friends

i am so thankful for the friends that God has put in our lives here in Kentucky. being away from family is tough, especially with little children (who drain you of all energy and sanity at times). i am especially thankful that we have been blessed with the friendship of the Nordine family. they are our "kentucky family". the ones we call when we need a date night, when i need a child-less trip to the grocery store, when we're celebrating a holiday, when we need some company, or when we have nothing better to do.
today was one such day. we made the most of the sunny afternoon and spent some time in the pool, running through the sprinkler, and looking for crickets.

our outside time ended abruptly as a storm rolled in, bringing along some crazy winds and hail. storms are much more fun with friends!


side note: i asked the kids to get their own jammies tonight, which is rare, and they actually obeyed. i was just as shocked that kate actually picked out a top and a bottom and not 2 bottoms or 2 tops. :) here is what they picked:

a saturday evening before the rain

we were spoiled this week with straight days of sunshine and temperatures in the 80s. on saturday it finally rained again and cooled down. we were able to squeeze in some outside time in the cool evening just before the big rain.

jesse's been itchin to cook a fish over the fire. so he had some trout.


jacob and jesse dug in the garden looking for worms to feed to lucky duck.


kate posed for the camera with her "afraid of the thunder" face, as the storm started rolling in.


lucky duck awaited his worms.


jackson barked at the thunder for 15 minutes straight. i took a picture, but deleted it because he looked like a scary dog, and we all know he's not!

i worked on a little painting project. we got some new cheap bathroom rugs, that when we brought them home, didn't match like we wanted. so i painted the mirrors in the bathroom to tie in the colors. i think it turned out alright.

he's 4

that's right. on thursday my firstborn turned 4.

jacob
is creative
is sweet
is innovative
is sensitive
is handsome
is clever
is interested in all things mechanical
loves all tractors
is loving
is smart
is a good sleeper
loves puppies (particularly his red spotted puppy and his big brown puppy)


it was fun to spend a day celebrating my sweet boy, taking a break from the same-old stuff, doing things that are special to him. he started out his birthday with a donut date with dad. the rest of the morning we stayed in the comfort of the air-conditioned house (80+ degree temps, almost record-breaking for this time of year) and just played. during lunch i said to jacob "what do you think if mom didn't work today during rest time and instead i just play with you?" his face lit up. "just me?!!" (this was my highlight of the day!).
so after kate went down for nap we filled up the pool and splashed around, we searched for bugs to put in his new bug box, we played cars on the porch (which i found out i am not so good at), and took a tiny nap in the sun.
after his requested birthday dinner of hot dogs, we had some special visitors. the kids' babysitter brought 3 of her 5-week-old bassett hound puppies for the kids to play with. they were a-dor-able. much to jacob's dismay, we did not keep any of them.


after the puppies left, jacob helped dad get started on the chicken coop. kate decided it was a resting area for her.


he also put himself to work mowing the lawn. very serious about it, you can tell.

we are so thankful for modern technology which allowed several of our family members to wish jacob a happy birthday via skype. here is jacob showing grandpa dennis his new harmonica, and grandpa dennis showing jacob his harmonica skilz.

we love you jacob! happy 4th birthday!

to the person who stole the hairdryer out of my car

dear thief,

i feel silly even writing those words because it just sounds absurd to me that someone would steal something like a brand new hairdryer out of a person's car. i hadn't even used it yet. it was still in the box. it was also still in the bag from the store my husband purchased it from. and the receipt was in there too, so now you know how much he paid for it.

how did you even know what it was before you opened my car door? i know, i know. i did have it in plain sight, there on the floor of the front of my car. it was probably so tempting to you (well, obviously).

maybe you stole it because you heard i was having an ungrateful heart about it being a brand name i had never heard of. i really just wanted to spend the money on buying a brand name hairdryer that i knew (like the one that lasted me 8 great years!). but i was convicted of my bad attitude and i was thankfully taking it home to use it sometime this week (especially today, when i went to use it and noticed it was missing).

i wonder if you stole it because you were needing a mother's day present for your mom? in that case, i hope your mom enjoys it. i know i would have.

sincerely,
cydney

surprise!

jesse's mom turned 60 on Good Friday this year. jesse's brother and sisters planned a surprise dinner party for her and we made a secret trip to pittsburgh for Easter weekend to join in (and add to) the surprise. she thought she was having dinner out with her husband. they walked into the restaurant and there we all were, her 2 sons, 2 daughters, 2 daughters-in-law, and 3 grandkids. her reaction was priceless!


it took 6 of us to light her 60 candles. :)


happy 60th mom, karen, gammie!


we spent the rest of the weekend with family.

playing with cousin Easton.


hanging out with grandma.


Easter at josh and heidi's.



bubbles with cousin Jezze.


highlight of the trip for jacob, a john deere on a big rig trailer on I-70. :)

and on his farm he had some chickens, e i e i o

it's been an interesting couple of weeks for us, taking on our new role as chicken owners. it was something i've been wanting to do for a while, just never thought i could convince jesse to take the plunge. we visited our friends who recently bought chickens, we saw how simple it was to care for them, and less than a week later we had 6 little chickies of our own. and now we're washing our hands like crazy and anxiously waiting to see if we have hens or roosters.

the chicks at 1 week old

we've been shocked by how fast they grow. we got them at 1 week old, and after the 1st 4 days they had already doubled in size. we went out of town for Easter weekend, and another 4 days later they have doubled again. i guess it helps that all they do all day long is eat eat eat.

the chicks at 2 1/2 weeks old

a week after we got the chicks, we were in PA for Easter weekend. driving back to pittsburgh after spending Easter sunday in clarion, we spot a baby duck in the middle of the 2-lane country highway. we saw him and said to each other "oh how sad... that baby duck was so pathetic and little, looking for his mommy and now he's probably going to get hit by a car." (i know, i know. we have this new sympathy for feathered friends now that we are chicken farmers) :) so we turned the car around, going to rescue the duck if he hadn't already been hit. jesse found him off on the side of the road, alive and well. he chirped in a box the rest of the drive to pittsburgh. jesse's sister is a vet tech at the pittsburgh aviary, so she checked the ducky over, got us some duck food, and advised us on what to do with the little guy. so yes, he journeyed back to kentucky in our car and now he's in his new home, with us. :)

meet Lucky the duck.

jacob made Lucky a sign for his temporary dwelling.

and while we're on the subjuct of farm animals... last week i was able to get kate's hair into her first piggy tails. it was a happy day for me! and for her too, i suppose! :)

this and that

just a pile of thoughts. a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

• this morning i woke up to find that the dishwashing fairy had indeed not made a stop in my kitchen. i might have cried a little, maybe.
  
• we're riding in the car today and jacob says "mom, that lady in that car had a stick in her mouth. (i'm thinking, where is he going with this?) and there was smoke coming out of it." ahhhhh! so i dove into my cigarette lecture. maybe a little too straightforward for an almost-4-year-old, but i wanted him to get the point.
  
• jackson (our dog, 6 year old german shorthair pointer) had surgery 2 weeks ago. he had a torn cruciate ligament and torn meniscus in one of his hind legs. at the same time, we had the doc surgically remove 4 fatty tumors on his belly and thighs that had grown to be a little too large for our liking. he's healing well! he was putting weight on his leg just 5 or 6 days after surgery. he had his staples removed today and the doc was pleased with his progress. he's still pretty sore, and it's going to be a good 2 months before he will be allowed to run again. i sure hope he forgives us.
• last week our car was in the shop for some new rear breaks. (it seems like we've purchased new breaks every year since we have lived in kentucky. is it us, or is it the roads?) while our car was in the shop, we told the kids our car was busted and it had to be fixed. now that it is fixed, kate reminds me daily that "our car's not busted anymore, mommy!"
• tonight i baked some of my tried and true oatmeal wheat bread. yum! warm out of the oven with some butter on it....double yum! this kids enjoyed a slice before bed :) here's the recipe: 1/2 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup old fashioned oats, 2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp salt. combine ingredients in a large bowl. add 2 cups bowling water. stir well, let sit for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. in another bowl, combine 1 pkg of yeast (i use 2 1/2 tsp), with 1/2 cup warm water and a pinch of sugar. let set for 5 minutes until frothy. combine the yeast mixture with the oatmeal mixture and 1 cup white flour. mix well. gradually add 3 more cups of flour. turn onto floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes, adding 1 more cup of flour as needed. cover with a little bit of oil and set in a covered bowl to rise for 1 hour. punch down and split dough in half. arrange in 2 greased loaf pans. cover and let rise for 30 minutes. bake at 325-350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. (this can also be made into dinner rolls, which would only bake for 12-15 minutes)
  
• update on my creamer post: i have not had a drop of non-dairy creamer since the day i found out you can make bombs out of the stuff. i can't believe i consumed so much of it before finding out! i've just been using good ol' fashioned creamer. ya know...half and half. i tried the homemade vanilla caramel recipe for a couple weeks, but something about it just wasn't right. it got weird whenever i added it to the hot coffee, like clumpy kinda. eww. i've also been using blue agave syrup as my sweetener. thanks to my sister for introducing me.
  
• speaking of coffee... yum!
• we had a taste of summer this weekend as temperatures were above 80 degrees. it was wonderful. we soaked up some vitamin D and got some yard work done.
• here's a shocker: i've been running. ok, maybe jogging is a better term to use. and ok, i've only gone twice. but you've got to start somewhere, right? i used to hate running. strongly dislike. in high school i was on the track team, just for one year, and that was all i needed to know i wasn't a runner. but i've been on the treadmill, just doing a walking/jogging combo during the last 3 months. and i guess that was enough to talk myself into going for a jog 2 weeks ago. and i ran for 25 minutes. i was shocked. i tried it again this weekend, and it happened again, 25 minutes. and i didn't hate it! now i just need to find the time do go more than 1 time a week. :)