So long

My apologies for not posting in so long. My husband is working a new job this year that renders me a single mom about 95% of the time. I've been learning new habits to keep myself sane during this time and to keep the kids involved in their regular activities.

I am tired all the time, as you can probably see from this picture, but keep up with my little rascals as best I can. They've had plenty of new milestones I should've shared. William sings his ABCs in the cutest little voice. Savannah rides her bike without training wheels and is ready to graduate to a larger one.

William rides his tricycle now on the road all by himself and put his first pee in the potty (no pictures of that thank goodness!).

Savannah tested for her brown belt in Taekwondo and was praised for her positive energy, focus, and indomitable spirit. William fell in love with a race car blankie that nearly takes the place of mommy's tummy and Savannah became a full Brownie in her Girl Scout troop.

Because this will be a challenging year for me with little free time, I won't be able to post very often until Kevin's job changes next year. Probably best to subscribe if you want new happenings to appear in your inbox, rather than having to check back to see that I have or have not posted. Wish me luck and have a great Thanksgiving!

Piano for S

In just less than a year, Savannah has come a long way in her piano lessons. I'm so proud of her that she can already read music better than I can. Sometimes I try to imagine where she'll be in one more year of piano lessons. Anyway, the time had come when her keyboard was holding her back. The keys aren't touch sensitive and there were no pedals. But the dilemma for us is that in our open contemporary house, there are very few interior walls. Add that to the fact that we heat two floors of our house with a woodstove and we have a recipe for disaster for a real piano. Fortunately, we discovered that the electronic pianos have really come leaps and bounds in the past few years and without strings and hammers, they aren't as sensitive, requiring even humidity and temperature year round.

So Savannah finally received a more suitable practice piano and it even comes with a view of the garden and pond, something a regular piano couldn't have. She enjoys the pedals and the three levels of touch-sensitive keys and we enjoy the sound of her playing. I don't know how long she'll continue her piano lessons, but I hope it's for a long, long time to come.

Little farm miracle

Today we had a lot going on as usual but after our walk Savannah spotted something new while collecting eggs. Our broody hen was off her nest and two of the eggs were cracked. After a bit of searching we found something sticking out from our broody girl's breast.

Can you see the sweet not yet one-day-old baby chick peeking out from beneath her mama's feathers? Here's another close up just in case.

Welcome baby! We are eager to see the colors of this one as it grows since it is half Buff Orpington and half Rhode Island Red. But this wasn't our only surprise. Then we discovered a second baby that had fallen outside of the coop, it was running around frightened and cold. As soon as we caught her and she felt our warmth, she quieted and fell asleep. We decided to bring her in the house to raise her in the brooder.  That way we can be certain she will have food, water, warmth and will not fall out of the coop again. And, she'll imprint on us.

Even Aunt Megan got to hold our new baby fluff ball. But there was another surprise. William had been asking over and over for milk while I was preparing the brooder. When Kevin went to the fridge to get his milk, he heard peeping from inside the fridge! He brought out our bowl of freshly collected eggs and I quickly did the water test on them. Two of the eggs floated right to the top so we scooped them out. Aunt Megan heard the peeping from inside one of the eggs too. I made a little "nest" for the eggs inside the brooder where it was warmest and guess who wanted to snuggle with her sisters?

The first egg on the left already has a small crack in it from baby sister's egg tooth. Tomorrow we expect to have two baby fluff balls in our brooder and possibly a third if the last egg was also fertilized. For us, this is quite the miracle because our rooster Lucky (who is lucky to be alive in the first place) has half a brain and doesn't exactly know what he's doing when he mounts a chicken. We see very few fertilized eggs. Ever. So we thought our poor broody girl was nesting in vain. We left her alone though to do her thing with her clutch of eggs and now she's got one lovely chick to raise as her own and we have two or three to raise our way. Tonight or tomorrow we expect to see the miracle of hatching. And soon enough all the siblings will be together again, grazing the land with their mama and each other.

William turns two

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since my little guy entered this world with a bang. Most of the time, he is a gentle and kind little boy, who likes to give hugs, say new words, play outside, snuggle with his baby chicks, and arrange and rearrange flowers. But he can also turn into the naughtiest little boy in a flash, running with wild abandon in any direction he pleases, even if that might be out of a store's automatic doors into the street or through a busy airport terminal or out the front door towards the woods in a diaper and bare feet, hardly noticing the prickles in his feet until he is caught.

These extremes define my William's character - eager to make enormous messes,

Yogurt schmogurt.

but equally willing to do hard work that is not asked of him like unloading the clean dish washer or pushing the wheelbarrow full of manure even though the wheel keeps sinking through the mucky meadow.

For his birthday I made his favorite cake, that we call Fairy Tale cake, with layers of white chocolate pudding and white chocolate frosting and added his favorite thing to the top - an airplane.

I guess you could say he liked it.

I guess you could say, he really liked it.

I try to keep the kids' birthdays simple for as long as possible, so we just celebrated with our immediate family and did all of William's favorite things, like eating pasta with homemade marinara sauce and edamame, catching tadpoles from the pond, a bike ride and walk down the road, a ride in the paddleboat, and playing with our new toys.

We catch dozens of tadpoles, newts, and fish in the pond.

William is obsessed with water. He points it out whenever he sees it, and on our walks he must stop at each place there is a stream to admire the flowing water and perhaps toss in a pebble or two. With his boots on, there isn't a puddle he won't stomp in or drain with dozens of trips with his bucket. Before we child proofed the bathroom doors, it was not uncommon to find him standing on a stool at the sink, water running profusely, with his hands in the water.

William's new airplane can go on land or water.

Airplanes and trains are his latest obsession. There's hardly a plane that goes by that he doesn't spot, no matter how tiny. It's a treat to take him to the airport viewing center to watch the planes take off. He feels disappointed by landings though and always wants to know when the airplanes are going to go up, up, up again.

William's favorite toy, was not his basketball hoop as I'd hoped (big sister seems to have taken over that). It is his bubble maker. He and "sis-sis" made bubbles for an hour with great delight after dinner.

Uh, oh! A hole in this bucket means no more carrying tadpoles around in it.

William wears his new "2" shirt from Mommy, with an airplane embroidered on one side and the number two on the other. The fabric is leftover Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt.

It's hard to believe that my baby's baby days have already passed us by but he's such a fun little person to have around, we love his big boy character and sense of humor. Next time you see him, challenge him to a funny face contest, I dare you!

Images of Easter

Wild chives from the yard

plus fresh eggs from the girls

 

 make fabulous scrambled eggs with chives and cheese

plus a fresh loaf of Sara's vitamin E bread equals yum!

William plays with his new knitted chick

while Savannah models her new "owl" attire.

William finds some "eggies" for his basket

Savannah fills her basket

We plant a new tree with five types of grafts

and some roses in a hedge.

And we goofed around a bit

and a bit more...

okay, maybe there was a lot of goofing around!

Long enough

We returned from our trip to Florida. We stayed just long enough to

start a few fires,

make friends with real pirates,

bury a few treasures in the sand,

pat the stingrays and feed them lunch,

dance in the ocean until its waves knocked us down,

see the dolphins in rehabilitation and captivity,

and in the wild,

nap,

and play around with some technology,

meet some other moms,

sail on board a real pirate ship,

learn how to fire pistols,

and listen to pirate stories at sunset,

become honorary pirates,

 

 dance our buccaneer hearts out,

climb to the top of the world,

 

bungee jump,

and flip,

and flip some more,

 hang out upside down to appease our monkey hearts,

make new friends and dance a little,

unmake new friends!

learn how swimming pools work,

and rearrange the fountains,

collect sea shells,

swim under the water,

and pose for a late night family photo with the camera timer.

Until next year, bye Florida!