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 :)