Peas Please

On her way to pick peas this morning...Finally! Something in the garden is ready to harvest! Yey for sunshine!!

Delicious! Christian ate at least 5 in 10 minutes, and Elle will snack on them all day... shells and all.

The Rhinoceros...

Elle:          "dada, where are you going?"
Dada:           "Down to check on the chickens." (Dada exits the scene, gun in hand)
Elle -with a little bit of fear in her voice:               "What's dada going to pechew?" (Pechew is the gun shot noise, that's the word she uses for "shoot".)
Mama:     "He's looking to see if there are any racoons or fox's down there".
Elle-feeling liberated from her fear, knowing dada's going to "take care of her chickens":    "Oh... and then he'll pechew them? the racoons, foxes....and rhinoceroses?" =)

Forth of July in Gearhart, OR

We went to Gearhart Oregon with friends for the 4th weekend. Elle showed off her expert kite flying skills, made sand castles, ate YUMMY pastries from the bakery, walked the beach, waded (Michael swam) in the ocean and went to this parade....The parade was great, super cheesy, just a fire truck and a bunch of locals (AKA: super rich people with $300 jeans and $800 strollers) dressed in red, white and blue. Elle loved it because so many people threw candy... it was funny though because half the time she had to fight for what was thrown in front of her with the other kids that we IN the parade! =) They would walk behind the people throwing candy and race to grab it before the kids watching could get it! hahaha! candy makes kids...and adults like myself.... do funny things! =)

What great wigs! This was the start of the parade...SO LOUD!Here's Cooper (My friend's darling little one) sound asleep on the beach while his daddy...

hunts for crabs!This one was a girl... you have to thrown the girls back, you can only keep the boys to cook up!

Here is Michael with both the kids. Elle LOVES riding in that pack!

Here's Liesl and Nate... notice their step...could they be any more in sync!? LOVE you guys! We had so much fun at the beach with you!

Shirts, shirts, shirts!

This is the logo.  It reads "Comfort for Life". That is our slogan.

Early next week I'll have the other shirts ready/printed and have a lot more colors.

The First Pullet Egg!

We were gone for a couple days and the chickens were kept closed into the henhouse. This is the first time the pullets have ever been kept in for the day and there was an egg today! I am wondering if the little lady has been laying somewhere else up until now... they like to hide them at first. This is one of the Aracauna eggs, as you can see it has a blueish/green tint. Yey! hopefully they'll all start laying soon so they can help pay for their food! =)

Finally! Our house! And how we did it for so cheap!

Okay! Here they are! I kept waiting to have my house clean and the way I "envision" it looking when things aren't so busy...but I now realize, this is just it for now! With young kids, no matter how clean, there is still stuff all over with young kids, farm life and just LIFE in general...so I decided to just take the pictures and get them up for the many who have asked about our new house and wanted pictures. Many have also asked about how we did it for so cheap, so I will share that info as well and who knows, maybe someone will see a great idea they can tweak for their own house! =)

Beams! I LOVE these beams. Michael got them off a demo job from an old dairy factory in Seattle. Cost: FREE! We just pulled the nails off of them, scraped the cow poo off, washed them a little with a wash cloth and called it good! ...Did I mention that my goal with the NEW house was that it LOOK old ?

Here's the dining room. ALL of our windows and doors I either got at Olympia Salvage or Craigslist. They are all wood (Marvin and Andersen) windows, to go with my "older feel" theme... We probably saved about $20,000 buying these used...Okay, I also noticed when looking at my home from a "we don't ever buy anything" viewpoint that we have been ABUNDANTLY blessed by so many people! ( I always knew this, but really saw it in a new light here...)The trunk: given to me by my mom's cousin, whom I consider a friend. The dining rm table and chairs (over 100 years old): given to us from family friends (they consider me their second daughter), I painted it and re-covered the cushions. The window seat/storage box: my dad made and gave to us. The highchair: Michael's parents gave to us to use.

Here's the window seat, for our aniversary I got the fabric and foam at 50% off...still yet to sew it together... The light is one of two that we did for our bed lights. We couldn't find them in the finish we wanted so I got spray paint and painted them.

Cabinet that I made with old barn wood. Michael cut the posts for me with his chain saw. It's crammed full with egg cartons!

This is Christians room... the crib was the same I used as a child (was my older brother's first), same with the rocking chair  (well, my mom used it, while holding me!), I made the quilt on the bed-which was given to us as well, we are borrowing the rug from my parents and they also handed down to us the dressor/changing table.

This is a little nook in our bedroom-sort of a dark photo... The desk was a wedding present, the table lamp was a christmas gift, the door that you barely see in the corner/side of photo is solid core, that we got on sale for less than hollow core doors.. and the chair...

Michael and I want to an antique auction when we were first married and the auctioner laughed at us that we offered $1 for the chair, and got it! (a smaller one too! 2 for 1!) It didn't have wheels and needed a little wood glue.. we bought some wheels and vise gripped the top with wood glue and here it is 6 years later, still holding strong!Here is the kitchen... We really understated the cost for cabinets... $15-25K! So instead michael got out his chainsaw (again) and we had some peices of the beams left and some barn wood, and so we made these! I got the one set of drawers on sale at home depot and the island we got on craiglist. I painted the cupboard doors on the island and spray painted the handels...The black door you see on the side left used to be my parents front door (I painted it too), the kitchen sink was my parents (they remodeled their house at just the right time!), the appliances we got through my younger brother who works at an appliance store-MAJOR discount!=) ALL of the counter tops and ALL of the cupboards in the whole house (this kitchen plus 2 1/2 baths) were about $800!!!

Here is the living room.. Round table pushed up against the wall (so the kids can ride their bikes inside...we are a relaxed kid house....did I mention my toddler actually swings from the beams!) was given to us.

)Here's our master bathroom...The cupboards, I found on craigslist for $20 and painted them black. And the wainscotting (here and in the other bathrooms and the kids rooms, was done by ripping down scrap boards, the chair rail was made with the crate our wood floor was delivered in! We took it appart, pulled the nails and re-used it.

Here is our master bedroom porch. The shakes were given to us from Michael's uncle. The cedar rail was given to us from some incredible family friends who ripped it down, from their own trees, on their Alaskan Sawmill!

Here's our stairs... haven't been able to afford carpet yet! =) Which is actually JUST fine since the kids would probably ruin it at this stage anyway....It is nice to not have to worry about it... The railings were also pulled from my parents remodel.. i just painted them...

This is the playroom! The chair was given to us, the toy holder and the play kitchen, also gifts. Kits Camera was having a 50% off enlargements and JoAnn Fabric had frames 60% off, so I put my best "play" pictures of Elle in there (Christian was still just in my tummy, so none of him yet...) .

This is the other side of the playroom... carpet reminant...(see the big stain in the middle...so glad we didn't pay for "real" carpet yet!) the TV was a gift from friends, the TV stand/cabinet was 60% off at IKEA simply because the key was lost for the lock. Behind the photo of Elle at the beach is the laundry closet... I LOVE having it on the same floor as the bedrooms!

Here's our wood stove. We try to have this be our main source of heat. I love the kettle on top, it is so nice to have hot water "on tap" for tea or cider or hot chocolate. Oh, and here is a close up of the kitchen shelves. Yes, we use mason jars for glasses, the copper tea kettle is from my gandma, the brackets and mirror from my mom's work, Lynch Creek Floral. (In Shelton, WA- great store!)

There you have it! We also saved money by installing the flooring, the trim, the siding (but had some great friends that came and helped with that!), and the deck roofs. My dad helped immensly to install the decks and sofits and all the "little stuff" one doesn't realize is SO MUCH... closet rods, closet shelves (which we used left over scraps for), towel rods, toilet paper rolls, the wainscotting, the exterior trim, the bats on the exterior of house, and more.. We painted the interior of the house on our own and had a friend help paint the exterior. It was A LOT of work, especially beings that I was pregnant for the whole process, but it was great to be able to build a custom house at a very minimum cost.

Raw Milk

I am trying to find people in the area that are interested in buying RAW Jersey milk. In order to become a drop point (and therefore get it at the lowest price) I need to commit to 10 gallons a week at $7.50/gallon (there is NO up charge for me, I make nothing, just have the opportunity to enjoy the "wholesale" price like you!)
I am just recently learning more and more about the benefits of raw milk and really excited about being able to provide it for my family. FYI, anyone who is Lactose Intolerant... you would NOT have that problem with RAW milk. And if you are not a fan of whole milk: the cream rises to the top and you can skim it off if you want for a reduced/nearly fat free milk. Make Kefir, use the cream for homemade icecream, etc... I am excited to learn to make yogurt with my berries as well.
Let me know if you are interested! I have about a half a gallon of "regular" (tisk tisk) milk left in my fridge and then I am going to only be buying raw. Elle loves it and it will really help with digestion transition for Christian from nursing to bottles of milk.