::best mothers day gift ever - a sukkah::

 Look what Josh made me!

 So I can stare at this.

Which will shortly be covered with fruits and veggies.

I came up for the idea of the log gazebo last year, but I wasn't sure how to do it.

Good thing my personal Jack of all trades knew how to build it.

(Because the ideas I had for it, would have blown down)

It took me a good half hour just to agonize over were to put it.  

The spot we finally decided on had a dying old pine tree that need to come down.  

We decided it's stump will be the base of a table that will be built soon.

 

 He started measuring all these crazy things and making X's on the ground with paint. 

 

Max thought he was very helpful.

See the puppy?  It's like a Waldo picture.

He dug the corner post four foot deep.

Then out came the tree,

I have been FORBIDDEN to learn how to use the chain saw.

If you know me then you can see why.

I can't cut an apple with out needing stitches.

 This is my reflection from the bottom of once of the corner posts.

The frame is 14 foot on each side.

These tree's were some trees on part of the property that had to be cut down, so they got upcycled.

When he first put them in they were crazy tall and had to be cut to size.  

He notched them with his chain saw so the next layer would fit.  Like a Lincoln Log.

Then he did the same thing to the next layer.
Today he will drill in metal dowels and rope to secure the corners. 

AMAZING start.

Now we are going to use a few more branches across the top and some wire to make a grid for GRAPES to grow on.  

And we need to trim down that center stump and build the table 

(I am thinking round and BIG).

What do people suggest for the flooring?  Think CHEAP. 

We could decide, is it an arbor, a gazebo, and trestle.  What's the difference?

My best friend Hannah came over last night.  She is Jewish and when she saw this she called it a sukkah(soo-ca).  Which is an outdoor structure that you eat under the stars in.  It has something to do with the 40 years that the Jews wondered the desert and had to eat outside.  She called it a sukkah all night, so that is now what we are calling it.  The name suits it.    

Total cost - $0.00  






 

 

::the new goats::

WE PICKED UP THE NEW BABIES!!!

Meet Bubble Gum.

A pygmy doe. 

This is her picture shortly after she was born.

Here she is her first day at my place. 

 Isn't she SO cute!

 Here is a newborn picture of her twin sister, Violet.  

And her she is now.  Love her.  

 This is Alfonzy's newborn picture.  

And here he is getting held against his will.

 

AREN'T THEY SO CUTE!!!

::mushrooms::

 Warning:  This blog post was lived by Josh.  He took all the pictures when I wasn't even home.  And he claims that I will loose "street credit with the bloggers" if I don't post it.  JUST because he is so cute about it, I will do "his" blog post.

Second warning: I hate the texture of mushrooms.  I haven't eaten one in my adult life.  Josh teases me about them often because he loves them. 

 This is a big giant Morel Mushroom.  We have a bunch of them of the farm this year. 

 

Josh cleaned them up and cut them.  

 He battered them in flour, salt, and pepper and fried them up in butter. 

Then ate them all before I even got home.

Next year I might even get to taste them. 

Maybe

::TV::

The TV is a problem in my house.

We went years without turning on the TV in the playroom, but once Max got old enough to figure it out he started turning it on all the time and sitting down to do nothing.  And I let him.  It was so much easier.  I was extra selfish in my healing since Zack died in January (click my infant loss tab for details) and really just taking every moment of peace that Max would give me.  That's called babysitting, not parenting.

So it stops today.  Because I am back on my A game again.  It's time for me to start really digging down deep and getting back into STIMULATING these kids, not just maintaining them.

New rules - no playroom TV except for rare situations.  No watching random TV just because its become our nighttime pattern.  Less TV = more interaction.  Which is the goal.  My favorite part of every day is when Josh and I get to bed and talk and talk and talk about everything.  But why can't we have those conversations more often?

Side note:
My good friend at work is having some real pregnancy complications that require her to be in the hospital for at least the next three weeks till she deliveries.  We had almost exactly the same due date. (mid-early June)  She has two little girls at home and she is going to be out of the loop with them for this time period.  Send her strength and hope and acceptance and peace.

Side note two:  
 I was TL again yesterday at work.  Second time ever and I LOVED it.  And no major trauma's happened.  I was super busy and I had a great time.  I am loving work right now.  But I am still keeping my eyes open for new roads. 

::bean frame::

 Inspired by these..

 And this..

I started this...

 

A few more sticks and it should be just right.

I just got back in from planting the beans that will grow up it.

The package says they grow up to 8 feet tall.

I hope so. 

These two helped. 



 


 

::self::

I am 33 years old.

I started dyeing my hair at age 12.  Red mostly in the beginning.  I have no idea what color it is now.  But I do see some silver show up between dye jobs.

I graduated nursing school four years ago and went straight to work as a NICU nurse.  

Both of my living children were 41 week pregnancies.  

I got my first pony when I was ten.  I used to pretend to ride the dining room chairs.  I even made a saddle for them.  I told my parents I needed to practise.

I eventually got into hunter jumpers and showed as much as possible.  My favorite horse was a HUGE gray horse named Stoly.  Loved that old guy.  I graduated highschool early to follow the show circuit to Florida one winter.  

I lived and breathed horses.  Then I met Josh and fell in love with having a family instead.  Our tax bracket doesn't lend itself to horse showing.  (Just to give you an example, right now a good starter horse would run me around 20K AND UP!)

My grandmother was a big time gardener and my grandfather was an agriculture professor at Purdue.  They would love my cottage garden.

I love really dry red wine.  I think I will go have some in just a minute.  But all my wine glasses are broken (MAX!).

Josh and I LOVE Disney World.  We also love Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and other such silliness. 

I have 4 dogs, two cats, one rabbit, 10 goats, one horse, one pony, one donkey, and 7 chickens.  

My nose is "different", but I like it.  If I could get plastic surgery it would be boobs, not the face.

::bruno::

Poor Poor Poor Bruno.

Max thinks he Bruno is his new BFF.

He bothers him all the time.

And for some reason Bruno takes it 

(he might even kind of like it)

Alberta has a much better strategy...

Roll over and play dead.

(Max is trying to tell her to move over, she is ignoring him well)

http://www.iheartfaces.com/