Chickies are here!!!!

 Ben picked our girls up from the feed mill yesterday evening. We got them all settled in to their new little home and watched as the promptly fell asleep. I guess all that frantic peeping during the car ride home really tuckered them out.

 

We have them nestled into a box up in the loft so that Asa doesn't try to squish them all by climbing in their  box with them and Esther doesn't love them to death. We're going to give them a couple weeks up there until they can hold their own better then we'll move them down on our level and teach the kids or Esther, at any rate, how to handle them.

They're super funny. The nod off and then jerk their heads up like "don't fall aslee.... WAKE UP!" too funny. And they poop on each other while they're sleeping. If i could i would have slept in the loft last night just to keep an eye on them. They make all sorts of weird noises other than peeping and i swear a fist fight broke out around 10pm... but when i got up there they were all just looking at one another like "did you hear that? it wasn't us..."

Hillbilly Baby Swing... just add bungee cords

Trampoline Hair...

Only one more day to vote!!

Looks like our winners will be:

Franchesca with 10 votes
Isadora with 9 votes
Eleanor Roost-evelt with 7 votes
Then a tie between May Bell and Artemis Fowl with 6 votes each

And finally the last few are all tied as well with 5 votes each
Lydia
Sylvia
Emily Chickenson
Sacagawea
Mrs. Darling

Unfortunately Dottie Henson and Loretta Lynne were the losers.  For those of you not aware, Dottie Henson was the main character from A League of Their Own. And Loretta Lynne is the coal miner's daughter  - country singer and best movie ever...

Help break the tie between the last 5 names so we will be able to name our chickies tomorrow when we pick them up!!!!

Attempting productivity...

It was a busy weekend... sort of.


Sunday found Ben, the kids, and myself picking ooogobs of dandelions in the yard and we began a giant batch of dandelion wine.

We also went to TSC (Tractor, Supply, Company) to buy chickie supplies. We got their space all set up. We also sat starring at the bin full of day old baby ducklings for like 37minutes trying not to buy them. They are so damned cute. like fluffy tennis balls. We decided that if we can manage not killing the chickies we'll opt for ducks next year.

I also finally got around to dying some roving for a couple projects my mom and sister are working on. And now the dye is stuck in the creases of my fingernails and making it look like i brutally murdered and tore to pieces an entire herd of cattle...

pictures to follow... not of the cattle but of the wine and wool and chickie brooding pen.

the fearless-ness of youth... and insane ability to climb stuff...

Pictures from Easter....

(photos courtesy of Oma)

Esther hugging Uncle Eric, or almost...

Asa on the trampoline...











Sisters-in-law...in dress...

Sweethearts...

Forsythia bush...

Esther and her new friend, Rebecca.

Me... in mom mode... (and yeesh, my slouching problem is getting worse with old age...)

Brothers and sisters are for loving...

i like to squish them into the jogging stroller together and take walks along the driveway and down to the water...

I also think it's good for teaching them personal space and boundaries...

First Dates...

Hannah paid.

i-phony

Yes. i know i'm terribly behind the techno-curve but here i am all bleary-eyed from staring at my new i-phone pretty much for the past three days straight.

Still trying to figure out how to blog on it.   Christy said something about e-mailing my posts to blogger... i'll figure it out sooner or later.

So the whole purpose behind getting the iphone was that i would be available pretty much all the time for work e-mails, phone calls, tech support, and yada yada.  I also get the rfp's right as they come out so there's that too. Unfortunately this means i have to be much more vigilant about keeping my phone about my person. Anyone who calls me on a regular basis knows i hardly ever answer the phone.  The reason for this is not so much because i don't want to talk to you, or because my hands are full of screaming babies (though that does happen too), but more because i don't know where my phone is.

And since warmer weather is here and this means shorts and tanks and skirts and things without pockets, the real crux of the matter is where am i supposed to put my phone? Duh! a purse.  I have never really carried a purse. I've had a backpack, a briefcase, a messenger bag, tote bags, re-useable grocery bags, and diaperbags... but never a purse. I guess the closest i've come is one of those travel money pouches fat white american's get when they travel to europe for the first time.

So if anyone has a good stylish but not too stylish suggest of a good purse or purse manufacturer can you steer me in the right direction?  It should be small so it can be chucked in the diaperbag but big enough for the phone, my wallet, and a knife. And preferrably with a long strap so i can wear it across my body (messenger bag style).

Date Night

Now that my folks are back from Mexico Ben and I got a date night last night.

We went to the Hereford Feed Mill. Listened to a poultry seminar and placed an order for 6 lovely chickies.

Our girls arrive on April 13th!
You get to help us name them!!! (See the poll to the left there? GOOD now go do it!)

I fixed the poll try it again.

Esther's weekend ...

(snaps courtesy of Oma)

In the grocery store with Esther...

In the produce isle.
Esther sitting in the seat in the cart.
Can't seem to get the seat belt buckle undone. getting frustrated.
she says in her high angelic voice...

"What idiot designed this thing!?"

It's been a good day...

How many almost 30 year olds do you know who can still put their feet behind their head?

(don't ask how i discovered i could still do this)

Actresses i would want to play me in the movie of my life...

you know... if i were tooting my own horn and going for broke.

1) Zooey Deschanel

2)  Ellen Page

3) Shannyn Sossamon

Oh, Me. You're so talented.

I just learned that i did a REALLY good job at work. twice. in a row.
GO ME!!!

(i think that when people do a good job at work someone should provide cake)

 Sorry about being cryptic... it's confidential...

playing with the template...

ignore the man behind the curtain... ok well don't. but ignore my fumbling with the look of the blog... i'll get it right one of these days...

Obsessively watching while i'm supposed to be working...

Becky. Thanks for THIS site.

rough nights...

Asa is cutting yet MORE teeth. I mean seriously, how many teeth does a person need?? He's had a fever for three days now. Won't sleep unless he's laying directly on top of me and even then he tends to whimper all night.

God, Evolution, whatever dictates the next step in human development - no teeth. osmosis.

finally...

I would like to congratulate the House of Representatives for its historic, final passage of the health care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), along with the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HR 4872) which makes improvements to the Senate bill. The reforms will give quality, affordable health care to nearly all Americans for the first time in our nation's history.

new favorite food blog

http://smittenkitchen.com/

Nostalgia

Why is everyone feeling so damned nostalgic lately?

Also, spring is making me really weird. i need some sort of binge or something...
what happened to the days when we could just take off for the mountains and do nothing but swim and fish and drink and be wild things and get it all out....

ahhh. those were the days...

Wishing i had a better camera...

ah... the innocence... it's a ruse.
these were my present from Stoner's Auction from Ben.this one is a Ferrari Berlinetta. Notice how the steering wheel is on the other side of the car?
The kids being awed by the weather actually being warm enough to open the windows. Notice the patches of snow still outside the window though... it's still winter i guess...


this is a common game. something about kids and laundry baskets...
she's a princess...
this was the Valentine's day pie i made. we had dinner with my brother and may-as-well-already-be-sister-in-law. It's a sour cherry pie and the top i made to look like cherries but cut them out to be hearts... it was kinda cute before the gore of devouring it...
my fellas. man, they're cute even when the look really unhappy...

spring spring spring spring spring...

spring.

anyone else experiencing animalistic responses to spring???

i'm starving.
lascivious.
loud.
barely contained.
hypomanic.
histrionic.
overly aggressive.

if i were a bird i'd be banging repeatedly into glass windows... as it is, i'm trying to breathe deeply.

seriously, someone may want to place bets on whether or not Ben is going to survive the season...
(sorry relatives who don't want to know that)

a trite summation of parenting by Libby Jones

You spend the first few years keeping them from killing themselves and each other by accident.

Then the next few years keeping them from killing each other on purpose.

Next you keep them from trying to kill themselves because they think they're invincible.

and then you keep them from killing themselves on purpose because they've just had kids of their own and they spend every minute of every day completely terrified.

A spring in his step!!!

HE'S WALKING!!!!!
HE'S WALKING!!!!
HE'S WALKING!!!!!!!!!

(cinematographic proof, coming soon!)

and in other news. i had my first acroyoga workshop last night and this morning i feel great. wide awake (sans coffee). strong. tall. and like someone dropped me out a four story window into an empty dumpster...

videos... videos... vid-E-yo's

budding romance...

Now that my kids have been free of contagious diseases for the better part of two weeks, we have begun leaving the house... more or less... more less than more but...

Yesterday found Esther at school and Asa and I wandering the streets of baltimore trying to pick up chicks. not true. Actually, we went to Terri's house and had a play date. Hannah is almost 7 months old. Asa is 13 months old. They are pretty much the same size. i know, i know, big surprise considering Asa's mother... but i have to tell you, it doesn't, on a regular basis, occur to me how small i am. I don't often see reflections of myself standing next to someone else and I'm rather used to craning my neck at a 90 degree angle to the rest of my body to talk to most folks. And while i know i'm short, and the scale in the bathroom refuses to show three digits (bragging? probably...), it's still rather surprising when evidence of my slightness becomes un-ignorable. such as in my lilliputian children amongst their peers.

Anyhow, here's the happy young couple (photos courtesy of Terri and stolen from her blog where they're much more artfully posted)

Asa being all "no. no. THIS is how you do it - it's called MASH all the buttons!"
Asa trying to determine how many teeth Hannah now has. And Hannah wondering why in the hell Asa won't get out of her face.
he's trying to be cool so she'll like him more.
ok, kudos to me and my child who likes to share.
and hug
and of course the "we weren't doing anything bad" faces...

Baby Bowling...

"Jerking him around" she says...

roller derby divine!

two of my bestest friends in the entire universe skate on roller derby teams in Atlanta. and aside from circus joining fantasy, my other one is running away to atlanta and skating with them. i found this website that makes up derby names for you... and oddly enough i found this one to be rather appropriate. so cheers to Agent Mauledher and Aeon Flex. my heros!


and here's hoping i can put this name to use someday... or at least pretend.

My brand-new Roller Derby Name is Baby Bloodvessel.
Take MIA PSYCHO'S ROLLER DERBY NAME GENERATOR today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Living in a Snowglobe.

The snow has ceased to fall straight down and now swirls around going every which way. The mountains of snow left from the monster storms are slowly melting but still there's no end in sight.

On another note, my to-be-sister-in-law is teaching me static trapeze. Here are a couple of her performances. Though she usually does doubles, i'm just learning simple singles stuff.








so now i'm dreaming of running away to join the circus. Or maybe starting one of our own. Perhaps i could dress Asa up as a bear and give Esther a whip... it'd be perfect really.

my life in three videos...

Storm Large 8 Miles Wide... hilarious...

Wha Wha??

It's been blizzarding...
for almost a week...
we're buried...
it's taller than Esther...
and my daughter is a superhero. a very fast, very loud, very violent superhero...
who lives only on apples... without the skins...

she and her sidekick are addicted to juice...

naked suits...

buried alive...

i'd write more but we're buried under tons of snow...
can't get out to blog...
soooo cold...

oh spring, my spring. what a distant fantasy you are...

because i'm on a roll...

I wanted to share this oh-so-scary bear-like thing. This was given to her by the paramedics during the night she was transported via ambulance to the ER. Apparently the Lions club or some such group makes and donates them... but who in the hell was given the sharpie to draw on the eyebrows. What kid wouldn't be completely terrified by this face?? especially a kid who is already scared out of their head by having to ride in an ambulance??

just terrifying...

another of Esther's beautiful outfits. Note the eye mask worn around the torso. I though maybe she was wearing it as a bra but turns out it's a back brace like the kind daddy wears to work.
and this picture is to demonstrate just a small portion of the chaos and complete bedlam that is my house.

Heaven.

Heaven looks like this.