Miscellany Monday - May 18, 2015 (Three Days Late!): A Birthday, Recital, Project...and I Can't Count

I'm just going to go ahead and start with the "I Can't Count" portion of this post...get it over with:

The post that I titled something like "New Mouths to Feed...35 to be exact"?

I lied.  We have 37.

I had heard that hatcheries often send you one or two extra (assuming that not all might make it (alive) to their intended destination), so I was surprised that we did not receive any extra chicks.

Except we did.

It took us about a week and a half to figure out that we actually have 37.

My only excuse:  It is HARD to count fuzzy little fluff-balls that are streaking around at 90 mph!

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Jas (the resident husband/daddy/all-around hero) had a birthday on Tuesday.  He is the big 4-2!

All the kiddos told him to not leave for work early, and they got up early to see him before he left:

This was the best I could capture

Between all the homemade cards and singing, we had a big shindig!


Elisabeth wanted me to get her up at 4:45 a.m. so she could fix daddy breakfast.  (For the record:  I did NOT get her up at 4:45...it was more like 6:45)

She made Jas an omelet with sautéed onions, cheese, sliced pepperoni...with hot sauce on top.  She also served him cantaloupe (his favorite fruit!), and a toasted slice of Apple Cinnamon Bar (I made a double batch a couple days before):

We sure do love our daddy...and I think he definitely felt celebrated on his special day!


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The girls had their piano recital on Sunday.

Elisabeth has now taken five years of piano...and this was Lily's Kay's first.  Elisabeth continues to love it and do so good.  Lily Kay is more of a natural than her brothers were, and she did really good.  While I can't say she loved it, she does like it fine, and I think she'll continue to take next year.

Elisabeth played "Shout to the Lord" and "Fur Elise."  Lily Kay played "Amazing Grace" and "Minuet in Trio."


Watching a 1 hour 45 minute piano recital with a 3-year old and a 10-month old ranks as one of the most challenging things we've done as parents.  I don't know if Abigail saw Elisabeth and Lily Kay (who played back-to-back, about half way through) or if she just recognized their songs, but she started going crazy when it was their turns (I was thankful that she at least waited until it was our children to be so loud).  As Lily Kay stood up to return to her seat in the choir loft, I stood up to take Abigail out to the vestibule, where we remained for the remainder of the performances.  I didn't even realize until I was uploading these pictures a few minutes ago that I didn't even capture any pictures of LK actually sitting at the piano playing her two songs....I was right in the middle of a royal wrestling match at that point and totally forgot about taking pictures!!

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I mentioned a  while ago that I bought some fabric and had a project in mind for this bookshelf:

It is still not completely finished (but that may take another year or two at the rate I work), but I wanted to share what has been completed thus far:

It is an armoire for Abigail's clothes!

It is now residing in the girls' room...although A is still in the pack-n-play in our room.  She'll make her way in their...eventually.  

Behind the pretty curtain (hanging on a tension rod) are all of her pretty little dresses...

...and behind the doors are baskets and baskets of the socks, shoes, pjs, shorts and shirts.

And who sewed that pretty curtain?  ME!

When I told my dear friend Vicki that I was going to use Stitch Witchery to fix the fabric into a curtain, she said, "No, you are not!  We're going to sew it!"

Yes, ma'am!

I have had a machine for about 15 years, and don't know how to use it at all.  But I'd love to!  I'd love to be able to do little projects...and teach my girls how to use it also!

I ADORE the big 'ol rick-rack!

When we were sewing in the school/dining room, Abigail supervised us from this vantage point...

...to make sure we were doing good work.  She is such a task master!

The plan is to paint the whole armoire next.  More pics to come (but don't hold your breath)...