Several scenes from the week...

Super hero baby, flying virtually unassisted, in the new cape her grandmother sewed for her (a full set for all the kids!)

Learning the rope at the favorite "attraction" at Sturbridge Village, the potters' shop

Cousin Luke introducing the goose to the farm's bunnies

Roo and the goose peek at the goats in the barn with help from Aunt Britton

Mommy got to spend a couple hours having coffee with Aunt Starr (who now lives in New Haven) in the Hartford area, and even met sweet baby Findlay!

Happy #4, sweet girl!

We went to Sturbridge Village today with the cousins and Grandpa, a lovely outing on a perfect fall-feeling day. And a big day it was, too! Today we celebrate four years of Roo. Here she is walking in front of her grandfather at Sturbridge Village, wearing her new birthday dress.

And here is present-opening, surrounded by the throngs, later in the day! Following a tearful reception to being sung "Happy Birthday to You" by the crowd, to which her father could very much relate. Not a fan of being center-stage, it seems.

Happy birthday to our dance-full, detail-noticeing, all-things-girl-loving, tough and athletic, stubborn-as-all-get-out, snuggle girl. Four years of fabulous! We love you Roo.

Redneck roast

We knew that the monkey's archery skills were improving... at the Concheco Valley Archery event in early May, he hit some targets moving in the air which is apparently pretty hard to do. He is his (former Junior Olympic archer) father's son, after all.

Even still, both his father and I (to say nothing of his grandparents, whose house we're visiting) were surprised when he actually hit a chipmunk he was "hunting" in the woods this morning.

It was a red-letter moment. His first live kill, so HF duly worked with him to skin and clean it, and then grilled up the meat which the monkey downed happily for his morning snack.

A "redneck roast" if ever there was one... It tasted like dark meat chicken.

Meanwhile, our sweet little mouse is the belle of the ball around here with her cousins, aunt, and uncle who are making her acquaintance:

And now she is 2

We have a two-year old! Our little goose hits a milestone this week as she celebrates her second birthday. Footage from the climax moment of our festivities this afternoon:

Too, there were presents (and plenty of "helpful" older sibs to assist):

And balloons, of course.

The Scherreis joined us for festivities, dinner (backyard brick oven pizza) and play as usual. I said to Gretchen, "A birthday party is no fun without the Scherreis? Actually wait. We've never had one without you guys so I don't even know!" It was a blessing that Kim felt well enough to join us.

Miss Goose continues to bless and amaze. She is gaining in words and skills by the day and is the most quintessential copycat of her older siblings one can imagine. "Mama, watch this!" is her big new one - with a hop or a lean or a backwards walk to display jubilantly. She is determined and stubborn but quickly recovers from a standoff (happily for her dad and me), and her charm is effusive to family and stranger alike. "My, what a happy child!" is the comment that we routinely receive about the goose, and indeed she is. Such a gift God gave us in this little one! We love you, dear Goose.

The crew keeping busy

Farm camp was a blast for the monkey last week; here he and some of his crew are pictured getting a close up view of Daisy the pig (his favorite animal). Hit a bump and sadly crunched a strut in the van en route to a dropoff early in the week; it was in the shop for a week getting fixed.

The mouse continues to grow and charm. Here she is with her favorite daily holder:

Our good friends the Jamisons are moving to a cool farmhouse two towns away. Here the goose chats with her friend Eliza about the pending move.

After eight weeks of ballet classes, Roo had her finale "show" on Wednesday afternoon, which I duly filmed so Dad could catch a glimpse. Blogger won't let me upload it here for some reason, so pre-show photo instead...

We have a camper in the house!

The monkey is having his first day camp experience this week at Painted Pony Farm in nearby Santa Paula, attending with his good friend Bo.

Today went very well: he milked a goat, made ice cream, and swam in the pool. He evidently told leader/owner Pam: "I've been waiting my whole life to go to farm camp! This is the best day ever." I'd say: success.