My little ladies...

Yesterday Daniel and I headed over to my in-laws to pick up a couple of chicks my mother-in-law Bonita purchased for me.  She now has four chicks and I have two.  She has two Rhode Island Reds and two Blue Wheaton Ameraucanas and I have two of the Blue Wheatons as well.  We are heading out on this journey together and thankfully she has had chickens before so I will be coming to her with questions as this is my first time.  I don't even have my chicken coop up yet but I do have the materials to start building one.  I will start building it this Friday after Christmas and plan on having it done by two weeks from now. 

Meet Josephine and March.  I have been talking to them and picking them up a lot trying to get them as tame as possible.  Daniel loves to look at them but he doesn't want to touch them, he seems uncertain about what those little creatures might do.  :)  My husband wanted to name them Kentucky and Fried but once I saw them I just couldn't do it.  But I have to say once they stop laying eggs then they will be dinner so I better not get too attached.  We'll see... :)

 Here is what they will look like full grown. 

And this is the color egg they will lay.

I am so excited! I have no idea what I am doing but I am getting as much information as I can and am so glad to have my mother-in-law doing this with me. 

It snowed this past Friday early in the morning which was really fun since I opened at my Starbucks that morning.  A couple of the girls ran outside and took this picture in the snow! Christmas is almost here!  Tomorrow is the big Christmas cookie baking day with my mom!  My fellow Starbucks partners better be ready for a sugar high on Christmas Eve morning at work.  ;)

Zoolights...

On Friday evening Nioka (a wonderful girl I work with) and her sweet little boy Kelani met up with Daniel and I at Zoolights and the Point Defiance Zoo.  We got there right before it opened for the evening and it was a good thing because by the time we left a little over an hour later it was PACKED.

 We got to see the meerkats, goats, camels and even go into the aquarium even though the rest of the zoo was closed for the night.

 

Checking each other out. :)

 

This little guy is crazy cute!  He smiled right after I took the picture, silly goose.  :)

 They had little replicas of the Narrows Bridges...

...and Mt. Rainier.

 We got to go warm up in the aquarium and watch the sharks in the big tank. 

Kelani really wanted to hold Daniel's hand and Daniel wasn't quite sure what to make of that at first.  They were so cute!

 The boys had such a fun time and it was so nice getting to visit with Nioka outside of work.  

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and is taking the time to go slow and enjoy the season!

Cranberry bites...

I just made these sweet little treats this morning.  I always have leftover homemade cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and for the past couple of years I have used it up by making these cute little bites.  All I do is make a basic pie crust, roll it out, and roughly cut little circles with a sharp knife.  I like the rustic look when not using a perfectly round cookie cutter.  Then I put a little dollop of cranberry sauce in the middle, scrunch up the sides, sprinkle on a little sugar, pop in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until a little golden.  And now we have a nice little treat to go along with afternoon coffee or tea. 

Thanksgiving weekend...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  My husband's brother Taraz flew in from Denver and spent a couple nights at our house but stayed in the area for a week.  The day after Thanksgiving instead of doing the crazy Black Friday shopping our family went camping.  Yep, that's how we roll.  Give us the outdoors to a shopping mall any day even if that day is cold and wet.  :)  My mother and father-in-law drove out to Twanoh State Park on Friday to get their camp all set up.

Daniel and I drove out there on Saturday morning (Rue had to work.) and arrived nice and early just when everyone was waking up and getting their coffee.  Bonita and George made a lovely breakfast and I had a bowl of hot turkey, barley and vegetable soup.  Just the right kind of breakfast when sitting out in the cold around a campfire.

 

Daniel had a blast being outside and goofing off with his uncles.  George was splitting some wood and came across a piece that had termite larvae in it.  I dared one of the guys to eat one for a dollar but oddly none of them took me up on the offer.  :) Maybe I should have upped it to five dollars.  (Those little white things that look like wood chips are the larvae.)

Daniel liked the little trails the termites ate out of the wood.  It turned into a little school lesson about termites.  That's what I love about homeschooling, every day is a day full of opportunities to learn.  

Daniel helped Uncle Rahmat with stacking the wood Rahmat split.  Daniel made the pile you see there.  He LOVES working outside just like his daddy.  Pretty soon he'll be splitting firewood on my parents' property for their wood stove. :)

The creek was full of dead chum salmon who had just spawned.  The smell was something else!!!  But we did see several live chum making their final trip up the creek which was pretty cool to see.  Once again another little school lesson for Daniel.  :)

A live one.  

 

Daniel had a blast exploring around the campsite and getting good and dirty.  He slept REALLY good that night.  

 

George, Taraz, Daniel and I went down to the beach there on the Hood Canal. Daniel had a blast down there too and had all kinds of questions.  Taraz made a comment about how it was like Daniel was in Disneyland that's how excited he was about everything.  My father-in-law said we could all benefit by looking at the world through the eyes of a child.  

 

 

Staying warm in Uncle Taraz's coat. 

 And what was the most fascinating thing we saw that day??!! A payphone...that actually still works!  This picture cracks me up.  We seriously were fascinated by the payphone.  I guess this was Daniel's history lesson for the day? :)

Back at the campsite Daniel made his own little "campfire" to roast "marshmallows" on.  

 My sister-in-law Ruhiyyih and her husband Matt came out for a little bit too and brought my sweet little niece Adaryn.  

 

Just give me a baby and a campfire and I am all set.  :)  (Picture taken by Bonita.)

 

 Niece after her Auntie's heart!  Can never start them too young on Starbucks.  ;)

 

 Have a cozy, warm weekend everyone!

You can watch a little video of Daniel and Uncle Rahmat "grass sledding", the chum salmon, the water and sweet little Adaryn.  Click on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153569216475338&l=8459805032046714878

Countdown to Thanksgiving...

On Friday morning Daniel and I left the house very early to go do the Thanksgiving grocery shopping.  Our first stop was Starbucks of course for some hot chocolate and espresso and then I drove down to Manchester to see the sunrise.  The view was gorgeous.  I even had a ferry heading to Seattle pose for my picture.

The view of Mt. Rainier was breathtaking.  Even the little sailboat posed for me too.  I am above and beyond Thankful for where I live.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world. 

Now starts the countdown to Thanksgiving.  I have my checklist of what to do each day this week up until Thanksgiving posted to the fridge.  I am hoping my family might pitch in to check off at least one or two things on the list. *wink wink*

My tasks for today are to make my cranberry sauce, chicken broth, and clean some windows.  I plan on doing just a little bit each day so I'm not scrambling like a mad woman on Thanksgiving.  All I want to have to do on Thanksgiving is be cooking and setting the table.  I do have to work 5am to 10am but that still leaves me plenty of time to cook that turkey.  Everyone is suppose to arrive at 5pm.  We'll be having 15 this year with ALL of Rue's siblings being here which is very exciting! Time for family pictures!!  :)

 

Here is my freshly made cranberry sauce! Yes, those are Christmas decorations you see in the background.  Yes, I decorated for Christmas this last week.  I decorated one year for Christmas before Thanksgiving and everyone loved it so much that it has become a tradition.  :)

 I had to include this picture of Daniel and Daddy reading a bed time story together.  This Momma was a puddle of mush on the floor.  :)

This is the book they are reading.  We have a few different Fern Hollow books.  I grew up with them and they are lovely little stories.  This is all Daniel wants me to read to him right now.  I highly recommend this as a Christmas present for any of the little people in your life.  :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week everyone!! 

A paper chain, shaving cream, coffee and red cups...

Daniel has been so excited for Uncle Taraz's visit on Thanksgiving and he was asking about 50 millions times a day if Uncle Taraz was here yet.  So I decided we should make a paper chain so his little mind has an easier time processing when Uncle Taraz will be here.  I let him pick the papers out of my fall scrapbooking stash.  He has been tearing off a piece every day and then counting how many are left. 

He was playing the other day and I found this.  He had taken an old monkey "leash" we had used on hikes for him and made it into a little "snuggly" for his stuffed turtle.  :)

As a fun school activity on Monday morning we played with shaving cream.  I am hoping this will help him with learning to write his letters.  He gets so frustrated trying to write them on paper.  Writing them with a finger in some shaving cream is much easier...and way more fun. :)  There wasn't too much "writing" this time around, he was getting used to how the shaving cream feels on his hands.  I have found he doesn't like his hands being dirty or sticky.  But by the end he got used to how it felt.  And yes, he is wearing one of my Starbucks aprons.  :)

Speaking of Starbucks...looky what I have!!!  One of the greatest perks for working at Starbucks is a free pound of coffee every week! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152693560806002&set=a.10152585180766002.1073741828.107831491001&type=1&theater\

  

...red cups!!!!!!  Some people might complain it's too early, but not this girl! I am happy, happy, happy! 

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

 

Little Pumpkins...

 

 Here are my little Trick-or-Treaters! Well, one of them is not so little anymore but she had fun taking Daniel from house to house.  He only lasted a few houses and then he got scared. He didn't like going up to people's houses.  He came back and sat in the car with me and he enjoyed watching all the kids walk by all dressed up.  I especially liked a couple of little girls dressed up as ketchup and mustard bottles.  Too cute and not scary, my kind of costume!  

 I had to share these pictures of my cousins Eva-Karin and Mary Beth's little guys!  There is just too much cuteness going on! Ethan was a monkey.  Apparently he rarely took the costume off before Halloween.  

 His little brother Cody was a pumpkin.  That is a little sugar pumpkin I could just gobble up!!

Mary Beth's little guy Asher decided to be a pumpkin too! The cuteness is just too much!  I am very sad we live so far apart. Most of my cousins live down in LA and we don't get to see them nearly enough. 

 

We got a fancy new computer this week and Daisy and Daniel were playing around with the camera.  This is what I discovered saved to the computer this morning.  :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steinliland/9921326393/

My mother-in-law sent me this picture on Facebook a couple days ago.  She asked if I wouldn't love to go on a nice long hike in those mountains and then come back to this little cabin. Yes, yes I would.  :)

I am so excited it's November!!!  That means Thanksgiving is close! Everyone is coming over to our house again this year, I can't wait! We found out that my husband's brother Taraz will be flying up from Colorado on Thanksgiving day to join the festivities. Daniel was beside himself with excitement when I told him.  He loves his Uncle Taraz!  Uncle Rahmat will be there too and Daniel is not going to know what to do with himself having his two crazy uncles around to play with. 

Have a lovely Sunday everyone!  Hope you all enjoyed the extra hour of sleep! I did, but then I woke up an hour early and couldn't fall back asleep! Ha!  :)