The nice thing about living in a small town...

After picking up the oldest two kids at school yesterday afternoon, my van suddenly started smoking badly while sitting at a traffic light. I was alarmed - and the person behind me began flashing the lights on his pick-up truck, indicating I should pull over. He was alarmed too. (Note - that's a random web photo, not actually our van!)

When he got out of his pick-up and came to my passenger side window, Carl told me he'd seen the smoke and the kids in the car and was concerned. We popped the hood and found that one of the hoses had a hole in it, and antifreeze had sloshed out around the engine. The car was overheating because of it. We talked through my options - I was only about three miles from home but didn't want to get into a precarious situation trying to get us there. HF was more than an hour away for the day and without his phone. I put my hazards on and continued driving, with Carl behind me as a kind of escort.

I drove as far as a gas station a mile up the road with the car still overheating. There Carl drove on and another kind gentlemen, Danny, helped me pour the antifreeze I purchased into my engine and made sure the engine ran ok. Then he followed my the remaining two miles home to make sure I made it. When I expressed concern for his time (upon his offering to do this), he said he was just "going to be working on junk at home," nothing pressing.

Carl was thirty-something and Danny probably fifty-something. They were both so kind and helpful. They sure scored some big points for the kindness and friendliness of our town!

Here's to Halloween

We went to our old street on Oct 30th to take part in the afternoon pumpkin carving/painting party they throw each year. (Meanwhile a mild brush fire was occurring a mile from our new home on the far side of the farm fields... Exciting! Out within a few hours.) The pumpkin-carving party was a fun time... Here's an action shot of Roo painting a pumpkin:

The kids wanted to wait to carve our own large jack-o-lantern with dad when we got home. The whole family got in on the action:

On Halloween proper we went back to our old street for our fifth annual parade and trick-or-treat extravaganza. We had pizza dinner beforehand with our beloved Scherreis. I forgot the camera and had to made poor cell phone shots work for the evening. A group shot, including most of our corporate crew with a few others added in as well:

Our own crew had a ninja, a girl ninja, Supergirl, and (not pictured) Snow White. HF and I (also not pictured) even got in on the dressing up-action this year! Fun.

Fall in name only...

It's been hot here ever since we returned from the east coast in early Aug 7. Living in Ventura all these years, it was pretty much 65 - 75 degrees all year round. Occasionally it would dip to 60 ish or get up to the low 80's, but very rarely. Our new place, just 15 minutes east, is like a different ecosystem. It gets much hotter during the day - often is/feels around 90. (Also, being warmer in climate and on farmland, we now have numerous house flies as an issue - a stark contrast to the completely bug-less set-up in Ventura.)

Here's a shot of oldest and youngest daughters working on an ice pop this week... Love it:

We are very much enjoying the new house and the run-around feel it generates on a daily basis. In addition to our friends the Jamisons, we play quite a lot with behind-house neighbor kids Panther (girl, aged 7) and Osprey (boy, aged 6).

Late August at the microfarm

We've been back two and a half weeks now and have been enjoying hanging around the farm. It has been hot here, high 80's (something we're completely unused to in CA, since Ventura was rarely above 72 degrees in any month of the year), and we've been doing pool time and water play as much as possible to keep occupied. Highlights worth sharing...

Goose started swim lessons with our beloved Miss Lynn:

We caught a rat in a back yard trap, erected primarily by HF and the proud monkey:

Last weekend we celebrated the 3rd and 5th birthdays of Goose and Roo. We did a joint backyard birthday party with homemade pizza from the brick oven, a pinata, and cake and ice cream. Attendees were the lovely farm neighbor families + the Scherreis. Great success!

Week 2 on our micro-farm

Memorial Day, and time for a break. Busy week this week full of lots of projects and organization. Key tasks accomplished included:

• Hooking up the dryer (which required a propane conversion kit to run; HF was up to this task but it required three separate trips to various stores to get all the parts). Hooray for a working dryer!
• Running a water line to the fridge so that we can use the filtration system and ice machine. The line was set-up for the fridge to be on the opposite side of the kitchen, but HF strongly wanted the fridge next to the stove (a good call).
• Hanging the artwork on the walls (I did this all myself this time; a feat about which I felt quite proud)
• Configuring the watering system for our garden
• Beginning work on the pizza oven. How long could HF really wait on that one? This photo of him with his two-year old "helper" dressed in a tutu is a favorite.

 The Dibiase family stopped by for a spontaneous cookout dinner last night; here you see our three girls and their eldest playing Lego duplo in the back yard. Shot of the pizza oven in current formation, too.

 The Dibiases car needed to be jumped just as they were leaving. Check.

 A shot of our living room!

We're getting there. And we do love this place. HF has said, "this is the best weekend we've had since we lived in California" for both of the past two weekends.

One week after the move...

 Still catching up on sleep and energy after an exhausting week last week, but it was a lovely weekend overall and we are greatly enjoying the new house. It is a great fit for us in so many ways... A few thoughts and details here on the other blog.

We eat at our outdoor table every evening and watch the birds. The kids play outdoors for hours each day. We gardened together this weekend. HF has begun expanding the chicken coop and rebuilding the pizza oven.

A few pictures of the move process and activities here over the past few days...

The mouse turns 1

And so the mouse is one year old. Amazing! We had a typical (and perfect) birthday celebration yesterday with our dear Scherreis - pizza in the brick oven and chocolate cupcakes. We even made a new recipe - a cream-filled version, like the Hostess cupcakes of HF's and my youth - to celebrate the occasion. 3 enthusiastic helpers for that venture, of course. Our wonderful Scherreis made - as they always do - for an awesome and fun-filled party.

The mouse fell apart and needed to go to bed at 6:30 last night, right after she tasted (and loved) her birthday cupcake. So we did the presents this morning - again with lots of enthusiasm from some big sib helpers.

I love this shot and how shows the changes in the sweet mouse and her bond with the guy who delivered her last April on a crazy but amazing night. HF and I adore this little one, who is becoming her own person day by day. She loves to climb the stairs. She loves to laugh. She loves to eat fruits and all things carb but little else (like big sister Roo). She loves her bed and time to regroup when she's feeling spent. Our mouse is a treasure and a gift. Happy birthday dear girl!

Scenes from the Sidewalk

HF went on a hunting venture with a local friend and fellow Granite Stater, Scott, and they met up with "Uncle Dan" Dibiase from Pasadena. (He and Rebecca had a new baby girl, Elsie, in early December but we haven't even met her yet... Dying to.) On the way home the Landcruiser began acting up, prompting an all-day-Saturday investigation in what was ailing it. HF seems to have fixed it - prevailed against his fear that it was a transmission problem.

On the same day, the starter went on the Scherreis' van, leaving Chuck out front with an arsenal of tools and HF's ramps. Automotive woes on the street...! Photo evidence of the afternoon, which amused me...

(Happily, Kim finished her chemotherapy in early December and now has a much more manageable course of herceptin treatments (once every three weeks) for the spring. She's doing much better, though still very tired, and her hair is even growing back!)

Scenes from Christmas

We made finger paint and gave it to several family friends as gifts:

Annual Christmas dinner and carol-sing with the Scherreis! So fun (and special blessing that Kim was well enough to participate):

The "big kids" (Monkey and Roo) and I made angels from toilet-paper rolls. Throwback craft from my own youth:

Blowing out the advent candles following our Christmas Eve dinner:

Littlest gets help from siblings in opening a gift on Christmas morning:

The humble birth of our Savior, the timing and circumstances of which may have been surprised His mother, look a bit different to me this side of the mouse's birth. More amazing, even. Come and worship, this year all the more, our newborn King!

Farm animals, friends, and San Diego spectating

Friday afternoon went for a MOMS(church)-sponsored outing to the Painted Pony Farm in Santa Paula, same place where we picked pumpkins last fall and where the monkey attended farm camp this summer. The supposed event was apple-picking, but it was the last day of their season and the trees were pretty much picked clean. Big hit events were, predictably, the farm animals especially ones you could hold: the baby chicks and rabbits. See the goose's fascination with the chicks.

We brought the two youngest Scherrei kids with us while their oldest sister Gwen (age 11) babysat the mouse which worked out well. Kim is

in the throes of chemo was has been a pretty grueling process. Roo adores Natalie and was thrilled to have her join us for the trip - see photo of the two strolling. It has been to see Roo as a 4-year old girl who is generally on the more reserved side deepen her friendships and really connect with some girls. Natalie has always been her go-to bestie, which makes sense given the next-door-neighbor status (and, probably, the fact that Nat is slightly older and thus all the more appealing to Roo). But she is deepening her friendship now with Claire Devericks too, who is in her preschool co-op and ballet class too. It's fun to watch.

Yesterday I took the Fab 4 down to El Cajon near San Diego to visit the Welds for the day as HF is doing some hiking with work friends in Yosemite for a bit. We had a lovely time hanging out with them, playing in their spacious backyard (that includes chickens, trampoline, playset, and bike/scooter alley to boot) and cheering on Michael, age 6, in his soccer game. The Blue Angels were even participating in an air show nearby so we got to see them pass over the field a couple times! Very cool to see. Here you see Andy encouraging Michael to share out his post-game snack with his sister and the onlookers...

Emily was homeschooled through sixth grade herself and is homeschooling Michael, so it's been very helpful to kick around schooling ideas with her. She is privvy to a wealth of resources and notions that I am only beginning to learn about it, so that aspect of this visit was very fruitful for me. We are so fortunate to have longstanding friends like these in our general neck of the woods! And ones ready to host our whole motley crew for a day on a dime, to boot.

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.

Blueberries and BBQ

Blueberry season has begun, and we hit our local pick-your-own farm this morning for a first stab at it. HF invented a very clever contraption (pictured here) out of half-gallon raw milk containers to assist in efficient picking efforts. [We're part of a raw milk co-op in town and, now that we're back to making homemade raw milk-based formula for our newest addition, we weekly plow through several of these.] They worked beautifully, freeing up both hands for the job, and we picked twice as much as our best effort last year. Considering that we only picked for 90 minutes, 20 of which I was feeding the baby... and further considering that our youngest three family members are dead weight when it comes to picking... we were pretty enthusiastic about the 8.8 lbs we netted.

The goose played the part of little Sal in Blueberries for Sal, eating all that she picked (and more), and the mouse attempted to doze in the stroller - ignoring a pesky fly that continued to land on her face. It was hot but enjoyable work, and we were pleased to discover that this year the monkey contributed significantly to our yield.

We had our annual Memorial Day block party and BBQ at the end of the cul-de-sac this afternoon, complete with a jolly jumper which was a big hit among the neighborhood preschool crowd. It's nice to have a ready-made activity for holiday weekends when we're around. The Scherrei girls from next-door - ages 5, 8, and 10 - accompanied us to the party while their mom stayed home with poor John (age 7) whose tonsils came out last week and then was hit by a serious case of pneumonia over the weekend. Poor kid!

Turkey Day, today and tomorrow

Low-key Thanksgiving today, mostly because we're celebrating our Turkey Day tomorrow with New England friends the Dibiases at their house in Pasadena. We have a pumpkin cheesecake baking in the oven right now for the occasion. So our very nice day today included neighborly coffee and apple fritters with the Scherreis this morning; a run for me; some garage work for HF (he's working on selling the Land Rover so did some tinkering there); and lots of puzzles with the kids. They're on new big puzzle kick; we're all lovin' 'em. Also we hit Old Navy because it was open today, and we just belatedly booked tickets to CT for mid-December to visit with HF's family... Some need for cold-weather clothes for a few of us and our stages of growth (including me. Never been this pregnant in the winter months before!) Samuel just got home from the hospital this week too after 20 weeks in the NICU - hooray! - so as an added bonus we will get to see him.

On Tuesday the San Diego Welds stopped by to spend the morning with us en route to the San Francisco area wher

e they are spending Thanksgiving with family. We hadn't seen them in 9 months and it was great to spend some time together; the monkey and their 5-year old, Michael, get on famously. This shot is of the two of them with Roo playing ring-a-round-a-rosie with a tree. Love it. Emily is pregnant as well, also due this spring.

Our birthday boy

We officially have a 5-year old! Hard to believe, but so fun at the same time. On November 1 in 2005, after 42 weeks of pregnancy and nearly 24 hours of labor, our sweet monkey entered the world and our lives. And we've never been the same again.

At his request, we had a dinosaur-theme party last weekend - dinosaur cake (as photographed), dinosaur plates and party hats, pin the tail on the dinosaur... A dinorific event. Even most of the gifts the monkey received were dinosaur-themed, about which he was thoroughly delighted. As per tradition, we had the Scherrei family over to celebrate with us... A pizza dinner followed by cake, ice cream, and party games. Great time! So thankful for that family, our stand-in family.

Dear monkey: how we love you! You are bright, funny, engaged, creative, and full of wonder. We could not have asked for a better son. Happy 5 to you, big boy!

Sidewalk sprinklers

Summer is officially here, though in this part of the world it feels strangely like... all the other seasons of the year. Afternoon highs are usually around 70 ish, maybe 75 in the sun, with a cool bre. Everyone's excited about summer stuff, but truth be told, it's on the chilly side for swimming or even sprinkler play in these parts.

Nevertheless, the garden hose and sidewalk sprinkler have been all the rage this week. The monkey, who generally dislikes being wet, has been particularly delighted and has begged to go out every day after rest time. It's been good fun.

Yesterday the Scherreis joined us, as well as other neighbor friends, and we had two sprinklers going side by side. (Note that Roo and Natalie Scherrei, 4 1/2 yrs old, are exactly the same size.) When the kids got overly cold they'd lie on the pavement to warm up. "Mom, I'm so cold my teeth are wiggling," the monkey told me today when we were ready to come in. Too cute.