First project in the new house: chicken coop

In this household, we love projects. From planning, to purchasing materials, to the manual labor, I love it all! It's invigorating to see it all come together. We try and do all of our remodeling projects ourselves, with a lot of help from Matt's dad (he loves a good project as much as we do, and he's retired!) The house we just bought was at the top of our price range and although the materials inside aren't my taste- tan, granite, light wood... there isn't anything wrong with them, so that means I'll be living with them for a while.

What wasn't in great shape was the chicken coop.

Isn't it so tiny?

The previous owners had 4 chickens and we were lucky enough that they stayed with the house. We were so excited to get them. The girls fell in love with them when we saw the house the first time, and Elle quickly turned into the chicken whisperer. It's so funny to watch her with them! The coop was in pretty bad shape. Very tiny, an eyesore, and my least favorite color to decorate with-red! I had been pinning different chicken coops since before we closed on this house and found one that I liked and was practical. We used these plans, but made our run longer by a few feet. Next thing I knew materials were being ordered and our first project was underway. We used hardware cloth as opposed to chicken wire which was on the existing coop for extra protection on keeping things out. I also knew I wanted it blue, so after searching and searching, I ran into Home Depot and just grabbed a shade- I don't suggest doing this, I normally do sample after sample, but I was short on time and had to make a game time decision, I love the way it turned out. The girls loved "helping" Pap and I love the memories they made. 

You should have heard the chickens squawking when their old pen was removed. They were mad!! This new home more than doubled the size of their run, so they quickly changed their tune! What I love about this plan is that it's so large you are able to walk right inside to clean and the doors of the nesting boxes are low enough that Elle, and eventually Wren are able to open them up and gather the eggs. 

 

         Wren wearing Pap's gloves <3

        My girls taking it for it's first spin

Our first dozen eggs!

Since building this chicken house, we decided to add a few vents to it and will put rectangular roosts in instead of round, apparently chickens usually prefer one over the other- ours like rectangle. We still need to landscape around the perimeter, but the hens are in and loving it! 

Lavender oil on excema

Have you been using essential oils? Am I the last mom on Earth to take heed of their benefits? I've started using young living essential oils, and what a difference it has made on Wren's excema. I've been battling it off and on since she was a few months old. It came back full force a few weeks ago and had even spread to other areas. It normally is contained on the top of her feet, but has spread up the back of her legs and her fingers. As a mother and pediatric nurse, I got tired of trying things that kept coming up short. I also didn't want to use a steroid because they can be continually needed and eventually damage their delicate skin.

Little miss had been itching and hurting it broke my heart to not be able to fix her instantly. I had been reading about the effects of lavender oil, which comes in the premium starter kit. Not only is it a bedtime superstar, it's great with skin ailments too! I mixed up a rollerball of lavender and coconut oil and look at what a difference it's made! This is with only 4 days use! It's obviously still there, but not as red or cracked. 

I've also heard it works wonders on ant bites- something we get frequently living shoe free outside!

Do you have any favorite oils I should know about, or can I answer any questions for you that you might have?

Simple Summer Dessert

I stopped into central market for some chicken to grill (they have the juiciest chicken breasts) and had to walk right past the strawberries that were conveniently staged next to the angel food cake. I'm not always big on dessert, but angel food cake with strawberries is one of my favorites. It's the perfect blend of tart and sweet and is so simple to throw together. I know in the summer I'm trying to stay out of the kitchen less and enjoy more time with the girls outside, being able to prepare this in less than 5 minutes makes it my summertime favorite! It's also a great dish to bring because you can dress it up or down- slice and serve in a bowl, layer it, or cut the cake into tiny pieces and mix with the strawberries. I do get less happy about eating this if I'm out of whipped cream ;)

Are you drooling now??

Pandora for littles

Music. I love it and the girls love it! It makes me feel, well, like me. Wren actually was a much better singer than she was talker for a while. I've been singing to the girls since before they were born. Every night when I rock Wren to sleep, I love to listen to her little voice follow me in song and tune! Elle has actually become quite the song writer, singing her own tunes most frequently when it will delay bedtime!

We love Pandora at our house, I play it when we are playing, swimming, dance partying, winding down for bed- there isn't too often when we aren't listening to some kind of music! I'd much rather have it on than TV. 

I've rounded out my top 5 Pandora stations for littles. These are safe for little spirits to listen to, and easy on mama's ears- a win win. 

1. Elizabeth Mitchell- folksy and wonderful. Elizabeth, can we be friends please?!

2. Lullaby Radio- great for going off to sleep. Also used this for late night nursing sessions. 

3. Children's Indie- Think Mumford and Sons.

4. The B.I.B.L.E.- I loved Bible songs growing up. This station has songs I grew up with as well as new ones. 

5. Baby Einstein- Every child song you could think of and then some. 

Here are my ladies singing Dolly's Jolene. Love that they love to sing, and doing everything I can to foster their self confidence. 

I haven't tried the paid subscription to Pandora yet. Have you? Do you have any stations I should check out?

Gray makes my world go round

Tan, beige, brown. Although neutral, not my neutral. Almost every room in the new house is some shade of tan. 

I loved Wren's room in our old house, crisp, white, gray, and darling! Her new room was tan and even though I'll be designing her a big girl room next year, I just couldn't wait to paint it! I didn't have much of a vision for it since it's not really nursery and not quite a big girl room, but I thought at the very least paint will help! I wanted a light gray, but what gray? I tried several out before deciding. 

Benjamin Moore classic gray, gray owl, and Valspar's woodlawn snow. I really thought I'd go with classic gray, but after looking at it for a few weeks I decided on gray owl. Actually, Matt got tired of looking at several swatches of paint on the wall and forced me to choose! I painted this morning while pulling out all of my tricks to keep the girls out of the way. Surprised myself! We still need to plank the ceiling and do crown molding, but the color is so much better! 

Are you like me, could you paint your whole house gray? Do you have any painting tips? I'd love to hear them!