Feigning fall

We made our second annual autumn trip to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark this on Saturday for their fall festival. When we were there last October there were wildfires raging nearby, and this year the same was true. There was a large fire a few miles away that had just been contained the day before we went - so no smoke in the background in the photos this year, but only barely. 'Tis after all the season, the locals say, for fires.

It's definitely not the season for a New England fall feel, though, as we remarked as we sweated our way around the festival on Saturday where the temperature neared 100 degrees. Definitely funny to be sweltering like that as we tromped amidst the corn stalks and pumpkins (and even funnier to behold the pumpkins on sale adjacent to a large barrel of watermelons).

Last fall at the fair Q watched her brother from her stroller - she was neither walking nor talking yet. This year she jumped right in and even rode on a horse, with no hesitation or fanfare, right alongside him on the pony rides. J had the high honor of waving the green flag for the pig races, which he enjoyed... Highlight for Y was taking the two older kids on a horse-drawn wagon ride facilitated by the owner of the farm, Mr. Underwood. They were the only ones on the ride so he chatted with the farm patriarch the whole time (while baby L and I chatted with his wife, originally from upstate NY. Actually L was asleep and was as good as gold - either sleeping or hanging out - the whole three hours we were there). Fun time.

Baby's second month

A few shots of the the Goose as she kicks off her second month of life....

Her cheeks are growing chubbier and she's beginning to coo a bit and talk to us when we interact with her. A touch of baby acne around the face and neck flares up from time to time like her big brother had. She likes tummy time - the only one of our kids so far who has - and is beginning to not hate her bath so much. She's napping well during the day and beginning to do slightly better at night, though her dear mom is eagerly awaiting some longer stretches...!

Cuts and such

Big girl Q got a haircut from her dad last week, his first experience in cutting a girl's hair (though he has ample experience in cutting boys', including his own). It came out very cute indeed with the overall result being that she looks less messy all the time, which was her M.O. before - especially as she refuses to keep a clip or elastic in her hair for more than about 17 minutes at a time. This photo of the finished product depicts the same manner we got the cut done painlessly last time - while eating chocolate. :)

She and her big brother have been assisting their dad in making strawberry jam... one batch last weekend and another in the works this weekend (this time with honey rather than sugar as the sweetener; should be interesting). The first batch was scrumptious so I'm looking forward to this one! After our tomato canning episode over Labor Day weekend, we appear to be entering a new phase of in-home food preparation which is quite fun...

Our hen thinks she's a dog

One of our chickens suddenly died recently, and the remaining two hens must be separated at all times. Why? Because one of them is so intent on hen-pecking the other that, when they were together, she almost killed her poor victim. Nice, huh? And pretty inconvenient too as it means the two cannot dwell together in the chicken coop Y made for them. The kids and I (really the later) recently named them.

The aggressor, Red, lives in the coop and Feathers, who not only lost all her back feathers but had an open wound oozing blood at the time of the assaults, lives by night in Angus' blue plastic travel crate. During the day Feathers is free-range in the back yard, and she's gotten pretty used to being out in the open. In fact, she seems to now think she's our second dog. She comes into the kitchen every time somehow forgets to close the screen door. She follows the kids around. And she begs for food anytime anyone has some outside. A few nights ago we were eating dinner outside (we finally got a grill after 14 months of living here without one!) and she was under the table. Suddenly I felt a peck on my toe... Y said she must have though my red-painted toenails were scraps of food. Dear me! She was put in her kennel after that for the remainder of the meal... just like her compatriot Angus, when he misbehaves at meal-time.

Talk about heartwarming...

The things we learn

Here are a few things the three kids have learned over the past week~

--Our big boy: how to put on his own socks & shoes and do all potty-related tasks, like wiping and putting his undies and shorts back on, independently (all requirements for preschool)
--Our big girl: how to jump a full-fledged jump with both feet
--Our little girl: how to hold her head up (at least while being burped, on my shoulder)

Milestones, if ever I've seen them...

Baby girl at 3 weeks

On Sunday our sweet baby L was three weeks old, definitely a long three weeks that feels more like months. She is a sweet little thing and most often is fairly low key and easy to have around. She loves being held (what baby doesn't?) or in the sling; detests her carseat. She has one of the shrillest and most piercing cries I've ever heard from an infant. Today she smiled for the first time! Her siblings continue to adore her, pet her, and 'help' with her at every opportunity. Some photos from today:

You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to

Since we became friends with our fellow agrarian-oriented friends the Grahams in the spring, we've been talking canning. They can; we (especially Y) aspire to. This weekend we seized the opportunity. Every Labor Day there's a "Pick Your Own Tomatoes" day the local farm where we went blueberry picking in June, and Y and Dave spent a few hours Fri evening picking 250 lbs of tomats.

Then yesterday we canned from 8 am till 6 pm in the Grahams' back yard... and when I say "we," I mean Y, Dave, and Courtney. I peeled a few dozen in the morning when I had a hand free but otherwise wasn't a great deal of help (but as the limited nature of my role has been established prior and expectations for my contributions were low, this was ok). Courtney cooked us fresh and scrumptious breakfast, lunch, and dinner... and our kids frolicked together in their large backyard all day while the hard work was being done. Minus 1 - 5 pm when the three kids and I went home and napped hard before returning to finish off.

It was a really fun day; the Grahams were very well organized to get the work done and great hosts; and we canned 75 jars of tomatoes. [But why is it still called canning when it's actually jars that are used? Anyone?]

Nana to the rescue...

My mom was here for six days to help with the new baby, which was a godsend. We'd been home from the hospital for just over a week when she arrived, but the timing of her visit was perfect. The meals our lovely church friends had been delivering had ended; our house was becoming disheveled (to put it mildly!); and Y had gone back to work. Moreover, my back had been hurting since the day the birth and thus I was attending twice weekly physical therapy appointments (and am still)... I was taking L in for weight checks since she didn't gain any weight in her first two weeks... and J was starting preschool. So it was busy too.

So Nana prepared food, straightened the house, read books to the kids, held the baby, and generally made herself available to serve us however we needed. It was the best. We were all very sad to see her go when she left a few days ago.

We have a preschooler!

Preschool started for J this week, about which he was extremely excited. All of the classes in his school are named after birds, and he's in the "Hummingbirds" class with Teacher Maria overseeing him and the other nine three-year-olds. The preschool is located at a local Presbyterian church; class runs 9 am till noon. J was particularly pleased that Nana was here to pick him up (along with the rest of us) for his first day and see his classroom and such. The youngest Scherrei, with whom J is very tight, is in his class too which is very nice. One photo below shows the two of them 'signing in' on the student whiteboard outside their classroom.

On Thursday, his second day, they "studied" the color yellow, so he wore a yellow T-shirt and brought in a few yellow flowers from our garden to add to the class bouquet. It was quite sweet.

Each morning he wakes up and says, 'Is today my first day of preschool?' - clearly not yet grasping the notion that one only has a first day one time.

This week is incredibly hot and humid - completely atypical weather for these parts - and between the weather and the new school venture (to say nothing of the new baby, Nana's visit with us, etc)... he is absolutely exhausted.

Virus venting

This image is too perfect for me and the past week. We were unable to restore Google settings and eventually couldn't do any internet searches except on AskJeeves.com... Thank you very much, Abhorrent Virus. Only solution was to wipe and rebuild my laptop from the ground up, which has taken the better part of the past 24 hours. Terrible timing, but then hey, is there a good time to get a virus?

It has been a very eventful week, about which more to come soon.