negligent parenting on Sunday mornings

Sunday mornings can get pretty crazy around here. Especially Sunday mornings when I have to teach in Relief Society and Mark has meetings before church and there's a potluck afterwards.

I was bustling around trying to get ready. Both girls were already in their church clothes, and Lia even let me put her hair in braids! I dashed into the bathroom, pulled my eye makeup out of the medicine cabinet above the sink where Mark was brushing his teeth and proceeded to apply it in another mirror. Black eyeliner on the top lash line only, then curl my eyelashes, then mascara. Where's the mascara? I know I took it out of the medicine cabinet. Not on the floor. Not in the drawer. I couldn't find it anywhere so I pulled out an older tube and carefully brushed it on.

A couple minutes later I hear Mark gasp and I turned around to see Eden toddling into the bathroom, with my tube of mascara in her dimpled hands. She had carefully brushed mascara onto her eyes and lips, and hands, and white smocked dress. Oh my! She was dashed down to the clean-up crew (aka grandma) so I could bake some cookies and print out my lesson. But of course we had to take a few pictures first. There's always time for pictures.

That winsome smile! After making such mischief!

Saturday

I wasted most of beautiful Saturday cleaning my house...not merely tidying, but actually cleaning. We dashed outside after Eden woke from a late nap and just caught the last of the golden sunshine before it sunk behind the mountains. It was one of those evenings where I really get all the fuss over autumn, and I wished we had had more time to savor it.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. They really do go by too fast, don't they?

the newest additions

Two spirited little girls have made their way to the farm. I wouldn't exactly call them cute, but they are good-looking in their own way. They are not pets, and therefore don't have names. Sort of. But Mark might have named one Lucy, and I can't help but call her that when I go to visit. They love to root around more than anything else in the world. They also sleep snuggled together under their heat lamp which is terribly sweet. But they are not pets. Not pets.

Our chickens are happily laying in their nest boxes, with the exception of those wild Americaunas. We found a nest in a pile of debris with 9 light blue-green eggs and promptly stole them all away. We found one blue-green egg a day in the nest box for the next three days, but they've since found a new hiding place. Even without their contributions, we are getting about 10 eggs a day. Today Mark found a guinea egg on the floor of their coop! Those silly birds have less common sense than any other animals on this farm!

garland of autumn

A week or so ago the girls and I ventured outside to collect some Autumn decorations. I didn't have anything specific in mind...I just knew that this would be the year that I did more than just think about decorating. I would actually do it.

I made this garland with some of the leaves and Alder seed pods we collected, along with some fabrics scraps and jute. Super easy and fast. I also thought of pressing the leaves, but I'm quite fond of the unruly look of the curly leaves... like they were just blown in by the autumn wind.

Lia wanted a decorated pumpkin similar to one the Grandma got from a Relief Society dinner. I was worried that she wouldn't like my version as I used real leaves and such. It's not quite as colorful, but Lia loved it and insisted that it must reside in her room.

I also found the prettiest moss covered branch, which I hung over our bed and added some of our well-loved vintage birds. As there is a decided autumn chill in the air, some have donned acorn caps for extra warmth.

The best part of all the decorating was that I didn't have to spend a penny. Everything came from outside or around the house.

I hope you're all enjoying the cozy weather and lots of apples! We have a couple of new additions to the farm. Pictures soon!

For future reference

If a chicken has a small nest in the small barn, perhaps you should check for a big nest in the big barn....

The first egg

Conversation with my brother-in-law
Friday afternoon

Jon : I think I saw one of the chickens making a little nest in the hay in the small barn.

Me : Oh really? Are you sure she wasn't just having a little dirt bath, but in the hay?

Jon : Well, it was looking a lot like a nest.

Me : Huh. Well I don't think so, they're not going to be 5 months old until October. I think it's still too early.

Conversation with my husband
Saturday mid-day

Mark : Did you know there's a chicken making a nest in the small barn?

Me : Jon told me, but I doubt it's making a nest really. What kind was it?

Mark : An Americauna.

Me : Hmm. Well I don't think they're quite ready to start laying yet. I talked to a chicken guy yesterday and he said it probably wouldn't be until November, and that the first to start laying would be the Barred Rocks.

(Mark throws me a doubtful look)


Saturday evening Jon asked Lia if she wanted to go see if there was anything in the nest in the barn. And guess what they found...


Lia was waving this perfect little green egg above her head triumphantly. It was so exciting.

PS- The chickens have a half-finished nest box area in their coop, but it's obviously not good enough. We'll have to work on that.

Check it off the list

We finally finished the chalkboard wall. It was one of those projects that we had been meaning to do, but just hadn't gotten around to.

There is still so much to do in the house...

Paint/install trim
Paint doors
Install pantry door
Build closet/pantry shelves
Install tile backsplash and shelves in kitchen
Install stove hood
Install kickboards under kitchen cupboards
Finish loft stairs
Clean/organize/arrange loft with guest beds and craft stuff
Install cupboards in bathroom
Install vanity light in bathroom
Build storage in computer area
Reupholster kitchen chairs/couch and matching chair
Make curtains for the windows
Make shower curtain for bathroom
Hang pictures

Those are the big things that I am constantly thinking about. I also need to do another massive purge. Oh, that will be so fun. I'm hoping this fall and winter we'll have time to tackle most of this stuff. We looove our little house so much.

An early bloomer

I wasn't expecting any eggs until October, maybe November, but it looks like we have an early bloomer in our little chicken flock. I'll tell you the story of how it all went down tomorrow (oh the suspense!) but in the meantime I thought I'd post a little comparison picture. You know one of the first things we had to do with the egg is compare it to the competition.

The top egg is ours, and though tiny, it really does have that lovely orangey yolk that you hear so much about these days. The middle egg is from a local organic farm that feeds their chickens greens and grass clippings, but the birds don't really "free range" like ours do. The have large pens but the plant life has long since been torn out by the constant scratching. The bottom egg is the basic grocery store chicken egg. Looks pretty sad, huh?