We had a little car wash action this week. They would play with the water hose all the time if I let them. However, in this case it seemed like good training for vehicle care. Don’t be fooled by the clean exterior, if you lift up their hoods you will find rocks, sticks, and grass….much like our very own vehicles. You don’t use a water hose for interior car care, so they weren’t interested in that part of the lesson.
Shepard is in the all about jumping phase. He has been testing what he can jump off of and how high he can go and is so super proud of his skills! This super proudness over these skills just gives mommy and daddy more gray hairs.
I’m glad these two find ways to amuse each other. I think having a younger sibling keeps Ava from growing too terribly quickly, which in some ways can of course be a pain. However, when they are doing their silly shenanigans it’s like time stays still for a little bit.
These cuties finally got to see each other all together. Distance and busy schedules keep them apart. I can only imagine what kind of shenanigans we would be seeing if we were all neighbors!
This Week’s Books
We are big fans of Jan Thomas books. Her characters are so cute and funny. Both Ava and Shep adore her stories. The favorite this week was The Easter Bunny’s Assistant. Mo Willems pigeon books are also on our list of favorites.
Shepard requested Dinosaurs love underpants several times. That is something him and his sister have in common…any book involving underwear is right up their alley. Llama Llama and the Bully Goat has been a wonderful book for me to reference good and bad behaviors for Ava. They both really liked Can you make a scary face? Daddy animated that one really well, so I think it quickly became a favorite.
Gluten Free & Dairy Free Menu
- Gluten Free corn dog, ABC Mac-n cheese, and frozen blueberries.
- Beef, cheese, and veggie quesadilla, monster veggie chips, and strawberries.
- Chicken sausage, smoked hotdog, mixed veggies, and pasta with creamy ranch dressing.
Maybe my taste buds are biased by now but the gluten free corn dogs actually taste like cornbread to me…not your sometimes cardboardy gluten free substitutes. I was trying to be a sneaky momma with their quesadillas this week and add veggies to them. I THOUGHT I had put enough cheese to mask the veggies, but nope Ava was the first to comment she only likes the beef and cheese ones. After she made the discovery, of course Shep followed suit and did his little British boy accent ” I no like it” response. Hot dogs and sausage are always a favorite and to my surprise they did eat the mixed veggies that came with that. I guess they are ok if they are alone but apparently just completely ruin a quesadilla.
- Grilled pepper and chicken sausage pasta topped with avocado, green onion, & cilantro alongside mixed veggies.
- Coconut Lime Chicken with basmati rice.
- Grilled Pork & Beef burgers topped with creamy ranch dressing & jalapeños alongside fire roasted corn and crispy crowns.
I will put avocado on anything. It’s kind of an obsession and it’s not just me..the kids love it too. It was a big favorite when both kids were babies too. I will share the coconut lime chicken recipe at some point. It has officially passed the test of being delicious. The kids said it was good 3 out of 5 times now…just kidding. I not only have a love for avocados but a craving for spicy. I do have “some” limitations with jalapeños but not many. They go so well with ranch dressing and especially on a burger. Scott and the kiddos have a love for crispy crowns, so I make sure to indulge that every now and then.
Farm Animals
Scotty painted our chicken coop and I’m super happy with it. He is looking forward to getting his bigger saw so he can mill some wood to finish the chicken run. We have plans for a super cute “chicken playground”. On the other side of the building is going to be our goat shack to keep them safe at night.
Benny, our buff orpington rooster. He is our sweet guy.
This is Pip, our silkie rooster. Ava came up with that name, so we stuck with it. I couldn’t get down with Earl, so Pip it is. He is our moody man on the farm.
Those are the home boy birds are on the farm so far. We will have a drake coming as well, so we shall see what he is like.
Sammy and Dean are definitely at home now. The kids love giving them treats and the goats are always smelling them and us now to see if we have any goodies on hand.
Workouts
I am still into cycling this week. Although I took a few days off this week to tend to the greenhouse and get our pumpkin patch started. I would say my consistent workouts have been about 35 minutes of cycling, 10 minutes resistance training, and 10 minutes with ab exercises. I don’t skimp ab exercises because it works wonders for posture. Again, I would have to recommend Cathe Friedrich. She has premixes for her cycling videos, so if you don’t have 58 minutes to do the entire thing, you can sweat plenty with a shorter condensed version.
I hope everyone had a safe week this week and God Bless!
My verse of the day:
