Eggs-portation

The Little Man discovered a 'manly' way to gather eggs.

Who needs an egg basket when you can have an egg wagon?!

He also discovered he can climb the apple tree

What a handsome dude.

The Biscuit & some chicken friends

Daddy & his babies

 

Blessings.

S'mores

A S'Mores Tutorial

First you start your fire- preferably with flint & steel (gotta keep the ol' survival habits sharp)

Next you gather your supplies--graham crackers, marshmallows & Hershey bars (Scooby Doo is optional)

Roast your marshmallows (or if you are 2 offer them up as a burnt offering to the marshmallow gods)

Assemble your s'more: graham cracker, hunk of chocolate, burning hot marshmallow, graham cracker

You should end up with this:

Now do this:

Please stop before you look like this:

(somewhere around #4)

Continue, all the while moving the baby to stay out of the smoke

And watching the marshmallow dropped into the fire grow into "The Blob"

 

Enjoy your summer

Blessings

Heritage Days

Friday, we went to "Heritage Days" at Fort Klamath. They have different 'stations' set up with re-enactments of life in the 1800's. Mostly the time of the Civil War. The people are all in costume (or uniform) & they have all of the correct period accessories. Wagons, spinning wheels, cannons, dutch ovens, laudenum & all kinds of fun stuff . This was on the grounds of Fort Klamath, an actual fort that was commissioned during the Civil War. No original buildings still stand but they have rebuilt a barracks & use it as a museum. And the fort is the site of the graves of Captain Jack & 3 of his men.

Captain Jack & his men were tried & hung at the fort after they were finally captured, closing out the Modoc Indian War. This was the last Indian war in our country & a very interesting piece of history. You should check it out.

Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the day.

Pioneers travelling the Applegate Trail.

The old Agency Lake post office. This building was used until 1980.

You're in the Army now...

Making fire with flint & steel

Enjoying some Civil War tunes.

The 2 Man girl saw

Crosscut Saw

The Little Man (isn't he cute)

Homeschooling rocks!

Blessings.

Out of the mouths of babes...

The Little Man is sitting here in my lap. He points to some scratches on his leg. He tells me, in a very serious voice, "Moddy, the cow, bit me. She bit me when I went into the cow pen."

Vicious cow, eh?

Except for the fact that he got those scratches yesterday tripping over a blackberry vine!

So, how does a 2 year old come up with a story like that?

Blessings.

Blossoms on the Homestead

Apple tree.

Crabapple tree.

Wild rose.

Columbine.

Garlic chives.

Woodland phlox.

Blessings.

Color experiments

Yesterday we experimented with colors.

We learned about primary, secondary & tertiary colors. We made our own color wheel

 

And rainbow sequence

 

From right to left: Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet 

Roy G. Biv (notice the slight discrepancy between Green & blue. They are backwards.)

We spent a lot of time creating different shades & tints. It was really fun. And all it took was water, jars, & food coloring.

So grab your kids, head out into the sunshine & do some experimenting!

Blessings.

A few pics

Here are a few recent pics from the homestead...

The Biscuit

The Little Man wanted a "smile" of Petra in her finery.

Norman

 

Tigger & Simba

Flowers are blooming

Hope your homestead is blooming & happy as well.

Blessings.

HMD

Happy Mothers Day

Future Farmer

The Biscuit checking out the chicks:

We picked up 10 more yesterday. 5 Barred Rock & 5 Buff Orpington. I think we might be done for the year. I'm about past having a kitchen full of baby animals .

Blessings.

National Day of Prayer

Don't forget, tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. A time for Christians across the country to pray for our nation, our leaders, and our communitys. If you can, join with other christians at churches in your community to pray as a body. If you can't get together with others, pray at home with your children and know that your prayers are joining with millions of others. Where ever you are don't forget: pray

Blessings.

Napa news

We just got home from Napa California. We attended the California Grain & Feed Association convention at this http://www.themeritageresort.com/?gclid=CMOH6teFn5oCFQwxawodIwcN8A  incredibly swanky resort. It was absolutely beautiful & we had lots of fun. Very much 'country goes to the city'   We went out to dinner one night at this http://www.bayleafnapa.com/ restaurant. Oh my! It was so fancy! We sat down & they offered us water 4 different kinds of water! Um, how about ice water??? I think that may have been my favorite part of the whole trip.

It was an almost kid-free adventure. The Biscuit went with us of course but the other children stayed with grandma. Yay for grandmas! I think The Biscuit was the most popular person at the convention. Everyone wanted to talk to him, know his name, smile at him; it was so cute. And he was such a good baby. He smiled & cooed & flirted with everyone. And he slept thru all the noise & commotion. He was just happy as could be in his little sling. And the sling itself started all kinds of conversations. Most of the women thought it just looked fabulous ( which of course it is). He even made it into the slide show at dinner the last night.

The ironic part of the whole trip: there we were in wine country, surrounded by all these tasting rooms & fabulous wines available at all of the receptions and...we don't drink! Even when we did, I have NEVER cared for wine. Blech . I just found it funny while everyone else was swirling, sniffing & sipping their wine, my husband & I were really enjoying our gingerale .

It was so nice to get to dress up & spend time with my husband but now we are back to reality. Dinner is on the stove, the animals are all fed & we are watching Scooby Doo with The Little Man. Sigh.

Here are some pics of our fun.

Here's our room

 And the fancy robes hanging in the closet

The Biscuit enjoying himself

 

The view from our room

The Napa Valley Wine Train

The dessert car

Views from the train

Blessings.