little wagon

This little wagon that we picked up at an antique store has been a favorite lately.  You never know which one will be sitting for a ride and which one will be doing the pulling. Emma loves to climb into it and hang out. 

 It's a little crazy to think that Mason was just starting to really walk around at this age and that Emma has been walking for months.  And she can climb in and out of the wagon like a pro.  Mason was chatting up a storm at this age, but Emma uses only a handful of words. So different and unique.

The other day Mason said to Ryan, "Daddy, you should put me out in the dog pen with Daisy." When Ryan asked him why, he responded with "because I'm driving you nuts!" 

generosity

We have some friends at church with a milk cow and to say they are generous with their extra milk is an understatement.  Every week they bring their delicious milk (and eggs and yogurt) to church for anyone who wants it. We've ended up with quite a few gallons thanks to their gracious generosity.  They always mention that they can't consume that much milk on their own.

We don't consume that much milk in one week either, so we've been making a couple gallons into mozzarella. We love to make pizza at least once a week and the addition of fresh mozzarella is wonderful!  

After making mozzarella there is a lot of whey left over. I recently discovered that you can use that whey to make ricotta cheese.  So, now we're coming up with all sorts of things to do with all that ricotta. 

While Uncle Luke was here we enjoyed roasted garlic and chive ricotta with homemade crackers. We've been making crackers almost as often as cheese because they don't last long around here.

 A couple weeks ago we made 3 cheese tortellini, which was amazing.  Mason was a big helper and Emma ate her fair share (maybe more than her fair share...she's been finishing Mason's meals lately!)

Making cheese is so much easier than I thought. Now I think we just need our own milk cow too!

windy weekend

We spent our long weekend with plenty of wind and plenty of fun with a visit from Uncle Luke! The boys chased Mason's new helicopter toy all over the fields, but it was so worth it to watch Mason's eyes light up every time it flew into the air.  Gotta love early birthday presents.  

Emma was quite the snuggle bunny and spent a great deal of time in Uncle Luke's arms.  

As always, time with family went way too fast, but we are thankful Luke could come for a few days. Before long we'll be soaking up the sun and celebrating some more birthdays Hawaii-style with my family!  Can't wait! 

another year down

It's hard to believe today is the last day of school. There is just something so sweet about all those second grade hugs at the end of the day.  One of my favorite things is their little handmade cards and sharing memories of our year together.  What a great class!

We are really looking forward to summer around here!  So many things planned, lots of memories to make.  

I love Emma peeking around Mason in this one!  One more day at school tomorrow to finish up report cards and check out of my room and then I get more time with these cuties!

rusty the rooster

We kept two roosters through the winter, because we weren't sure that they both would survive.  Everything was going along great until this guy turned into the little bully of the coop.  He was definitely the top rooster and started keeping Marsh (our other white rooster named after a marshmallow) confined to the coop. He wouldn't let him out.  After a few days of  this behavior we decided we needed to downsize. Fortunately, some friends of ours took Rusty to their place. One of their daughters is in my class, so I get regular updates on the little fellow.  And our own little coop is much happier.  

We put him in a box in our car and drove him across the valley. He didn't make a peep.  But, Mason was cracking up the whole time because he couldn't believe we had a rooster in a box in our car.  He is a little obsessed with Green Eggs and Ham at the moment and kept saying "Would you eat them in a box, Rusty?"  He kept us entertained the whole way. 

after school

School is winding down.  This last week was a blast, as the end of the year always is. Only 3 1/2 more days, but who's counting?  My head is already spinning with ideas for next year. 
When I got home from school on Thursday the weather was so nice we went for a walk and then played outside until we finally headed in to make dinner.

Mason kept snagging pieces of wood from the stack and bringing them to Emma. 

Emma playing peek-a-boo.

Can't wait for more fun filled summer days!

weekend

A little weekend picnic with some of our favorite people. 

who knew?

Do you know what these little bugs are? 

Me either.  They started popping up all over our greenhouse in various sizes.  Some are tiny.  Some are pretty decent sized. I was beginning to worry about what we were getting infested with.

Turns out these little guys are baby ladybugs.  Seriously.  I thought baby ladybugs would just look like mini versions of the cute adult bugs.  After doing a little research I learned that they actually have a pretty interesting life cycle.  I had no idea that they started out like this before a short period of metamorphosis.  The ladybugs are busy doing their thing.

I'm planning on  bringing a few to school to watch with my second graders since we just went through the whole life cycle of a butterfly.  I'm sure they will be just as interested as we are.  We keep looking for the pupa attached to our greens, but we haven't seen any yet.  This greenhouse sure keeps us on our toes.