Easter, an Art Contest for Hayley and Catching Up!

Happy Spring!!! Hope you all of you that celebrate it had a wonderful Easter :-)

It was very difficult without my mom this year as this was one of her favorite holidays, and also my sister and her family couldn't make it down this year. We celebrated the best we could while missing them all. 

The Easter Bunny was good to the girls and they enjoyed their baskets and the egg hunt. They found money and candy in their eggs and Kathleen won the grand prize egg with $20.00 inside! She's been lucky the last couple of years, lol.

                                                  As you can see here she's pretty happy :-)

 Kathleen also likes to do an egg hunt for all of us; so she fills and hides the eggs and then she has grand prize eggs where we can pick from several prizes. This year she had them sitting out in her little wagon :-) She is always so thoughtful and puts a lot of time into her planning.

           This was Jerry's plate at Easter... we had chicken as well and desserts too of course :-)

We had such a beautiful day to enjoy!! I was quickly wondering why I had a light jacket on, lol... it did come off after the photo!

     My dad spent the day with us and then the girls went back to his house to stay a couple days.

 Our ducklings have grown so much so we recently had to move them out to a dog kennel we had in the yard. We had to put boards around the bottom as we quickly learned they tried to escape. The dog house is for their shelter.

Of course they have a pool to swim in and they love it! They are so very fun to watch. The kennel is completely enclosed, on the top too so nothing will get to them as they are growing.

                                                                  They are so adorable!!!

We have 3 original ducks left from when we first moved here. They still run right up to us for their food each day.

The goats got their Easter treat.... peaches! They were quite happy :-)

The other day I had my annual doctor visit and they had this sign in the window that made me laugh... just had to share it :-)

While there my blood pressure was 175/108 so she has put in a referral for me to see another doctor and I'm still waiting for that call. I had several recommendations for the Dash diet... has anyone else tried this one? I went to Barnes and Nobles and picked up a few of the books, then found the new Pioneer Woman magazine and a new book from Maria Shriver that was also recommended to me. I'll be busy as I'm already reading another book and listening to an audiobook lol.

This was my lunch one day... I am part of weight watchers online, but don't keep up with the tracking like I should..... lifestyle changes are hard and after losing my mom I just have been stress eating :-( I know I need to change things around to stay healthy for my girls... baby steps....

I also had a great coupon for Erin Condren and this is the first time I've ordered her products. They are just lovely!

Kathleen is back to finding 4 leaf clovers!!

                   I keep them in a vase she made a few years ago, always makes me smile :-)

Found this little beauty on our egg hunt... we have several throughout the yard and they are so pretty.

                                         Even the dandelion brings a smile to my face ;-)

Jerry is standing next to our redwood tree we planted last year, it is rapidly growing and doing well near the pond.

 This was also sent to me and I wanted to share as I'm sure we can all relate to this feeling... I know I can lately! So much going on and life keeps spiraling so quickly forward... rarely time for rest.....

On a happier note..... Hayley's artwork has been selected for a recent contest and if you are on Facebook you can cast a vote for her using this link  If you love her artwork as much as we do, we'd love to have you vote for her :-) When you get to the page scroll down until you find her photo and then click on it, it should highlight around the edges. Then scroll down and hit the submit button. Thank you for supporting her!!!

                     Kitchen reveal will be coming up soon! Just a few more finishing touches!!!

                                                                            Blessings,
                                                                                  Jill

A New Project, New Family Additions and More!

Happy Spring!!! Ours arrived with lots of rain and dreary today! But I'll take that over the snow my family and friends are currently getting in Maryland and Pennsylvania! If you live up that way, stay safe and warm!!!

A project that has been keeping me very busy and away from blogging is making over our kitchen on a budget! Our current home was built in 1968 and the kitchen I don't think ever changed, lol. It was almost a deal breaker for me when we saw the home, but we loved the property and so many other features so Jerry promised we'd fix it up as soon as we got some money saved... so March 18th marked 2 years we've been here and all this past week we have been making some changes. Can't wait to share it all with you but here's a sneak peek! :-)

One of the ducks we have just walked off her first egg she laid this season. Usually predators get them, but I'm hoping this one has a chance!

Sadly we are only down to 3, we had 8 when we moved here. Some from the prior owner and others are our neighbors, they love our pond! They go back and forth between his and ours. He told us he has had them over 20 years!! I didn't realize ducks could live so long.

So our new family additions, also keeping us busy are baby chicks and ducklings! Even since I have taken this picture they have grown so much!

                                                                So stinkin adorable!!! :-)

We will be getting their coop together soon and as soon as it is warm enough placing them outside. We had chickens back in Ohio and Jerry and Hayley built the most amazing coop! We were sad to leave it behind. I'll be featuring more about them soon.

Ruby and Annabelle were loving their treat of celery the other day and little Annabelle just turned a year old on March 10th!

Having 5 dogs we take turns taking each one out for some love and attention one on one, the other day we had Bella out with us... she was having a grand time! :-)

Filling the bird feeders is a full time job here thanks to the squirrels and I always think it's so interesting to see the strength and determination of a little seed to grow anywhere no matter what the circumstances may be!

          We found them sprouting and thriving on the bird feeder platform Jerry built for them!

This past weekend we spent the day with my dad and went up to the train show. We had a great day. Then the girls spent the night with him at his house and Jerry and I ran some errands, went to dinner and worked on the kitchen. We were going to try Texas Roadhouse but being St. Patrick's Day the line was wrapped around the building! So we popped over to the mall and got subs, big date meal, lol. ;-) But hey just having the time alone to talk and enjoy each other's company was nice.

                                                Kathleen was very festive for the day! :-)

This was such a sad wreck.... the bell is basically all this is left from it.... lives lost, injuries.... so awful!  Here is some more information to read about it if you are not familiar with the wreck.

 Just a quick post today to catch up! Soon I will be posting our kitchen reveal :-) Hope you are having a wonderful day!!

                                                                         Blessings,
                                                                              Jill

Signs Of Spring Around Our Yard And An Update On What We've Been Up To!

There's  nothing quite like Spring to reawaken our souls :-)

To have new growth and unlimited possibilities... how the strength of one small, determined seed can change everything!

Here is one of my squash plants that reseeded itself and has started to emerge from the soil... although something is mighty hungry and already beginning to eat it's leaves!

Our blueberry bushes are also starting with new buds. We planted 3 last Spring and are anxious to see how they do this year after some growth!

I found this beautiful bird bath that is solar powered and lights up at night at our local Big Lots. My mom always loved hummingbirds as do I, so I knew it would be the perfect addition to our yard.

We have this beautiful mature Camellia shrub that is absolutely beautiful! It has many blooms on it, but the other day after this was taken the colder temps. hit and made a lot of them close up and die :-(

                                                       I love how pretty the blooms are :-)

Kathleen's strawberry plants she put in last year are coming out too! Now I just need to find a way to keep the squirrels out of everything!

I'm pretty sure this is another tomato plant that reseeded itself, unless the birds dropped another kind of seed into the tomato container! :-)

             With the death of certain plants and trees, there is room for new life and new beauty....

                                          Dried leaves and seed pods and pine cones galore!

                                   Wild violets popping up all over the yard too! So pretty!

Little hard to see as it blends in so much, but the butterfly bush I planted last year is coming back really well!

Still keeping our feeders filled until it gets warmer again, the birds are just in heaven having food readily available and 4 bird baths to enjoy!

Our Rhododendrom has lots of buds getting ready to bloom soon. This one is always so very pretty!

                                            Small new bud on one of our dogwood trees.

                                                            Well hello little "guy"! :-)

i love walking around the yard and seeing all the new things growing, despite every odd they make it through with determination!

  Our pecan tree! Not many leaves yet, but boy do the goats love eating them when they do come in!

                  Weeping cherry is always so pretty too... this is one of Jerry's favorite trees :-)

                                                 More dogwoods starting to bloom.

                                                        Green grass beginning to show.....

I was excited to see my tulips starting to come back up, but NOT happy to see the squirrels digging up the bulbs to eat them! My dad said squirrels don't seem to like daffodils and I see a ton of them blooming around town and in our neighbor's yard so may have to plant those for next year!

             We've had a lot of rain lately and it has finally gotten our pond filled back up! Yeah!!!

      Spent some time sitting and talking with mom as I was walking around the yard. Miss her             terribly...... I could feel her with me, but I just wanted to give her a hug so badly.....

          Birds are getting ready to lay their eggs, we have several bird houses all around the yard.

Walked down to say hi to Annabelle and Ruby :-) Didn't have treats on me so they were trying to nibble my fingers, lol ;-)

This is our sunroom and I was trying to get a good shot of my stained glass windows, though the sunlight reflection makes it hard to see. Two were my moms, and the hummingbird window Jerry had someone paint for me :-) I love sitting there enjoying the warmth and watching the birds.... my mom always like dit too. She always said she could spent the whole day in there when she wasn't able to get outside.

  Another perk to Spring weather coming is finding more and more delicious fresh fruit to enjoy!
            When the strawberries arrive nice and sweet I'll be making several dishes with them!

                                Just had to include these pictures of Elvis.... he's so spoiled!

The other day Jerry and Kathleen got to spend the day together and they had a blast at an adventure place that had an arcade, go carts, mini golf and more! Enjoying the beautiful weather!

           Can you find Kathleen on the porch in the little house? She kind of blends in there, lol.

It's good for them to get a break as they have been so loaded down with homework every night. Hayley made this delicious guacamole that she learned how to make in her foods class. :-)

    She was also very excited when she received her first edition of Hemingway's Farewell to Arms!

               Busy planning out our projects for the house and yard. Will be updating more soon!

                                                                               Blessings,
                                                                                    Jill