Meet Pearl

So, this one is all my fault. We really need a kitty to killl the moles digging up our property. I am hoping that this sweetheart will be a good hunter. Meet Pearl Isn't she just a love! I know, I know really we do live in a zoo. When she gets big enough that I am not paranoid that an eagle or a hawk is going to carry her off. She will be strictly an outside hunter. Amazingly enough Holly loves her, and Pearl is very tolerant of all of the mothering. Holly slobbers her up one side and down the other. Yesterday I saw Pearl hanging from Holly's jowls, and Holly didn't seem to mind, but the kitty sure lets everyone know when she is being stepped on. Poor Holly she doesn't even realize that her paw is on the cats tail.

EGGSTATIC!!!

Yep, our chicken are doing their job. They are finally laying, a little earlier than we anticipated. It has been fun for the kids to check their coop (79 times a day), waiting. We got three eggs one day. but usually it is just one a day. Hopefully the Rhode Island Reds will start laying some brown eggs soon.

Mason was up first to check it out. It is the smallest egg I have ever seen. You can get an idea from the pic above.

Keep it up girls. We love those eggs! Aren't they just darling. :)

Messing around in Photoshop

I realize that I get obsessed with things for a bit and go crazy. Latest obsession has been Photoshop. This is our family pic. for 2010. I have been wanting to edit it for months. I also bought Photoshop elements 8 last Dec. It has been sitting untouched until now. I asked a friend (thank you Sarah) to come and help me figure some of it out. I have had so much fun the last couple of days messing around.

This is a color pop action. I haven't really figured out how to make all of the layers work along with the tools, but still fun.

I tried to burn the edges. Got to carried away. Couldn't figure out how to undo it. Like I said I have been really excited about it.

Oh my baby Lilly.

I know this is really not anything to those of you who do the editing all of the time, but I feel like a whole new world has been opened up with just the few things that I have learned. Loving it...

Mason's BIG Fish!

Mason got to go on a Father, Son fishing trip with Jeff and one of his fishing buddies who also brought his son. They had a great time.

Is that the biggest smile you have ever seen or what? I think that it may also be "Take the picture Dad this fish is heavy," smile through his teeth. It is a 12lb. Rainbow trout. Like the ones Jeff caught this winter. Way to go Mason!

Mason and Dean. By the end of the trip these boys were good buddies.

And good climbers too. They did lots of great hiking along with the fishing. What fun!

Home Grown Eggs

Okay, I admit it, my hubby has some great ideas sometimes. It is just really hard for me to say yes if I think that I am going to be the one doing all of the work. Chicks, aren't they darling? They are quite a bit bigger now. They are in their coop that Jeff built ( he really is so good at building stuff). I am so excited to have eggs. We have been talking about a whole mini-farm idea for the last 10 years. We have finally taken the plunge. I don't know if any of you watched that show on PBS a few weeks ago, "Food Inc." http://video.pbs.org/video/1402965302/ it really makes us want to sell our house and buy a few acres and raise all of our own food. If you get a minute you sould really watch it. P.S. I really haven't done hardly any of the work.

CRAZY about COUPONS!

O.K. so I have to share. Since the beginning of the year. I have been really trying to shave down our food budget. I was introduced to a web site www.fistfulofcoupons.com. I really didn't know if I could stick to a food budget, we were spending between $500 and $600 dollars a month. As a Mom with young kids you gotta feed them, I really didn't know how these other Moms were spending only $200 a month for a family of six. Now I am still not that good. But I have been hovering right at $300 a month since January, and have been able to build a food storage, and have tried some products that I would never have bought before because they were to expensive. The picture of this shopping trip above cost me $12.93 and I got coupons back for 3 gallons of milk for free and a $5.00 coupon to spend the next time I shop! It has been (dare I say) fun, to shop at the grocery store and kind of a rush at checkout. I am insane I know it. I also must say that it hasn't been a beeeze, and it does take time and brain power to make it work, but this web site and tons others really take out a lot of the work. .

Crazy HAIR Day!

Crazy hair day at Cottonwood Elem. is highly popular at the Smith house. I had to work this particular morning so Dad got to help the kids hair get crazy. I am sure that in the future they will ask Dad for help again.

Let's go fly a kite

On a windy day, in late March we gotout our kite and took it flying right outside the house. The kids had a great time. This is Lilly's scary face.

Gotta love country living. No power lines.

Feelings of Love

As of late Mason has been on a serious drawing kick. It really has been fun. He brings me two or three works of art a day. Around Valentine's Day he was having "feeling of love" and I couldn't help but share some of his "works of heart." These are the flowers the kids and Jeff gave me for Valentin's Day. They are all so cute they each put in a little money from their "penny pigs" to get them for me. (just a side note, I have not gotten flowers for any event since the first year of our marriage so I had to document it.)

I have proudly hung them on my wall in our room. I love him, (he drew me skinny! I have trained him well. )

This is Jeff and I. Titled "I love my Mom and Dad"

These are choclate kisses. The small one on the left says "You are osum" (awesome) :)

"The Moon Shining on the Meadow and the Trees" There are hearts in the circle window on the house.

Lilly was so happy to present the flowers. Can't get much more sweet than this! Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day! So excited for March. That much closer to Spring!

Mason and Lacey's 7th Birthday!!!

Mason and Lacey are SEVEN! It is so hard to believe that my 4lb. babies are now first graders! Poor Mason and Lacey, they always get ripped off for their birthday's. First of all, they have to share their day, (hazard of having a twin) I know that they don't know any better, but I do, and thus comes the motherly gilt. This party was scheduled last minute, as are most things in my life. I called a couple of friends and had them come over in the afternoon for a party and some pizza, cake, and ice cream. Only problem was that when I woke up that morning, I was feeling a bit off. My stomach wasn't quite right. I went about preparations for the party anyway. About an hour before the party. I knew that I was sick, not quite puking, but close. At this point I didn't want to cancel and ruin their party so we went ahead anyway. They had a half blue and half pink cake (man am I cereative or what?). There are all sorts of candy on top. That seemed to be a big hit.

Remember the movie babe? The kids really like it.

Lacey got a new bike, and was excited, not as excited as she would have been if it would have been a horse, she informed me, but she still liked it.

That night as everyone was heading home Lacey started moaning that her tummy hurt. A day later my friend my friend called and expressed (not so sincere) gratitude for sharing the bug with her and her kids too. The rest of our kids followed and so did Jeff. I feel terrible absolutely wretched about it.

I hope though that as Mason and Lacey look back they will remember their seventh with a smile. As for me, my friend is still talking to me, and hopefully she has forgiven me. For that I am grateful.