January stuff

40th birthday party of a childhood friend of mine in DC

We got a new computer (for the kids)

Our first snow day… with 1/4 inch of snow. Roo's teeny snowman

Roo's dental work

In early January Roo needed a moral extracted and a cap put on a decayed tooth… and a filling. UGH! She had a 45-minute session and nitrous gas and did an amazing job. (Monkey now calls her "metal tooth" as a nickname, not exactly to her liking. But it is apt…)

Fall "learning events"

Last month we took a field trip to Jamestown Settlement with the homeschool hybrid class of the eldest two (plus parents and siblings). Gorgeous day - fun time… Despite the fact that Goose had sprained her ankle the evening before and was in a stroller and otherwise hobbling the entire time. (Never a dull moment).

Ten days ago HF got his first deer in a decade in our back field. Our friend Ricky from church is a professional butcher and came over within two hours of the kill to butcher it for us in our backyard. Homeschool biology class for Monkey and Roo!

Monday we went to Luray Caverns, again with the homeschool crew from Monkey and Roo's "school." Amazing sights there! Well enjoyed.

(Though I must say… I'm glad to now have 8 total hours of solo field-trip-driving with 4 kids in the car behind me! All in a 3-week time period, to boot. Whew.)

Odds and ends in October

Fall weather is finally here! Mouse and I took Jack for a walk in the back fields… Light is gorgeous.

Rainy Saturday caused us to opt out of the fall festival parade. Instead we stayed home and HF made donuts for the first time - delicious apple-cider flavored. Monkey was his main helper this time:

Baby lambs born this week! And we didn't even realize that our ewe was pregnant. Came home to find them born and well… and they're adorable - Roo named them Davery and Luke (after Skywalker). Our total sheep count is now at 9.

Second to last game for Monkey's soccer team (still undefeated). Here he is playing goalie, which he's really been enjoying.

This and that

I've instituted a new chore practice with the three oldest kids which I so far adore. Lots more work being done (and with more enthusiasm); added regularity and accountability. Who could complain? Yesterday they were cleaning out the car, and here is how I found Monkey hanging:

Goose is a big kindergartener learning to read and comport herself (more) like a young lady. Her spunk and ability to carry an outfit continues to be a winning asset, as you can see in this photo, just before church on Sunday. 

She and her little sis started a tumbling class this week which is a nice big-kid-ish thing for them. 

Meanwhile big sister Roo lost her front tooth last week! And started horse back riding lessons up the road, about which she is ecstatic…

Half marathon! And some other stuff

First things first. I ran the Marine Corps Half Marathon last Sunday, and it went pretty well! I did it in 2 hrs 4 mins, which was 4 mins slower than the last (and sole) time I ran a half... In 2004. Before kids. So overall, I thought that was pretty good for a comeback run. And - bonus - it was pretty fun, a gorgeous day, and I only had a little bit of hip pain. So I was glad I did it.

Baking with the littles (Goose insisted on sprinkles in the chocolate chip cookies):

Final AWANA ceremony last night: here are the three kids getting their end-of-year awards. The couple giving Roo her are our friends who are also hosting a Latvian boy through Project 143 (theirs is a 12-year-old with a vision impairment).

Here's a language-learning effort, "fruit" in Latvian

And rounding it out… here's Monkey playing badminton at cub scouts this week (evidently he's pretty good):

Happenings around here

We play Sleeping Queens every day before rest time, the Goose and I:

Strawberry-picking field trip yesterday morning with the youngest two. They were quite keen:

There was a new baby calf at the farm where we picked. Here Mouse looks on:

Roo had her choir recital on Sunday night, at which she excelled. She enjoyed it more than her fall performance:

Burn pile! The (newly-clean-shaven) HF oversaw a weekend fire with assistance from the oldest two:

Monkey is coming along with his soccer this spring. Here he was making a goal kick at the game on Saturday:

Last week we had the Mother's Day tea at Goose's preschool. So much fun! Relished the special time with my adorable four-year-old. She had helped bake the items we ate and made gorgeous crafts. Love.

Friends and parties

Kind of a run-of-the-mill week around here, which was very welcome. Our neighbor friends with the horses have twins, and one of them broke his collar bone. (No fun!). So when Goose and her class had an "extended-day" class to begin making up for snow day-missed-time, I picked her up this week instead of our babysotter. And I got to bring Goose's friend Elliott home to help out his mom, who was still nursing her injured twin at home. They had fun in the back of the van with their Valentine crowns:

The mouse was invited to her first ever birthday party (princess theme) - little Ari who is the nursery with her at church. The challenge was that the timeframe was at the exact same time as Goose's best friend from preschool, Abby, was having her birthday party (fairy theme). So. We had dueling girly preschooler-parties to contend with.

I took Goose to Abby's fairy party with Roo in tow. HF took Mouse to her princess party. And Monkey got to go to his friend Bryce's house and avoid the whole thing, happy for him.

The highlight of the party (in my mind) was an amazing makeup artist who did phenomenal fairy face painting on the girls -- though Roo elected to get a Hello Kitty on her hand instead to match her dress.

No photos of Mouse's party, since I wasn't there. But she was ecstatic to have her own party to go, came home with her nails painted and a party bag, and was the happiest kid in the world. And the tiredest too - the party's 12:30-2:30 timeframe precluded her nap, a first for her. She was in bed at 6:15 tonight!

February stuff

Our library puts on "Lego club" once a month, and on Saturday the three oldest had fun building.

It was 60 degrees on Saturday and Sunday which was beyond lovely - a sneak peek at spring. HF power-washed the whole exterior of the house and I took to the dirt roads and ran three times, combined total of 15 miles. Loved it! Got a new Garmin GPS watch for my birthday which is making a huge difference.

But an inch of snow forecast for overnight tonight again which will likely mean another snow day tomorrow.

There are twin boys in Goose's preschool class who live a couple miles from us on acreage, adjacent to their (very cool) grandmother's farm. The family has three horses, and the twins' 9-year-old sister Sidney has one. On Sunday she invited us to come up and meet them, which we gladly did. Roo has the horse bug so this was especially fun for her.

Two and a half weeks ago the Mouse slammed my finger in the door to Roo/Goose's room, and it got pretty battered. I've been surprised not at the bruising so much, but more at how swollen it's been (and stayed) and what a gimp it's made me. It's made basic jobs and typing much harder and has caused my carpal tunnel to kick back in on this hand. We went to the doctor the morning it happened and waited - the five of us - for two plus hours to be seen. The doctor did release the pressure by inserting a large sterile pin into the nail so blood could get out; however the procedure was so simple and basic that next time (hopefully there won't be a next time, but just in case) I'll definitely do it at home with the help of You Tube and HF's med kit!

Snow (again) - and crazy Virginia

Wow, Virginia's a crazy place with snow. We had a bona fide storm last week from Wednesday night, 6 pm ish, till Thursday night. 4 inches, rain, then 3 more inches. Lost power Thursday night at 6:30; it came back on Friday morning at 6:30. HF cooked Indian naans over the propane stove when the power was out; see?

They were delicious.
[Kids were out of school Thurs and co-op was off for Fri. HF had no work Thurs but work Fri.]
Thankfully this time we did NOT flood our bathroom - or any other room in our house - like we did last time we lost power.

The snow was wet and heavy… decent for snowmen and snowballs, though less so for sledding. Some stuff we did:

Valentines Day was Friday; all our Valentine stuff of course got canceled (co-op party; Goose preschool party). We saved our crafted Valentines and just made some heart-shaped stuff at home.

Saturday things were back to normal and they thankfully did not  cancel Monkey's "Blue and Gold  Banquet" for scouts, a nice event with about 100 attendees and delicious tacos. He earned his bear badge, along with most of the rest of his troop.

Yesterday was Presidents Day so we were all off. Last night an inch of ice/slush fell and at 6 AM they instituted a 2-hr delay (which automatically means no preschool for Goose). Then at 8:30 they called off school all together which, I have to say, is pretty hard to believe given the weather we actually have. So. Here we are again...