End of Year Reflection for Ellie

Here is Ellie's take on the past year:

Roland with his Catfish

Roland went fishing with a buddy today and added to our dinner with some catfish on the grill.

Here is a pic:

Chickens and Garden

My have the chickens grown! (we are supposedly and hopefully just a few weeks shy of eggs!)  The garden is growing, and we are seeing lots of tomatoes, some potential cantaloupes, blackberries, some awesome growth in our vineyard, some potential bell peppers (flowers), jalapenos, and some BIG onions!  We are thrilled.  This is our second attempt at gardening, and what a difference amending the soil has made - we are anxiously awaiting some produce from our garden this summer :)

The chickens are plump, healthy, free ranging twice a day, and hopefully ready to lay some eggs within a month!

Here are a few pics:

Chickens Growing

Tomatoes!

Bell Peppers and Jalapenos

Cantaloupe Plants

The Vineyard!

The chickens LOVE the compost pile!

Hens in the Coop :)

Summer is Here!

We are so excited to be finished with our homeschool work (well, minus one math test for Ellie), and the fun has begun!  Here are the kids in their new swimsuits in the water :)  Summer, here we come!

Ellie in her new swimsuit (totally HER style - read BOLD, BRIGHT, STAND OUT, etc.)

Having fun sliding into the pool

Stella modeling her new tutu swimsuit

Having so much fun!

Couldn't resist a pic from the back

Absolutely NO fear EVER! Especially in the water (Help!)

Stella flying down the slide at FULL speed and LOVING it!

Ellie's Summer Book Club

Yesterday we had our first summer book club meeting for Ellie and her friends.  We had a blast!  The girls are reading the Josefina series by American Girl.  We discussed the first book, ate Bizcochitos (Mexican sugar cookies) and drank New Mexican hot chocolate.  Then, we started working on a lapbook, which is a keepsake for the girls to remember the stories.  I think we are going to really enjoy this!

Here are a few pics:

The book club girls - 13 in all!

A little girl came dressed like Josefina

Two girls working on their lapbooks

Ellie with the other half of the book club girls hard at work on their lapbooks

Having fun with the lapbooks