Harvest

Our first harvest of snap peas. There were a whole lot more in the bowl before everyone sat down to eat a bunch, you know it is hard work watching mama pick snap peas. They did help a bit but not many ended up in the bowl. Mom I had to eat that one, it broke and I didn't want it to go bad...
All good though. There are still more on the vines and we have been going out there pretty much daily eating a fair share while hanging out outside :)

Busy weekend

Saturday we left the house around 10 and didn't get back until after 6. Sunday was mostly spent at home but we were planting putting out slug baits(container filled with beer) that I think just was to give Jack an excuse to drink beer while gardening :) We planted more, Jack got burnt, it was just a very filled weekend. Kinda nice really. But back to horsey parties...

Layla up on the big horse. As much as she was scared to do it the look of pure joy when she did was awesome.





Oh the looks this girl can give. She is just way too cute!




Some of the smaller kids could get on the small pony to get pictures taken. Gwen wasn't really too happy about this. I told her she could not feed the pony her chocolate cookie. She gave it to me but she was sorely missing her cookie for the 5 minutes she was on the pony.




Layla got on the pony also. She looks so big on it! But she actually really enjoyed that also.



And I am going to have to go searching. I have a picture of Jack's dad that is similar to this. Okay Jack's dad does not have a pink bandanna over his mouth. Jack was joking around. Layla didn't want to wear her bandanna so he did :) I don't think he was counting on me taking a picture. Anyway, the picture of his dad is him sitting back and kinda squinting in the sun just like Jack is doing here. Of course Jack's dad has long curly hair and I think a beard, but the face... Oh and when Gwen sees this picture she says "Daddy funny!! Daddy funny!!!"

Horse riding

I swear Gwen rode each of the two horses and the one pony. We think she took about 5 or 6 turns. She called them all "My horse, RIDE!" I thought Layla was the horse obsessed. I was wrong. Some of the kids were scared to ride the actual horses, not Gwen.





I love this picture of her looking up at the horse. She looks so tiny.




The helmet was a little big on her but she insisted on wearing it. The first time she rode she had a bit of a hard time not slipping. I told her she had to hold on with her legs. By the end we didn't have to hold her on. She did really great.




Natalie really enjoyed herself also. She rode quite a few times.




Layla was scared of the big horses. But after I got her on one then she was good. She realized that they weren't so scary.

Natalie's Karate Graduation

HA! Remembered to put them in the right order.

So this was really scary. It was a pretty small room and there were a lot of karate kids there. They all warmed up together. Jack caught a picture of something that wasn't so scary, them stretching. But I kinda wish I had had the camera because getting a picture of the black belts doing squat kicks and just missing the kids heads that were in front of them was about to give me a heart attack. And seeing them all doing jumping jacks was quite something also.



Natalie performed her kata. I have been drilling this into her for so long now it is insane. I said Layla doesn't need to practice much but Natalie? I am proud of her for different reasons. This is hard for her. Really hard. She really has to work at it. I think seeing all the cool stuff at the graduation helped her. She wants to be able to do all the things blacks belts can do.






Layla got a medal also, but I don't have a good picture of it. Each week they have to fill out their black belt action list. This tells them if they have listened to their family, helped their family and such. One of the reasons I like them going to karate, not only is it teaching them self confidence and strength it is also teaching them to act respectfully to everyone. One of the sensai's gave a kinda speech at the end. He said something like karate is what we need now. People who have a strong work ethic, respect and the determination to do hard work. I see that. I see them being taught that. It is something that is really important to us and I am glad to see it reinforced.



And maybe you wonder how we got such a close up of Natalie getting her next belt? Well remember how I told you it was loud, crowded and kinda crazy? Natalie heard them call Natalie, but did not hear the Walter part. Of course I could see her talking to her friends and playing around. So at the end we asked her sensai to give her the new belt. He was nice enough and understood that it was probably hard to hear. But knowing Sensai, he probably knew that Natalie was dazed off somewhere :)

Layla at Karate Graduation

Sorry I will try to remember to upload pictures in reverse order next time. I have a lot of pictures to upload though and don't feel like fixing them right now. And please excuse not so great pictures. It was crowded and hot and lots of people trying to take pictures, it was pretty crazy.

So Layla getting her new belt. She is now a purple stripe belt. I have to say how proud I am of her. Karate seems to come really natural to her. We got a lot of comments on how good she is and how much she must practice. She actually doesn't so much.




Sparring. She got pared with the tallest black belt. Kinda funny considering she may have been the shortest there.







Again kinda proud of her for remembering things like bowing to your partner. She did so well through the whole thing.



And I uhh think I caught her picking her nose at the beginning :)

Art and Craft Fair!!!

This Saturday! Here is a link
http://rlf1916.com/events/SouthworthArtsGardenFair

Please come out and support local crafters!

I will be there. Totally nervous and freaking out but I will be there :) I have a feeling Jack will be dragging me to the car. I have been working on a few things to bring with me and I will share one of my favorites.




I am working on a matching mirror. My girls are calling it the mermaid mirror. The problem with all of these is that the girls keep asking if this stuff if for them. I love them so much. So supportive.

So come out and join us. We had a blast at the fall fair here and I am thinking that this will be a hit also:)

Seedlings

So we are so close to putting our seedlings in the ground. Except I call them seedlings like I call my 7 yr old baby. These are true plants. Our cucumbers have flowers. They could bare fruit if it was warm enough and they were outside. And you know you are a mom when you start to look at your seedlings, okay remember these are plants, and start to get weepy when your husband says it is time to harden them off and stick them in the garage for a few days. Seeing them grow right in front of your eyes is quite an amazing site. It is also amazing that the cats stayed away and our baby, okay toddler. Seeing them in the small seedling pots, being happy when they grow out and need a new bigger pot is like your baby learning to walk. The proud moment of them getting bigger and stronger. And when they move to the next bigger pot, still a proud moment. But now they are to the point where we don't have pots big enough and they are too close to our lamp. They need to go outside to the big wide world of our front yard. It is spring and it is time for growth. My baby love, will se ever outgrow that nickname?, is babbling all over. I love the sweet sounds, her facial expressions, it is amazing to me. The stories she already tells. I am totally enchanted. Life is good right now. Things have changed but I see them more like the opening buds on the trees, full of promise and possibility.
I will try to take pictures of this soon. I also need to get pictures up for Gwen and her birthday. It has been a slightly full week :)

breaking down a chicken

I love the internet. Jack was wondering about breaking down the chicken instead of freezing them whole. I had just happened to watch a video on gluten free girl. I love her blog so much. http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-break-down-chicken-video.html
Even if you are not gluten free it is something to have on your blog list. There is a lot of good general info here:)
These pictures are pretty self explanatory. You can see that we do not have commercial meat layers. Their thighs are much bigger than their breasts. But that is alright with us. If this goes well, we might get some day olds meat birds.
Oh and the last picture is gruesome. I will leave some space so you can choose not to see it.







only look if ya want to now....

more

So Jack breaking off the leg part.



Peeling the skin back. We decided to do it this way at least the first time. We don't care much for skin on skin and it is easier than plucking feathers.



Jack gave the girls anatomy lessons. We got to discuss, lungs, esophagus, kidney, intestines. I am probably forgetting some things here, but it was interesting and even with all the gross faces they thought it was pretty cool.



Jack spraying off the chicken and what we were all freaked out about was he was spraying up by Gwendy. He didn't get her, but she was pissed that she couldn't come down.


And if you want to learn more about processing chickens here is a video on youtube. I have to say that I kinda get a kick out of the chicken making noises in the background. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgo6Qlaff_4&feature=PlayList&p=44413D3C6FB3973D&index=0&playnext=1

Here it is

Okay two people responded, but it is enough interest for me:) There are lots of pictures, so there will probably be at least two posts. And so they won't be in order. And looking at some of the pictures I see, I think the technical term is, overexposed. I tried to take non gruesome pictures. But this does involve the death and skinning of chickens, so continue at your own risk.

Because every coop should have a killing cone attached to the side :)


Jack picking out the first lucky bird. Really we did try to be kind here. We were not rough with them and tried to make it as quick and gentle as possible. I put them out by themselves in our run earlier in the day. Their last hours were of scratching in the mud and eating bugs.


First thing is to make the chicken dizzy. They get very light headed when held upside down and usually quiet right down. The first one didn't, but the rest did. Of course the first one we did was the head roo.



Chicken in the cone. Jack wants to mess with the design a little bit. It did work. Sorry there are no actual pictures of slitting the throat. One, I helped Jack and two I really felt that it would be too gruesome.



And Natalie helping pick the next chicken. Gwen was probably the cutest one. She kept going up the the chicken as it was bleeding out and saying chicken, bawk!!! bawk!!! Yes, a little disturbing, but it was funny at the time.

A Question for you all

Please respond. Jack wants me to blog us culling our chickens. I was curious to see if there was any interest in this? Would you like to see the process of culling chickens?

Some henna

I have been working on some things recently. This is one of my first henaed boxes. i have more made now but I haven't taken many pictures



Like my second maybe third left handed attempt. It is a very simple design but I am happy with it.


gwen always wants henna, always!!! but se is just now getting to where she sits still long enough for something more than a swirl. She is very proud of her henna.


I wore a skirt yesterday and was practicing on my thigh. I am actually really happy with how it all came together. It is like 4 different designs and I wasn't really going for anything to look nice together, just to practice.

Natalie karate

They are in different classes now. So Natalie got her red belt last night. Natalie has a harder time staying focused in this class. It is bigger and she went from being the oldest and pretty good in the younger class to being the youngest and still pretty good, but we have to practice more.




all the kids in their new belts


good strong stances!



Her punches are really good also. We practice and I let her hit my hand. She is tough

Layla karate

I have been asked to put some pictures of the girls in karate up here. Please excuse some of the blurriness. I am going to blame it on the person who was taking pictures:)

Layla amazes me. She has awesome stance, great kicks, superb punches. I can't help but to smile with pride when she is up there. We get lots of comments on how good she is. She is tiny but she is also strong. Sensai tells her that often:) Look at Layla, see how she does her kick? Such a little teachers pet.


Great kick


Look at this strong stance.


Focused


And she likes Sensai a lot