Fun times!

All in all, the girls, Nathan and I had a fun time this week without daddy and the bigger boys. I thought I could get sooo much work accomplished around the house. I did get some things done, but not nearly all that I wanted. It was actually getting pretty stressful trying to get my projects done. Nathan didn't have his brothers there to do the typical boy things with him, so he was a bit more demanding with attention, and Selah seemed like she wouldn't take much of an afternoon nap and wanted to be with momma. I would try to get things done when I did have free hands, but it would get frustrating when I had to stop in the middle of something to tend to somebody. After 3 days of that, I decided to relax a bit and have more fun with the kids rather than work on projects....

One of the first things we did was to buy a large can of whipped creme. You know, the aerosol kind that is so fun to spray directly into the kids mouths. Our dessert was a cookie piled high with the foamy stuff. Messy but so fun and yummy.

Selah, helping mommy work.

TEA TIME

Both Ellie and Grace have a tea set that is was brought back from Romania (when Paul and I "met") I've gone back and forth on whether to actually use them or to stash them away in a box so nothing will happen to them. I've decided that not using them is worse. That's what they're for. It's a snowball effect. I don't use them because they're fragile, and pass them on.... My daughter won't use them because they're fragile and sentimental, and they pass them on... my grandaughter won't use them because their fragile, sentimental, and old, and they pass them on... where does it stop? Things are meant to be used. Sad if they're broke, but life WILL go on.

Anyhow, all that to say, we got out Gracie's tea set for the first time this week. She was very excited and she set the table with Ellie. We had just watched "Felicity" the night before and it had training on tea time manners. They were even instructing me on how to offer the tea. "Would you care for tea, Ellie? Cream and sugar, Ellie?", said with a very "proper" accent.

Wednesday was our Strawberry Shortcake night. We baked the short cake (whatever that is? Is that supposed to be a cake that doesn't rise? short?) and cut up the strawberries and soaked them in a tablespoon or so of sugar to pull out the juices. Then made a VERY large strawberry shortcake. We decided to make it in one big dish instead of a bunch of small ones. We piled it high with the whipped cream and settled in to watch a movie.

One of these last few nights, we soaked our feet and gave mani- and pedicures. The day was so busy that we didn't even start until 10! (Actually every night has been a late night and poor Nathan has started asking me to put him to bed) The girls put sparkles on their toes along with the polish...

THIS is probably my favorite place to sit at the house. It's our back porch swing. It's in a breezy area where I can watch the kids play, look at my garden, watch the sun set, read, or enjoy a warm rain. LOVE it. We spent alot of time out here this week. Nathan loves it too. He likes to hang a stick over the edge and pretend like he's fishing. I'm amazed at the good stock of fish he pulls out of the garden below us :)

And lastly, this is "the old red hen". She escaped the spring trip to the chicken butcher. The night we snagged all the sleeping birds to cage up, she was sleeping in the barn instead of the chicken coop. We have about 30 younger laying hens that aren't laying yet, but I hesitate to put her in with them because as the "new comer", I think they'll pick on her. She roams the yard looking for food and hanging out with the lone guinea hen. For some reason, she came up to the back door and just parked it. She was lapping at the water that was spilled on the porch, so we gave her a little bowl of water and she drank it happily. Several times, we tried to shoo her off the porch, but she just walked around our shoo-ing legs and stayed put. She's starting to act a bit more like a dog than a chicken....