Happy 7th Birthday Lucy!

We celebrated Lucy's seventh birthday today.  She had the menu planned months in advance, and had finalized her gift wish list for several weeks at least.  Fortunately for Lucy, after a few minor reality checks (yes, you can plan the menu, but no, you can't force people to eat it), Lucy's wishes were attainable.  She got everything she had hoped for, as well as a few surprises too.  Here she is below, excited to open her presents, first thing in the morning.  She received Friends Legos - a Lego cupcake cafe from Will and I and a Lego art studio from Emma, a "big-eyed stuffed animal elephant with no spots", fashion plates, books, a robe, an insect net and a flower pressing kit.  She even got her requested brand of birthday card - a Rifle Paper Company card from not only us, but from Aunt Jane as well (who didn't know Lucy's specific request, and it turns out picked the very card Lucy wanted).

We had a busy day planned, but Lucy still found time to build both Lego sets.

Lucy and Emma had their yoga class in the morning, and then after lunch we headed to Legoland, where we had scored a coupon from a friend on Monday that expired at the end of the week.  Talk about perfect timing - as the weather was forecasted to be chilly and rainy, and the girls had been wanting to go to the new Legoland for several months now.  Thanks to the coupon, we got our tickets half off, and enjoyed the afternoon amongst Legos.  Violet felt the need to hug every Lego character she met, and we watched a 4D Lego movie as well.  My favorite part was seeing the Lego replicas of downtown Detroit, and I think Lucy and Emma's favorite part was when we said they could fill a small bucket up with Lego pieces in the Lego store afterward.

The day was busier than we would normally prefer, however Lucy seemed happy with the day's activities.  Will and I spent the night before prepping the food for the day since we were going to be so busy on her birthday.  Breakfast was bacon fried the night before and donuts from the local cider mill, enjoyed at home because it was raining.  Lunch was our favorite sandwich shop after yoga class and dinner was a baked sandwich that I was able to make the night before and heat up with one of her favorite soups - Alphabet and Veggie - that I had premade as well.  

 For dessert I had made chocolate cupcakes the night before, and just had to make the frosting on her birthday.  Lucy's request was chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting with strawberries on top.  After searching three grocery stores and finding no strawberries anywhere, we settled on dye-free sprinkles.

Creating birthday magic is exhausting, and I am sipping chamomile tea while soaking my feet as I type this.  Lucy's appreciation and excitement throughout the day made everything worth it though.  She has become our most stable and even-tempered child, which I never thought I'd see the day of!  Sometimes I will look at her and ask, "Are you the only sane child I have?" while chaos ensues around us and we share a laugh.  She loves listening to adult conversation, and is the second mom in the house, which is both a blessing and a curse.  She can step up to the plate when I need help, but other times drives her sisters crazy with her bossiness.  She reminds me so much of me when I was a kid and I have to really watch that I am not overly hard on her as I see the traits in herself that I am less than proud of in myself.  At times I will be sarcastically telling her that the Academy Award for Best Dramatic RePlay goes to Lucy and Will laughs and says she learned it from watching me.  Lucy continues to amaze me with her creativity and her ability to see beauty in the most hidden places.  Everything she touches she can't help but arrange into an artistic composition and I don't even think she realizes that she is creating art with everyday objects most times.  Her humor and sarcasm are really developing and it's so nice to be caught off guard with her humor.  I find her company delightful (as long as we aren't doing reading lessons for schoolwork), and I love singing girl-power songs with her at the top of our off-key lungs.  She's at the point now where I can ask her for fashion advice, technology help, and she even braided my hair the other day.  As much as I could cry if I think too long about how my rainbow baby is now seven, I have to remind myself that everything is going to be okay because I have the pleasure of watching her grow up, and for that I will be forever grateful.

 Lucy grew just over two inches this past year, and has grown by leaps and bounds in every other aspect of her life.  Lucy, we are so proud of you and so happy that Luke was right when he told me in a dream that I would have a healthy baby girl named Lucy!  Today marks seven years of having the sparkle back in my eye - and it's all thanks to you, showing me how to be a mom to a baby on earth.  Happy Birthday Lucy Anne!

Emma's 5th Birthday

Five years ago today, our sweet Emma was born.  It's not easy being the middle sister, but she manages with humor and energy.  She is the most laid back of the sister trio, and will go with the flow most of the time.  When she has had her fill however, she will let you know with hysterics and whine-talking.  This is actually very effective, as Lucy and Violet usually drop whatever they were upsetting Emma with, and work hard to make her crazy crying stop.  Emma is usually shy with adults, but can jump into any kid situation without hesitation and makes new "best" friends wherever she goes.  A fun time with Emma usually includes joyfully running around with all of your might for no apparent purpose other than the sheer joy of exuding youthful energy.  She is small for her age and works twice as hard to keep up with her peers and her older sister.  Emma's bike may be half the size of Lucy's, but she has no problem pumping her pedals twice as hard to keep up with Lucy.  To watch her feet pumping in a blur is truly amazing.  Emma still holds the title of my most cuddly kid, and I love to sneak in cuddles (Violet gets very jealous) whenever I can with Emma.  She has this talent of curling up and snuggling you so that you feel like she is a warm little kitten purring in your arms.

For months both Lucy and Emma have been listing what they want to eat on their birthdays.  Will and I find this really odd - don't most kids list the gifts they want, not the food they want to eat?  A good friend of mine pointed out that when we celebrate Luke's birthday there are no presents - only food, so perhaps that is what they think birthdays are all about?  I think she may be right.  It does make me feel better about the role that food plays in our lives!

We had a wonderful, sunny and warm day for Emma's birthday which dawned bright and early.  We opened presents first thing...

...Emma got Barbie clothes for her Ken doll named Kevin, a Calico Critter kitten and an astronomy Lego set all from Lucy.  She got the game Trouble, a big-eyed stuffed animal kitty, airplane Lego set, a fashion drawing set, books and a robe from Will and I.  After presents we headed out to breakfast at the local cider mill which happens to be open for a Spring pressing just long enough for all three of the girls birthdays.  We brought bacon that Will fried up before we left because in Emma's meal-planning she decided that we should have some protein with our donuts and cider.  I was mildly embarrassed when I unwrapped the bacon at the cider mill, but I just kept telling myself that people were not judging us - they were just jealous.  I mean, I would be jealous if I saw someone eating extra-crispy bacon.

 After our well-balanced breakfast, we hit the trail by the cider mill for a nice, sunny morning walk by the river.  When we came home, Emma helped me make her birthday brownies.  Keep in mind that for weeks she told us that rice crispy treats were on the menu, then a couple of days ago she changed her mind to chocolate cake, and then yesterday it morphed into brownies with icing and this morning she interchanged rice crispy treats with brownies several times.  In the end, she settled on iced brownies and pretty much made them herself with a little help from me.  Emma loves baking, and loves eating what she has baked just as much.  She decorated the cake with homemade chocolate icing and chocolate snow caps.

After the cake was made, Emma built all of her new Lego sets, created various fashion plate drawings with her new kit, and then played a family game of Trouble while Violet napped.  Things did not end well, as Will won the game and Emma just couldn't handle that.  To cheer her up, Will tried measuring her at the growth chart upside down.

When that didn't work, Emma curled up under a blanket and found her center again by reading her new Berenstain Bear books.  Once the sparkle returned to her eyes, we measured her on the growth chart.  She grew two inches since her last birthday and is about an inch and a half shorter than Lucy when Lucy was 5.  It's still a fair game however as to who will end up the tallest as last year, Emma was taller than Lucy was when they were 4.

We had mac and cheese with apples for lunch, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside.  When dinner time rolled around, we took a bike ride to our favorite sandwich shop.  I felt Luke's presence with us all day, and believe that ray of sunshine coming down on us is symbolic of him sharing his sister's birthday with us.

 We parked the girls bikes outside the sandwich shop and enjoyed a yummy dinner together.

 We played some more outside when we got back home, and then headed inside for some chocolate iced brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

We had a wonderful day, and I am so grateful to celebrate with my favorite people on earth and in heaven.

Emma, you are a treasured member of our family and we love your energy, your smile and your sweet, sensitive spirit!  Happy Birthday Ma!

Too Many Hens to Count in March

I caught the kids colds this past month and it was a bad one.  A fever of 102 and a sinus infection so bad that my face hurt in ways it had never hurt before.  It took me almost a week to beat it, but I finally did with a variety of home remedies including soaking my feet, breathing in oregano essential oil over a boiling pot of water, saline nose spray that I swiped from Violet, keeping a hat on my head even while indoors and *trying* to sleep.  I'm certain I got the cold to begin with because I was so sleep deprived from taking care of the kids - namely Violet - while they were sick.  I love being a mom, but how nice would it be if there was a pause button on the demands of motherhood while mom was sick?  Will came home from work early one day, and I was able to rest then as well as through the weekend which made a big difference. 

Will is really great about taking the kids on errands with him so I can get some work done at home.  While I was sick, he got the kids out of the house so that I could sleep.  One afternoon he took the kids to the local farm and garden store to let me catch a nap.  When they came home, Emma announced excitedly that they didn't get the bunny they wanted but they did get 10 baby chicks!  Now, Will and I had discussed earlier that we would get a couple (think 2) egg laying hens and 6-8 meat birds.  If you add those numbers generously, you will come up with 10 chickens.  Will came home with TEN baby egg laying hens and casually mentioned the store was out of the meat birds, but he would check back next week.  For a former high school math teacher, these numbers just don't add up.  After questioning him for a couple of minutes to figure out if was crazy, he finally flashed me a sheepish grin and put all of his stuttered excuses aside by simply stating, "But they're so CUTE!"  Here are the kids below enjoying what then became my easy, hands-on science unit for the week.

We have ten grown egg laying hens currently and can only fit two more in our coop.  Remember, cute trumps basic math here.  Most of our hens took the winter off from laying eggs, forcing us to buy store bought eggs for the first time since we got chickens four years ago.  Ironically, the week Will brought the ten baby chicks home, our older birds kicked their egg laying into high gear.

Charlie was fascinated by the chicks when they first arrived, especially since Will set up their home in the garage.  For the first couple of weeks Charlie slinked about the place with the most guilty expression on his face.  Now the chicks are almost as big as him, so he has moved on to his old standbys - woodpeckers, squirrels and anything else smaller than him that flies or runs on four legs.  Charlie loves being around us, and is no longer in hiding with his guilty conscious.  He will watch TV with the girls through the window, or just hang out near us when we are playing outside.  I still cannot believe that he picked our garage when he was just a tiny little orphan kitty.  Most nights he comes when he is called and we can lock him up safe in the garage allowing me to have one less loved one to worry about.  Such a good kitty.

 There were several holidays in March, which left me switching out the decorations on a weekly basis.  In the below picture we are decorating for St. Patrick's Day, as well as celebrating my brother Patrick's birthday.

From St. Patrick's Day we moved on to the first day of spring.  We celebrated by enjoying the spring flowers in our yard as well as making a Spring Bucket List.  Lucy arranged the bucket list in the center of our dining room table in such an artistic manner, I just had to take a picture.  The bunny painting in the below picture was painted by me in fourth grade, and I found it in our basement while doing some spring cleaning (aka get everything off of the ground as our basement leaks in spring!).  In the top right hand picture below is a custom beaded sun-catcher that a new friend of mine made for me, depicting all four of the spring flowers that represent my children: yellow tulip for Luke, daffodil for Emma, pink tulip for Lucy and a purple violet for Violet.  What a bouquet!

 After the spring celebrations, we moved on to Easter.  Here we are below decorating the house and eggs as well as baking rice crispy birds nests filled with M&M's for the eggs.  Also depicted below is one of the sweet, coconut-filled bunny buns that I made for our Easter breakfast.  Never again will I make them, as no one really liked them and they took way too long to make.

Easter morning dawned bright and early of course, and the girls had fun discovering their hidden Easter baskets in the theme of Fairies.  The Easter Bunny even left tiny, fairy-sized Easter baskets for each of the girls too.  Violet wasted no time after she found her basket and ripped open her chocolate bunny and was drooling chocolate before Lucy had even found her Easter basket.

 We got to church that morning before the previous service was finished and I did contemplate leaving when the people from that service were exiting to go home.  But that wouldn't be the point of Easter for us, so we stayed the course and at least enjoyed a seat for the next service - lots of other people had to stand.  When we came home from church we enjoyed an Easter egg hunt outside and then the girls spent time eating candy and playing with their new toys.

After giving up on Operation Get Violet to Take a Nap, we left for Will's parents house where we enjoyed another Easter egg hunt, time spent with family and even a great game of hide and go seek.

Usually, Easter is timed with Will's spring break.  Because Easter was so early this year, it was back to work and school the day after Easter.  Wow, was that rough.  We made it through, but I'm thinking we need to make Easter Monday a day off just to recover from the day before.  Here we are below, doing school work.  In the middle, top picture below, our friend came over dressed as Anne Frank and gave us a presentation on her life.  She did an amazing job and the girls were in awe of her performance.

Lately, Will and I have been looking at each other in mild horror and saying things like, "There are THREE of them."  No longer do we have Lucy, Emma and a baby.  Nope, now we have three, independently minded girls who are constantly vying each other for the head hen status.  About every five minutes someone is yelling "MINE!!!" and about every ten minutes, someone is getting hurt - usually after I warned them to stop doing whatever risky thing they were doing because they were going to get hurt.  When the "MINE" and the "OW" are happening at the same time - so every ten minutes - I can barely handle it.  Most of the time I feel guilty for having little to no sympathy when they are crying - either because of "MINE" or "OW".  Of course the pictures below do not back up my case that I am surrounded by three little crazy people.  As Will would say, "But they are so cute!"

Homeschooling has had it's fair share of ups and downs.  Some moments I feel like a prisoner in my own house with three little wardens keeping me locked in and I am the least patient person on the planet.  Sometimes this is a passing moment, and sometimes the feeling lasts all day.  Other moments I have such a feeling of love and amazement at the fact that this is MY life that I can hardly contain my joy.  The bottom line is that I feel a strong calling to homeschool, and that is what gets me through the ups and downs.  Most days, book work is just routine stuff that we all try to accomplish so that we can move on with the rest of our day.  And it really is the rest of the day that makes us all prefer the homeschool life.  Here we are below, at Will's work for Astronomy Night.  I learned so many things about the sun and the planets and all of us absolutely loved it.

It's also fun to go shopping when the girls know that other kids their age are still in school.  The best is when shop workers ask them if they have the day off and Lucy proudly proclaims, "Nope!  We are homeschooled!  We finished already for the day!"  Sometimes this embarrasses me as I'm afraid they will think I am a slacker, but the truth of the matter is that homeschooling really is efficient - especially when Lucy and Emma have shopping as an incentive to focus and finish up their work for the day.

Here they are below, enjoying life after their book work is done for the day.  In clockwise order from the top left: Violet, hugging a dress she liked at the store while saying "awwww!", Lucy trying on a robe and then me almost peeing my pants when I discovered she had left the hanger in it while trying it on, out to lunch with an old family friend and my cousins, and finally, modeling dresses that they are going to wear for their birthday photo shoot next month.  Going shopping with three girls in tow is dangerous for our budget.  I just want to buy all of the cute clothes...times THREE.

Most days we just play after our school work is done, and as the weather starts to warm up, we go outside to play.  The top left hand picture below is what spring time looks like in our garage - and behind that mess of bee hives and newly resurrected outside toys are the baby chicks.  It is a tangled mess which I hope translates to the fact that we are enjoying life and have a hard time passing up good deals on outside toys...times THREE.

The girls have been busy fixing up their fairy gardens...

...and we have enjoyed many a spring time walk to the river by our house as well as the school playground down the street from us.  Over Easter weekend we were playing at the school playground when we started discovering little bouncy balls scattered in the wood chips.  The girls started collecting them until it occurred to us that perhaps they were going to have an Easter egg hunt with them, as there were far too many balls to just be coincidentally lost.  So, we had fun discovering them all, and then sent them all down the twisty slide to be randomly dispersed back amongst the wood chips.  It was such a fun evening though, and the sight of all of those bouncy balls flying off of that slide was amazing entertainment for us.

On one of our spring hikes we were exploring some parts of a trail by us that we have never been on before.  Lucy had been hounding us to check out a small foot bridge and when we finally obliged her we discovered a bunch of turkey feathers on the ground.  After studying the feathers we came to the conclusion that they were not wild turkey feathers but a heritage breed of turkey feathers.  Once we made that connection, our eyes drifted to - gasp - a turkey, clearly injured and in pain a couple of feet away from the feathers.  We were pretty sure it was our neighbor's turkey, Tom so we called him up and he was by our side in about 15 minutes.  Yes, Tom had gone missing and yes, he would be right there!  Tom had already survived six Thanksgivings, and so we were hopeful that he would pull through.  Something had attacked him though and he was definitely in rough shape.  If we hadn't found him, he would have surely died there.  Our neighbor took him straight home and told us that Tom was so happy when he got back to his pen.  Sadly, Tom died the next day but we are holding on to the fact that he died at home and with the people who loved him.

Some of our favorite friends go to public school during the day, and it is always nice to have a playdate after school is out.  Here they are below, playing traditional school at home which if you think about it is a nice blend of both kids' worlds.

We also attended an adorable, strawberry-themed one year old's birthday party this past month that was at a roller rink our friend had redesigned into a beautiful gathering space and sports arena.  Every sporting equipment you could think of was available to play with and the girls had so much fun running around in the open space.

Our kitchen continues to support us as we pump out all sorts of food.  A favorite this past month was Irish soda bread as well as a very delicious veggie spring roll that we have been making in bulk as they freeze nicely and make a nutritious and quick lunch when pulled out of the freezer and put in the toaster oven two at a time.

 I have been very busy making stock for a three day lavender festival that I will have a booth at this summer.  I've been making soaps and lip balms, as well as selling lots of yard signs and finishing up my newly designed window decals.  In the top, middle picture below, Lucy made a Lego girl who she said was me, making soap.  While I do wear goggles when I work with the lye, I swear that I am wearing something more than a bikini top when dealing with the harsh chemicals!

My yard signs went viral this past month, and I have been enjoying numerous sales every day.  My phone makes a cash ding sound each time someone purchases from my Etsy shop, and the feeling of excitement hasn't dulled yet.  When someone buys my sign, I feel like I was picked first for the kick ball team (that never happened, but I imagine it would feel something like that if it did).  Plus, my vision for changing our perspective of what makes up a beautiful lawn is coming closer and closer to reality with every yard sign purchased.  Who knew something as small as the honey bee would create such a meaningful and passionate career for me.  I am so grateful that I have found my calling, and that my kids can watch first hand what it is like to follow a dream.  I am a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a niece and a keeper of bees - but you can just call me the head hen if need be!

Violet at 23 Months

Our playful, funny, sweet and sassy girl is almost two!  When we ask Violet how old she will be on her birthday she will giggle and say, "Seven!"  Then we say, "Not Lucy - Violet - how old will Violet be on her birthday?"  And then she will giggle again and say proudly, "TWO!"  After a little pause, she will then add, "Emma, five."  She is talking so well now and loves retelling a handful of the same stories to us, as well as saying the phrase, "Watch this!" before she does something goofy.  In the last week, she has started saying, "Watch this Mumskies!" which I find hilarious as for some reason, she now refers to me as "Mumskies".  

Violet makes it impossible to get anything done when Will isn't home to entertain her and as Lucy and Emma are engrossed in their own play and get upset when Violet messes things up, Violet and I can be found playing together most of the time.  Violet will take me by the hand and practically drag me where she wants me to go, and then tells me to "Seat down" and then shows me how to play.  Usually, after we have been playing for a bit, Emma wanders curiously over and becomes torn between playing with us or playing with Lucy.  Here we are below, making pizza.  This is something that they learned in their kids yoga class and is great stretching for the old Mumskies.  Our legs are the crust, in case you were wondering.

Will does a great job when he is home, taking Violet on various errands so that I can get some things done.  It's gotten to the point where when she leaves the house with Will, she will turn and ask me, "Mama come too?"  It is so hard to say no to that!  If I do muster up the courage to say, "No, mama staying home" she will respond with, "O-tay mama.  I love you!  Bye!"  But when I do respond with, "Yes, mama coming too!" she rewards me with excited jumping and squealing. 

Violet loves collecting rocks and her height lends her to the perfect angle for spotting just the right stones.  She is also very methodical in what she does.  She loves running around barefoot when we are at home, but unlike her older sisters who leave their socks strewn and stuffed all over the house, she places her socks on the piano every single time.

That's not to say that Violet doesn't contribute her own fair share of mischief though.  Here she is below, after I caught her cracking a dozen eggs all by herself.  Or in other words, when my back was turned she made a disaster of my attempts at breakfast.  I didn't handle this mess very calmly, but it did help that she kept sweetly saying, "I sorry, mama."  In the below picture, she is offering up her hands at me saying, "mess?"  Keep in mind that egg yolk dripped all over the counter, cabinets and floor just doesn't present as messy in photos.  About half of the dozen eggs made it into the bowl.

Our ViVi is having a rough go with sleeping this month.  It seems that we take one tiny half baby step forward and then after we enjoy the progress for a week, we take several giant steps backwards.  

As Violet is about to turn two, I can say that these have been the most sleep deprived two years of my life.  If I think too much about it, I get very frustrated and angry.  I feel as though her sleep struggles are stealing my ability to fully enjoy her rapidly disappearing babyhood.  Why, oh why have I been given not one, not two, but THREE kids who don't sleep with the last one sleeping worse than I ever thought could be possible?

 So, unlike with my previous babies where I fought with ever fiber of my being to achieve sleep (specialists, books, diet, magic), I am surrendering to my lot in life, and refusing to waste any more energy on the things I can control - anger and frustration.  And maybe I'm just too tired to fight what I clearly have no control over.  Most days we get by just fine, as long as I refuse to dwell in frustration and anger.  It is still very tough though when Violet is sick.  Her sleep when she is healthy is just enough for us to get by, but when we enter into a sick stretch already sleep deprived, it makes it so much more difficult.  Violet had another upper respiratory virus this past month.  We got through it with creative techniques - in clockwise order from the top left: staying in PJs all day, Violet requesting upside down back thumping to loosen up the mucous in her lungs, Violet using a play kitchen mustard bottle to show us how we spray her nose with saline, and finally, me pushing Violet in her swing outside for a nap, since she was too congested to sleep laying down and refused to go to sleep via more conventional methods.

These past two years have presented more challenges to my stamina (mentally, emotionally and physically) than anything I have experienced before.  But the same deep levels I have been challenged, I have also experienced that same level of delight.  My joy in Violet is so very large and the love that she sparks in my heart makes me say without a doubt, that I am beyond grateful that I was chosen to be her Mumskies.

The Adventures of February Homebodies

February may have been our last month of real winter where we live, which is unusual but definitely a relief!  It's strange to type this blog post about all the things we do in the thick of winter while listening to the birds chirping outside my open window.  Will had three snow days this past month, plus the day he took off for Luke's birthday as well as a mid-winter break.  This led me to believe that perhaps, just maybe, we had our life under control. What a difference having two adults versus our three children makes throughout the day!  Here we are below, enjoying a laid back month, mostly spent at home.

Charlie enjoyed a meal a day indoors and even got cuddles out of me a time or two after which I was not allowed to complain of allergies or sneeze too loudly with Will around.  Charlie would make such a loving indoor cat, but it occurred to us this past month that his affection is borderline annoying and he is actually a very emotionally needy cat.  We may have the best of both worlds with him with our indoor and outdoor boundaries, and he is lucky he is so cute and lovable.  In the top, left-hand picture below, Violet is feeling jealous of Charlie snuggling me, and kept telling him, "Mine Mama.  Mine Mama."

 The girls have definitely enjoyed Will home this past month.  In the top, left hand picture below they are greeting him as he came in from work one afternoon.  In the top, right hand picture they are admiring the Lego castle he made them on one of his snow days.  The following day he built another castle, as duh - two sisters can't share one Lego castle.  In the bottom picture below, Will is slowly realizing that he is not able to sit down anywhere in the house while the girls are awake, otherwise, he will be attacked by daughters.

The next pictures reveal a crazy dance party we had while listening to Pandora and playing with book lights.  Does it get any more wild than that?

Besides Legos, wrestling and LED dance parties, the girls played with Play Doh and water beads to constructively pass the time while giving their parents a break from fighting and other high maintenance behaviors.

We also played "nail salon" and even painted Violet's fingernails for the first time in her life.

Having Will around more than expected allowed me to accomplish more in the kitchen, from cooking up bulk freezer meals for when life returned to it's usual busyness to getting caught up on my honey business.  My little kitchen is so efficient and I am proud of all we are able to pull off in it.  The key is to keep it tidy, as there is no room for clutter when every square inch is utilized.  In the below pictures from the top left in clockwise order: straining olive oil I infused with lavender for soap making, my "tidy" hard-working kitchen, finished beeswax, boiling beeswax, and beeswax being filtered.

I got about three pounds of beeswax from my 2015 honey season, and I will use it in all sorts of body products to sell this year.  It was a messy job, melting it all down into filtered and clean chunks, and it took about three full days.  I'm glad it's done with, and I am still finding wax on the floor, the stove and the cupboards.

Since I had Will around to help wrangle the kids, I was able to do some experimental cooking of new recipes.  Some were a hit, and others not so much.  My kids aren't the most adventurous eaters, and it is a constant struggle to find the balance between healthy and well-rounded meals that they will actually eat while staying within our food budget.  I know it is probably my issue that their comments about what I cook have the ability to make or break my day.  I make homemade waffles for breakfast and they tell me that I am the "Best Mom Ever!"  And then for lunch I serve them homemade alphabet and veggie soup and they say things like, "UGH.  Not AGAIN.  I guess I'm going to starrrrve."  Truly, it is exhausting to constantly have to remind them about manners towards the cook, and it is tough love that is tougher on me, when I refuse to make them a special meal when they won't eat what's on the menu.  In the below pictures, clockwise from the top left: Lucy, Emma and Violet helping me bake, various soups and muffins I'm cooking in bulk for the freezer, a tin pie plate filled with a "healthy" smoothie that not even I could stomach and come to find out, neither could our chickens, the girls idea of what a good meal looks like represented in play food, and finally, our chickens laying eggs again after about a six week break during the darkest days of winter.

In the following pictures are the girls with their new stainless steel drinking cups as part of my New Years Resolution to eliminate more plastic from my kitchen, Emma's Mich-egg-an breakfast find (thank you to a Facebook friend for that pun) and finally, the girls enjoying breakfast with their dolls arranged around the table too, causing me to smile and feel ever so grateful for my girls.  That smile continued for quite a few hours, as we had waffles that morning for breakfast so there were no starving bellies or moody looks to deal with until at least lunch time.

Snow days don't really apply to homeschoolers, so we still did some school even on the days Will had off, but I was able to predict the weather a bit with the extended forecast and we made sure to bulk up some days of schoolwork so we could enjoy more relaxed days when Will had off.  One of the things I love about homeschooling is that any activity (even sometimes TV) can be viewed as an educational opportunity.  Putting stickers on a piece of paper is great for Violet's fine motor skills, and playing Monopoly Junior is a great way to practice addition and subtraction.  In the bottom right hand picture below, Violet and Emma are sharing a mid-winter's day foot soak while Lucy finishes up her school for the day.

The amount of time it takes to complete the day's schoolwork greatly depends upon the mood of the the teacher and students.  On a good day, we can finish before lunchtime, and then we have the rest of the day free to do what we want.  One day we decided that it was a great day to learn some embroidery.  Lucy and Emma LOVED it and I was very impressed with their abilities to learn so quickly, and even with their color choices.  In the bottom right hand picture below, Lucy is making a design out of Bead Art - the same Bead Art that I made stuff with as a kid - place the tiny plastic beads onto the plastic peg trays and then harass your mom to set up the iron and melt the designs together.  Talk about a full-circle experience!

 All three of the girls can be found on and off quietly reading and looking at books.  I love it when they happen to all enjoy books at the same time.  In the bottom right hand picture, they are snuggling under a blanket together after playing in the snow.

We had several good snow falls this past month, and by the end of it, the girls were almost over playing in it.  I never thought that would happen but the need for spring is universal I believe.  In the top picture below the girls and I are trying to grow crocus in votive glasses indoors, and in the bottom right hand picture below, Lucy collected some green pieces of plants that she found amidst the snow and put them in a bag of water to look at inside to remind her of spring.

Lucy lost two teeth this past month, which I can say without a doubt were NOT her sweet teeth.  Now when I look at her smile, she looks so much more grown up to me.  Oh, my heart strings!

As evidence that Lucy did not lose her sweet teeth, here are the girls below, waiting impatiently in the kitchen for the brownies we made for Valentine's Day to finishing baking.

We had a nice, quiet Valentine's Day and enjoyed making Valentine's Cards for our friends and family.  One of my favorite things to do is a craft project that we can all create together.  Emma was struggling with perfectionism on this particular evening however, and refused to smile for the camera.

While Will was at work one day, the girls and I made Valentine's Day cards for him.  I had gotten an idea on Pinterest for punching holes into card stock that the girls and I could then embroider hearts into.  I had a small problem when I realized the cardboard I had placed underneath the card stock I was punching holes into was not thick enough and had punched holes into our dining room table.  I felt sick to my stomach when I saw the damage but moved on to the concrete stoop at our front door to finish what I had started - until I realized that the double layer of card board was still not enough cushion and I had punched even more holes into what Will later described as almost 100 year old concrete.  I ended up texting him at work a little bit later when my conscious could not let me relax until he knew what I had done.  Happy Valentine's Day... thankfully my Valentine still loves me.  The finished cards did turn out really well, although next year it may be cheaper to just buy some cards at the store.

Looking at all of the above pictures it looks as though we never left the house in February.  It took the beckoning of beloved friends and family to get us to venture out, that is for sure, and we were always glad when we did.  We had a lovely brunch with family, our nephew/cousin's first birthday party...

...and a friend who is like a cousin's birthday party, meals with neighbors old and newer, a weekend visit with my college roommate, and a shopping date with my cousin, my friend who should be a cousin, and my cousin's daughter.

February is quite honestly my least favorite month of the year since we lost Luke.  Besides the difficult memories it brings back, it is also when winter begins to overstay it's welcome.  But looking through pictures for this blog post, it is clear that our February was just fine and I'd even venture to say great.  Helped along by friends, family and some snow days, we really did find a way to savor all of life's treasures even on our darkest days.