Scott is a fabulous carpenter. He has built me numerous things over the years that I will keep forever. He built me a desk to use when I was in college that his younger brother also ended up using during his college years as well. A lot of A’s were made on that desk…haha. He built me an enormous hope chest when we got engaged. That insanely heavy piece we have moved to every house we have lived in. I requested a custom daybed that he built as our guest bed for our first house. He has built me bookcases, shelves, a hanging desk, hanging signs, bird houses, planters, accent tables, vanities, a sucker tree for a family fun event, and all of our children’s custom decor in their rooms. Since he possesses such talent, we have invested in an Alaskan saw mill. His current project using this mill is making posts and beams for our chicken/duck run. My contribution is aesthetics dealing with the design and staining the wood.
They would make a pretty cute Husqvarna ad!
We have been using mostly cedar up to this point. One thing I do like about doing this is that any tree we cut is going to good use. And they will be getting replaced with other trees come this November when my 50 red maples show up.
While cooking dinner one night, these two were setting up their own picnic dinner. I picked up some sun catcher crafts last week and they have been obsessing over doing them.
They both have been enjoying pretend play with dress up. I just wish boy dress up stuff was as easy to find as girls’ dress up stuff. If I do find some, the stuff has been pretty expensive for what it is. I may just have to get creative and come up with a few things. I really don’t wanna have to break up arguments between brother and sister over who gets to wear what princess dress.
This Week’s Books
Since the kiddos are passionate about tractors, we had to of course check out the Otis tractor books. They are very cute!
Shepard’s favorite was “If I was the sunshine”. He is all into the books that have really good illustrations. My favorite was “I found a Kitty”. It’s a super sweet story about a dog writing letters to people to find a good home for his friend kitty.
Terry Border books are pretty strange, but at the same time pretty funny. The illustrations are definitely unique.
Ava’s favorites were “What about Worms” and “The Tiptoeing Tiger”.
Gluten Free & Dairy Free Menu
- Grilled Hotdoggers, Monster veggie chips, and strawberries.
- Chicken nuggets, green beans, banana, and blueberries mixed with peanut butter.
- Tuna patty, ABC Mac-n-cheese, and avocado.
The #2 was daddy’s lunch for the kids this week. Peanut butter mixed with blueberries was a big hit. The green beans not so much, but A+ for daddy trying to get all the fruit and veggies in.
- Cajun seasoned salmon on basmati rice and steamed carrots.
- Grilled pork chops, butternut squash, and green beans with bacon.
- Grilled BBQ/Coffee seasoned pork cutlets, sweet potato fries, carrots, and buffalo cauliflower.
I’ve been trying to do less red meat in our diet lately. The kids like salmon, but they prefer the “fresh” kind. They still eat the frozen kind, but not as well. Shepard will gobble up the fresh stuff. I made my own buffalo cauliflower this week. Scott and I liked it. The kids ate it and complained about the spiciness, but kept on eating and complaining. They tend to do that with spicy food. It’s like a conversation they engage in, keep eating food they believe is spicy and keep telling each other and us how spicy it is.
Farm Animals
The chickens are not quite full grown yet. Most of them still have pink wittles. The silkies seem to grow even slower. However, I would take me a whole flock of silkies. They are so funny and adorable.
None of the farm animals are intimidated one bit by Abby, our non-traditional farm dog. I think they all sense her sweetness. Sam and Dean have gotten use to our land by now, so we have been able to let them out for about an hour in the evening before bedtime. They just follow us and the kids around in their tractors. When 7:00 rolls around, they are ready for bed. The ducks follow at about 7:30 and the chickens around 8:00. I thought bedtime routines only applied to kids, but apparently animals like a routine as well.
These cuties are just about 3 weeks old. It is truly crazy how fast they have grown in so little time! We are currently working on their playground as well. They will semi-share a coop and run with the chickens. We will have two separate runs on either side of the coop. We are planning on a water feature on the duck’s side and more of a playground on the chicken side. They all will have access to both.
Workouts
To my surprise, I apparently squeezed in 4 workouts this week. I don’t remember what I did for a workout on Sunday, but apparently something got my heart rate up. Instead of bike riding on Friday, I stained all six beams Scott made with the mill. On another note, I discovered my new favorite core workout on the Cathe app. It’s a real burner. If that’s your thing, you will like it as well!
That has been our week! I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe! God Bless!
