In the Kitchen

The big boys learned to peel potatoes today.  I really should always make them peel the potatoes!

I've been growing these oyster mushrooms for about a week.  Look how big they are already!  I bought the bag at our farmer's market, and it is supposed to produce 3-5 harvests.  Lydia sliced up two big clusters of the mushrooms for me, and I sauteed them with onion.  So delicious!

And it's post-adoption update time again.  Our social worker is coming this week, so we had to set the timer on the camera and get some family pictures to send to Bulgaria.

We took this after church this morning.  It just so happened that the kids were all wearing green and blue.  I should have changed shirts to make it look like we were color-coordinating on purpose!

Rainy Whoopie Pie Day

Today was another rainy, gray day, so Lydia and I decided to make a treat.  She picked homemade whoopie pies, which we've been meaning to make but never had.  They were a huge hit with the oldest three.

Gyunay didn't want the pies, but he did seem very happy to try the homemade marshmallow cream.

Egg Count

This year, I started keeping track of how many eggs our chickens lay.  Right now, we only have 5 young laying pullets (they are not a year old yet) and one old hen.  One of the pullets started laying in January, and we got 6 eggs late that month.  By February, another started as well, and we got 20 eggs that month.  Things started picking up in March, with 51 total eggs and all of the pullets were laying by the end of that month, and the old hen started laying again around then.  April was a great month: 145 eggs!  We are getting 5 or 6 eggs every day now.  The old hen is still laying about 3 eggs a week, and the young ones lay most days, so we get around 3 dozen eggs a week now.  That is a good number for us; we can easily eat that many a week!

Here the kids have handfuls of worms to feed the chickens.

The kids love these hens.  Nathaniel killed the last rooster over the weekend, so we just have the hens in the coop now.  In the garage, we still have the 6 chicks, which are getting bigger all the time.  It looks like all of them are pullets; I'm not entirely sure yet, but I don't think there are any cockerels in the group.  They will be moving outside to the coop soon, probably next weekend, although I plan on having a separate area for them for a while so they don't get picked on too much.

Book Review - Anchor in the Storm by Sarah Sundin

  Anchor in the Storm by Sarah Sundin is set during the beginning of World War II.  Main characters Lillian Avery and Archer Vandenberg are both appealing characters who are trying to make their mark on the world.  Lillian suffered an accident as a child and lost one of her legs, so she has dealt with discrimination due to her prosthesis.  She has learned not to trust others, and she is fiercely independent.  She takes a job as a pharmacist in Boston, where her brother Jim and his best friend Arch are stationed.  Arch is determined to make a career out of the Navy, and to prove that he doesn't need his family's fortunes.   They not only become friends but also aim to solve a mystery together regarding a prescription drug ring.

I enjoyed this book.  I generally like to read about the time period, and the author included historical details about daily life during WWII.  Both main characters struggle with spiritual and physical issues that give their characters depth.  I liked that their unfolding romance was believable and well done.  The mystery was intriguing as well.  This is the second book in a series, but it is definitely a stand-alone novel.   I thought the book was perhaps a bit longer than necessary, but the conclusion was satisfying, and overall I enjoyed it very much.

I received this book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Owls and Marshmallows

We had a good weekend.  For the first time ever, the three older kids all had sleepovers on Friday nights.  Gyunay wasn't thrilled about that, but he got to enjoy ice cream with Mama and Dada.  It was rainy off and on all weekend, so I took advantage of the time I couldn't spend gardening and made Lydia this cute nightgown:

The owl print is flannel, and the sleeves are knit, so the whole thing is very soft and comfy.

We also took advantage of a brief time between storms to  have a little fire to roast marshmallows.

Don't worry; the cardboard next to the fire is soppy wet, as was all of the grass, so we weren't in danger of setting the acre on fire.

Malachi: Chicken Guardian

Our 6 new chicks are doing just fine in their temporary garage home.  They get picked up by the kids daily, and they are feathering out quite nicely.  Malachi, though, still lives in a state of perpetual alert when it comes to our chickens.  If the garage door is open, he is out there.  He is terrified that some creature will come into the garage and kill his beloved chickens.  So, on a beautiful sunny day like Monday, the garage door was open for the kids to play in the driveway with bikes, scooters, etc.  Malachi set up shop in the doorway, guarding those chicks himself despite the fact that Lydia, Gyunay, and I were just outside the garage and would surely notice if any animal tried to enter and bring harm.  (Not to mention that the racket we were making would surely be a good deterrent!)  When we pull into the garage, he is quick to shut the door as soon as possible.  He also worries about the "big" chickens in the coop, and he makes very clear who will put them up at night if he is going to be away from home near sunset.  The chickens really don't appreciate what a good guardian they have.

Book Review - The Magnolia Duchess by Beth White

I really enjoy reading historical fiction, but I wasn't thrilled with this book.  I could tell that the author put effort into learning about the time frame and setting, but it wasn't an easy read.  I could easily put this book down.  This is the third in a series, and I had not read the previous two, so maybe it would have been easier to get into had I read the previous stories, but there were many different characters with diverse backgrounds all vying for attention in this story.  It seemed that the author enjoyed the history so much that she tried to squeeze it all into one book, and trying to sort out the family's relations was a bit of a stretch.  Main character Fiona was friendly and impulsive, but some of her actions seemed a bit too far-fetched.  There are many twists in this story, but not all of them make the plot advance as well as I'd like.  While the book sets the stage for a period piece well, it seemed to strain between trying to be a more serious historical drama and a light romance at the same time.

I received this book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.