Happy Birthday Aaron!

Emmy, Aaron's wife put together this little gathering for Aaron's birthday. The kids had a blast! Such a nice party, relaxing, good food, great company... Emmy- you did it again! Beautiful family.

 Is this place beautiful or what!? This is where the Skok river meets the Hood Canal... those are the Olympic mountains in the background.... and some of you people wonder how anyone could live in this rainy state! =) THIS is how! GORGEOUS!

Here's Aaron (Michael's good friend) and Michael practicing their drives from the front yard out to the river banks.

That was a long one!

This is Elle playing in the natural spring that runs down off the hillside. It is totally drinkable!

Happy Birthday Aaron- thanks for being such a great friend to my husband!

Grocery List

Fun idea for parents of young ones out there... I asked Elle if she wanted to help me make a grocery list today, thinking she would contribute ideas for what we would get.... but she insisted on wanting to WRITE the list. So I thought "why not"!? So she held the pen and paper and wrote the first letter for each item on the list... an "a" for apples, "t" for turkey, "hb" for hamburger buns, etc... She was so proud of herself, had so much fun feeling helpful and involved and even learned her "w" (for wipes) in the process! I took "my turn" after her and wrote everything out so we wouldn't forget anything... just thought I'd share! I think I am going to make this a regular "exercise" from now on... and keep adding how much she can write until she can write the full words.

An Incredible Read

Child of Steens Mountain, by Eileen O'Keefe McVicker (found on Amazon for $13.22 here or search in the Amazon search box on this blog). What an INCREDIBLE book! A series of stories of a girl growing up in Eastern Oregon. A great book for anyone who loves "Little House on the Prairie" type days, or stories of hard working people and the matter of fact type up bringing. Remarkable stories, very well told.

It really strengthens my desires to chose to live a simpler, therefore often 'harder' way of life. I want my kids to have THESE kinds of memories. I want the "drama" in their life to be natural drama (like the chickens getting killed by a raccoon...) not the fabricated kind (like who Miley Cirus is dating...), when you have more of the natural, the other matters less and less until it is just ridiculous! I didn't mean this to be a "soap box" post, but I am just continually amazed at the things children are and aren't being exposed to these days and it makes it all the more clear how DELIBERATE I want to be with my parenting.

Yelm Farm and Pet Store

I met Dave from The Farm and Pet Store (click here for to view their site for location and contact info) here at my booth yesturday. What a nice guy, he asked to sell my shirts in his store! It is so nice to hear of a large farm store that is not corporately owned, but a locally owned family feel that still supports the small local businesses and meets all the needs of raising and caring for animals! I am excited to work with this store and encourage anyone in that area to support it.

Everyone LOVES the shirts!

Two days into the fair... an interesting experiance to be sure. I don't think I have sat as much as I have in the last two days in the last two years combined! It has been beautiful weather and the kids all seem to be having a good time. Everyone who comes by really likes and smiles at the shirts. The people who buy them are really in love with them and buy more than one as they are "perfect" for many people in their life. It is definately a niche group of people... I fear that my booth location (maybe due to my late entry) is not really ideal to reach the right people for my product, but many seem pleasently suprised to stumble accross my booth. I have had many take my information "to give to a friend in Missouri" or "my dad will LOVE these- he's in Alabama"... so that is of course exciting and encourageing. Those are good things to hear when I miss my kids so much and am putting in long days without them. I am hoping the foot traffic picks up tomorrow and through the weekend.

CinderELLE...

I just want to brag on my daughter for a minute... She is three and a half tomorrow.... She sweeps the floor, uses a small broom and dust pan to dump the dirt pile in the garbage, she peals hardboiled eggs, cuts up softer things for salads, caseroles, etc... she scrubs counters and tables, she mops the floor, gathers eggs, helps stack firewood, can make scrambled eggs nearly by herself (I turn the oven on since even on her stool, she can't reach the knob), she pours herself juice, milk or water when she's thirsty, makes her bed, cleans her room, puts her clothes away, scrubs her stained clothes with a Fel's Naptha bar (just taught her this one), washes dishes, dries them and puts them away, she pulls weeds, makes and butters her own toast and cleans up her toys always in time for the "vaccum monster".

All of this is to brag on my little one, but also to prove how capeable little ones are. Our dishes are not always spotless, the floor has many "missed" spots, our scrambled eggs sometimes have a shell peice in them, and sometimes a glass of juice ends up a table top of juice, but Elle enjoys doing all those things and will continue to be my "little helper" without a fight as long as it is fun for her and she knows she is needed. I love my little girl and am so happy to have her work beside me.

Christain can walk now... he'll be bringing in the firewood this winter...

Come see me at the fair!!

At the VERY last second we decided to have a booth at the THURSTON COUNTY FAIR! I will be located in the Lake Building.... come say hello, bring your friends, tell me what you think of my booth- come buy a shirt! =)

(click on "thurston county fair" above to open that website for days/hours and info on the fair)

Swing Swing Swing!

Yes, we put a swing IN our house! It'll be perfect for the winter, and certainly enjoyed in the mean time!

Notice Christian walking in the background! He is TOTALLY walking now... just today it became "real" he now walks more than he crawls! YEY! He is SO happy! He is already trying to run... silly boy... it won't be long!

Bed on the Porch=SUMMER

It is officially summer! We have moved a bed out onto the porch, it is so nice to sleep in the fresh air, with the moon and stars! Elle has been loving it! (These pictures are not very good, anyone have pointers for taking photo's in the dark?)

Summer has arrived!

Woodard Bay is BEAUTIFUL.. A nice walking path that leads to the beach where you can hear seals barking out on a dock, there's a nice picnic area, plenty of rocks to throw and a nice grassy area.

Notice Elle's Christmas dress! I let her dress herself, here's what she chose for her day at the beach! =)My friends kids, SO CUTE! Elle was trying to walk down to the beach after our picinic lunch and I could tell she was scared, I asked her what was wrong and she was looking at the grass, she said she saw something, maybe a rabbit... and then Owen says "I see a seal!" he is looking up on the beach and his mom and I are thinking "oh great, there's a dead seal on the beach"... he is pointing and we keep looking for this "seal"... as we get closer, UP POPS A WEASEL! I had never seen one in person, but wow they are interesting little creatures. Some "seal"! =)

New Blog

I have started a new blog with an effort to make purchase of the shirts immediately available for all of those who have interest and do not live near me to just handle it in person. =) Or who know someone I don't that has interest. I am NOT computer savy AT ALL... so any feedback you have on how to make this easier, would be excellent. I realize that there are better "purchasing" type sites out there, but they cost a lot of money and are super complex to set up and I am just not there yet. So if you are a blog expert and know how I can better link for purchases or shopping cart ideas...feel free to chime in, I'd really appreciate it! This is just so in the beginning stages, I am almost embarrassed to even put it out there, but hey, that's what THIS blog is about... what I am learning/experiancing! So maybe someone else could learn along the way too! =) Thanks you guys! Here's the site http://www.willowfarmstore.blogspot.com/ . There'll be a lot more pictures and info up soon...

Elle's New Shirt

"Smile Elle""Show me your new shirt mama made for you" =)

MORE shirts came back from printer!

Both Co-op's in Olympia, WA are going to start carrying the shirts at the end of the month.

Yummy, Tastey, Homemade treat

Flour Tortilla's buttered,sprinkled with brown sugar and Cinnamon,On cookie sheet in the oven (top rack) with the oven on Broil setting... watch it closely as it will burn FAST... I don't even close the door to the oven all the way.. it will start to bubble, the brown sugar will caramelize and the tortilla will get a little crunchy.... YUMMY! The kids love them and they are really cheap and easy and quick! Enjoy!

The Open Road!

Elle's new bike! She loves it! She has been riding it in the house (yes, we let her ride her bike IN the house... tisk tisk all you want...=) ) for a couple months and she was so excited to take it out to the street! She has her braking down, can stear and manouver like a champ (which I attribute to allowing her to ride inside where she has to make it around furniture, toys and her little brother). I love country roads!

Off roading on the driveway...

Last night we went to a friends house and their little girl had just gotten a new bike... not just any bike... a PRINCESS bike... complete with PINK everything, but most importantly STREAMERS off the handle bars...oooooo....aaawwwww..... We got Elle's bike thinking of Christian being able to ride it after her (man, we're cheap) and so wanted to get a boys theme bike..... let's just say, I am searching the closets for ribbons...... yes, to tie around the handle bars....to make HER bike a "princess bike"! =)

The van...

Yes... I am sad to say that I now drive a mini-van... and I am even sadder to say that it isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! It is so spacious, we just leave the back seat out and I can throw the jogging stroller or a bail of hay or inner tubes, or WHATEVER in there and we're good to go! It gets decent gas mileage, loading the kids is easy enough, and...

They LOVE to just play in it! Even Oliver and Tom (he ran before I could snap his picture, but he was sound asleep in the back- curled up in a little pile of straw that came off from the bail I hauled late last week- a whole new level of "I need to clean out the car"!) I have now started driving places 3 times only to get part way down the road and discover that not only is the dog in there, but the CAT has stowed away! Elle leaves the doors open and so everyone just makes it their home.... I better hurry to get that straw out of there or the chickens are going to come lay their eggs in there soon! =)