A trip to the Farm

 

I went with K-lady to a small private farm for a school field trip a few weeks ago - it reminded me of home in so many good ways - trails through the forest, chickens, small orchard, gardens-gardens-gardens. It seemed so odd to me that this was such a new and strange experiences for these kids to see food that grows out of the ground!  And eggs that come from a chicken!  And tromping through the woods was definitely new. 

We had chickens like these when I was a kid - we named them Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson.  :)  They just seemed so trendy w/ their black and white back in the early nineties!  I guess some styles are timeless.

They let the chickens roam freely through the fenced orchard - natural bug repellent.  (I didn't think to ask how they keep the predators away from the chickens.)  The orchard was in full bloom - I felt like I stepped right into an L.M. Montgomery book.  :) A gorgeous green house overflowing with foliage, and sweet little babies - calves, kittens, kids - all over the place.  That rooster was a hoot - what a poser! (or does that make him a cock? Is that too PG for this blog?)

K-lady was great - she let me take as many pictures as I wanted. :)

Am I the only one who pines (along somewhat romantic lines) for a sweet little spot of earth far away from the pavement?

Mom, will you play??

J-boy got a hold of my camera the other day and wanted to tape me 'playing.'  I wasn't too interested in an episode of Tara-plays-with-Batman-toys-by-herself-for-the-camera so I said, "J-boy, the only thing I play is the piano."  So he was okay with that for subject matter and set himself up for a little movie-making.  I hope it doesn't make you nauseous - he was 'feeling' the music, and it's not exactly smooth and sweet. :) 


(I've learned about 2 pages of this piece so far - 4 to go!  It's sloppy, but that's pretty much my life right now)  :)

And because Baby A is cuter than me any day, you get one of her 'playing' too.  :)  The other day she climbed up next to me while I was playing a little Liszt (lots of flowing arpeggios) and started waving her arms around to mimic me - I think it's adorable!  :)

Sunday

These pics are from Sunday a few weeks ago - I just like the feeling I get when I look at them.

 

self portrait by J-boy

We spent the entire beautiful, warm, Spring afternoon outside - K & J tried putting on swim suits as a ploy to get us to put out the sprinkler (didn't work!).  But we did make them a 'tent.'  And let them eat conversation hearts left over from Valentine's Day.  (blech!)

The kids were arguing about something, so Joseph made them do push-ups.  :)  

Joseph attempted to make chocolate truffles (I think it was fast Sunday - he always gets really ambitious in the kitchen on fast Sunday).  They never quite set up....  But they were tasty!  :)

love that girl....

We did Family Home Evening that night - Joseph made up games to play with rocks and sidewalk chalk for the activity.  

Then the kids changed the rules - throw your rock, then jump all the way over to pick it up.  Not a lot of strategy involved, but sometimes it's the simple things, right?  :)

I love a long, sunny, Spring-time Sunday.

Franklin Conservatory Take Two

Thanks for your kind comments!! (I tell myself I do this blog for my family history, but if we're being completely honest, the comments are pretty motivating, too!!!) And there are lots and lots of things I don't do well - the laundry, dieting, being punctual, the dishes, exercising, pregnancy, being decisive to name a few....  I just don't blog about that! ;)

Our first trip to the conservatory was a bit too much of an adventure for me (a little ugly, if you will), so I was quite pleased when this trip turned out less eventful (except for the part where our friend 20-month-old Hugh decided to take a dip in the Bonsai Garden pool...).
We met up with Joseph, the Sondrups and Heather, Ryan and L - it was fun to explore together and watch the kids' excitement over each new thing.

Handsome boys! (picture from Kristi - hope you don't mind I stole it from you!)

Sweet girls (also from Kristi)

She is such a peach - running up the stairs when I approached with the camera - she immediately turned around and said, "cheese!"

Just because

I think she's cute....

side tracked....

It all started with a little Spring cleaning.....  I had really good intentions of making my way through the whole house, collecting mounds of things to donate, leaving me with a sparkling home, full of things that I either 'know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.'  That way when I pack up in June (dah! next month! where are we going?!) it'll be easier, right? 

But when I got to K and A's room, this bookshelf was buggin' me.  This is the pretty picture of the bookshelf - but we were well beyond pretty.  It was just a clutter collection spot - K-lady had a make-shift desk coming off the second shelf, and it was stashed FULL of half-colored pages, partially finished projects, art supplies, tea sets, CD's and junk.  We keep 'cleaning' it out, but it just doesn't stay clean - it was driving me nuts.  

So I listed it on Craigslist and told K-lady we'd get her a desk to replace it (hopefully one w/ less storage space for stuff we don't need!). 

I looked around half-heartedly for a used desk, but finally decided I'd just make my own.  I've been eyeing this blog for months now, and could no longer resist it's siren call.....

a quick trip to Home Depot while J-boy and K-lady were in school - just me and Baby A and Chip at the saw, cutting all my pieces to size for me right then and there.  This is how to fit a whole sheet of plywood in a mini van. :)

 

My back patio was transformed into a shop!  I found that this is a great way to get to know your neighbors. :)

 

Here she is at the end of day one - rough around the edges, but that's what power sanders are for!!! 

and at the end of day three...

And finally finished, covered in the clutter that moved here from the shelf.  K-lady has also requested a hutch!  More shelves??!!!  I guess I can't win 'em all.  :) 

But I do love this desk!  And it feels GREAT!  I told my wonderful neighbor, Matt, (who let's me borrow his tools and use his garage - SO NICE!), "I feel so powerful!"  and he said, "Why do you think us guys' do it?"  It took about $90 and 1 week of working on it here and there, during naps, after bedtime.  I could have just gone to Pottery Barn and bought it here, but where's the fun in that??  :)

Now back to that spring cleaning (as soon as I'm done with the bookshelf waiting for stain in the basement, an ottoman for K's desk, and a hutch....)

I ♥ power tools. And Knock-Off Wood blog!

Easter, anyone??

(I'm such a bulimic blogger - binge and purge, binge and purge - time to binge....)

We kept it simple with just one Easter egg hunt, hosted by our good friends the Sondrups. It was a beautiful beautiful evening, and the kids had fun - Baby A was so pumped to find CANDY in her eggs!

The Easter Bunny commissioned me to make the kids bike baskets for Easter this year --I found a tutorial on a blog (imagine that!) here.  It was pretty easy to follow, but I'd beef it up a little more if I were to make them again - J-boy's been pretty hard on his, and K-ladies isn't quite as crisp looking as it was at first.... :)   But I love a good project, and I love a good deadline, and this gave me both so I was quite happy. :)

We didn't do Easter dresses or Easter pictures or any of that.  We did enjoy a fun crepe breakfast with Heather and Ryan and L, then zipped off to the church for the morning session of General Conference, which starts at noon here (the bishop asked our ward to attend at least one session in the church, so we picked Sunday AM - I remember next to NOTHING of that session - too much fun chasing Baby A around and trying to hush J-boy and K-lady.  But by golly we were obedient!).  Then we came home, enjoyed lunchish/dinner with our friends the Nielsons and watched/dozed to the afternoon session of conference in the comfort of the living room with an internet connection.  (Does anyone else ALWAYS fall asleep during the Sunday afternoon session of conference????  In Joseph's defense, he was a little sick.  No excuses for me....)
In any case, it was a lovely Easter!