hydrangeas, jammies and chickies.

The hydrangeas, small as they may be, have turned a lovely blue, jammie shorts have been made for all children and the chicks arrived yesterday.







Before "Weekend Sewing" arrived, I had other projects in mind to try first. However, the need for summer jammies, a vacation next week, and the great photos from Heather Ross' book made them the first project(s). The girls would all like matching tops, but for the sake of time I picked up a few tank tops to coordinate until I have a bit more time and a few other projects completed. 

*The fabric for Alli's shorts is also Heather Ross. I found it at Sew, Mama Sew.

breakfast, dessert, seeds and on to supper.

Breakfast burritos.


Most of the family enjoys breakfast burritos once a week. I like them best without the tortillas, but the filling is always the same.

1 lb ground-up sausage, cooked
a bit on chopped onion
a bit of chopped green pepper and/or jalapeno pepper

Cook the above in a skillet, after the sausage is ready, blend in 8 eggs (I use a fork to make them like scrambled eggs). Once eggs are cooked, fill the tortilla and add shredded cheddar cheese.



Another recipe I like to make and especially eat. I used a white/vanilla bean chocolate bar from Ghirardelli instead of chips.


Photo of corn stalk from last July.
Yesterday was beautiful and sunny. A good enough day to get ready for spring planting. Luke and I ordered seeds and potatoes from our favorite spot. And Jason came over and we finally took care of Cooper. He is ready to go in the crock pot as soon as I finish here.

It was our first butchering attempt. I don't know if I would have had the guts to grab him (Cooper the rooster). He grabbed him, I held him down, and then later, skinned him, etc... I still haven't let all the kids know yet. Maybe after supper. I am glad it is done, and now, visiting the hens should be a bit more enjoyable again.

The view.

Thursday afternoons are always crazy because we rush from one place to another, and then waiting for 3 kids to finish piano lessons, followed by rushing home to make supper. (That sentence is a perfect example of my brain on Thursday afternoons.) As I was pulling away from Mrs. H's home last night, the sunset was beautiful. A beautiful reminder of how God has wasted none of His minutes nor sunsets. Too bad that didn't hit me until this morning.

I started this post with eggs in mind. Note to self: I am still gathering 3-4 eggs a day. I was expecting the hens to start laying a bit less by now. The chickens also love those left over Autumn pumpkins, they are working on their second one right now.

Recently I found Twist Collective. It is full of beautiful knitting patterns. One in particular I especially am fond of. Maybe some day I will be a proficient enough knitter to try this.

Four new hens.

Our three hens left seem to be doing fine. They are behaving normally and are able to stand whenever they feel like it. Huge Praise! Yesterday, my friend, Suzanne called, and then came over with four new hens-already laying hens-so this morning, we found our first egg.

Just to give you an idea of the size difference between a full-grown hen and a young hen. Here is one of the few photos I snapped of them together.

Yesterday afternoon and last night I kept our original girls and the new girls separated. Since there is a big size difference and they are new, hens have the tendency to peck the less dominate. This morning I kept them together for awhile and they seemed alright. The younger hens would kind of fly/run away when the more mature would come close, I have also noticed that even with the larger hens, they try to avoid eye contact with the most dominant of the group.

Another great thing about getting the hens from Suzanne is that the hens are friendly and don't mind being handled.

This is my first year to grow sweet peas. I have always seen them in magazines and books, however, this year, after spending so much time looking through Slice of Organic Life, I thought I would grow my own. To be quite honest, I had no idea what they would look like when they came out of the ground. In case you haven't seen one before, here is one that is still pretty young.


And another rose in bloom with a visitor...


Last but not least, some photos of my finished porch/lap quilt. The idea for the quilt was totally inspired by a quilt in January's Country Living magazine in a article about Amy Butler. I even used a blanket stitch around the edge.

May 21 - I planted sweet peas and poppy seeds...

I am still busy planting seeds and bulbs friends have given to me.

Yesterday I planted marigolds (to keep rodents out of the garden) and helped Jason finish up the girls (and Ollie's) house. They now have their own door to go into. It took a bit for them to figure it out last night but I bet tonight will be quicker.



This is one of my first yellow roses to bloom. It won't last much longer but has smelled and been a cheerful addition to the kitchen and dining table this week.