DITL - February 2014

 

Well, well, well, it's been awhile since a good ol' Day In The Life.
Nothing spectacularly extraordinary going on, just thought it was time.
Let's begin!

Good morning freezing cold (what a difference a week makes--as I am typing this it is 60* out and the windows are wide open!).



I stumble around the kitchen, taking advantage of my morning stupor to do the dishes before I wake up and realize what I'm doing.
I like to see if I can beat my tea-prepping.
Sometimes I can actually do it.
Russ and I both ditched coffee (well, mostly.  It sure is nice on a sunny weekend morning.) and found this tea we both love.
The only part we don't love are the little sayings.
Don't get me wrong, I like a good inspirational message first thing in the morning just as much as the next person, but it's like they only use 15 of them.
And about 2/3 make me want to put a hot poker in my eye.
Thankfully, this one isn't bad.

Dishes done?  Check.
Tea consumed?  Check.
Bid Russ goodbye?  Check.
Warmed up and awake?  ...eh.
Either way, there are animals waiting for their morning greetings.
Break duck pool ice.

Good morning, scaredy-chickens.
They will stay in their coop for days when there is snow on the ground.
However, now that we have ducks (who prefer to sleep out in the snow versus in their cozy shelter), the chickens are out there rubbing elbows with them, despite the snow...it just takes them a bit to get going as well.  ...I can relate.

Good morning, quackers.

Hello Jenna and Debbie, let's get you some warm water, shall we?

Animals are taken care of, children still sleeping, me looking for a project.
I thought I'd surprise Russ by oiling his beehive (ooh la la!), but found myself lacking much linseed oil.  Alas.

I went upstairs and found this guy!  I can usually hear him when we wakes up from the back yard, but he snuck out (instead of the normal thundering).
Fish crackers, you say?  Sure, coming up!

I went for cuppa tea, part deux and Brooklyn joined the party!
Russ started a fun game with the kids a few weeks ago.  We call it Candy Math.
It started with licorice and he'd use the candy to show them math and then they'd get however many licorice that the answer was.
Wellllll, we ended up going through licorice very quickly.
Jelly Bellies!
It's pretty fun.  If I'm working on something else and Sam asks for some Jellies, I'll just give them to him, "But MOM.  I want to do some math!"
Oh, well okay then.


Kiddos hopped on YouTube and I hopped on local websites to see what adventures we could find for the month of February.
(And yes, I got those Jelly Bellies with problems the kids wrote for me.)

Brooklyn's been wanting to dye her hair off and on for a year now.
We decided to try food coloring mixed with conditioner.
Rainbow highlights!

This is Day 4 of non-stop Crock-Potting!
I discovered I was out of broth (the horror!), so got some chicken out.
Well, that night we were invited to our friends' house and they were carving two chickens and asked if I wanted the carcasses.  Um, YES.
And then we had a bunch of lamb bones as well the following night!
I like to cook them 3 times each--the first is the Good Stuff for soups, etc.
The second pot is for boiling rice, potatoes, etc.
The third pot is for cats and dog food.
So, just for the record, I'm good on broth for awhile...

"Let's tumble!"

Brook asked if I wanted to play Animal Jam.
Sounds good!


After awhile, we were all getting chilly, which reminded me I wanted to make some more "weasels" (rice bags).
Time to raid the stash of fabric I was given...anyone spot any 100% cotton??  Hmm.

I honestly and truly don't know how we would function without Google.
It is consulted a minimum of 30 times a day here, I'll bet.
Anyway, in less than a minute I learned how to find out if a material was 100% cotton.
The burn test!
I'd burned the 100% one first and was unsure if I was doing it right, so tried this one.
It smoked and STUNK and shriveled.
Okay then, the first one it is.

Sam figured out how to send mail in Animal Jam.
He sent me about 10 of these.
I didn't know what he was up to though when he said,
"How do you spell 'I am gonna banana your face'??"
Ah, I see.

Weasels complete!


Warmed and taken for a trial run.
And deemed perfect.

Animal Jam with friends on Skype!
Another thing I don't know what we'd do without.


"Mom, come look at Minecraft Me!"

Time to meander to the kitchen and think about dinner.
Might as well rinse the sprouts and give the lizards some clean water.

Dinner time for us means dinner time for animals.
These babes are HUNGRY.  They go through probably 5 of those cups of feed a day.
...we are currently trying to figure out how to grow fodder on a large scale...

Chicken Lentil Stew for the humans.

Daddy's home!!
...oh Brin.  You poor thing.



"Take pictures of me jumping across the doorway!"

More Jelly Bean math!
You can see the beginnings of one of Brooklyn's problems for me at the top of the board.
Zeroes were dogs.
Ones were butterflies.
Twos were ???
She got worn out by the time she got to 5.

Kirby time!

"Alright guys, it's time!"
"But, I really wanted a soda!  Now I won't have time!"
"Can I put one out for you for in the morning?"
"Okay!"



Teeth brushing.
See the blue in her hair??  This was the best one.
We have since done something a bit more drastic, but she loves it.

Can't forget to start the dishwasher so I can start all over in the morning.
Alas, I find water all over the floor when I go back in the kitchen.
Sigh.

Sam has been sleeping in our room for the past few years.  Occasionally, he'd come in and sleep with Brooklyn, but very rarely.
Over the past 3 weeks he's chosen to sleep in her room about 80% of the time.
It's kind of weird...

And Brooklyn loves to read to us.  She's pretty darned good at it, too.
Kids don't stop growing up for anything, do they?
Sigh.

"Will you braid my hair tonight?"

Goodnight.