Finishing the house part b

Miranda Loves Purple/Lavender. Here is a picture of her bed. You can see she LOVES her babies. To prevent them from having to be sent to the floor at night she has them set up looking at her from the foot of her bed. Her border has little fairies resting on flowers on it and I set it in the middle of her wall at the height of her light switch so she could really see her fairies. Then I took green paint and shadowed the leaves/ivy at the base of the border just as they had done in the actual border itself around the leaves etc. Makes the whole thing blend into her wall nicely. She had picked out the border herself and spent some of her Christmas money on it last year. On her bed is a white dress she just had to have. It is just beautiful, if not as practical for this time of year. However it was a gorgeous day yesterday (Thanksgiving) and the children could spend a lot of it outside ~ after dinner she changed into white sweats and a t-shirt so she could climb trees... which she, Robert, and Christopher (her cousin) did. In the not so tall safe willow out front!~ Christopher broke his leg at the beginning of the school year. Doesn't seem to be stopping him. What a trooper!

Miranda's room was done ages ago. However, a more recent thing has occurred. Last week we painted the kitchen and this week we layed the tile in the bathroom and kitchen. Aunt Karen and Uncle Rolly had tile under roof ~ out by their shed and when we cleaned it all up we found we had just what we needed to finish the bathroom floor. About 7 years ago I had purchased white tile (27 pieces) for 50 cents each. We found 13 light to medium gray and about 20 pure white 8 x 8 tiles in what we got from them. When I graphed it I was going to put two white and then a grey, two white and then a grey and so on making a pattern that would sit on a diagnal. Well, when I placed one tile on top of the other to see if they were the same size... I found the grey to be an entire inch larger than the white and so I counted what we would need to do the landing up by the tub and then the main floor and found that we needed exactly 13 for the landing and 25 for the main floor. So, the grey went up and the white down. It turned out quite nice in spite of not being exactly what I had expected.

Grey grout in the bathroom and brown toned/tan in the kitchen/dining roomNow for the kitchen/dining floor! This was yet another adventure! Over a year ago we had gotten 12 by 12 tiles from Home Depot. I got all 7 boxes that they had in stock at the time. They filled the shelf again, but I didn't have all it would take to finish the room. So, waited. Well, I waited too long! The manufacturer discontinued the 12 by 12 size and I needed 9 more boxes!

However, it turned out for the best. I never would have been able to talk Bob into undertaking this project and it turned out just lovely! They still offered the tile in a 16 by 16 and Bob found a complementary tile at Lowes to cut, smash, and put back together to make a border. Where you see the tile cutter at is where some 16 by 6 tiles fit perfectly between the lamenant and the new tile in the dining area. The tiles were out of the pile from Aunt Karen and Uncle Rolly and they matched up quite nicely. We never could have found anything like that! And here again there was just enough to finish the job. I think we have 1.5 tiles left??

The Kitchen/Dining was grouted the night before Thanksgiving (which we hosted) and we brought in a dining table and chairs that our neighbor Kay gave us when she moved away. The other table (a natural finish butcherblock with windsor chairs) is most likely going to go out to the "Bunny Bunkhouse and Fiber Factory to be used as a fiber seperating table and sewing table. I plan on putting a sofa out there as well as a restroom (at least a toilet) and a large sink/tub for cleaning fiber. Molly and Wiggles will have a home there as well. With a run off the north side that they can go out to any time during the night.

Another great thing came into the house yesterday. The China Hutch! And we needed to unpack the Crystal and China too. It looks so lovely all put together. The piano will be next and then Bob has a project... building bookshelves and milling doors and trim for our cabinets. As well as the crown molding and baseboard.

I'll take pics of the 'closer to finished' rooms later and post them here.

Back in August Bob was bringing home bags of peaches for us to eat and can.

Robert and I decided to make peach pies for breakfast one day.

He was in charge of cutting all the peaches. Then while I worked on the big one he did his personal skillet pie.

He arranged all his peach slices neatly - wagon wheel style.

Then sprinkled flour and a wee bit of sugar on top of them.

He then rolled out his dough and cut it into strips.

Here is is arranging the strips basket weave style over his filling.

He does such a neat job of it. And is very happy with his accomplishment, rightly so. It is Beautiful! And this is his first effort!

Now that they have come out of the oven Miranda says they are too dark, however, the reason they are this dark is not that they are burnt... it is because we used a 50/50 whole wheat flour and it will darken moreso than regular white flour will.

He just couldn't wait to dig in... or should I say... lap it up!

However, he waited a while longer while it cooled down some more.

While he waited he fed Jacob his four eggs with a mashed banana.

Miranda dug in first.

Then Robert

This is what my slice looked like before. I would show you an 'after' picture, but it would be just a picture of my backside... not quite as appetizing. heehee!

It sure was delicious!

Great job Robert!

How's that for home ec?

Tadpoles

A couple of years ago a friend of ours down here gave us a rather large round tub that we use as a kiddie pool. The kids left water in it earlier this summer and frogs layed eggs which hatched into tadpoles. It sat like that for a month and then we deemed that we should remove the water and relocated the tadpoles.

I saw on Freecycle that someone was giving away a 10 gal aquarium with a screen lid. What luck! We then had somewhere nice to observe the little ones as they grew!

We started with maybe 50 or so of them and slowly... as they grew and the tank was a bit crowded we lost all but 4 either to the drain as the tank was being cleaned or they just died, or they ate each other. Yes, tadpoles, once they start getting legs will eat each other. Yuck!

This little guy has some back legs on him already for this picture when we first set up the tank in early August.

This is something very strange that we found swimming in the drain after we emptied the pool. We have NO idea what it is, but we put it in the tank with the tadpoles. It may be why we lost some of the tadpoles as well?

Here they are as the tank got all green and gross. Well, that is how they like it as they eat the algea and stuff. So, we had to make it as pond like as possible. We ended up finding a sunny place to stick the tank and they did great!

We now have 4 little tree frogs in the tank and they will be released all together this weekend.

Smiles

Jacob Loves bouncing on the ball with Heather, one of his OT's. He has started to bounce on his own as well and all this activity just helps him build his core strenth up so he can eventually sit independently on a chair or stool without slumping over... at least that is the goal. 9-11-08

Robert enjoys reading to his brother and sister ~ and they enjoy him doing it as well. 9-9-08

Miranda wants to help with Jacob too. She put the headphones on him so he could listen to a Winnie the Pooh story in her story reader. 9-26-08

I didn't do this... Honest!

Nope, Nope, I didn't do this... They did it themselves...







Really. Bob didn't intend for the cage to be for the kids, but....

Anyway, they were in there ~ chillin with the chickens ~ and well, while I was tempted to lock the door. I did refrain from doing so.

Bonita Tortuga

August 22, 2008

I spotted a good sized tortuga (turtle) on the warf this morning.

Must be time for another science lesson!

Robert picked it up and we had a look at its tail... por que nino o nina? (is it a boy or a girl?)

Looks like it's a girl to us.

The gatos (cats) were quite interested in what was going on as well.

Go! Jacob ~ Go!

Look at that boy GO!!!!

Hands nice and flat ~ out too! Having Miranda up on top helps out with that. The weight he has to pull around with him really makes him work for it and so he extends his hands to really dig in.

Monday 8-18-08 ~ PT with Bethany Underwood of OMC 11am-12 pm

Each session she is here we go for 15 mins of sit to stand, 15 mins of the creepster, then 15 of the Walkable on the tredmill, then the last 15 in the Up 'n Go. We are beat afterward... but NOT Jacob... he still wants to do more as seen in the next video.

And then... UP! UP! UP!

Miranda's Giraffe

Our little artist



Miranda Loves to create things



Here she is with her latest... a giraffe... we moved the ears forward and added the little antlers/horns after these pics were taken.

Bambi

This is our Bambi about two years ago. I think these pics are from late Sept or October a good month or so before her first hunting season. She had already lost her spots. Fall 06

We didn't have her fenced from that point on. She was already weaning and eating grass on her own quite well. She had visiters (other deer) and could stay in her "cottage" at night when she wanted to. By January she was with the herd we are sure she had been born out of. They took her in willingly and Bambi would be seen as the last in a line of 9 as they would cross the road.

A VERY pregnant Bambi this spring 4-22-08. The pic is grainie to say the least... because she was at the edge of the woods and I was on the front sidewalk a good 250'+ between us. I had the camera completely zoomed in. When I zoom in more on the computer this is the best I can get. I know it is her because she still had her flea collar. Once she joined the herd in Jan of 07 we couldn't get near her anymore. Last fall we saw her hanging out with an adorable button buck and another "couple" (doe and button buck). They were just adorable double dating.

We didn't see anything of Bambi for a little while. Then we started seeing a little fawn around by itself (not really... I'm sure mom was right there making sure all was ok... or maybe she was counting on us to be babysitter?)

We finally saw them together in July and I was able to get this picture of the fawn on the 17th.

Here they are together. It was just the other day... Aug 16th. The fawn still is fully spotted, but growing well. Bambi is a good mommy. She always makes sure she takes the fawn away whenever we start getting close.

Bad news though... Bambi has lost her collar! That was her trademark when hunting season was on. I wish we had a dart gun so we could get collars on them both.

Here the baby is looking right at us. We are just off the concrete... behind our house and the fawn is at the edge of the west pasture... maybe 200 feet away. As soon as we (Miranda and I) started walking forward Bambi gave her wee one a look and off they went. Not far though. Just to out of our site on the other side of the building. Which is where Robert was able to watch them eating for a while until Bambi became aware we were there and they dashed into the woods.


Here is a little video of the pair in the back yard. I am so glad she is home with her kind and had a chance to have a wee one of her own, but I do wish she would let me put my arms around her again.

Creepie crawlies

Miranda has absolutely NO problem handling almost ANY creepie crawlie!

Here she is with "Purple" ~ HER Cicada on Aug 9th

And we also found a praying mantis (male) on the plant we put Purple on... but she left that there... too busy with Purple.

Then a locust or flying grasshopper (I still have to figure that one out) just after she let Purple go in the plant on the porch.

Then on Aug 11th, while we were moving the fencing supplies around, she caught a ring necked snake. Right away Robert told us EVERYTHING about them that he had read in his Boy Scout handbook.

And of course we had to measure it and keep it overnight for observation purposes. He was released in the morning to go catch all the bugs he could in our garden. I hope he worked hard!

The Missing Tooth ~ Frogs 'n Dogs

The Missing Tooth

Well, She finally did it!
Last night, after working on her right front upper tooth for several days, she got to the point that she could turn it in all directions, but it was still hanging on tight.

We talked about different ways she could get that offensive thing out of her mouth. She begged me to hit her in the mouth so it would just fall out... like what my mom did to me once...accidentally of course... Thanks mom! it makes for a great story.

Big Yawn!

She is showing off her 'space' and goodies the Tooth Fairy brought her. A pair of tights, $2 in quarters with three of them being state quarters, and a package of 'smarties'.

She was so excited that the fairy had brought her all that.

How did she get all those goodies?

Well, she had her mom, me, tie a thread onto her tooth and then onto her doornob... then she gave the door a push and it just popped out! Rolled onto the floor... so we went on a little search. But, found it quickly. Then she brushed the tooth on its own and had me write a note to the tooth fairy, put the tooth and the note into a ziplock baggie and then help her put it under her pillow.

She got up early.

Molly and Nemo get along well.

They may fight ( at least it sounds brutal ) but they always make up and they are something else to watch. If you can... zoom in on Nemo's face. He is a VERY happy dog!

The Mysterious Frog

The boys found this interesting frog in the ground while pulling up some potatoes. It was burrowed in.

It has a very pointy nose and is tiny and slick.

In this picture his wee head is slightly tucked into his neck (if you want to call it that.)

If anyone knows what it is... please let us know...Thanks!