The Church Mouse

Yes, our church has a mouse.  It sits at the office all day, and my daughter is infatuated with Murphy the church mouse.   When our church wonder woman, Mary, was planning a trip out of town Annie was overjoyed.   She volunteered to "mouse sit" while Mary was gone.  I think she got the idea from my mother who was constantly offering to watch peoples dogs when they go out of town, to fill the void left by not having a dog of her own.  Now that she has her own dog (thanks Greta) I wonder how much she'll be dog sitting.  Annie, I'm sorry if you have a mouse void, I'm not getting you one. 
Not to mention Banjo has been seriously neglected since Murphy showed up.

 Yes, that is my dog trying to look as pathetic as possible.  Unfortunately for him, Annie is clueless.  Don't worry Banjo, Murphy goes home tomorrow.

I remember when you were born

My niece Sadie just turned seven!  I can't believe how big she's gotten.  I remember carrying her in a baby sling, now she's almost big enough to carry me around.  Today Texas and I took her on a little Birthday adventure.   We went and bought her a dress, had lunch out and then came home and baked her birthday cake.  A heart shaped chocolate cake with a chocolate glaze and the number seven in powdered sugar.  Sadie might have a future in cake designing.  Happy Birthday Sadie, we love you.

Baked

With the chaos of going back to work and trying to handle two kids, I've been a little stressed.  Unfortunately, Texas didn't believe me that when I am stressed, I bake.  I tried to warn him.  In that last two weeks I've baked 6 cakes, 5 loaves of bread and a dozen or so rolls.   I'm not sure why, but baking has a calming effect on me, and it makes me super happy.   Thank you new cook book, this weeks baking has been extra fun.

My fridge is a little small, but I make it work.

Chocolate Malt Cake

Sweet and Salty cake

BAKED!

skinny mess

A big baby = skinny mama

Thanks to little Elsie's intense appetite I am now 16 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.  This is unheard of as far as I'm concerned, but thank you Elsie.  The nicest gift a baby can give a mother.

Aside from my weight loss everything here is in a tail spin.  I started back at work a couple weeks ago and so yes, the blogging is not getting done.  Neither is the laundry, the dishes or any form of cleaning what so ever.  Sorry new husband, your dream wife is too busy to wash your clothes, but I do love you.  

Chainsaws

Nothing scares me more than a chainsaw as far as yard tools go.  Second runner up would be the tiller.  Every time I hear one, I envision someone's leg being cut off.  Not sure if was too many nights spent watching chainsaw massacre as a teenager or just the horrifying sound it makes when you turn it on.
This last week has been a nail biter for me as Texas saws away at the massive tree in our yard.  He's making great progress and once it's gone he'll get to till up the soil for me to garden.

 The tree before Texas starts

 He's really gotten a lot done

 No, we do not have a working fireplace, but why not keep a huge pile of wood in our back yard?

Banjo has claimed his spot.

Day ?

With the tree gone, guess who finally came to live with us?  I didn't realize how much I missed them till they got here.  Texas and I worked all day after church on Sunday to put up a temporary home, and get them relocated.  It will be over the next few weeks that we dismantle their house and fencing at the old place and move it here.  Thank the Lord for amazing Land lords who are being incredibly patient with us. 

 Texas stapling chicken wire to my quarantine coop.  I built this to house 1-3 chickens if they ever got sick.  It is now the temporary home to 7 girls.  It's a tight squeeze, but they are managing well.

 

 Here's Annie showing the chickens around their little yard.

She then proceeded to pick up each one and give them a hug.

She's quite proud of her chicken wrangling skills. So am I.  It took Texas and I 10 minutes to catch one.  She can catch one in less than a minute.

Yes, she loves her little girls.

Thank you tree man.

I feel like I've been posting a lot of thank you's lately.  Mostly I'm just so greatful for all the help we've gotten lately.  Having a new baby, a new marriage, and a new house is a lot.   Our most recent issue was one we could no longer put off due to safety issues.

This monstrous tree was here when we bought our house.  Yes, the trunk is missing about 1/3 of it's base and it's hollow 1/4 of the way up the tree.  If you can convert all those fractions you are left with a tree that is top heavy and really unstable.   What's even more unstable is our budget, and we have spent endless hours trying to figure how to get this sucker down without smashing our house and/or our budget.  After realizing this was way out of our ability to tackle on our own, we started collecting bids.  Our first quote, $1000.00.  Our second quote, $1500.00. Then Tex's dad had a brilliant idea.  He sent a tree specialist out from Cedar hills to give us a quote.  WOW! $500.  At that price who could say no?  Thank you Mr. Frisch for the brilliant idea and Jeff Gore, of Branch Managers Tree Service.  If anyone around here needs a tree cut down, please give this guy a call.  He was incredibly nice, drove all the way out here for us and the best part is, he's fully insured! 

Branch Managers Tree Service LLC 

Jeff Gore, 314-974-6612