What We Did in April 2017

We kept fairly busy in April.  Here is a review of some of the things we did.

This was a project I undertook.  I made up two "conversation jars," one to keep and one for a friend.  The kids have enjoyed this. We don't take a strip every day.  We still have a few strips in the jar today.  Some of the questions are not so fun, but others are.

Another day, which was a day Bianca was here, I took the kids to a couple different stores and gave them each ten dollars, and I had them draw names.  It was to be a secret as to who got whose name (I helped Elizabeth), but they figured it out.  The girls stayed with me, and I let the older kids go off on their own.  Then we got home, and they each wrapped their gifts and afterward exchanged the and opened them.  It was loud and exciting. 

I subscribed Elizabeth to two months of sensory boxes. She paid for them with her own money.  This was the first box of treasures.  

Below, she and I are playing the rabbit game.  This activity helps her with gripping.

William built and painted this bedside table all himself.  I think it looks very lovely.  It matches his room well.  I don't think I ever posted pictures last fall of the kids' newly painted bedroom walls.  He repainted his and Trusten's room a beautiful blue color. I painted the girls' room a purple to match the purple wallpaper that is on Elizabeth's dinosaur-decorated wall.  (Liv's is My Little Pony.) Note: The shining below the table is the edge of their black trash can.

We all six took an enjoyable nature drive one day, and we ended up in Eureka Springs where we ate at this Rowdy Beaver restaurant.  I ate a barbecue brisket sandwich with jalapeños.  Nathan and I think William and Trusten ate the same.  I think the girls ate burgers.

Another grilling day.  Nathan grilled filet mignon and beef ribs.  I don't think I ate my rib that day; I ate it the next.  I made a red wine demi glace, lemon butter rice, and asparagus.  It was soooo good.

 Strawberry thumbprint cookies before going in the oven

I've really been enjoying tacos lately.  I usually don't eat the tomatoes, anymore, but two or three times this year I have.  I definitely took a DAO capsule (enzyme to break down histamine) before I ate this meal, especially since I drank a root beer with it.  Root beer will also sometimes cause allergic-like symptoms because of the high histamine content. 

 Hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canascens)

Here is my sweet baby girl posing beside our purple irises and willow that Nathan planted a few years ago for me.

I don't remember what I walked out here to see upon arriving home one day, but it looks like in this picture that we just got home from grocery shopping, because there is William getting groceries out of the back. I love beautiful spring days.  :-)

This was sad. Olivia found this baby bird on the ground.  She tried saving it.  She or William put it back in its nest, but it fell, or was pushed, out again.  William said the nest had too many birds in it. I think they said it was a robin's nest.  This was at Tanya's house, if I'm remembering the correct bird discovery.  


It flooded quite badly this April, and here are just a few of the pictures.  I took videos, too.  I think it was the second worst since we've lived up here.  We couldn't get out for an entire day.

Until next time...

March 2017 Spring Delights

Outdoor Spring Wonders

I was so happy that my lilac bush bloomed well for the first time in years.  It had either not bloomed at all or barely did and would be ruined by frost. Even one year when it partially bloomed, the tiger swallowtails never came.  Their numbers, I think, decreased greatly after the two terrible droughts we had a few years 

A Delicious Treat

I finally got around to making the chocolate tart that calls for avocados.  It may sound gross, but it's very good, and the smooth texture is amazing. 

Spring Feast

We had a feast to celebrate spring.  Nathan cut up a lot of fruit and grilled some steaks.  I made two dips—rotel cheese (and no, I do NOT use Velveeta) and spinach-artichoke, punch, dish-baked potatoes, and asparagus.  

Everything was so delicious!

A Venture Taken in the Winter

I can't remember when I took these pictures, but I used Nathan's phone and later sent them to myself, and they are labeled May, I think, which is weird, because I didn't send them in May.  I sent them probably the same day.  I imagine this took place in January or February.  Nathan remembered an area he saw when hunting and wondered whether someone piled the stones deliberately to hide something.  (We were all hoping for treasure.)  It was so very cold that day.  It was a letdown that there was nothing there.

I wish I'd have taken a picture of the rocks in their original place before Nathan and William started digging.

I guess that is all I have to share from March.  I have a lot of pictures out of order.  I am regretting every updating my OS on my laptop.  I hate, hate, hate some of the features.  iPhoto is all gone, and...well, I'll just say things aren't the same, and I'm aggravated.  I found more pictures of the trip the kids and I took on the day we visited the pond after I made the January post.  They were stuck elsewhere. Anyway...

Until next time...

February 2017 Doings

This February post will be quick.  I won't comment much, as I'd really like to catch up to present time. 

I was so excited about getting chickens again.  Nathan and William set out to build a new chicken house.  Nathan formulated a new design this time, and they got started.  However, they didn't finish it before we got Odin the Beast (our dog).  I was hoping to get the new chickens (adults) when Odin was a small puppy.  He unintentionally hurts our two outdoor cats.  He's a big baby and loves to play, but I'm afraid he'd accidentally kill chickens, so I'm feeling like I might not get chickens again, which makes me a bit sad.  I ought to take advantage, I guess, and get serious about gardening next year, instead.  

No, none of these pictures are a mistake.  I took all these pictures in February.  I wore jeans, but the kids are more hot-natured than I am.  It was warm a lot during the winter.

Nathan took this picture.  We were enjoying a popcorn break from our reading.  

Baby dog!!!

Lol, we don't typically do Valentine's Day, but I think that's when my Love got me these flowers.  :-). One day when I was doing my typical massaging and loving on him, Liv started taking pictures.  (You've really got to watch that girl with her picture-taking.  I find pictures on my phone of all sorts of things.)

We sometimes take selfies and send them to each other.  Funny, these are both vehicle pictures.  Sometimes I'll snap a picture of myself before I leave the house, though, and Nathan has sent me pictures of him hot and sweaty while he's working.  ;-)

I looooved this!  I actually took a video of Trust and Liv perched up on this box.  It was so sweet.  Trusten was reading a book aloud.  I love walking in on precious moments like these when they're getting along so well.  It makes up for all the times they are fighting with each other and calling each other the most horrendous names.

Up the hill for a picnic!!!  The kids loved this.  I probably don't do it often enough. I had my "sometimes child," Bianca, that day.  

We went spring shopping.  Isn't this baby girl so cute with this hat?!  She loved it, and I bought it for her. She wore it a lot at first, but then she abruptly stopped.  I should grab it back out and see whether she wants to wear it again.

Another science experiment on air pressure.  The balloon will not inflate inside the bottle, but pierce the bottle with a small hole, and the balloon will inflate when blowing.  

Some of the things we ate in February.  Yes!  I ate tomatoes, I think twice.  I enjoyed tacos and a BLT with tomato!!  I took DAO capsules before I ate in order to break down the histamine.  I think that salad is Nathan's.  It's got to be, because I don't put cheese on my salad. 

That's more typing than I should have done. 

Until next time...