There's no place like home!

Give me the choice between going out somewhere exciting, or staying home, and I will pick staying home most of the time. I love being home, and so do our girls. Home is where we feel safe to be who we really are. To get creative and explore our God given talents, or find out that maybe we aren't quite as talented in one area that we thought we were.....like sewing...:-o I am here to say that the Lord has yet to bless me with that talent. :-)

We had several offers of get togethers today, but we politely declined them all. We wanted to be home. I surprised the girls with a fun day off from school. They normally only get a day off when we have to go somewhere or do something. They are normally pretty busy girls with their school and chores, and I felt like they needed a day to just have fun with each other. I read to them for most of the morning and they just played Lego's. When I was done reading, they wanted to know what they HAD to do next. I just looked at them and said "NOTHING!" Boy, you should have seen their jaws drop. They continued to play Lego's for a good part of the morning, so I decided to do what else...Move furniture! :-)

Our Master Bedroom 20 minutes into the makeover....

Two hours later.....

 I am pretty pleased with it...sure hope Sweet Man is...:-o

After the big room overhaul we decided to make a mess...a painting mess that is!

 What to do with all of those potatoes that have eyes growing out of them....potato stamps of course!

 Chip board makes for good abstract art painting as well.

I think we need more days at home! It's good for the soul....and the house gets organized too! :-)

Granola bars :)

Snacks are something that  moms needs to have a whole list of recipes for. You need at least two a day for numerous hungry mouths. Tomorrow one of my sweet little princesses has an American Heritage Girl meeting, and I get to bring the snack. :-) I wanted it to be healthy, but yummy. Homemade but easy. Something that my sweet little princess could help with. Hmmmm....Oh I know... Granola bars! Yes, that sounds just right. The girls cooking class at co-op made some the other day, and they were a hit. Thanks to that co-op momma for this yummy recipe!

 You definitely need a HUGE bowl,

 ingredients will be flying out onto the floor, if you don't.

2 cups of oats

3/4 packed brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/8 cup dried cranberries

1/8 cup chocolate chips

3/4 teaspoons salt

Mix all dry ingredients together and then form a well in the center.

Add the following wet ingredients

1 egg beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)

Even though you already had your princess wash her hands at the start of this cooking lesson, have her do it again. You just never know how clean those hands actually are ya know! You might want to ask her to not put her foot in the pan too! ;) For this next part you will need to spread it into a greased pan. Spraying your hands with a little bit of cooking oil can be quite helpful here.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for around 25 minutes. 

To pass the time you might want to play a round of cards.

Or maybe put this sweet chicken ....

Where she belongs!

"What's that! Oh yeah, It's the timer!"....Twenty Five minutes sure does fly by!

Homemade healthy Granola Bars. That wasn't hard at all! :-)

All tied up....

I have often heard it be said, that kids develop the skills they need for adulthood, while they are children. This theory might explain why I cut the hair off of every Barbie or baby doll I owned as a child. I later grew up and went to beauty school, and with all of that practice under my belt, I was able to graduate. ;-)  Thinking about this has opened my eyes to try and observe what life skills God might be instilling in my children.

Starting to get a little nervous over here.... ;)

Chicken house complete! :-)

Sweet Man and I finally carved out enough time, to finish the big chicken coop. We reclaimed some limbs from the forest, to make the perfect roosts. The girls did the lovely art work on the walls. ;-) 

Their nesting boxes were finished, just in time. The new hens have decided this is their time to shine, and their laying has begun!

The re-purposed screen door was re-screened, and the human section was finally divided from the side that accumulates layers and layers of poo. I don't care how old your shoes are, no one likes to open a door and step on fresh poo. It's slippery ya know. ;-)

Sweet Man made a lovely shelf to store my hay. Did you know chickens LOVE hay? They love to scratch around in it and peck out all of the seeds they can find. This is especially nice in winter, when foraging for wild greens isn't possible.

They seemed quite pleased that their abode was getting some much needed attention.

We were getting a lot of attention as well. They wouldn't leave us alone. Do you know how hard it is to work around this many chickens? I can tell they really love their home, just wish they loved it enough to stop roosting in my porch ceiling. :-o

Glue Yarn Balls

The girls and I got an invite for a craft date the other day, and we were so excited. Not only were we going to meet new homeschool buddies, we were going to learn a new craft. The craft? Glue yarn balls.  Not only was this craft super adorable, but easy enough for the kids to actually do.

I fell in love with our new friends and this craft instantly! I am already trying to figure out how many places I can display these cute little balls of creativity, for we will be making more in the near future.

We had to let them dry overnight,

So I guess you could say this activity taught patience as well! ;-)

A fun filled girly craft day. Now that is what I call a good time!

Puppets and PJ's

The perfect way to end a wonderful day....

Wordless Wednesday...

Things that come with Spring....

Spring just makes you want to do stuff. 

It makes you want to clean out cabinets, and put beautiful dishes on display.

 It makes you want to reorganize your last years bounty, and get ready for this years.

It makes you want to go for a bike ride...

Play freeze tag in the field...

Or make a mud pie!

It makes you want have club meetings with pals and onion grass....

Or cut a whole in your ceiling. WHAT???? A WHOLE IN YOUR CEILING???

"Sweet Man, this will not do at all!

 It does not go with my new color scheme, and I was not going for the loft feeling here!" 

 *SIGH* Apparently spring makes PVC pipes want to leak, and ruin things. We found the culprit....but not before tearing out a potty that was perfectly fine.

So tonight the princesses are without a potty, and the King and Queen without their beloved master bath shower. That's ok. The well was dry anyway. ;-)

A wonderful spring day, and a little surprise to go with it!

Today was WONDERFUL! My first full day off from work, since January 15th. I was beside myself with excitement. I couldn't decide what to do with myself. I decided to start the morning off with my devotions and coffee. With having to get myself and the girls dressed and in the car by 8:30 all last week, neither of those two activities were able to be enjoyed. Perhaps that is why everything seemed so overwhelming last week?

Then I decided to finish the painting project I started yesterday. 

It looks white in the picture, but it is actually a light cream. I couldn't remember why I didn't paint lighter colors before. They brighten up the room so much, and add a cheery feeling to the atmosphere.

While the first coat was drying, I thought I would check on the chickens. To my surprise some of our new hens decided this was a great day as well, and to prove it they left a little gift for me! 19 eggs!!

They like bright colors too!

We had our friends meet us in the woods, and since the weather was perfect for playing outside, that is just what they did. They played for hours, not sure exactly what they were doing. I was cleaning my house, with no kids. It was really nice. :-) Don't worry, I poked my head out every once in awhile to make sure all heads were accounted for! :-) Three girls roller bladed with two pairs of skates. :-o

You can't have a spring day without a little creek playing.

And of course, some chicken watching.

 You see this lady? Well she is the bonus hen that the hatchery sent us for buying so many chickens. They described her as being rare and exotic. Well...she is indeed a HE! Thanks so much for the bonus rooster hatchery workers...LOL

Then the children discovered how sticky and cool, our red clay mud is.

 You can mold it and roll it...

 And even put it in a pan!

Oh yeah....now I remember why I didn't paint our house in light colors before. :-o