A Week of Summer in Spring

This last week the weather seemed more like summer than spring. It was De-lightful!

I can't wait for summer schedule. We eat breakfast, the girls get dressed, we have worship and they spend the rest of the morning outside until lunch. Which gives me incentive to do yard work. Even if it is just weeding one flower bed.

After lunch if there is time they head back outside for a half hour or so and then it's down for naps, right during the heat of the day. I stay in and clean while they nap and after naps, you guessed it back outside they go. I love it. The house stays a bit cleaner. . . well not cleaner but less cluttered.

This past weekend I finally managed to make the breakfast I have been planning since mid-winter. Huevos Rancheros (recipe to follow) and Pina Coladas on the back porch. My Beloved was very happy with this choice. I'm on the look out for some umbrellas for our drinks. I am pretty sure that Party City will have them if Winco doesn't.

After breakfast and worship the girls begged to put on their swim suits and play in the sprinkler.

My Beloved just purchased a new spray nozzle with something like 7 settings so they had fun playing with that.

This is how we do a water slide!

"Oh no, slides wet!" Beloise doesn't care for being sprayed with a hose. I don't either. I'm planning on picking up a little swimming pool this weekend or next.

Ballerina's art is getting better all the time. 

This is one of the pictures she drew recently. Things at least remotely resemble what they are supposed to be.

She's also become rather creative with her block towers.

Cheater Huevos Rancheros

When I don't have much time but want a taste of Mexico to remind me of that trip we took before we had kids, this is my go to recipe. Oh how I miss the Coco Bar.

Per person:
2 eggs
1 corn tortilla
shredded cheese
salsa
fresh cilantro, if you've got it.

• Heat canola oil in a small frying pan for your corn tortillas. Place corn tortillas in hot oil for about 30 seconds per side just to warm them, give them a tasty flavor and make them a little more pliable. 
• Fry your eggs as desired in a separate pan.
• Place a warmed corn tortilla on a plate top it with some cheese, your eggs, more cheese and some salsa.

See why this is the cheater version. . .

~And So That's What She Did.

Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax, of Cabbages and Kings

"The time has come my friend to talk of other things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. . . "

A few weeks ago our dryer decided to stop drying. . . 

on the first laundry day of the week. . . 

on the first load of laundry. 

Thankfully by fabulous sister-in-law happened to have an extra dryer laying around so we were able to catch up pretty quickly but in order to get the borrowed dryer into the laundry room my Beloved had to take the door off the hinges. So of course the girls assumed he was making a slide for them.

The hole in the laundry room door is a mildly amusing story. It was that way when we moved in. . . see how mild that was.

Really it has come in handy and we have thought about framing it out to look more like the dog door we use it as. We once had a Yorkshire terrier and she used it quit frequently since her food was in the laundry room. More recently Penny has been enlarging it for her own use.

My Beloved's parents and his sister, Aunt Nay, made the trek from Idaho for Suzanne's memorial. It was nice to have them here. Great to be able to focus on other things and know that my kids were in grand hands. Here's Grampy with Ham-Huck.

After the memorial we were all exhausted with aching feet. So we treated ourselves to a foot soak, apparently Beloise missed the memo about it only being for your feet.

Why not eat strawberries while bathing in the mop bucket?

On Monday they headed back to Idaho. Ballerina HAS to watch people leaving our house to see which way they go. I snuck into her dark bedroom to find her peering out of the window. Please disregard the giant pile of clothes by the window I had just gone through the girls drawers and haven't found a place for these hand-me-downs just yet. Also I believe that string is the string from my camera, that's been bothering me for a while. I couldn't figure out what it was . . . funny how I start to analyze pictures once I post them on here. ;)

Later that day it was nice out so we spent as much time out of doors as possible.

Beloise loves when her sister "reads" to her. I love to hear the story change every time.

Apparently we aren't feeding Dora enough.

Here are the baby chicks. . . not so baby anymore. They are nearly all feathers now.

Ballerina has been begging us to roast marshmallows so we finally gave in and blazed up the fire pit for the first time this year.

Yeah she just ate the marshmallow she was supposed to be getting for me!

And in case you missed my mug, here's one for you. . . 

FIRE!! See what happens when I try to pose for you!

Marshmallow face

This is rapidly becoming me new favorite photo of Beloise.

This is a regular occurrence at our house.

Like I said. . .

This crazy dog has her head on my foot. . . she's so sweet. . . we love her. 

Except when she rolls in pungent things and then wants to snuggle. 

Then we love her from afar.

~And So That's What She Did.

Go Play Outside

I love sunny weather. It keeps my house clean. I send the kids out first thing in the morning, call them in for breakfast, send them out till lunch and then clean the house while they nap. After nap time, back outside folks. I love it. Unfortunately we will probably have rain the rest of the week. But while it lasted I took a few pictures of the girls playing today.

We let the chickens out of their new outdoor pen. Let me tell you I was so glad to get them out of the house.  It's a bad sign when people come in the house, sniff and say ooh are you cooking fish? nope just raising chickens.

These two are the more adventurous ones in the group.

Once they determined the coast was clear they all came out to see what they could find. These little guys have grown so much that I think I should re-introduce them.

This is Ethel, the ornery one, a Black Sex Link. She is by far the leader and a very photogenic ham. Every where I pointed the camera she sped over and posed in front of the other chicken.

Here's Chrysanthemum, our Silver Laced Wyandotte. She's bashful but speedy.

Olga, my beauty, she's a California White. 

And lastly, Hazelbell Featherdy, our Light Brahma.

Poser.

The girls love the sand box. I often find Beloise laying down in the sand.

Oh no, I've been spotted, prepare for a ham-moment. . . 

Ta-Da! She's worse then Ethel.

They have been pulling out their fluff to make way for their feathers.

I was trying to get a shot of Hazelbell when Ethel darted over and when I looked at the picture this is what I saw.

Our old girls are still going strong. Laying usually an egg a day each.

Speaking of hams, I wanted to show you what we are doing to the playhouse area but Penny decided to come stretch in front of me.

We have moved the playhouse down on the slope for a bit so that we can remove the bark dust. My Beloved is planning to make a floor for the house to keep it up off the ground. He also reinforced the pathway with a plastic border thingy, since the sand and rocks kept sliding out of place hopefully this keeps it in place a little better. We haven't decided on a new ground cover for around the playhouse, probably grass but I would like to put some flower beds beneath the windows.

We also would like to put in a picket fence along the rock wall with a mailbox on the last post. But I doubt it will happen this summer.

Beloise, back in the sand box.

While I was taking these pictures Ballerina noticed what I was doing and ran over to the sand box mumbling some excuse about oh yeah that's what I was going to do.

The girls love to play restaurant. The Menu?

Eggs and Toast

Chicken and Rice

Chicken Sauce Soup

Cheeseburger

Water

Milk

They also do specialty orders if you ask but be prepared to pay for it.

I said pay not pray.

~And So That's What She Did