Sparklers and Smoke bombs

Who knew one could  get colored smoke bombs! 

 Jim with all the kids; waiting somewhat patiently for him to light them up.  He even let all of them throw one out, but the urgency didn't not always get through like it should have. No incidents, but goodness when we say 'Throw it!', it does not mean 'hold on to it, then throw it'. Right?

 

EW with her sparkler! 

 

One of the cats even got to see the show.

 

CW with her sparkler! 

Cousin G, not quite sure what to think of it. She's a little wimpy when it came to just whirling it around and having fun with them.

This was the extent of our fireworks, we forgot to shoot of the rest. Oh, well.  I think all this was enough excitement for our evening. 

(sorry for the post to be somewhat out of order, it's call 'catch up' and I am going to blog with what pictures I have from the summer!  :)  Stay tune.)

until next time,

Lexie ><> 

Recycled jeans for a stick pony

I found a tutorial on the web for making a stuff head stick horse.  And as always, I did it my way while referring to the tutorial.  I made this for EW's birthday and she got it early for if I wanted to get it done for her actual birthday, it wouldn't have been done at all.  I used a pair of my beloved jeans for all most all of it and scraps for the nose,ears, eyes.  

Both the girls enjoy it, the girly eyelashes, rainbow hair (because that's all I had for yarn) and her zebra pink ear lining.  

Here's EW showing off the ears and I cut the bangs so this horse could see where she's going!    

Let's ride'em cowgirl! 

until next time,

Lexie ><>

Celebrating Eleanore Turning Two.

     I have come to be the one who takes pictures but not many.  I also don't enjoy writing without pictures, hence why I don't write much.  It also could be, I just don't take the time to write since here are some pictures of Eleanore's birthday celebration, from July.  

Opening gifts, her 'pillowcase dress' I made turned out more like a tunic, but cute all the same. 

 I need to make everything from scratch since my nephew's and niece have a few food allergies.  These are white batter cupcakes with home made whipped cream for frosting with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries to create the flag. They were delicious and we ate all of them in one evening. :) 

I also love red white and blue, celebrating the 4th, so this time around I decided to go with the red,white and blue theme. I have never made a flag cake before thinking they are 'just so cheesy' but here I went for it.   

Eleanore is being sung to and trying to decided how to blow out her candles. 

 Eleanore enjoying her cupcake! 

And here's why we had all 20 cupcakes gone, we are a good size group. 

 

Eleanore is a one active little girl, I suppose like any other 2 yr old.  She plays more and more each day nicely with her sister, she enjoys animals, playing with dolls, and water but prefers no cloths, not even a swimming suit!  Cheese and yogurt would be her top foods of enjoyment, she likes to do everything 'big'.  Swing on the big girl swing, try the monkey bars, slide down the fireman's pole, big slides and even tries out her sisters bike. She enjoys coloring and play dough, even drinking milk from her cereal bowl.

We all love our Eleanore and certainly do celebrate her more then just her birthday!  A gift from the Lord everyday, even on the hard days. 

Until next time,

Lexie ><>   

Kitty Sage & Macy Dog!

  This written way back in June... and i'll keep up with some posting.... i think!  

    As you can see our animals are well loved and played with.  They sit very willingly and when the time is up, they let us know by walking off.  That's where the parent step in and make sure the animals get all the gear off for their safety.  Here's a couple of pictures of the girls with their beloved kitty and pup. 

A stroller ride and kitty Sage is getting her fur done. She was so patience. 


 Kitty Sage swinging with EW.  EW enjoyed this way more then the kitty I am sure of this but yet again, kitty sat still with EW until the ride was done.  The bike helmet for safety precautions, ya know! ;-)

 CW playing dress - up with our Macy dog, she was so patience, even with that darn crown.

I will have to say, we have been blessed with great pets.  Even though I really didn't want the cat, she is good (besides that rabbit head/guts I found outside my garage door this am.) and the dog, she is good too! I'll just forget the number of times she's been in the garbage and didn't clean it up herself.

Until next time, 
Lexie ><> 

Our Dragon Wagon

 'Dragon Wagon' you ask ?  It all started with a few misunderstood words to have our new red wagon become the 'dragon wagon'.  That's the story.  CW and EW and the mama were working on getting this wagon put together when we were talking about the wagon and CW kept say 'dragon'.  So, now the name is official. :)

 We have put the other side on our wagon for safety reasons!  No worries!

CW: 'What mom, what you say?'  

The best for last!  CW in dress up pulling the EW, both with lovely smiles!

This wagon has supplied us with wonderful wheels of fun.  From just a trip around the block to down the road to the river or the girls having fun with each other, I am glad we decided to make the purchase.

Until next time,
Lexie ><> 

How do you like to play ?

How one of our girls like to play can be completely different from the other.  

Here's a great example of our EW and CW. :) 

I found EW, she climbed into the wheel barrow full of pea rock. She continues now to play with all the rock that is smoothed out on the driveway.  Every so often I go out and smooth out the piles that she makes.   

 She was covered in rock dust but this certainly did keep her busy. 

 This is how our older daughter plays, with play sets of dishes! 

CW was busy washing them up and EW was eagerly waiting her turn. The three of us continued to play with our washed up dishes, being served at the 'diner'. 

Even though sister who enjoy their own idea of play, they do enjoy being together.  And I can't label our CW as 'pretty and clean' because one of her past times is digging for worms. :)  She'll make a great gardener some day. 

Until next time, 

    Lexie ><> 

The guitar: part 2

Here's more of what's happening with the guitar. 

Inside bracing on back. 

It has nothing to do with sound, it will warp if it does not have bracing. 

Home made 'spool clamps', he saved himself a bazillion dollars by doing this. 

Fingerboard. 

Gluing the fingerboard to the neck of the guitar. Two large rubber bands wrapped tight. 

First trial neck fitting. 

Diamond on back of the peg head. 

Isn't is turning out great!  Jim is working on the finish, lots of sanding and applying polyurethane.  I am sure the next post I have, he'll be done or very close.  Stay tuned. 

Until Next Time,

Lexie ><> 

The First's of Summer

I guess the first day of June marks the day for a new post and start up of the blog.  

A lot has happened in the last 2.5 months but for now, here's some of the 1st of our May and our early summer.  

 We found a toad.

Peonies bloom. 

 This caterpillar found on mama and CW needed to find his mommy. 

Always needing to make sure animals have their mommies around.  

He was a pretty teal color and grey/brown. 

 The frog, he was big and CW didn't not like him.

First Iris bloom.  Since then, we've had yellow and lavender, and tan open up! 

And lastly, we went to visit Mawga and Papa and we got hair cuts for summer. 

Now for the rest of summer to enjoy. 

The zoo, park play, pool play, flowers, bike riding, walks, runs and a whole lot more! 

Towel monsters ?

(an old, old post but thought i'd get it out anyway.)

There are two little girls under those towels.  Your guess is as good as mine as to what they are doing. :-) 

What's been happening with us?  

The weather has been AMAZING ! Warm, sunny, beautiful, warm, wonderful.  It has been great to be out with lighter clothing, enjoy the sun and be able to run and play.  We have been outside playing ball and bike riding. Playing with the dog and running of some of that winter pudge. :) It rained today, so most of the snow is gone and the chickens are out pecking and flapping their wings like they have been cooped up way too long. 

We welcomed Lexie's mom and dad and niece G for about 24 hours.  We had a great visit, CW and G had a great time hanging out!  My mom helped me for the 110th time to make bread and she also made a delicious stir-fry. 

  

Lexie have started training for the relay in May. The Fargo Marathon is the 18th of May and I am part of a 2 women, 2 man relay.  I am excited even though running the race is the exciting part, not all the training. 

The Mr. helped me clean out the chicken coop, not a pleasant job but it needs to be done. And I was all geared up to do it all.by.myself but he volunteered and did a great job! 

Lexie is also staying busy sewing for EcoChic and support our friends in Africa. I always have something new I'd like to sew up and I actually now am going have a few new items coming for May. I am excited to create with material and work with wood and a ban saw!! 

The girls love being outside and this mama needs to find some ideas to do for them. It's one thing to be out but it's another when I can actually learn something while hanging out.  

One other item we got crossed off the list was our basement being organized!  We put up shelves, moved around the seasonal items.  Moved the 'train table' to where storage was, we now have a larger space to work on DIY projects. Items got thrown our or sent to a thrift store too!  It just looks so nice, for me being a person who likes orderly spaces.  And I also got to do some decorating else where in the house!  

In between all if this, I find time to read my study each week.  Jesus, through Middle Eastern Eyes.  It's an amazing book!  If you want to learn more about the parables of the bible this is a great book.   

Phew, no wonder I feels like I haven't posted in forever. We have been busy with this or that... 

I'll keep you posted, March is going to be a great month!  

Until Next Time,

Lexie ><> 

  

Bring in the Snow!

CW wanted to go out to the snow and it was just a bit to chilly for that, so we brought the snow inside. We tried some dye to check out how snow would 'color' and put water on it to see what would happen too.

 Of course, they wouldn't smile at the same time, so you get to see multiple if pictures.

And one last picture I couldn't resist sharing, EW  riding the vacuum. I am not sure why but she has done this since she was able to be steady while sitting. 

Until Next Time,

Lexie ><> 

A chicken rescue, really ?

The Waa's chicken rescue.  I know, icky, a chicken in our house. But she is at the bottom of the pecking order, it's cold here, and I couldn't let this go any longer. This chicken some how got icky toes that were bleeding and it's not a good situation.  So, I took charge and consulted my Veterinarian friend Lyn! 

Full force to the rescue! 

I soaked her feet in Epsom salt, we put on some triple anitbac ointment and wrapped her feet up in purple vet wrap. Jim did the 'vet' duties and I held 'Amelia' (according to CW) to prevent any 'freaking out' from happening.  She was shaking, the poor thing.  Now she's hanging out for a few days/week, she'll need another soaking and clean bandage to make sure it's healing well.  And shes lucky, we are having a snow storm and it's a bit windy, she just doesn't know how good she's got it. And I don't know how long this is going to take to heal up either. Yikes!  Or will I be able to stick her back out in the cold.    

She is sittin' pretty next to our back door, with all the accommodation a chicken would need. 

Until next time,

Lexie <>>