Happy Easter!

"O LORD, I marvel that you should become incarnate, be crucified, dead, and buried. The grace calls forth my adoring wonder, for it is empty and You are risen: the four fold gospel attests it, the living witnesses prove it, and my heart's experience knows it. Grant me more and more of the resurrection life: may it rule me, may I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence." (Vally of Vision)

Happy Easter!

Clipping wings

The chicken yard has been a pretty happening place lately. This past week it got a lot of attention from me and Sweet Man. When I go grocery shopping I like to look for the phrase. "Free Range" when it comes to my meat. That phrase makes me think of rolling green pastures with animals enjoying life they way God intended them to. So naturally when we got our chickens, I wanted to them to be free ranging on our property. Spending their days scouting out bugs in our forests, or enjoying our grassy fields. NOT roosting on my patio furniture, hanging out on my porch fighting the dogs for the dog food. We had turned our old dairy barn and fenced in area to the mac daddy of chicken coops, but they were just not content to stay in the 1/2 acre or so, of alloted ranging space. First thing in the morning you could almost hear one say to the other "Hey look how green that grass is on the other side" and off they would fly, right over the fence. So we watched a little tutorial on YouTube about how to clip a chicken's wings, and got right to work. Clipping ALL 37 of them! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I can now catch a chicken in a mere few seconds.

They didn't seemed phased by this cruel little trick of ours.

 I love them so much more now, 

  that they aren't getting poo all over my porch!

There were a couple of other things that needed to be taken care of in the chicken yard. One being the mucking out of the main coop. Princess #1 wanted to help with this, and to get the eggs.  With the fact that our newest rooster had turned into the Tasmanian devil, it was not a safe place for the girls. He would in fact chase them all the way up to the back door, and wouldn't give up until they were in the house. I tried basically to kill him with my broom, but my soft bristles were no match for him. He just kept coming at me/them/anyone  he felt like. Sweet man ever so kindly "Took care" of him for me. :-) With the fact that he was gone I now had a helper with my chicken chores.

Since it was a chilly night Sweet man loaded our outdoor wood stove. It had the weirdest aroma though....smelled kinda like....chicken. ;-)

Canning for half price!

Everyone knows that growing you own food is not only better for you, but cheaper as well. This time of year I start getting excited for all of the produce that I can preserve, to feed my family through the fall and winter. To make that food cost even less, I am always on the look out for markdowns. Not only can you get great deals at the farmer's market/ grocery store on produce, you can get awesome deals on supplies as well. Canning supplies and spice mixes to be exact. I snagged all these deals the other day, and I am just super excited to get to work! Sure these are last years supplies that they moved out to get ready for the new ones. They are perfectly fine, and half the price.

Looks like we will be eating pickles, salsa, tomato sauce and jams in abundance this winter! :-)

Oh how I love a good deal!

On track with our unit study!

We might actually do it! We are on track to finish our 5 day unit study on Easter, in the alloted  FIVE days!! I have never in my life accomplished a unit study in the time frame they suggest. With this Sunday being Easter, I really wanted to have it completed. It has been a lot of work, but very rewarding. I can tell that God is using my feeble attempt to show these girls how special this day is. It has been awesome! The girls are enjoying all of the activities that go along with the study, and I am enjoying letting my house go to pot, so I can focus more on them. :-)

We learned how great of a servant Jesus was, and we were inspired to do a service as well. Blanket making for children in foster care seemed perfect. I hope those children receiving the blanket don't have allergies to cats. :-o

 We were able to participate in a resurrection egg hunt with our church. This egg hunt was a little bit different, and I loved it. There was an egg with a little piece of linen cloth in it representing the empty tomb. The child who found the special egg was to shout, "He is not here! He is risen, just as He said!" How special is that?!

Decorating some eggs of our own was on the agenda as well.

And with the fact that this unit study has required so much of my time, the girls actually had recess! Laundry still has to be done you know. :-)

 A six dollar yard sale find, yard toy, and some comfy PJ's make for an awesome time!

This unit study has been a blessing to this family. I can tell we have grown closer to God and each other. So thankful for this opportunity I have been given, to teach my children at home!

Wordless Wednesday (almost ;-)

 Princess #2 &3 reading a slightly out of date magazine (1812)

Princess pea party with AHG

FINALLY, porch sittin weather! :-)

One should always groom themselves. 

You never know when someone might pop in for a visit. :-o

When work is done, there is time for reading fun.

I just wouldn't have imagined it would be on top of my car. ;-)

The promise of Easter

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday. The children in the church blessed us adults, by walking up the center aisle waving palm branches and singing Hosanna in the highest. Now, if that doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, I don't know what will. It brought tears to my eyes seeing my children being taught the true meaning of Easter. It's not about cute bunnies or marshmallow peeps. Why do even we Christians forget this sometimes?

I have had an even stronger desire this year to teach my children how important these days are. The days of Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. I ordered a week long unit study just about these special days, and we will be doing it all week.

Yesterday was our first day, and this study brought up a lot of awesome conversations. Princess #3 asked if getting to heaven was really as simple as just believing in Jesus. When I answered "Yes" she was blown away that someone would decide to not do that. I had to agree! Kids just get it you know...

Working away on learning all about how special Easter really is.

I have also been thinking about how much work I put into teaching my girls to eat healthy food, and then give them special rewards for holidays that consist of more sugar than anyone should consume in a week, let alone a day. For this reason alone we opted out of buying our usual peanut butter eggs this year, that we make with our scouting troop. I just couldn't justify giving them that much sugar. I came up with another plan. I took our staple cookie recipe and covered it in melted  chocolate. Ok, sure the chocolate has SOME sugar...but not near as much as the usual peanut butter egg. I left out the chocolate chips in the recipe since it would be getting covered in plenty later. :-) I think the girls will love them!

And since bunnies are so dag on cute...I surprised the girls with one of those as well. Yes it was given to them early, but I have a thing for furry little critter babies. :-) Hey, Jesus made these as well. I just keep telling myself I am teaching them to love His creation. ;-)

 It's our new classroom pet. Every class room needs a pet ya know!

And who wouldn't want a cute little critter to stuff in a box and carry around the house? I know these three kiddos enjoyed it. :-) I will admit that I had forgotten just how much poo one little guy could make. Oh well, it's working great for the garden!

This Easter let's remember how special this time is. Let's not get caught up in the worldly ways of teaching our kids about a make believe bunny that brings you hollow chocolate candy. Jesus gave us the ultimate gift...that's enough. We don't need to add to that....and those hollow chocolate bunnies are so deceiving anyways! :-)

Six years of Hope

This past week has been a whirlwind of activities and responsibilities. So many neat things to blog about, but so little time to do it. One very important event though that can't go without being mentioned, a birthday. A sixth birthday to be exact. My sweet baby turned six on Wednesday April 13th.

I can not believe how much time has gone by. It seems like it was just yesterday that I had a brand new baby that weighed in at 8 pounds 8 oz.  A head full of dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. Sweet Man got to name this precious new addition to our family and he chose the name, Hope Alyssa. I thought it was perfect, for one cannot live without hope ya know. ;-)

When asked what this princess wanted to do to celebrate this wonderful occasion, she said "stay home." :-) I was thrilled. There's no place I would rather be!

Cupcakes were made and decorated.

Flowers were picked to decorate the house.

Tractor rides were a definite must,

 and the sisters were able to join in on this as well! (thank you Sweet Man)

Happy birthday Sweet Heart! You mean the world to us and we love you so much!!! You bring so much joy and laughter to our little family, and we just wouldn't be complete without YOU! You have taught me to enjoy the little things, eat dessert first, to play in the mud every chance you get, to just try harder when someone tells you that you can't do something, and to love on our animals more. You remind me so much of myself when I was your age, which can be a little frightening at times.... :-o...but oh so neat all the other times. We are both the babies of our families, and with that comes a sense of humor for sure. You crack me up all the time and bring sunshine to a gloomy day. Always be yourself, sweet heart, for that is the way God wanted you to be!