Category: Life

There are a lot of things about my life that are different than I imagined they would be. From about, oh, ten years old to twenty-one, I had different ideas ranging from being a lawyer in New York or an actress in LA, to maybe starting an orphanage or teaching high school literature. Obviously none of those happened, haha! Sometimes it feels like I’ve lost my identity, but most of the times, I think that my identity is coming to find me, all the time. My life might look nothing like I planned, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s actually quite fantastic. I couldn’t, *didn’t*, dream up anything better.

Why the philosophical tangent? Well, even up until last year one of the things I thought I’d NEVER do was raise chickens. Never say never folks… ask me how I know..

Say hello to our Golden Laced Wyandotte ladies! Sorcha, Dagmara, Petra, Zita, Luna, and Rose Ray Tico. I’ll let you guess who named who.

Each of the kids are having a blast with the chicks so far. We did not originally plan on getting this breed, we had our eye on the Sapphire Gems, but long story short, there is a bit of a chicken craze going on now, and chicks are in short supply. We were lucky to get these ones after a hectic two weeks calling around, and one very disappointing trip to pick some up that turned out to be a dead end.

I grew up with chickens but that did not prepare me for all the initial stress of bringing them home! We’ve made it through the first week and I’m feeling more confident now. I owe many thanks to my bestie Brittany for all the chick equipment and listening to my stressed rants and my mom for answering all my chick questions. I know I’ll have many more…sorry B, sorry Ma.. heh.

The kids and I have big plans for the chicks that we discuss daily whilst cleaning the brooder. We’ve enrolled in 4H and hope to eventually be able to participate in a show. Luckily, the Golden Laced Wyandotte breed is great for showing as they are quite stunning fully feathered. They also hope to sell their eggs which will also be a great learning experience. I’m already impressed with C and A and even Pickle, working hard to take care of these little bitties. They aren’t the friendliest breed, but we are hoping to get them very comfortable with people. We have a three times a day ritual right now of all trooping out to clean out the brooder, hold them, or change out water and food. I have to admit I was checking on them in the middle of the night obsessively for the first few nights.

I’m already greatly anticipating that first egg! That whole “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” saying must have a twin that goes something like, “don’t make elaborate plans about buying a cat with egg money you don’t have because you don’t even have eggs yet”, but who cares, right?

These days my dreams look more like a homestead in the mountains where we have a self sustaining farm off the grid, , teaching barre at a local studio, getting a degree in nutrition or holistic medicine, and having daily adventures with my family. I’m trying to live a more intentional life by taking the necessary steps to achieve those dreams, even if it means doing something I never thought I’d end up doing. I may never get there, but I might as well try. Plus, raising chickens with my kids is turning out to be a daily adventure itself so, check one dream off the list!

I think my lesson here is two fold: 1. Maybe I shouldn’t write off that New York lawyer career just yet.. 2. It’s okay to change your mind.

It’s official, I have two toddlers. My little girl really isn’t a baby anymore. I moved out her crib and to the big girl bed and mattress that we bought ages ago. We have really tall kids, so having a toddler bed in between doesn’t make much sense for us. You’ve seen her room before, but this is it redone to fit her new needs. She’s a BIG lover of “peenk” (pink), so I brought a bunch more pink into her room since it was originally just white and purple. She loves it-check it out:

 

 

That’s all for now! I’m hoping to be blogging more now that we are healthy! Anything you want to know more about?

 

Cheers!

Boy, I’m so behind on this post. We have been sick, practically the entire month of March and now into April. Husband’s and C’s spring tree allergies are hitting us hard too. The punches just keep coming lately 😞. We all have a chest-racking cough right now (don’t worry we aren’t contagious) and it’s making sleep… Almost non- existent. Survival mode has been kicking in so the blog has been neglected- you know how it is.***

I don’t even want to get into the details of how miserable it’s been being sick over the Easter holiday, so I’ll just show you all the pictures I got despite our poor kiddos feeling terrible.

It felt like much of the Easter pizazz was stolen from us since we couldn’t do several of our traditions and the kids didn’t even really care about it anymore at that point. We had been doing awesome with our Lent and the kids had been putting stickers on their charts everyday. To watch them just blankly stare in a fever induced coma while I croaked “it’s Easter!” was so sad, since I knew they had been really looking forward to it.

But, we muddled through and put on a brave face (read: ibprophen and cold medicine propped us up). The poor kiddos posed bravely in their Easter outfits. Despite being sick, we got some cute shots!

So, growing up, getting new a new dress for Easter was a tradition for us girls. I remember dress shopping fondly. Usually we got dresses at Costco, that is, until I became a teenager and out grew them. My mom gallantly packed up the small tots, and took me to the mall (she hates the mall), and waited as I picked out something we could both agree on. Being particularly fancy for Easter meant that something special was happening, so even if we could’t fully grasp the concept of the Resurrection, we understood that everything was bright and new for Easter. I still started getting giddy for Easter at the beginning of Lent.

She barely held still, but wow, I love this picture. She’s such a joyful little lady.

Well, mostly. Unless mom is telling her to hold still 🙁

Look at these handsome fellas! I am super proud of these bow-ties, since I made them myself! The tutorial was fairly simple, but I had to rescale the pattern a bit since I didn’t like how tiny they originally were. Having a golden or “Easter-y colored” tie is tradition in my family. I think it’s important for the both the boys and girls to really feel how special Easter is by wearing very special clothes, our very best clothes, for the Easter service, with emphasis on them being brightly colored. I meant for Husband to have suspenders to but, alas, the sickness took me.

She’s her father’s daughter no? 😉

 

Easter baskets are not something I grew up with but Husband did. I’ve had a great time integrating them into our family’s Easter tradition. I try to make them practical, with something fun they have been wanting, and something they worked on with Lent. As I posted before, we have made nightly Rosary a new habit in our family, which was our family goal with Lent (we succeeded!). C can say a whole decade of the Rosary and the Our Father by himself. Z can say her own intentions. So, for their Easter baskets they each got a Rosary. Inside Z’s she also got chalk, and a daisy grow kit, and dress up shoes.

C got his Easter bow tie, a Rosary, a sunflower grow kit, a new art smock, a hand-me-down car, and a new pull back car.

The kids got to have their Easter baskets in the morning before we got dressed for church.

After church and a quick nap, we headed over to my parents annual Easter celebration. My parents have been putting on this party for well over 10 years and it is …epic, to say the least. Between the amazing food, joyful songs, and unparalleled egg hunt, it’s safe to say, this is not an event you want to miss. I was desperate for the kids to be well enough to go and thankfully, fevers all dropped the day before.

This was Z’s first hunt where she understood what what going on! She’s a natural.

Boy, that smile get’s me every time. I’ve got one incredible son.

We are so lucky to live near…ALL of our family. Here’s C and Z’s cousin Macie (back middle) and their auntie Melania (far right). I refer to her so often as “aunt” I forget she’s my baby(est) sister! Both girls are such dolls. Z is going to have a wonderful time growing up with them and learning all the ropes. C will probably have a great time trying to date all their friends :-/

 

That was our Easter 2016! I hope you had a wonderful one.

Cheers!

 

***When I first started this post we were all still sick. We are all healthy now!

 

I suppose it is high time for a peek into a finished room in our new house, huh? Truth be told, I’ve been so busy homeschooling, starting up Brock Soccer Academy, and planning birthdays that most decoration came to a halt.

But no more! I’m back working on Zelie’s room, the dining room, and the living room. I’ll have living room done soon 🙂 until then here is a look at our bathroom.

It’s  important to note that I am a minimalist decorator. I truly believe in not having anything in your home that you do not find to be useful or beautiful. I aim to keep my space clean and un-clogged, particularly the bathroom that seems to attract so. many. THINGS. I’m not 100% where I’d like to be with the amount of possessions that we have, but I’m getting there.

 

 

Okay, that’s all for now! I have another post coming soon about a recent little family adventure. Then, after that I will be pretty swamped with birthdays so expect a short hiatus 🙂

Cheers!

As promised here is a glimpse of our homeschooling this week. Our theme was Weather and we learned about W and the number five . Caidoc is very well versed in the weather since it is part of our daily activity so I’m not surprised he grasped the different weather types easily. I intentionally used weather as a theme knowing he was good at it however because I knew he would need to focus to master W and the number five (W is a difficult one for him to say, and he hasn’t counted up to five yet on his own).

 

 

I glad to report it was a success. He counts up to five now and can pronounce and recognize both W and 5. Yay! I’m so blessed to have such a smart son. He is such a joy.