Were off!

Getting ready for an open house here this weekend and the headed to Spokane to pickup my mother in law. She's coming to stay with us for a few weeks. Were hoping to get in a bit of strawberry picking while we are there. We had so much fun last year!


I'll probably mia for a while, so in the meantime ENJOY your summer!

Meet the Ladies

A couple of months ago my hubby announced we were headed to the feed store to buy chickens. We had been wanting to get chickens for a while, we had just planned on doing it after we moved... but I guess waiting isn't our thing so one rainy May Day we arrived home with 4 baby chicks and 3 ducklings.
here they are then....



... these are the lovely ladies now: meet Ginger, Tillie, Coco, Lucy, and Mickey.



We also acquired some Big Ladies from a lovely family who was moving and had to get rid of their coop and flock. This is Ethel.



Boy oh boy it's hard to keep track of all these names! I can't believe how well my children do it. They love the chickens. They spend hours with them every day. In no particular order here are Tinkerbell, Belle, Peaches, Big Red, Pepper, and Fluffy. These lovely ladies delivered us our first eggs yesterday. So far the kids have brought in 7 eggs in the last day and a half. They are going to sell the some around the neighborhood to earn some extra money. This whole chicken experience is really amazing for kids! I love it!





...and this crazy lady or gent (were not sure yet) is Fern. He is our resident foofy chicken. Not really good for egg laying, but fun to look at. He/she is a super nice chicken and I think were are going to let the kids enter him/her in the fair this year. Don't you just love the crazy hair do?




I couldn't resist showing a baby picture of those "lawn ornaments" I posted the other day. Here are the fellas as babies! Soooo cute! Can you see why hubby and I couldn't say no when the kids were begging?!

Lazy Days...

What could be better than a sunny day, a big playground, a picnic lunch, and good friends? I just can't think of anything!



Don't forget to take time to soak up the everyday moments of summer! I'm trying to remember to take photos of the "regular" moments this summer along with the vacations and holidays. I'm a bit behind on scrapbooking as usual, but I actually completed a page the other day! HOOORAY! I'm working on some photos from last summer and wishing I had more everyday moments. So this summer I'm going to wear out my camera! What are your scrapbook goals? I'd love to hear them! Have a great day!

Summer at the Lake House

We've been enjoying summer around here...even with all the rain. It's so nice to have all of our projects done! I've got all my flowers planted, the house has been painted and we are all set up for enjoying our last summer here at our house on the lake. It's going to be bittersweet when we get a buyer... we are all really going to miss living here. Good thing my parents live at the other end of the lake so we can always come and hang out!

Some of my summer staples:

Our front porch is pretty shaded so I always pot plenty of inpatients, fuchsias, coleus, vinca, and lobelia. Big hanging pots of fuchsias are a must.



My peonies are just beautiful this year. Every year they get even better... and the smell oh it's heavenly. Our entire front porch smells amazing especially in the evenings!


Big pots of tomatoes on the back deck. I usually do herbs too, but I haven't planted any yet.


We have a really big deck looking over the lake in the back yard. It gets plenty of sun so I get to have lots of fun with flowers! Geraniums are a definite must with there wonderful spicy sent, along with allysum, petunias, daises, cosmos, zinnias, and verbena. My wonderful hubby added drip irrigation to all my pots on the back deck, even the little ones so now that they are planted they are virtually maintenance free and will stay lovely even while were out vacationing! He's even going to get my hanging baskets set up! Thanks sweetie!

We have a little balcony off our bedroom upstairs. This year I found the cutest red and white chairs to sit up there. We had a table and chairs set up there before, but I was never too happy with it. It took up too much space. I love the scale of the new set... makes the balcony so much more usable. I added a few pots of flowers and now hubby and I can enjoy our morning coffee while looking at this view!


As long as we were painting the house, I had hubby spray our picnic table too for this little area just off of our kitchen. It looks so much better. It was really weathered before. I'm really looking forward to dinners out here in the shade, once summer weather really sets in!



...and of course what summer yard would be complete without lawn ornaments? Meet the fellas: Donald, Chuck, and Sunny (as named by our children). I guess we don't know for sure that they are males(I guess we'll find out eventually if they lay eggs), but I've started calling them the fellas, so lets hope they aren't offended!;)
They are such a kick! I just love having them and I can't believe how fast they've grown! We got them about 2 months ago when they were just a few days old. Now look at them!



Well that's a bit of what we've been up to so far this summer. How bout you?

SUPA*STAR

Our little superstar had her dance recital last night. She and the other adorable kids in her tap class did amazing! They were SOOOO STINKIN CUTE out there tapping away to an Elvis song dressed in costumes from Grease! I mean come on... Elvis, Grease, and my adorable daughter dancing.... what could be better! I love to watch Maddie. She is so opposite of me in so many ways. She has zero fear... no stage fright at all. She gets up the on the big ole stage in front of a packed house and gives it her all. It's so great! She also won an award this year which thrilled her to no end, and to top it off her class is in the best of show and will perform again Friday. As long as she loves to perform I'll keep signing her up for class. Next year she says she wants to sing too. Lets all hope she doesn't take after her mother there either or I see some broken glass in our future! ;) Way to go sweetie!!! Mommy and Daddy couldn't be prouder!

I hope everyone is having a great start to their summer! It was finally nice enough that we got to paint our house last weekend. Now we get to just sit back and enjoy the summer. I think were going to try some camping this weekend... as long it's not rainy again! We also have to get a chicken coop built for our chickens. It's time to move some of them out of the garage and outside. What's on your list this weekend? I hope something fun!

woohoo

...here we come! My pal Jami and I leave today for the Farm Chicks show and a MUCH NEEDED girls weekend. There will be coffee, SUPER FAB JUNK SHOPPING, laughter, good food, great company, and plenty of relaxing too! 4:00 just can't come quickly enough... of course my to do list before I leave is about 14 miles long... so maybe 4:00 can take it's time.

Today is also the last day of school for my big guy. WOW, I can't believe his first year of school went so fast... scary fast. It's been a great year though! I've really been looking forward to having him done for the summer... I really miss having him around during the day! :) Congrats my big guy on your first official year of school!!!

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back next week with some great Farm Chicks photos!.... oh and say a little prayer for me... hubby, the kids, and a crew of friends will be trying to paint our house this weekend...(it's been raining here like crazy and we haven't been able to get it done) we need good weather and I REALLY NEED THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE TO BE IN GOOD CONDITION when I get home Sunday night because a Realtor is bringing a potential buyer by to see the house Monday. Jami, be prepared... I may be calling you in a panic after I drop you off Sunday. ;)