Earl Family Farm Field Trip

Last Friday we took a field trip with the Little Explorers to the Earl Family Farm and learned all about farming with a Tin Mountain instructor. The class was great and we loved the animals! The chickens were the first thing we visited, the kids all got a turn to go into the hen house and see them sitting on the eggs and even caught some laying in action!
The next creature we got to study up close was this little garden snake. Him and his Mommy (who was much bigger!!!) were hanging out in the sun by the little frog pond.

It is a good thing Daddy was not on this trip (no snakes for him)!!
James and Ethan posing for a pic with their good buddy Caleb and the Ram who was under quarantine (you know...spring time and all).

Here is Emmy coming out of the greenhouse where they they have all of their organic veggies and flowers growing.

Here I tried to focus on the lambs but I got the fence instead! Can someone please give me a lesson on how to focus on the background???

The same happened here but I though it was too cute not to post.

Next we got to see one of the employees feed this little lamb with a bottle! It was so cute!!

Here he is afterward with his little belly full and just hanging out in her lap enjoying all the attention.

Emmy checking out more sheep.

James was giving them little bits of hay they couldn't reach through the fence.

Here are the kids with Maverick posing for one last pic before we headed home. Definitely a fun place to visit and we can't wait to return.

Mollie-Do

So here is the non-mowhawk version of Mollie's first

little pony on the top.

And here are some other pics of her later on playing in the grass at the Earl Farm.

Ethan and "WALL-E"

Ethan really likes WALL-E and came up with this block creation using the wooden block set at church on Sunday! Check it out:

Daddy's "Tractor"

I say "tractor" because that's what he calls it but secretly we all know it really is a glorified lawn mower! He still is really excited to finally have one and it actually does do more than just a regular lawn mower so I guess I do have to give it a little bit of credit! AND he always said we could not have any (farm) animals until he had a tractor so I guess that means I have to go-ahead?????

The first night he brought it home the kids all wanted rides. They had fun going round and round the yard! It is funny they are all wearing hats and coats in this pic and two nights later it was 65 and they were in shorts and bare feet!!!

Then the kids got to drive, it was getting dark so the other pic's didn't come out good.

James loves taking pictures lately so here are a few he took a couple of days later:

Mollie Mowhawk

I put Mollie's hair into a little pony on top and this is what it looked like the next day!
Babies with mowhawks are still cute!!!

Sour Cream Biscuits...Yum!

One afternoon while folding laundry and watching Paula Deen on Food Network we saw her make these amazing sour cream muffins (that I was afraid to make at first because what is in them will go straight to my thighs) but they looked so easy and yummy!!! I modified them into drop biscuits and dropped them onto a sheet of parchment paper for easier clean up. The recipe calls for self rising flour but I never have it so here is the modified recipe:

1 stick of butter, melted

1 cup of sour cream

2 cups of self rising flour

(or 2 cups minus 4 tsp. then add 1 tsp. salt and 3 tsp. baking powder)

That's it! Just mix it up just until everything is moist and drop onto a cookie sheet or into a muffin pan. I used the Pampered Chef Large Scoop and it made 12 muffins (or biscuits or whatever you want to call them). Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.Here is a link to her original recipe on Food Network which I just realized has 2 sticks of butter, but because they are super yummy with only one I think I will stick with that for the sake of my thighs!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Emmy loves Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! She often asks me to read the "Boom Boom" book, it has a fun rhythm and is a good letter intro. I found the directions for this mini lap book and it looked like fun! The site also has a bunch of lap books for other fun stories, check it out here!

Mollie is going to be a walker SOON!!!

I snapped a short video of Mollie taking one step the other day! This is not her "first" step but pretty close. She now is taking 4-5 steps at a time and getting more and more confident!!

It won't be long now!!!

On no I just realized this video is going to be sideways! Oooops!!!

$3 or Less Clothes at Wally World!

Usually I am not a huge fan of Walmart for kids clothing BUT for $3 I can easily be persuaded to check out the clearance racks! I know it's Spring and most of the clothes I bought are long sleeve but I just couldn't pass them up. I just save them for the next season!!!
Here I got the boys two hooded sweatshirts and three collared shirts!

And here I got one long sleeve, one short sleeve, one sweater, and four pairs of PJ's.

Total cost was $30 for 12 items of clothing! That averages out to $2.50 each!!!!!!

I got similar deals at the Oshkosh outlet last week! Check out you local stores for some great deals!

Brown for Girls

You don't find clothes for little girls in brown very often but they both have cute little brown onsies and happened to be wearing them on the same day so I snapped a couple of pics:

I love their faces in this one, too cute!!!

Military Pack Fun

My Dad and some co-workers are designing a new "state-of-the-art" pack for the military called the M.A.D. Alice Pack. He brought it to show everyone at our Easter dinner and somehow the boys got the idea they actually could fit inside! Everyone thought it would be fun to try so here are some pics of Uncle Zack wearing James!!!

Hi James!

Ethan really wanted a turn!

He looks a little squished from this view but he was giggling and having a blast!!

Ethan got a turn next and I got a video of him:

Easter Pictures

First I had to take some pics of Emmy's Easter "Up-do", I was so happy with how this came out and everyone commented her on her hair at church. I am so happy to be blessed with little girls that I can play dress up and hair with!!! I had been looking at a lot of "hair blogs" for some inspiration on what to do with her hair and this is really a combination of a few. I did a messy bun in the back, some cute little twists on the sides, and left the front which is bangs and some extra hair out to frame her face. Here she is:

I tried to get some cute pics of all the kids together after church but "princess" Emmy would not hear of it and threw a fit, so here are some of James, Ethan, and Mollie which didn't come out great=:(
After only a couple of shots Mollie was done too! It didn't help that the boys were putting things on her head and begging me to take a pic!

I like this one of Pat and Uncle Zack doing up their ties.

Auntie Sarah and Uncle Zacky... they are so cute!

Here is Emmy later on at home after she had something to eat acting as cute as a button and willing to pose and dance for the camera!

PS - Please don't look to close at the messy under construction kitchen!