My happy-

A few photos that just make me smile!

My niece and my daughter, running at the park.

Photo by Tim, of course.

Keelin swinging last fall!

Betcha can't guess who took this one?

Yep, Tim.

1yr old Jackson on Mommy & Daddy's bed.

So precious.

Photo by Daddy.

My husband learning to knit in the preschool pickup line!

Super AMAZING cell phone picture by me ;)

Have you added my button yet?

Let me know if you decide to add my button to your blog.

I'd like to thank you!

Who has two thumbs and fizz?! This girl!

I know that it isn't very crunchy of me, but I love carbonated beverages!

I have been lusting over home-carbonating gadgets for a couple of years now, but frankly, they have just been out of our budget.

I have had a really rough week this week  (even before my grandfather died yesterday) and clearly, my hubby sensed that I was not in a good place. He ran to REI to get himself a new watch band and came home with my Mother's Day present.

He not only got me a Sodastream, but he got me the Crystal version! I thought I would only ever get the basic version, but he got me one with resealable glass carafes. And I LOVE glass in my kitchen!

*swoon!*

The green patch on the lower right hand corner says that it takes no batteries or electricity!

Each bottle of CO2 will make 60 liters of carbonated water and we have a local place where they can be refilled for a really decent price!

Here are the lovely glass bottles, one with the lid on top, not sealed.

Pardon the counter mess- my 1 cup coffee maker and blender are permanent fixtures, even though they take up a ton of room.

Tim also got me a 3 pack of bottles of flavoring.

We've tasted them all and they are all tasty without being overwhelming!

My favorite so far is the orange.

The CO2 bottle (far right) pops into a hole in the bottom.

The bottle of water goes inside the canister.

You close and seal it and press the button on top 3 times to carbonate the water.

Easy peasy!

Raspberry sparkling water, sealed up and going into the fridge to be gulped later!

It's happy beside of my organic ACV!

A good picture of the bubbles!

Mmmmm fizzy!

Being a nerd waffle, I decided to take some fizzy water and combine it with orange juice.

Homemade Orangina, anyone?!

Heck yes!

And of course, I drink it with my Glass Dharma straw.

I LOVE these straws. I've had my 3 for right at 2.5yrs now and not one has broken!

As if my husband didn't absolutely spoil me rotten with that gift,

He encouraged my other addiction:

French cookware.

Specifically, Le Creuset.

Forgive this wanna-be locavore... it's my mother's fault!

(Sorry to throw you under the bus, Mom.)

I tried to fall in love with stoneware, but it is just so darn hard to care for and keep clean! I am a dedicated human being and don't mind things that are high maintenence, but enameled cookware is much more my speed!

This is a BEAUTIFUL baking dish (Tim said it will be perfect for baking up the perfect chicken and I believe he is right on the money!) in my color- the Caribbean blue.

Here is my new baking dish sitting beside of the butter dish my mother got me for my birthday last month. It's just the little things in life, guys...

Just a quick coop update!

Just a quick update on the chicken coop-

Otherwise known as the soap opera,

"As the Coop Turns"

;)

The bottom of the chicken wire wasn't quite as safe as I wanted it, since the ground is uneven and there were a few places that a determined snake or something could get under.

Tim remedied the issue by cutting trees that fell in the storm and putting them around the entire length of the chicken fence. He stuck a chair our there for me and we now jokingly refer to it as "the Observation Deck."

The other new thing is the left side of the fence. It all used to be super low to the ground, but Tim wanted me to be able to get in there easily even when my belly gets ginormous, so he built a frame and lifted it up! He's pretty awesome! I was just going to squat down and hope for the best, but thanks to my hubby, I don't have to worry about it anymore!

It did require the purchase of some chicken wire, but all of the wood was leftover from other projects, found in the woods/yard, or recycled!

Everyone, meet Hugh Heffner. He's our new Silver-Laced Wyandotte rooster! Isn't he handsome? Tim named him, saying it was only appropriate for the only rooster in the hen house! And so far, he seems to be quite the ladies man! He's been pretty polite with the crowing and he's got lovely manners, so hopefully it stays that way!

In other news, only a few more things need to happen to the yard before we are ready to let the chickens roam free some during the day! I am looking forward to seeing them go nuts in the yard after Tim mows and the bugs are out! They're going to be in hen heaven!

Chicken Coop Update

As promised, we have a chicken coop update!

We still had one of our brooders (a box with a heat lamp set up for itty bitty chicks) in the sunroom, which was driving Tim nuts. He asked me what we could do to get the chicks out into the coop and I told him that since they were still not completely feathered they needed to have access to a heat source and since they were so small compared to our other chickens they needed to be separated somehow until proper introductions had been made :)

My smart hubby's solution to the problem?

This!

From materials that we already had (including the wood from the free pallets we picked up!), he arranged for the chicks to join the big chickens!

The sloped top makes it hard for chickens to roost on it, the chicken wire keeps the chicks safe from the pecking order while they grow, and the hinged lid makes it easy for me to clean, love on the chicks, feed and water them, etc.

Keelin was at school (this was done last week, by the way) and Jackson wanted to help us take the last 3 small chicks out to the coop. He wanted to carry one of our Buff Orpington pullets and that is my arm trying to encourage him to be gentle with her wings.

I think it's precious how gentle they try to be, even Jackson in his 2yr old way.

While Daddy arranges the new chick box, Jackson hangs out with the "beebee kickin'" and enjoys the sun!

A little hug for the chick *sigh* and in the background there, you can see one of our rain barrels sitting by the dog run. And yes, that is a big, blue plastic kiddie pool- for the dogs :)

The new setup. I was a bit concerned about putting the box right under the roost, but so far, the hens have stayed away from it! The water has been put up on a wooden pallet to keep the shavings out and been very successful at keeping the 26 free roaming chickens from mucking up their water.

The 2 wooden boxes under the roost are what I transported the  now-4 grown chickens home in a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the people I got the chickens from, the pullets can now reach the roosts, which they enjoy!

The heat lamp has since been moved to a corner of the chicken box and thanks to the beautiful weather, is only on at night now.

One of our Black Australorp pullets checking out the chicks new digs!

Guess who went fishing?!

Yessir, Tim took Jackson fishing on Sunday evening. Together, they caught one teeny fish and one almost big enough to bring home to eat fish. As a family, we absolutely do NOT support the acts of fishing or hunting as a sport. As a means of teaching your children where food comes from (You mean, it doesn't magically appear on the shelves at the grocery store?) and putting food on the dinner table, it is something that we are on board with.

Jackson with his catch!

Fishy was quickly labeled just a bit too small to bring home for dinner and tossed back in to grow some more, but not before Tim (ever the photographer in the family) snapped a few shots!

On Monday evening, after Keelin got home from spending most of the weekend with her dad, it was her turn to head to the lake with Tim!

A face covered with something... Tim thinks that bringing yummy snacks is the most important part of a fishing trip- which is fine by me :)

Precious girl! She didn't catch anything, but she said she had a good time hanging out and eating snacks!

Both babes love eating fish, so Tim is looking forward to taking them on more trips like this. I certainly wouldn't mind not having to grill the guy behind the fish counter to find out where the fish I want to buy came from.

*sigh*

Because ya know, it doesn't get more local, wild, or free roaming than catching it from a lake in rural NC.

Learning!

Yesterday, we prepared for the storm.

Today, it was icky outside.

We took it as a perfect opportunity for a little learning!

Keelin and Tim practiced tying her shoes!

She practiced using the awesome shoes her paternal grandmother, her Mimi, customized for her with Sharpies! Dawn is just too darn creative... great lady!

There she goes!

Very serious!

And guess what? Our Doodle did it!

Keelin tied her shoes!! :)

My best friend of 20 years, sister of my heart, threw her daughter (my now 7 year old niece) an awesome birthday party at a rollerskating rink today! Perfect for how icky it was outside!

I got ballsy and rented Jackson the TEENIEST pair of skates I have ever seen!

(The boy wears a size 6 in toddler shoes- haha!)

There was a lot of booty meeting the floor, but by the end of the morning, both kids were rolling around independently!! Not necessarily skating, but definitely rolling around without ending up in the floor!

This is just so sweet, it makes me Mommy mush.

I love what a great dad Tim is.

I love what a great big sister and daughter Keelin is.

I love that Jackson thinks his sister and dad are the COOLEST people on the planet.

Because, of course, they are!

I, clearly, didn't skate. But I did get to spend a lot of time holding sweet little hands and picking little selves up off of the floor! Loved it!

What do we do with gorgeous weather around our house?

As many of you know, NC has had some CRAZY weather lately!

We heard that this weekend was going to include some wild weather, so we spent a couple of days outside hooking up our pups, loving on the chickens, and mowing the big backyard!

Yes, with pictures!

Our yard looking a little wild...

After Tim mowed, we moved the swingset to a better location.

I said earlier that the low lying ground wasn't going to be a problem, but it is,

so we remedied the situation! Maybe now we can cement the set into the ground?

My sweet hubby and our boy on my dad's riding lawnmower!

This thing was bought the year I turned 1.

A lawnmower working 23 years later?

Unheard of!

They don't make 'em like they used to!

Sadly, it's my dad's and we really need to buy our own.

Will probably hit up Craigslist and try to find a good old one!

Tim teaching Keelin how the mower works- she was mildly hesitant :)

Keelin and her special hen, Reeses.

She loves her chickens! It's adorable.

And thankfully, we have friendly poultry!

Tolerant, at the very least!

Keelin and our 1yr old Boxer, Max.

He is such a sweet dog, you guys...

Not sure why his ears are flapping in the breeze! :)

Keelin holding one of our Cornish Rock chicks

(i.e. a meat chicken)

Remember in the post where I quoted Bittman about how agricultural animals are treated so much worse than pets? Not ours!! We don't name the meaties, just because that would make it really hard for the kids when they are killed (not harvested.) Otherwise, they get lots of lovin' just like the rest of our pets.

Keelin here is informing me that she wants this one to be a pet, not dinner.

*sigh*

Jackson and Keelin, posing with two Cornish chicks.

Pardon the bright light, it was really early in the morning!

You can see just how big the Cornish chicks are- and they're only 3 weeks old.

And today, the rain came down so hard that we couldn't even see out of the windows. It was like a sheet of white! Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with any tornados and there was no damage done to our property or that of anyone we know. Come on, NC... how about some mild weather!!

Jackson and Big Bird?

I just feel the need to celebrate my wild guy!

This morning, Tim and I took him outside after we took Keelin to school.

It was time to check on the chickens water/food and open the door for them to go outside!

"Mommy, it's BIG BIRD!!!"

So, the chicken Jackson is pointing to is officially his special hen.

She's an Araucana hen named Big Bird.

Big Bird decided that she'd had enough.

Jackson WILL find you, Chicken... in his pjs and flip flops!

Jackson holding Big Bird.

I have never seen that little boy just stand still...

He really enjoyed getting to love on his feathered friend!

Recycled Crayons and "Cheezy Baked Spaghetti Nests!"

Today was so crazy! Tim wasn't getting any better, so I went all over creation trying to find something that might soothe his allergic reaction. Poor guy :( I hate seeing him so uncomfortable! I think we finally found something that will help him. Ready to have my hubby back at 100%, for sure.


Jackson went down for a nap and Keelin and I decided to celebrate "Week of the Young Child" with a little project. She and I de-papered all of her and Jackson's broken crayons, melted them in my double boiler, and put them into some star shaped candy molds that I had on hand!

 Here are the kids crayons! I think they turned out really well!

For dinner, I was interested in some carbs! I made whole grain spinach pasta!

Put the pasta in a muffin tin and scooped on some of my sweet tomato sauce!

Baked it with a bit of cheese on top (Tim's are the ones without cheese, per his request).

Oh, man! So delicious!

Thanks to Cat at The Verdant Life for this delicious idea! It was a hit with my family!

Her blog recipes are so yummy sounding and we can't wait to try out more in the future!

We served our nests with a spinach salad with broccoli and apples

 (yes, the same one we had last night- it was requested again by the babes!) and steamed edamame.

Our plates were almost covered with GREEN, minus the cheese, apples, and pasta sauce!

What an incredible day!!

Today was a really interesting day, so if you can hang in there through the whole post, you will be a real trooper! :)

Woke up this morning knowing it would be a crazy day! Why, you ask? Today is the day that my husband, Tim, goes on terminal/transitional leave! He is using up the paid leave that he has saved up before officially getting out of the Army a month from now after almost ten years of service. Crazy, right? (Paid leave being a relative term, considering what is going on with the governmental agencies acting like a bunch of kids with dirty diapers!)

We've been looking forward to this for the last 3 years that we've been planning this transition to civilian life and it was just so cool to see the day finally come! We got out of debt (car loans and such), saved up a chunk of change, had a baby, got me preggers with another, and got both he and I back in school.

What a way to sum up three years of marriage!

It felt like we waited all day for Tim to get home, so I tried to keep my hands busy!

I picked up sticks out of the yard (thanks, storm!), cleaned the chicken coop, lamented over the huge tree down in our yard and how being 19 weeks pregnant, I'm not in any shape to bust out our chain saw...

Oh, did a ton of diaper laundry, got Jackson down for a nap in his twin bed (Yay for my big boy!), and got in the kitchen!

This was our lunch, along with some homemade corn muffins that my son absolutely adores! Zucchini, squash, red potatoes, and carrots. All thickly sliced, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. The flavor was incredible, totally filling, and the chickens were thrilled to get the ends of the veggies as a treat! (Maybe now they will feel inclined to give us some eggs?)

Here are some banana chips dehydrating! I had to lay the smack down on my dad and son today. They were both in the kitchen getting into the dehydrator all afternoon. These guys just slay me- I can't make chips that actually get to be chips, because they get eaten too quickly. Banana fiends need to back off of my snacks ;) But yes, these were salvaged- 3 of my 4 trays made it into crispy, crunchy, delicious chips! I'll take the 75% odds!

Gotta love his "no poo" hair and cloth diaper!!

Jackson on his $5 consignment sale bike! He's a little guy, so it cracks me up that a bike that teeny has training wheels that are removable. I would love to see a person that small riding a Fisher Price two-wheeler without training wheels!

On top of my cooking, cleaning, and thumb twiddling- I sliced up a TON of fruit and froze it combinations that would be yummy for smoothies, which have become our go-to breakfasts around here.

I finally got tired of being productive and sat myself in a lawn chair to read the end of a book and start another while Jackson napped.

The book I just finished is:

“Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream . “ by William Powers

A great book written by a guy local to me. It highlights his experiences living in a 12 foot by 12 foot cabin in rural North Carolina. Very cool read!

I'm actually planning to give away a copy of this particular book (gotta support our local authors!) next week!

This is the book I just started reading:

"Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology," by Eric Brende

So far, it seems to be a book about an Ivy League educated couple that decide to see what life would be like without the distraction of electricity and their quest to return to simplicity. I have a feeling that this one is going to be good!