How does your garden grow?

so far this year everything is coming up gorgeous, I could use a day of rain however as the flowers are thirsty and I try to send the boys out to water them, but it usually just ends up in a garden hose water fight and the boys get watered not the plants....and they don't need to grow anymore!

My Chicken has an identity issue.

Our chicken, Nugget is her name, has decided to channel her inner rooster. She is most definatly NOT a rooster and is very much built like a hen...fluffy butt and all. HOWEVER since she is the biggest and has proclaimed herself ruler of the other hens (somehow I don't think there was a vote either, as the others don't look particularly thrilled with this development) she won out with brute force. It's up to her where they all go to look for buggy yummy treats...but the worst is....she is crowing, yuppers it's obnoxious.

it's not a full fledge cock-a-doodle-do...kind of a half assed attempt really and she mostly does it when we are outside and they are shut up in the big play area....she loves to socialize with the kids and will stand by the door giving it her all until one of the boys goes and lets her out.

I don't think the neighbors will be real happy with me. We decided this weekend to start letting them out later in the morning as not to bother anyone and on Sundays they have to "sleep in late" in the coop. Why can't i have normal pets??

When exactly did I give my daughter permission to grow up??

How did this happen? when did I blink? It was only yesterday I swear that I was getting her ready for 1st grade and now she just graduated from 8th grade?? When did she trade her groovy girl dolls for an iphone? why did i teach her to spell so she could text 24/7 (although the spelling she uses for texting was certainly NOT what the nuns taught her let me tell you...idk wht lol bcz!

so tonight is the graduation dance and I'm sprining my baby girl from school so that she can get all dolled up and her hair done. i'll try really really hard not to cry but i'm not making any promises, I did tell her I'll save the big cry for when she is no around and never in front of her friends.

Diva! HOLLAH!!!

I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait....ok I have to wait but it's killing me! End of August is offically "Diva Weekend" when Dawn, Katie and I will decend upon North Conway NH with our tiaras sparkling for the world to see! Oh it's a girls weekend in the making! Think shopping the outlets (in our offical DIVA pink t-shirts) and of course intoxicated mini golf in tiaras....because can you think of a BETTER time to wear tiaras?? Shhhhhhaaaaaaa no you can't!

After a looong summer with the kids this is something i can treat myself with...time with my Divas....'cause they know and love me bestest!

Hollah (or when we are having dinner at Dawn's house Challah!)

10 1/2 days of childless freedom left.

Why is it summer just sneaks up on a person like a big humid blanket and it's all good, your having fun in the pool, running around the yard..then it hits.

SCHOOL IS NEARLY OVER FOR THE YEAR!

Oh well, I'll enjoy my quiet time while I can before the revolving door of children decends upon me. Note to self: stock up on the juice boxes, mac and cheese and ice cream bars.

Baby Diva

Being a teenager, Emily is not a big fan of having her picture taken unless it's on her terms. HOWEVER, yesterday she was feeling silly and transformed herself into "nerd swimmer" I think she is the funniest kid sometimes (when she isn't having one of those teen dark mood moments...then i'd like to bang my head against the wall)

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Ahhhhhhh Memorial Day Weekend! The un-official start of summer here, long weekend off from school/work and the weather as usual is cooperating nicely! Think BBQ and swimming in the pool...both of which we have planned, along with some home projects that need to get done and a quick jaunt over to the barn so the boys can ride :) yesterday my little cub scout Cody marched in the Memorial parade downtown honoring our veterans and to remember the soldiers still fighting, he did me proud.

then we all came home and jumped in the pool because it was toasty out! Brendan stayed in most of the afternoon...that kid is part fish I swear!

cody also spent some quality bonding time with the chickens....so they wouldn't feel left out of the fun :)

A chick and her chookies

I had a really funny flashback today, while cleaning out the chickens I remembered my great grandmother "Granny" making me "chookie eggs" for lunch. I never thought much of it but i remember being little and thinking they were some sort of delicacy that nobody else (unless they too were the proud owners of the cutest little old Granny from Scotland like I was blessed with) got made for them. I realized much later it was just plain old scrambled eggs. But she used more butter than Paula Dean ever did (gasp! is that possible) and they were never ever burned.

I decided today that my kids would eat chookie eggs too...and never again scrambled eggs. :)

I will miss cookies no more!

oh cookies...how i have missed you....but not anymore! finally after trial and error and searching i have found a decent gluten free peanut butter cookie recipe! YES!!!!!! It's a yucky rainy day..perfect for baking cookies, so I entered the kitchen with determination and a mish mash of different recipes, i took what i liked from each and sha-zam I made my cookies ala peanut butter goodness. ohh how i have been enjoying them all afternoon with a cup of coffee, or two. the best part is my children all came home and ate some, not even suspecting that they were sans the gluten. victory! i'm saving a few for a midnight snack.

Anyone else have a good gluten free recipe or two? I am still in search of a good homemade cake..those packaged Betty Crocker ones taste like clay dough...gross!!!!

The Ballad of Sweet Gibblets

I awoke this morning to see how the hens had made out being their first night out in their coop, only to discover that our old friend Sweet Gibblets the turkey had returned....uh oh. We figured the male (aka Prince Charming) had managed to woooo her away, but there she was, hunkered down next to the chickens waiting for her "babies" to come out. I'm starting to get more concerned for her mental health..is she having an identity crisis? Does she think she is a chicken?? Is is a co-dependency thing? We will keep an eye on the situation (and hope that Prince Charming comes back to find her) but I'm thinking a call to animal control might be in order...just to make sure she is safe.

Poultry in Motion

So today was a very interesting kind of day. I put the chicks out into their little "chick tractor" to get them some fresh air and get them used to being outside. When along came this lone turkey. Now it's not weird to see turkies in our backyard but they are usually in a large group. This one sort of circled the tractor, looking at the chicks (who were ok with this large bird) and quietly clucking at them. Then she proceeded to sit down and hang out with the chickens. Now I know...I can hear the "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW isn't that cute" and it would have been had this turkey not gotten all ninja on me when i went to put the chicks back in the house. Oh she was NOT happy. I got them in, and she wandered off. So I went to start dinner....only to discover this looking in at me:

A large turkey is stalking me, glaring at me with her beady little turkey eyes. I'm worried...does she think I have her babies? Does she have babies? Is she a flock reject? Did we just inherit a pet turkey! (we named her Sweet Giblets just in case)

Play Ball!

I have been living on the baseball fields the last few weeks! So far so good, games have been exciting, weather has been freezing, you can find all the mommies bundled up against the cold with our blankets, sweatshirts and electric blankets (ok maybe not the last one..we are considering all buying Snuggies though) cheering our kids on! Gavin seems to like t-ball a little more this year but it definatly looses it's appeal after 2 innings. Cody is loving being catcher, he is even dabbling in pitching...he has a great team this year, the kids are all friendly and love to scream for each other (which is a bit deafing at times) Emily is just amazing...i'll get some pictures up soon, she is harder to capture on film. She is the ONLY girl in her age division, you can tell who she is by her ponytail on the field. The boys all have seem to accepted her as "just Em" and there has only been a few girly comments made (mostly by the younger newer kids) She hears them, and smiles her winning smile....then strikes them out one by one...."how ya like me now" she asks them. Ok so her chances of dating anytime soon is a bit strained...nobody wants to ask the girl out who just pummeled their ego....but I am soooo ok with that!

Me and My Favorite Mommies

This Mother's Day I will be spending my day with 2 of my favorite Mommies, my beloved Grandmother (pictured in the middle) and my beloved cousin (really more like sister) Dawn..she is to the left with the bunny!

I hope all my Mommy Friends have a fabulous diva like day...this is early I know, but there is much to do this week with cleaning, shopping, cleaning, getting the chickens outside and oh yeah I do have to work somewhere in there too!

I cannot party like a rock star at night and then be a baseball parent in the morning...

Shocker....I had to much fun last night and paid dearly for it the next morning! Yuppers, I had to drag my very tired and hung over behind out of the sanctuary of my comfy bed, throw on some clothing and sunglasses and head out into the BRIGHT sunlight, coffee in hand, to play baseball with my son...ha ha ha..i had gone out the night before with other baseball parents so we kind of looked like some of the creatures from the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video stumbling and walking in a jerky manner around the field this morning. But we would smile and kind of sigh at each other every now and again...we made it, and it was an awesome game!

Then onto game 2...where i had the luxury of sitting in a nice seat with other nice mommies sipping our slushies (mine was lemon) and I did some knitting while once in a while looking up and screaming "GO CODY!!!" a most enjoyable afternoon..while I was gone the beloved scrubbed our back deck...we have company coming next weekend and for some odd reason, even though I have a list a mile long of things that MUST be done before they arrive (and let me tell you, the deck was not listed on there at all) he felt that it would be some kind of personal insult to them to have to sit on a dirty deck (which heeeelllo they are outside, hence why they are dirty) and enjoy the woods/fire/large bucket of wine...ooops that's for me and Dawn....bbq/luncheon whatever! GRRRRRRRRRRR! Men!!! if he wanted to scrub something I would have pointed him in the direction of the toliets that he and the other boys cannot seem to directly hit when using them and let him at the pee stains (ewwwwwwwwwie) instead of me having to do it. Buuuuuuttttttttt Noooooooooooooo i'm just a silly pracitcal woman! Tomorrow he is going to cut something down with a chainsaw..just because it's pointless and unnecessary.
I should have become a nun like my grandmother told me to :)

I'm going out tonight....with grown ups....real live grown up people (well, ladies above a legal age to be sure...as far as behavior goes, it's questionable) So if you don't hear from me in few days....I had a DARN good time :)

The demise of the beloved Red Vaccuum.

Today Gavin and I (Hoobie and Mom!) will be performing open machine surgery on our beloved red vaccuum (did i spell that right? one c? ) No vaccuum (however you spell it) was ever loved more than ours...not only is it racing red..Gavin's favorite color, but it's something he just loves to obsess over. All my friends know that as soon as he walks through their door they better just move out of the way so he can find their sucking up of the dust apparatus (i'll go back to misspelling vaccuum) and comment on the size and color of it. It's his thing..however, do NOT turn it on...no no no no. See some vaccums are just too loud or have a weird whining noise that puts the hair on his neck on edge...we had to go through several experimental vaccums before we found the beloved red dirt devil. It calms him to use it, and lets face it, i'm not going to argue if somebody else wants to run it around the floor...i'm not THAT crazy!

So yesterday it began to smoke, and a horrid burnt rubber smell filled the room....it's only the belt and should be an easy fix...but i'm not what one might call mechanical and i might just make things worse. we shall see.

I blinked and the weekend was gone.

Ahhhh school vacation! I'm full of all kinds of wonderous bonding ideas at the beginning and at the end I would give my children to the first wandering band of gypsies that happen to go by our house (not that we get wandering gypsies all that often...but quite frankly it sounds nicer and more romantic than saying "i'm ready to put my kids out with the recycle bin")

Anyway, our big adventure this week was heading out to the Dr. Suess sculpture garden in Springfield. The day was perfect, not hot but blue skies and a nice breeze. It was a long ride, the youngest lost his cool after about an hour but we managed (ok, i threw a Happy Meal his way, it smoothed things over) and really enjoyed our day. There is also 4 different museums there as well, the boys really like the science/nature museum and baby diva was all about the sculpture and art, so a little something for everyone. Best part was they all fell asleep on the way home and I got to listen to what I wanted on the radio and was able to hold a conversation with my cousin Jen (we kidnapped her for the day...ha ha ha, she is still recovering I'm sure).

Longest Week EVER!!!!!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to loose my mind this week....no no really, I feel it just might happen.

Sooooooo Baby Diva (my eldest and only daughter) sprained her quad muscle in her leg...no we don't know how it happened so she was out of comission for the beginning of the week, missing dance and baseball and making her most cranky.

Gavin (aka Hoobie or Tribble Boy) just hates the lack of rountine, and try as I might...can't seem to do the same thing every day. Austism can really suck during vacations..he is currently crying at the window because the trash man hasn't been by yet to get our trash....and i have no idea when this will happen...grrrrrr.

the other two boys are just whiney. One has a cub scout project that he needs to get done, and god forbid he should follow any instructions (typical male!) so i'm looking at this glue and popsicle stick contraption that is supposed to be a bridge and I'm shaking my head as to how I'm going to fix this without having to set foot in a store (see note on Hoobie...not taking him out into public)

The oldest boy is mad. None of his friends seem to be around, of course he does wait until the last possible minute to make plans with them..but that (according to him) should not matter, they should be waiting for him to invite them over to play....i managed to wrangle a grandparent into taking him to the movies.

Sooo yeah, longest week ever and it's only Thursday!!!

"Don't stand still too long...Mom will box you up for a yard sale!"

Now just to set the record straight, I am not by nature a clean freak...I believe in free ranging my dust bunnies and it's really ok for the dishes to sit in the sink for the afternoon. My bathrooms are about the only room I make a supreme effort to keep very clean...mostly because there are 4 boys in this house who cannot aim with any accuracy at all.

But once (or sometimes twice) a year a bizarre phenomenon occurs that throws me into a tizzy of cleaning, I become a raving lunatic scouring every inch of the house and purging closets like a demon...... THE ARRIVAL OF MY GRANDMOTHER!!!!

I have two weeks or so to make sure this house shines (like the top of the Chystler building...ala Ms. Hanagain from Annie) and that places I know she will never ever look are neat and tidy. Combine this with outrageous PMS and you have a recipe for disaster...so I clean between bouts of hysterical crying and chocolate gorging..good times.

There is absolutely no reason for me to act like this, that's the kicker. Gram has never ever judged my cleaning, she knows how hard it is to keep the kids happy and take care of the house, it's near impossible some days. So Why??? I'll tell you why...it's not that she ever spoke out loud the words "Gee would it kill her to run a cloth over these shelves" it's the look of disgust..pursed lips, crinkled nose, one eye slightly closed. I'm telling you her look of death could end all wars presently going on in the world.

Because I hate to suffer alone, I've enlisted my cousin to share in the carnage. She is a trooper, I plan on using her as the human shield.

School Spring break is upon us....do i have enough mac and cheese?

April is Autism Awareness Month, be award, be understanding,

It's that time of the year! Spring break!!! One whole week when the kiddos are all home and all bored at the same time! yahoooo! Can't wait for it! So today was the emergency run to the store for the kid food essentials (juice boxes, mac and cheese, and other various snackies) and of course coffee for mommy because if mommy ain't caffined up nobody is safe!

Our plans for the week are low key to be sure. Everyone can have a friend over but not all on the same day...been there done that...it's a little much for me to handle. And Gavin has a special bowling day with his "peeps" that should prove to be a lot of fun.

Cannot believe how much the chicks are growing!! They are going through their awkward faze right now, kind of feathery but still fluffy...and they are ditzy as all get out. Still, we love having them just as much...have been bugging the beloved to get on building the coop because before you know it they will be ready to move out of the laundry room and into roomier accomodations.

We had a frost last night, i was running around the backyard trying to cover all the baby plants up with compost to keep them warm..i think they all survived. It's all just cold weather crops at the moment (potatoes, kale, garlic, pumpkins) but i wasn't taking any chances.

Mother's Day is just around the corner and this year is going to be a good one...I'll be spending it with my favorite Mommies!!