bed time excuse's

Annie's arguments for coming downstairs after I put her to bed.

"You can't leave children alone, they cry."  

"I was lonely, and couldn't find you."

"I need you sleep with me, so I not be lonely."

"I really not tired."

"I too sleepy to go to bed right now."

a cation

Annie and I had a spur of the moment cation (vacation) this weekend.   Going to a Lake house in Lichfield IL with our friends Larry, Carol and Harriet.  Annie was not very excited to go, and was a brat the whole drive because she wanted to stay home with her chickens.  Well, after about two minutes of being there she quickly changed her mind, when she found  a frog sitting on the brick wall.

We went to go collect eggs right after a few photo opts with said frog, and Annie got to pluck them from the nesting boxes by herself.   She was more than happy to help farmer Steve, carry them back from the barn.

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Of course she then thought they were hers and were going hatch into babies.  Thank you Lord for here busy mind and forgetful nature.   She moved on quickly when the cow started to moo, and I was able to take the eggs from her.     She got to feed a Long Horn Texas cow named, Mandy,

 and listen to Roosters crowing.  She was so excited.  And the trip kept getting better.  On the walk down to the lake Annie found three open Robin's eggs.

She was fascinated and very proud of her find.  I was very surprised that she didn't forget about them once and actually remembered to bring them home with us.    Soon to be named and on display in our kitchen window next to our jarred bug family.  

Up next was the boat ride!   Annie, really does love the water, and had a great time walking around on the boat with Dora their dog, Dora (don't worry a picture of them together is coming up soon).

She kept running in and out of the lake at the beach with Dora not far behind.  

I wish I'd gotta a picture of Dora and her running, but I had to hold Annie so she didn't get nocked down by Dora. Therefore leaving no free hand to hold the camera.

While drying off on the boat we got to see some real Eagles and their nests which were amazing to see.

(Annie resting after all the excitement, in a hammock outside)

After an amazing dinner Annie and I went to bed for the night.  We woke up to clouds and rain, but that didn't stop, Annie, and her partner in crime, Harriet, from convincing everyone to go out on the boat one last time before we had to leave.

Annie and Dora bonded a little to much over the weekend. It actually got kinda gross toward the end.

  The trip was amazing and yes Annie slept the entire drive home.  Even when I stopped to pick up strawberries on the way back (which will be turned into a pie here shortly).

We've been home for a few hours now and she's still past out on the couch.

house guest

Well, I'm pretty sure someone is living in my house with me.  Not sure who or what it is, but it doesn't seem interested in the peanut butter trap I put in the basement.  For a while I thought maybe he got outside and wasn't in the house anymore.  Now I wonder if he got out and has come back, or if he's been here the whole time.   We had a brief sighting last Friday (so fast all we saw was a blur moving across the floor and out of sight) followed by a peanut (actual peanut in the shell, which I don't buy) left in the middle of my clean kitchen floor the next morning.  I heard sounds from the kitchen on Sunday night, then nothing.  Well this morning I came down stairs to the picture you see above.   I highly doubt Rosy the horse did that. Strangely our guest didn't touch the loaf of fresh bread sitting on the counter.  I'm actually slightly insulted that a lavender eye pillow was more enticing then my home made bread.  

overnight?

Well the girls ended up sleeping over last night.  If I hadn't been so worn out it would have been funny.  They played several rounds of musical beds throughout the night.  Finally ending with two in my bed?  How that occurred I have no idea.   They were all sound asleep in Annie's room when I went to bed yet I wake up with Annie and Sadie snuggled up together in my bed.    The overnight of course was followed by a 6 am wake up call from Ruby (the first one to fall asleep) wondering the house looking for everyone.   I'm not sure I believe her story that she was lost and looking for me because I found her in the kitchen already munching on something.  

Home movie theatre act II

 Cheaper by the dozen two
the movie theatre seating
So my sister is a little under the weather, and I have her two oldest girls.  My sisters girls are probably the most confident little girls I know, and they have no qualms telling me what to do.  I caught Sadie literally with her hand in the cookie jar, and Ruby has been holding my hand all day kissing it.  I think she really likes me.  They have been Awesome.  But I've been running out of energy.  Thankfully we have The Projector.  Instant movie theatre.  I made a little movie theatre at the top of the stairs and set up my massage tables with pillows like a couch.   They have been up there totally enthralled with movies.  Half way through each one I make them walk around the block with me to tire them out.   We're on movie number two which isn't to bad considering they've been here since 10 this morning.

ten posts stand alone

So we put in the rest of the fence posts today for the chicken run.  It went faster than I thought.   By the end we had it down to a science.  We chopped through roots with our shovel now dubbed "the razor," in record time.  And there were a lot of roots; the shovel no longer has a point instead it curves up in a u shape at the end.  I guess digging along the line of honeysuckle wasn't the best plan, but we did it. 

 Tomorrow morning starts the wire fencing.  It's heavy gage wire and believe it or not, not even my hands (which are really strong from massage) can cut through it.   Prayers that we finish tomorrow would be greatly appreciated.  The turkeys have started flying and one flew out today over the five foot temporary fence.  Did I mention turkeys are really fast and I spent about 10 minutes running after him till he finally gave up.  Yep, my neighbors all think I'm nuts.  

Peter pan and mosquitos

                                   

Tonight was movie night, and to make things more fun we put a projector outside.  Annie did not understand what was going on.  "movies not watch outside, they all inside," but once it was all up and running she was enthralled.   Captivated on a whole new level.    We haven't attempted the movie theatre yet, I just couldn't handle a fit and having to leave after shelling out all that money (think of this as a little trial run at home).  Seeing the picture this big was really exciting to Annie.  I didn't even mind watching Peter Pan for the billionth time.    The down side was I got eaten by mosquitos.  I'll have to work on that.