The Finale ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 25

It's hard to believe that today is the final day of April and the end of the Outdoor Nature Challenge in recognition of Children & Nature Awareness Month! We have met so many other fabulous like minded nature families, made it outside through rain, hail, wind and sunshine *grin*, and had a ton of fun doing it :)

So as a wind up I thought that I would share some of the photos from throughout the month that didn't make it into our daily entries :)

We've picked dandelion's by the basketful...

Plowed, planted and rolled in the potato patch...

Spied on the cows through the grass...

Played in the rain...

Discovered hidden pathways through the shrubbery that I used to play in as a little girl...

Built forts out of yard furniture and toys...

And reveled in the beauty of nature :)

I hope you all had fun following along and spent some time immersed in the outdoors yourselves!
~ Rosina

Getting Ready

I'm ready to start!
I finally got into town and picked up some pretty yellow linen and an assortment of brightly colored embroidery thread for stitching with :)

I'm not sure though if I'm going to start by drawing my grid of 100 blocks. During the last stitch along I had noticed that some of the gals used up two block spaces for larger blocks and I really liked how it looked and I'd like to incorporate that into my sampler. So I think that I may start with just one line of 10 blocks and then see how it goes *grin*. That will be my project for tomorrow and hopefully I'll get a block completed to!

Happy stitching,
Rosina

Sunny Day Treats ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 24

It must be a sign that summer is on its way!
The little ice cream shop down the road has officially opened for the summer season *grin*. As a special treat today I took the kids down for an ice cream cone and then we slurped away on them and enjoyed the warm sunshine this afternoon. Yup, it was a lazy dazy day! LOL

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Hiding Out ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 23

What to do when the pouring rain and wind returns....

Why you hide out in the woodshed! *grin*
The weather has taken a turn for the worst again but in our quest to make sure that we get outside at least once every day this month I thought that the perfect place to play would be in the woodshed :)



It's also the perfect place to hunt for salamanders! We dug around in the lumber pile and underneath the wood and were able to spot a couple of different ones but the little guys were much to quick for us today and we just couldn't catch one to share with you :(

My oldest son K has taken a liking to splitting wood and I couldn't be happier :) Just look at the size of the pile that needs to be split & stacked!! And that's only half of it!

He's been working away at it slowly and his dad is going to be so proud of him when he gets home :) Hubby is gone for weeks at a time as a tugboat captain so any extra help with the 'manly' chores is always greatly appreciated. You should have seen K the first day he came in from splitting though. He was so gung ho to get started that he worked out there most of the day and when he came in just before dinner he was so tired that he fell fast asleep on the couch by 5:30pm LOL. I think he's definitely deserving of a little raise in his allowance for taking on this mammoth pile!

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Bird Attack ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 22

Oh such a sweet looking but so terribly naughty bird.
Yes... I said naughty and I meant it!

Remember all of those wonderful broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage plants that we planted just a little over a week ago?

GONE! Decimated, destroyed, wiped out, eradicated, annihilated, ravaged, eaten and in the end vanished. I've run out of words to describe what happened to our little vegetable babies *grin*. One day we were watering them and the next day there wasn't anything but the leafless stalks in the photo above. An entire patch gone.

Apparently this isn't the first time that the Golden Crowned Sparrow has struck so I've been told and they like to munch on fresh greens as they migrate to their breeding grounds. We have never had trouble with them before and maybe it's because of the mild winter and we planted just a little to early this spring before these little plant eaters had passed through but whatever the case may be we were hit.

From now on I will be very wary of the yellow stripe!!! LOL

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Count My Blessings Stitch Along

Amy is hosting another great stitch along and this time the focus is to stitch all of the wonderful things that make our lives so blessed :) I was to late to join in her last one but not this time! I am so excited *grin*. The goal is to create a grid of 100, one inch sized squares and to stitch an image of something or someone that blesses our lives inside each of the squares. What a fantastic way to take stock of all that we have, to appreciate it wholly and to realize that what we think is less can quite often be more!

I love the following quote that she shared and it sums it up perfectly:

"I murmured that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet." -- Persian Proverb

Photo courtesy of Zannestar via Flickr

I've started a separate page on my blog just for my 'blessing' updates so that you can quickly find new entries and photos to my stitch along blocks without having to sort through my entire blog to find them :) You can see it over on the right hand sidebar up at the top underneath the 'Counting My Blessings' logo. Each time I post a new blessing entry I will put up a photo and a link to the original entry there so you can click over and read it easily. Looking forward to stitching along with you and to read more about Amy's challenge visit her blog at Counting My Blessings :)

Happy Stitching!
~ Rosina

Flickr Favorites ~ Green Wedding Favors

1. Essence of Summer, 2. Trio of Trees in Burlap, 3. DIY Green Wedding Centerpiece Favors, 4. Bird Seed Heart Favors With Custom Tags

With Earth Day having just passed and the fact that the wedding season is kicking it into high gear I thought it would be fun to share some ideas for earth friendly wedding favors :)

If I had my wedding to do over I would have loved to have given away tree saplings for guests to take home and plant in their backyard! And check out those place settings above... a potted herb would be fabulous as they could be taken home and be used as cooking spice later. Or how about making homemade jam? A delicious treat and extra special because you made it with love :)

The possibilities are endless! Seed packets with your names & wedding dates filled with flowers or vegetables to be planted or how about cloth market bags to replace one plastic bag each time a guest goes shopping the next time :) Think edible, plant-able or re-usable when picking a favor this year and the earth will thank you!

Want to join in the fun and share your flickr favorites? Head over to Misty's blog and join in!

~ Rosina

Dandelion Flower Cookies ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 21

Who doesn't love just love sunny yellow dandelions especially by the basketful! It's a favorite among my children along with daisies and buttercups for impromptu bouquets for mama *grin*.

With 40 acres there is definitely no shortage of the little yellow suckers. We could probably pick and pick forever and they'd just sprout up behind us as as fast as we could pick them :)

I had been wanting to try Lisa's recipe for Dandelion cookies for a while now and we've actually done it twice *grin*. They are so yummy and fun to make, plus they use everyday ingredients of flour, honey, eggs, oatmeal & oil that I'm sure everyone has on hand :)

L was in charge of plucking the petals out of the greens and keeping a close eye out for creepy critters that we didn't want to accidentally bake into our cookies LOL. Good think she has eagle eyes and spotted this not so tasty baby slug hiding out under one of the blossoms!

Love it! Everyone working so nicely together completing a different task :)

We made a double batch so we needed 1 cup of petals.

Here is the final batter all mixed up and ready for the cookie pans :) I just realized that I actually didn't take any pictures of our cookies after they were baked! We were just to busy stuffing our faces with them I guess *grin*.

Head over HERE for the recipe and make some for yourself! If you grind your own flour like we do you can substitute soft wheat berries in place of the white flour and they are super delicious!

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Outdoor Challenge Days 17, 18, 19 & 20

Oh my word!! Where have the last 4 days gone?!
Life definitely took a left hand turn and my blogging routine had to take a temporary back seat but I'm back *grin*.

My two day Earth Day sale was a smashing success, so between sewing and spending 3 of the last 4 days on the road for appointments and unexpected outings and chasing the kids with my camera to prove we actually went outside *wink*, I just couldn't manage to squeeze in the blogging. I hope you can forgive me *grin*.

We've filled our days with lots of kite flying.

Last week at the museum the kids made homemade kites with plastic tablecloths, straws and lots of tape :) They worked real well to!

Hubby has been a busy little bee remodeling our pull trailer that we purchased last summer. We got the deal of the century on a brand new looking travel trailer inside and out. The down side was that the floor was completely rotten. You couldn't see it but you could feel it when you walked on certain spots of the floor. We put it off last summer so that we could have some fun using it before Hubby ripped the whole place apart and it's a good thing we did as it took a little longer than he thought as he could only work on the few days he has off. I'm happy to say that the new floor is down, linoleum has been laid and all of the fixtures, water, gas and so on have been put back in place :)

The closer we got to completing it the more excited the kids got about the upcoming camping trips in our future! So they've been pretend camping *grin*. You know when you go camping quite often the spots are numbered, well K created a camping number sign for our trailer. Don't ask me where he got #21 from but that's out spot LOL.

Check back shortly and the fire should be roaring and we'll have plenty of marshmallows for roasting & making s'mores *grin*.

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee

Annual Earth Day Sale on Now!

I can't believe it's been over a year since I opened up my Etsy shop with all of my reusable cloth lunch bags, snack and sandwich bags and more! Plus this is my second Earth Day Sale so I guess it's now officially an 'annual' sale *grin*.

So in celebration of Earth Day today I'm offering 10% Off (before shipping) on all of my reusable cloth 'snack' and 'sandwich' bags!! Discount will be refunded back to you via Paypal after the sale is complete. Let's help save the Earth together :)



~ Rosina

Tube Mania ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 16

Who said you need a trampoline to have a bouncing good time? All you need is a jumbo inner tube and fearless children! LOL.

My dad was a heavy duty mechanic for a local logging company for many years and over that time he acquired quite a large stash of giant inner tubes that were used in the off road logging truck tires. When they had been patched to many times they were discarded and my dad would bring them home for my sister and I to bounce around on. They are an absolute hoot!

Well nearly 30 years later we're still dragging them out of the shop and pumping them up *grin*. They're fantastic in the summer time to for floating in the lake, or down the river and in the winter you can tie them to the back of the truck and use them for snow tubing! Year round fun for free... except for those black rubber stains they give you on your hands :)

The kids have been making up obstacle courses in the backyard and incorporating the tube into it by jumping wildly over it as they race past. I think tomorrow I'll show them how to sit in the middle of the center hole as the tube stands upright while I roll them around the yard like a giant doughnut *grin*.

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee

Flickr Favorites ~ Travel

1. houses of Bryggen, 2. Coronet, 3. Jack Detoured Through The Castle Garden, 4. 2009 07 09_7733_edited-1

I'm not sure how I came to rounding up this set of photos. Perhaps it was the thought of traveling to a quaint town by the sea, picnicing in the park, cruising along with the top down and catching the sunshine in a field of golden poppies *grin*.

Sounds heavenly to me, how about you?

Want to join in the fun and share your flickr favorites? Head over to Misty's blog and join in!

~ Rosina

Lack of Nature ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 15

Well today was a day of no nature for the mama *grin*.
I have been taking my mom and dad around to different car dealers for the last couple of week as they hunted for the perfect deal on a new car :) Well today we left home at first light and headed down island to the VW dealer where they had some 2009 Jettas left on the lot that hadn't sold from last years inventory and they found one that they liked!! Hooray :) I have a diesel Jetta that I just adore and I had secretly been hoping that they would get one to but they settled on a gas one and got a fantastic deal on it to. My dad drove a hard bargain and won out in the end saving himself $6000 on a brand spanking new one. Way to go dad!

So 6 hours later they had the papers signed and we were on our way or so we thought. We all piled in and I was in the backseat and as I reached to put down the window my finger slipped right through the spot where the switch for the power window was supposed to be! Can you believe it? They had robbed the switch at some time for another car and totally forgot to replace it and we hadn't even noticed! Thank goodness I sat back there or my mom and dad may have never noticed, or at least not for quite a while since there's really no one that's going to spend a lot of time back there anyways :)

Another hour later we were finally on our way, but not home. We decided to take the new set of wheels for a quick spin to Costco since it was so close and do a little shopping *grin*. It was well after 10pm by the time I finally made it home to my sleeping babies and I missed out on any nature happenings that went on around here today :) I heard that they got a chance to head down to daddy's tug boat for a while and I'm sure they raided the cookie cupboard while they were there! I'll have to catch up with some photos tomorrow to share with you all and I'm glad that you all liked our lettuce munching experience from yesterday *grin*.

Happy nature hunting!

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee

Lettuce Munchers ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 14

Nothing beats munching on a big leaf of lettuce fresh from the greenhouse :)

We walked up to my moms and raided her greenhouse *grin*. She always has a patch of lettuce growing year round for salads and plate garnish...

But today we weren't the only ones munching on the lettuce! As we checked the leaves we picked for baby slugs and other creepy critters that might be hanging out in the lettuce patch, we discovered a bunch of baby aphids. I don't think they would harm us if one of the kids had accidentally ate one but I definitely had to be quick to get my hands on M's leaf before he popped it straight into his mouth LOL. Thankfully everyone's lettuce was clean and they were able to munch away like bunnies :)

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee

Veggie Planting ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 13

Boy are we lucky!! The rain managed to hold off and it was just a gloomy day but it gave us a chance to get our cold tolerant vegetables planted :)

Before we could get started we needed to head over to the manure pile and load up. I think that wheelbarrow rides are M's new favorite mode of transportation *grin*.

Look at all that wonderful horse manure. Super food for growing great vegetables!

You know you've got some pretty healthy soil if there are lots of earthworms wriggling around when you start digging and we found quite a few of them :) We usually plant flowers in this bed but thought that we would maximize our vegetable space and fill it up with things we could eat! LOL.

As K dug holes for our broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage I filled up a gallon sized pot full of manure and then M & L would dump it into an empty hole. We had quite the efficient assembly line of digging and dumping going on!

Broccoli and cauliflower love lime so each hole got a big scoop of lime that was mixed in with the manure before the plant was set on top of it.

Oh boy are these going to taste good when they're big enough to eat *grin*.

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee

Fungus Finds ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 12

It was a gray and rainy day today so not to much outdoor exploring happened today.

We took a quick walk to the bottom field where my dad has his mill and wandered along the trail through the trees at the base of the mountain. It's a perfect haven for fungi :)

I just love the ones above. They are in huge clusters all over the fallen and decaying trees. I think they are called a 'Turkey Tail' or Trametes versicolor but I may be wrong! Definitely don't take my word for it *grin*.

We also found these mossy and hairy looking fungi that were growing at the base of one of the young apple trees in the orchard. If you happen to know the exact name of either of these we would love to know :) Hopefully the weather will clear up for tomorrow so we can get out some more and finish planting our potatoes and we've got some great broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage starts to put into the garden to :)

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee