Yard work...

Today was another busy day out in the yard. My yard, and the neighbor ladies.... There is an older woman who lives on the corner, she has a pretty good sized yard, and grass about waist high. She has been trying to tackle it with a little hand held weed eater, but it just wasn't working. I walked across the street, wearing my flowered galoshes, pushing my lawnmower from papa, and decided to tackle her yard. It took 2 hours, 2 gallons of gas, and refilling the oil twice, but she now has a very nicely mowed lawn, front yard, backyard, and side yards! She was very happy. Caillou pushed his little bubble lawnmower the whole time in our front yard and waved to me through the fence while Daddy supervised him. In my yard today I raked bark to other destinations, dug up ivy, moved rocks, re-planted ivy, took down little fences, put back up little fences, planted more grass seed, watered flowers, pulled weeds, cleaned out the chicken coops, and mowed the lawn. It is so much fun having a yard. When I lived in the apartments, I never wanted to be home, I always felt like I needed to escape. We would go on outings, usually to somewhere with a garden, a petting zoo of goats, or a fabric store, and it was great, until we turned the corner off Main street and headed towards the apartments. When our apartments came into view...I always felt half like yelling bad words, half like crying, and a lot like I was going to throw up! I really couldn't stand those apartments. Perhaps it was the trudging upstairs with a toddler, pregnant belly, and 90 pounds of potting soil ( apartment farming doesn't work well) and bags of groceries. Perhaps it was the ambulance that came weekly to pick up Sunny's boyfriend after she beat him up, or maybe it was the knife fights, screaming gangsters, or the big drug deal shoot out. Well, whatever it was, I am so thankful to be out of those apartments. I love my little home. I am so content being at home now. I can't ever imagine leaving this little place. How I will fit a dozen kids in here, I have no idea. But for now, this is my perfect little home, and I have no intentions of ever leaving.

Our happy little day...

Today was a good day. It started off with warm cinnamon rolls, baby snuggles, and toddler tickles! We went for a little drive and picked up some supplies... we received a food order from church, boxes full of good food, meat, fruit, vegetables, milk, etc and lots of diapers! Something we go through a lot of around here! We are very blessed to have a church that watches out for us and helps us when we are in need. Times have been rough, work is hard to find, but with the love of our church and family, our boys have no clue just how poor we are. We have gone through some very tumultous times, financial and otherwise... but the past few days have been calm and happy. We are preparing for Daddy's baptism on Saturday which gives us hope of better times ahead for this little family, scheduling meals for the missionaries, and enjoying the sunshine that let's us know that Spring is just around the corner. I am doing my very best to make my home a haven for my little boys. I know that I cannot shelter myself or my boys from reality, but I also don't have to let the negativity and evil of the world in either. As I was pulling weeds from my garden today, enjoying seeing clean, weed free, brown soil, I became somewhat metaphoric comparing weeds to life. So I am pulling some weeds in my garden of life, weeding out the negative... no more movies that don't uplift me, no more depressing news, weeding out the occasional swear word that escapes my often un-mormon like mouth, weeeding out what doesn't strengthen my little family, what doesn't strengthen me as a mother to my boys. Today I am sowing seeds of a bright future for my little ones. I am planting seeds of more Family Home Evenings, more homecooked meals, more mommy - son projects, more positive thoughts, more prayers, more peace and more smiles. There is so much of life that is out of my hands, but I am working on what I can, one day at a time.

Busy little bees...

Life has been busy, very very busy. We have been busy sewing a quilt, baking brownies, coloring pictures, cuddling our chickens, hanging tree swings, blowing snotty noses... we are recovering from our colds... rearranging furniture, building a tree fort, fixing meals for missionaries, pulling weeds, learning new songs, visiting goats, picking flowers... out of stater bros. parking lot to be truthful. They were just so pretty I couldn't resist, big bright gazenias the size of sunflowers! Unfortunately the blossoms closed up very shortly after picking them. I guess next time I will go to the Arco and pick snapdragons!

You are my sunshine...

On even the cloudiest of days... these two little sunshines brighten up my whole world. I really can't imagine doing anything else with my life other than being their momma. Childhood is so fleeting, I want to make the most of their childhood. I need to remember just how short childhood is on evenings like tonight, when Mr. Caillou was trying my patience. He would not eat his dinner. I had fixed stew for him. He greatly protested. I spooned it in his mouth. There it sat for what seemed like a half an hour. He refused to swallow the mouthful of stew! He had meaty drool oozing from the corners of his mouth. I am hollering, eat your stew! His responses are accompanied by more meaty drool. I repeat again and again eat your stew. More drool. You get the idea. I was so intent on getting him to listen to me and do as I say, that I almost forgot for a minute that one day he will be all grown up and I will miss this drooly faced little boy, defying me. Now, yes he does need to learn to do what I say, but after 20 minutes of hollering at him to eat his stew and not getting the results I wanted, I knew this was just one battle I was not going to win.... So..... I swept him up into my arms, told him to give a good spit, and we headed off to the kitchen to make something more delightful for him. Grapes, and bagel with peanut butter was his selection. He greatly appreciated me listening to his dislike of the stew and fixing him something else. He is such a funny little boy. Everyday is an adventure with my two boys. Jasper and Caillou, whether they be quiet and calm, or rowdy and loud, they are the sunshine of my life. I wish I could freeze time, and keep them this young forever. I don't ever want them to grow up.

When life gives you lemons....

So, as the saying goes... when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. There is not enough sugar in the whole state of California to turn my lemon into lemonade. Lemon bars perhaps? Nope. Lemon meringue pie? Uh- Uh. Just not enough sugar. Lemon curd? Lemon jello? Lemon chicken? Nope sorry. This is just one destined to be sour for life, unchangeable lemon. But to keep with the whole lets make something good out of something not so good motto... I will choose to keep on the sunny side. Me and my boys, "we'll be traveling along, singing a song, side by side." Perhaps our lemon will ripen someday, until then, we will be sticking to orange juice!

uh-oh!

Today I have consumed enough fat grams, that if I were a bear, it would be safe to say, that I could hibernate for the rest of winter. I decided to make homemade reeses peanut butter cups.... you do the math... the recipe called for 1 cup of peanut butter. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter contains 16 grams of fat. The recipe made 12 peanut butter cups. Caillou ate 1. Only four remain. Like I said, you do the math, if I were to add up how many fat frams I ate, I would probably have a heart attack. On the bright side... think of how much protein I got too!

100th post!

I can't believe I have already reached 100 posts! To think a year ago I didn't even know what a blog was... and now I am addicted to looking at other peoples cute blogs, and updating mine! Well in honor of my 100th post here is 100 things about me....

1. I love chocolate
2. I secretly long for many freckles on my face
3. I want a pony
4. I didn't get my first kiss till I was almost 18
5. I'm blind as a bat without my glasses on.
6. I am obsessed with eating out.
7. I am obsessed with baking, notice I said baking, not cooking.
8. I hate cleaning my cheese grater.
9. I also hate cleaning my crockpot.
10. I don't drink coffee.
11. I love diet coke from the soda fountain with a passion.
12. I don't like noise, yet I want 12 kids.
13. I hate fish.
14. I love sewing.
15. I love bright colorful buttons.
16. Math is my enemy.
17. I don't like budgets.
18. I do like spending money.
19. Jo-anns and michaels are my favorite stores.
20. I am going to name a child Sunshine.
21. I haven't read a book without pictures in it for over 3 years!
22. I love to quilt.
23. I refuse to use a pattern for my quilts.
24. I hate hot weather.
25. I hate cold weather.
26. That leaves about 6 weeks out of the year that I am not complaining about the weather.
27. My favorite color is yellow.
28. I eat cookie dough in mass quantities.
29. I bought all my maternity clothes before I was ever even pregnant.
30. I don't like Italian food.
31. I don't wear shorts.
32. I have always wanted a tree house.
33. I killed a plum tree trying to build a tree house.
34. I named Jasper after the inventor from the Avonlea tv show.
35. I have always wanted a pig.
36. I never paint my fingernails.
37. I really should paint my toe nails!!
38. I am obsessed with pumpkin patches.
39. I am super scared of bugs.
40. I don't like baths.
41. I do like showers.
42. I wear my flowered galoshes with skirts out in public!
43. My favorite book is "the secret life of bees"
44. I am greatly irritated that Martha Stewart went to jail.
45. I have a jogging stroller.
46. I DO NOT jog.
47. I don't like the mall.
48. I once thought I never ever wanted kids.
49. I love white picket fences.
50. I would love to catch fireflies.
51. Nectarines are my favorite fruit.
52. I started a teddy bear making company when I was 14.
53. I love mexican food.
54. But I don't like things very spicy!
55. I don't like camping.
56. I love rustic, old fashioned places.
57. I wish I had yellow overalls.
58. I would love to go on a road trip with the sole purpose of finding ghost towns and abandoned old houses.
59. My husband is 17 years older than me.
60. My favorite ice cream is chocolate malted crunch from Thrifty's.
61. My best friend is my mama.
62. I love the sound of rain.
63. I used to be allergic to grass.
64. I don't like cherry or banana flavored stuff.
65. I don't like to wear shoes, except for when it's cold.
66. I don't like big cities.
67. I did ballet for over ten years.
68. My car is very very messy!
69. I love to go out and get the mail, I always think there will be some wonderful surprise waiting for me!
70. I can eat 8 reeses peanut butter cups in ten minutes and not even feel sick.
71. I never wear heels.
72. Pancakes make my mouth go numb.
73. I have cut my hair short 4 times in my life.
74. I sometimes talk in odd voices when I go through the drive thru.
75. I once was kicked out of the movie theater for bringing my dog.
76. I cried when Carls Jr. stopped selling baked potatoes with cheese sauce.
77. I haven't been to Disneyland in 14 years!
78. My favorite place in the world is a rinky dink petting farm/fruitstand half an hour away from my house.
79. Mountainous car rides make me car sick.
80. I got married when I was 19.
81. I don't like rewatching movies.
82. I am a poor sport at losing monopoly.
83. I like to make homemade butter.
84. I love watching birds in parks and parking lots looking for food.
85. I used to think I wasn't a cat person.
86. I feed 6 strays!
87. I graduated high school when I was 16.
88. I complained when McDonalds raised the price of their double cheeseburger.
89. I loved Punky Brewster when I was little.
90. I love jumping through leaves in the fall.
91. I still make people hide Easter eggs for me to find.
92. I steal other people's napkins, I don't mean to, somehow when people eat with me though, all their napkins disappear.
93. Okay 93 is close to 100 I am done...

The cookie fairies....

Since we have moved into our little hillbilly farm... we have become the cookie fairies of the neighborhood. In other words... we bake cookies and deliver them to our neighbors every few days. First we deliver them to Bob next door, he is always waiting at his doorstep to greet us. We make an awful lot of noise during our deliveries, we travel by wagon, tractor, and often times horse, stuffed of course. We bring dog bones for Jose, his cute dog. Next we take some cookies to Charlotte, where we are quite ceremoniously greeted by the barking of seven slightly odorous chihuahuas, then we walk around back down the alley, to the tiny house behind little hillbilly farm, and deliver some cookies to Al who is working on transforming the tiny house into a cute and cozy home. And last but not least, we deliver cookies to our friends at the taco shop, and more often than not, we eat a yummy lunch. Last week, we delivered peanut butter cookies and later on in the week chocolate chip cookies. Caillou really enjoyed criss crossing the peanut butter cookies with a fork and sprinkling sugar on top! This week we are going to make some homemade marshmallows. This is a fun treat, we like to make them in cute shapes with cookie cutters. Homemade marshmallows are so much yummier than the storebought kind.

Oh dear....

It seemed like Caillou was having a very hard time staying out of trouble this week, particularly on Friday.... Among his many mischievous doings, there was emptying a 12 oz container of rainbow sprinkles on the floor, obtaining my scissors and cutting off the end of my table cloth, and hiding my money order for the rent. It was a very scary day, I was panicked about the rent. Fortunately, a good friend from church came over and helped me search for the precious little paper that would keep me at my little hillbilly farm for another month. We searched and searched, well... she searched and I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off... but in the end, she found the money order! As for the table cloth, it can be repaired. And the sprinkles, well, most of them were recycled, well I had just swept my floor!... ummm... I wouldn't accept any sprinkle covered cupcakes from me for a while....

Accomplishments...

As of February 1st, Jasper is officially able to sit up on his own! He can't sit up for very long yet, but we are still quite proud of him. He is going through so many changes, he is becoming much more active, he gets super excited and jumps up and down in his exersaucer from Boo-Bah, and he is nearly crawling! I love that he is little enough to still want to be held and snuggled all day, but old enough now to really interact with me! He is so precious!

Friends for life...

There is nothing better than seeing my two boys play together! I love to watch Caillou try to show things to his little brother. Jasper is absolutely enchanted by his big brother. Today they were laughing at each other for nearly an hour, during our car ride home. Caillou was playing peek-a-boo, and Jasper thought it was just fabulous!

In the garden....

Mary, Mary, quite contrary...
How does your garden grow?
Not very well,
Because I have a toddler that's swell,
at defying me when I say no!

An ugly duckling day...

I am having an ugly duckling sort of day. I am sick of being to poor to buy any new clothes, yes I know...I said I was trying not to be greedy, well I am going to start trying again tomorrow. I'm trying to make the best of my frumpy and forlorn wardrobe... I am patching up my jeans and embelishing them with cutesy ribbons and rick rack, and I am making some changes to some of my tops, I just wish I could go get some cute new clothes. Nothing expensive, wal mart suits me just fine... I am sick of my short hair!!! I long for funky little ponytails, so I really will look like the farmgirl that I am. My toes are so ugly, and I am too tired to paint them, I want polkadotted shoes or at least some shoes that aren't muddy and full of holes, flowery headbands, jeans that don't need a rope to hold them up, my own fault, I am notorious for buying my clothes to big, cute hillbillyesque flowing skirts, 50's blouses, and a cute yellow dress. That's all. Allrighty miss negativity will go back to sewing her quilt now!

Count your many blessings...

"Count your many blessings, name them one by one, Count your many blessings see what God has done..." This is a hymn we sing in church. A lot of times it is easy for me to get down on life and everything in it. It is so very easy to think about what my life is lacking and what I want and don't have and forget about all the ways that my life is full. Yes, there are a few super stinky things in my life right now... we don't have two dimes to rub together, unemployment sucks! I have a fly in my house that I can't get rid of, and I never sleep. But on the good side, I have much to be thankful for... I have two adorable little boys that are healthy and happy, a Boo-bah that loves me and makes my life as perfect and sunshiny as she can, a perfect little house and a wonderful church that kept me from losing my perfect little house this month, we were just blessed with a whopping $650 of food stamp benefits. Oh my beloved taco shop, how I do enjoy the free food you give me, but I suppose I will don my apron for at least a few homecooked meals. I am blessed with kind people in my life, kind people at the taco shop, who love my little Caillou, and kindly accept cookies as a form of payment for rolled tacos. I am blessed to have friends at the hardware store who give us goodies, I am blessed to have not yet been arrested for stealing rocks from all over town, I am blessed to have a car, even if it is a crappy car! I have a lot to be thankful for.... However I do still have a loooong list of things that I want, things to be thankful for in the future. Like a mint condition red and white semi automatic transmission volkswagen bus, with polkadot upholstery and enough seat room for my brood of children I plan on having. A new wardrobe, sunshiny, polka dotted, and ruffled. A miniature donkey. And weekly spending money to the fabric and craft store. Yes, I know I am greedy, but I am trying to improve!

The disappearance of a blogger...

My goodness, it has been nearly a week since I have posted anything. I'm sure many of you might be picturing me kidnapped, tied up to a chair, and held hostage until I give up the recipe to my secret chocolate fudge frosting. Or perhaps you have an image in your mind of me out in the middle of nowhere with a wagon full of rocks, trying to find my way back home. I am neither lost, nor kidnapped. I have simply been very, very busy....
Busy baking cookies, planting seedlings, digging up dirt, sewing quilts, tending critters, babies, feathered friends, and cats, making cupcakes and delivering them to my neighbors and friends at the taco shop and the hardware store... they give us free food and yard stuff! Busy, finding frogs, painting pots, putting up fences, scouting out the perfect books for Caillou at the library. Busy, giving tricycle riding lessons, feeding a mammary addict, ( sweet little Jasper!) scrapbooking with the goodies from mama, cleaning, watering plants, moving rocks in Boo-bah's yard, causing riots at the food stamp office...long story... a post for another day. Busy cleaning out the car from our rock hunt, busy dirtying up the car from our log hunt! Busy, busy, busy. We have been having many adventures.

Rock hunting...

Today, me and my boys set out on an adventure to collect some rocks. We didn't want to take rocks from anyone's yard of course, or rocks that we weren't sure if they had an owner or not... so we went out into the boonies... and along the way

We saw many cows! Drove through a lot of mud. Got lost a few times...

But at the end of the day we had collected enough rocks to make our front yard look like this....

Oh, and on our adventure, we picked up this too! This little corner of the Hillbilly Farm is now the Stray Cat Hotel.

Life Lessons...

Today, Caillou learned one of the most important things he will ever learn in life. How to unwrap a reese's peanut butter cup all by himself. He is a fourth generation reese's eater. The peanut buttery legacy continues.

My perfect little world....

I am in the process of transforming my Little Hillbilly Farm into a haven of all things wonderful. There are many little things that I adore. Odd little things, quirky little things, cute little things, these are a few of my favorites.

Baby food...

Here is Caillou feeding his little brother, or should I say trying to. Jasper still does not want anything to do with the stuff... and here is Caillou at 6 1/2 months, he ate everything from parsnips to prunes, avocado, zuchinni, you name it!

Today

I watched Caillou give this chicken a tour of the entire house. She was put on the bed and given a kiss, put on the table, the counters, the sewing maching, in a bowl, on a train, in the highchair, everywhere. Caillou was absolutley delighted to take this chicken with him all over the house for nearly an hour.

I bathed the two stinkers! They didn't stay clean long.

Baked some yummy brownies from scratch.

,Made a new little pathway in between my freshly planted ivy garden in my side yard.

Planted delicate little, yellow marigolds and lavender baby's breath flowers near my clothes line.
and....
Oh yes , I also tried to resuscitate my new telephone after Caillou submerged it in the toilet. Put the tupperware back in my cupboard three times. Captured the rowdy toddler that scaled my chain link fence and ran into the neighbor's house, yes Caillou did that! Chased chickens, made stew, dug holes, put up fences, got a blister, taught Caillou a new song, nursed Jasper a gazillion times, swept the floor almost as many times as I nursed Jasper! Unburied the galoshes Caillou buried in the back yard. Played patty cake, folded laundry, re-folded laundry, and nearly collapsed dead on the floor at the thought of repeating this all tomorrow!