teaching her chicken to sit...

and making a fashion statement with her clothes =)
she loves her "joanie skirt"
so we must wear it no matter what else we have on =)

last night, i looked in jack's change piggy bank and he had lots of moola....
we drop our coins in there and when there is enough he treats us to chickfila...
and we had $8!!!
so off we went!
what we did not know is that it was princess night at chickfila...everyone who came was supposed to dress up like a princess ...and get a manicure, free icecream, crown...
and the whole place was very palace-y

esme tossed her crown and poo-pooed at the sight of the fingernails....
but loved the icecream which she and jack inhaled.
the funniest part was that all the princess were prancing around...including lots of university queens from different places....with their sashes and all! and all the boys plus esme ended up in the playground area...
well the boys got into a MOUNTAIN of wrestling...and jack was very much having a wonderful time...so i just thought..."o, go for it...."
but i could see all these princessy faces glancing in ...quite aghast at the "fighting"going on in their delicate party
it was such fun...
the kids did not want to leave.

my little helper

he is so soon to be my big helper
we knew the weather was about to turn cold again...so yesterday morning, we chopped up lots of little wood to stuff the stove and hauled in lots of big wood to keep us warm and toasty for the cooler days to come...
jack was really honestly such a help...
he picked up almost all this wood and put it into the barrow...
and i wheeled it over and he unloaded and stacked it inside!
no kidding, sometimes i feel like laura ingles wilder!
do i have the right person?

for some...

it's a pet kitty, for others it is a pet puppy...for esme it is a pet chicken
she'd take this morsel everywhere =)
this is her trying to weasel little chickie into the truck as we go to the grocery store
while talking to daddy on the phone

preparing the garden

i have moved all the boxes around to get some fresh soil in the mix and then have wheelbarrowed in loads of dirt from the mound you can see in the background...it is almost time to plant early spring seeds! yay!  so i am anxious to get them ready....

here chickie chickie chickie....

both jack and esme love the chickens...but the newest genre of that love is for the little chickens
the bantams
it is a bummer we are one short on this count, as one did fall prey to that dirt bike that fateful day...
but there are still a few to go around
esme is pretty good at catching them...
but jack either has to ask esme "hey, ez, will you catch me a chicken?"
and she usually obliges him.
or
he pours out some food...waiting until all their fluffy bottoms are in the air, and nabs one from behind
this was the case this day...
they were both so proud of their fowl...
and wanted to give them water to drink out of a glass...

cookies and milk break

what could be better?
on the crazy warmth of 2 days ago...
we were all outside doing our own things....jack helping me with dirt for the garden, josh under the truck changing oil and esme goading chickens and picking them up and petting them...
when i noticed morale slightly sinking, so i quickly prepared some cookies (from the freezer) and milk and yelled to the kids "cookie and milk break!"
when i brought it outside i noticed not 2, but 3 happy smiling faces awaiting their snack =)

betsy who?

so, i am probably not the best homeschool person...not htat i have decided if i will infact do this homeschool thing one day or not...
but i test myself out...and sometimes i just laugh bc our days are so funny.

"let's make an american flag kids! it was first made by betsy...um...betsy something or other...and it has red and white stripes with 50 stars"
"can we make the stripes pink instead?"

"o, ok...sure...pink and white stripes then by betsy....um...betsy."
then esme (if she could really say this)
"well, i really don't care who first did what...i'd just rather eat the paper off the crayons like a rabbit...nawing nawing (does that have a k)...and then make paint in my mouth when i mix spit with crayon shards..what do you think of THAT!"

hehe

our own little 5 k

i laughed as josh left for his jog...the sheep ran from their eating...the chickens and lone turkey all clucked to eachother as if to say
"here we go folks!"

a walk with daddy

josh has been so busy lately...studying for tests and carpentry work...
but tonight he took a break for a run with the kids...i bundled them up and off they went!

candy canes as bribery

i went to the midwife today...all is fine...
but needed something to keep the kids happy
so i brought candy canes...
it was so funny...
they didn't even have one at CHristmas time...so they are probably going to think
"christmas, ahhhh, that's alright...but midwife appointments....now that is awesome!"
then we went to the park to check out the animals....which almost all of them were hibernating....
except for this deer =)

septic clean out and painting types

our loos have been running slowly...so we had them sucked out today...
it was actually quite fascinating...
this huge pit in the ground....graciously photoed for your viewing pleasure...
ah-hem
it turns out the actual problem is that the pipe from the house to the septic tank has settled and has leveled out in a places...so it doesn't flow well
but at least we are free flowing for now!
we spent the morning painting with new paints grace gave the kids...
it made me smile to see the 2 different personalities...
jack carefully dipping the brush into each color and following the lines as best he could (though i remember him painting at age 2 and ending up with it from head to toe =))
and esme mixing all her paints immediately...then trying to paint herself as quickly as possible =)

les dirtbike stew

hehe
this looks pretty bad
buuuut at least we ate it !
it reminds me of the kid who shoots the squirrel and then has to cook and eat it
only,
this was my husband on a dirtbike running over a bantam chicken, and we cooked and ate it
the crockpot (as does love) can heal a multitude of wounds
especially if you add a can 0' cream of anything soup
which i did
the kids literally gobbled it up...over potatoes and with peas...they thought it absolutely normal that we should be eating chicken that met its death by the wheels of a scooter like weapon

look at my new skirt!!!!

i opened up a package today absolutely delightedly...to find this adorable hand knitted skirt by our dear joan!!!!!
this was the pattern i fell in love with at her house and wanted to relearn knitting bc of (terrible sentence ...sorry english majors) i have started my own (last photo with all the funny dropped stitches and forgetting if i just pearled or knitted) which hilariously i told joan the other day i'd finished 6 inches ...when i picked it up today, i laughed out loud bc it is more like 2 inches...but boy it FEELS like 52! knitting takes soooo long
at least for me...joan just whipped this up in NO time!
it is sooooooo sweet on her! and as i asked her to turn round and round ...she just twirled happily =)
thank you thank you joan!!!!!

dunking his bagel into his tea

red tea and bagel for breakfast