Little miss Adeline came into this world on a beautiful Sunday morning surrounded with love. I woke up just before 3 am on Janurary 20th having mild contractions. I stayed in bed keeping track of the time for about an hour. At that point they got a little more intense so I got up and snuck downstairs. I stopped to fold some laundry and check on my big kids. They were tucked in tight so I shut the door and made my way downstairs. I put away some dishes, picked up toys, and made the necessary phone calls. At about... Continue reading

eggs trains by the tree snow on the ground sledding gettin' cozy hat hair and hot chocolate Continue reading

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I have the fall bug. Every fall I want to deep clean, organize, and decorate. I know that most people get the spring cleaning bug, but for me, it comes in the fall. It is a time when I really start focusing on our home and preparing to be spending lots of time IN it. I have lots of sewing projects in the works at the moment. This just happens to be the first one finished. I just bought a cheap plain white shower curtain from Target instead of trying to sew a curtain. It cost $15. I figured that... Continue reading

Pretty colors from the garden ~ My helpers ~ Chestnut collecting ~ We made this soup with them. It is hard work, but quite tasty. Decorating ~ Oh and the knitting has begun ~ Continue reading

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We had a rough morning last week. When went out to check on the chickies we found that the door hadn't been properly latched. A wiley raccoon or 4 took that opportunity to eat some of our girls. There were many tears. Nine in all were taken. Two of our fastest and hardest to catch somehow made it. We thought that only two had survived when we heard a peeping from behind the trash can. There was Goldie. Now we have three survivors. Fluffy(Ruby), Goldie, and Maple. I swear they changed after that. They let me catch them and they... Continue reading

With the weather cooling off, the tomatoes are slowing down, the tea is flowing, soup and roasts are creeping into the dinner routine, and the kids are off at school. Next week things will really pick up as soccer and dance begin and reminding me that hockey is just around the corner. The thing is that I am a little excited to be getting back to our routines. Quiet days with just the little man and Pandora make up for the craziness of the evenings and weekend flurry. Right now I am enjoying the Kate Wolf station on Pandora. This... Continue reading

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It is so cool and fall like today!! Beautiful! Since I can turn on the oven without making everyone miserable I am trying to process the bounty from the garden. I can hardly keep up with all of it! Today I made.... Bruchetta with the pesto I made last week and a tomato on a baguette for lunch. Pumpkin muffins with the first of the pie pumpkins and the last of 2011's applesauce. Katie~ These are like your famous muffins mom!" I love her! We toasted the pumpkin seeds for snack. Yum! Two gallons of Kosher dill pickles were made... Continue reading

It has been an ordinary day full of amazing little moments today. This morning when we went out to check on the chicks we noticed that they finally managed to get up to the perch. It must be all of those wing feathers that they have been growing. They have been trying and failing for days. It's pretty cute to watch them try to get up, miss, and then walk away as if it never happened. Do chicks get embarrassed? I wonder. On our way out to the country to pick peaches we stopped by a friends house to drop... Continue reading

for a special little two year old. Continue reading

After much looking and googling I think that we have figured out who is who. Maybe. Katie's favorite... Isabella the Buff Orpington Goldie the golden comet Gwen the Silver Laced Wynadotte Maple and Penny the Rhode Island Reds Hattie and Henrietta the Golen Laced Wynadottes Bertie and Beatrix the Barred Rocks Ruby and Pearl (who pooped on set) the Americaunas...we think:) Continue reading

The phone rang at 6:15 yesterday morning. Normally I would be put off, but not this time. We knew exactly who was calling. Katie and I washed the sleep out of our eyes, put on our shoes and headed out to the post office. It was so early that we had to go in the back door to sign for our peeping box. Miss K carried it out and gave me updates of beaks sticking out the whole way home. Oh the excitement when we got home and opened the box. Eleven little chickies were peeping away in there! These... Continue reading

We made a trip out to Blueberryfield Farm yesterday. It was a lovely day. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. The temperature was agreeable. And the bushes were busting with berries. We picked all that we could carry. Charlie didn't get any in his bucket. This morning I risked turning on the oven for the first time in weeks. We needed to make some blueberry boy bait. I used the original recipe. It is pretty good, but next time I will use butter instead of oil and add brown sugar and vanilla. Continue reading

The garden is thriving and we can hardly keep up. The winter was so mild that we were able to plant early. Now we are enjoying the early harvest. I tried my first three sisters garden this year. Actually I planted two. The one in the front is doing much better than the one in the back. I think with a mix of getting less water and taking the most wind it has been having to work extra hard. The wind storm last week really beat it up good. I lost some corn and squash. The good news is that... Continue reading

Well almost new. These photos were taken after she slept in it and while she was planting trees. Continue reading

It seems that every time we get a jar of bubbles around here, they spill in minutes. I am not a big fan of running to the store for more so we just made our own. We mixed 1/4 cup dish liquid with 3/4 cup water and a dash of glycerin. They work pretty good and since we have all of these ingredients on hand we will not be running out of bubbles again! Charlie has kept very busy chasing them singing "pop pop pop" interjecting an "oh man" when one pops before it gets off of the stick. And... Continue reading

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I spent the whole of this beautiful day in the garden with my little helper. We pulled lots of weeds, planted lots of seeds, transplanted, harvested, discovered worms and frogs, and got very dirty. It was a great day indeed. Continue reading

They beat me to it:) Continue reading

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