It's good to be queen.

...or at least a really cute princess.

Sometime after Halloween, i came across this adorable fairy princess costume at the goodwill. It was really too big for Sage now, but too cute to resist. We love dress up here. So i bought it with the intention of saving it for her birthday or even next Halloween. So about a week ago, Sage found the costume and begged to wear it. "Princess dress mama, princess...please!!!" So i put it on her, expecting it to last a few minutes before she moved on to a new costume.

For over a week now, every morning as soon as she wakes up , the first thing she says is, "princess dress? please?" So every day from the time she wakes, till the time she goes to bed she wears the princess dress. Every day.

She wears it outside, she wears it inside, she wears it when we pick up brother from school.
"Princess mama? Please?"

As soon as she is dressed, she begins dressing the rest of us up. No one is safe. Everyone gets a costume. i spend most morning sipping coffee while wearing a tiara and a pirate eye patch. Other mornings it's a witch hat, and a batman cape. Life is just never boring around here.



It isn't just us that she dresses up. She finds costumes for everyone and everything. These are a few of the members of her royal court.

Yep, even Sid the cat gets dressed up. i actually think he kind of liked it.

It's tough work being a princess.

Pizza pockets.

This weekend we decided we needed some pizza pockets! So i put the kids to work, mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough and rolling them out.






We filled the with just a few of our favorite toppings (what we had on hand) Pizza sauce, mushrooms, black olives, mozzarella and feta cheese.

We have these nifty pocket presses, that make the folding over and pressing really easy. Both the kids were able to make their pizzas by them selves. i just gave each one an extra press, just to make sure.

Yumm...they were a big hit with everyone! i posted the recipe we used below. It's super easy. i used half whole wheat/half white flour and usually throw in a bit of ground flax.

Hot Pockets

Dough:
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar. Let it set for a few minutes until foamy (if you're using fast-rise yeast, you can just add the yeast with the flour and go on). Then stir in oil, salt, and flour. Knead 5 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes.

Divide dough into 6 pieces. Roll/pat each piece into a 6-8 inch circle. Top half of each circle with filling of choice, keeping back from edges so it will seal well. Fold the other 1/2 of circle over the filling and pinch sides together or seal with a fork.

Prick a couple steam vents in the tops, and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F.

That's it! Super easy!

Back blogs.

i'm really behind on my blogging...i am working on playing catch up this week/weekend. So keep an eye out for Dec. and early Jan. blogs! :)

Happy Birthday Mom!!! :)

nature's own pest control.

While digging around my flower beds looking for signs of spring, i came across this interesting mass on the stem of my purple cone flowers.

This is a praying mantis egg case!



If you happened to read my nature journal, you may remember that i found a pair of mating praying mantids in my flowerbed last Sept. The female stuck around a few days, and then disappeared. i looked everywhere for her egg case hoping she had laid it close by, but never found it...until now! In the spring this little case will hatch about 100-200 tiny mantises, all at once. Mantids are beneficial in a garden as they will devour most garden pests. We'll probably bring the egg case inside this spring when the temps begin to warm up. We can keep it in an aquarium so that we'll get to experience them hatching and then release them.

Happy Birthday Sequoia!

Wow time really flies! This week we celebrated Sequoia's 7th birthday. On Friday we put together goodie bags and cupcakes for his class. The class was making homemade ice cream that day. The kids were in pairs and were supposed to be tossing the bag back and forth. It was fun watching the teacher trying to keep them all focused on the task. Amazingly, they all successfully made ice cream, and were able to eat it with their birthday cupcakes.

We decided not to do a party this year, and just did a simple family thing. We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and out to dinner on Monday, and then had our family celebration on his Tuesday. The school was having an in-service so Sequoia didn't have school on his birthday! Now that's a great gift!

Not sure what to call this thing, but Sequoia enjoyed it!

Sage played a couple games of air hockey with this cute little girl.

Sage riding with Chuck E. Cheese, Sequoia on the game behind her. Her favorite ride was the school bus, and i think she probably rode it about 10 times.

Chuck E Cheese is always a hit, and i admit i still love skiball! The roller coaster simulator was also pretty cool. :)

Um, yeah...so i won't win any awards for my cake decorating skills. :) i made a batch of cupcakes, and then just a small cake to decorate. The kids seem to like the cupcakes better anyway and i can freeze what doesn't get eaten right away.

Make a wish!

Sequoia lost another baby tooth, and is just about to lose his other front tooth. He's already got two of his adult teeth on the bottom. Man, where does the time go?



Don't let the face fool you. She loved the cake too.

Winter returns.

Only a few days after our 'heat wave' winter returned full force. We've had lows down to 2 degrees and finally saw a bit of snow to go with the cold temps.



My spinach has continued to thrive through it all. i knew it was considered cold hearty, but had no idea we would continue to have fresh spinach all winter long. i even have new baby plants coming up from seeds i planted late in the fall. This year, i am hoping to build some more raised beds and cold frames so that we can have some other veggies growing during the winter. i think my other green could have survived longer with cold frames.

Sequoia finally got enough snow to make a snow ball, although it was melted a few hours later. He is still hoping for a really good snow, so we can make a snowman and maybe do a little sledding. Although we have heard rumors of 'hard snowy winters' from the locals, we have yet to really see one. Snow never sticks around for more than a day, and rarely accumulates to much of anything. As much as i don't like the winter, i too would love to see a really good snow.

January Heat wave

The first week of January we had a couple beautiful days! The temp got up into the high 60's! We had all been feeling some cabin fever, and we're super excited to go outside and play again! Of course we had to blow bubbles!



Lots and lots of bubbles. Seriously, who can resist bubbles?

i love these winter days that get us excited for the spring. Warm enough to let the wood stove burn down, and play outside without our coats on.

We also had fun chasing the chickens around and catching the little peepies. We are down to 4 chicks now, we lost one a week after they hatched. :( We noticed 3 of the 4 have feathered feet. Making them a bantam mix. I's always fun to see the feathers come in and their colors change.

Even Kenan took a break from the shop to enjoy the weather and get some work done outside. Stacking wood, turning the compost and enjoying the sunshine. Sage enjoyed helping daddy turn the compost. The warm weather only lasted a couple days before dropping back to unbearable lows. It gave us some much needed outside time though, and already has my head spinning with garden planning. Spring can just never come early enough.