First egg!!

One of our chickens finally fave us an egg!! We suspected it was Alice's chick until Chris saw Kelly lay another one and the eggs were identical. We have eggs!!!

Stoney's Ashes...

When it comes to a big dog's body, burial is not where it's at. Pet Cemeteries there days have a six feet under requirement, isn't that a chore! :) So we opted to fork over the massive amount of money to have Stoney cremated so we could do soemthing special with his remains. My mom got us a spring blooming Forsythia plant and we decided to put it in a pot with the roots surrounded by the ashes. The girls did a great job!

Lucy and Puffy...

We got two more chickens. Have I mentioned that Chris is mildly obsessed with chickens? It has been a really fun hobby for him, and he is very knowledgeable about all things chicken related! :) He decided we should get two more chicks as long as we already have the set up and such. Made sense to me, and it is so fun to have little ones again! We got an Americana, which is Lucy, and is Chris' chicken. We also got a Brahma, I named her Puffy (with some input from the girls, such a cheesy name).

Meet Lucy. Lucy will lay "easter eggs" or green and blue eggs! That's kind of neat!

Meet Puffy. She will be a really large, quiet, nice chicken with all white feathers. The cool thing about her is that she has feathered legs and feet, it kind of looks like a Clydesdale horse.

Betsey loves the little chicks. She carries them around in one hand all over the yard, she snuggles them against her face...she's really comfortable handling them and does a good, gentle job for the most part.

Losing Stoney...

This has been an intense five month period of time for my kids to learn about losing loved ones. Stone was a member of our family for longer than our family existed...Chris got him a year or so before we got married. He was sixteen and holding his own until the very end when he stopped eating and drinking. Chris and I knew it was time to take him in and say goodbye. I left for Hawaii the morning he ended up being put down, so I landed in Kauaii and my folks picked Robb and I up and I got a call from Chris that he was going to go get the girls (who were being watched by a friend of ours) and have them say goodbye. The pictures tell it all...

Chris held Stone until his final breath and we had his body cremated so his ashes could come home. My mom bought us a forsythia bush that blooms in early spring each year to remind us of Stone. We put his ashes in the dirt around the plant as the girls planted the bush in a container so we can take it with us if we move.

Things we love and miss about Stone:

• How when you pet him, he would gradually pile more of himself on top of you until he was all the way on you. 
• Throwing the ball for him...a green tennis ball, always.
• Taking him to the river or to the lake.
• Having him in the back of the truck.
• His wagging tail.
• Having him lay around in the yard on Saturdays while Chris does yard work.
• Taking him to get baths at the Wash Your Dog place in town.
• Giving him treats.

It will be hard to find another animal so loved by our family!

Chickens!!

We have wanted to get chickens for a couple of years, but the time to build a coop never really presents itself and then the season passes and we set our sights on the next year. This year, Chris became determined and mildly obsessed with raising chickens and building a coop...and the chickens came before the coop! He came home with them, having done research on the friendliest chicken breeds, and surprised the girls one evening. They were super excited and the chicks have proven to be such fun to have around! Here are pics from that first night.

Alice got one of the Barred Rocks chicks and named it Tweety.

Here are all three together...

Betsey got the Buff Orpington and named it the same name she names everything...Kelly.

Ruby got the other Barred Rocks and named it Bella.

We are crossing our fingers that none of these chicks are roosters, because we'd have to promptly get rid of a rooster. That would be sad. They are daily playmates with these three! We'd like to get a fourth for the baby boy...a Rhode Island Red, maybe next year.

Betsey and the cat...

Betsey LOVES the cat. A lot. She occasionally (wink, wink) breaks out with grumpiness, but if you can find the cat (always in the laundry room), you are about to see the frown turn into a smile. Here are some pics combining Betsey's two greatest loves...cats and nurturing.

 

 

 

Unlikely Friends...

Stone has always hated cats. They don't go near him. He won't let them. We brought Stone in for his birthday and got him all bathed and clean and it turns out he and Roxy just adore each other!

 

Labor Day at Seaquest State Park...

We go camping every year with our old friends from the growing up years. This year we went to Seaquest State Park by Mt. Saint Helens. Unfortunately, the day we went to see the mountain up close, it was overcast and we didn't see much. Still, we had a wonderful time with our friends and their kiddos. The crazy thing is that Kelly and Danny's boys, Aksel and Maddox played non-stop with Ruby and Alice on their bikes and I didn't get many pictures! I guess that is the story of the past six months of my life because having a camera in my hands conflicts with having a sweet baby in my hands. So...these are the only pics I have!

Leisha reading smut mags with Bee. You can see, Bee was really interested in brushing up on the latest Hollywood gossip. Sandy brought this little bike for Addy and Alice had fun pushing Betsey around for a few minutes with me hovering really close. Kind of goofy.

Ruby enjoying a swing that Chris rigged up a swing in the covered area.


We had two dogs along, Stone and Cash, who is Eden and Ben's baby (no really, they carry her to bed and basically treat her better than they treat themselves, hahaha).

Alice, Ruby, Aksel and Maddox (Maddox only sat there for a half of a second, but I got it!!).

The kids really are such good little buddies. Soon...next year, we'll have a few extras, all closer in age, because Betsey will have playmates in Sandy and Leisha's babies (both in "the oven" already on this trip...so they will only be like a year apart)!

Sandy and Addy cuddling after Addy got hurt. Adam and Sandy's fun was cut short when Adam threw his back out (bad, he couldn't even walk).

Love this happy little camper!

Leisha and Jeff in front of what would have been Mt. Saint Helens. Jeff hasn't ever joined us on our trip before (he's a pilot) and it was fun to get to know him better.

The trip was so fun, I can't wait until next year...and actually, it's already time to start planning!

Random fun...

These pictures remind me that we actually did have some nice weather for a bit this month. Hard to remember when it has been 40 degrees, dark and rainy for about three weeks. Anyway, here's what we were up to in the nice weather!

Chris altered the swings in the garage for additional swinging fun. He then decided to swing himself, and he's lucky he didn't break his tailbone when it met with the concrete from the pipe swing seat breaking. Twice. Ha, ha.Alice's good friend, Ellie (Mimi's daughter), got her haircut. As much as I don't like encouraging my children to be just like their peers, the potential chance that Ellie's cut might make Alice want her hair cut was too overwhelming to ignore. So being the good mom that I am, I said, "Alice, do you want to cut your hair like Ellie did?" The answer both surprised and thrilled me, "YES!" My girls are not blessed with good toddler hair. Ruby's is now thicker and can be worn long, but Alice's is still really sparse and thin. Anyway, so the short bob below basically solves all my hair problems! Isn't she darling with it?
My sister-in-law Pam told me that she occasionally takes her 3 year old Zoe on photo shoots. I have been paying an assistant and this was a shoot where I was cutting a friend a deal, and so I decided at the last minute to take Ruby (I didn't bail on my assistant, I didn't schedule her) to help me. She was thrilled and took her job so seriously. It was a family of 5 with three kids under 5, and one that never smiles for the camera. Ruby used my small reflector as a beaver tail and pretended she was a beaver and didn't want anyone to see her tail. This had these kids literally in stitches, and made my job much easier. While the client was snacking at one point, Ruby wanted me to take some pics of her. So here's my favorite assistant...

Ruby loves the family dog. And he, Stone, loves her in return.