Happy Mother's Day & Fresh From the Farm

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there! I hope your day was a good one.

We spent yesterday at Cypress Garden's for my company's picnic. It was *SO* hot. But the kids had fun. Blake & I got on the new roller coaster they have called the Starliner. The website says the drop is 70 feet and the speed is 70 mph. I'm sure to any coaster enthusiasts out there that is nothing. But to a non-coaster lover who is afraid of hights, it was plenty! I had my eyes shut almost the entire time, so I dont know what Blake was doing, lol.

And on to Fresh From the Farm... How many eggs do you think is in this measuring cup?

Two. Both light brown and slightly larger than Chicken Dinner's normal eggs. Both had 2 yolks.

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And what about this one?

This is one egg. The big one from my previous post. Three yolks in one egg!

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Our garden is sprouting things like crazy. We've got tiny bell peppers, some tomatoes, onions and green beans so far. The cucumbers are blooming and the corn is growing pretty big. But tonight we had some fresh green beans.

And out back, the blackberries are ripening nicely! I've gotten several handfuls so far, but there are quite a few that are too grown up to get to at this point.

Have a great week everyone!

Last week's finds, Chickens, Eggs & an Apron Swap

I've got several topics for this post, so I'll start with my finds from last week. The top is 2 pillow cases, and the bottom are curtains, but I thought the fabric was cute. I figured I could use them for something else.

The top is another pillowcase, I thought it would go with Layla's new sheet set. I'm not sure what the bottom thing is!

I found this tea towel with Alaskan wildflowers on it.

And a tablecloth! If it's vintage, it would be the first one I've ever found.

This photo is out of order, but I forgot it when I was uploading. It might look like 2 egss in a measuring cup, but those two yolks came from one egg! It's the 2nd one we have found from our chickens. I wasnt expecting it when I cracked the egg this morning!

We have some new additions to the coop. Mike's dad bought 2 Rhode Island Reds for 2 of the other cousins. This is Nanna:

And this is Sammy:

Here is a shot of the coop. The babies (Chicken Nuggets) are growing fast! You can see our black rooster in the center there.

Another shot. In this one you can see the other rooster (in the middle there, next to Sammy).

Friday, the kids went out to check on the chickens and found 2 eggs. One was this MAMMOTH egg! The smallest one is white, we think Chicken Dinner laid that one. Then we found the darkest brown one (that is the one that had 2 yolks this morning). And then the biggest one on top there is huge! The picture just doesnt do it justice, this thing is big! I havent cracked it yet, so I am wondering how many yolks might be in there?

I am participating in the Vintage Apron Swap, hosted by Sarah (http://mamanjackjack.blogspot.com/). I got my apron on Friday! My partner was Rebecca (http://thriftygoodness.blogspot.com/). I love it Rebecca! Thank you!! Look at how cute she wrapped it, and the cute card! (Sorry about the bad coloring on the photo!). Also, it's hard to see, but she had little flowers tied up in the bow.

And here is a somewhat better shot of the apron. It's really pretty, I love it! Thank you!

I will be sending yours out on Monday!!

Randomness...

I was trying to come up with something I can do for a year-end gift for Blake's teacher. She is an amazing woman, and I am so grateful that he got such a good teacher. So I was browsing 2 Peas last night and came across something I saw quite a while back from Ali Edwards. It was the monogram made out of colored pencils. Like this: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1163559. Has anyone ever made one? I am trying to decide what might ork for the backing... maybe mat board? Anyway, since I needed to find a frame, we went to the thrift store down the road on our lunch break. I did find a frame, but I also found some other goodies!

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Like this matte green, Floraline pottery!

A bag of various seam bindings, etc. Looks like quite a few of them are vintage.

I found these 2 pillow cases and this little piece of flannel. They had the flannel marked blanket, but I'm not sure what it is. It's pretty small. Both the pillow cases have tags inside. One is too faded to read (the top one) and the yellow one has a JC Penney tag (definatly doesnt look new though). The tag says "Fashion Manor Muslin Penn-Prest ". Any idea hold old it might be?

Here is my frame, I'm going to paint it black. I also found this bag of thread. There are quite a few wooden spools, some newer ones I might be able to use, and then some on plastic spools that would probably snap if I tried to use them. I also picked up this sweater because I would like to try my hand at felting. I know I need to wash it in the machine with HOT water, but is that it? Should I cut it first? (That orange blur on the right is P. She was batting at my camera cord).

Next topic... flowers. My Daffodils I brought home from Virginia look pathetic. As you can see, they are still green, but that's about all they have going for them. Does anything know anything about growing them? Or what I can do to try and revive them?

On the other hand, my Dahlia looks great! I can't wait for this to bloom!

Is there somewhere on Blogger that can tell me how to make the links just show up with what I want them to say? Like "this" instead of the whole web address? I keep trying and just cannot get it!!

4th Birthday Celebrations

For Layla's 4th birthday this year, we decided to do something a little different. So I made reservations for a Disney character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare inside the Grand Floridian hotel. I decided not to tell her and let her be surprised. We got up yesterday morning and started getting ready. She was kinda grumpy, as you can see.

After we turned off onto the Disney exit, she started to perk up. We passed under the big sign welcoming you to Disney, then we drove by Hollywood Studios (MGM). By this point, she was busy looking out the windows to see what she could see. It wasnt long before we found the hotel.

Now she was all smiles. She knew we were eating breakfast, but didnt know about the characters. Here is she is waiting in the lobby for our table. This is a beautiful hotel. I would love to be able to stay there one day!

As soon as we walked in, there was Pooh. Her face just lit up. Then she spotted Tigger, Alice & The Mad Hatter. We told her this was her surprise and she just giggled. She was so excited! Check out the Mickey waffles!

As we ate, the characters started coming by. First was Tigger. I think she enjoyed him the most.

Next came Mary Poppins. This was her first time meeting her. She was all smiles.

Soon after that, one of the cast members came ou with a giant cupcake, crown and placemat for her. She clapped and yelled and got everyone's attention to let them know it was her birthday. They had the whole place clapping and singing along. I wish I had a picture of her face when it started. I dont think she has ever smiled so big.


Next we got to see Pooh Bear. For some reason she turned kind of shy with him, even though she met him last year at Disney. This was as close as she got.



The last characters we got to meet was Alice & The Mad Hatter. They were pretty funny to listen to! But I think he kind of freaked her out.

So we managed to get Alice alone...

We stopped at the gift shop afterwards and the girls (that is her favorite cousin, Catlain) got chocolate Mickey pops. They love chocolate!

This and an old white car were parked out where the valet parking & monorail stops.

Overall, it was great. Definatly something we will do again!! If you ever come to Disney or live in the area, I think you should give character dining a try!

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Today was Layla's 4th Birthday. Where does the time go? I know every mom says this, but I cannot believe she is already 4. My baby isnt a baby any more.

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When Iasked her what she wanted to do for her party, she said Hannah Montana. That was pretty much out of the blue. She had never really mentioned her or payed much attention to her before, but I said OK, and started planning. We had her party today. She told me afterwards that this was her "best party ever". So I guess I did good!

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Here is her cake. I took the Wilton cake decorating class, but only course 1 so far. But I think it turned out okay.

Here's a shot of the living room before the party.

I got Layla all dressed up like a pop star. I found a Hannah Montana clip-on hair thing at Walmart, she just loved that. And I put pink glitter in her hair. She was pretty eager to pose!

Here she is on her stage that Daddy built. We had a karaoke machine out there for the kids to sing on. It took a bit to get anyone to do it, but finally they started to sing.

The boys getting in on the action...

Time for cake and ice cream!! In the beginning of the week, I made "ice cream stars" instead of doing scoops at the party. I let the ice cream sit out and soften up, and then spooned it into silicon pans and froze it again. They popped right out and turned out really cute!

Time for presents!!

And after the party... the mess wasnt too bad!

It was a good day, but I am glad they are both in bed. I am ready to relax! Happy Birthday Baby, I mean, Big Girl!

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P.S., is anyone out there? Drop me a line, I love reading your comments!

Spring

Spring is definatly here. Everything is green and blooming. We decided to plant a garden. We've got corn, green beans, wax beans, cucumbers, watermelon, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. They seem like they are doing pretty well. We'll see how it goes. This is the first time I've dealt with a garden since I was in 4-H in elementary school. This is everything but our corn, we have that in 2 seperate areas.

After weeding a bit, Mike headed out on the tractor to work in the pond. You can see him just a little bit kind of in the center of the picture above. When I finished, I headed out there to check on the blackberry situation. I thought I saw some bushes, I wanted to try and look again. So I'm walking around the perimeter of the pond, and I see these purple flowers. I dont remember seeing these last year, but it was a jungle out there. I have never seen anything like this, they are very strange looking. Pretty, but strange...

They were all over out there. I dont even know where to begin to try and figure out what they are. Does anyone have any ideas?

After looking at those for awhile, I went back to looking for Blackberries. Found em! There are quite a few bushes out there, all pretty loaded with young berries. Hopefully as Mike is cleaning up out there, he doesnt rip them all out! I havent had fresh blackberries in years, and the store bought ones just dont compare. Maybe I will try my hand at making blackberry cobbler this year. I remember going out back and picking a bucket full of wild blackberries, and bringing them in (minus the ones I couldnt wait to eat!) and my mom making cobbler. Yummy!

Walking out of the pond, I noticed these elephant ears. These things were WAY overgrown when we moved in here. They are a pain, but I thought the beads of water pooled on them were pretty.

And, Cypress Knees! We have several Cypress trees behind the pond, so you can tell it was wet at some point back there. But we have heard from neighbors that there hasnt been water in the pond in years.

Oh yea, our roosters have begun trying to crow. It's so funny to hear them out there. You can hear the roosters down the road start going, and then ours chime in. I will try to get a better picture of them than the one I posted before. We've got two of them and they are both black. Chicken dinner and some of the hens were more yellow. I would love to have to have some Araucana's that lay the blue eggs. So pretty!