BLEUBIRD BLOG

A GOODBYE & A WINNER.

we bid the big kids farewell yesterday afternoon and watched them jump on a plane to florida. i already miss them like crazy. this is the fifth summer that they have been away from me and i am just wondering, does it ever get easier? i am beginning to think that it never does. but i am happy that they get this time with their dad. he is an incredible father and i know that it rips him up inside just as much when they are here with me the rest of the year. i have some great photos to share with you from our trip to austin this weekend. i will be back very soon with those.

and now for the bonlook giveaway winner...  congratulations sara! i hope you love your new bonlook glasses and a giant thank you to boonlook for such a generous giveaway.

photo above: we stopped at a hole-in-the-wall bbq place on our drive home from austin. the only thing good was the icecream but we got a cute picture. taken with my iphone.

BITS + PIECES.

bits + pieces of our week.

and now it's the weekend. it seems like our weekends and our weeks in this house are one in the same. well, to me they are. the kids see the difference. they see no school on saturdays and sundays. they see sleep overs with friends and getting to stay up late on friday and saturday nights. i see most of the same day in and day out. being a mom, a wife, a neighbor, a friend... a blogger. sure, some days i school and others i don't. some days i run errands and others i don't. but for the most part they are all one in the same. aubrey doesn't work a regular nine to five so some days he works and others he doesn't. we don't have a count down to friday at five o'clock. sometimes i miss the weekends. i mean the real, get excited because it's friday, jump up and down weekends that we used to have. most of our days run into one another and sometimes, as embarrassing as it is to admit, i forget which day it is. but most of the time i am thankful. thankful that i get to stay home with my kids every day, thankful that we have the freedom to make our own schedule and thankful that i don't have the dreaded monday blues. that is a perk i suppose.

photos above...
1. leg rolls. she still got em'.
2. breakfast of cake.
3. aubrey has been sorting, cleaning, sleeving and cataloging our record collection for days. it's a messy job. there are records all over the front room in stacks and boxes.
4. a sweet day dreaming boy.
5. gerber daisies that make me happy every time i look at them.
6. our littlest chicken keeper.
7. a mid-day snack and some useful reading.
8. old photos that i hung using sticky tack, but i see the sticky tack doesn't work very well. i need a better solution.
9. i just started unpacking things from the wedding and found that several of our pretty mismatched plates are broken. this makes me sad.
10. our one and only kitchen window that lets in just a little bit of sun.
11. my nose twin.
12. a little known fact about yours truly. i always wear socks. around the house i mean. even in the middle of the summer it's thick, white sport socks everyday. cold feet.

and now for the winner of the thrive furniture kennedy chair giveaway.
ooh, some one is going to be so happy tonight!!!

the winner is KATE from the forkandvine blog! CONGRATULATIONS KATE!!!! i took a peek at your blog and it is so charming, hope you don't mind me linking it here and i hope you fall in love with your new kennedy chair. we sure love ours! thank you again to our friends over at thrive furniture for such a generous and exciting giveaway!

A DREAMY KITCHEN.

how perfect is this kitchen?! to me it's perfection. it is every bit of what a country kitchen should be and every bit my dream kitchen. aaand there's that kill your tv print that i have been lusting over for so long. one of these days i am going to bite the bullet and buy that sucker. this lovely kitchen that makes me want to scoop up my kids, run to the country and bake pies all day is from this wonderful blog. one day, one day soon, all of our country dreams will come true. positive thinking works!

ooh and the winner of the deja vu giveaway is... summer.

congratulations to you and thank you again to deja vu for your generosity! 

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY.

today was a very exciting day for all of us over here. we went and picked out our baby chicks this afternoon. the excitement and pure joy that took over juj and plum was truly a sight to see. birdie was excited as well but of course didn't fully comprehend that these five baby chicks were coming home to stay and grow and live with us. she does think they are pretty swell though.

we were hoping to find silkies but the wabash store did not have any at the moment and would not be getting any in for some time. i spoke with a very helpful man at the feed store who answered any further questions i had and helped us choose the best breed for our family. we went with the black australorp pullets. they are known to be very good egg layers. we got to hand pick our favorite chicks. plum made sure to only get ones that did not peck at her hands when she reached into the cage. we chose five because we want to end up with 3 or 4 to start and we were told that most likely two out of five will die as chicks. the plan is to get comfortable with our first round of chickens and then in the future add more. we think six is a pretty good number for our family.

we each got to pick a name for one of our new chicks. plum named one peekie. julian named one yoko and birdie's is named pingu, after a show about a little penguin named pingu that looks kinda like our baby chicks. aubrey and i haven't decided on the last two names just yet.

the chicks will be kept inside under the heat lamp for another month and a half. during that time we will all, including the kids, build a snazzy little coop for them in back out of wood and chicken wire. it will look something like this, just not as big. we are all thrilled about our new venture in chicken keeping. i can hear their little chirps as i type and it brings a smile to my face. i am so happy that we are able to give our children this gift. that might sounds corny, but i would have loved to have had chickens when i was a young girl and i think that the learning experience, responsibilty and rewards from having them will be huge. i look forward to sharing more with you on these little ladies as time goes by. it will be quite a few months until our hens start laying eggs, but i am excited. there is nothing like a fresh egg in my opinion.

do any of you have chickens? any advice for new keepers? i would love to hear how you do it.

also... the giveaway came to a close tonight and i have the winners for you!

the canon lewis starfish necklace winner is

the three miszko maszko doll winners are

and the pixie lily gift certificate winner is

congratulations to you all and thank you to our incredible sponsors for your generosity.