazon

Geography time:

Duck worked so hard when we studied Australia making a factbook about the Blue Fairy penguin.

Facts done by him!

 

When you notice the wall you just painted next to the brown cupboard matches the beer you just cracked open.

Poetry time:

Doing our weekly Tea time with poetry. Robin is reading some poems that were mailed to us from our poetry group.Falcon ( yes he still exists) is hiding behind his hot cup of tea with his mug he got in Chicago with his Boyscout Troop.

I am sad every time he uses the cup because I wonder if I broke his mug on accident. He brought it home from Chicago and  left it in his bag, I think I may have moved his bag (most likely not in a very gentle way if he left it out). At least the mug is still usable.

Working on poetry, I had Duck match together the rhyme card then create 2 poems from them.

1.There was a toad on the road
Who saw a goose and a moose
They saw a bear on a chair watching Woody Woodpecker!

2.A duck was in a truck
with a toy dragon in a wagon

Tampons and toilet paper = great toys!!

Earlier this week....

Moms of little ones  know that no where in the house is private. If I even shut the bathroom door  for just a moment kids freak out like I left the country. Seriously, it's like they have a 6th sense about it they will come running the moment I shut the door.  

So I was using the bathroom and baby Canary was having a blast taking a tampon that was on the floor and putting it through the tube of a toilet paper roll. She was having a blast so when I was finished I picked her, the tampon, and the toilet paper roll up put her in the room I was doing school work in with the older kids and she was happy for a good 20 minutes.

Yup, I am that mom that will let her baby play with tampons and toilet paper!

 Put it in, take it out - so fun!

 Put it in then....

lift up and shake to watch the tampon come back out!

Rewind

About  4 years ago when Owl or Duck were toddlers they got into a Costco size box of tampons. They would unwrap them then "shoot" them out of the applicator like a bombs all over the house. I really needed them out of my hair at the moment so I let them ruin an entire box of tampons. It was seriously worth the money though because they stayed busy for 2 hours playing war games with them.

KNOCK! KNOCK! ~ The gas man arrived, Imagine the look on his face as he stepped  over the many piles of tampons and wrappers all over the house. I laughed and said to him "my little ones got into them and are quite happy and out of my hair"  I shrugged. He laughed!

So new Moms, got a cranky toddler? Throw them some personal hygiene products and they will be happy for hours.

******RIGHT NOW******

Poor baby C is sick and clingy and I am getting nothing done today. Then I got out the wooden blocks that baby C has never played with. ( remembering her joy earlier this week with the tampon and toilet paper roll)

Dowel and a block with a hole, just like the tampon and toilet paper role but safer and less expensive!

A different block that fits the dowel.

 Then I found this little blue block so I gave her a pen to put through the holes ( under supervision of course.)

Look how much laundry I was able to fold ( 3 loads) while she was happily playing with her wood dowels and blocks with holes. This is real life so you may see actual underwear, it is clean and folded though!! She was entertained for almost 45 minutes (which is quite a long time for a toddler.)

So a quick google search for tampons and toilet paper lead me to this blogger click HERE

She knows all about toddlers, tampons and toilet paper.

This is a picture from her blog.

Baby C. likes to unroll the toilet paper too!

Springing into our new farmstead!

So Spring is here,..... now the real work begins.

After buying a farm at an auction  last summer and moving in during the first week of November I have had quite  a hard time keeping my head above water.

The house was not move in ready it needs a lot of work.

What we have done over the winter:

1. Paint all 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.

2. Painted 1/2 the kitchen ( working on that presently) I usually do not like green but I LOVE these green walls and cannot wait to make it look like a Mexican kitchen.

 This makes me happy :)

Still working on the yellow for the other side of the room.

3. Got the new heated floors in and ripped out old heating system in the east wing! ( the house in not a mansion but it is LONG and I joked the first day we moved in about the long hallway with bookshelves and bedrooms being the east wing.)

4. Put down all new wood flooring in the East wing.

5 Had a new well dug.

6. Put in a whole house filtration system

7 Cleaned up lots of debris left all over 15 acres! ( still working on that)

( some near the barn, Garage and back of the house)

8 Unpacked 2/3 of our stuff

9. Ripped out some kitchen cupboards and appliances that were built in.

There is so much that needs to be done, not only are we trying to get the house ready and in a happy livable condition ( the mess and chaos is driving me MAD) but we are trying to get the outbuildings ready for animals and the land ready for planting. We are building a chicken coop to house over 100 laying hens as well. We not only bought a house but we are going to try and make a living at organic, ethical farming.

The mission statement I came up with last night:

Providing happy healthy meat and veggies ( yes our veggies will be happy, lol) because you are what you eat!

 Some of our seeds trays germinating on my kitchen counter.

Okay, yes it sounds weird and will most likely NOT be the actually mission statement but seriously you are what you eat and what your animals eat.

I bought a handful of ducks to try out their eggs. Nature made them cute for a reason  beacause they are dirty, smelly messy creatures! I cannot wait to get them out of my house!

Falcon will is working on a duck house right now.

So friends if you do not see me this summer or I have no time for you, please do not take it personal I am actually BUSY!

At the end of the day, I am blessed. I try not to forget that

Painting like Mr. Popper.

The Mexico goodies hubby brought back.

 Mayan calendar

 Money, a yummy traditional candy,and Canary's Mexican baby name we named Maria Gonzalez

Sugar skull, my favorite!

Can't wait to get the farmhouse kitchen done now. I want the kitchen to look bright and fun with a Mexican flair.

This is the color I am putting on the kitchen walls. (This is a local fused glass studio) I color matched it, bought the paint and it is ready to go up tonight!

My painting jeans - all colors so far from the new house. Soon they will be yellow and orange too!

 I Painted the ceiling at the new house, and hope to get to the wall this week.

We are listening to Mr . Poppers Penguins right now on audio from the library and as I was painting today Duck says to me "Hey you are just like Mr. Popper." (I wish I could hire Mr. Popper to do this right now, I do not care for painting and I really am not very good at it, mainly because I rush ( then drip paint) or roll the paint to this because I do not want to keep going back to the paint tray.

We worked on  the old house getting it ready to paint and after painting there.One room mostly done

My favorite glass globe fell directly on my face when I was dusting it. I  literally saw stars when it came down on my face. It busted open my skin and left quite the lump.

Bye Bye fun mural my little birds painted.

Bye, Bye clouds I painted in Robin's room!

The old house is getting painted white and tan now for the renters!