Monday, April 28, 2014

Spring Gardening

I love having a veggie garden.
Fresh, delicious produce in my backyard means one less trip to the grocery store.
yes please!
Plus, fresh veggies are a million times better than the ones you buy at the store.
And they are free. 
Enough said. 

Aaron and I like to pretend we are farmers on our little (now chickenless :( Can you tell I'm still a little bitter) urban "farm" but we pretty much have no idea what we are doing and kind of wing it each year as we learn more and more. 

A few months ago we stepped things up a notch and doubled the size of our square foot gardens.
Aaron also added a drip system which handles all the watering and has made things so much easier.

Now all we pretty much do is plant, fertilize, watch them grow and my favorite part...eat them!
Having a garden has also helped me to try new things.
See that leafy plant on the left with red stalks?
It's swiss chard.

I didn't even know what swiss chard was a few months ago but lately we have been eating it with our eggs every morning.
I've also been throwing in some spinach and kale from our garden.
Yum! 

On this side we planted lots of tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapanos, carrots, 2 kinds of kale, a few different kinds of lettuce, swiss chard and spinach.  
Oh and a few flowers just for fun. 

Vine ripe tomatoes have got to be one of the best things ever. 
Fresh salsa, tomato sauce, tomato and mozzarella paninis...the possibilities are endless.

We also planted a ton of strawberries in those hanging planters.
My kids could eat a pound of them each. 

This year I'm most excited about all of these snap peas.

They are so happy right now and we are going to be so happy eating them all summer!
The kids love them and I love being able to go tell them to go pick some veggies when they are hungry (which is all. the. time.) 

In our other garden bed we planted lots of snap peas, corn, arugula, lettuce, squash...

more, swiss chard, tomatoes and kale. 

This side gets less sun than our other square foot garden and you can definitely tell. 
The snap peas like the cooler side but everything else prefers more sun. 
The lettuce, kale and swiss chard that we have on the other side are almost double the size. 

We also have cucumber, cilantro, a blueberry bush, basil and a baby tangerine tree all in pots. 

Do you guys garden?
What are your favorite things to plant?

Friday, April 25, 2014

Peek at our week(s)

Yay! 
It's Friday! 
Here's a peek at our week (or 2) through the lens of my trusty sidekick (iPhone). 
Enjoy!

This car has been a favorite of all of our kids. 

A little early morning playground session while the cleaning lady does her thing

As a family of 6 we can't afford not to go to Ben and Jerry's free ice cream day

She is obsessed with Lego friends and has been dreaming up this project for weeks. 
A giant map/play mat of Heartlake city.

Imaginations on fire  

We finallllllllly made some more hummingbird food for our little friends

Morning snuggles are my fav

This day I said yes to the sprinklers. 

These boots are going to get lots of wear this summer 

This pic needs to be blow up giant and go front and center. 
It's pure happiness 

Her first french braids. 
Little girl rite of passage

We kicked off spring break with some strawberry chocolate chip pancakes 

And we spent a lot of time at the lake 

and sonic.

How many more weeks till summer?

Gamma has the best toys

 After months of force feeding veggies to my kids they are finally coming around. 
This was their requested lunch one day.
Miracle! 

our garden is growing 

 Bubbles have never been so awesome 
(exhibit at the Discovery Science center) 

Ergo forever

Making resurrection rolls

The craziest Easter egg hunt ever. 
There may have been thousands of eggs but there were also thousands of people.

 Easter morning egg hunt. 
He has risen!

Our annual Easter family pic

What a fun day celebrating Jesus with some of our favorite people

I busted out the shaving cream for a messy craft the other day 

I may or may not roast peeps over the stove when the kids aren't looking.

This little man is getting so big

"Look at me! I'm king of the rocks!"

Had an adventurous trip to go fabric shopping with the littles.
Remind me not to do that again anytime soon.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Farewell chickens :(

We have to get rid of our chickens!!! 
(just imagine there are lots of crying, sad, teary eyed emojis here)

Apparently they aren't allowed in our association (boo!).

The kids (and us adults) were really bummed when we heard that we would have to get rid of them. 
I never knew I would be so attached to some chickens (well and their eggs). 
One of our kids cried when we told them the news. A lot.
One asked a million questions. Maybe more. 
One had a lot of ideas of how we could keep them. Some were as follows.
"We just need to train them not to bock. Then they won't know we have them."
"We need to move to a farm where there are no rules and you can as many animals as you want."
I suggested that each kid pick their favorite meal and we could use their chicken for it.
They didn't go for that.

We sure are going to miss you little chickies.

and we are really really going to miss your tasty eggs. 

Friday, April 18, 2014

Resurrection rolls

 Happy Good Friday Friends! 
As I've been pondering the cross today I am constantly in awe of God's goodness and grace to save such sinners like me. 
He is so so good. 
By his wounds we are healed. 
Crazy and awesome.
Thank you Jesus! 

One of our families favorite Easter traditions is making resurrection rolls. 

It's such a fun and hands on way to teach our kids the true meaning of Easter. 
Plus they are yummy. 
Win win. 

We always start by reading about the crucifixion and death/burial of Jesus before we make the rolls.

Then comes the fun part of actually assembling them. 
The kids get to roll the marshmallow (which symbolizes Jesus) in oil (melted butter) and them prepare his body for burial with spices (by rolling marshmallow in cinnamon/sugar). Than they get to wrap Jesus (the marshmallow) in burial linens (the crescent roll). And place them in the oven to bake.

Here’s a breakdown of the symbolism:
  • Large Marshmallows – body of Jesus
  • Melted Butter – oils of embalming
  • Cinnamon  and Sugar Mix- spices used to anoint the body.
  • Crescent Roll – the wrapping of Jesus’ body or the tomb.
  • Oven – the tomb
  • Cavity in bun – the empty tomb or the empty cloths

*For more details details on resurrection rolls look here or here).

As the rolls are baking we read the story of of Jesus' resurrection


and then we get to eat them!! 

The kids always love seeing how the "tomb" is empty after the rolls bake. 
Jesus has risen! 

 so cool! 

And just for fun we dyed eggs too.





pretty and tasty. 
Egg salad sandwich anyone?

What are some of your favorite Easter traditions?

Below are some of the other Easter activities we have done in the past t help teach our kids that Easter is about SO much more than just plastic eggs and yummy candy.

this felt cross

 and this activity to demonstrate the cross and resurrection