Who doesn't like a good surprise for breakfast

Growing up in my parents house there was one thing I could always count on, my Mom making us a hot breakfast. It wasn't always fancy, but I rarely remember her giving us a pop tart or a bowl of ceral. We woke up to oatmeal, cream of wheat, eggs and biscuits or even pancakes in shapes of our favorite characters. When I became a Mom I realized what a labor of love that was, and that I wanted to do the same. Now that my girls are getting older they have figured out that if they are the first one up they will get to be my "helper", which normally ends in a messy kitchen and a late breakfast, but hey, I'm working on making memories here! This morning it was Hope who joined me first, so I let her pick the breakfast. She chose strawberry surprise muffins.

 The recipe calls for strawberry jam, but when you have a whole shelf full of jam you just pick whatever floats your boat that day. Today it was raspberry. :-)

With all of our ingredients line up Sadie soon joined us in the kitchen. After the sweet little princesses got done fighting over who would stir and who would add the ingredients, it went pretty smooth. ;-)

 They went perfectly with a cold glass of almond milk! (And yes I had to tell the girls they couldn't eat one until I took the picture..hey I have a blog now ya know)
;-)

STRAWBERRY SURPRISE MUFFINS
1 cup flour (we use whole wheat) 3 tablespoons honey 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1/2 cup yogurt (any flavor or plain) 2 tablespoons melted butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla jam  Mix everything except the jam, until flour is moistened. Fill greased muffin tins 1/2 full. Add a spoonful of jam, then more batter to fill cups 2/3rds full.Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

After breakfast and school was taken care of for the day, I had a few chores that needed to be addressed. One being those sweet little chicks that are residing in my laundry room. One of the little stinkers figured out that she could fly and after I put her back in the box she procedded to tell all her peeps that there is a whole wide world outside their little box. Now, even though I think that carpet cleaning commercial where they are talking about the free ranging house chicken is hilarous, I do not wish to have one. Being a "farm girl" has taught me to be creative, so I decided to wander out to the garage to see what I could find to rememdy this problem.  

As I step out on the backporch I am greeted by this big guy...

 

And I can't find my broom  weapon...but wait, what's this??

Oooooohh, and it even has a pokey thing on the end. I think this will work just fine!

Yep, sure does! When I make it to the garage, I of course have completely forgotten what in the world I even came here for. I stand around and scratch my head for a bit. Oh YEAH, I'm supposed to reclaiming my laundry room from a flock of chickens.  I trudge back to the house weapon and screen in hand. These chickens will NOT get the best of me!!!!

When I am done, I stand back and admire my work. 

it's nowhere near as fancy as Sweet Man would have made it. 

He would have put hinges on it with a sky light and exhaust fan I'm sure...

You see how farming brings out creativity? 

I am even using a pool stick for their little roost. :-0 

Bet you don't want to come over and play pool now....