Just Hatched

Our new "Girls" finally arrived today. After a slight mix up at the post office (they gave my 5 girls to someone else and tried to give me their 20 turkeys!!) they are home and doing well. They are so tiny and just so funny to watch. It seems difficult to believe that in a few short months they will lay eggs. But oh how yummy those eggs will be!!

Hope you are all have a great week!

A Phenomena in PA

At a home somewhere in south central PA there is something strange happening. If you look closely at the trees around the yard there are things other than branches and leaves growing.


Some have tie out pegs growing from them.

Others have dog collars.

Others yet have kids, oh wait I think he climbed in there!

Look another dog collar tree, I thought they were called Dog WOOD trees.
This is a special tree that actually grows its own jars for canning its fruit.

**Now if only they would start growing money.........

Fresh Picked

The strawberries are ripe and ready for the picking. We made a short trip to a pick your own patch today. For dessert tonight it was fresh strawberry shortcake. Avery made the butterfly shortcakes from her Strawberry Shortcake recipe book. Yummmmm!

Simplifing

My biggest frustration from being a stay at home mom and homeschooler is the feeling that I am drowning in my surroundings. With three kids 7 and under at home all the time things can get turned upside down pretty fast. I am quite hard on myself about it because I feel to honor God and my family I need to be a better steward of my time and home. I had a slight breakdown this weekend when after spending a better part of Friday switching between push mowing my large backyard (our riding mower is out of commission right now) and cleaning my kitchen, someone felt the need to walk through the kitchen with muddy boots and not clean it up. I melted down and fled the scene because I needed to cool off. I got in my van with no where in particular to go, but I knew I just didn't need to be at the house. I turned my radio on and while flipping through heard a woman speaking and so I paused a minute to see what she had to say. I instantly started to have a God moment. The reason for me being in the van was to hear what this woman was speaking about. After listening to the 15 minute radio show I called my mom to talk over what I had heard and what I needed to do to get to where I want to be with my home. My mom has a very level head and helped put things in prospective for me. My home is not out of control, it is just lived in. In order for my kids and hubby to respect their surroundings I need to set a better example of organization and give them places to put their belongings when coming home or in from outside or when they are done playing. I need to simplify, purge, get back to basics. So for the next few weeks that is what I will be working on. I will be wearing an apron of course. Say a prayer for me, I might need it!

My Dog Piper

There is nothing like a fury companion. After I lost Saedee I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to have another dog. Finally a little over a year ago I decided I was ready. If you have read my previous posts you know that we decided on a shelter dog. In the end it didn't work out and I was scared of the dog that we were trying to make our friend and so we had to surrender her again. A few months later I decided I wanted to pick a dog all on my own, no out side influences ie, my hubby. After researching I decided on a Westie. I am so glad of my choice.

She can be so rotten but you have to love that face. She is kind and so protective of the kids. She is a great FAMILY dog and I love that.

This is how tolerant she is. She had hurt her leg somehow and wouldn't walk on it. I thought for sure that we were going to the vet in the morning. She slept on my bed all night with that Hello Kitty cold pack on her and was good as new in the morning.

What I secretly love the most though is at the end of the day it is me she prefers to be with. We are buds. She curls up next to me and sleeps at my side in the same spot she has since I first brought her home.

I have been walking with my friend at night, she has a mini dachshund (Riley). Riley and Piper are good friends so they walk with us. Both their mini legs trying to keep up, so stinkin funny.

( Midnightpass Inc )
We also ride our bikes to switch it up a bit, so today I purchased Piper a basket for the front of my beach cruiser so she can still enjoy the fresh air, I am excited, I know she will hate it. I only torture her out of love ;) But seriously how cute are we gonna look together??? I will definitely share pictures as soon as I get it.

A Big Thank You

I came home this afternoon to a box sitting on my kitchen table. To my surprise it had my name on the front. Do you know how exciting it is to get an unexpected package?! From the return address label I knew it was coming from my Aunt Donna. i opened it up and this is what I found. Three vintage aprons she found at a yard sale for an awesome price.

And my really big surprise Tupperware parfait glasses, lids and all, that she got off ebay with the winning bid of .99 !!! Aunt Donna you ROCK. Thank you so much for thinking of me! All will be used well and will hold a special meaning to me when I bring them out. I love the colors of my aprons, I so need to start going to yard sales.


For the rest of my pictures I thought I might give you a little sneak peak into what has been going on in my garden lately...

These are my favorite roses. This little rose bush was limping along and so I cut it way back a few weeks ago. It obviously did the trick, and the fragrance is awesome.

I transplanted these last year half way through summer. I really didn't think they would make it, but I really didn't care cause I hated where the previous owners had them planted and it is nearly impossible to kill them off. Well they came back healthy as ever this year. I am hoping to grow them up over my garden gate.


This is my climbing rose bush I have been fighting with for two years now. This is the first year it has actually done anything. I still get upset when I go past my old house and see my beautiful climbing rose bush that I remember planting. The lady was so nasty that bought our house I have often felt like sneaking in and digging it out!! But that wouldn't be very Christian of me so I say a prayer instead and keep driving.


And last but not least here is just one of my veggie beds. I love seeing all the green coming to life. I get so much joy out of walking around my beds and seeing what has come up or cutting a fresh salad. If you don't garden there is just no good way of describing how much better a salad tastes when you are the one that grew it!


On a different note I have braved WalMart again, it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be......

No Good Day

***what he normally looks like "happy heart" and all

While mowing the lawn this afternoon I had composed a fabulous blog post. In my mind while pushing the mower back and forth I had used colorful and funny words to describe my day. Now that I lay here in bed I have lost the energy and fight for the day. So to make a long story short Keegan threw a HUGE tantrum in WalMart today. I stuck to my guns and refused to leave and while putting my groceries on the belt the lady ahead of me gave me a very unpleasant look said something ugly to the cashier about me and rolled her eyes at me again. She should not have rolled them twice, I allowed my frustration and mouth to get the better of me and told her that her rolling her eyes wasn't making my day any easier and she proceeded to tell me how she had raised two children and they would never behave like that or she would have been courteous enough to leave the store with them. I must tell you all it took all I had in me not to ram her with my cart, think Fried Green Tomatoes style. I applauded her ability to raise two perfect children. I had a few more unpleasant exchanges and then she got her bags and left. The cashier apologized and said she understood what I was going through and the woman should not have said anything. She asked if it was over a toy and I said no he just wanted to sit back inside the cart. Now let it be known I carry a wooden spoon with me for when my kids get out of line. I believe in a pop on the bottom if my kids are being disobedient. My kids are RARELY disobedient. I just wander if that woman felt better about herself for making the life of another mother a little harder for the day.

Keegan spent the better part of the afternoon in his room, once he came down from his frenzy he realized it was not okay. He then started crying for making me upset because he was sorry. Then this evening in true Keegan form when he was getting dressed for bed he asked me "Why do these bumps on me get hard when I get cold?" He was pointing to his nipples, my response?! "They just do" Even though he embarrassed the pants off me today, how can I not love him? I'm sure I have plenty of days when I do the same thing to Him and even on those days I can rest my head at night knowing He forgives me and still loves me too......

A Hard Day of Fishing

Friday night I made the 20 min. trip from my parents home to my brothers house. He lives at the Yellow Breeches, which is suppose to be some of the finest fly fishing in PA. When we got to his house I looked over his camper that he is redoing and then he had me get my fly rod out. He makes bamboo fly rods and they are beautiful, I asked for one but only time will tell if I get one. We then went out front for a quick prelesson of sorts, I believe he just wanted to call me an idiot a couple of times and laugh at me for my lack of fly casting skills. I forgive him though cause he is my brother and I know he was really proud of me for wanting to try and lets face it boys never seem to grow past that punch you on the shoulder cause they like you phase.

Saturday morning brought a lot of note taking and listening to stuff that made no sense to me. I didn't let on though, I smiled nodded and wrote my stuff down all the while thinking of what I would be planting next in my garden and what my dad was doing on the camper for the day. If you know me then you know I never really enjoyed this part of school, I get bored easily and I hate to sit still for too long.

After lunch we did some more practice casting and then went and spent two hours on the breeches. This by far was my favorite part, let it be known I will not be winning any awards for my world class casting any time soon. I had fun though getting back into the water, its been too long. Please excuse my crazy eyes in the photo, I was telling them what button to push when the snapped it, but you get the idea. This was after my fishing adventure. I had quite a few bites, but no luck of actually bringing one in. I will definitely go again whenever my hubbs can get some time to take me.