Happy Easter

The best gift given at the greatest expense. I'm undeserving, but incredibly thankful.  He is risen! Happy Easter!

Mama Made: Easter Dresses Ready

Matching mama made dresses for my girls.


Oceanside

Thankful we live in a coastal town. Thankful that this time of year beaches are nearly empty. Thankful that at least once a week we drive by the ocean. Sometimes we make time to stop. Everytime we do, I'm reminded we need to stop more often. This time we swung by with friends on the way home. Thankful I happened to have my camera.  A quick hour breathes so much thankfulness into my heart. 



Hannafords Love

I love Hannafords.  For those of you who are not local, it's a grocery store. A couple years back one went in in a location that I drive by on my way home from work. LIFE CHANGING, this popping in quickly to the grocery store.  While Hannafords is a big chain, this particular Hannafords is small and quaint.  It has just what you need. I reminds me of Eddys from my hometown back in the day. Staff are always friendly and helpful.  They regularly ask if you found everything you needed.  Once I did not. They didn't have canning lids. Next time I went in there, they had a display out front of canning stuff.

With one other fabulous mom, we have led three months of cooking, food and nutrition classes for our 4-H club.  We decided to end our cooking block with a field trip to the grocery store. I *still* remember touring the grocery store when I was a 4-Her, and trying freshly sliced pineapple with my fellow 4-Hers. Thought it would be fun for our current 4-Hers. The store manager had a reusable bag with a paper hat for the kids.  They were instructed to use their star system to find two healthy things.  Adrian found grapefruit and multigrain sub rolls. Audra found a potato and garlic hummus.  Next they presented the kids with a healthy snack to enjoy in the store. Then they toured the bakery, more of the store and the meat department. Then they GAVE each kid the healthy items they picked. BUT, that's not all!  Our club was then doing some shopping for charity after. Hannafords FILLED a shopping cart with more items to donate to the charity we chose. We didn't ask them to double the kids' efforts, but they did. 

And now we have subs for dinner, grapefruit for breakfast, hummus for snack and a lot of potato holding.  Audra  just loves her potato and there are so many great things to make with potatoes that she cannot decide.  Perhaps the potato may be our new pet.

Hannafords not only for the win, but the ultimate trophy.  I'm proudly a Hannafords girl.


My Public Speakers

For the first time, my 4-H public speakers did their talks without me.

I was just sitting back and watching.  I couldn't tell you for sure, but I imagine you couldn't wipe a smile off of my face if you tried.

Proud of them and all our 4-Hers.



Old, Old, Old Bookstore

A couple of weeks ago, we found ourselves in an old, old, old bookstore.  Adrian marched right in and said "I'm looking for 'The Book of Cowboys' by Holling. Do you have it?" 

He didn't. But, was he ever thrilled to have book talk with Adrian. Adrian could talk about books all.day.long. Like his mama, much? And Adrian loves OLD books best. And then Audra told him how she loves the Blue Fairy and Red Fairy books by Andrew Lang. She wants more old fairy tales, not Disney ones.

The owner said, "We never have kids interested in old books. Pick something, anything you'd like. I'm going to give it to you for free."

Both kids picked perfectly.

 She has a big book of original (and likely very dark) fairy tales.
 And he got a book about a boy growing up on a New England farm.

 And I got a couple of gems too. We have been loving poetry of all kinds (and Adrian has been composing poetry too for fun!), Famous Explorer stories, Mark Twain, Fairy tales, and Adrian's story about the New England Farmer.  This would be $60+ worth of books. He said $10. I said, take $20.  He said here's you change.  He gave me a $10 bill back.  So $10 for all these books.  I think he knew that we're the type of folks who actually read the books instead of sell them. I supposed he guessed that we'd be holding onto these treasures too.

Our baby: 11 months!


Just like that, our sweet little girl is 11 months!  This happy-go-lucky baby with the best personality. She wants to do ALL we do, including clapping, snapping her fingers, dancing, waving, high fives, throwing kisses, giving hugs,fixing her hair, singing, sniffing, blowing raspberries, screaming, laughing, whatever animal sound or motion you can think of. And of course she bursts into a fit of giggles everytime she recognizes she does something clever. 

(And the poor girl saw something she wanted to get to on the OTHER side of our french doors today.  Didn't notice there was a paned window in the way. Couple snuggles, she is just fine.).

Baby girl of 11 months, thank you for warming our hearts.


Nappers...

 After a very busy day, I come home and wonder if my cats have even moved the last 12 hours. Oh...to be a cat in this house... Life of luxury I tell you.



Snowdays

Woke up to more snow. The calendar says spring, but mother nature has a different plan for Maine.  How about us?  We are just fine spending another day listening to book and relaxing by the fire. 


Super kids

Three super heroes..sometimes being brave, sometimes being locked in jail.  I suppose this is the type of play that happens when your dad is a former Corrections Officer.  Alas...the magic of three play silks and a mind with lots of imagination.




Handmade: Doll and Clothes

My neighbor made an awesome gift for our dear Anna-Kate. We're so fortunate to have such great neighbors. <3



Thrifted

 When you walk into your fave thrift store and the worker says "Oh good, glad you're here. There are books back there that I know you'll want."  All of these for $4.00

And below, a thick wool vintage plaid pendleton, a table cloth with cats (for Audra), four brand new composition books (for Adiran's hobby of gluing tractors he cuts out from magazines), a pancake flipper that is handmade in the USA, a spatula and a rod iron plant hanger.  $4.75.

His Half Birthday Recap


 These half birthdays and our mini celebration have become family favorites. A cake, a candle, a small gift (which in his case has been the same thing since 18mo old-a anther tractor and a another book) and one more milestone. Our kids count down the days. Before our children get wings, we have only 18 or so birthdays with them at home.  These half birthdays double our celebrations, give us more memories and remind us once again of how amazing family life truly is.



Books!

My bed has been captured by the best possible crew doing the best possible thing.  Can't beat 'em, join 'em.  And that's exactly what I did after this pic. 

Bonus happiness-I made all of their pants. <3

Mama Made: Prairie dress

I'm teaching Little House on the Prairie again this semester at our homeschool co-op. It's SUCH a fun class to teach!  I have all the 4 and 5 year olds doing these old time handcarfts and such. It's so fun! Many of the kids dress in period clothing too.  Audra wanted a new prairie dress, complete with an apron and bonnet.
 I actually got the base fabric at an estate sale, so it actually is vintage fabric.

 The bonnet is reversible.
 Don't be fooled...under all those layers, she's still Audra. We're still working on Prairie Manners.

(Another) Snowday!

What's another couple of feet of snow in March?  Am I sick of snowdays?  Nope. Not one bit. I would take 52 snowy Tuesdays a year. 

We read books, played in the snow, ate yummy food, I did some sewing (ahhh...my happy place) while the kids played in their rooms and we worked on the crafty projects Grammy and Grampy sent. Did I mention that I love snowdays? I absolutely do. 


*Snow*

We just got 16 inches of snow less than a week ago. Forecast says we could get the same today. Folks round these parts are grumbling about the meteorologist's news.

Me?

My entire workday has been cancelled. I was up late cooking a whole ton of food for us to eat during the storm.

Pajamas all day (pic below my two bigs are wearing mama made jammies!), books, art, sewing projects...repeat...all in our home sweet home.

I am so excited for you, snowday.




Handmade

When one of my little 4-H friends makes me a homemade gift with her dad, and it's a bookmark-a perfect gift for me, my heart warms instantly. Thank you, Sophia.

A sad goodbye...

We said goodbye to the best goat, Katy.  Always hard to lose an animals, especially one dearly loved and one my kids have grown up wtih. THanks for the sweet memories, Katy.











He's 7 and a HALF

Remembering:
SEven
Here's 6 1/2
Six
5 and a HALF
Age five.
Here's 4 1/2
Here's 4.
Here's 3 1/2.
Here's 2 1/2,  
Here he was at 2.
Here he was at 18 months.
(And before that, I wasn't a blogger).

Well, Adrian. You are now seven and a HALF. You've been asking when your half birthday was for...oh about 6 months.

My favorite thing about you is you know what you like and you do not veer.  John Deere. Tractors. Pickups. Cows. Carhart. Overalls. Repeat. 

I have been loving your artwork and the detail.  99% of your pictures have a vehicle, almost always tractors. Lately we are getting the whole landscape behind the tractors. You still spend hours making John Deere scrapooks from magazine clippings.  You have volumes.

You love books. Especially if you aren't the one to read them. You'll listen to me read or an audiobook for hours upon hours. You love talking about the favorite books you've read again and again. If we go to a bookstore, you are busy trying to find your old favorites.

While sports are not your thing so you say, you have taken to riding horses and you enjoy swimming.  When there is an absence of snow, you ride your bike.

You work more than you play. You love a job. You are a very useful kid.

I'm thankful that you love giving hugs and snuggling. You add so much to our family, especially information. We would never know as much as we do about tractors if it wasn't for you, Adrian.

Love, Mama



Nicknames: Adri

How old are you? 7 and a HALF

What is your favorite color? Green because of John Deere

What is your favorite animal? Cows

What is your favorite book? Where the Red Fern Grows

What is your favorite song? Undeniable Cows

What is your favorite food?  Peanut Butter and Jelly

What is your favorite drink?  Milk

What is your favorite breakfast food?  A nice tall glass of milk with a muffin

What is your favorite snack?  Junk food like something in a package

What is your favorite outfit?  Overalls

What is your favorite game? Candyland

What is your favorite toy?  Blue Ford Pickup Truck

Who is your best friend?  Desmond

What is your favorite thing to do? Go to the Tractor Supply

What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Haul things with my dump truck

What is your favorite holiday?  My birthday and Christmas

What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My stuffed bear.

Where is your favorite place to go? The Tractor Supply

What is your favorite restaurant?  Friendly's Toast

Where do you want to go on vacation?  NY and Florida

What do you want to be when you grow up? John Deere dealership man and Pratt and Whitney worker.

What did you do on your birthday? Go to 4-H and do my presentation about logging

More than a Dusting

 This was today. Well over a foot of snow. Below is what our property looked like yesterday without snow (although this pic was taken a few days ago, it wasn't this warm yesterday). But the snow!  SNOW! Holy Nor' Easter!  You won't find me complaining, I love a good snowstorm!  We baked muffins (with pumpkin I grew!), had a midday feast, read oodles of books, did some art, played outside...and shoveled.  Not sick of winter one bit.

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