the romantic getaway...

 We left the kids with my mom at 10am on Monday morning. Drove to Miah and Ceci's to feed their bunnies (they were in NY for a few days and we trade bird and bunny sitting). I also had to do a conference call for work at that same time... so that was pretty funny...

We left m&c's and drove to the city. We went to My Thai for lunch. DELICIOUS!!
Then to the Charles to see Kick Ass. AWESOME!! (plus we were the only ones in the theater. double bonus).

We then drove to Annapolis. wandered.
went to the best store/restaurant on the face of the entire planet. The Big Cheese. If we ever follow through with that wedding thing they will be doing the catering.

We stayed at a Gibson's Lodgings.
We slept. in the same bed. all night. slept in. didn't get out of bed until almost 8am.

True romance always involves cheese.

no title idea...

This blogging thing is a double edged sword. I mean i started it as a means of keeping in touch with friends and family far away... but it has sort of morphed into an online diary of sorts... a diary which i assume is constantly being dug out from beneath the mattress and read by all sorts of people... most of whom i think i know... but still...

and so i end up censoring a lot of what i write here (i know hard to believe, right?) which also makes it less... cathartic... but who has time to keep the masses updated on things like the kids mile-stones and my dorky haircuts AND keep a journal of all my inner woes, annoying guilt over packing Esther peanut butter and jelly for lunch AGAIN, and how i feel about my husband at any given time. (Hi Ben! I love you honey!!)...

most of the stuff i've been dealing with lately i'm not comfortable writing up here for everyone to know... suffice it to say it's the normal stuff (feeling like a bad mom, bad wife, bad employee, bad cook, bad, bad, bad...).

I'm hoping all of this is just because our family of four and the six toaster-sized chickens are too cramped in this tiny monopoly-sized house and it will all get better as soon as the weather warms up (we hit another chilly spell) and we get the chicken coop moved.

I'm also hoping that today's (and all night's) child-free foray will give Ben and I the recharge we need to jump back into parenting with gusto and affection. Going head-to-head with a stubborn 3 year old while listening to the constant tea-kettle screams of a 15 month old quickly whittles you down to the core (where you're a shriveled, angry, blackened stump of a human being anyhow...).

For those of you constant asking me "why have kids?" - i still answer with "i don't really know yet" (except some of us still believe that the Natural Family Planning method might yet work...)

As seen on facebook...

Last weekend was Fairie Festival. all these pictures were on facebook so i'm sure you saw them already... And i'm sorry i'm so belated in posting anything on here... and also sorta sorry all of the pics i am posting are of me, i wasn't wielding the camera and someone is going to do something else with some of these and the others so i wasn't sure what i would be able to use i opted for some presumably safe ones

... It's been a busy few weeks. Here's hopin' it's smooth sailing for a little while and hassle-free.

chicken names

ok. so we've officially named the chickens now that we can kinda tell them apart. And sorry to all those who voted because we chose some names that aren't on the list. But i just couldn't help myself. i went with the pun names.

Eleanor Roost-evelt
Emily Chickenson
Artemis Fowl
Feather Lochlear
Henrietta the eighth
Lay-Lady-Lay

i crack myself up. seriously... wiping away a tear of mirth even now...

more random posting...

Attended the Creative Alliance Marquee Ball on saturday night. Thanks to my father-in-law. Art lover and benefactor extraordinaire.

Had to share the killer dress i pilfered from my cousin's closet (hi Jessie!!! Thanks!!!!!)

sorry about the poor quality...

woodland elf and a plug for the FF

This year's Fairie Festival is fast approaching. It's a pretty fun time if you're into the festival thing. food, funny people, and lots of lunatics dressed up like mythical beings.

YES I KNOW I'M A DORK!!!!!!!!

anyhow, i'll be there with my mom and sister who have their own booth this year and will be selling they're beautiful wares.

For Festival Details go here

my very first microwavable meal

It's true. i've never had a frozen microwaveable boxed meal before today. It was an Amy's Tamale. not bad...

... no time for love doctor jones...

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