2010 In Review July- December

July: We celebrated my 20 year high school reunion. One of my friends had a VERY nice camera that she let Evan use for the day. I don't have any of those pictures, just the one of Evan using her camera! We also celebrated our 15 year wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner as a family on the coast.

August: We visited my parents so Evan and Sean could go backpacking in Yosemite with my dad.

September: We didn't take any pictures in September! We were busy doing school. But doesn't this one look like Mater from Cars? Evan is having fun with cameras this year.

October: We started up an airsoft group at our house. Evan and his buddies shoot at each other with our youth group leader. Then they talk about life while they reload. Amy and her friend Marie try to antagonize them whenever they get the chance.

November: Thanksgiving! With the cousins and third cousins. We took a tour of Mrs. Grossman's Sticker factory together as our gift to each other. A memory instead of toys.

December: The family photo shoot, the ones that didn't make the Christmas Newsletter.

Happy New Year!

2010 In Review January - June

January: The year started off with a bang and a crunch. I got T-boned on the way to CostCo. We now have a new car and I've been in physical therapy ever since. God has taught us some hard lessons through this one. We are so thankful that the kids weren't seriously hurt. Emily even got a new pink car seat out of it all and she loves it!
February: Sean took a trip up to Idaho to bring back the rest of his dad's belongings. And Evan got a good picture of Amy on her horse.

March: Sean's family got together to divvy up the rest of his dad's "stuff". Sean kept saying, "I can't believe I hauled all this back from Idaho!"

April: I think we were sick much of April. But here's a cute picture of the cousins. And Emily with her favorite treat (other than chocolate).

May: Our church camp out was the same weekend as Emily's 5th birthday. We brought (gluten-free) chocolate cake to the beach and had it for breakfast. Amy got to spend time with her favorite baby girl from church.

June: We were given some hens from friends who were moving. Emily was excited to find the first egg! We were also blessed with a visit from friends. PJ and I were pen pals in college and our families have kept up since then. But our kids had never met. God worked it out that we were able to spend a week together and our kids hit it off famously. Now they are pen pals! Amy also turned 11. We had a fun time with friends celebrating. But I have seriously fallen off the blogging bandwagon to have missed both my girls birthdays! (I didn't blog about Evan's yet either, but since his was just a few weeks ago, I think I can still squeeze it in.)

Not Quite Right

When I was five or six I remember telling my mom that I really liked a certain drink. Only, I couldn't remember what it was called. It was kind of like milk, but thicker and creamier. She could only guess it was buttermilk. It looked right and as I took a big sip I was so disappointed. It was July, and what I was remembering was Egg Nog.

We usually make pancakes once a week. Now that we're gluten free around here, the recipe from this cookbook is our favorite. But Evan mentioned that he missed buckwheat pancakes. Remembering my story, I asked him if he was sure. Yes, it was buckwheat. Well, buckwheat is not really wheat at all. And it's gluten free. So this morning I found a recipe for buckwheat pancakes and made them up. I thought they were better than what I remember buckwheat tasting like. However, Evan realized he'd made the same mistake after all. Looks like I'll be eating a lot of buckwheat pancakes over the next few weeks!

The Week In a Nutshell

Last weekend Sean and Evan went on a backpacking trip to Yosemite. They came home sweaty and tired, but they had a great time! I gave Evan a day off school to recover, then we were back full time to school. Here are a few highlights.

The week was full of art and writing. We normally do an art class on Tuesdays, but this week, the kids didn't seem to want to stop drawing. I think the colored pencils were out all week. I found an interesting website that teaches drawing portraits. I almost have all the supplies so we can get started. The first videos came this week and while I know we won't be able to draw quite as well as the instructor, I'm going to try and keep it fun so the kids can learn some more techniques.

We started The Institute for Excellence in Writing's Continuation Course this year. The first assignment was to write a story based off pictures. The kids were working late last night trying to get it done. They were laughing at each others stories and frustrated at all the details of the assignment at the same time. Writing has been particularly hard for Evan. Sean and I were proud of him for sticking it out and learning that it can get easier with practice.

Emily will be taking beginning piano with our friend Jenn this fall. She came up to me at church and exclaimed, "Guess what, mom?! I'm taking piano with Jenn, and Riley is taking piano with Jenn, and Maggie is taking piano WITH JENN!!!" She is so very excited to be taking piano with Jenn, whom she loves. It's even more fun for her knowing that some of her friends are doing the same thing as well. Jenn and I agreed that their recital will be a hoot!

Chicken Coop Condo

For their birthdays this year Amy and Emily asked for chickens. Yes, chickens. Not a Barbie or a My Little Pony, but chickens. Problem was, the chickens needed a place to live. Backyard construction projects are Sean's forte. He likes to build. He needed to build quickly because baby chicks don't stay chicks for long.

Sean designed a big sturdy coop. It took him several weekends to build. Evan added muscle to the heavy lifts. They even added power so that the heat lamp and cooling fans could be plugged in without runing extension cords from the barn.

The result of their efforts is our new "home addition" to house our new "babies."

We selected a small pasture near the barn so that the chickens would be safer (we saw a bobcat out there two nights ago!).



Sean framed up the chicken coop on 4x4 posts. Its heavy duty.



The finished project has eight little doors on the end to make egg collection easier.



There is a cute little door for the chicks and another service door for the little people to take care of the chicks.


Our new additions. There are four Buff Orpingtons, three Golden Campines, four Andalusians, and one that might be a Sussex - but we don't really know. Amy can tell the 12 chicks a part and knows them all by name.


Last week we adopted four grown hens and a beautiful rooster to the mix. They are separated from the chicks for now because, well........ chicks are food to chickens. So the chicks need to grow so they won't be food. The hens are already providing big brown eggs for our family.


We are looking forward to the added eggs once the chicks become hens and lay their own in about five months. I'm sure there will be extras to go around!

Evan and PaPa Hiked the Grand Canyon!

Last week Evan and my Dad hiked the Grand Canyon "rim to rim!" They started at the north rim and hiked through to the south rim, camping four nights in the canyon during the process. All told they hiked over 25 miles with a 5,000 foot elevation change!

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

I've been reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series to the girls at night. Yesterday we got to live out a scene from one of the books. Laura helped her Pa make hay by trampling it down while he pitched it into the wagon. Haying was a two person job. Well, we actually buy hay for our horses. But our city has a regulation that our weeds have to be cut down so many feet around our property and our house. Evan is out of town, and it's a two person job! So the girls and I helped Sean as best we could. After cutting down so much grass we figured we could at least feed it to the horses. I'm sure glad we don't have to do this in order for our horses to eat. It's a hard job!

Happenings...

*I started this post last Friday, but never finished it because Sean and the girls spontaneously wanted to go camping in the yard. (Evan was away at Yosemite with the Boy Scouts.) Then Emily woke up with a fever and I've had sick girls since! Sorry that this is a bit random. I had intended to write about what happened for that day. Then I didn't finish, and it seemed wierd. But it was already written and I needed a new post!

Sean is off for a week and a half. Since he doesn't get holidays or weekends off, he gets random vacation times. This means that we won't start school officially until September 21st. In years past, this would have bothered me and worried me greatly. God has shown me that it is indeed sinful to worry and strive against my husband's lead. Regardless, we make plans for the year, but God sometimes has very different ones! So I have peace. We will have to hard charge with school a bit this fall to finish strong, but I'm trusting God that He will provide in that area as well. Evan proved last year that he was able to, and we're praying that this will be the year for Amy as well.

We flea-bombed the kitties' room (otherwise known as the Tack Room). They did not like being placed temporarily in the pet carrier. I used it as an object lesson to teach the girls that sometimes we have to do things that kitties (or little girls) don't like, but that we know are good for them.

After playing with Soliel and grooming her, Amy was in need of a shower. Emily had just sat in the dirt making cakes and was filthy too. She decided that she wanted a shower as well. So today she took her first shower. At first she cried because she didn't like it, then she cried because she didn't want to get out! She's giving up naps and we're adjusting. So she has been crying a lot lately!

Amy put on a t-shirt and laughed. Her belly button showed! Since we're not into the Brittney Spears look around here, she put the shirt in the outgrown box. I think the country life is agreeing with our kids. They are growing like weeds!

For lunch we had leftover soup I made last night. Inspired by this recipe, I made use of what we had: homemade chicken broth, chicken (from the same bird), 3 carrots, a potato, a bag of leftover cooked green beans, two kinds of kale from our farmers market and CSA basket, a handful of chopped parsley, a small piece of grated ginger, one bay leaf, and my secret ingredient a tablespoon or two of sweet wine (I used port). It was so good! And I love that it has a lot of calcium from the kale and homemade broth (since I used the bones, not the whole bird).

We are trying to develop better habits in the kitchen. My new motto is: The dishes aren't done until the stove is wiped down. Thanks for your motivaton in that, Paula!

In my quest for healthier cooking and specifically gluten free cooking to help Emily I've discovered a couple of new blogs that I love! They are on my side bar under Cooking Blogs. Enjoy!

Enjoying Life in the Country

Driving new toys...

Baking cakes...

Decorating cakes...(With a neighbor's flowers)

Painting fences...

Shooting squirrels...