Weekending

The week started out beautifully- warm and sunny. We spent the Monday working in the yard and Tuesday afternoon at the Arboretum. But the weather turned bringing more rain, wind and cold.

So this weekend was spent mostly indoors...

cooking. painting. playing. cleaning.

This morning brought snow showers. And the boys were out playing and making snow balls. It didn't snow long or stick for long, but they had fun while it did.

How did you spend your weekend?

Goings On

Cohen- tracing sharks, drawing whales and all other things fish

 Annika with her playdough. All the time.

Rylan mowing. I am wondering when mowing will cease to be fun and something to fight over and become a chore....

Annika in her house. The boys made her a castle out of weeds....she loves it.

Cale's dinosaurs made out of clay. T-rex, Triceratops and Stegosaurus

My mom visited. Rylan made her a cake for her birthday. Black Tie Mousse Cake.

We went to the Arboretum....they have a fiber works show right now. It made me wish it was shearing season. Now.

There was also an exhibit on prehistoric mammals. They got to see all the animals they have watched documentaries about for years.

Annika's mess. 

We hatched chicks. 3 Turkens. 2 Americanas. and 3 Top Hat mixes, with out hats so far. We did not hatch out any peachicks though. That egg was a dud.

The goat switch. June in now rooming in with Scooter and Scout and Thor is happily down in the girl's yard, stinking up the place. And so starts breeding season.

Harvesting sweet potatoes.

What's going on in your world?

A Happy Easter

 

On Saturday,  the kids talked me into taking them to an Easter egg hunt they saw a sign for. The signs said 16,000 eggs....I was sure it was going to be a madhouse and someone would get lost. But the whole thing was very organized and every age group got a turn and they all had a lot of fun.

Easter baskets on Sunday morning.

This year it was just us for Easter. We kept dinner simple and we all pitched in. I made a turkey.

Rylan made a chocolate chip cheesecake for dessert. 

Lakin made a fruit salad. 

Cohen made dinner rolls. 

 Cale made mashed potatoes. 

and Paul made me a milk stand. 

The kids cooperated for their annual group shot with their new shirts. And if you look really close you will see that Cale is holding a grasshopper, who they just had to be in the picture too. 

Kids in the Kitchen: Weekly Wrap-up

 The boys have been hit by the baking bug. Especially the older 2. And they are testing out their new found skills and freedom in the kitchen.

Rylan woke up early for 3 days in a row this past week and made breakfast for everyone. 

He made waffles, blueberry oat muffins and peanut butter waffles. I didn't get many pictures- I am not a morning person....

Lakin wanted to make granola bars for snack, so Rylan gave him a hand with reading the recipe and measuring everything. Lakin manned the spoon. 

 

Cale made soft pretzels to go with dinner one night.

 

And Rylan made carrot cake for dessert. 

 

He has been pouring over my cookbooks and Allrecipes. He has a long list of fancy desserts he wants to try and make. 

 

Some are simple, like chocolate pudding. But others, like Tiramisu and  Black Tie Mousse Cake (like from The Olive Garden) are a little more involved.

And finally, last night Cale made meatballs for dinner for the meat eaters of the family.

 

What have your kids baked lately?

This Week's Wrap-Up

 I had plans to start back to school this week. We had been off for 2 weeks  and were relatively settled in. Then Paul had to go out of town for the week,  one of my boys has night time issues and was up until midnight almost every night. And, well, school didn't happen. But that's okay. 

We did a lot this week though- from home. Cale remembered his goal of 5 dinners a month and realized he had only made 2. And it was 3 days to the end of the month. So he got to work. Monday he made us garlic bread.

 On Tuesday, he tag teamed with Rylan to make apple cheddar muffins. And Wednesday he made lasagne again.

Paul tilled me up 2 rows before he left for the week and we planted peas, onions, lettuce, spinach and radishes before I ran out of room. 

 

Now if I could only keep the chickens out of the garden!

 

We are enjoying the spring-like weather....with blooms everywhere. 

 

We have a couple of these flowering magnolia trees which I have always loved. 

 

Monkeys in trees....

 

Down the road from our house is a little community center and park. 

 

We spent 3 afternoons there this week.

 

The boys made a dam in the creek. 

 

And Annika and Lakin made friends with the cows who came to watch them play. 

 

Storms are coming today, and Paul is on his way home. So we are inside, playing Rummy-O, Pay Day and Rylan's made up game.