Full weekend

Saturday we celebrated Garrett birthday with what will be his last "big" birthday party.  I love entertaining but the birthday party situation seems to be getting bigger and bigger each year.   This year we did laser tag and ended up with 15 guests plus the birthday boy.  Next year will be a friend or two over for a campout or something along those lines. 

Garrett and his friends had a blast playing 2 rounds of laser maze and 2 games of laser tag.  It was a little bitter sweet knowing that we won't be doing these big festivities anymore.  We've had many, many years of big parties to remind my little guy just how many people celebrate the fact that he is here.

The birthday boy wanted an Angry Birds cake this year and after a bunch of phone calls to grocery stores in the area, I realized we were on our own.  Thanks to pinterest, I was able to find directions for some really cute and relatively easy Angry Bird cupcakes.  Friday was a bit dreary so we made a quick dinner and got to cupcake making!

We actually had a lot of fun making them and Garrett has suggested that we just make our own birthday cakes/cupcakes from now on.  I have to agree with him, the making was just as fun as the eating.... almost.

Sunday was filled with more birthdays.  We kicked off the day at my favorite farmers market with our favorite Aunt Brittany to celebrate her birthday. 

Garrett reading while we waiting at the entrance for Brittany

We don't get to go nearly as much as when we lived in the city and I know there are markets much closer to us, but I love this one so much we make an effort to get down there at least once a month.  It's hands down my favorite thing to do on a Sunday morning.

 

We followed the market up with another birthday party where Garrett was able to test his water wings out for the first time this season.  He needed a few hours to warm up and remember how to get those limbs moving but by the end of the party he was jumping off the diving board.

We rounded Memorial Day out with a nice cookout at Mike's parents house.  A gorgeous patio, margaritas and games with family was a great way to end a nice, busy weekend

Garden Report- or lack thereof

I had big plans this year for our garden.  All winter I planned to move the garden up the hill and make it 5 times the size.  Since time and money were limited, like they always are, I decided to join a local CSA this year and use my garden to supplement the things I can never get enough of.  I still managed to place a larger than needed order from High Mowing Organic Seed Co.  Last year I started most seeds indoors in late February but this year I didn't start until late March and I feel so far behind.  The seedlings I started then never really took.  Probably for lack of care on my part.  Between the last minute decision that chicks were in fact on the to do list this spring and not next and the shortage of baseball coaches that left Mike and I fumbling our way through little league coaching, the started seeds got very little attention.  I did manage to get some peas in the ground in early April and then around 2 weeks ago I went straight to the soil with the rest of my seeds. 

Unfortunately, I was out of markers that day and although I was convinced at the time I would be able to remember, I have almost no idea what is planted where.  Thankfully now that a few weeks have gone by, I have a few seedlings emerging which I'm doing my best to identify.  I know where my peas, lettuce, onion, and spices are.  I'm fairly certain I've figure out the tomatoes. A wise neighbor has assured me these are my beans. 

I know that one of these is melons and the other is cucumber. 

I'd really like to space my crop out with successive planting which means this weekend is time to put more seeds in the ground.  It looks like I will end up with some unplanned, unconventional companion planing this season.  It's really all very discouraging at this point in the game but I'm sure in a few weeks, things will start to come together.  Mother nature always seems to have a way of handling these types of things.

To my amazing seven year old

Garrett-
It's so hard for me to believe that you are actually turning 7 today.  Pretty soon you won't think my nicknames are funny anymore (except maybe stinky butt butt, potty humor never gets old).  You're already embarrassed to kiss me in front of the neighbors before you get on the bus.  But I still remember this day seven years ago as clear as if it were yesterday.  I remember being so ready to meet you and so terrified at the same time.   Then you were born and all of my self doubt disappeared.  For better or worse, it would be you and I against the world. 

And it has been.  Don't get me wrong, we've had an amazing support system through the years and we've fumbled though some of it.  But dude, what a team you and I have made over the years.  No one grows up hoping to get pregnant before they graduate college and it will always be my wish that you chose an easier road to parenthood then the one I took.  That doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't change things for all of the money in the world.  You are truly the best, most beautiful things I ever could have done with my life.

So here we are, 7 years later.  I can't believe how much you've grown up.  Especially this week.  It's like something in your bones has told you that you're almost 7 (or maybe that's the countdown you've been doing every morning for 2 weeks).  Independence is not always you're strong point.  We battle nightly about taking a shower and brushing your teeth. You want help washing, you want help drying and you want help brushing when we both know you are grown up enough to do it on your own.  Wednesday night, I sent you up to the shower and went back to my knitting.  Some time later you came downstairs beaming.  You had washed yourself, dried yourself AND brushed your teeth without a single reminder!  I couldn't have been prouder at that moment and it was so evident that you were very proud of yourself too. 

You are growing.  You are learning to do things for yourself.  You are asking complex, thoughtful questions all of the time.  You are brilliant and pick things up so quickly.  You are kind even when no one is looking.  (You might not realize it but I overheard you at cub scouts tell one scout that you were all friends and invite someone who was being left out to play.)  You are amazing and I couldn't image my life without you teaching me every single day to be a better person.  I love you Garrett Charles, Happy 7th Birthday.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A simple moment from this week that I want to tuck neatly into my memory and remember for years to come. Inspired by SouleMama. If you'd like to play along, leave a link to your moment in the comments!

It take a village....

It takes a village to build a chicken coop, apparently.  I realize that I'm rapidly approaching the limit of chicken themed blog posts for the month.....

Lucky for me May is almost over!

We've wanted to tear that shed down since we moved in, the floor is falling apart, it's open to the elements and Mike almost fell through the roof retrieving one of Garrett's balls.  Originally we planned to buy a local amish built coop for the chickens but every time we thought one might work, I decided it needed to be a little bigger (room to grow of course).  The price tag on coops the size I was looking for were far out of our budget and what better way to live the "recycle, reuse, reduce" mantra?

It's going to be a lot of work. Probably more work then if we were starting from scratch because we didn't really know what we were working with until we got in there. But we are getting there. The chicks are really too big to be in the tub at this point. Not to mention the entire bathroom smells like, well, it smells like there are 6 chickens living in the bathtub. So we took our to-do list and prioritize what we needed to get done before it was safe enough for them to move in.

We removed broken windows, tore out the drywall, ripped up the flooring and put corrugated metal roofing down on top of the existing roof. Garrett really got a kick out of helping with tearing the drywall down. It's not everyday you get to bang a hammer into the wall.

I helped with all of the demo but Mike's brother showed up just in time to allow me to bow out for the reconstructing piece of things.  They installed plywood flooring and installed the roof.  Some lovely neighbors came over Sunday morning and helped Mike build the doors and cover the window holes with hardware cloth.  We installed the doors Sunday evening and the only thing left to do before the ladies move in is to seal the floor and install a few roosts.  The list of things to do after they get in is long.  Very, very long but consists of mostly winterizing and cosmetic things that can wait until we recover from this weekend.

5 Chicks.... and a suspected rooster

We have had the chicks for a little over 4 weeks now which makes them all between 5-7 weeks old and quickly outgrowing the bathtub.  Thankfully Mike spent the better part of the weekend working on the coop. 

Before we made the plunge we did all of our research and read a great book so that we could make an informed decision about where to get our chicks and how to raise them.  We decided for multiple reasons that a hatchery didn't feel right to us so we found the breeds we were looking for with small local farmers.

Because of our decision to not go with a hatchery, we knew that there was a chance we would end up with a rooster.  It's been a lot of fun these past few weeks watching the birds get bigger and watching for those tell tale signs that one (or all!) of our girls is actually a boy.  It's still too early to tell for sure but I am fairly certain that Blanche is in fact a rooster.

 
 Notice how much bigger and red her comb is?  I'm slightly devastated because while we are spending a lot of time trying to socialize the chicks and get them to like us, Blanche is one of the few who "likes" us at this point. Mike is optimistic and thinks her friendliness is a sure sign she's not a rooster.  I heard a suspicious noice when we had them out back this weekend but Mike is still holding out hope (read: in denial). 

We haven't decided for sure what we're going to do with her, err him, if my suspicion is right.  We're actually able to have a rooster but we don't want to be the neighbor with the annoying rooster.  Maybe we'll get lucky and have a mute rooster?

CSA week 1

Our CSA had it's first pick up on Thursday.  I really can't say enough wonderful things about this CSA.  Between the potluck kick off party and the fact it's right up the street from us, it is exactly the sense of community we were looking for from our food. 

The farm is literally in their yard.  Most of the farm land is located across the street from the house but the building where we pick up and the green houses are located right in their backyard.  Garrett had a great time taking pictures while I picked up our share. 

Picture courtesy of Garrett

This week's share consisted of Bok Choi, spring mix, spinach, scallions, kale, strawberries and carrots. We also chose to add the egg option to our share and get a dozen eggs a week from a farm in Freeland.

My meal planning will be moved to Friday so that I can plan around what we pick up that week.  We were also provided with over 100 pages of recipes for the different items we will pick up throughout the season. 

My garden is off to a lackluster start (more about that later) so I'm excited to have fresh greens in the house again.  There is also a rumor that we may be able to pick extra strawberries this week!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A simple moment from this week that I want to tuck neatly into my memory and remember for years to come. Inspired by SouleMama. If you'd like to play along, leave a link to your moment in the comments!

Enjoying the Backyard... Again.

It really has been an interested  few months of weather around these parts!  I'm very thankful for the rain we've been getting the last few weeks.  My garden, our CSA, and all of the other local farmers needed it pretty badly but I'm not a fan of being trapped inside.

I'm thankful to be outside again.  After those incredible mild days in March and April, it felt like we were going to get to live outside in the evenings for 9 months this year.  After a few weeks of  being pushed mostly indoors by the rain, we're back outside enjoying my favorite part of our yard.  This little nook has the things that summer are made of; our grill and table for eating, our garden and green house for growing and what will soon be transformed into our chicken coop.

Happy Mother's Day

There were whispering all week between Mike and Garrett. Garrett anounced a few weeks ago that he came up with the idea for Mother's Day all on his own. I woke up to the smell of breakfast being cooked but forced myself to sleep in as to not ruin the surprise.

I was also surprised with the amazing mixer I've been talking about for months.  I've wanted it bad enough that I was willing to overlook the fact that I was given cooking supplies for Mother's Day. 

I'm in love with the retro green!

We spent the rest of the morning at the Farmers Market, picking out some new yarn and watching the Orioles almost get away with another win.

The Orioles were giving away hats for Mother's Day which worked out perfect for the brutal sun in the first 3 innings.  The hat was a big hit with the two men in my life as well.

It was a really fantastic day, it's amazing to me that Garrett has the patience to sit through entire baseball games at this point.  We will definitely make it to a few more this summer.

Sew Basic

I have never been a crafty person, I can't draw and I don't think the word creative has ever been used to describe me.  But I really love the idea of being able to make things, especially things that we need.   I decided a few years ago I wanted to learn to knit but after a few failed attempts at teaching myself, I put that idea on the shelf for a while.  Fast forward to last summer when I finally decided to take a lesson at Lovely Yarn in Hamden.  I am by no means an expert but I completed two simple, less than perfect scarfs this year.  I have plans to branch out and attempt a baby blanket for a friend who is expecting in the fall but between my love for procrastination and the warm weather, I just can't get into the idea of knitting right now.

Sewing?  Well that feels way more spring-like to me.  Not that I would know since I've never done it but something inside me tells me that knitting is for cold months and sewing is for warm months.  This is probably the reason that the sewing machine my mom got me for Christmas was still sitting in it's box in the room that is supposed to be my "craft" room.  So I spent some time last night clearing out a room that has been the dumping ground for things we don't know what to do with since we bought our house.  To call the room a work in progress would be the understatement of the year but I have the desk cleared, the machine set up and I even managed to thread it and sew a few very uneven stitches in one of Mike's old t-shirts.  I love that I can sit in my craft room and sew while Garrett plays just outside my door.

I think a few more nights of practicing and then I will be ready for some type of beginner project.  Napkins maybe?

Crazy Chicken Lady

Mike and I have been discussing getting backyard chickens since late last spring.  It started almost as a joke because I never thought he would really go for it.

My decision to start eating more "whole" foods and treat mother nature a little nicer began when Garrett was born.  With each year that passed, I slowly started making more decisions that felt right for my small family of two.  When Mike came into the picture 4 years later, we weren't exactly on the same page when it came to the way we ate or my interest in going back to the basics.  One of the things that I loved so much about him from the very beginning was the way he embrassed these things that were so important to me.  He started recyling more at his house, bringing over less processed snacks or picking up the latest green gadget he stumbled on at the store.  I have no doubt that those first few months it was more about trying to impress me (which clearly worked) but over time some of these things have become important to him as well.  But there are times when he looks at me and I honestly think he thinks I'm slightly crazy.  And I was sure when I called him up at work and said "what do you think about getting some chickens?" a part of him wished he had ran for the hills when he had the chance. But here we are a year later, chicken owners.

We did our research and decided on 2 Buff Orphingtons (yellow, 2 Barred Rocks (black), and 2 Arucaunas (brown).  This picture was taken when we first picked them up about 2 1/2 weeks ago.  They are almost double the size at this point and are anxiously awaiting their new home outside as they are quickly outgrowing our bathtub.  We couldn't be happier and are really looking forward to eggs in a few months.

May?!?!?

I'm having a hard time believe it's May already!  With five tax seasons under my belt, you would think I would get use to the fact that the first 4 months of the year always feel like such a blur. But here I am wondering once again how Easter is over and the end of the school year is right around the corner. 

I struggle every Spring with the need to get things done and the desire to really slow down and enjoy my favorite time of year.  And for every year I can remember, the need to get things done always seems to win out.  And every year it seems I take on even more responsibility then the year before.  But my two new additions this year are things that I truely believe I will look back and be thankful I did, no matter how busy my days seem to be.  Mike and I are coaching Garrett's baseball team and we have 6 new baby chicks!!!  More about those in posts to come but for now let's go way back to Easter (since apparently that was the last time I took any pictures and what's a blog post without some pictures?)

This year Garrett's basket was too small so the Easter bunny sent him on a scavenger hunt to find his gifts.

 To the mail box...

 To the laundry room...

 Not the fridge....

 Not the garden....

 The green house, of course!!!!

We spent the rest of the day working outside in the beautiful weather and it was the most relaxed holiday we've had in a long time.