asher loves beer and other headaches

i packed school lunches today with more enthusiasm than usual.  i'm not typically one of those moms that jumps for joy when kids go back to school.  but yesterday gave me cause to celebrate school today.

oh, yesterday.

happy birthday greyson andrew

and just like that, my baby is Seven.

greyson, 17 days

greyson, 7 years

Greyson: son of wisdom, judge

Andrew: manly, strong, courageous, warrior (or, oh my God, he is just like his dad!)


the thing we most often say about greyson is that he is a Challenge.  he has been pushing us and requiring more of us from the very beginning.  he made me rise to the challenges of pregnancy and motherhood.  he made me and andy a family.  he made all of our parents grandparents and all of our siblings aunts and uncles.

he surprises us daily and i couldn't be more proud to be his mom.

we love you greyson andrew.

happy birthday asher able

my once tiny asher is four.  and he is beautiful in every way.

asher, 4 weeks old

asher, 4 years old

asher: fortunate, blessed, happy

able: having sufficient power, strength, force, skill, means, or resources of any kind to accomplish the object

we love you Asher Able.

thanks, 3 is my limit.

when you are the mom of 3 boys, people in grocery stores don't stop to tell you how awesome your little dudes look in their captain america t-shirts.  they do stop to ask: "are you ready to try for that girl?"  as if there is a girl out there for me, i just haven't hit the jack-pot yet.

halloween 2011

nico admiring our giant squid and turtle

i realized this year that my own picture of an idyllic family halloween comes from the movie E.T. .   

free range chickens!

 

after moving the chicks from inside the house to their coop outside, we kept them confined to the coop for a couple of weeks.  some of the smaller chicklets were little enough that i was worried my cats would decide to snack on them.  and in my vast book study on chickens i learned that keeping them in the coop for several days ensures that they think of their coop as home and return there at night.

make your own happiness

i do a lot of wishing that i had more time to do the things i think will make me happy.  the truth is, i have 3 kids, and a job, and a husband and we all need to eat and someone, someday has to clean this house.  so time isn't always easy to come by.  but here are few things that are making me happy lately:

yes, my boys are as cool as my chickens.

someone told me that i have updated more about my chickens than about my kids.  let's fix that:

greyson has been reading like a fiend.  his first grade teacher has a system of rewarding kids with a bead for each 20 short stories or chapters they read. she is a genius. the kids keep their beads on a necklace and it is quite a first grade status symbol.  greyson loves a competition and has been up reading at 5 am several mornings, trying to earn his next bead.

mushrooms

 a little celebration of the small surprises in life and the joy of photographing just for fun.

chicklets move out

punk rock luna - 4 weeks old

the little chicklets are not so little anymore.  they are like awkward teenage chickens - they are getting their feathers but still losing fluff, their feet seem way too big for their bodies, and they are starting to fly around and challenge each other.  they have sufficiently covered our house in dust from scratching in their wood chips.  so we decided to relocate them to the coop with the big girls.