From Our Flock to Yours

Happy Holidays!

One Little Egg...

I found an egg in the coop today. An egg!! We have six chickens (only three are mature enough to lay) and haven't seen any eggs in a few months. I about flipped when I saw this baby and of course had to run inside and take a picture of it. (Crazy chicken lady, I know). 

The hens all molted at the end of summer and with the shortened day light hours, they just haven't been producing. Hens generally need 12-14 hours of light to produce and lay eggs and they are only getting about 10 or so. We'll be putting a light in their coop this weekend set on a timer to turn on at 4am. Hopefully that will entice the girls to start getting back to business. It's either that or we'll be having some really good chicken dinners soon. Totally kidding.

 Egg Watch 2012 will be starting soon as the newest additions will be getting ready to start laying in just a couple of months. Thank goodness - we need some eggs here, chickens!

This is new to us as our hens were in their egg laying prime last fall and barely decreased in their production. Those of you with chickens, do you notice a huge decrease in egg production during winter/fall? If so, do you let the girls rest or supplement with light? Would love to hear your experiences and how you handle things.

Renegade Road Trip

My friend Erica (of Parkside Harmony) and I are hitting the road bright and early on Friday for the Renegade LA Holiday Craft Fair.

 (image source)

From the Renegade folks: The 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market in Los Angeles returns to Los Angeles State Park on December 10 + 11, from 10am – 5pm, to supply all your handmade holiday shopping needs! Always free-to-attend and featuring over 200 artists, shoppers are sure to find something for everybody on their lists or can craft a special gift themselves at one of our terrific hands-on crafting workshops! A handful of LA’s best independent food trucks will be on site serving up delicious dishes and our bar will have many holiday libations!

At the Renegade Craft Fair you can expect to find only the best indie-craft and DIY artisans! Featuring both local and national talent, shoppers can anticipate a vast arrayof independently designed jewelry, clothing, paper goods, home + garden goods, posters, artwork, plush objects, bath + body products, and so much more!!

I'll be working at the Parkside Harmony booth with Erica. Stop by, say "hi," pick up some of her gorgeous handmade books - they make the perfect gift! 

Full list of vendors here

Little Snowy Getaway

We took the boys up to Prescott this past weekend so they could have some fun in the snow. The timing was perfect as a storm rolled in just before we got in to town. I'm not sure why we haven't taken them before - it only took us an hour and a half to get there.

The second we checked in to the hotel the boys were begging to go outside and throw snowballs. I don't like being cold and having snowballs hurled at my head so I volunteered to take pictures (no throwing snowballs at the person with the camera).

Finley was so stoked to be in the snow. He had this excited little grin on his face the. entire. time. 

Unfortunately, Oliver came down with a fever shortly after we arrived so he spent all afternoon in Jason's arms. 

He perked up the next morning.

And managed to tag Jason with a snowball.

Jason tagged him right back and Oliver was not a happy camper.

The sun was shining and the snow was melting fast so we went back to the town square to try and scrape together some little snowmen.

Clearly we are not experienced snowmen builders.

It was a quick trip but we had a blast (despite the fact that I am a cold weather idiot and had the kids in their Vans and Converse the entire time. I'm lucky they still have their toes. ;)

Slowly but Surely...

it's beginning to look a *bit* like Christmas. I have been sick the past two weeks (boo!) and am super behind on my holiday preparations but I have managed to whip out some new Christmas decor to give the house a festive feel.

I had a million grand ideas for a new advent calendar this year. On November 30th and nothing done, I ran to Target to buy one. Oh my - so ugly and overpriced. Ran back home, busted out my felt stash and an old bulletin board I had laying around to create this one. Inside each little stocking are two treats for the boys and a Christmas related activity to do for each day. It has been a blast so far and the boys love to peek inside each morning to see what we get to do.

Do you see these adorable trees?!?! I found them on the Anthropologie website (pictured on left) and pinned them a few weeks ago. However, we are really cutting back this year and they are totally out of my budget. Bless my sweet mom for figuring out how to make something similar and helping me with them! I think they turned out great and cost us just $17 to make six of them. 

Speaking of my awesome mom, she put together these little *globes* from some trees, mason jars, and salt. Love them.

Again, keeping the budget in mind I made this little peace banner for the fireplace out of linen and some leftover felt. It cost me a a few dollars and I love it.

Since we used mellow neutrals to decorate the family room, I figured the boys needed new stockings to match. These are nothing fancy and I was able to use fabric and felt that I had on hand.

(Please ignore the ugly black TV). We kept the decor simple and understated this year but I really like it.

And of course it wouldn't be the holidays without our cheeky little elf, Cooper. This is Cooper's third year with us but thanks to Pinterest and some creative bloggers, Cooper is far more clever than before.

Although I'm feeling frazzled and behind, my little guys are enjoying every bit of this joyous season. I hope you are too!

(I'm a little too scattered to come up with proper tutorials on these right now but if you have any questions as to how I made anything, please message me at finleyandoliver@gmail.com - I'd love to help.)