Mollukah XXX

I turned 30 last weekend! It was a grand celebration with friends and family of all ages. 

 I used wrapping paper for a table runner. I was looking for something inexpensive and beautiful and came across this at Target. I was then able to scan the pattern in and use the flowers on the cards for the table.

 My dad brought beautiful flowers to put in vases.

These "fairy lights" were hung from the tree boughs.

Ezra and I chowed down on the cake and ice cream pops. I made ice cream balls, dipped them in homemade magic shell (2 parts chocolate, 1 part coconut oil melt and mix) and Maggie helped me sprinkle them with red sprinkles. They were delish and a very easy way for everyone to literally grab their ice cream instead of waiting to have it dipped out.

Jeremiah and his Momma, Kim

 After the kiddies enjoyed being kids, the music got started. My friend Susan was there and she did some contra dance calling. She called at our wedding, as well. It really was a lot of fun. The littles just squealed with glee and didn't want it to end! The musicians followed that by a couple waltzes and we all had a lovely time. At that point, the evil bedtime monster struck every last one of those littles and we all knew it was time to wrap up. However, the musicians played on late into the night with the candle lights flickering. What a fabulous way to celebrate my 30th year!

Ice Cream Social

Bernie showing off her yummy bowl.

 We held our annual Midsummer Night's Ice Cream Dream this year. As always, it was so much fun. I made five plus gallons of goat milk ice cream that was delicious. We provide the ice cream and each family brings a topping or mix-in to share. This year was especially fun with the variety of toppings brought. We had crushed oreos, no-bake cookies, sprinkles, mini Reese cups, whip cream, and jelly beans, just to name a few. The hardest part was choosing which ones to put on!

Beautiful Ezra.

There *may* have been some pee on the slide. I'm not naming names.

 It just so happened that the ice cream social coincided with milking time, which usually draws a crowd. It always fascinates me to see who is interested in trying their hand at it. Jane, for instance. Jane is my good friend Bon's mother-in-law. Bonnie now lives in California with her new hubby, Colin. They happened to be in town for the ice cream social (yay!). I then found out that Bon's in-laws would be in town, too and promptly invited them to be part of the fun. I don't know them very well, but I never would have expected that she would jump at the chance to milk a goat! Who knew!? I was so pleasantly surprised!

Bonnie and Me. She came all the way from Cali for my ice cream! 

 The thing I love about recent parties at our house is the kids. They run wild. They have free, safe reign of our huge yard. I love to feel so confident that nothing bad is going to happen to this wild group of kiddos. They are crawling through the corn rows, whooping, hollering, finding secret hideouts and being beautiful, happy children. I really love it.

Not quite whooping and hollering with the big kids yet.

My gal Melissa and sweet Cece or "Baby HeHe" to Maggie who doesn't say her "S"

 Here's one of my favorite pics of the evening. Bonnie, her sister Amanda, Melissa, and me. We all grew up together and I was glad to capture this fun moment with the four-of-us.

The most exciting part of the evening happened after most of the guests had gone. There was a missing set of keys. It was well after dark by this time, so we got out the flashlights and scoured the yard. Looking in every nook and cranny we could think of. Alas, no keys. I got up the next day and searched the yard in a grid-like-cop-show fashion. Alas, no keys. Luckily, the keys were found later that day in the belongings of one three-year-old boy who may or may not be the culprit of the slide pee. Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Farm Fun Day

Oh, how I do look forward to Farm Fun Day. Not sure how many years I've been hosting, I think this may be the third. There's nothing very special about the day, just a big play date at the farm, but it is so much fun to get a big group of mamas together for a pitch-in and let the kids run wild.

 The striped tights were a big hit this year.

I couldn't believe that even though the air temperature was only upper 70's, the kids couldn't wait to get into the water! So much fun to be had.

 

Lots of baby-passing, baby-nursing, and baby-holding up in here. Seeing as how we had two La Leche League leaders and lots of members, there was much talk of breastfeeding, but conversation also veered to fit-throwing, skee ball tournaments, tattoos, canning, and recipes. What a lovely community of mothering. It doesn't get much better than this.It took me awhile to find a group of women to call my mothering community. I'm so glad that I have. My husband joked a couple years ago about my bestie Rhonda, "If I'd have known how good she was for Molly, I would have bought her one years ago!" If only it were that easy! These are the kind of women that are raising great kids, would give you the shirt off their backs and are glad to was a few dishes.

Round about two, the pushing and screaming became a little more frequent and we all knew it was time to pack up and say goodbye for now. But, there's always next year.Thanks for a great day, ladies!

The Ingalls come to O'Bannon Woods

 Last weekend we participated in "A Day on the Farm as a Pioneer Child" at O'Bannon Woods. It was a lot of fun! They had asked Cam to bring a goat and do a milking demonstration and we were all able to go. The best part was, my friend Diane was able to loan Lila and me some period attire. The girls were running around all morning calling each other "Laura" and "Mary" and Cam and me "Pa" and "Ma".

The girls were technically too young for the activities, but they let them participate anyway. There was goat-milking, bread-making, feeding of oxen, brushing out horses, and more. They both really enjoyed being with the big girls. 

 The dress that fit Maggie was red and she really didn't think that Mary would wear a red dress. At least that was her reasoning for not wearing it. So, she's not very period-friendly, but she sure is cute!

 Here's Ma. Diane had two potential dresses for me. One was much fancier than the other and I was sure Lila would pick that one for me. But, she chose this one because it looked "just like Ma". I brought some knitting along and sat near the goats.

 Here's Pa. Cam shaved his goatee the night before for more authenticity. It's kind of rare for me to see his face! The kids all loved the demo. All but one of them tried milking. I was impressed at their willingness to try.

Here's Olga being spoiled by clover the girls were picking for her. There were quite a few other volunteers there that day and they were all so friendly and welcoming. The whole experience makes me want to sew some of our own pioneer clothing and do this more often. Diane to the rescue again, she is hunting up her old patterns!

Easter!

We had a great Easter with lots of family, fellowship, play, food, and friends. We dyed eggs Saturday night and even had glitter to add to them. Luckily, the dye washes off little fingers for church.

 Cousins are always happy for an excuse to get together. They hid eggs, colored on the sidewalk, pretended to be dolphins, mermaids, and little girls... it was fun.

  

For some reason, my niece is always a lot more cooperative for pictures than my girls.  Here she is with her Opa.

 She's convinced we looks "Just Alike!" (Even though she really looks just like her Aunt Renata)

 Family tradition of Easter family pictures.  Maggie is traditionally not very cooperative! Today being no exception.

 A room full of friends, family, and food= good times.

Nana and Lila on a beautiful Easter day.

Maggie's birthday

My girl turned three.  It seems a little unreal. My sweet girl has gotten so independent in so many ways, but is still so much more of a baby than Lila was at this age.  Of course, when Lila was three, we had a real baby around and probably less tolerant of those behaviors.  But, I must admit, some of her babyisms are just so stinking cute.  I could listen to her talk all day long.  She is still s-less at the beginning of words.  So, her birthday party was "Trawberry Hortake" themed.  She enjoyed being the birthday girl as much as her mommy does and was glad to draw it out over a week's time.  We celebrated with the grandparents on the night of her actual birthday with a homemade calzone dinner.  Her actual party we held on St. Patrick's Day.  It was gorgeous weather and we left the house wide open.  Our yard is so much better for entertaining than inside the house.  So, I was thrilled to see the sun shining and temps in the 70's. 

 I purchased this template for the strawberry favor boxes, although it appears there are quite a few free templates out there.  I enlarged the template quite a bit so that it could hold more goodies!

 The puppies made an appearance and were well-loved and carried around the whole yard.  My nephew especially liked them and after they were put away, kept asking where they went.  "Puppy?"  "Puppy?".

These are some very special boys in our life.  Left to right, "Opa", my nephew Worth, my handsome farm husband, and his Grandad. I caught a rare moment with all of them smiling, even Grandad!  What a fun day celebrating my favorite Maggie in the whole wide world.