I'm back! (And I have a new table!)

I find it hard to believe that it has been nearly a month since I have written a post. Yikes! It is amazing how fast time can go by.

Where have I been this last month? Well, mostly at home. You see, we had these super cute kittens and I just assumed that momma cat would do all of the work taking care of our precious kittens. Instead, she ended up getting very sick. She had a horrible abscess and was extremely dehydrated.

As a result, we spent a lot of time force-feeding Rosie (momma cat) and bottle feeding her kittens. They were very little and needed to be fed about every 3 hours. It felt like we had an infant again and we couldn't go anywhere!

In addition to that, I prepared for and taught the last teaching in our Bible study at church. (Curious? If you are really curious, you are welcome to listen to it here.)

Since then I have been preparing for the upcoming Women's Brunch at our church. I am new on this women's ministry team and am still figuring out all that goes into planning these events. Now I am also speaking at that event too. I am looking forward to that!

Other than these things, I have been very busy gardening when the weather has participated. I have moved plants, divided perennials, planted new flowers and planted many veggies, both seeds and starts.

This last weekend we bought a used outdoor dining set. I am so excited to have this now! We can actually all fit around the table with room for our plates and the dishes of food. Tonight we used it for the first time.

Look at that great table with some amazing food. Yum! The best part, though, is the loved ones sitting around the table. You can see Kylie and Ayla on opposite ends of the table and Daniel's hand working on some food. Also pictured are Daniel's mom, Alice, and her amazing fiance, Bill. I am looking forward to many more barbeques and outdoor eating experiences this summer!

Stay tuned! I am returning to this wonderful blogging world and even have another amazing giveaway lined up.

Birthday Fun at Painted Plate

For Kylie's 7th birthday, we held her birthday party at Painted Plate. It was so much fun seeing the little kids paint and create their own little masterpieces. As much as I enjoyed watching them, though, I must admit that I was a little jealous. Okay, maybe more than a little jealous. I really wanted it to be my turn to paint! Sadly, in the midst of the chaos of a kids birthday party (my own kid's birthday party), it was not possible.

So what did I do? I gave an extremely selfish birthday gift. A little over a month later I told my friend, Leila, that for her birthday I wanted to take her to Painted Plate and we could each paint something sans children. Thankfully, in my selfish gift giving, I knew it was something she also would enjoy.

We arrived at 4:00 and (courtesy of Leila) started our projects along with some amazing Olympia Coffee Roasting coffee. Could their possibly be a better way to get the creative juices flowing than coffee?

We assumed a couple of hours would be sufficient time for each of us to thoroughly enjoy our time without kids creatively paint our mugs and be ready to leave. The problem is that we are both very detail oriented and perfectionists.

One of the keys to good coverage is painting 3 layers of every color. Let me just tell you now that it is not a quick thing to paint the whole piece with three layers!

In the midst of our chatting, laughter and painting, we watched groups come and go... and still we painted.

At one point we realized how long we were taking and worried that we might need to return another day to finish. Relieved, we found out that Painted Plate was open until 10:00.

5 hours later (about 9:00), we were finished.

At that point, all we could do was wait the 5 days until our mugs were fired. I was a little tempted to ask if we could possibly put a rush on ours since I was so excited to see how it turned out!

In the end, the mugs were worth the wait. Here is Leila's very fun finished product:

I was very happy with how mine turned out as well. Here is my finished product:

After this experience, I think we might have a new birthday tradition on our hands. Yes, we definitely need to do this again.

Thankful for the Birth of Kittens

"When will Rosie have the kittens?

For months now our family has been anticipating the birth of kittens. I know, a cat isn't even pregnant for months, but it is still true. Our girls knew from the day we brought Rosie home as a kitten that we were planning to let her have a litter of kittens.

I am just as excited as my girls are. (This is a first for me too.) Last week I told my girls, "I am so excited that I have butterflies in my tummy!"

To explain how her tummy felt, Ayla responded, "I have butterflies and flowers and hearts..."

It was still another week before they arrived.

"Mom, Rosie is having kittens! Right now!" This is how Kylie woke me up yesterday morning. She was the first to discover the event.

I plopped in my contacts, put on my robe, and came to witness the birthing of kittens. When we arrived at the birthing box, Rosie had just birthed her second kitten. As we watched, Rosie silently labored, birthing a total of 5 kittens.

 

The following video is not very good picture quality, but it sure is cute hearing Kylie call Nana and tell her about the kittens.

Rosie has been such a good momma cat. She took care of each one of her kittens as they were born. I love to listen to her; as her kittens nurse, she purrs and purrs.

In the end, Rosie had 2 black kittens (one with a white tummy), two tabby kittens (one with white paws and a white tummy) and one kitten that is an almost black tabby. We are in love.

We are so thankful for each one of these kittens and that we had the privilege of witnessing their birth.

What are you thankful for today?

 Come join me (and my friends at Adventures Of Raising A Baby In The City )! Every almost every Thursday, I will post something for which I am thankful, and I would love it if you participate as well. It is medicine for the soul to give thanks and, when practiced regularly, results in contentment. It can be anything: silly, personal, or blog related. Just take a moment to give thanks!

Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens

Ever wanted to take a step back in time? Immerse yourself in someone else's life? Last Friday, I enjoyed a glimpse into the life of Hulda Klager. This glimpse is only a short drive south to Woodland, Washington at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. The appeal of the trip is the incredible lilac gardens, but there is so much more than just gardens.

Hulda Klager's Home

First we strolled up the walkway towards the beautiful historic house. This home is filled with the history of Hulda Klager, including many pictures of her family and stories depicting "normal" life at the time. Here is a framed story I enjoyed:

Hulda's bedroom with original dresser, bed and quilt.

Hulda's "mail order" stove.

"Hulda tells the story of her mother, Mrs. Thiel, when she lived in Germany. One fall day in the mid 1850's, Mrs. Thiel went out to her farmyard to feed her pet geese. To her dismay, they were lying on the ground apparently dead. Shedding a few tears but still the practical farmer's wife, she carried the geese into her big warm kitchen and proceeded to pluck off their feathers. While plucking the last one, to her astonishment the geese started to get up and stagger around the kitchen. Eventually all the geese were running around in the house sans featheres and quite a spectacle. Mrs. Thiel was so happy to see her pets alive again that she couldn't chop off their heads. 'What to do with naked geese?' she thought. Winter was close at hand and they would surely freeze. The family trait of originality popped up and she made red flannel underwear for the whole flock, thereby solving the problem until nature had replenished the plucked feathers with a new set of natural clothes for the pets. Mrs. Thiel later discovered that her geese had eaten some cider mash which had fermented. They had become thoroughly intoxicated and were in a 'drunken stupor' when she picked them up for dead."

After visiting Hulda's home, we went outside to enjoy her beautiful gardens. Hulda Klager's passion was hybridizing plants, but especially lilacs. It seems like we were a week or two early since many varieties were not yet blooming. Even so, there were many varieties in bloom. Here are a few of my favorites.

From a distance, this one looked like a pink cloud:

"California Rose"

"Anabel"

"Royal Purple"

"Nadezhda"

"Mrs. Bereasha"

"My Favorite"

 I loved how these pink buds opened to a lavender flower:

Pres. Grevy

Mm. Lemoine

 With a name like "Hallelujah", how could I resist taking a picture of this one?

"Hallelujah"

Pink is such an unusual color for lilacs and I especially enjoyed this dark pink bud and pretty pink bloom:

"Esther Staley"

 This is one of the select varieties labeled as "extremely fragrant".

"Katherine Havemeyer"

And would you believe it? Three of us unintentionally color coordinated for the visit:

If you enjoy lilacs, I suggest you take time to go down and visit these lilac gardens. They are open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The farm house will close on May 8th, but the gift shop and gardens remain open until May 14th.

Olympia Local Foods - Winner!

To determine the winner of this giveaway, I entered everyone's name into the list randomizer at random.org. 
 

Here are the results:

And the winner is: 

Krystal Austin!

Krystal, I will contact you through email so you can claim your prize. I hope you enjoy your free local groceries!

 

Thank you to everyone who entered!

If you have never tried Olympia Local Foods, I would encourage you to check out their site and order. Hope to see you at Olympia Local Foods picking up groceries on Thursday!

Natural Dandelion Control

In our yard, we have a raging infestation of dandelions. Everyone in our area deals with their own share of dandelions, but I happen to think our yard gets hit by weeds worse than some. It really doesn't help that there is a currently unoccupied rental next door where the yard isn't even mowed.

So, how do we control weeds? Well, last week I enlisted (bribed) the help of my 7 year old and 5 year old. The incentive? 1 penny per dandelion head,  5 cents for a root.

Kylie went for the roots. She took the challenge to heart.

Ayla didn't bother going for the root, but she sure was proud of those dandelions she picked!

And they enjoyed hamming it up for the photo shoot that followed.

In the end, my yard had fewer dandelions going to seed, my kids were occupied for a good part of an evening and I invested a total of $3.37 towards dandelion weed control.

Don't forget to sign up for the Olympia Local Foods - $25 Giveaway!

Olympia Local Foods - $25 Giveaway!

I have to share this little gem with you. What is that gem, you ask? It is Olympia Local Foods! I absolutely love doing as much of my grocery shopping through them as possible.

What is Olympia Local Foods? Here is how they describe themselves: "Olympia Local Foods is like a grocery store, but more local -- like a CSA, but more flexible -- like a farmer's market, but more convenient."

I have been using Olympia Local Foods for about 9 months now and I love the ability to select my groceries online. As a mom of little ones, I love the convenience of shopping whenever the time is right for me. I can browse and add items to my cart at my own convenience (at least until Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m.). Then I pick them up on Thursday (between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.). So easy!

Another thing I love is that Olympia Local Foods has taken the time to find local farms, dairies, bakeries and other yummy food businesses. I know many of the grocery stores in town carry local products, but I frequently am not sure which items are local and which ones are not. Everything Olympia Local Foods carries is local! All of the businesses offer quality (organic/natural) products that taste amazing.

Do you already shop at Olympia Local Foods? Here is a chance for a huge discount off of your next purchase! Have you thought about it but not tried it out yet? What a great opportunity to try it out!

The giveaway:

The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive a $25 credit to Olympia Local Foods!.

To enter the giveaway: 

1. Follow/subscribe to this blog. (Why follow? Here is a great article about why.)
 

AND
 

2. Leave a comment below sharing your favorite local business or a comment about Olympia Local Foods.

One extra entry in the giveaway for each of the following:

1. Share about this giveaway on your facebook. (Um, if we aren't friends on facebook, you will probably need to leave me a comment letting me know that you did this.)

2. Share about this giveaway on your blog. (Again, letting me know certainly would not hurt.)

Enter this giveaway until Friday, April 29, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be randomly selected and then announced on Monday, May 2, 2011!