Well the verdict was that our volunteer flowers are hollyhocks. Aunt Cookie sent me a bunch of great links on how to make dolls out of hollyhocks. We called them our dancing fairy dolls and the girls had a grand time with them. I couldn't hardly get them to stop the dancing long enough for a picture.


Yesterday, we finally did the mosaic stepping stones that Grandma Mary had sent us 2 Christmas' ago. The girls were very excited about them. At first Trinity was trying to do the dragonfly pattern, but we had to switch gears and do a heart like Angelina's. The dragonfly was just a little too intricate a pattern for her. We'll get pictures of them when they are cleaned up and removed from the molds in a few days.

My neighbors were processing 15 of their chickens this morning. They graciously allowed me to participate so I could learn how. Our chickens are going to be processed as soon as we finish up the next bag of food. Between their age and only 5 laying hens, we are only getting 1 or 2 eggs a day. I took the girls with me and David even came over for the last round of chickens. I was a little worried about how the girls would do, but no worries. They thought it was really funny when the chicken bodies went flopping down the hillside after their heads were popped off, and Trinity was really into plucking the feathers off after they were scalded. We brought home a bucket full of legs and heads for our dog, Lucy. Here is Trinity showing them off. She has decided that processing chickens is fun. :)

This is me and the girls. Grandma Mary had made a comment about how I'm never in the pictures so I thought I should have David get one with me in it. :) He took several, and most were a disaster. This was the best one we got. Trinity was in the middle of talking unfortunately.

I ran out to catch the end of the Tea Party Rally in Des Moines - we went late with chicken processing and I pretty much missed the rally. On the way back I finally remembered to stop at the service station in Carlisle and pick up an old tire. I have been telling the girls for a long time that we would put up a tire swing. So, I have finally made good on my word.

Angelina is too little to sit in the tire and hold on, so she gets to ride top side.

Notice how chilly it was here for the fourth of July - I made Angelina put on a jacket because Trinity was complaining about being cold after she had been swinging. So crazy after living in Arizona!

Oh, btw, we got 2 chickens as a thank you for helping with the processing. We cooked one for dinner and it was MUCH better than the one we had previously. We must have just gotten a bad bird before.

Grace and peace be with you!

Posted in: Slow Lane on Saturday, July 4, 2009 at at 7:23 PM