Chickens

Yes, we have gone one more step towards the "granola" side of things. There are a lot of perks to having an environmentalist husband: healthy and nutritious meal planning, an eco-conscious car that saves a TON of money on gas, a desire to have a self-sustained homestead as soon as possible, and now...chickens. We've been playing with the idea of having chickens in our backyard for a while now and just went for it this spring as soon as we saw that Tractor Supply was having their "Chick Days." We picked out six baby chicks, as cute as can be, and brought them home for a new family adventure. Last week, during Matt's spring break, we built them a very nice coop to call home. Here are some photos of the process and of us all enjoying our newest family pets:I love this photo. Heidi decided to blow bubble for the chicks. This was after she tried to feed them dandelions.The final coop minus paint. We're still deciding how we want to paint it.

It has been so much fun for the kids and Tobin is doing great with helping us take care of the chicks. We have had all of our playgroup friends over to share this experience with us and I know we will all have sweet memories of this adventure!

Snow Week 2011

Fall videos and updates

It has been a madhouse around here filled with all sorts of wonderful things! Tobin turned five and had several special birthday parties. When I asked him how it felt to be five, he said "Ummm...sort of like eight" like he truly knew what it felt like to be eight years old...what a wise soul! He had a great check-up, weighs 33.4 pounds, and grew three inches in the last year. Here's my boy trying hard to sing with bubblegum in his mouth:

Untitled from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

And not to be outdone, here's my little girl, being her silly self. Turn up your volume so you can hear her precious "Ow" moments:

Untitled from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

And one more just for fun:

Untitled from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

Halloween weekend

We had a super Halloween weekend. Friday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo for their annual "Boo at the Zoo" event. It was Heidi's first trip to the zoo and she was fearless around the animals! The same little girl that just four months ago was petrified, terrified, pee-in-your-pants scared of any animal mascot in the same room as her, came "thisclose" to the tigers (with glass between, of course), snakes, birds, and more. It was so much fun. The sad part was that my camera's battery died as soon as I pulled it out and I didn't get any pictures. Lesson learned.

Saturday was Denton Bible Church's fall family festival. This was our second year to go and it was a blast. Pony rides, a petting zoo, train rides, carnival games, bounce houses, face painting, candy...what more could a kid ask for.Tonight, of course, was trick or treating around the neighborhood. Tobin rode his scooter and Heidi hitched a ride in her favorite pink car and we were off on a candy hunt. It was a such a fun night!

Anyone out there?

Hi there! Remember me? Does anyone even read this thing anymore? I can't believe it's been so long since I've written. Even now, I don't have much time to update so here's some pictures of what we've been up to the last couple of months. I'm so happy fall is finally here (although it doesn't quite feel like it yet since the weather's still in the 90's). Matt has finished his volleyball season, I'm doing my first craft show in two weeks, the kids are wonderfully busy, and the Rangers are going to the World Series. That's all the excitement going on at our house right now! Okay, here's the pictures of the kids since I know that's what everyone wants to see!

We took a very fun trip to the new Fort Worth science and history museum with one of Tobin's best buds, Beck. Here are the kids digging for dinosaur bones.
Heidi's favorite part was the play grocery store. I think she would have pushed this cart around all day:I loved watching Tobin's face as he learned how to hoola-hoop:
We did new landscaping in our front yard and put out some of our favorite Halloween decorations:


Last week we took a trip to our favorite pumpkin patch.
Happy Halloween!>

Sew fun!

I've been doing a lot of sewing this summer and I'm having the greatest time creating things for Tobin and Heidi. Heidi has seen the most of it lately because I've learned how to sew clothes for her. I'm in love with sewing little dresses for her little body! I don't mean to toot my own horn by posting these pictures...I just want to humbly remember my sewing progress and share this fun hobby I've been enjoying. Also, I love sewing for friends (because it gives me more practice) so if you see something you like, I'd love to sew something for you! Here's some of my favorites from the summer...

Some bags I've made for friends. This was my first experience with using patterns:
I wanted to make Tobin a "doll" and when I asked what he wanted, he said a monster would be "awesome." Then he said he'd draw me a picture of what he wanted it to look like. He, very specifically mind you, said it had to have three horns, three eyes, three teeth, long arms and legs, and a big body. Here's his drawing and what I came up with to please my opinionated boy:
I made Heidi a doll, too. Her name is Janie:
Here's some of the dresses for Heidi:Look at that joy...isn't it contagious?

Finally...

I have a walker on my hands. Heidi has shown some motivation to get from point A to point B another way other than rolling, crawling, or crab walking. Here she is in action...

Untitled from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

Untitled from Emily Smith on Vimeo.