Belly & Buckeyes

Most people in the area planned on a snow day Friday due to this big winter storm/blizzard thing - and they have already called it off in most places. But today was a little bit of a surprise! We got a snow day today too! My school called it kinda late (6:30AM-ish) but apparently it was bad out there. Big Rapids Public Schools didn't close in the morning and ended up closing down early and sent kids home at noon. 

I spent my day doing things around the house. It's days like today I wish our dog could come in the house and keep me company! Since we're renting and the lease clearly states "No pets indoors," and our landlords live right across the road :) , we can't really break that rule. Junebug had to stay in her kennel in the garage. 

Even if my dog couldn't keep me company, my bulging belly did! Ha ha! She was moving around in there a whole lot today!

24 weeks

Zach still had to go to work; he made appointments with customers and they had to install a new tank of some kind at the office - which had to be hauled up way into the air by a crane - which had to be unattached by someone in a harness when it got up there- which happened to be Zach... I don't think I would have worried as much on any other day but with the rain/sleet and high winds today, I was not thrilled to get a picture via text of this huge tank going up into the air... then when he came home he told me that they didn't have a harness so they rented a lift. But the lift didn't go high enough. So they used a ladder on top of that... in the high winds and rain. Good grief!

Later this afternoon I went down to my in-laws and helped make buckeyes! MMMMM! My favorite Christmas treat! Tyler, my brother-in-law, is usually the one in charge of rolling up the little peanut butter balls but since he was living out of state last year, I took over the job. He's since moved back home so we both sat at the kitchen table rolling buckeye balls. Once the chocolate on the stove melted, I dunked them in and put them on a cookie sheet to cool. I had to dip mine into the chocolate because I rolled the balls too big and they kept falling apart & making things difficult on mom. Whoops! They looked small when I rolled them!

Buckeyes

Currently, Zach is in the basement putting a coat of polyurethane on a buffet table we ordered from a local store called "Bare Furniture". The store sells wood items such as tables, beds, end tables and orders everything "bare" aka: no stain or polyurethane. So you either have to pay for them to stain/polyurethane it for you or you do it yourself and since my husband is so handy, he is doing that job in our basement. He must be enjoying it because I can hear him whistling and humming as I sit upstairs on the couch. :) Anyway, the buffet table is a light wood and will go in our kitchen. We commissioned a family friend do a set of paintings (which turned out AMAZING!) for us to hang above it. 

Four Seasons Paintings by Deb Rutkowski

It's a series of four paintings; each canvas is a season with countryside trees or a house or barn or tractors. They're very neat and we're so happy with how they turned out! Can't wait to hang them up!

Yesterday Zach said that if they cancel school Friday then he would take the day off work too - and they did! So we'll both be home tomorrow! This does NOT happen very often at all so I'm very excited. 

Our Christmas Tree - 2012

Well, I'm off to watch the last Christmas movie on our list: The Grinch with Zach. The others included: Elf, Home Alone, and A Christmas Story - which I had never seen until this year. Thanks to Katie & Kyle for renting it and bringing it over while you were here!

Love,

Sarah

New stuff!

Welp, if you haven't heard already, we've gotten a lot of new "stuff" since winter.

We know have 6 chickens clucking, pecking, and laying eggs! Yay for not ever having to write "eggs" on my shopping list ever again! The whole story is a bit long.

My family had chickens when I was growing up (25 of them) and ever since I've wanted them as an adult. Now that we're in a home where we won't be moving anytime soon, Zach built a coop, we picked out some adorable chicks at Tractor Supply, and brought them home and kept them under a heat lamp for several weeks.

My little peepers!

We finally moved them outside into the coop but didn't let them into the fenced in part for a few more weeks. They finally went outside but that was only to their demise because a few days later a raccoon dug under the fence and killed them...all of them... A few days later we pulled in the driveway and the stinkin' raccoon was running away from the coop! Zach went running inside for a huge flashlight and I drove the car around the side of the barn. It climbed up to the top of a ladder in the barn. Zach could see it through a crack outside the barn and I could see the whole body. So, I ran inside and got my .22 rifle. It wasn't loaded and I was in such a rush that I fumbled around with the shells for what seemed like forever until I got about 6 of them in and called it good. It's a semi-auto so it holds about 12 rounds. I told Zach I was taking the shot (he was on the outside of the barn) and kept trying to tell me to bring the gun to him because he could see it --- and I kept responding that I could see the whole body and that I was taking the shot. He came around the side as I yelled, "Fire in the hole!" Baha ha ha! This is hilarious to me as I write this because it sounds so redneck! It took a couple tries but I finally hit it and it fell down. Unfortunately I only wounded it and there was blood everywhere and Zach finished it off. It was HUGE and had sick nasty mangey fur and NO TAIL! But at least I avenged the death of my chickens. :)

Boom! Take that 'coon!

A few weeks later, we got some full grown chickens from a friend and they've been laying ever since. There's 3 white ones and 3 black ones. I'm open to name suggestions.

The other new thing we have is a DOG! And not just any dog - an adorable yellow lab puppy! It took awhile for Zach to warm up to the idea of getting a puppy but once he did he set right to researching what kind of puppy to get and where. He's a details kind of guy. :) He located a lab breeder close by and went to look at the pups then took me back to pick out the one for us! There were three female pups to choose from: two of them ran around causing trouble and chewing on everything in sight so we picked the more calm one.

Baby June!

We paid the breeder and put the adorable (but very stinky) pup in a kennel in the back of Zach's pickup. Well, she yipped, cried, and howled the whole way home... I felt terrible but with the way she smelled there was no way she was sitting on my lap for 45 minutes. The 45 minutes also gave us a chance to figure out what the heck to name her.... we had always thought we would get a boy dog and had all kinds of sweet names for boy dogs so a girl name was hard to think of. As soon as we got home and opened the kennel door - she puked. Ick. After cleaning that up we filled up a tub with warm water and gave her a bath. She was so tiny and fuzzy and cute! We played with her for a bit outside and finally decided on the name June. We wanted a short name that sounded mellow and June seemed to fit.

Zach and June

Finally got my puppy!

Her birthday is April 1 so she's already over three months old and growing SUPER fast. So far she has learned to SIT on command. We're working on STAY and COME. She likes to ignore the COME command, especially when she wanders through the hayfield looking for bugs and other disgusting stuff to eat. She likes to eat poop. And bugs. Gross. But she also likes to run through the garden and chase butterflies which is adorable. Nothing cuter than a puppy chasing a butterfly!

June also loves tennis balls.

Third new thing, paint! Our living room and one wall in the kitchen got a fresh coat of blue/gray paint. It's called "Van Courtland Blue" by Benjamin Moore. Thanks, Pottery Barn for the inspiration. I'm working on a photo gallery wall in the living room and a friend is doing a 4 canvas series of paintings for the wall in the kitchen. I'll post pictures soon.

Last new thing, Zach turned 25 and Mom Thorne turned 52 on July 16. I surprised Zach by inviting friends and family over for cake & ice cream in the afternoon. :) Zach was definitely surprised!

Pig cupcakes for the farmerboy

Happy 25 Years!

We also surprised my mom with tickets to a Tigers Game! My brothers got her a Tigers t-shirt and my sisters gave her spending money for at the ballpark and we went to the game on Thursday afternoon!

Can you believe she's 52!?

It poured rain -- the two days it's rained all summer and we had tickets to a ball game on one of those days --- but luckily our seats were just under the upper deck so we didn't get wet! And bonus - the Tigers won! After the game we stopped at Astoria Bakery in Greektown per the recommendation from friends and bought some delicious pastries for later. We also got to visit with our Thorne grandparents after the game which was so nice! I love hearing their stories.

That's all for now.

Love,

Sarah

Birthday Month & Bread

February brings several birthdays for our families again. January is packed full of them but February had a couple notable ones.

My youngest brother, Michael turned 12 years old on February 6. I am twice his age this year... crazy. I remember watching when he was born - how blue his skin was and how he didn't cry for awhile until the nurse rubbed some color back into him, how we really wanted him to be the 7th kid born on the 7th of February but he came at 11:50PM on the 6th, how he didn't have a name for almost a week because my parents couldn't decide what to name him. Some of the options on the table were: Harrison, Jason, Michael, and Travis and Justin's pick: Roly-poly-poop-and-pie. Thank goodness mom and dad didn't go with that one! :)

Anyways, Michael fits him perfectly and our family wouldn't be the same without him. He's in 6th grade this year and plays soccer, basketball, and baseball. He plays oboe in band and loves polar bears and the computer game Madden. He's still got HUGE eyelashes, adorable freckles, and shock blonde hair. He loves to tell you stories but he takes forever to get to the point... And he's still pretty small and cries at the drop of a hat.... maybe we babied the baby a bit too much. :)

Love you, Peanut! He was so small when he was born that I started calling him Peanut and it stuck. His other nicknames vary depending on which sister is talking to him.

If it's Katie, she calls him Sonny.

If it's Rachel, she calls him Babushka (which I realize is Russian for "grandmother" but who knows where she got it from)

If it's Amy, she calls him Bubba.

blowing out candles on his Superbowl cake

Mom & Dad with their baby

Mike & sister Rachel

Mike's birthday guests, who also may have been in town for the Superbowl...

Me & Zach, Trav's friend Jake, brothers Travis & Justin, Mom & dad, Rachel & Jared

The other milestone birthday we celebrated was Grandpa Cook's 92nd birthday on February 17. Yes, you read that right 92, as in ninety-two, as in 9 tens and 2 ones!

We went to Harbor Beach to their farm on Saturday for a birthday dinner and gifts. Zach, me, & my in-laws spent the night so it was nice to get some extra time with them when it wasn't so stinkin' loud from the rest of the Cook family chatter. :)

Grandpa Cook is doing so well for a man of his age. Actually, he's doing a lot better than most 70 year olds I know! He just wears glasses and has NEVER had a cavity in all his life! He sailed the Great Lakes as a young man, married Minnie, had 5 children and ran a farm complete with crops and cows for many years. He's also got a memory for dates like none other! He can tell you the date to the date when he started sailing one season, or the exact date and year he bought out the neighbors farm, or how much sugar beets cost in the spring of 1952. It's pretty ridiculous but also pretty impressive!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Cook! You are loved by many!

Singing Happy Birthday!

It's probably a good thing they didn't put 92 candles on there!

Grandma Cook, Sue, & Aunt Marge prepping the cake for eating

If I back up to January for a bit, I got to make a few exciting purchases! And they're only exciting because I waited and waited and waited to get them and now I'm so glad! One was a cozy down comforter. It's the best. Sinking into our pillow top bed with that comforter on top is SO lovely. I could stay in there all day! Well, at least all morning, which I've gotten to do a lot of lately due to our snow days and Presidents' days. :)

The second thing was the duvet cover for the down comforter. I went back and forth on colors, patterns, and designs but finally went with a complete bedding set from Pottery Barn. I was not disappointed at all! It gives our room a little pop of color which it desperately needed since all the walls everywhere are white. Plus it fits over the comforter perfectly too since we also got that at PB. I'll be sad when summer's here and the down comforter will have to go away. But until then, I'm enjoying it!

And last but not least, I have found a WONDERFUL bread recipe! I've made it twice now because the first time I didn't bake it long enough and the middle was still doughy, whoops! Anyways, I made it again Monday and it got my in-laws stamp of approval when they came over for dinner last night. Zach loves it too! I got the recipe from here. I followed her directions exactly. Bread is too sensitive for me to go messing around with the ingredients or doing my usual measuring method of estimating... I learned that the hard way.

Just beware, it makes 2 big loaves and it was pretty tough on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Probably because there's between 6-8 cups of flour might be the reason it was a huffin' and puffin' away.

But who cares.

The machine lived and we got yummy warm bread!

I usually eat as many slices as possible when it comes out of the oven because it's only warm and fresh once. Reheating is just not the same. My recommendation is to slather butter on it then drizzle some honey on top. Or put raspberry preserves on it. That's good too. Actually, just about any way you eat homemade bread is good.

bread straight from the oven

It might be weird to say, but I was super scared of making bread from scratch. It just seemed so complicated and too many things could go wrong then I would have wasted lots of time and ingredients. But it's not so bad after all. The result was worth the risk of learning how!

homemade bread success!

Love,

Sarah