April

 Mia had a lunch exchange at school. She was pretty much on her own here. Thankfully she came up with the dog crate idea and stuck with it. Kids love stuff like this but it can be a Mother's nightmare.

 Olive and Harley are best buds these days. 

 Stuart and his kindergarten workbooks. 

No comment. 

    

Did you know that Nate collects old bikes? It's becoming a problem. I told him that the neighbor man had bikes out for sale, he should take Ellie up and see if any fit her. She is ready for a bigger bike. He came back with 3 bikes... none of them quite what we were looking for. Cute though.  

I love to set him in the grass and watch him try to decide if he likes it or not. He heads straight for the nearest dirt pile. 

They always say when you build a shed that it won't be big enough. 

This morning I clicked on a link to an article called, 

10 Life-Changing Tips to Make Your Home So Much Cleaner

sounds good right? I was expecting a life changing moment... First point...

1. Divide everything into three piles: things to keep, things to throw away and things to donate.

Then, pour gasoline over all three piles and light them on fire.

 everyone happy to be outside

Darren is our trucker brother in law. He just taught the kids about chicken lights. It's all I hear about now. 

our hearts have been very heavy this month with a good friend who has cancer
every song I hear I try to apply it to this
we pray and we cry

New Puppy and Easter

Meet Piper

 Easter Sunday. 

You know Sunday mornings are not my thing. My midwife used to get so amazed at my blood pressure journal, Sunday mornings were always the worst. This particular one we managed to have the children all showered the night before. The clothing and shoes were all accounted for. The diaper bag was packed. I was pretty stressed out because Nate and I were singing in a trio that we had not practiced with yet, so that had to happen before church. Nothing too crazy happened. The muddy dog did not even attack me when I tied her up. 

Monday morning, not so great. I had to take the children to school this morning. Somehow Olive fell off her chair and the back of her head landed in her cereal bowl which must have preceded her. Not all mornings are easy.

Birthday Week

 Oh Hankster. 

Check out my grocery bag holder. I made it and then I pinned it on pinterest. 

Date night. 

 Mia turned eleven this week.
For a birthday gift we got her a piano book she wanted and also some prescription goggles for swimming. $30 on amazon. I have a hard time coming up with useful gifts, often feeling unsure. I was excited about the goggles though. I knew she would love them. 

I baked her cake the day before her birthday. I also made 2 pans of brownies, and a double batch of cupcakes. Things got a little hairy... I decided to try to bake the cakes without wax paper. This german cake is so light and fluffy and the wax paper makes weird edges on it, well... this happened. 

I was more careful about the next two layers and managed to get them out just fine. Meanwhile the icing was cooking on the stove and I was not stirring it constantly. Everytime I did get around to stirring it, there were more dark floaters in it from sticking tot he bottom. Two layer cake instead of three and to be honest the icing was better than usual, it had a brown butter/caramel flavor. It was thicker too. Can't promise that I won't scorch it on purpose next time. 

Did some mulching in March. 

Olive cut a chunk out of her hair and I screamed. 

Getting herself dressed. Going outside is a great motivator.

Days at Home

 I looked out the window and saw her majesty waiting for her dinner. Ran for the camera instead of dinner. 

This face made me run for the camera again. 

Yesterday we caught Henry standing up in his crib. He reminds me of Mia. She was taking steps before she was one.

In the bottom of my box of sweet potatoes I have all these little ones that are a pain to do anything with. Until sweet potato hash! What you are looking at there is white and purple sweet potatoes, shredded with skins on, fresh mushrooms, and onion sauteed in coconut oil. With two dippy eggs on top I call this lunch.

Promo at Sam's Club "order a free mini photo book" fun right. Ha ha, the book is so tiny! I stuck it in my diaper bag so I can show the pictures to my Grandparents next time we get in to visit them and I have not seen it since.

Some other things I'm loving:

Coconut oil in my coffee. 

Coffee
1 pack Stevia
2-3tsp coconut oil
2 T half and half
blend it up, this makes it frothy and the oil vanishes.
I love the coconut flavor and this is getting pretty close to a latte.

Texture App

For 9.99 a month you can read all the magazines on your ipad/phone. I used the free trial and loved it. Not planning to sign up but I've got it in the back of my mind for the next time I'm tempted to pick up a magazine I could come home and for 9.99 that month I could read, all the magazines. 

Nice part about the free trial... it did not ask for a credit card so I didn't have to worry about it charging me at the end of two weeks. 

Home Joys Sunday Lunch Ideas

Gina at Home Joys has a post asking for Sunday Lunch ideas. There are 41 comments full of peoples ideas.

Most Days are Calm

Pretty winter skies.

Nate had hernia surgery. We are happy to have one week of recovery in. He is doing really well. I wish he would take it a little bit easier sometimes.

I showed up at the hospital loaded with a notebook and my Bible all ready for some serious quiet time. The waiting room was just too loud with Good Morning America. Shucks.
About the time Nate was out of surgery I bumped into Nate's uncle in the hallway. Turns out his aunt was was having hernia surgery by the same doctor directly following Nate's surgery. Huh. I was fully expecting to see this aunt emerge from recovery about the time Nate had to take a walk in his hospital gown but it was not to be.

This girl caused a flood in the laundry the other night. I only realized she was not with the other children in the basement when I heard her crying from the laundry bathroom. Crying because her feet were cold from being in the cold water too long.

Little Hankster

8 months. Just started crawling. Pulling himself up at the sofa and falling over. Brush burned his nose.  Holds his own bottle. Content. He is really loving his pacifier again. It's kind of a pain and I wonder if I should take it from him.

Most days are calm although I've had a few where I find myself rushing around like a mad person trying to make it from one appointment to the next. This mornings drama included the smoke detectors going off for no apparent reason. This caused my heart to pound as I ran into each room of the entire house looking for a fire, while this was going on I called the electrician and told him that if the house ever starts on fire he can comfort himself by knowing that the first thing I will do is call him.

Have you seen Farmgirl flowers? Swooning over these bouquets. Looks to me like order from them and you can't go wrong. I don't want to hurt the average flower shops feelings, but.... these are way better!