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saturday sunshine

We spent Saturday afternoon in the backyard. It was a tad on the chilly side (for me at least) but absolutely beautiful.

One of Grace's backyard finds. 

Our backyard lizard.  He lives on the garden hose and is always there. 

Ray and Carter played a bit of backyard football. 

Grace and I started some seeds. 

Over the past few years, I've assembled quite the pumpkin seed collection.

Sitting in the sunshine, planting pumpkin seeds.  True happiness. 

Some may even call it bliss. 

When we were finished we'd planted:

Valenciano Pumpkins

Rouge Vif D'etampes Pumpkins

La Estrella Pumpkins

Calabaza Pumpkins

Howden Biggie Pumpkins

Racer Pumpkins

Bliss Pumpkins

Naples Long Pumpkins

Genovese Basil

Sweet Basil

Dill

Sage

and

Bibb Lettuce

Our small winter garden loved this week's rain.  We have an artichoke, strawberries, cauliflower and brussels sprouts already in the ground. 

And in the front, a few bright blooms to carry us through to warmer weather. 

Flowers in the front, veggies in the back, pumpkin seeds in the dirt, eggs in the incubator.

Spring is just around the corner.

And I could not be happier. 

filter friday at the farm

It was a beautiful day at the farm.

Quack.

Elizabeth Taylor, the world's most beautiful goose, has taken Ryan and Bruce, our most recent hatchlings, under her wing.  They are her babies now and go everywhere with her.  At one point we had to catch Bruce to tape his wing.  Liz was not at all happy with the situation. 

Grace and Melissa heading down to the bus stop to pick up the boys. 

Ike, the king of the farm and Miss Peacock, the first peacock we ever hatched. 

Miss Peacock.  No fancy tail feathers, but lovely nonetheless. 

Grace and Melissa gathering eggs in the mud. 

Ike's son, Ike 2.  We hatched Ike 2 in May.  There is no way to describe the enormous size of the Ikes.  That is a full sized chicken standing next to Ike 2.

This morning we put 27 eggs in the incubator.  Almost all of them are blue.  Grace and Melissa found a chicken nest in an odd spot, so many of the eggs may be too old to hatch, but there's only one way to know for sure...



progress

It rained all day - making today a great day to stay inside and get some work done on my current works in progress.

This week we launched "Project B" in Grace's 2nd grade class.  As the room mom, I felt some sort of responsibility to attempt an amazing end of year gift for Grace's wonderful teacher.  After much thought and deliberation I decided to make a kid art keepsake quilt. 

My goal is to be finished with the quilt by the end of April, so I wont be last-minute-quilting in May.  That's why we got started on the project this week.  I wanted to make sure I gave myself plenty of time. 

I put together four quilt square kits.  Each one contains a set of fabric pens, one plain white muslin square taped to the front of a yellow folder.  Inside the folder are complete instructions and a piece of test fabric so the kids can get a feel for the fabric pens. 

All of the supplies are then placed in a padded manila envelope for safe and secret travel.  We are trying to keep this project a secret so we can surprise Grace's teacher at the end of the school year.

All Grace's teacher knows about the project is the name, "Project B," and that there are envelopes going home and coming back to school  Grace, my capable assistant, has done a great job of bringing envelopes home and taking them  back to school. 

Our first three squares.  Grace would want me to tell you that hers is the one with the tulips. 

I was a little nervous about launching this project.  So many of the things that have to happen to make this quilt a success are completely outside of my control.  But, so far, the quilt squares are coming back much quicker than I expected and are incredibly cute.  I'm sewing a different colored fabric border on each square as they come in and love the way they are turning out.

I also finished my second Steelers pillow cases.  One of the kids' friends, Jake, broke his collar bone last weekend so we made him a get well soon care package.  Jake's entire family are Steelers fans, so today I made a pillow case for his little brother, too.   (I simply had to get rid of all of the Steeler fabric, bleh!) 

And I'm finally finishing Grace's quilt.  I started the quilt last summer and would have had it finished a long time ago, but I keep deciding to make it bigger.  Today, I added the last of the 48 squares. 

A sneak peek at Grace's pretty curtains and walls. 

I'm hoping to have the quilt finished in time for Grace's birthday in March. The quilt inspired new paint and curtains in Grace's room, so it would be nice to actually have it on the bed.

It's supposed to rain Wednesday and Thursday, too...

saturday

Saturday, we hit the Austin boat show and tested out a few new boats. 

The clocktower was actually attached to the front of this boat. 

After a few moments of boat shopping, the kids decided they needed some action.  So we watched as strangers zipped the kids into air tight bubbles, then filled them with air with what looked like a leaf blower. 

Then, pushed them into a pool of water. 

The kids had all kinds of fun in what looked like giant, floating hamster balls. 

Then, they went fishing in a swimming pool filled with sleepy, very well fed catfish. 

We "fished" until they told us it was time to take our poles out of the water so the next group could start fishing.  Just before we were about to go, Ray hooked an unsuspecting fish so the kids could have some fun. 

Doesn't it look like the fish is smiling?

On the way home we hit Torchy's Tacos. 

 Ray had the Trailer Park, Trashy, I went with the Green Chile Carnitas.  Oh my goodness.  I'm already planning my next trip. 

filter friday (finally)

I'm not sure about you, but I have started to become a bit jealous of the instagram photos popping up on Facebook and on blogs.  So today I did a little searching and found this site which allows anyone to add instagram style effects to any picture on their pc.

It's free, you don't have to download anything, and you can save your filtered, framed, fantastic pics right back to your hard drive.  I love it. 

This afternoon, I enjoyed our near eighty degree temps with a run.  I generally don't run with my camera but it has been so amazingly beautiful outside that today I brought it along.  I'm glad I did.

Here are a few pics I snapped on my run.  Each has had different filters, effects, and frames applied.  I can already tell that filter Fridays are going to be fun.   

My favorite geese at the duck pond.  The big male on the right has the loudest goose honk you've ever heard and he's not at all shy. 

One of my favorite running trails.

Budding branches.  A sign that Spring is just around the corner. 

These leaves really were this bright.  Still holding on for dear life amidst a sea of bare branches. 

Let the sun shine!

nothing says middle-aged mommy like paper pennants, homemade lotion, and flaming dr. pepper

Friday was Ray's birthday, so the kids and I whipped up a birthday pennant.

Technically, we should have done this with fabric, but we were short on time so we cut up a few pieces of scrapbook paper with pinking shears, then sewed the triangles onto bias tape.   The pennant turned out cute, now I really want to make one out of fabric. 

We made chocolate cake balls dipped in white chocolate. 

I found this card in Carter's backpack.  I love the fact that he was thinking about his dad's birthday while he was at school. 

Ray was happy when he came home to our little celebration. 

Saturday, I whipped up something new.  I'd found this lotion recipe on Pinterest, and thought it might be the cure for my winter-dry hands.   

The recipe involves dumping Vaseline, vitamin e lotion, and baby lotion into your mixer then whipping them together until the mixture looks like fluffy icing. 

The result is the smoothest softest lotion ever.  Your hands stay soft even after you've washed them a few times.  Good stuff. 

I kept one container for myself and gave the others away. 

Saturday night we went downtown with Lisa, Eric, Ellen, and Tony for dinner, drinks, and laughs at Esther's Follies. 

So, I'm feeling pretty good, wearing my homemade lotion, walking down 6th street with my good friends and my just-turned-forty-three husband when we pass two musicians on the street.  One is playing his guitar, the other is asking for money as people pass by.  Our group passes by and he asks how much we think the song is worth.  We smile, say nothing and keep walking.  As Ray and I pass the guy asking for money yells out, "Come on Mom and Dad, give me some money!!"

Mom and Dad?  Moments later, Ellen and I are in the ladies room at The Iron Cactus.  Ellen walks over to the sink and a woman standing there looks at her and says, "Isn't it nice to be out without the kids?"

Um hello?  Do we have the word parent tattooed on our foreheads?  How do these people know we're not a bunch of happening UT grad students : )

After the food, but before the follies, we stopped by Touche' for their house specialty: The Flaming Dr. Pepper.  Standing in the presence of a fire breathing bartender has to be enough to make anyone feel young again.  I captured the awesomeness in the video above.   

The Flaming Dr. Pepper is beer with a shot glass of some sort of liqueur inside.  After the fiery explosion, the two mix in a way that makes the entire drink taste exactly like Dr. Pepper.  Everyone enjoyed their DP, and Esther's Follies made us laugh so hard that today my cheeks are sore. 

At least I hope my cheeks are sore from laughing and it's not some side effect of aging...