We have chickens

We did it! We finished the coop and run. We did it with mostly scrap materials as well. The kids love checking for eggs and feeding them too. Soon enough, they will be cleaning the coop. There are eight in total.

Nell

Petranella is far and away our busiest baby. Madie and Finn were both early talkers--they listened to what people said and it always marveled me to listen to them--at 17 or 18 months--start to mimic the influxes of our voices and even piece together two-word sentences.

Nell isn't so much that way--don't get me wrong, she chats it up all day long with anyone who'll stay around long enough. But the mimicry isn't there. Nonetheless, she observes her siblings closely as far as the things they do. She doesn't necessarily follow suit, per se, but rather, these observations put ideas in her head. One morning, Finn pushed a chair up to the counter to help me with some cooking (one of his favorite activities). Petya had never done this before, though she has climbed up on many chairs and stools that were already at the counter when her older brother or sister took off to the bathroom. This particular morning, I had been up a lot the night before--I can't remember why now, but kids is a safe bet--and told Finn I was going into my room to rest for a few minutes after breakfast. I had cleaned up the kitchen and was lying with my eyes closed (but very much awake--go figure) on my bed. I heard a chair being pulled across the floor in the kitchen and I thought it was probably Petya pulling it out from the table to climb up. No big deal--I had cleared all but a couple of plastic cups from the table and from it she could reach nothing. She mostly liked to sit on her knees and slide herself forward and backward across it; unless, of course, there was something more interesting up there. 

Nell observes me through a magnifying lens.

After a while I decided 10 minutes of "rest" wasn't worth wondering what all the silence in the kitchen was about, so I got up and went out to find Nellie had pulled a chair from the far end of the table to a counter, upon which I had set a mug and an almost-empty honey bottle to let the last bit of honey drain. Before I had lain down, I had checked and seen 2 inches of honey in the bottom of the mug with not much left in the bottle. Now I found approximately an inch spread over the chair, counter, and Petya's face and only about 1/2 an inch in the bottom of the mug. I'm guessing the last 1/2 inch was somewhere between her sticky fist and her esophagus.

Watching Madie learn a dance in gymnastics.

Despite her climbing upon everything and her early toddlerhood being filled with bloody noses, bashed heads, broken dishes, and a lot of maternal anxiety, Petya has finally developed some sense of caution. Yes, she does go up and down the steep, slippery stairs to our playroom on her own--and facing forward no less--but she has learned to take it slow, that sometimes it's safer to do it alone than with a well-meaning older sibling's help, and that if she feels unsafe at all, turning around and going down backward will get her there in relatively the same time and with fewer bruises. Still, I have not witnessed many panicked expressions on her face. (Except for that time she messed in the tub. THAT was a panicked expression, accompanied by truly terrified screaming.) 

Petya accompanied me to the grown-up section of the library one day. Here she is checking out a book on French cuisine.

This isn't to say we don't keep a watch on her--on the contrary, although she has developed caution for some circumstances, she continues to display an age-appropriate lack of respect for the dangers of others. As a case, take animals. Nell loves animals. Much more than either of my other two at this age. I remember walking with Madie and any time we saw a dog, I would try to point it out. Complete disinterest. Finn was a similar story. Not Nell. Any animal, be it the woodpecker that comes to our feeder every day or a crow at the park; the neighbor's dog she's seen and pet a hundred times or a cat crossing the road--if it catches Petya's eye (and trust me, it will catch her eye), she points it out. "'Ook! 'Ook! 'Ook!" over and over until I do and respond. Because of this, we do have to watch her around strange dogs and cats. Unless we hold on, she will run right up to them. 

For the record: they are also worth being abandoned for. 

"Come, Petya. Let's go. Nell, come on. Petranella. I'm leaving, Nellie. Nell! Come on, now! Bye bye." 

Enjoying a blueberry smoothie.

Of course, she does speak some recognizable words. Most of her chatter is gibberish, but she clearly says Mumma and Dada, and even a couple friends' names, like Anna and Caroline (although I think I'm the only one who can tell she's saying Caroline--it's a big name!). And she says, "Pop! Pop!" when we sing a child's song, "Popcorn Popping." She says look, watch, and dog, all fairly clearly, and please. 

And tonight I got her very first, "I-uh-you." 

Spring Time

Spring has been pretty typical this year. A warm spell, followed by a cold spell. We had flurries on Monday, followed by a 70 degree yesterday. We are still waiting for most of the trees to pop, but have been busy prepping the garden. As of right now, we have planted nine tomato plants, basil, turnips, green beans, romaine lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, arugula, corn, peppers, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. Then we have our herbs that come back, like cilantro, lavender, chocolate mint, spearmint, and lemon balm. We still have room for a few more things. Historically, we have had some success and failures with our garden in Maine. California's garden seemed so easy. I had a 15'x20' plot of land I had in my organic gardening club at Lawrence Livermore. I feel that I usually got more out of that then we have in any single summer here in Maine. We are hoping that this is the year we change that! We are determined.

We have also been making a chicken coop, and a run. It's been busy getting things ready for the chickens, but we are excited at the prospect of having them in our backyard. I have never owned chickens before, but I really like the idea of giving the kids meaningful chores and opportunities to work and build character. Also, what a great experience! Growing up in California, I never had these opportunities. We had very small gardening opportunities with our limited land. I feel that we can do so much more with the land we have. Having this land is a lot of work, but I'm hoping it will eventually start to pay off with getting chickens, having a productive garden, and lots of activities.

One thing I love about our life here in Maine is how much time the kids spend outside. They are always outside doing something. We rarely have the TV on (maybe once per day). Madie stays very busy reading many chapter books, and even starting/finishing one chapter book in a single day. She is a very impressive reader at 6 years old. I'm always looking for fun things to add to our backyard to make it even more enticing to be outside. For example, last Christmas we got a slackline. Madie loves this thing! Finn is still a little too young, or just indifferent. We also finished our climbing wall on the side of the garage. Which, as it turns out, is probably rated a 5.13c, and I can't even climb it! I'd like to get a zip line and a trampoline at some point. Really, anything to keep the kids outside. It's especially fun when they have friends over.

Madie training on the slackline

A Sunday evening, after the kids go to sleep. Mallory and I squeeze onto the couch together to read our own books and enjoy the sound of silence. 

A couple of weeks ago, I took Madie and Finn camping. These kids love camping, but they equally love everything that goes along with camping (or that should anyways). They love the camp fire, s'mores, the food in general, playing games, sleeping in a tent, etc. Well, because it has been such a dry spring, there have been fire bans throughout the state. The fire department wouldn't permit any campfire burns the particular night we decided to camp. Needless to say, this eliminated half the joy. No camp fire, no s'mores, no way! Madie accepted and understood the news, but Finn wasn't getting it. He was very argumentative, and ready to fight somebody for a camp fire and s'mores. "Dad, we can't go camping without s'mores and a camp fire!" Even after explaining to him that we would be in trouble with the fire chief, he was still insistent....you can't camp without a fire. Yes, this may be true in some cases. Camping is certainly not the same without a camp fire. But, we did make the most of it. We played 'Go Fish' in the tent, which was a huge hit. I let them stay up a bit later, which was also well-received. In the end, it was fun. It even got close to freezing temps that night.

Madie had her Spring Concert with her school a week ago. I think it's great that she goes to such a music-oriented school. She sang with her class.

Petranella is such a goof ball. She is still obsessed with grabbing and snuggling ears. She is also turning into quite the jokester. She is very playful and loves to be outside. Whenever we are outside playing or working on a project, she can be found somewhere in the yard pushing her infant stroller around the yard. She is very dedicated to pushing this, along with all of the other stuff she collects inside of it. A few typical items she will tote usually include a helmet, some rocks, Elvis's tennis ball, and a soccer ball. She loves to push that around the drive-way loop, but isn't afraid to take it into the fenced in garden, greenhouse, or even the back woods for that matter. She is starting to say more words, but doesn't seem interested in mimicking anyone just yet. A lot of her conversations do involve Elvis (whom she refers to as Gog-gog-gog). Elvis takes it all like a champ.

Mr. Finnman has just started playing T-ball, but has been doing a lot of batting with me at home. I think he generally has fun going to T-ball every week, but he especially likes to bat. He was pretty proud of his new T-ball shirt he got this last week. He really has incredible hand-eye coordination. He has great form when he is batting, and can occasionally hit it over 20 yards. He is pretty consistent too. One of the first things he asks me when I get home from work is, "Can we go play baseball?" Music to my ears. Finn has also been into playing with his small plastic animals, particularly his alligator. I guess he found it abandoned at the playground, and has been playing and sleeping with it ever since. Mal has even got out some pie tins and filled them with water so that he could have a little lake for the gator.

Every kids favorite part about Home Depot. 

Hands in the pockets. I love it when they discover these. 

I can't remember if I have written about this before, but the kids love reading about Calvin and Hobbs. LOVE. I get a kick out of it too. Finn will even randomly recite certain lines from something we have previously read. 

We are excited for summer. We have some camping trips being planned, along with a visit from Nana and Papa, and many other exciting adventures in this beautiful area of the world we live in. 

Willy Wonka

Well, it's done. Finally. And sadly...a little. It's always fun doing plays, but musicals in particular keep me up at night. The music gets stuck in my head and I lay awake playing it over and over. It drives me nuts. Even Les Miserables did by the end. 

This particular production was messy at the end--paint was drying behind me on our opening night. Yep. But it seemed to be a big hit with the viewers. We got decent turn outs each day on our first weekend, and then the second weekend (when we'd moved to another theater) we had more than 530 people our first night there, and another good crowd at the matinee the next day. 

Me and "Chalie"--Harlan--after our closing show. He was a sweet kid, and did great in his first big role! 

My biggest satisfaction comes from how much Madie loved it. I don't mean just being in the play, but actually being on stage! She is pretty shy, and it took quite of bit of convincing on my part to get her to even try out--she wanted to do it, she said, but she didn't want to have to sing or talk in front of anyone...

During rehearsals, she was asked a couple of times if she was enjoying being in the play. Her response was, "I don't like to sing. Or dance." So naturally I figured she was sticking it out because a. in the beginning I told her that after a certain point she couldn't really back out, and b. she had lots of friends from school in the play as well. 

Well, it turned out that when we got around to the actual performance, she was loving it! She was hesitant about her makeup--orange face paint and a green wig--but at the end of dress rehearsal she said she didn't even notice it. She even said, at the end of the last show, that she "can't wait for next year to see what the show will be!" I told her there aren't always children's parts. Regardless, it looks like the Drama Queen may actually have a future with her natural talent. Fabulous!

On stage. Look at that smile! Photo credit: Christopher Dougherty.

Madie at the end of dress rehearsal.

Easter

Last weekend, I planted some corn in the garden. And a couple rows of carrots. I was prepped and ready to plant more this weekend, but instead we got about a half-foot of snow the day after spring. Everyone (including myself) kept saying, "Oh, it won't last. It'll be gone in a day or so." 

Here we are, Easter day, and we still have snow on the ground. It's been in the 30s all week and overcast. Thankfully, the snow on the gardens has pretty much melted and the sweet little crocuses in the front are out in force.

For the record, they were here last week too--they arrived ON TIME. Spring just decided to ditch them. Lucky for us, they don't care much what Spring thinks.

Mike and I figured we'd at least take advantage of the snow since, really, we haven't had any this winter. Mike has been able to get out to ski three or four times this winter--all in the morning--but I hadn't gotten any. I usually only manage to get in one ski a year anyway, but with the bad snow this year, I kind of figured I wouldn't get any. It was nice to get out, and the full moon looked phenomenal as usual on the fresh snow and the lake water.

Here's a shot Mike took for @_Campfour_ from his early-morning ski after the spring snowfall.

To keep Easter Sunday more sacred, we do our egg hunt on Saturday. Here are the kids waiting in our bedroom until I tell them to come out. The youngest wasn't having it, so we called her stand-in.

Madeleine and Finn jumped to it, obviously. Petya was excited and laughing but really had no idea what was going on. I handed her a basket and showed her an egg behind the piano. She shook it, which was fun, so she shook it some more, and a little more. Finally she put it in her basket and I said, "There's more, P! Look over here!" I pointed into a shoe. Oh, that was fun too! Hiding things in shoes is one of her favorite activities! She took that one out and shook it too.

Saturday morning we had chocolate milk, fruit, and cheese tarts for breakfast. It's a pretty quick meal to get together, really, but nothing is quick when you've got a toddler growing on your front half. Mike took care of her mostly so I could get breakfast going, but he was also trying to get the house to look at least like we try not to live in a slum. Every time he tried setting her down she fussed. So he did what I always do when I'm in that situation: he set her next to Mr. Nuzzle Muzzle. 

The only other being in the house P regularly turns to in even the most critical moments.

We also spent Saturday dying eggs and hanging a paper-flower garland the kids made. Madeleine and I didn't have play rehearsal, so she was able to join Dad and Finn for swim. I even got a good session of writing done at the library. That night I went to the church for a potluck with the Relief Society before Women's Conference (more on that later, hopefully). I came home early though to get a little more work done before the Sabbath. 

Our original Easter plans were to attend sacrament meeting (the first and foremost of three periods of church for Latter-day Saints) and then head to my grandmother's for a family gathering. On Friday I found out my sister and Gram were both sick and my aunt and cousin wouldn't be coming. So we postponed until next weekend, which works perfectly, and we started talking Easter dinner at home. Mike called the missionaries and found out the Elders had nowhere to go, so he arranged to have them come here.

Mike requested pork tacos--a surprising request I thought, since Mike is something of a traditionalist. I asked him today, as he chopped cilantro and I rolled tortillas, why he chose this particular meal. 

"Well," he said, in a way that made me think the next words would be something like, I know you don't love ham, but I'm not wild about lamb, so I was thinking pork, and that took me to tacos--or something like that--but he continued with, *chop, chop, chop* "I think about eating tacos every week anyway, so I just thought we could have them today." 

Truth.

Dinner went well, despite the wonkiness of the carrot cake--it tasted great--but I was lazy last night and didn't flour the pans, so...

Madeleine had the treat tonight (for Family Home Evening), so she helped to make the frosting and decorate it. We didn't have enough frosting to do flowers like she wanted, but she did like the idea of Jackson Pollocking it with food coloring. We topped it with dyed blown eggs and stuck candles in it so we could sing Happy Birthday to Elder Schwartz, who turns 20 tomorrow!

I hope your Easter was fun, like ours was. Mostly though, I hope you and I both remember the significance of the day. Christ the Lord is risen. And because of that, I can be raised from sadness--despair, even. Because of that, I have hope to overcome my sins and find freedom and peace in the Lord forever.

Hallelujah.

Spore chamber no more

This room behind the garage was a surprise when we bought the house in 2013. We had no idea it even existed. That's what happens when you do your home inspection in February. The room was already in bad shape due to rot and mold. It was dubbed the spore chamber, which we didn't dare enter. We were actually hoping the roof would collapse from winter, which was realized in the following winter. Fast forward to 2016, we finally cleaned up the mess. 

Before. 

After. Thank you missionaries for your help! 

The (food) Revolution has Begun

With the mild winter and early spring we have had, we have definitely gone outside a lot and enjoyed some hikes. I even climbed Norumbega with Finn and Nella yesterday because it was 50 degrees! Madie has had the flu the past few days and couldn't come, otherwise I'm sure she would be leading the charge. We are trying to use this time to get ahead on spring cleaning and gardening. Hopefully that means less work and more play this summer. 

Hiking Cadillac Cliffs trail with Madie and Finn. I think this is their favorite trail because of the caves and rocks they scramble on. 

See! They do get along sometimes! 

Still s bit of ice, but not much compared to the past two winters. We were buried under 60+ inches last March. 

Ah, may I indulge for a moment? Mallory is leading this food revolution in our kitchen that has included homemade wontons, and many other great dishes. I love food. 

I love wrapping Nella up in a towel after a tubby. She likes it too. 

She also likes playing in Elvis' bed. I'm sure the feelings are mutual. 

Finn was one sharp looking dude at church yesterday. Haircut, new outfit, tie, dimples...just missing some shades and a blazer. 

This is from our hike up Norumbega yesterday. Finn was making sure Petranella was watching the camera for the photo (yikes!). Great hike. I'm working on Finns stamina. He often says he doesn't like hiking, just prefers climbing rocks. So I try to find more challenging hikes that allow him to scramble a bit. He is getting better. Hopefully we can do many summits this summer.