10/10

So few pictures to show for it, but a 10/10 day. 
6am weed control w/ the hoe in the garden before the kids got up.
Homemade granola for breakfast.
Nature study w/ the moths we caught.
5 loads of laundry lined dried over course of day.
Kids chopped veggies for salsa and guacamole.
Kids gathered greens for salad from garden.
Kids begging for books on the hammock for morning, took a morning break to do so.
Weeded the strawberries.
This was for lunch.  Chives, cilantro, greens homegrown. Rest veggies were misfits.

Then family hike (my husband took the pics of that).
Husband insisted we get Thai food after a hike, just like we used to do when we were w/o kids.
Big kids rode bikes. Littlest chased chickens (in the dress her Auntie Gilly made for her. <3 )
One hour after consuming take out dinner, kids asked what's for dinner.
Bedtime books on the hammock.  Kids are loving Happy Hollisters.
Kids asleep in no time.
Folded those five pesky loads of laundry.
Fell asleep without blogging and without reading myself before bed, I was that tired. And happy.
A 10/10.

May today be as good as yesterday.

Garden 2020: Update 1

 Keep these garden updates rolling! Or whatever else you're working on. Here's our garden. Was a hayfield except for a rhubarb when we moved in. The clockwise tour starting top left.

Starting with the orchard with 6 different apple trees, 1 pear, 1 cherry, 3 plums, 1 peach. Moving on to 15 blueberries ( I have 7 more to plant). On to asparagus. Strawberries. 2 cherry bushes. My son's Kids can Grow garden, Rhubarb, Compost and main garden (which was 40x40 at one point, it's a bit smaller now I think). Garden has 4 raisedbeds added this year. PLus I have a rock herb garden.My huge raspberry hedge and concord grapevines. Back to the slip and slide. We have a lot of elderberries elsewhere, but am trying to propagate some to move to our garden area.

 Started these tomatoes on my anniversary. March 10th.

 Green beans saved year after year.

 Best garlic I've ever grown.

 Some thinning of the collards needed. I saved these seeds. Been growing collards for how many years from my own seeds.

 Love volunteer plants.  Hello sunflower that I didn't plant.

 Excited for our fruit harvest.  Strawberries.

 Blueberries.

 Apple blossoms just about gone.  Wish I took a picture of the cherry blossoms.

 Heirloom raspberries coming along.

Thankful for a good start, hoping for a good harvest.

Summer living

Somehow we went from snow to full on summer living in just a couple of weeks. This is not staged at all, they were just hanging like this. This pic is also a game of "I spy".  How many animals can you spot?

Backyard fun

Lately they have been playing a lot of hide and seek. When it's Anna-Kate's turn to hide, she first would lay down in the wide open and cover her head.  She was convinced she was hiding. Then we got her to actually hide in a hidden spot (in the rhubarb). She kept hiding there time and time again. Then we told her to find a brand new spot.  She hid in the compost. Not the composted compost, the fresh compost pile.  So entertaining, yet so gross. Know what was the best?  When it was her turn to count, she seeked for about 3 seconds and then veered off to pick dandelions.  The big kids were hidden for sometime, waiting for her to find them.

  Sunny, warm days with flowers and childhood games are gifts to be treasured.

4-H Tag

I'm pretty excited about this new idea our club is doing. I'm sharing for two reasons, 1) Our 4-H professional wanted a write up and it's easier for me to blog with pictures than create an Email with pictures (So, here ya go, Erin!) and 2) I was thinking other clubs (scouts, youth groups, etc.) may like to try it.

It's called 4-H Tag. The whole goal behind it is to help members stay involved and connect with one another in a non virtual way during this challenging time. 

The person gets 'tagged' when they find this bag (that I made) hung on their door.

 Then they have four days to enter their entries in the shared journal and read other club members' entries.

 Eventually it will cycle back to them.  Here are the official rules.

Even though our club cannot meet in person, we're still trying to keep connected. Cannot wait until we can meet in person again!

Memorial Day

No Memorial Day parade this year elsewhere, but at home the parade is in full force.  I wish I took a video. There is singing, waving, animals.  (Shoes not required. Pants optional.) 

Thankful for all who served and thinking of the families of those mourning the loss of their loved ones.

All in a day...

The youngest totes the rooster around.

 The middle totes a guinea hen around.

The oldest designs his dream barn.

A wee bet farmerish we are.

First dip

It was toasty in the morning at the beach. Felt good to go barefoot.

I said to them, "Let's just put our feet in and not get too wet."  Rookie mom move. Here's the before.  You can imagine the after.  Needless to say, everyone was riding home in just wet underwear.  We promptly filled our car bags with change of clothes once we got home. Feels like summer!  I had planned to get the rest of my garden in today, but it's too hot for that.  That will happen tomorrow, for today we are fully immersed in 'summer' fun.

Ocean stroll

In an hour, we saw three people. 

Celebrating my (late) mom

May 20th, my mom would have been 69.  She passed away when I was 15 after a 5 year battle with ALS.

My dad called today and asked me if I knew what the date was and had I made chocolate cake?  Yes and yes.

I don't particularly love chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, but she did.  Paired with ice water as her beverage of choice.  And so we celebrate the life she lived and her lifelong impact on me with chocolate cake. (My husband looks forward to this day year round. He loves chocolate cake).

Picture below, she was such an awesome 4-H leader, mom, teacher, homemaker and friend.

 She would have really enjoyed her grandkids. I'm thankful that the way she lived her life, the parent, teacher and leader she was still speaks to me daily and I pray lives through me daily as I parent my littles. 

Thankful for those 15 years with her.

Tea

Tea is served. 

She actually got dolled up and fixed this for her BROTHER to surprise him.

Stuff like this happens...pretty much never. So I must document it.

Lemon Cut out Cookies

 Adrian found this recipe in a Nate the Great book. He wanted to make them. Low and behold, they were delicious! They are called Lemon Fang cookies in the book.

Lemon Fang Cookies
3/4 cup of butter (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil)
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp bakingpowder
1/2 tsp salt

Whip butter and sugar until smooth, add eggs and lemon extract.  Stir in dry ingredients. Chill and hour. Roll 1/2 inch thick, cut into shapes.  Bake 400 for 8 min, until browned.


We made our own glaze up with:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp lemon extract
Enough almond milk to make the right consistency

Her First Cross stitch

I'm so proud of her first finished cross stitch. She's been at it for a couple of months. She said before she even started that she wanted to make it for her Grampy. It's packed up and headed to Florida.

Chickens

 You know we've been home for a loooong time when Adrian befriends chickens. The girls have been BFFs with regularly, but Adrian joining in? New territory.