Celebration

I spy with my little eye...new life!  We are celebrating the coming of new little birdies, again, here at the Maston household.  I started reading about Robins and how they lay eggs and learned that the momma bird lays one egg a day for four or five days.  She doesn't start sitting on them to warm them until she lays the last egg, so that they hatch at the same time.  I wanted to see if this was true, so the kids and I checked the nest everyday, and guess what...

day 1

day 2

day 3

day 4

day 5

it was!  The poor momma Robin flies away everytime we open the back sliding door, but that comes with the location of her nest.  We'll try not to bother her too much.

This week we also got to celebrate an amazing husband and father...Brad!  He really is something spectacular!  

The kids made him some guitar picks,

I made him an ipad cover, and bought him a color changing mug that reveals family pictures when hot water is poured in and bought him two movies he wanted.  We are so blessed to have Brad as the head of our family and I hope that he got to rest a little on Father's Day.

To finish off our weekend celebration, we headed up to Estes Park for the day.  We played in some water, had a picnic, and walked down Main Street to pick up a big cookie (for me) and candy (everyone else).  I love this family!

Catching up!

I have definitely been behind on my blogging and many things have happened that we need to catch up on.

Cadence decided that she wanted short hair and went ahead and cut some of her hair off on her own while in Sunday School last week.  It turned out to be a good decision, to get her hair cut, not for her to cut it herself, because she looks so cute!  My inspiration for the cut was the little girl in "All Dogs go to Heaven".  I love her little A-line bob.  Cadence really likes it.

We took a trip to the zoo and rode the carousel.  Atticuts slept.

Pugsley tried on Cadence's shirt.

Brad fixed Aria's hair.  Little Aria Lou-Who!

Cadence had an ear-ache, so Brad put medicine in her ear on cotton balls and wrapped this bandage around her head to keep them from falling out.

I bought this hanging plant 4 days ago and some guests have already started moving in.  Can't wait for the little babies to move in!

Cadence graduated preschool!

All the kids participated in the program, even Finn's class.  They sang some songs and handed out roses to the moms.

Brad and Atticus videotaped the momentous event!

Here they are with their wonderful teacher, who was 9 months pregnant at the time and ready to pop.

These are the teacher gifts we made for her.  I love chalkboard paint!

 I used that same wonderful chalkboard paint to turn two cheap plastic frames into a menu chalkboard and a chalkboard for the kids to draw on.  I put the kid's chalkboard in the kitchen to give them something to do while I'm making dinner.

I used clear glass marbles with a flat bottom and some modge podge to make these cute magnets with the kids' pictures.  Finn's just jumps right out at you!
So,  that's what we've been up to, lately!

Vegetable Garden

My Dad came up, over the course of a couple of days, and planted this vegetable garden for me. Originally, I had thought I'd help him, but I ended up being no help. 

 He was so amazing and did so much hard work to prepare the ground, plant the seeds in organized rows, and built this beautiful gate from scratch to keep Pugsley out. I am so thankful for him and his unending love he shows me, Brad and the kids. I keep waiting to spy a mischievous little cotton-tail in there. Maybe once the veggies grow, but hopefully not. 

 So, this quaint little garden houses rhubarb (which was already there before we moved here), green beans, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, acorn squash, butternut squash, and green and red bell peppers. These pictures are a little old, now, so they don't show that all my veggies have sprouted! So exciting! I used some of the rhubarb for the first time in a pork recipe and it was delicious.  I also made a strawberry rhubarb crisp which was very yummy.  I love cooking with ingredients from my own backyard. It's so satisfying. 

 To label my vegetables, I made these garden markers. I want to plant some pumpkins, still, but haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully, before Halloween.