He's A Boy!!!

When we announced the gender of our baby, we wanted it to be this really cool sha-bang.

I always liked the idea of having the ultrasound technician write the gender on a piece of paper in a sealed envelope.

(So even the parents don't know!)

Then they would go to a store and hand the paper over to the person filling balloons.

Next, that person would fill a box with whatever color (pink or blue)

and they would take the box home to open it with their family.

We did that in a way, but I wanted to know sooooo badly I could not help but ask the technician what we were having.

We asked our parents to leave the room, which they were not the least bit thrilled about!

She put the "wand" to my belly and she did not have to say anything.

She pointed and said "This is a leg"

and we saw it.

"This is the other leg"

She did not need to go any farther...

"And, well, this is NOT a leg."

I was silent.

And shocked!

I was so convinced we were having a girl!

(Even though every midwife's tale pointed otherwise!)

I could not stop smiling. 

I always wanted a boy first!

 Being the oldest sister I always wished I had a big protective brother,

and now our kids will have that!

(We will see about the protective part, hehe) 

Jared's eyes met mine.

It was such a wonderful moment.

Minutes later we left that room with a little secret...

AND WE WERE HOUNDED FOR TWO DAYS!!!!!

...Just to get the answer out early!

But we still went to the store,

bought the balloons,

and had our sweet little nephew open the box of blue balloons.

It was so priceless to see everyone's face.

❤

I Just Can't Stop and It's Taking Over My Life!

... Planting things that is. It's not as bad as it sounds and it's an obsession I am okay with having.

Here are some of my plants I have started indoors...

 

We are going to have 
radishes, corn, squash, 
beans, cilantro, lettuce, cabbage, eggplant, peas, cucumbers, zucchini, beets, kale, carrots, tomatoes and I could keep going!

More pictures when they grow up!

Champagne D'Argent ...

...What a fancy name you have!

Hello everyone! I hope you have had a great week!

We have great news! We had decided to get two baby bunnies! I mean, how exciting is that?!

I am still waiting on Jared to pick his rabbit, at first I don't think he was too interested. Maybe he thought "a bunny is a bunny" kind of thing, but after showing him a ton of available breeds, well, we shall see. It will be interesting to see what he picks. I love that guy. Anyways, I have chosen a purebred Champagne D'Argent. The breeder has been so kind and is going to be sending me pictures of their progress, what a nice lady!

Baby bunnies, I AM YOUR FATHER!

One of these fluffless loves is coming home with us in April. They were born just 2 short days ago!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

As babies, they are born black, 

but within a month each start to develop 

their unique coat patterns. Their under color 

is a short slate blue/black coat and with age 

they developed a second longer white coat 

giving off a silver effect.

 http://www.flatlandfarm.com

Champagne D'Argent 
is one of the worlds 
oldest breeds.

We are going to have them help with the garden this year, using their waste for compost and fertilizer. Also Jared might incorporate them in his mushroom growing activities. But really, who needs a ton of reasons to get an animal? I just love 'em. I could own a hundred as long as I had the time and space. :)

I am so excited! 

Hope 

your 

week 

is 

going 

well!

Life Lately and The Worlds Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies

I decided to stray from my usual eggplant recipe and make an eggplant pie of sorts. Awesome as always!

I like peanut butter and I like cookies but I don't really care for peanut butter cookies. 

They are far crunchier than cookies should be in my opinion. But my sister shared a super easy recipe with me and they turn out so chewy.  Mmmm! If you want to know how to make them...

Preheat oven to 350 °

1 Egg
1 Cup O' Sugar   ...you could borrow it from your neighbor if you don't have some!
1 Cup of Peanut Butter.

Mix until .....mixed?

Bake on cookie sheet for approximately 8 minutes. Add about 2 more minutes if you made 'em big like me.
Done!

Date # 5 Make a very fancy breakfast in bed. DONE!

The picture on the left is me getting all dolled up to go somewhere and the photo on the right is me being grubby and working on the garden. It is weeded and expended, ready for spring! 

We also completed Date #9 Make lemon meringue pie together. 

... But it was eaten so fast there were no pictures! Sorry!

Totally random but, I don't know why I never thought of layering tights before. I thought it looked pretty rad! 

Date # 17 Take a drive. Here, there, anywhere is now complete!

You can't tell in the photo above but there were so many swans flying above us!

The short way home.                                                 The long way home. 

We love Washington.

We also finished Date #16 

  Have a game night. Every kind of game! Cards. Console. Board games. 

FYI I have become rather vicious at Poker if I do say so myself. Watch out!

Future Dreams

http://www.lowimpactliving.com/blog/2009/04/10/the-most-beautiful-green-home-building-construction-project-ever/

Landlords. I have had great ones, bad ones and good ones. And they happened just like that actually. I don't have a problem with landlords for this reason- If anything were to go wrong in your home it is their responsibly to fix it. I know it makes me sound selfish but it is not my house so I wouldn't really want to fix it since I don't own the place. That makes sense right?  I mean, if not for landlords, I would have paid out of pocket for plumbing, new front doors, warping bathroom walls ect. and I only lived those places a year or so. So needless to say, in THAT way, it is not so bad to not actually own a house. But that is the only ...
(Pro)

However the pro's and con's are very out weighed.

(Con's)

In most rental homes you can not paint the walls. (Which is a very cruel punishment for this lady. I LOATH white walls!) No or limited animals, which is so sad. (I actually have dreams of smuggling corgi puppies into my bedroom!) And well, the main reason is it is not MY house, so I can't do whatever I want with it!

But enough with the boring stuff!  Here are the idea's we have had for such a long time, for when we can finally buy property (most likely in Eastern Wa) for our cob house! Yes, a cob house. If you don't know what they are here are some pictures, and if you DO know what they are and you're under the impression they are little mud huts think again!

http://greenvillages.co/design-inventions/building-your-own-house-literally-with-ecology-at-heart/attachment/modern-cob-house/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/greathomesanddestinations/31away.html?pagewanted=all

(Awesome)

If God allows, I would like to get my teaching degree within the next 4 years and then start the process of building our own house. Then come BABIES! But I am getting way ahead of myself... Plus, God probably is laughing at my little "life plan" but hey, a girl can dream.

So here are our ideas for our future home. I know everyone has dreams like these, but I just know we can make it happen! (In time. Waiting is the hardest part.)

• Book shelves built into the wall
• Morning Glory growing up the walls and over the windows
• An amazing art room
• Owning ducks, cows, dogs, cats and whatever else happens to come our way
• Sunflowers growing over the kitchen windows in the summer time
•  A music and recording room
• A huge garden
• Cubby holes for shoes by the front door
• An outdoor cob oven, think about how that pizza would taste!
• Glass bottles (stained glass style) windows
• A circular living room with a sunk in floor (pretty much the worlds coolest hooka lounge)
• An island in the kitchen with hanging pots and pans above
• Large bath and bathroom, cozy enough for a possible water birth or two :)
• A closed in back porch connected to our master bedroom
• And living as self sustaining as possible (we are not sure how yet but we are looking into all of our options. Wind power baby!)

 And last but certainly not least

• 3 green houses 

1.  For flowers
2.  For edible or fruiting plants that need special care away from the weather
3.  A mushroom growing house

http://www.janetbray.com/home/green-living/green-building/72-cob-is-the-final-answer.html

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1AFAB_enUS449US449&tbm=isch&tbnid=8Oj-RpF2cQTv3M:&imgrefurl=http://freshpeekhouse.com/&docid=VNCwV_GYQZ9VgM&imgurl=http://freshpeekhouse
.com/images/cob/Bonsalle_Master_Bedroom.jpg&w=665&h=489&ei=izEjT53kIeHaiQKWxv37Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&
vpx=186&vpy=159&dur=433&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=130&ty=66&sig=116111814422386334681&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=193&
start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1280&bih=899

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1AFAB_enUS449US449&tbm=isch&tbnid=8Oj-RpF2cQTv3M:&imgrefurl=http://freshpeekhouse.com/&docid=VNCwV_GYQZ9VgM&imgurl=http:/
/freshpeekhouse.com/images/cob/Bonsalle_Master_Bedroom.jpg&w=665&h=489&ei=izEjT53kIeHaiQKWxv37Bw&zoom=
1&iact=hc&vpx=186&vpy=159&dur=433&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=130&ty=66&sig=116111814422386334681&page=1&tbnh=151
&tbnw=193&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1280&bih=899

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1AFAB_enUS449US449&tbm=isch&tbnid=8Oj-RpF2cQTv3M:&imgrefurl=http://freshpeekhouse.com/&docid=VNCwV_GYQZ9VgM&imgurl=http://freshpeekhouse.com/images/cob
/Bonsalle_Master_Bedroom.jpg&w=665&h=489&ei=izEjT53kIeHaiQKWxv37Bw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=186&vpy=159&dur=43
3&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=130&ty=66&sig=116111814422386334681&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=193&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s
:0&biw=1280&bih=899

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=861&tbm=isch&tbnid=0IdUhdCXTbkYLM:&imgrefurl=http://www.busyboo.com/2008/12/11/cob-homes/&docid=N23ET4KCdCoEiM&imgurl=http://www.busyboo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/cob-house-living-room.jpg&w=314&h=238&ei=50AjT8bXCOaYiAKVg63SBw&zoom=1

Found at Pinterest!

This is very close to the circular living room I dream of except you have to visualize it made of cob instead of wood. I would keep the bookshelves built into the walls but - the fancy shmancy furniture.

Both photos were found at Pinterest!

 I love the little details, like the marbles in this fence and the non traditional wooden walking path.

Wouldn't that be lovely leading up to green houses?

Found at Pinterest!

Can you imagine this in a childs bedroom? The fireplace would have to be off /locked in some way when they were little though. But I love the idea of a bunk bed style sleeping/reading spot for them with a bunch of cubbies down below for their things. I guess I am cubby obsessed! :P

Found at Pinterest!

Ugh. This is such a prefect arts and craft room. I adore the lighting in this photo!

And there are my dreams. What do you dream of?

....Stay Tuned! I am having a February Photography Frenzy next month! ....

Holiday Decorations

It is always such a great day when they are being put up,

And such a sad say when they come down.

This Christmas is going to be small, but really fun.

 (Left side) You know how every year there are always strings of holiday lights that worked fine last year and are being stubborn this year? Instead of wasting a few hours trying to get them to work, I simply pulled out the bulbs and put them in to some fancy glasses. I suppose some years I will want to deal with 'em and some years I wont! 

Also sorry the top of the wood stove is messy, 

I clean that stuff off ALL THE TIME and it is right back the second we build a fire! 

(Right side) A new painted bulb I found. Pretty sweet deal! .30 cents!

(Left side) We have too many stockings, but I just love them all! 

(Right side) This is a little tree my mother in law made me for Jared and I's first Christmas.

We bought some brand used ornaments this year. I love the golden feather!

 I love my house.

 My mother always made such a fuss about having the perfect angel for our Christmas tree as a child, so as an adult I did not want to settle on angel I did not totally adore. Every year I made a different tree topper until this year. I found her! She is simple, sweet and beautiful, don't you think?!

Beautifully detailed new Christmas ornament for us!

Our tree is up and I am just waiting for the snow! 

What does your tree look like?