He calls it his castle...

DH knows how badly I want a Kingdom tent from REI. A nice tent with height to stand in it, and a separate room that can be closed off. We have several great tents from our years of camping, but our family has grown since we met 10 years ago (golly, it's been that long!) and we do not have a tent we can stand up in. DH doesn't think that is necessary, but he did try to accommodate my wishes for more space:

It's not the Kingdom, but it did make for more space when he put two of our tents close together and covered the middle with a rainfly. It makes a small tunnel that links our tents together so that the boys are still "with us" and yet have their own "room." He calls it his castle, and you have to smile about that! All 5 of us camped in the front yard last night and it was fun. The boys have asked to camp out there again tonight, so when I finish this post and finish with the laundry, we'll head out there again.

Tuesday evening the kids and I went for a few mile hike at Rancho San Rafael Park. We hiked the trails through the Labyrinth and around the two ponds, waterfall and playgrounds. It was a nice evening, with a good breeze after a hot day. J has completed many mountain and flat hikes with me, the longest being 11 miles when he was 5. L is more of a sprinter (though at 3.5 he snowshoed this winter with us for 3 miles), but he did well on our hike, but definitely had more fun searching the ponds for tadpoles and minnows with his big brother. I brought the boys' nets and a gallon jug for collecting critters. The trails are all smooth enough for E's little stroller. On previous hikes I've carried her in the Baby Bjorn front carrier, but I thought it might get tricky if I had to fish the boys from a pond :0) Here are a few pics from our hike:

What a surprise this morning!!

DH woke before I did, went outside to take care of the animals, and this is what he saw! He ran back inside and woke me (seriously scared me) to come out and see. One of our Auricanas hatched 12 chicks! We had no idea she was sitting on eggs under the back deck. We knew we had 2 hens sitting in the hen house, but had no idea this one was out of the chicken yard and hiding her eggs from everyone. 12 chicks, wow! Aren't they adorable? Looks like we'll have some colored like their Mama and 4 or so that are white with the dark pattern like their dad (not the best rooster we could have, he's pretty timid, but he's also really pretty). Hope we have some hens, ha ha. Wouldn't it be awful to have all roosters?? Hope we have all colors of eggs since they are pure, unlike the Buff Orpington that is sitting on eggs. If or when she hatches any, they will be half Auricana.

The boys were such good helpers today and earned themselves a popsicle. They helped me clean out the dog kennel and work to secure it along the bottom with chick wire, and put the chicks and their mama in it. We had to. Sadly, we lost a chick when it got too close to the chicken pen and a cannibalistic chicken pulled it in and killed it. Poor J was nearly beside himself seeing it happen. There wasn't anything he could've done to save it. I took it away from the chickens and held the poor little chickie until it died. So sad, the sweet baby was so soft and so tiny. I guess it was a good lesson for our boys about nature. I explained that we'll most likely lose more too. 11 chicks is a big number for the mama to look out for, care for, and keep warm at night. We'll see how it goes. So far, the mama is really good with them, but she wasn't able to keep that little one away from the chicken yard fence. Hope they stay in the dog kennel, it's their best chance to survive.

DH is like a little boy with the chickies. He's so excited about the chicken hatching her babies. And it was just too cute to see his excitement today :0)

A friend owns a bookstore, Grassroots Books and we love to visit. She's a homeschooling mom too, and has a lot of sales and specials. She had a special this evening, allowing folks to go through books that she was planning to have recycled. Wow! It was awesome! We have a car trunk load of books, all for free, and most are new. A lot of learning books for the kids, me and DH, and some reading books for fun too. I'm excited to have found a new boy scout handbook book for J. Hope to get him in a troop next fall.

Have to brag a little on E. She is such a sweet baby girl. I just melt each time she smiles. She smiles all the time too! She loves to have her belly tickled and her sweet pudgy cheekies and chin tickled too. She's been saying "nnng" and then smiling really big, like she's so pleased with herself for talking to us. We are so lucky to have her. I still can't believe she is here, ya know?

Well, that was our excitement for the day. It's been a long one. Good night.

Where has the week gone??

What? It's Saturday already? I can't believe it. Seriously. What have we been up to this week?

We picked up two kitties at the Humane Society. We've been thinking about getting a cat off and on after ours passed away several years ago. I was so attached to Stripe Guy, so getting a new cat just wasn't something I wanted to think about. DH was too excited about another cat until recently. Getting a new cat actually became a necessity in the last few months. Having chickens and horses and living in the rural part of Reno calls the mice to us. We didn't have any trouble when we had cats before, but the mice started causing too many problems this summer (and nightmares for me). We set traps of different kinds, only to be foiled by those smart critters. Tried some poison pellets, but didn't work. Decided we'd try nature's way of doing things. The Human Society had a special, free feral/wild kitties and free older kitties. We picked up their only feral and she will be our outside cat to keep mice and squirrels out of the chicken yard. Our inside kitty is a real sweetheart and we lucked out. She is 6 years old, named Piper, is very loving and house broken. She is wonderful with the boys, leaves Little Sister alone, and stays out of my bedroom after a few squirts one night with a water bottle. When we brought her home, Piper immediately made herself comfy spread out on the floor asking for a belly rub. We've been in love with her since. Here she is, not the best background, but a good picture of Piper.

I do not have a picture of the feral kitty, and probably never will. The Humane Society said she'd do her job, but we'd likely never see her. She'll just be a behind the scenes member of our family. She is pretty though. A petite calico with a white belly and a round face. She reminds me a lot of my Grandma Marie's Miss Kitty from years ago. Her name right now is "Other Kitty." I know it's not very pretty, but it's stuck and she didn't come to us with a name the way Piper did.

The Humane Society has a brand new facility that is now 3 years old, and it is really a nice place to visit. I had been dreading going after visiting others in my past, but this was really squeaky clean and the folks working there were wonderful with the animals. We had many cats to choose from, and was able to visit with her in a "visiting room" all to ourselves. It was visiting with her out of her viewing cage that we were able to see how friendly and good-natured Piper is.

We received a box of goodies from my mom, my brother and his wife. The boys had a blast going through everything. The boys are picking out experiments from the science book from my mom. L wants to make edible crystals (from sugar, like rock candy). J has bookmarked about 2 dozen and can't narrow them down yet :0) My mom also sent a couple of items from when I was a baby, for little E. I'm hand washing them today. THANKS MOM, bro and SIL!

I made kabobs for dinner using our Cobb grill outside. They were so good! Haven't had them in years and years and years (at least not fixed by me). Pineapple chunks, chicken, green and orange bell peppers, and onion. I added my favorite seasoning in all the world: Garli Garni. Gosh that stuff is good. I don't usually like a lot of garlic, but I'm certain I could mix this seasoning with water and drink it in a wine goblet!

Not a very exciting week, but that's okay. J is doing great learning fractions and remembering them. L still working on his writing, and Sweet Little E, smiling and melting everyone's heart. DH working hard and working on several home projects (in case you wonder, DH stands for darling husband). A good week.

We had planned to go camping, taking E out for her first tent camp experience, and the little guys have been begging to go. Why didn't we? We packed up the car on Saturday morning and headed out to Markleeville because the elevation there is similar to home, so the mountain temperatures at night wouldn't be too chilly for E. And the best part? The GROVER HOT SPRINGS! We love to swim in the hot springs. Well... it turns out that since I'm not on maternity leave and not at the store, I have been out of the loop on remembering the bike races and I forgot all about the Death Ride. There were bikes everywhere and cars everywhere and people everywhere - all along the road just before Turtle Rock where we planned to camp. The bike registration actually took place at the campground. Camp grounds for miles and miles were all full due to the race. Darn, we said. What to do? We decided that we had already driven all the way this far, why not go to the coast and see the ocean, it's been a while. We headed out for Santa Cruz, CA.

I know, you're wondering what the death ride is. It's awesome and I wish I had the time and strength to train for it. "Ending at Turtle Rock Park just north of Markleeville, California, the five pass ride includes 129 miles and 15,000+ feet of lung busting climbing." That's taken from their website. The most I've ridden is 60 miles, along the hills in Sacramento last year. Not quite half of 129 miles, but I did pull the Chariot trailer on my bike with both boys in it and our gear, all estimated at 100+ lbs. Maybe someday I will do it, who knows?

Aren't these boys cute?

Gotta love the look on L's face. They loved visiting the ocean. L was a little more cautious, staying at the edge. J would have tried surfing the waves if I had given the okay. DH started a fire in a fire pit he found still smoking and set about making our breakfast early in the morning. It was chilly and cloudy early on. I love the pictures of him holding E. He looks like my handsome hobo sitting there, and like someone photoshopped E onto his lap. All that pink fluff looks out of place...


The waves were great and the small lighthouse was rustic and pretty.
g
After the beach, we went to The Boardwalk. I've not been there before. DH has happy childhood memories of going there. Lots of rides and food at the amusement park on the beach. Expensive, but at least admission is free. Boys were given option of riding one ride each there choice. J chose the Haunted Mansion and L chose the helicopter ride.



OK, need to go. L pushed some keys on the compute and now the computer screen/desktop is all wonky and we can't figure out how to put things back the way they were. Love my kiddos.

Last midwife appointment

Yesterday, July 7th was my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday again, Mom!). It was also our last appointment with our midwife for E. Diane's midwifery service is called Sierra Midwifery. She assisted us at all three home waterbirths with our kiddos. She's such a great person, we'll miss seeing her all the time. We have mutual friends and common interests and hobbies, so we see her out and about from time to time.

At birth, E was 20.75 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 14 oz. At this appointment she was 23 inches and 9 lbs 6 oz. She's growing and gaining weight, all good stuff. It was also Ella's 7th week birthday. Just 5 more weeks of maternity leave.

Need to take new pictures of E and get them posted.

I want the baby weight to just fall off

Let's compare pictures...
The first picture was taken on September 5th of '09. DH and I took the boys on a hike (I know I'm a prejudice mom, but aren't they handsome?). I was about a month pregnant here. Didn't know yet. Was carrying L in the backpack carrier.

Skip ahead many months to the next picture of me. *sigh* This was taken on May 16th of '10, three days before E was born.

I have lost some of my pregnancy weight, but I still have a little more to go, and more time needed to get in shape again. I have to realize I gave birth just 7 weeks ago, but still I want to look like that first picture again - RIGHT NOW. If nothing else, I want to fit in my old clothes. I don't really fit into anything right now. My maternity clothes are too big, but I'm still wearing some of the tanks and T's and some of the low cut belly band shorts. On a positive note, I walked 4 miles again tonight. But to show you how I wasn't thinking, I ran out the door to library storytime with E and L in the Chariot trailer/stroller and J on his bike, and me in my flippers! I had blisters by the time we got back after that 4 mile walk. As we left, I didn't have time to unlock the house and go back in for my hiking or walking shoes. But really, just stubborn is the reason.

Some of my family wanted to see what I looked like pregnant, well, there I am! Just after a bath too, so my hair was a little scarier than usual - haha!

Had a Babies "R" Us coupon for 20% off. DH went to office to work for a few hours. Day after a holiday so he didn't have to go in, but he was able to do some catch up work. I took boys to Grocery Outlet (had another good coupon!) and Babies "R" Us to get a few necessities. I picked up more compostable diaper inserts for E's gdiapers. I love these cloth diapers! Check them out. My link is to Amazon.com. They fit great and have only leaked once, and it was a doozie that no diaper could've held in! Anyway, love that we can compost the inserts, and I can save up and get the washable inserts too one of these days. Maybe even make some. We've not had the best of luck with cloth diapers in the past when the boys were babies. Skinny legs ALWAYS made them leak, and I seem to produce skinny-legged babies (but cute babies!). E is not a fat baby, and the diapers still fit her wonderfully. I did learn that I was putting them on backwards. Hmmm... maybe that's the secret to preventing leaks. They are also super-cute in all sorts of colors.

Came home and watched a Redbox movie with the boys: "Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs". Was really a cute animated movie. J still loves dinos. L likes them too, but mostly because his big brother does. It's not a passion like it is for J. And today was a day for coupons. Had a free movie coupon. Comes out once a month for free when you sign up for texts on your cell phone from their website. Have used their coupons for nearly a year and haven't had any phony calls or anything.

Need to get some sleep. Getting late. House is quiet with everyone sleeping.

Today, July 5th would've been his 36th birthday. Happy Birthday, Jim.