Mule Deer 2012

Fall 2012 in MA

Here are some fun shots of the goings on in MA over the last few weeks.

Above: Nick struttin' his stuff trying on his costume. (Columbus Day, which I have dubbed "Figure out the costumes day"). Notice the wall? That is what our family room looked like after pulling down the wallpaper. It has since been plastered and painted, and looks much better. However, we have surrendered to the carpet and have opted to pay someone to rip it out and haul it away. That should happen next week! New furniture will follow and then I'll put up some makeover photos!

 

Today (Nov. 1) was Evan's first day of rock wall climbing classes. He has been waiting for 2 years to get on that wall. He did awesome, thanks to the encouraging instructors and the totally hyped older boys in his class. He made it to the top on all of his climbs, improving from 67 seconds to 58 on his third climb. He and I will take our safety instruction class on Saturday and with any luck I will get certified to belay for him.

These pictures were taken on Oct. 27, right after pumpkin carving. Ev cut out his pumpkin's eyes and nose all on his own. He also drew the face.

Nick insisted on a happy pumpkin. I love this picture of him. He has really developed a personality of his own.

Here's Ev at his bday party. I don't seem to have pictures of him on his actual birthday... not sure what happened there. He ended up being quite sick that week and we had to reschedule his party to the 27th. He had a great time with his new friends from school.

And, here are the pirates on Halloween night! They sure are some of the cutest pirates I've seen. Nick had a whole script of pirate sayings and jokes.

Photo shoot take one...

My attempt at taking real portraits of my kids. When I asked Gigi to smile she mostly opened her mouth all the way or stuck out her tongue.

MA Chickens

We finally got our chicks last Friday. The boys were so excited and started shouting "I hear the chicks!" before we were even out of the car. Truth be told, you could hear the chicks from the parking lot.

Since bringing them home, I cannot tell you how many times I have had to tell the kids to put the chickens away. This is not a directive one might expect to hear in a typical household, but I am quite sure any family with chickens know exactly what I mean!

We ended up coming home with three more than we ordered (there are so many kinds and they are so cheap-it can't be helped), but three were backordered. We'll pick those up on this Friday to bring our flock up to 9 birds.

The Rhode Island Reds are named Speak, Peep, and Cheep. No one knows which is which. The all black chick is the most loved by Evan and named Midnight. Snow White is Nick's darling, and the Black Star (black chick with white on his head) is named Golfy-the name Nick chose back in March.
These are some pretty sophisticated chicks and have skyped with several of my family members! If your kiddos want to skype, just let us know!

Holiday Farm

A friend of our daycare provider owns Holiday Farm, which is about 8 minutes from our house. We went out for a special trip to meet the therapy and rescue horses. Stumpy (white mini horse) and Evan became fast friends. The owner graciously offered to start a few Easter Egger chicks for us in the event that not all of our six chicks from Agway make it. The Easter Eggers and others should all be arriving the last week of May. Above, Evan is nonchalantly checking to see what is in the barn.

Our first glimpse of Stumpy

Nick liked Skyler and the big horses, Koko and Bandit. We watched the Kentucky Derby together yesterday, so this was perfect timing. I'm thinking we'll have a mom and sons derby party next year, with hats and all, of course. (Kentucky Derby Pie will also be involved!)

 Dave seemed to have a special bond with Bandit.

Stumpy waiting to get out for some forbidden grazing (he has a special diet)!

Easter in MA

Here are a few shots from Easter.

 Nick decided the yard needed somer fertilizer...

 Visiting Great Grandma

Meeting our newest family member, Madalynn

We're back from our first international vacation with the kids. It was a good time. Our first full day was stormy, but Evan loved the big waves and we had the beach to ourselves. The next few days were quite nice with lots of sun. Evan enjoyed his first snorkeling experiences off the beach. The water was very warm and clear. We saw some great fish including a lion fish and octopus (which we bothered enough to make it change colors). Nick wanted nothing to do with the ocean and would run up the beach if the water got within a foot of him. He loved the pool though and insisted we spend hours playing in the shallow part.

The hotel complex we stayed at was huge and there were lots of birds roaming about. The kids loved the chickens and flamingoes. As you will see, we also spent quite a bit of time hunting and catching geckos.  You'll see lots of pictures of us eating! This is not because we ate all that much, but because it was one of the few times we actually had a moment to snap a picture!

Max beat boxing