I can't claim busyness to be my excuse for not blogging lately, but can I claim pregnancy? I won't have that excuse soon...ha ha! Anyway, life continues moving for our family. There are a million things I haven't taken pictures of that I'd probably like to document, but alas, my brain can't seem to hold on to them. :)
We spent a fair amount of effort this spring trying to catch a gopher that was wreaking havoc in our yard. One afternoon we found an open hole, so I sat out there for HOURS trying to get him. He kept popping up and down determined to close his hole, and I kept reopening it after my unsuccessful attempts to catch him. Finally, I decided to at least take a picture of him. You'd think he would have been easier to snag!
Jim eventually came home from work, so he took over the watch while I went to the store to buy a trap. We were determined! He was putting this hills all over the yard. In the end, we didn't succeed unfortunately, but we've learned some things for next time!
Annie has always wanted long beautiful hair, so this past year we kept it as long as it would grow. Her hair is really thin and wispy, though, so it never looked decent unless it was up somehow. Anything I put in her hair would break it, and by spring her hair was a total uneven mess. I finally talked her into cutting it short so it could be healthier. Last week she had a good chop, and she's looking a lot less wild! She's had a few tears over it, but we're telling her she looks like Kit Kittredge from the American Girl books. That's a good consolation in her eyes. :)
A few weeks ago, I needed to make laundry detergent again. This is our third round. Each batch costs $20, and lasts us 1 1/2 years! It leaves our clothes smelling fresher than any detergent we've used as well; we love this stuff!
Here is the recipe/ how to.
The kids pretty much made the detergent by themselves this time. Grate, mix, ta da!
We have birds galore on our property, but we have no idea what this one was. The kids found it on the day I was watching the gopher. We're certain it was a baby because it made no attempt to escape. It just held very still for HOURS.
We put in our vegetable garden last month, and now we're starting to enjoy the harvest. Most of our plants are growing really well, as are the weeds. This Midwest weather/ soil makes growing easy!
When we made Father's Day cards (which Logan reminded me today we forgot to give Jim) Abby took a maroon marker and colored her lips. I don't wear lipstick at all, so I'm pretty amazed she came up with this!
Abby tends to fall asleep on the way home from church every week, and Jim loves cuddling with her when we come inside.
Sweet little girl...
My big venture right now is starting a Bountiful Baskets site in our area. I was trained for it last winter, but we had a bunch of delays with getting our site started. Two weeks ago we were finally up and running! I'm really enjoying the opportunity to serve in my community this way so far (it's a totally volunteer run thing), and I'm pleased to be saving money on our produce!
