Time for a little break...

well, a big break actually!  Sam and Lily's Spring Break took us to Costa Rica!!!  This is something we've been wanting to do for so long and it really was a dream come true!  John and I had been several times before, but we'd been wanting to share the experience with the kiddos and we finally got our chance...

Our week in paradise included:

Horseback riding...

Zip lining.....

And lots of swimming....

Our week was full of amazing sights and experiences:

And these two are great travelers!!!

Just give them some electronics and Biscoff cookies and they'll fly anywhere!!!

 As they say in C.R. -- Pura Vida!!!~
Laurie

Oh Home Ec, you are a TRUE LOVE!!!

Sam was so excited to have Home Economics as an elective this quarter! It seems that all of the kids look forward to this class and Sam finally got his chance!  Their first area of study was house chores.  He had a different chore each night for the different rooms of the house and I had to sign off to say that he did it.  This was kitchen night:

Last week was cooking week and their specialty was Monkey Bread.  Sam was so eager to show us his cooking skills that he wanted to make his bread one night after dinner, but I was able to talk him into cooking for us on Saturday morning.  So this is what we woke up to:

And the bread was delicious!!!  Now if we can teach him to scramble eggs and make coffee...

Coming next week!!!! 

 (If you need me I'll be in my closet collecting 

clothes that need to be darned!!)

Proud of my Home Ec Pro~

Laurie

Snow much fun!!!

February brought us several snow covered days; causing the kids to miss seven days of school.  But, if you can believe it, they weren't too upset about that!  We definitely had our fun with:

Sledding,

making snow angels,

 making snow ice cream,

and EATING snow ice cream!

 Hey, look!  They get along when it snows!!!!

We took a ride down memory lane and watched family movies!

The first snowstorm that came through took us all by surprise and it was just one catastrophe after another.  I had my own little panic attack because John was out of town for work, but in the end everything was ok and we all made it under our roof after about 4 hours.  The craziness of the whole incident has made Atlanta the brunt of a lot of jokes and this is one of the best one's I've seen!  

Atlanta Snow Storm!!!

One of the snow storms came on Valentine's day, so we spread LOVE all around!  

Roadside....

in the kitchen,

and since we couldn't get to the store to buy cards, we made our own!  All of us!

And not to brag, but really.....look how creative mine was!!!

So, February was an odd month, but I'm so glad that we were able to have some fun family times!!!

Brrrr~

Laurie

P.S.  One of my favorite pics from the snow.....

And now for a formal introduction!

As mentioned in the previous post, last year's move brought us the adventure of farm life!  I do use the term loosely, but living 30 minutes outside of bustling Atlanta, this little piece of Heaven definitely falls into our farm category! And being on a "farm" you have to have farm animals!  So, say "Hello" to our friends!

This is Beulah!  She is an Ameraucana chicken and lays the prettiest blue-green eggs!

 This is Baby!  We love her black and white feathers!

This is Larry and Curly.  (Yes, we know they are girls...) They are two of our original chicken group that were left after something attacked and ate 3 of our lovely ladies.

This is Rosemary; she is such a pretty buff color!

This is Ramona! She's kinda pushy!

And this is Nemo!  She is the smallest of the group.  You can't tell real well from the picture, but she has feathers around her feet. She's pretty prissy when she walks!

And these are the pretty things these ladies hide for us to hunt for every day!!!! 

And our latest additions....Biscuit and Gravy!  We got these two guys about a month ago and they have been a fun addition!  They are miniature donkey brothers and are about one year old.  To watch them play, you'd think they were puppies!  They run around and chase each other and nip at each other...and even better, when you walk out into the field, they come right up to you and cuddle their head into your arm and want you to rub their ears!

So that is the official introduction to all of our feathered and furry friends.  Oops, don't let me forget this guy:

Our sweet Zac.  He so wants to be friends with the donks, but they are just not interested.In fact, he pretty much falls into their category of "prey".

So there you have it, that's our little world!  We love every inch of it!!!

E-I-E-I-O~

Laurie

Farm to table: Moore style

Last year for Earth Day, I went into Sam's class and helped with a seed planting project.  The students planted cucumber, cantaloupe and tomato seeds. They got to take these plantings home, plant them in their yard and hopefully have a harvest during the summer.  We also went to a local restaurant's garden and planted tomato plants for the restaurant to use in it's dishes. Well, I was floored by how many kids could not grasp this idea and had never had the opportunity to grow something.  They REALLY didn't know that it was possible to do this in their own back yard.

And, as you all know, (all 4 of you who may read this) our move last May took us from a residential neighborhood to a farm-type environment.  We're on about 4 acres, but believe me, this home has made us feel like we're on a 100+ acre working farm. Last summer, we got our first taste of growing our own fruits and veggies and the luxury of farm-fresh eggs.  It was great being able to run outside and see what there was for us to eat that day! We really feel so fortunate to have this wonderful experience for Sam and Lily!

So for 2014, I'm getting them involved in the whole process of growing a garden full of things that we love to eat.  We made a list of what veggies we want to grow, I researched the planting and germinating times and have now turned my office into a seed sprouting operation!

These are the first seeds that we planted.  We have several more veggies, but Mr. Farmer's Almanac says to start with these.

We set up shop on the kitchen table and got down to business.

We gave the seeds a happy home in my sunny office....

and lo and behold...look what we already have, just one week later!!! 

Putting our green thumbs to the test~

Laurie

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