Bits of Sunshine

isaac built a tree fort. all by himself.

on friday, isaac headed outside and was busy, busy, busy. 

sometimes i could hear pounding.  sometimes i could hear the sound of the handsaw.  i saw the boy and some wood and the wagon going back and forth across the yard from the garage to the woods to the woodpile and back again.

saturday morning he told me he needed a bit of help in the woods. 

i helped him lift one piece of plywood and with adding 3 screws to do a bit of reinforcement.  he nailed everything else.

later he asked if we could go to fleet farm.  he'd like to use some of his own money to buy a tarp and a rope. 

so, we went.  he found a tarp for less than $3 and a rope for less than $3 also!  he was pretty excited.

as soon as we were back home, he disappeared into the woods again. 

then, ""mom!  come with me!  i have a surprise for you!"

i followed him into the woods . . . and found this

he measured, cut, nailed, and roofed all of this by himself!

he asked me if i thought dad would be impressed.  umm, yes!  of course!  i sure am!

{view out the "window"}

{room on his bench for a visitor - yes, he built a bench, too!}

he told me that he's going to build a second bench and a box for keeping things in up there. 

he also added a rack for his hammer and bb gun.  two necessities of fort dwelling.

and down below, there's a little spot that's perfect for other boy-business.

no point in running in to the house when you're busy outside!

a present in . . . the fridge???

yep.  in the fridge.

why? you ask.  well, because it was ben's favorite monster, bought by maddie, wrapped up, and tucked in the fridge to keep them cold until he came home.  :)

where was he?  you might also ask.

he was on the green valley fire for 5 days.  working hard to help put it out.  and then he told us all about it when he got home.

he brought his maps and spread them on the floor and explained the fire and its behaviors, and his part in mapping it out and calling in some helicopter water drops, and clearing some jackpine stands and marking and putting out hotspots in his and his partner's area. 

i love listening to ben tell about where he's been and what he's been doing - how he's helped people.  so many, many homes were saved.  but there was so much devestation as well.  ben met this guy - it's so amazing how people step up to help others when there is disaster.

there's been a LOT of ash on his boots now! 

i'm so grateful that he can be out, doing what he's really, really good at.  and then he gets to return to a present in the fridge and three people who love him more than anything in the world.

a chicken update

{napoleon, the big boss, a bantam brahma rooster}

{not jack - fergus (with a heavy scottish accent) - our bantam rooster, napoleon (again) and gloria - our buff brahma hen}

{dust bath and nap time.  ducky, our white americauna is in the background.  left to right are mopsy - a bantam brahma, merida - our reddish americauna with her wing on sandy - a production red, and big mama - another production red.  in the foreground is elanor - our brown and black americauna}

{mopsy and flopsy - our two bantam brahma hens. brahmas have feathery feet. bantams are short. these girls look like two dust mops brushing along. they lay tiny, sweet little eggs.}

{rose - one of our black stars}

{is that spot? or is that dot? one of our two barred rocks}

the winter wasn't easy on our chickens, but it wasn't too hard on our little flock.  after this post, jack went back out to rejoin the ladies, but he never walked quite the same.  then we had another stretch of really cold weather.  the heat lamps stayed plugged in, but jack was already so weak . . . isaac brought him in again.  we set up the box again.  but by late afternoon that day, we could see that one of jack's legs was totally black and, well, dead. 

so, we talked about not keeping an animal who is in pain or who is very crippled.  a one-legged rooster . . . not so good.  isaac decided that he wanted to be the one to do the deed.  he took jack out back and carefully took care of everything.  i was at work, but ben told me that isaac had come in very somberly and said that he knew that was best, but he never thought he'd have to shoot his brother.  jack was the only other "boy" around here.  the next day ben told isaac to "take good care of the girls while i'm gone."  isaac replied, "yeah.  that's a really big job now.  i have mom and maddie and zoe (our chocolate lab) and all the chicken ladies, too."

about a month ago, we all started counting our chickens - over and over.  we all felt like one of the black chickens (we had seven of them) was missing.  and finally maddie confirmed that we were down to six.  then ben found a pile of black feathers in the woods.

the final casualty was a balck austerlorp we had all taken to calling "pest".  she was the biggest chicken we had, and she kept picking on the other chickens - rather mercilessly.  then we discovered that she was also eating eggs.  she'd break a hole in a shell and eat out the entire inside of the egg.  so, isaac and i took her down to the river.  her carcase floated away down the river while we walked back up to the house.

so, in our first winter as chicken owners, out of 19 birds, we lost 3, especially since only one loss was due to the crazy weather.  i think that's pretty good. 

our other ladies weathered the winter quite well.  gloria got a little stressed, and as the winter hung on through april, she started plucking her own feathers and quit laying eggs.  now that the sun is shining and she is outside almost all day, every day, she is growing her feathers back and laying some eggs again.

the production reds (6 of them) looked like they had been roughed up a bit - some scraggly feathers here and there, but they kept laying.  the black stars held their own quite well.  and the americaunas and barred rocks wintered extremely well, staying beautiful and healthy and laying eggs almost every day.

this spring ben decided we should get a new rooster, so he got to looking on craig's list.  he found the two bantam roosters and two bantam hens.  we decided to take our date night (i told you i'm a crazy chicken lady!) to go purchase them ($10 for all four).  as ben was talking to the owner about our chickens and how we keep them, she asked if we would be interested in two americaunas as well.  yes, we were.  so, merida and elanor came home with us, too.

when we first added the new six, all the chickens were pretty wild for the first two days.  and there wasn't a whole lot of egg-laying going on.  but now they are settling in.  everybody is more calm.  eggs are coming.  and our chicken run and yard are quite colorful and happy.

 

we do things besides stitch and bead here . . . we really do.

there was a piano recital.

isaac wore the boutonier i bought for him (no flowers.  only green stuff.).  he played 4 songs - 3 of them from memory.  he finished with the theme from star wars - with a flourish. 





a while back maddie told me that she thought it would be really cool to receive a flower after a piano recital or a choir concert.  so i suprised her with a wrist corsage to wear during her recital.  she loved wearing it.  she played two solos - both from memory.  and two duets with her cousin - what fun!  they began and ended the recital for us - it was wonderful!





we had a dear visitor for the evening of the recital and over night.  (i gave her a hair cut!  and she is wearing earrings made by me!)



one last day of mittens and stocking hats.  they are waving flags they made (all on their own) from dowels, bandanas and zip ties. 



we had more overnight visitors.  and there was chocolate birthday cake and a book lay-out session and coffee and sunshine and bacon and talking and listening and movie watching . . . good, good stuff, i tell you.



mother's day.  i was gifted with breakfast out and this happy card and ben only working half the day and a visit from my mom and dad and evening coffee, outside, under the sunset sky.



(the night before mother's day, there was also a date - burgers and starbucks and 6 new chickens!  we drove north about an hour to pick up 4 hens and 2 roosters {found on craig's list} on our date-night.  and it was funny, with the birds in the back-seat in towel-covered tubs, we sort of felt like new parents all over again.  {pictures of the chicken yard to come, soon})



there is always endless lego building.  isaac says legos are the best kind of math.  we were doing lego multiplication today.  a 2by2 brick has 4 spots.  a 2x4 brick has 8 spots.  a 6x8 plate has 48 spots.  and so on.  legos are also good for perimeters and squares vs rectangles.  all sorts of lego goodness.



and this evening, there was this waiting.  watching for grandma and grandpa to come for supper.  but also watching all the race-night traffic.  cars on trailers and cars in trailers and buses and vans - old, new, shiny, dull . . .  there were also motorcycles.  and probably a tractor or two.

they are such good buddies.  yesterday, isaac told me that maddie is his best friend.  then two boys he knows are tied for second place. 

today maddie wanted to be close to me while i was mowing lawn, so she worked on our garden.  isaac was building a fort in the woods.  the chickens were wandering all over the place, pecking and scratching.  zoe was lying nearby, keeping watch.  ben was busy at work. 

i have a good life.  a really good life.  and i'm very, very grateful.

bits of sunshine shop

slowly filling my shop.  come visit me there!
i'll be adding more and more over the next few days. 

also, i'll be working on my site here . . . i have some new ideas - springtime has put a little bee in my bonnet . . . so for the next few days, i'll be working on my site, working on my shop and working on my garden - in the sunshine!

i hope the sun is shining on you!

(and if you see a set of earrings you like here or on one of my previous posts, but it's not in the shop yet, feel free to ask about it in the comments.  i'm happy to sell and deliver locally or set up a custom listing in my etsy shop.)

ready for the show!

after this post, i kept working away, and finished up my 101st pair of earrings last night! everything is packed up and ready for today.  if you live nearby, i will be at invision eye care from 10:30 am till 6:00 pm today with all of these earrings!  the store is having their spring frame show (some good deals there, too!) and my eye doctor invited me to bring my earrings and sell at the show. 

i also realized that mother's day is on sunday - so if you are wishing for new earrings, put a bug in your husband's ear.  or come pick out a pair for your mom. 

this weekend, i will be listing some earrings in my etsy shop for my far-away friends to take a look at. 

and i'll keep making, because i have just loved combining all these beatiful beads and wires!

.: beautiful, one-of-a-kind, bead and wire earrings :.

.: i do comission pieces to match a special outfit or sets for party favors or bridal parties :.

.: i think you'll love the wearing or the gifting as much as i love the making :.

so- i'm off to finish getting ready for the day.  maybe i'll see some of you on this sunny, spring day!

i stitched and stiched and stitched (or, maybe it's a blessing that my sewing machine is on the fritz)

some of you have noticed this over the past few months

this fabric and thread has been all over the place with me since january. 

the fabric is a piece of a sheet - ever since i bought the sheets, i wanted to stitch on them . . . so when the bottom sheet wore thin, i decided it was time to give the top sheet new life . . .

and lots of color . . .

and since my sewing machine broke at christmas time and hasn't made it in to the shop to get looked at yet, i haven't been distracted by other sewing projects.

i finished the binding on the morning of may 3, and wrapped it up.  it's now living on the bed of this lovely friend

along with this tiny girl pillow that maddie drew and i stitched for her for her birthday last year

i loved every bit of stitching that i did on the quilt.  i love it enough to keep it - and that makes it the best kind of gift - does it not?

1, 2, 3, 4, i declare a thumb war.

but, wait!

plain thumbs are no fun . . .

monster thumbs, ready for war would be much better!

{meanwhile, i was sitting on the couch, finishing my cup of coffee, looking at pintrest a little bit, and getting ready to read another chapter of the hobbit before i tucked them in.  i knew they were playing thumb war, then i vaguely realized that they were at the table working away.  i could hear them talking and laughing . . . i smiled, and kept reading through a list of chapter book must reads (which the hobbit is not on . . . ) . . . then realized that they were making thumb monsters.  i hoped up and grabbed my camera to document their silly, wonderful creativity.  what fun!  and i am the lucky lady who is the mom of these two . . . it really doesn't get much better than this!}

on the last day of 2013 - looking through my journal -

the last day of the month.

this has been a long one.

but a good one, i must say.  i fought to focus on the good.  and there was a lot of good.  there was a lot of hard, too.  but the good far outweighed the grey skies and the hard moments.

the kids and i did well with our learning work.  i got some kinks worked out.  we are making progress!

ben's new job is such a great fit for him.  he comes home every day happy with what he got to do, happy with what he accomplished.  happy and content.

we got to eat supper together almost every night this month.  i think we only missed one or two.  wow!  it's been almost three years since i could say that.  such a good thing.

ben's EMT class is finally winding down.  and he's doing so well.  we'll be very grateful when he is done at the end of may.  he'll have enhanced his credentials for his current job and settled a way to earn a bit of extra income as well.

i got up at 4:00 am every morning this month.  and i'm here to tell about it. 

i counted blessings all month.  here are a few:

• warm fire
• Egermier's Bible story book
• unexpected, lovely music
• the ease of being married to my best friend
• juncos passing through
• listening to maddie sing with her choir - she is so lovley when she sings, she just shines
• all the clothes i have from a dear friend
• coffee + cream
• the way the four of us choose each other over anyone else, always
• sunshine on the book jacket.  sunshine on the lamp base.  sunshine on the moon this morning, making it so orange and bright.
• isaac everywhere - on his bike, in the woods, in a tree, in the middle of a lego creation
• the quilt from my friend G - so bright, so cozy, always brings me a smile
• my two kiddos - they help me to stay joyful and present
• hope
• assurance
• the peace in my heart when i cry, "i believe, Lord, help Thou mine unbelief"
• our life - the learning, the work, the play; the sacred and the secular all woven together withing the four walls of our home

the wind is just whipping outside.  i'm afraid it's bringing colder weather back . . . i filled the woodbox tonight, so i can build a fire tomorrow morning - on the first day of may . . .

we had 10 sunny days out of 30 in april . . .i'm hoping for many more in may, the majority of the month?  yes, please.

on a brighter note, the giant santa came down on saturday - apparently he had been frozen in . . . now the snow is melted and gone, and two of the three houses look ready for spring, but the angel choir is still up and singing . . .

and, on this day, in 1803, Thomas Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase, just in time for Lewis and Clark to set off on their exploration - maddie colored a picture of the signing today, and thought that was pretty cool.  isaac drew a picture of Lewis and Clark in an Indian camp in the Lousiana Territory.  we are learning some pretty cool stuff.

here's to sunshine and springtime and goals accomplished in may!

love to you, my friends,  ~e

 

what a difference a day makes!

yesterday (4.25.13)

oh joy!

blue sky!  sunshine!  warm air.  ahhhh . . .

and today (4.26.13)

it really was warm enough for bare feet when the sun was high in the sky. 

i sat with my face turned up to the sun.  i cleaned out the mud room.  i put away winter boots and hats and heavy mittens.  everything feels so much lighter.  so much brighter.  so good.

in one day - watch the difference in the ice on the pond -

and baby grass!

and bugs - on the snow -

spring is here!  and very shortly it will be summer.  :) 

all day, i just kept looking at the sunshine, at the receding snow, and thanking God.  over and over and over.  thanking him for the weather.  thanking him for ben's new job.  thanking him for mine.  thanking him that i get to be with my kiddos - all day, every day.  thanking him for the sunshine and our home and this life.  i am full to bursting.

happy friday evening, friends!

p.s.  there are still christmas decorations up in town . . .  hmmmm . . . i'll take guesses for how long the super-huge santa will be up . . . when do you think he'll finally get taken down???