Bountiful Beauty

I cannot even describe the level of contentment I feel while spending time outside. Everything is so full of life right now and there is beauty around every corner. I love our little plot of earth and feel so blessed.

Our baby tomatoes, coming in nicely. I'm doing container gardening again this year, since I'm not sure if the grasshoppers will make their return this summer or not. So far we haven't seen a single one, but it's still early.

 

One of my "new" roses, given to me by my mom two years ago. It is SO full of buds!

 

Above, one of our Knockout rose bushes.

 

The two little guys love spending time in the yard...

 

As you can see by all the toys, our new "rose garden" is a favorite place to play.

 

An "old" rose that was here when we moved in.

 

This was a surprise... a strange-looking "bush" that up until this spring had never had so much as a flower on it, now has baby peaches!

 

This is our massive old rose bush that we've discovered actually has two smaller roses growing under/within it. It's so wonderful seeing all the beautiful surprises in nature!

 

Big Red Barn

The kids did a great job on painting the horse barn. It looks so good!

Baby I is Six Months Old!

Little baby boy just keeps on growing! He's up two more pounds since last month and now is up to 24 pounds! I've never had any baby weigh this much at only six months old. He's a delightful little boy who loves his big brother so very much!

Rainy Day

I'm pretty sure it's been raining for a solid 36 hours. We have water standing everywhere! In fact, I'm certain the ducks would have loved it if their pen was moved a couple feet over. They'd have a lot of fun in that puddle!

We got a good start to our rainy day with this delicious egg scramble, made with Thrive sausage crumbles and chopped onions. It was so quick and easy throwing this together, and I loved that I didn't have to mess with raw sausage or chopping onions.  

  Having such a delicious, quick breakfast, ensured I had plenty of time to give our Lucky boy a hair cut. It was long overdue! The poor guy was so good while I was trimming him and he looks so much better now. It might not be a professional job, but it works for us!

Little Quackers!

We happened to spot some day old chicks and ducklings at our local feedstore the other day. We'd been talking about getting ducks for awhile now, so figured we'd better get some while they're selling.

While they started out being super cute and tiny, they are fast growers and oh, so nasty! They already poop as much as our adult chickens do, and its impossible to keep their area clean and DRY.

I will be moving them outside just as soon as the weather allows it. We got nine altogether, three each of the following breeds: white pekin, Rouen, and Indian Runners. Assorted genders.

Last Snow, Hopefully

We've enjoyed a pretty mild winter, but these last few days have reminded us that it is, indeed, winter. I am so ready for spring!

A Dirty Job

After dealing with our old septic and all its issues for far too long, we finally got everything re-routed to hook up to our good septic and we got rid of the old 1930's septic. It's a good thing too, because the old septic pretty much fell apart as soon as the tractor touched it.

It's such a relief now having everything fixed properly and knowing all the pipes are new and strong. The roots that we found growing under and around the pipes were massive and no doubt putting pressure on the old pipes.

Baby I is Five Months Old!

This big boy is five months old now! He's a whopping 22 pounds, and wears size 12month clothes. He's a wonderful little guy who is almost sleeping through the night- usually only waking once. He's teething, and loves to grab my face and tries to chew on it. Haha!