Popcorn

Today's biggest smile was brought on by a napkin and some ink...

Following closely behind, the sheer joy and wonder on the faces of children of the new millennium, who have never seen popcorn air-popped before...

Sunday

This happened in my backyard today while the boys were at their baseball jamboree...

I tell ya - those are going to be some spoiled birds! We still need to paint it and sink some metal flashing into the ground, and then wire it - but by the time our chirpers are cluckers, it should be ready for them to move in!

Not sure when this happened, but the backyard bushes are gorgeous right now!

This is the best part of my day, hands down. I waited all weekend for this. Mom's babies are home, clean and ready for bed - watching martial arts videos with Baba before snuggling up in bed for stories...

Rats in the Curtains

No, not really. But this was in my curtains. Scared the bejeebus out of me when he giggled. While it's quite obvious there's a child in the curtains in this picture, it wasn't quite so obvious when he was standing perfectly still and quiet and I was looking elsewhere for him.

Here's the rat...he wasn't in my curtains, though.

This was my first doula birth baby...I was visiting her on her one week birthday. Such a precious little one.

We have wings! This is Rio - she had a few wing feathers when we got her (itty bitty ones that were barely feathers yet) - and now look! She's turning into a real chicken!

I was reminded tonight by a friend to focus on what's going right in times of stress (vs. focusing on the stressful/difficult things in life) - and while I realize this posting is very random (and perhaps even a little disturbing in places), it's full of things that have made me smile lately. Tell me what's been making YOU smile lately! What are you grateful for?

Foul Introductions

You've already seen a few of our birds - here are a few more pictures of the little squawkers. I took these last week - I'll have to take more this week to show you how fast they're growing!

Mr. Andrew is wonderful with the critters - he looks out after them, waters them, snuggles them...

He even climbs into the tub to just sit and watch them...

Tweety in Andrew's hands. Tweety is a Bantam chick - she has cute little feathered legs and is SUPER loud when discontent! Andrew originally named her Little Miss Perfect and Matthew renamed her Tweety. Both are very suitable names for this little fuzzy.

Matthew isn't so much into the birds. He's protective of them, but has yet to hold them...he'd rather cruise Amazon for new toys and high top Converse.

Here's Rio (named by Matthew) - pecking away at her chick feed. Rio is a Silver Laced Wyandotte chick. She's going to be a beautiful chicken someday. Rio doesn't love to be held, but will tolerate it. She's the first of our flock to grow her wings - so pretty!

From L to R: Big Mama's head, Rio, Jennifer and Tweety (aka Little Miss Perfect) from behind...

Here's Big Mama on the left and Jennifer on the right. (Tweety in the background.) Big Mama is my favorite chicken - she's content to be held and barely ever squawks. Jennifer is everyone's favorite bird - she is silly, active, friendly - catches flies when we let her outside, climbs into your lap when she's done. She's growing faster than anyone! We're pretty sure she's a Rouen - a close cousin to the Mallard...

Last, but certainly not least, here's Fuzzbutt. Fuzzbutt is an Indian Runner - she stands upright like a bowling pin, doesn't love the water, but will follow Jennifer anywhere (including into the water). This little one didn't seem super healthy when we got her, but she's made a full recovery and is quite the little peeper! If separated from her flock, she'll let you know very persistently!

Fuzzbutt has a fuzzbutt...

T-Ball, Take 2

Matthew is playing T-Ball again this year - this time, with a new coach. We loved Coach Graham (and asst. coach Bailey) - but wanted to support Coach Read in his first year of T-Ball coaching. Plus, neighbors Ashley and Parker are on the team, so the kiddos can practice together in the yard.

Here's my happy t-baller...super thrilled to be #1 this year!

Coach Read helping him get set up...

A short video of Matthew hitting and running to 1st base...

Playground time after practice, since it was beautiful Friday evening and we had nowhere to be in a hurry...

But the results of playground playtime were not great for the brand new uniform. Who puts 3rd graders in WHITE pants? Oy. (Andrew didn't have a game - he just insisted on wearing his new uniform to Matthew's practice. His first game is tonight, though!)

Because you're so nice...

Matthew: You're the best mom ever.

Mom: Thanks, sweetie - what makes you say that?

Matthew: Because you're so nice. And you're good at it.

Mom: Good at what?

Matthew: Taking care of us and stuff.

Could it be an effect of the chocolate covered strawberries I made for them? Or genuine love? I vote the latter. <3

Toothless Grin

Matthew lost his fifth tooth today! Woohoo! Fingers crossed the Tooth Fairy doesn't forget to visit.

*** Update ***

Mom of the year award goes to this sleepy mama over here!

My heart broke the next morning when Matthew said, "She forgot, Mom. The Tooth Fairy didn't leave me any money." I seriously felt this big. How on earth could I have forgotten this sweet boy's tooth fairy money? Oy. Andrew immediately said, "Maybe she was late, Matthew - go look again." Knowing darn well there was NO money under the pillow, and wanting to avoid a second disappointment for the little guy, I told him I'd go check and let him know. I quickly emptied my wallet - four $1 bills. (The Tooth Fairy pays major interest for late payment.) Perfect. I go to put it under his pillow and see a crumpled up dollar bill already there. Huh? Where did that come from? And where is his tooth? It dawned on me that the sweet little toothless wonder probably put his newly earned allowance under his pillow to pretend he wasn't forgotten. (While I still have no idea where the tooth went!) My heart broke even harder. I added my $4 and hoped it wasn't too late, that the magic of the Tooth Fairy hadn't been lost as a result of my mistake. I came out to the kitchen, got breakfast ready and sent Matthew back in to look for his treasure. When Matthew ran off to look, Andrew informed us quietly that HE had taken a dollar out of his own piggy bank and put it under his brother's pillow so that he wouldn't be sad. (And now I understand Andrew's earlier prompting to have Matthew look again, just in case she was 'late'.) My broken heart melted into a puddle. Where did these children come from? My goodness - SO precious!

All's well that ends well, I suppose. I still feel like a giant loser for forgetting...but Matthew got his $5, tucked it away happily in his wallet...and bragged about it later to his dentist (the boys just happened to have checkups scheduled for that day anyhow).

Found Something

This was a random photo from my phone - taken sometime in the winter (judging by the advent calendar up on the cupboard behind Andrew.) I just found it in my files and it made me smile. :)

Echo the Gecko...

The Chicken Whisperer

This is Big Mama, our Easter Egger. She's the sweetest bird we have. So sweet, in fact, that she'll snooze comfortable in your hand - on her back, nonetheless! I dare you to do this with another one of our birds! She's a special lady, this Big Mama is. :)

If this doesn't make you smile...

...you might be dead!

(Jennifer The Duck and Fuzzbutt on their first swim)

Meet Big Mama...

...and Jennifer The Duck

They were welcomed to the Sweet-Thomas farm on Tuesday afternoon, along with their 3 best friends: Little Miss Perfect (aka Tweety), Rio and Fuzzbutt. Stay tuned for introductions to our new fuzzy friends and more photos!

Color

Car wash (not the actual color of the car wash!)

Whole Foods bathroom (of all places)

In the garden

It's a beautiful day today - my plants have been waiting for sunshine to grow! Here they go...

Raspberries (growing on an old bed frame - heaviest trellis in the world!)

Itty bitty snap pea starts, trying so hard! (I seeded the ground around the starts also, just to see what would happen!)

These guys aren't going to be around much longer. I do appreciate the amazing aroma they've provided as I've been preparing my beds and planting my seeds. The sweet smell of hyacinths reminds me of Persian New Year celebrations when I was a little girl.

Still researching chickens - SO want the experience (and the eggs!) but hesitant about the up front cost and all of the work that goes into it. It's sooo easy to grab a dozen eggs at the store...but my intention is to GROW our food, so some hard work will have to be put in at some point!

Balloon "Animal"

Andrew twisted this for me. It was intended to be a sword, I believe. He (very innocently) placed it in my lap as I was reading a book. It was explained that Andrew thought I'd like pink the most.
Are you smiling yet? :)

Friday the 13th

Nothing scary here. Just a couple of kids playing in the yard and a couple of grownups playing in the garden.

The neighbor's camellias are gorgeous...even without the ridiculous photo effect.

Here's what the blooms look like:

I got a lot done in the yard this afternoon! Herbs are planted (cilantro, dill and Thai basil) - and I still have chives, parsley and tarragon from last year going strong! I reseeded some spinach, beets and radishes; planted the rest of my Walla Walla sweet onion starts; got beans and strawberries in the ground and got some new indoor seedlings started.

Last week, I won a giveaway from this blog: One Hundred Dollars a Month. My package came in the mail today and I used the gloves and Pot Maker right away while Mike dug into the book to read about Bee Keeping (which we will NOT be doing).

Thanks for the goodies, Mavis!

Back to my garden...

Strawberries are in the ground and ready to grow! Along the left are new June-bearing starts we got at Bi-Mart. The rest of the plants I've had for ages - they've survived numerous transplants. Hopefully this is their new permanent home, where they can send their runners off and make more baby strawberry plants. Fingers crossed we can keep the dogs from picking the berries before we get to them!

Garlic is going strong from last year. (This was grocery store garlic that I stuck in the ground to see what it would do.) Along the fence, I planted one row of bush beans - we'll see how they do over here this year. It was a little too hot for them last year, but I'm also starting them earlier this year. Corn, tomatoes and peppers are waiting until May to be planted here. I can't wait!

The guys, doing their thing...I just love them to bits!

Roller Blading

A couple of months ago, the boys went roller skating with their scouting group. That night, Mike broke out his old roller blades and showed the kids some tricks. That turned into both boys wanting to learn how to blade (of course, they want to be just like Baba with everything!) - and within a month, they're both AMAZING on blades! All of the scuffs on the kitchen floor made this happen:

This is the, "Not another picture, Mom!" face :)