The Life and Times of the Sullivan Family: 2014

Here's our latest addition to the backyard: a chicken coop and some hens. We decided since we were already growing so many veggies, we might as well remove eggs from our grocery bill, too. So John threw together an awesome chicken coop from materials in the garage, and we purchased our first four pullets (young females not quite ready to lay, but older than chicks). If all goes well, we should have eggs in 4-6 weeks, but until now, we have some fun new pets. I wasn't expecting how soft, social, and pretty they are; Felicity is both fascinated and a bit scared of them (they are a lot bigger than the robins she chases around the yard). :)

A couple weeks ago, Felicity and I surprised my youngest brother Joel with a trip to Colorado to see his show, The Music Man. I showed up at the theatre and saw him in costume before the show on opening night: needless to say, it was one of the best surprises, ever. So fun!!

(This is 2 weeks old, will post soon again)

It's official: Spring is here!! In spite of temperature swings, late frosts (and more predicted), and crazy hail storms, we have had enough warm days to really believe Spring is here. In fact, it's 83 degrees today, and our plants are waking up out of dormancy! Since it's been so long since we posted, we thought we'd give you an update on what we're all up to right now, and how our potager (kitchen garden) is doing.

Daffodils and crocus coming up in front of the house!!

John is still working part-time at both COSTCO and Home Depot. We are praying for a full-time job at COSTCO sometime this year, preferably a supervisor position. Since COSTCO is such a good company to work for, getting a full-time job is really competitive and requires a lot of patience. We are praying for favor and that it would happen this year. John has been working in the wine department for several months, and doing so well that when the foods supervisor requested he be moved the the Foods department, his manager said no, since John was too valuable in his current department. Then the Foods manager also requested John's transfer, so it does look like he will be moving departments next week. I figure it's a good thing they are fighting over him, and it shows what a valuable worker he is. Everyone loves him at Home Depot, and they keep offering him full-time jobs, but he's really holding out for COSTCO. In the mean time, he has an excellent attitude in spite of long hours and an irregular schedule and I am so proud of him!!

Felicity and John's first bike ride together!

I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with Felicity full time. I also teach lessons on Skype 4 to 5 days a week, which is great because it allows me to keep my teaching skills current while still staying home with the Babes and bring in a little extra income. I mostly teach reading and writing skills to ESL students in Beijing, along with some grammar and a lot of conversation. They are excellent students, and we've had fun reading books like the Narnia series, the Hunger Games series, the Giver series, and Number the Stars. This semester, I've also been teaching an intro to Acting class to my brother who homeschools. It's an interesting challenge to have a Theatre class through the computer to only one student, but it's been tons of fun!!

Believe it or not, our little Felicity Rose turned a year last month!

She is walking and climbing all over the place, getting into cupboards and drawers and food left and right, and making all kinds of messes. She loves to carry her baby dolls around with her, constantly stopping to hug and kiss them (apparently we kiss her a lot!) She is a danger to other kids as she cannot resist accosting them with a big hug and kiss! She loves spending time outside, eating dirt and rocks, and occasionally uprooting Mommy's plants. Here she is, helping Dad build a table:

She is such a little mimic, observing everything around her. She likes to bark at dogs, tweet at birds, and point at everything that interests her. We've had such a wonderful year, and can't wait to see what the next one will bring.

Since moving to this house a year ago, I have discovered a love for gardening and watching things grow, especially edibles. I started out with two raised beds, and have added bit by bit to where we now have a full-fledged potager, complete with some fruit trees and bushes. My creative husband is excellent at building stuff out of found or discounted materials, so we've done everything inexpensively. My goal is to grow most of our veggies during the warm months and have some extra to can, pickle, and ferment. I've been sowing seeds for about a month, and with this warmer weather, I am starting to see the fruits (or vegetables) of my labor. So far, I have sow my cool season crops: two kinds of peas, three kinds of carrots, beets, radishes, onions, shallots, lettuces, mache, spinach, Swiss chard, kale, turnips, cabbage, broccoli, artichokes and potatoes. In another month, I will sow and/or plant out the warm season crops. My herbs are also starting to come out of dormancy or to grow, and we've already starting enjoying those a bit. We also have a bed of strawberries, 6 raspberries, 4 grape vines, 4 currants (2 red and 2 black), and have blackberries on the way. So fun!! Here are some pics of everything waking up.