Little House: The Musical

The first time I saw "Little House on the Prairie: The Musical" I knew instantly that my sister-in-law would go see it with me!

We enjoyed a great girls' night out, starting at Chili's for dinner.

I was very excited about going to Bass Hall because I've never been inside before. It did not disappoint!

This is the view from our seats. Yes, we were in the cheap seats, but I don't think there's a bad seat in the house.

The angel theme carried throughout the building, from the heralds on the outside of the building, to the angel tile work in the bathroom, to the wings on the ceiling. It was beautiful!

This is us in our seats before the show started. Can you see the excitement? : )

No photography was allowed during the performance, but I got this photo off Bass Hall's facebook page. I don't think I've been to a theatrical performance since college. It was wonderful and I'd go again in a heartbeat!

It was cool to see Melissa Gilbert, too. It's true, she's not the best singer, but she can perform. The rest of the cast had amazing voices - strong and they blended beautifully. I highly recommend the performance if you get the chance to see it in your neck of the woods.

Tiny Talk: Baby Edition

Trying to remember everything our tiniest talker, Rebekah, is saying! She has quite a loud household to learn from!

• horse - her stuffed horsey
• cow moo - Mr. Nick's cows in the pasture
• cat Fuff - Fluff
• bock - the chickens
• er! - the rooster crowing
  
• out - I wanna go outside!
• up
• eat
• cup
• juice
• baba - bottle
• nana - banana
• fish - Goldfish crackers
• Mama
• Dada
• Dadid

Teeth!

You can tell what's most important to her - animals, food, and family!

Outside Stuff

Wow, I really haven't taken many pictures lately. This was last weekend. See how nice the grass looks?

Rocky, Penny & Red racing across the yard.

I had some more hollyhocks bloom - a white and another pink. They're pretty much done now after this week's heat.

Thistle & butterfly below. Maybe it's a Tawny Emperor? I don't know, but they're very common. I once thought maybe they were Hackberry Emperor, but my photo doesn't have dots on the upper wing. Haven't been able to capture any of the really pretty butterflies, but I've seen some flitting around that look kinda like a Tiger Swallowtail, some Monarch looking ones, and some others.

The standing cypress that wasn't even supposed to bloom this year because it's a biennial:

Here's another peak into our country life. Elizabeth is on the back porch playing with a raccoon skull.

And here's the garden today in the peak of the heat. Everything's pretty wilty even though I watered this morning. It perked back up some this evening as the day cooled off. You can also see how the grass is quickly turning brown in this heat.

Cherry tomatoes were starting to turn to red... my mouth is watering thinking about them...

TOMATOES!!!

Did I win???

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Sorry I have no photos today.
Overheard during bed time snacks...

Elizabeth: Who's that girl? (on the box of Legos)
David: That's Princess Leia.
Elizabeth: And who's that guy?
David: That's Luke Skywalker.
Elizabeth: Where's Han Solo?
David: He's right there! spoken with a 'you silly girl' tone
crunching of Goldfish for a while...
Elizabeth: Does Dark Vader have a family?
David: Naaahhhh.
more crunching & slurping of milk...
Elizabeth: Dark Vader's light saber is supposed to be pink.
David: No it's not! It's supposed to be red!
Elizabeth: It's supposed to be red???
David: Yea!

Today we (Mom & Dad) are meeting with a surgeon about Dad's umbilical hernia. Out of the blue yesterday, Elizabeth started talking about the doctor, so I thought I'd let them know what was happening.
Elizabeth: Lambie needs to go to the doctor and get a shot so she'll feel better. (Lambie is her stuffed lamb. Not sure why she needs a shot.)
Mom: Speaking of the doctor... tomorrow
David, cutting me off: The new baby is going to come?!?!!?
Mom: No. The baby has to grow for a while inside Mommy's tummy before it comes. Remember how big my tummy will grow before the new baby?
David: Yeah! And then all the sudden his head will pop out!!! (making puppet movements with his hands) And then the rest of him will come out and he will be soooooo cute!
Elizabeth: And our new baby will come out and be sooo cute!
Mom: OK... that's not for a while. Tomorrow, we're going to get Dad's belly button looked at.
David: Is Dad's belly button broken?
Elizabeth: Is your belly button ok, Mom?
David: Mom, did your belly button used to be broken?

I love my little country family!

A friend recently called the garden hose in her front yard their white trash swimmin' pool. This is even better - I threw down a tarp first so we'd have puddles to play in (and to keep the fire ants off the baby) while the chickens stood in the shade watching!

Oh yeah, it was well received and once again I earned the title of "Best Mom!" And that's all that matters.
Now their cool little bodies are inside. One is at the dining table, buck necked, playing with his Legos. The next one is in her undies having a tea party on the couch. And the last one is in her diaper eating puffs off the floor. And I put them there.

Oh yeah, I love my life. : )

My Big Boy is 6!

Yesterday, May 27, my first born turned six years old! It's hard to believe it's been 6 years!

I am very proud of the chocolate Lego brick cake! I usually make cupcakes and as I was trying to smooth the icing I was thinking, "This is why I make cupcakes!" But I was very happy with the results. David informed me that this dimension of brick would require 8 buttons rather than the 6 which I was going to use. Of course, he was right!

The batteries on my camera died just as David was blowing out the candle... actually as Elizabeth was blowing out the candle. Then we had to light it again to let David blow it out. He was not happy with her and she was not happy when Dad removed her from the area so she wouldn't do it again!

Dad was able to get the camera running & got some good pictures of David opening his presents! He got some clothes first...

Once we got the clothes out of the way, then he got 4 different Lego Star Wars sets!

and some books




He also got a telescope! I am very excited about this one, because next year we're using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy curriculum for science!

That's his friend, Robert, from our home school co-op admiring the telescope with him. Also got some cash & gift cards, so of course, opening gifts turned into a teaching moment with reading names on cards and counting dollar bills!

We had a bounce house and the kids loved it! And somehow, I never even took a picture of it! I am appalled at myself for that one! Aunt Laurie was taking photos, so I'm really hoping that she got some pictures of it and/or kids in it!

Uncle Phillip wasn't able to come to the party, so earlier in the week, he brought David a MegaBloks Halo Warthog set. It was really cool, but it won't stay together!

As David was eating his bedtime snack, staring at his new Lego sets, he declared, "This was the best birthday ever!" So it was a success!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Elizabeth needed a boost last night and said, "Mom, I need a caboose."

Garden Report

By far, the most exciting thing going on in the garden right now is Elizabeth's gourd vines! The leaves are bigger than her head!

When I gave the kids the chance to choose whatever they wanted out of the seed catalog, Elizabeth choose birdhouses... gourds, that is. This particular catalog only had a mix of seeds that included birdhouse gourds, so I don't know if this is one or not. There are 2 more coming up on the other end of the trellis that are not so large leafed, so I'm guessing they're something else. David selected loofa sponges. The rolly polly bugs ate his first sprouts and so far we haven't gotten any more to sprout. : (

Yummy cherry tomatoes are starting to fill in!!! I can hardly wait to gobble down their sweet yumminess!!! I think we'll have to get some fresh mozzarella and make caprice again.

The Swiss chard is beautiful... and huge! Any idea what to do with it? I planted it for my husband the last 2 years because he said he'd eat it...

Don't know what bug that it, but it's not good. I killed it. I saw some on other stems where it looked like it had cut the stem off. Any idea what it is? I also squished 5 caterpillars this evening on the peppermint plant. I'm glad it lured them away from the tomatoes!

We are quickly on our way to a tomato jungle again this year!

Anaheims also growing for hubby. They may be ready to pick soon.

My beautiful hollyhock & larkspur. Can you see the cat in there?

Meet the Flock

It appears that there was too much going on back in January when my chicks arrived. I apparently never blogged their arrival. This is how cute they were then (above).

This is how they've grown! This was a couple of weeks ago, because all the roosters are there:

I have estimated the hens may start laying June-July. I thought I'd introduce you to them.

Alan named this one Blue Beard. She's an Easter Egger - supposed to lay green & blue tinted eggs. Her legs are green.

David named one of the hens Ginger and one Rosie. He can't remember which is which, and neither can I.

This is Julia - Orange Julia.

This is Pecker. I don't think he's mean, he just pecks at stuff - the hand that feeds him, the leg that's standing beside him. Well, that doesn't really matter now. He's in the freezer. That was another story... but I don't think my pregnant stomach can tolerate repeating the story again. It was awful and they did it right in front of us (me & Elizabeth).

This is Penny... Henny Penny.

This is Rocky, the lead rooster. He's the one that's been crowing, the largest bird with the reddest comb and waddle. I tried really hard to get a good picture of him. Made me mad when I loaded it on the computer that this gray thing happened.

This one's Scraggle. He's the runt. Very picked on.

The friendliest rooster is Spot. He was feeling camera shy this morning, but you can see the tiny white spot on the back of his head this way. He is always underfoot and is just as happy being held as down walking around. He, too, is now in the freezer.

I think the next two may be called Buffalo and ChickenFry, respectively. Yep, they're in the freezer.

We've named several of the hens, but it's just hard to photograph chickens - their heads are always moving! There's a total of 5 birds in the freezer, and I haven't the stomach to do anything with them for a while! 15 birds continue to free-range, along with the 4 guineas. 20 guinea eggs in the incubator, although I've basically done everything wrong with these eggs. If any of them hatch, it's only because of God's loving hand on them!