Dos Pollos

What the heck? I just clicked the "edit posts" tab and there are like, FOUR saved drafts. I usually don't bother writing unless I can go the distance. That just goes to show what life has been like lately. Or where my priorities are... Facebook isn't going to check itself, you know. (Wait. That sounds familiar. Have I used that line before?) Well, that's it. I'm punching one out right now.

It came upon us suddenly, this urban chickening business. A friend was moving and needed to pass on the feathery friends, and since it had actually been an idea we'd been tossing around (like back and forth like a ball, from one to the other, taking turns; not collectively tossing, like spreading it on the table and taking a good look at it) we looked at each other shakily and said "sure..." and a-la-peanut-butter-sandwiches!! Here we are with two chickens! I have no idea what to do with them. I don't know from chickens at all. They've escaped at least twice already. One time I thought we'd lost them for good, but they were just in the neighbor's yard, pecking and scratching. I actually had to have a chicken-pro friend come over and find them for me. I hope they didn't lay an egg in their garden. So I am quickly becoming The Chicken Whisperer. The Chicken Wrangler. The CHICKENER.


That beautiful Rhode Island Red is Ruby in the shanty digs I rigged up for them until we can assemble a proper coop. I think she likes it. She's standing guard as Uncle Lucy nestles in one of the boxes.


Uncle Lucy, what are you doing? Why aren't you scratching and eating like you so love to do?

Ummm...Uncle Lucy?

What do you have there? What's that you're sitting on?

Could it be.....

OUR FIRST EGG!

Teacher Appreciation Cards

Here are a just a few cards I watercolored for our wonderful, beautiful, amazing teachers this year. It seems as though the colors lose some depth in the scans, but they are kinda pretty in real life.

Jamison Square...

...how I love thee!


Look who loves to grab his toes!

Little brother, big brother.

And look who loves the water!
(he tried for 15 minutes to "grab" the waterfall)

Look who loves apples in the sunshine!

Ready for Summer!

Morgen and Micah rushed to get on their "summer" gear as soon as they got home from school. I'm not sure what the goggles are for, but they were really important. Thank you, God, for days that make us feel like this!





**On a side note, don't you think Morgen would look simply adorable in glasses??

Bad Mom

I always feel a little guilty when I let my kids stay up way past their bedtime. But on Friday nights I'm a little more lax because tomorrow's Saturday, they can sleep in...right?

And I always feel a little guilty when I feed my kids Top Ramen, even though I've seen it in fancy restaurants and I never use that little MSG packet that comes with it.

But when I let them stay up late, eat a bowl of Top Ramen and then pass out at the dining room table while I'm in the other room nursing the baby and the rest of the house is asleep, well...now my mothering skills are looking really lame.

Pieces of EIGHT!

To celebrate Taylor's 8th birthday, we had a bunch of scallywags over for a treasure hunt. It was a lot of fun. Then we all got scurvy and rotted our bones off. Then we made everyone who was still alive walk the plank. You can be eye-in' these here portraits for proof...

This is where everyone helped Taylor "blow-me-down" the cake. Yes. There was spit involved.
The scurvy has apparently already taken the eyes of my eldest, poor girl.

Taylor

Little T-bone turned EIGHT today. He's knocking on the door of Bigkidville, he's on the cusp of goofy, know-it-all prepubescence, and has really come into his own more than ever this year, especially being at PVS. He has been able to tap into his creative and artistic side with meticulous projects he loves while at the same time running hard every day, chasing his friends, making up new games on the playground. He is accomplishing so much and developing a stronger personality.

And just look at the love he's getting in that picture! Everyone was excited to celebrate their first brother. His place in our family is pretty special: Morgen and Micah (but especially Morgen) look up to Taylor so much and love having him as a brother (most of the time). Korah would be lost without him, as he is her primary playmate, and they talk about life together every day. Even though they have no problem being apart, their lives are very intertwined, and it's really cool to see how they are "home" to each other.

Taylor loves getting and giving hugs and is very affectionate. Unlike his siblings, he doesn't make a big deal about hanging out with Noble, he just does it. Undeterred by the baby's cries, he goes to Noble and makes him laugh, changes his diaper, and giggles at all the silly, funny things that babies do. It just comes so naturally to him, and this warms my heart!

Taylor is always surprising us with his athletic abilities; he's not very competitive, so we just didn't predestine him for sports. But as Taylor is proving, there's a lot more to athletics than competition. Here are some pictures of him at basketball class with his friend J (they are blurry because I didn't want to use the flash in the gym...or because Taylor is just that quick!). Seriously, he's a really fast runner...

Then You Can Brush Your Teeth and Go To Bed

(weeping) "I don't like this!"
"But you haven't even tried it!"
(pause)
"I don't like this food! It's YUCKY!"

I don't know what my kids' problem is. Doesn't this look delicious to you?

I'm being sarcastic. I know it looks gross; that's why I had to take a picture. It's not as nasty as it looks, I promise. But then again, I love chard.

When David got home, he asked if there was any dinner left; he thought this was compost. If you want to make nasty dinners too, here's what you do:
Go to Trader Joe's and get a bag of tortellini , a bag of frozen, cooked shrimp, and a bag of Chard of Many Colors, and follow directions. This involves sauteed garlic, chard, broth, a big can of crushed tomatoes, and a glug or two of Vermouth (you know, glug-glug....that's the sound it makes when you pour it into your throat--err...your pan...) and let it simmer. Throw the shrimp in the hot pasta water just before you drain it, toss everything togeter and voila! A big huge bowl of deliciousness that you will be enjoying, by yourself, for the rest of the week.

Bon appétit!

 

Ghost Town Vonderstadt

What fun is blogging without colorful illustrations?

Our digital camera is broken. My mom's digital camera is in the shop, because I'm so horrified that I broke (or someone broke) it after she so generously lent it to us for Noble's birth (it's fixed, mom, I just have to go get it). And I can't afford film and developing for my non-digital (is there a better term for that?) SLR. So that leaves me...

...prepare yourself...you may want to sit down...

...enjoying life through my own eyes, and interacting with the freedom that comes from not having delicate equipment to protect. In fact, I haven't dropped the baby once, or smacked anyone in the head with a swinging camera! Hooray!

But that's one reason I don't blog very often, if anyone cares. That, and I can only sacrifice time for when I have something really, really important to say, like this of course....

Just wanted to let you know.

New Love in the Kitchen

I have been having some tremendous luck at the Thrift Stores lately. Getting what I went in to find, that kind of thing. This wonderful little gem was just something I'd been wanting (after melting the enamel off my favorite graniteware percolator--how does that even happen?! Electric stoves will be the end of me, I swear). I can take it camping, it makes great espresso.... and there it was, lonely on the shelf, just waiting for me. I wasn't even looking for it. But it was looking for me. And now we are in love.

What's that? You thought I gave up coffee? I told you it was bad for me and makes me depressed and magnifies the hormonal roller coaster? Well, yes, that is true. But just look at that cute little thing! And just try saying "percolator" without feeling giddy, or "espresso" (not eXpresso) without feeling smug--I mean, cool. And just try taking a teaspoon each of sugar and cocoa powder, melting them into a cacophony of flavor with the freshly percolated goodness, topping it off with a smidge of cream and not feel satisfied, inspired to tidy the hurricane your children left you with as they clambered off to school. It's near impossible! Just do not--I repeat, do not mistake the jar of sea salt for white sugar. A tasty confection this does not make!

Ahhhh..... I am off to enjoy the calm after the storm with my toothsome cup of chocolaty indemnification.

Art Class

Yesterday, one of my childhood dreams came true and I was an art teacher for a day! Well, for a couple of hours at least. OK, basically, I had a playdate with a friend, and I did an art project with her kids (who are homeschooled, so we called it Art Class...so it's official) and my own rowdy brood. It was loud and a little bit crazy (mostly thanks to Micah) but it was controlled enough to learn some new art techniques!

First we watercolored some wet, heavy-gauge watercolor paper, and talked about what colors God paints the sunset and sunrise, and what primary colors do you mix together to get those colors? We let that dry while the kids had sword-fights and the moms made pizza. Then the fun part: blowing India Ink around to look like wintery, branchy, creepy trees!




Success! Micah never actually made it to the India Ink part. He is way too crazy for India Ink.
Homeschooling is fun!

Mmmmm...bacon

If you think my blog is lacking meat, please click here before reading on.

My Faceborg Experiment

Two days ago, I quit my job at Facebook. What's that? You didn't know I worked for Facebook? Well, I did. And you probably do, too.

I didn't really quit, I'm just taking an undetermined amount of time off. My account still exists, but I set all my preferences to NOT send me emails and I deleted the Facebook button from my homepage. And I minimized the iGoogle application and put it where I can't see it.

So......(crickets chirping)

It's been quiet around here. My email in-box is pretty sparse. My internet life is pretty boring now. I mean look at me...I'm blogging! I was just thinking, as I brushed my teeth for bed (wellll before 1am) that it feels like Facebook is a job; and I keep checking to see if the boss has some more work for me, and he doesn't. So I raise my eyebrows, shrug my shoulders, say "hmph?" and then I turn around and see what else there is to do. Whatever shall I do with this time? And by golly, there are children to feed and bathe. Diapers to wash. Laundry to fold. I cleaned and rearranged my pantry using some cool metal baskets I scored from next to somebody's trash today. (I love having organized storage. Come over to our house and the kids will show you their art... I will show you my closets!) I have two or three unfinished murals on various walls around my house. I feel like I could... like I could.... finish something! Maybe train for a marathon! Earn a degree! I feel so liberated!!

So friends, no more lying. My problem is not that I "just had a baby" or that it's gloomy and gray and cold, or that keeping up with 5 kids is soooooo haaaaard! No... I've been spending embarassing amounts of time doing a whole lotta nothing on the computer, hardly being present in my real life and when I am, I think about what I'm doing as a third person status report. What has happened to my brain?! I feel like I've been living in a George Orwell book.

(Please understand that I'm a notorious exaggerator. My brain is on auto-caracature; it's one of my secret quirks. Take it with a grain of salt, people.)

So this is my experiment: to see what happens when I let it go. Inevitably, freedom. You can't see it from the inside...but here I am, squinting, blinking in the daylight...

I have a blog, too!

Morgen: "Teacher Tina has a dog!"
Taylor: "Teacher Tina has a BLOG??"

AH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!! Thanks guys, you're always good for a laugh!

Micah Haiku

I look up at the sky
I like rainbows
Because it's sunny out
by Micah Zane (4.2)