Hey Sweetie are you almost ready to go?
Yes mama...I can't wait to be in the Christmas play!
You're going to be the prettiest star ever!
Thanks mama...I'm going to do my best.
I'm going to shine my hardest...
Like this...
Laughing...Not sure that the star needs to try quite that hard!
Are you sure mama? I need to try my hardest.
Just make a sweet face...ok?
Ok mama.
That's perfect!
I am running out the door...
We have an old house we are working on and unless I want to work on Christmas Eve I need to get the kitchen cabinets painted and the counter tops tiled...the sink in, the dishwasher in and the baseboards on...
So for today I have this...
Any good ideas for a caption?
I'll check back later today and add my favorite here on the post!
Have a good one...
And wish me luck!
Hey baby...how's my sweet boy?
Me...
Big Boy.
Me...
Me Big Monster Boy...
Me eat you...
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
So ok then...whoever says little boys and little girls are not born different are...
Well as my husband would put it...
"A bunch of pansy-assed intellectuals that have never raised real kids only hypothetical kids"
Yes that about sums it up!
I can also be found today over at Not Dabbling in Normal where I'm posting about kitchen organization and efficiency in our ongoing 'homestead 101' series...come join us!
For those of you here for a blueberry bread recipe you may be a little surprised to learn that it is my two year old that created this one!
Ingredients...One small child, one piece of homemade bread, one blueberry breakfast smoothie, and the secret ingredient?
One mama on the computer not paying very close attention to the goings on down the counter from her!
Step one...take your homemade bread and place it carefully on your plate.
Step two...take your blueberry breakfast smoothie and pour it over your bread.
Carefully taste...
Add more smoothie...by foot if need be!
Hold your bread up to the light to check for even consistency and elasticity
Delicately and with great care eat your newly created treat!
Being careful to keep clean and neat...
And of course remember...
Always chew with your mouth closed!
When going through my simply insane amount of pictures once in a while one comes along one that simply touches my heart.
It isn't necessarily the best in technical terms. Maybe the composition isn't perfect, maybe is isn't the most crisp of photos in the bunch. But there is just something about it that pulls at my heartstrings.
Today this was the picture.
I played with it, making it black and white...while wiping away a tear at the profiles of my #2 and #4 sons together in brotherly love...
I cropped...
And even changed the orientation from vertical to horizontal...
All the while bursting with pride a these beautiful beings I had birthed and brought into the world...these lovely boys that had obviously gotten the best of my genes...
Pride goes before a fall...
Or so they say...
Because when I finished fawning over this lovely picture I scrolled down to this...
OK...so obviously he got some of his father's genes!
And although this one got my blond hair did not get his crusty nose from my side of the family...
Nope...his dad's side for sure!
Genetically, it is all a big crap shoot!
Or as Forrest would say
"Life's a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get."
Happy Friday all...have a great weekend!
See ya tomorrow for Silent Saturday where you must endure my strangely random series of photos!
With four sons around ages 23 to 2...you just never know!
It is like having my own private circus!
There are tumblers, acrobats, and clowns...
And just think...I have a ring side seat to all the hilarity and mayhem!
When I take photos of my sweet darling daughter, my only girl...my princess,
This is what I love to see when I download my camera...
Sweet little girl photos...
The innocence of childhood captured forever...
Ahhh...she melts my heart!
But as a mom I know that for every sweet angelic picture I will also get at least two of these...
Grrrrr...Miss Monster...
Or this...
Lady like huh?
Don't even know what this face is about...
And while she's eating we might as well remember this one...
And who could forget this?
So next time you visit somone's blog and think that those are the sweetest most photogenic kids you have ever seen...
Remember that chances are that their computer is quite simply overrun with these...
OK...
Maybe not exactly like this...
But you get what I'm trying to say...
Right?
Here comes trouble!
Double Trouble!
They run and slide and knock things over...
They laugh and wrestle like most brothers!
Only difference being...
They are 19 years apart in age!
Oh yeah, one more difference from most brothers...
They never, ever argue!
Having kids this far apart in age might be a little different...
But these two never argue over toys, who got the biggest cookie, or who's turn it is...
And I never have had to send them to their rooms for fighting!
Nope...nothing but the good stuff here!
You know you probably are a country bumpkins when...
Your daughter uses a broken composter for a buckin' bronco!
While wearing tights...
And boots...
In the summer!
Since we have no real horsepower on this bronco we must use...
Baby brother power!
Hold on tight Sweet Girl!
You've drawn a wild one this time!
And the winner is...
Sweet Girl riding Crazy Compost!
Sponsored by...
Baby Boy in Boots!
Hmmm you are wondering...
What is so funny about a bowl of rising bread dough?
Well normally...nothing.
Except that it is in wayyyyyyy to small of a bowl.
As I watch my bread rise I get this uncomfortable feeling...
This prickly feeling on the back of my neck...
This strange affinity to the dough forms in my heart...a feeling of kinship...of sisterhood...
What could this be I wonder?
I instinctively stand up straighter...
I tighten my stomach muscles...
I adjust my waistband....
Then recognition dawns...
Oh No!
No it can't be...
It's mocking me...
I must turn away...
But I can't...
It is a metaphor...
A drooping, overstuffed metaphor...
One I can not even voice out loud...
Yet one I can't seem to tear my eyes from...
Till finally it sinks under the burden of its own weight, deflated, saggy...
It lies there wrinkled, no longer able to hold itself up for its underlying structure is shot.
I turn my head and shed a single tear...
After giving birth to 6 babies...
I am that dough.
That tired, wrinkled, saggy dough...
A Summer Rain Dance
Most of the winter and spring around here my kids complain about it being too cold and wet to go out and play but...
In the summer a rain shower is a delight to both the kids...
And the garden!
Next week I am doing a two day series on our rain play but for today here is sample of the fun Sweet Girl had in the rain.
Mator Mama?
Baby Boy kept picking red tomatoes the other day...Baby Boy doesn't like red tomatoes particularly, he much prefers yellow and orange ones.
He would pick a red tomato, take a bite, and then throw the rest through the fence to the goat.
Stop picking red tomatoes and giving them to the goat...mama likes red tomatoes
After went back to picking beans . I felt a nudge on my leg, it was Baby Boy with his hands behinds his back with a big grin on his sweet face
Mama...mator mama? Me pick mator you!
Thanks Baby you're sweet...but don't pick anymore red ones, ok?
Otay mama...
Pick wellow ones?
Ok Baby, pick yourself some yellow ones
Me wub wellow ones
I love you Baby Boy
Yep, mama wub me
The best thing I ever planted in my garden is my kids!
As you know I have four boys and one lone little girl...she is the princess among frogs!
Until she came along I never realized the HUGE difference between the sexes even at very young ages.
Sweet Girl is so very verbal, and dramatic, and sweet, and...
Animated!
They boys can be all of these things too but not with the same effectiveness as their sister...
Yep the award for the most animated child goes without a doubt to the girl!
Sweet Girl says that her little brother's hair is the color of vanilla ice cream...
Today we added a little chocolate!
Camel lips are just plain weird!
Their upper lip is split in the middle, each side seems to move independently of each other.
Camels can use their lips to grasp things almost like we use our fingers...it is the strangest thing.
Oh yeah...camel breath isn't the prettiest either!
I think I may grow some mint for Gizmo next year...he doesn't seem to like Listerine!
Note: If you could ignore the un-manicured, manly, farmer girl hands it would be greatly appreciated...I have my dad's hands, what can I say? It was so embarrassing at 19 to go to try on my engagement ring and find out I wear the same size as the groom. It is a trauma I have yet to come to terms with...and we won't even go into learning I wear the same size shoe as said future husband!
I don't want your pity...just your understanding
Fly Boy
I also have a post over at Not Dabbling in Normal about my plans for a a winter garden...yes it is time to start planning for a year round harvest!
The other day when Sweet Girl was down visiting grandma, Baby Boy and I shared a smoothie together...
As I sipped mine through a straw, Baby Boy guzzled his....
All the while telling my stories about 'neigh, neighs' (horses) and 'moo moos' (cows) while doing his best animal noises!
Yes fun was had by all...
then it was bath time...
after that laundry time!
Here is the smoothie recipe...the kids and I have it almost every afternoon.
1/3 of a small block of soft tofu
1 Cup organic vanilla yogurt
1 Cup frozen organic wild blueberries
7 or 8 large organic strawberries
1 banana...(best if prefrozen but sometimes I forget)
1 - 2 heaping Tablespoons flax seed meal
Enough water just to help the blender along
10 - 12 ice cubes
Blend everything but the ice cubes until smooth, then add the ice a few cubes at a time and process until ice is crushed into little tiny pieces. Grab some glasses and straws and enjoy...it is really delicious!
My personal
Leaning Tower of...
Kids????
Watering the Baby
We don't water the lawn around here...
But we do water the kids!!!
Flour Child
Come visit next week for the whole story behind this picture!
Hey Good Lookin'
I don't think I can add anything to this besides...
Welcome to the world of living with a camel!
He's such a ham!
Big Pot...Big Girl
Sweet Girl could not for the life of her find a way to fit herself into the big blue pot like her little sprout of a brother did...
she tried and tried and looked at me and said...
"Mama, we need to get a bigger pot!"
I made some sun-dried tomato/Parmesan bread the other day...
After I put the loaves in the oven I left the room to fold some laundry...
This is what I found on my pizza peel when I returned...
As a mother of 4 boys not much startles me anymore...
But I must say that this bug covered in and resting among the cornmeal did give me pause...
I guess today's installment should be called the 'Friday Freakys'
It wasn't even one of the boys that did this...
No, it was my sweet girl...I found her hiding around the corner...giggling!
The boys have taught her well!!!
Hiding Out!
I told the kids it was time to clean up...
I left the room to put some laundry away and when I came back Sweet Girl had made a tent out of a blanket. I could her whispering to Baby Boy to be quiet or I would find them and make them clean.
Like I wasn't going to notice the big blanket that was in the middle of the family room with a couple of giggling kids under it!
Mama, did you know that farmer's walk around with hay sticking out of their mouths?
Well they do in books anyway sweetie
I'm a farm girl so I need some hay in my mouth
Oh really...
Mama...hay doesn't taste very good
Well hay would probably taste better if you hadn't taken it from the compost bin
Oh...
Note to the squeamish...she got it from the compost bin itself which is made of straw and not actually from IN the compost bin!
