front garden

I took the boys to an all-city everyone participates track meet today, but forgot my camera. Both boys did the high jump, Christian ran the 100 and I ran the predict a mile where you predict how long your mile will take and the person with the closest actual time wins. I was very conservative on my time. It was really my walking time. I had a rough time on the run because of the heat and high pollen count. I had to walk part of the race. Even with all of those factors taken in my actual time was 1:15 faster then my estimate. We will go next week and will use this weeks time as my guess.
I took photos of my garden since I could not get pics of the track meet. Next week I will remember the camera. I told Christian he could photograph me on my race too.

layouts

It has been a while since I have posted layouts. Here are some I have done lately...


Credits: Rainforest by Alana McCarthy at scrapbookgraphics

Kit: Another Day in Paradise by Lindsay Jane Designs



Credits: Template - Flying Solo 2 by Hillary Heidelberg at scrapbookgraphics, Kits - Oceanside by Melissa Bennett, 365, For Melissa & What Dreams May Come by MGL Scraps



Credits: Kit - More Moments by Lindsay Jane Designs

Credits: Watermasks by Hillary Heidelberg.

herbal infusions and artwork

I am taking advatage of all our herbs and making herbal teas. Today my infusion has rasberry leaves, lemon balm, peppermint, lavendar and rose pedals. I bring a big pot of water to a boil, cut the herbs from the garden. When the water is boiling, I pull it off the heat and add the herbs. I let it infuse for 20-30 minutes. I drink it hot when it is fresh, then put the rest in the refridgerator and drink it cold. It is very refreshing on a hot afternoon.

Liam decided he wanted to take the different scooters and make Thomas train this afternoon.

Bug Control - The Natural Way

We added two more birds to our flock. Muscovy Ducks. I have been reading about how duck eggs are much better for baking than chicken eggs and they are also excellent for slug and insect control. They don't trash the gardens the way chickens do. They might nibble a bit, but the amount they eat is probably much less than the bugs they like to eat cosume.
I am waiting for the hens to retire for the night and I will move the these two into the hen house.
The boys picked them out and named them. Rascal and Rosie

Happy Father's Day and First day of summer

I am making pesto pasta today for our Father's Day dinner. I made the pasta in a pestal and mortar and will roll out homemade egg pasta (with eggs from our chickens) in a few minutes. I will also pick lettuce from the garden to make a salad.

Rasberry season is here! I have all the supplies on hand to make freezer jam. We will also be enjoying them fresh off the vine.

Lightning Bolt is quite the flyer. I was getting ready to dump the kitchen scraps in the hen house and she flew onto my arm and used it as a perch. She and Boofy are also quite friendly. We did a good job on domesticating them.

New Shoes - Kind of...

Today is one of my favorite events of the year in Portland. The Annual Laurelhurst Garage Sale. Laurelhurst is a nice neighborhood about three miles from here. I like this sale because the people in the neighborhood own nice things and sell the nice things they are tired of for good prices. When I had babies, I would buy name brand baby clothes at the sale.
I rode my bike around the neighborhood and checked out the different sales. My favorite conquest are these shoes. They are all designer brands, they are all cute and they cost $14 all together. They show signs of being worn once or twice, but are still practially new.

Horseback riding

A friend of mine from high school raises horses. We went out to visit her today. The boys got to feed and groom the horses. Both boys were given the opprotunity to ride a horse. Liam did not want to, but Christian did. Christian did very good on the horse and had a lot of fun. Liam enjoyed playing with the hose and rocks while his brother was horseback riding.
I had a nasty migraine coming on while we were out there and it hit full force while driving home since my meds were at home. I have an appointment with my doctor to discuss my migraines and how we can treat them with non-narcotic drugs.

DIY and strawberry picking

I finished my first knitting project last night. I was just a practice piece and has a ton of mistakes, but Liam's Care Bear, Phillip does not seem to mind. I am now making a blanket for Christian's shark.



We went strawberry picking this morning. I am allergic to strawberries so the boys each picked a pint and they ate them with David before we left the farm. I just took photos. Our rasberries should be ripe soon and I can join in.

Beach Day

Art gone crazy

We did a couple art projects this morning. The first thing the boys did was make ladybugs out of egg carton section. I got this idea online. They pained the carton red and I punched holes in it where they ran pipe cleaners through.

I also tried a project from this dough book I got from the library. This involved three roles of toilet paper, enough warm water to soak toilet paper, one bar ivory soap and 1/3 cup borax. After the boys mixed it up, they had to be boys about it and started throwing wads of it at each other and around the patio.

The ladybug needed black dots and I decided to let the boys use sharpies for the first time to put them on. I turned around to watch Christian for a few seconds and when I turned back around, Liam was drawing on the house. I don't know why I took a photo since it will be there until we have the time and money to paint the house.
I asked David if cavemen ever got ticked off at their kids for drawing in the caves.

Class Pet

It is common for many classrooms to have a pet rabbit, mouse or turtle. We now have a bunny for our classroom.
Christian plans to join 4-H in the fall. They have many groups that focus on raising rabbits and small chickens. We now have the rabbit, we just have to find the right group.
We will be studying animals and plants in first grade. We are going to start the plant unit now since we actually have a variety of plants outside. It will also give more time to focus on animals since the boys love to learn about them so much. I think having a rabbit and chickens is good for regular observation.

Galileo hangs with the big girls

Luna and Bronte are starting to accept Galileo. We have even walked into a room and found Luna and Galileo playing. Bronte is very tempermental and does not play well with other cats. She picked him up and body slammed him the other day for bugging her, so he is more cautious around her.

Garden update and mini album

Here are some photos of my garden. The first flower I got at the plant swap, I think it is valerian, but I am not sure. I also took photos of Spanish Lavender, Broccolli and Rasberries.

This is a mini album I just made...

Credits: Template Set - Mini Album Template Set #1 by Hillary Heidelberg, Kit - Impressions of Whimsy - Scrapbookgraphics June Collab Kit