Trixie's Travels...

Drawings by Mem

As of late, our littlest one, Mem,  has been carrying around a sketch pad wherever we have gone. 

She drew this one for her Auntie Karrie...

 

Mem said "Auntie likes owls and this is for her."

The next one was a dilemma for her.  She wanted to draw a giraffe BUT she didn't know how to draw the body. 

Instead she just drew the spots and the face - she just couldn't figure out how to draw the body around the spots!

The last one is my favorite.  I think all of my kids have drawn in a similar fashion at one time or another.  These little guys look like little hamsters!

It cracks me up when their drawings really start to take shape. 

It means two things - 1.  They are growing up and 2. They are growing up to fast!

Garden Bugs

Garden bugs that were in our soil....

Garden bugs that are NOT in our soil anymore...

and very happy chickens!

Our Home Garden

Last year we took the plunge and really made an effort with our own home garden.  I put in a few raised beds; two for flowers and two for veggies or herbs. 

In one of the slightly raised beds, I planted artichokes. 

I planted four artichoke plants...this is important information to remember as you will soon see why.  I did not realize how BIG and how much room they would take; not only that, they spread!  Monster artichoke plants have taken over!

We don't mind as our family really LIKES artichokes and would eat them every day if we could.  I had planted two different types of artichokes both a globe artichoke but because I was slow on the garden journaling there is not any record of what kind I planted!

Put that on my list of things to do:

 - Need to write down what I plant

Ok, that has now gone to the bottom of my list with 100 other things to do above it!

Hot Rocks was getting a work out in the heat yesterday. Gosh! That man is HOT! In more ways than one..if I do say so myself and I do say so!

We decided to replace the fencing around the garden to accommodate more vine growing seeds. Check out the terminator glasses! They crack me up!

He tore down the fence and started to flip the dirt so we could add some amendments. He found the random plantings of Pook's potatoes from this winter.

Pretty good for a first time planting and really just "winging" it.

Look at the iris blooms - aren't they lovely? 

These were iris plants from the the man who owned the home prior to us.  They are somewhere around 20 years old.  I will separate the tubers later on and put some in another spot. 

The blooms last for such a brief time, but I was so glad we were here to see them.  We are hoping to get the fence and the watering system up this week so that planting will start on the weekend. Can't wait to start filling in those rows!

We are adding another area to the garden but I will save those pictures for another time! The area is a humdinger of a spot!

Oh, to be diggin' in the dirt again!

Garden Bug

On Friday, I woke up in the morning in complete anticipation...it was like I had been away from home for a great length of time and I was headin' back.  The morning was gorgeous - it would be a perfect day.  Then the plane was delayed!  I had to wait..the kids were in that very lazy way of getting ready and we were running behind schedule to get out of the house.  I was going to be late!  The thought of it was driving me NUTS!

You see, I love the garden.  Getting dirty, digging up the soil, feeling the earth at my fingertips, having your muscles ache...planting a little bit of life and seeing what God will allow to happen....now that is what I am talkin' about!  

The thing that has made this particular garden so dear to my heart is the people.  It is more than just work - it is a whole lot of great relationships.  

It is like hibernating all winter and when it is starting to get nice outside, everyone else shows up!  The garden is a unique community of people and we love it!

It is a Homeschool Community Garden.  Each family pays dues for the year to provide for the materials that will be needed that season.  One family has donated the use of their land for years for this project.  We finally came up with a name for their place the "Crooked Rows Farm" - we can't get the rows straight!

This is only our second season but our family has felt like we have been a part of this for years - that is how wonderful the friendships are here.  The kids work part of the time and socialize the rest...HA!  They learn a great deal throughout the whole growing season.  

This year we are branching out and after the families have gathered what they need for that week, we will offer baskets of produce for sale to other homeschool families in the area.  

We are also going to have a chicken co-op.  A 10-week class on raising chickens for the dinner table.  We were part of the "pilot" program last year (without the classes). We did what it took to "prepare" the chickens for the table! 

There are more families than even last year and last year had the most participants since Homeschool Harvesters originated.  

There isn't anything quite like driving down the gravel road each week.  You never know who will be there, what the conversations will entail or how much work you will get done.  That is the great thing about the garden - you just go and get to be surprised!

Good Eats....

On the Menu:

Breakfast for the kids.....

Dessert for all of us....

 

The above is poached pear - compliments of Chef Hot Rocks

Poached Pear, French Vanilla Ice Cream and a Berry-Red Wine Sauce - again compliments of Chef Hot Rocks

Yum!!!

Aaaaarooorooorooo!

....has Duke got an announcement for you! You see a new addition has arrived in our family.  I never thought it would happen...I didn't think it was possible - EVER!!!! In my wildest imagination, I never dreamed of this...

and then it happened!  This nice man in a blue uniform brought a box to my door (actually I ran to his little box car at the curb)!  I gently brought the box in and placed it ever so carefully on my counter then I whipped out a pair of scissors and busted through the tape and there it was......a dream come true!

My very own MACbook!  Oh my goodness! My crazy sister and her crazy husband sent it to me!!!! As soon as it arrived, I picked up the phone... dialed her number... put it on speaker phone and yelled like a WILD woman - they are way to good to me and no, I am not sharing them - they are mine FOREVER or until they disown me. LOL!

You see my sister looks at it like this - she MUST have access to me at ALL times and so she makes it happen because she is a make it happen kind of gal and I LOVE that about her - she can make it happen!

What would I do without them?  Now I can blog EVERYWHERE - no need to put a "vacation hold" on blogging and not letting the rest of the world know about our run-of-the-mill life. 

How fun!  I can't even begin to send them enough coffee cards to repay them but I can certainly try....hee hee

Here's to the fun that is to come!

P.S. You guys are GREAT! and thank you from the deepest part of my heart!

Fit to Win!

In an effort to lighten my load a little more during the day...when Hot Rocks is home he has taken over the P.E. portion of school. 

The battle cry rang in the house and the kids hustled to get it together and present themselves in an orderly fashion before their Father.....actually it was more of "Where are my shoes?"..."Has anyone seen my helmet?"..."Dad, can you get my bike out?"...."Wait a minute, I have to put my hair up!"..."You didn't tell us last night that we were going out this morning!"..."I haven't eaten breakfast." and so on....

Hot Rocks was not deterred though...our kids were going to get it together and get out in the windy chilly morning air and sweat a little.  We were headed to the City Park which is not to far from our house.

Sis and Mem boogied along on their bikes, while Hot Rocks and Pook hit the pavement running....what happened to me you ask?  Well, I opted to pull up the rear at a nice leisurely stroll to make sure that "no man was left behind". LOL!

Once we arrived at our destination, the kids dropped their gear and off they ran through the playground.  They were on a mission.  Hot Rocks had taken them before and made them run it like it was an obstacle course.

Pook scaled the rocket....

Look at that technique!



Pull it through!



The duty assigned to me was to watch Mem and can I just tell you she hustled!

Over the ropes....

.

and throughout the structure!

I would see Sis running around but she wasn't caught on film until at last she was seen manning her own ship...

Next up was a set of what is known as "The Motivator" - it did not motivate our kids but to greater complaining! We obviously need to work on that....actually I will just let the PE Instructor deal with that one! ha!

Pook and Hot Rocks finished a mile run while I supervised the girl's ride home.  All in all,it was a little rough with room for improvement! 

I am always amazed at how much complaining can happen but when you arrive at the final destination you will undoubtedly hear, "Can we go out again tomorrow?"

Kids are great...aren't they?

Easter Through the Eyes of Hot Rocks

I had enough strength to get to church on Sunday and then I spent the rest of the afternoon back in bed asleep....all because of a nasty head cold that just knocked my socks of and still lingers.

Hot Rocks was sweet enough to capture the always fun Easter egg hunt on camera for me to see and so that I would have something current to blog about....instead of trying to catch up on all the things that have already come and gone!

I love when he snags the camera because I never know what will appear...I kept seeing pictures of eggs...like this one...

and this one....

and this one....

oh, hey what about this one...

finally I asked him, "What's with all the photos of the eggs?  Did you think that you would forget where you had put them?" He answered a simple "Yes".

A GENIUS, I tell you!  Who would of ever thought of that? Certainly not I.

The kids had to travel quite a distance to get to Hot Rocks parent's house.  Don't they look tired from the journey?

Actually, see that house across the street? The blue-grey one with bricks????... That is where we live...so you could say that we are in an easy walking distance from them! LOL!

The kids had fun scurrying around the yard looking for the hard-boiled eggs. 

Dyeing the eggs was a "no-go" for us this year, as our hens had supplied us with "naturally" colored eggs.  Who can beat that except maybe Martha Stewart?

The kids great-grandmother was able to watch the fun and so were Hot Rock's parents.  Group shot....

The weather was gorgeous and I got some much needed sleep.  At least enough sleep to hold my head up during dinner, so that it didn't become a baked potato topping!

Hope y'all had a wonderful Resurrection day and I'll chat with ya real soon!

I Like Coffee.

I know that is hard to believe, but I really do.  I love to drink Jamaica Blue Mountain black.  It is the only one that I can without some type of creamer.  I am usually a latte girl.  I use to be a cappuccino girl and learned to "float" along the beach barefoot with a couple of friends simply because of a caffeine "high" - silly, I know but, oh so true!

Hot Rocks and I have made up our own coffee tour as a get-away for the two of us.  I mean really who needs wine when you can have coffee?

It should be no surprise then that while we were gallivanting across the country on various missions, that I tried to find good little mom & pop coffee shops. 

I did find one in Wyoming while looking for a gas station....I believe it was in Laramie, WY...

they roast their own beans - that is always a good sign.  That usually means that they really care about the product that they sell...

The Grounds internet & coffee lounge gave me a much needed boost on our drive to Rock Springs, WY.  They don't have a website but Yelp gives you insight from a couple of people who went there.

The next day when I hit Wells, NV I almost and I put emphasis on almost just toodled on up to Twin Falls, ID.  It was only about a 100 miles to one of our favorite coffee shops....Java.

Seriously after driving about 2,500 miles with my kids around the Western United States - what was 100 miles????? MAYBE, I mean MAYBE an additional hour and 15 minutes???? That is nothin'!  I was so tempted but alas, I did not yield to temptation and kept driving to Elko, NV where we rested our pretty little heads. 

I didn't take the time to look around for a homegrown coffee shop there but I was ever so delightfully surprised to run into one in Winnemucca, NV.  Yes, of all the years that I have driven through that town, I did not know that this delightful little place existed and made some mighty fine lattes!

Meet Delizioso Global Coffee Espresso...

a quaint little place that has original artwork for sale on the walls

and groups of people catching up or working on school related things at the surrounding tables.

Home we went at this point in our travels and as soon as we got home... the kids and I were parting ways.  I was flying to South Carolina and the kids were going with my Dad. I was meeting Hot Rocks at Fort Jackson, SC for Chaplain's Spouse's Training.

For whatever reason the few, and I mean few times that we were off base in SC, we hit a couple of local coffee places in Columbia.  One was Adriana's and though they do not roast their own beans - they were pretty tasty! They do not have a website but this is a link to one of the 10 best Dessert & Coffee shops in Columbia. It was rated #1!

My personal favorite was Nonnah's.  After the Chaplains Banquet, Hot Rocks and his battle-buddy along with the wives, of course, headed out to this place.  We sat in the gallery area and enjoyed delicious desserts along with some mighty fine lattes.  It was late in the evening with not many people around us and conversation was easy to hear.

I am sure that there are many more places out there that I missed but these were the good ones that I happened to stumble upon....

all I can say is that there really isn't anything quite like a good cup of coffee, good conversation, and good friends!