What else have we been up to? Lots! There are the daily chores: taking care of the chickens, weeding the yard, harvesting in the garden, household chores. Then other projects: canning, painting all kinds of furniture. We also got to attend our next-door-neighbor's wedding. We will miss having her live right next to us, (She moved out of her parents' home when she got married and lives across town) but starting soon she will be the girls new piano teacher, so we'll get to see her every week. Here are some pictures:
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| We sat on the balcony so the kids could see better. It is a beautiful, historic, Mennonite Church here in town. I spent most of the time in the nursery with a view of the sanctuary- Kate was too loud! |
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| Marissa and Nathan at the reception |
I've been canning more green beans with the kids. And some pickled beets, too. Yum.
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| I cannot keep this girl off the counter. I know I shouldn't have taken her picture, but she looked so darn cute up there with her little pig tails! |
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| 'Helping' with the beans. There are green beans and wax beans, in case you are wondering. |
I've actually had to remove all the bar stools from the kitchen to keep Kate from climbing on the counters. It makes for a crowded laundry room, but at least I'm not taking her off the counter every couple of minutes!
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| Beautiful batch of pickled beets. |
In other news, Grant hasn't had to wear his patch in a few weeks! Hooray! We go back to the eye doctor in a couple of weeks to see if his vision has held without the patching. If it has, no patch! If not, we will have to go back to patching again.
I've also been painting like crazy. It's been one project after another, and as all projects go, they all took WAY longer than I had thought they would. But, I am done for now. There are many other painting projects looming on the horizon, though. . .
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| Our first project: Arianna's new school desk. $1 find at an estate sail last summer. |
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| Sanding |
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| Everyone wanted to be part of the action. Arianna loved it! |
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| Emma was really concentrating. |
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| An end table we got for free when we were married. It was ugly, scraped-up brown. I think it's new black color looks great! |
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| Emma's new school desk. We've had it for 8 years. I've been trying to get rid of it for at least 6. But, now I'm refinishing it! |
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| The drawers- that one by Arianna is in really bad shape! |
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| The side looked horrible (This pictures is also after sanding, so it looks even worse.) |
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| On his way leaving for work, Kenneth caught this picture of the big kids all sitting on the new rocking chair on the porch before I painted it . It is a great chair! Thank you Craigslist! |
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| Here it is all painted black. |
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| Half the garage taken over with my projects. The red table basking in the sunlight to the right is Grant's. It was the table all of them sat at to do schoolwork last year. All the way to the left you can also see a t.v. stand I painted (Kenneth got that one on the side of the road for free, too!) |
When I get the basement all organized, I'll take a picture of all of the pieces in their new homes. Right now it's all still unorganized. But, at least they are all done!
I bet you all have been dying to see more chicken pictures (all 3 of you who actually read this, that is)! Well, today is your lucky day. I took some! I love these pictures. These are the best times. The kids are so happy being out there with the chickens. It makes my heart happy!
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| Kate walking out to join the kids at the coop- bucket in hand. |
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| This is a part of the morning ritual around here. Feed and water the chickens and play in the yard a bit. |
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| Happy chickens, happy kids |
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| Speaking of happy chickens, here they are! |
Our new chicks from the spring have started to lay! The few eggs we have gotten are very small. Here is a picture comparing it to the older hen's egg:
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| Isn't it adorable! |
The kids caught a mouse the other day! Well, the neighbors' cat actually caught it and the kids noticed him doing something in the lawn and went to investigate and were able to use a leaf to get it into a bucket. They loved the little thing and had fun with it for a couple of days, but it didn't survive the injury the cat had given it. Sad. It actually was eating and drinking so I thought is might survive, but alas.
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| It was a cute little guy. |
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| See? |
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| These three even brought the little mouse with us to a party with some friends at a park to let everyone see him. Their friends loved him! |
Well, I think that's all for now. Here are a few extra pictures I'll throw in for fun:
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| Emma had fun dressing Kate up in her sweatshirt and some glasses. They call her a rock star When she looks like this! |
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| Kate loves this book for some reason. She's done this a couple of times. She'll pull this particular book from the Work and the Glory off the shelf, set it down and look through it. |
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| She'll climb on anything, I tell you! |
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| It has wheels? Unstable? Who cares?! |
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| As long as it gets me where I want to go! |
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| These kids love games! Daddy taught them chess, checkers and backgammon this summer. |
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| Grant and Mom (Tractor, too?) playing Othello. |
