thankful tuesdays

today i am thankful for effianna fay, or miss effie as we call her.

she is:

crawling
standing
playing
waving
babbling
making messes
eating things off the floor

this little girl has our hearts. she is so sweet and cuddly, leans in for hugs and is curious. she's been exploring the house, emptying bookshelves and doing her very very best to get into the bathroom. it is really fun to see her and z interact. they already are playing together (zula likes to crawl around the house with her) and getting into fights (effi will cry and look at me when z does something she doesn't like). i am really enjoying this stage.

chicken update

the chicken coop. oh it took forever to finally build but here it is! solid, roomy and perfect for our five hens. well...... four hens and..... a rooster. yep that's right poor cinderella (the crested special) is not a girl but a boy. "she" started crowing a couple weeks ago. we are a little bummed, because she he is so cool looking. but our yard is no place for a rooster, so says the city of yakima. we found him a good home with wide open spaces and plenty of other chicken friends. our hens it seems, dont really know what to do with themselves now that he is gone. zula keeps asking, "where's chickalina."

having chickens has been lots of fun. still no eggs but we are counting down the weeks and dreaming of fresh eggs. zula loves them and spends lots of time feeding and talking to them.

the husby found the chicken coop design online and we spent a grand total of $60 on supplies! thank you restore. everything we read about chickens said to anticipate spending at least a couple hundred on your coop. ha! take that internet.
she still needs a coat of paint.... but i'm kinda indecisive about the color.

inside drinking water. they look so funny when they drink :)

pops of yellow

aren't camera phones awesome? they are so convenient and its amazing how good of a picture you really can get with your phone. i have realized, though, that ever since i got a smart phone my poor nikon has been sitting on the shelf gathering dust. literally. poor guy. and my poor photography. i have become lazy with my pictures. yes it takes like 3 seconds to walk across the room and pick up my nikon. yes it is big and bulky (compared to my phone). and yes i really do take better pictures with it.

i have decided to not let my camera gather dust any longer!

here are some pictures i took with my nikon recently, just yellow things in my house. i love yellow. dont you?

ps i use gimp to edit my pictures. over at a beautiful mess they are doing a new series of posts about how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements. it is not exactly the same as gimp but similar. i have been enjoying them, and used their latest tip in my photos above. they also have tons and tons of photography tips that are really helpful, also their blog is just lovely. you should check it out.

more green in my life

at the beginning of the year i decided i needed more plants in my house. i dont do very well with plants. so i've mostly stuck to succulents. they are so fun and weird looking and...... you can forget to water them and they dont really mind. here are some pictures from around my house of plants i am doing my best to take good care of.

i really really want some air plants. have you seen these before? they are so cool. their roots dont need soil so you can set them on tables or hang them upside down in cool planters. and they barely need any water. you stick them in a bowl of water for ten minutes once a week.

aren't they cool? you can find them here

and here

treat trip

we decided to get our vacation started off right by going out to ice cream the night before.

no really, honest. that was our reason for going.

we walked to diary queen. i love love love that so much is within walking distance from our house. this is one of the many reason why i love our neighborhood.

i got a cherry dipped cone, aaron got a blizzard

z got a cone.

and poor little effi got a styrofoam cup

she was pretty excited about it though:)



 here is the sugar kicking in:

thankful tuesdays

today i am thankful for trips.

it is so nice to get out of your ordinary routine, have an excuse to eat out alot and spend extra time with family, use disposable diapers.

so naturally i've been busy trying to get the house ready for our absence. oh i'm sure you know the list: cat sitter, chicken sitter, clean bathroom, clean floors, laundry done, diapers washed, beds made, dishes done, packed, clean car, clean out the fridge. it's ALOT of work to go out of town. by the time we leave i'm exhausted and really really do need a vacation ha! obviously this list is a little overzealous, i do not actually get all of these things done.

ahhh but isn't it nice to think; "this is the last sink full of dishes for 5 days," or "i don't have to make breakfast, or sweep the floor until i get back"?

here's what we've been up to today:

the last pile of laundry

the last sink full of dishes

trip treats

how about you? do you leave your house "as is" when you go, or do you scrub every corner before you leave?

living in the present

when we were first married i longed to have kids; actually i don't ever remember not wanting kids. i assumed that the "waiting for the right time" would get easier, but it never did. i have always been so excited to be a mom, and honestly i'm surprised we made it four years before we finally started having babies.

i caught myself yesterday daydreaming about growing old with my sweetie. having an empty (and clean) nest, just the two of us finishing sentences and having lots of time together. i'm glad i caught myself. my second thought was "when i'm old i will probably wish my kids were little again."  why are we always wishing or dreaming of what's to come instead of enjoying where we are at now. i know that i am getting much better at this (it was one of my new year's resolutions); but obviously i have room to grow.

it's funny because older people are always saying, "treasure this time, they are only little once." i always kinda rolled my eyes because i literally hear it about twice a week. lol
but it is so true. i am doing my best to enjoy this short season in my life.