:: Flat Stanley goes to the Farm ::

Little Flat Stanley came to us via my niece's 2nd grade class. 

He enjoyed his stay. ;)

:: A Birthday celebration & An actual birth day ::

Ella turned SIX yesterday. How on earth has it been six years since we welcomed our little "princess" into this world?

She started her day with donuts and a small gift to open up before school and ended it with a few fun surprises in the kitchen, supper with her Nana & Papa, and two new baby goats that were born while she was at school!

She requested strawberry cupcakes & tacos for supper so that's what she got.

We've been keeping a close eye on Pistal for the few days knowing it would be anytime before she gave birth. Just prior to the kids leaving for school, Chase and I put her into the barn (just incase). Well, it was a good thing we did! The next time I went out to check on her around 10am these two little cuties where standing in the door way!

Yes! A boy and a girl!
Meet JOHNNY & JUNE!

So far they are both healthy and Pistal is being a great mama!

What a fantastic start to Spring!

:: That Never Ending Nagging 2do List ::

We all have them : continual to-do lists and it seems like Spring brings them on in full force. Now don't get me wrong, I am super excited that the grass is beginning to turn green and the days are longer and warmer.

Because in reality it is still only the middle of March! We could still get a snowfall. Shhhh... I won't say the "s" word again!
But today, TODAY began with a beautiful sunrise followed by a nice Spring rain.

Which of course resulted in more mud, thus delaying the start of many of our projects.
Breath Megan, Breath.
Over the course of the next few weeks we have pigs coming (a first for our farm), Pistal Annie will be giving birth for the first time, a new steer is set to be joining our "herd", garden seeds need started, potatoes need to be put in the ground, & 100 baby meat chicks will be delivered via USPS. All of these things mean we need fencing built and shelter for all of them. Aaron is tired of my nagging 2do lists; but I'm freakin out man!
Somebody's got to be the bossy "jack ass" at the top of the pile. BTW~ I'm totally not bossy. (Zip it Aaron). LOL!

Yesterday we attempted to burn our CRP grasses. This needed to be done SO badly. We haven't been able to do it the last two years and it needs a fresh start!

Thanks to the lack of wind and very moist ground it didn't burn all that great. However, we got most of the borders done so that will help when we attempt it the 2nd time; weather depending.
This was my first time helping because in the past I've either been working or in the house with Ella.
This time we all helped out. The whole thing is old hat for the boys. They understand where to burn first to help prevent the fire from spreading beyond where we want it to, as well as how to help it along.

I love that this is just one more way the boys can help with conservation and improving the land for wildlife. If you'd like to learn more about the benefits of "prescribed" burns click HERE.
One thing off our 2do list; well partially.

:: Planting for the Future | Wildflowers ::

This morning, thanks to the help of the Illinois Fish & Wildlife team we hand planted over 45 species of wildflowers and grasses on nearly 2 acres of our farm.

I can't even begin to explain my excitement and anticipation to transform this into a field of beautiful wild flowers for my bees and other pollinators!

Here's just a sample of what we planted! (all flower images by Prairie Moon Nursery)

The seed was mixed with sawdust and oats to help mark where the seed had been spread. The team did an amazing job of sectioning it off to ensure the seeds were distributed evenly.

Thank you, thank you to each of you for the fun experience this morning!

See you all in 2-3 years for a photo in the flowers! ;)

:: Let them Create | a little bit of rambling & a whole bunch of pictures ::

Ella says she hates "art" day at school and that makes me so sad because she LOVES to color and play at home. What the heck! Every kindergartener should LOVE art class! ;)
Therefore, one of my goals for 2016 is to instill a bit more creativity into my kids' lives and make it fun!

Yesterday I was finally putting the New Years Eve decorations away. Whatev.

I had printed around 150 wallet sized black & white photos; all of them telling our "2015 story". They were displayed in the living room & kitchen and the kids loved to look at all the little memories.

I had no idea what I was going to do with these little photos because I have already scrapbooked them. But no way was I going to throw them away!
So, I created a simple flip book using 5x7 pieces of white cardstock and attached the photos.

The photo book and a few supplies will be left out so the kids can add their own journaling and drawings as they'd like.

Ella is LOVING it (oh, and don't mind her messy hair and pjs. She's still home sick today).
Chase even did a little journaling last night. I love that this "book" is going to be created completely by them!

Speaking of scrapbooking. I've stepped back in a BIG way since last May. I called it quits on all of my design teams. While it was such an amazing experience to be a part of all of those & to "meet" so many people that way, I felt like I was scrapbooking for someone else not for our family.
So, in May I switched from the Project Life style scrapbooking to digital books that I have printed through Shutterfly. The top two books in the below photo are my 12x12 photo albums from Shutterfly and the bottom book that is open shows the traditional 12x12 album with the PL system.

DON'T get me wrong. Some days I really, really miss the creative side of the PL albums and all the supplies that go with it but this year just didn't allow the time to put into these type of pages.

The Shutterfly books allow me to upload the images and create the digital pages as time allows.

Then, once the book is full I send it to print!

I also love that fact that I get to create my pages and spreads focusing on my photos and our stories rather than on a companies product.

Another upside : they take up WAY less space! The two smaller black books towards the left are the shutterfly books and the traditional albums are the rest.

The downside is that if something gets spilled on the Shutterfly books or a page gets ripped, there's really not an easy fix like there would be with the page protected PL style albums.
With all that being said, record and document those memories! They are important!