Adding to our family....

As I have mentioned, we are raising chickens, goats, and children; but not in that particular order.  After some attacks by what we are assuming are raccoons, we decided to add seven baby chicks to our family.  I say we are adding them to the family; however, I keep reminding myself they are chickens, not pets.  That being said, Josie told Jeremiah and me that the baby chicks missed their mama.  The kids and I were checking on them and she said,"Wait, what's that you say baby chicks?  You miss your mama?  I'm your mama now...." Jamon of course countered with:  "You are not their mama."  After settling the debate, we continued to watch the chicks run around.  I am just hoping that out of the seven we get at least four chicks to start laying this summer. 

Jeremiah claims chickens aren't his thing, but that smile tells me the chickens are growing on him! 

Snow Day ~February 24th

After weeks of hinting at a possible snow day, the weather man finally got it right!  We woke up on Thursday morning to this:

Snow is beautiful.  It reminded me of the verses from Isaiah 1:18b:  "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Jeremiah and I kept admiring the scenery while the kids kept eating the snow.

It was a great morning with dad at home.  The kids fed the goats, Clyde & Cliff, and I'm not sure who had more fun between them.  Jolie was more enamored with watching the snow fall and she had plenty of entertainment between Jamon and Josie.  When the kids decided they had enough, we went inside and enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows.  The funny thing is, Josie could have a cup of marshmallows and never know the hot cocoa was missing.  Jamon only wants a few marshmallows and then drinks all the hot cocoa.  These two are so funny together.  I can't wait to see how Jolie's personality will fit into the mix.

Valentine's Day Round-Up

During the month of February we were very busy making and enjoying Valentine's Day crafts and treats. First of all, my friend Hollan introduced me to the wonderful trend of cake pops.  Cake pops are everywhere in the blog/craft world these days.  For a Valentine's couples party, I decided to bring heart- shaped cake pops. They were delicious and so easy to make!  Also, we made these cute treat bags and mailed them to aunts and uncles and delivered them to local grandparents.  The red hearts are just pins that I made out of felt scraps. Josie and I wore them on Valentine's Day and she loved it.  And lastly, the paper colored hearts are an idea I found on Dana's website.  I let Jamon & Josie color their hearts and Jamon wrote his name on the back of his.  It's a great idea for treat exchanges.  Emily Roper has been hosting a kid's Valentine's party for a few years in a row now-the kids always have fun making & eating yummy treats. 

Valentine's Day is a great time to make fun treats!

Jolie played with her friend Ezra Bernatz while Jamon & Josie decorated their treat bags. 

Also, this was the first year that Jeremiah and I made homemade Valentine's to the kids.  He made two hearts for each of the girls and I made one for Jamon.  This is a great tradition that we both want to continue for the years to come. 

Blue Bear

There is a very important member of our family that I haven't mentioned.  When Josie turned 2, her Aunt Jennifer took her and Jamon to Build-A-Bear.  Out of all the animals for her to choose, she chose a very simple blue bear.  To this day, she cannot say her L's very well, so its actually called "boo bear."  Blue bear goes everywhere with Josie.  One day I asked Josie if Blue Bear wanted a bite of panpakes (her word for pancakes), and her response was:  "boo bear doesn't have a mouth."  This blue bear cries, gets her hair done, goes to bed, gets put in timeouts, and is often a reflection of what is happening to her.  I have heard of kids being attached to stuffed animals, and both of my kids have their own special animals.  Josie's is blue bear and Jamon's is his monkey.

I love this picture!

Josie reading "Strawberry Shortcake Dance Class" to Blue Bear & Bella Dog

Blue Bear getting her hair done while Jamon gets a haircut from Grandma Angie. 

Trip back from the chickens. 

All your eggs in one basket

I mentioned in my profile that we are raising 4 chickens and I think this family blog wouldn't be complete without some pictures.  Usually after the kids wake up from naps we take the bucket of scraps from the kitchen, put on our rubber boots and head out with the egg basket & chicken food in hand.  Lately, we are consistently getting 2 eggs a day which has resulted in us delivering eggs to some family members.  The kids have so much fun with the chickens.  I am looking forward to the spring and summer when we'll hopefully be collecting baskets full! 

We thought about naming the chickens....but we didn't want to get attached.  They are just chickens. 

Grandma Jo put together this egg basket for the kids. 

Jeremiah was smart and put the nesting boxes on the outside so the kids could reach in for eggs. 

Large, brown eggs!  Delicious! 

Kids in the Kitchen

Last week the kids wanted to help me cook dinner.  Sunday nights are my menu planning nights, so I planned to have homemade pizza on Monday night.  The recipe I use is super simple, its a basic Artisan Bread that is very versatile and I have found it makes the best pizza dough.  During nap time I rolled the dough and let it rise so when the kids woke up they could put on the toppings.  It's amazing to see how different the kids "decorated" their pizzas.  This was a really fun activity for them and the result was delicious!



One batch makes 3 good sized pizzas




How cute is that hat & apron Josie is wearing?





Jamon said:  "Ta-da!"




Josie calls pizza "pizpa"-it's so cute I cannot correct her



Better Late Than Never

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2011 is to start and maintain a family blog.  Thanks to a lot of help from my dear friend Dannika, I can cross it off my list.  I never thought I had anything exciting to blog about, and then I realized what I do have is my family.  This blog is my attempt to keep a journal of my children's childhood and capture family memories that will last a lifetime.  Ideally, I would have started this when Jamon was a baby, but its better late than never.