Impromptu

Around 3:30 pm the sun came out.  Husband, "What do you want to do?"  I suggested the ocean.  So we piled everyone in the car and went.   The ocean called and we answered. Took us longer to herd the crew to the car than the time it took to drive there.  Living here never gets old.

Birthday girl is modeling her mama made dress and the unicorn coat she wanted and received for her birthday.

Anna-Kate turns FIVE!

 

Four and a HALF

Four

 three and a HALF.

Here she's three

Two and a HALF

Two

18 months
She's One
9 months
6 months
(Here's 3 months, newborn.)

Anna-Kate, 

Somehow you are five.  Big girl!  Happy birthday to my little talker.  You are pretty much never quiet. Ever. And your little paws are into everything. Your hands are always busy! 

You love people and will talk to anyone!  You love friends and doing elaborate play with them. You play with your animals and talk to them all the time.You love to talk. 

Books are a delightful pastime. You enjoy being read to and you can 'read' your pile of books for hours. You can also narrate familiar stories...which go on and on. 

You are capable of being very responsible and you sometimes are. Other times you ask to be carried and for someone to dress you. (No and no.) You call yourself the queen and sometimes you act the part. Physical exertion isn't your style, unless you have someone to talk to.

You enjoy cutting things apart (including your hair), highlights magazine search and find and mazes.  You love to color and do so within the lines like adults. You love to trace letters and copy words and you do this on your own all the time.  You draw people, all your people, clumped together on bits of paper for 'bookmarks'.  You absolutely love talking on the phone. You give 4-H type presentations for fun (and actually presented at the local competition, even though you aren't old enough). 

You are an enthusiastic gardener and a connoisseur of wild edibles. You smell like a sub from all the green onions you gather and consume. You like to help cook and pretty much eat anything. You love fruit, boiled eggs, anything snacky and meat. 

You are a big time snuggler, are eager to express your love with words and your hugs. You are the  'one more' I begged for and I am so thankful we have you to listen to! 

Love, Mama

Nicknames: Anna-Kate

How old are you? 5

What is your favorite color? Sparkly Pink and Sparkly Purple

What is your favorite animal? Bunnies

What is your favorite book? Princess books

What is your favorite movie?  Barbie Princess

What is your favorite song? Barbie Princess

What is your favorite snack? Ice cream 

What is your favorite outfit?  Beautiful dresses 

What is your favorite game?  Spot It! Pop the Pig

What is your favorite toy?   My Little Ponies and my Elsa and Anna dolls. 

Who is your best friend?  I love lots of best friends! Clover and Izzy and Ellie and Sara.

What is your favorite thing to do? I like doing everything!

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Well, play! 

What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas because I love opening up presents and having new things. .

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

Where is your favorite place to go? To Izzy's house. 

What is your favorite restaurant?  McDonalds

Where do you want to go on vacation? Camp.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A singer.

What are you going to do on your birthday? Open lots of presents and eat a big meal with a big cake! Peanuts, Prinkles, asparagus, oranges, strawberry cake with pink sugar frosting.

Spring Vibes

 Lawn concert, beach picnic, nature study with friends.  Almost all day we were outside. I just love this spring weather!

Here we go again....

 Girls are thrilled. 

(You can see how interested Adrian is in the background, lol)

Two Buff Orpingtons (my fave, we used to have them years ago)

Two Lavender Orpingtons (haven't had these before)

Two Ameraucanas (be nice to have blue eggs again) 
Two banties (we lost the last one to a fox two summers ago)

Girls wanted more, 8 was their limit. I think we have 19 full grown in the barn now. 27 total now. 

2022 Garden Update: 1

Tried three methods of germination this year. All in the same room as our woodstove with a heat mat overnight. I kept each method covered in old salad containers for mini greenhouses. Paper towel on clay balls, stonewool and good old soil. I actually really liked the ease of just dumping pepper seeds on the clay balls and you can easily see which germinates. The germination seems best on the clay balls.  Whatever didn't germinate in the soil, I could easily fill the cells in the packs that were empty from whatever germinated on the clay balls.. Sometimes the roots got stuck in the papertowel, so that was harder to transfer. Pinching off the bit that was growing from the stonewool was easy and I kept a bit of the fiber with the roots for better transplant. Not the best pics, but the three methods:

Using the grow table my dad made me.

Zippy is thrilled.

My soil blocker is my new favorite toy.

Some things have been planted, some are already are up.  

Some indoor things grown and consumed.

Some outdoor things grown and consumed.

And this one is starting some preserving.

Five new apple trees have been planted.

And a whole bunch more is planned!  We are eager for gardening 2022! 

Mama Made: Coordinating Easter Dresses

 

New coordinating dresses for the girls stitched the eve of Easter, just in time. 

The girls decided to wear black leggings instead of the white tights I had. Oh well. I offered to stitch a bow tie or tie for Adrian, but he declined. 

I'm just pleased someone still lets me sew for them!  2/3...I'll take it!

Easter 2022

Easter started with two puff pancakes to make for the church breakfast.

The crew parading/stampeding in.

Gifts with these reusable bags that I made years ago now and use for basically every holiday. And books. Always books. 

They each got a chocolate bunny, reeces pieces, books to share and something special for them. 
Adrian got another Greenlight 1:64 for his diorama. 

Audra got a miniature crafty kit. She loves these.

Anna-Kate has been wooed by Disney. They are actually the perfect size to go with her vintage My Little Ponies, which she enjoys.

I always keep things so simple and they are just thrilled. 

The obligatory before church photos (more tomorrow). 

 

And home for some afternoon quiet reading fireside. 

For me too. 

Then our dear neighbors hid eggs for them to find and had an Easter basket for them. (Nam also colored eggs with them last week, thank you! Bottom picture from last week).  

Easter hunt.

And I let them take selfies, which was...entertaining. 

Throw in some outside time, a movie for the kids and a drive to the ocean by myself, it was a great day (other than my poor husband feeling a little worn down.) Happy Resurrection Day!