Random Thoughts

Well, this is just me rambling today.  I played volleyball this morning, which was awesome.  I've also been getting ready for the big consignment sale next week.  I'm also trying to finish Catherine the Great before I go hear the author speak tomorrow night while simultaneously beginning the third Harry Potter because my son is reading it on his own.

I've had the Spin Doctors' song "Two Princes" stuck in my head for at least 2 days.  I like that song, but it could go away for a while.

In chicken news, Sol has started laying eggs again.  When we had the rooster, Leaf (the brown Rhode Island Red hen) was the lead hen, but after he died and we had the coyote slaughter, Leaf and the other hens didn't seem to have a leader.  Now Sol is throwing her weight around a bit, like she did when she was mama hen.  It appears she's taking over the top spot and none of the hens seem interested in challenging that.

The five chicks are doing great.  I do think we have 2 roosters and 3 hens, but we'll see.  None have started crowing yet.

The boys both get to be in chess club this year.  It starts next week, and they are plenty excited about that.  I don't have any desire to learn to play chess, but I'm glad they find it exciting.

Great Weekend

We had such a great weekend with our friends!  The weather has been perfect, and so Saturday we kept all the kids outside until dinner time.  This led to costumed play outside like this:

Lydia had so much fun following around a "big girl" friend.

Lightsaber battles are generally fun for everyone.

And, as promised, I took some pictures of the wood floors:

It is amazing how much bigger it makes the living room look.  I couldn't be happier with our floors.  We still have the rest of the kitchen and our bedroom, but the amount of work we've gotten done is very satisfactory.

Lastly, we headed to the zoo today for lots of family fun:

We had already told the kids that we'd take them to the zoo, and they were looking forward to it.  Honestly, we could have skipped the zoo trip.  The kids were doing so well playing together that leaving the house really wouldn't have been necessary.  But the weather was great, and we all enjoyed the zoo.  We moms kept a running head count, because there happened to be a big company picnic at the zoo, so it was more crowded than expected, but it did go very smoothly.  I think everyone in both families had a great weekend. All of the kids are looking forward to seeing each other again on the family camping trip in October!  

Updates

Well, I think (knock on wood quick) we are all healthy now, and just in time.  We have friends and their 5 kids coming to visit tonight.  We're all pretty excited about that.  So our weekend will be a whirlwind of activity, but the good kind.

My sister made me this amazing cross for my birthday.  Doesn't it look perfect on my orange kitchen wall?

I absolutely love it!

In hardwood flooring news, we have the living room done (but not the trim).  We plan to finish the little bit of dining room area in the kitchen tonight before our guests come.  Luckily, there's not much left to do there, and they aren't going to get here until late, so we should be able to get the power tools all put away.  Let me rephrase that: we will get the power tools all put away.  And we'll move the kitchen table back to its spot, which will give us back our living room.  I'll post some pictures when it's all in order, or at least as "in order" as anything ever is around here.  :)

Getting Better

It's been a long week.  Elijah was sick for the first half, and Lydia for the second.  It's not a horrible illness (I generally call horrible illnesses the ones that make you throw up or feel like you're gonna die), but it does last and exhaust.  So I'm pretty tired of everyone else being sick and tired.  But now things are improving.  Lydia is feeling better and getting back some energy.  Nathaniel took the boys camping yesterday, so Lydia and I just relaxed and cuddled a lot.  She slept good for the first time in days, so now she has her usual smile again:

In other news, I canned some salsa today.  I did cheat, though.  I didn't have enough tomatoes to make a batch, so I supplemented my tomatoes with canned tomato puree.  It made a really thick salsa, but it does taste good.

Volleyball

I played volleyball today for the first time in years.  And I do mean years; the last time I played, Malachi was 1 or 2 years old.  He'll be 8 soon.  (Side note- how did my baby boy get to be 8?!)

I was reluctant to go.  I'd been introduced to a lady at church by another church member, Alice.  Alice introduced me to Marcie something like this, "Angel played volleyball in high school!! And she used to coach!!!  She should play with you!!"  Yes, her voice really did have all those exclamation marks in it, and I was trying to melt into the floorboards as I explained that I used to play, but hadn't in so very long.  Marcie invited me anyway and said it'd be great.

I was nervous.  Nathaniel kept reminding me that I should go.

And I'm so glad I did.  It was more fun than expected.  Everyone was welcoming.  Although my body doesn't quite react like it used to (big understatement here), this overweight out-of-shape girl kept up just fine.  Most of the ladies are probably about 10 years older than me, but one was probably a bit younger than me.  She asked, "So, I'm guessing that you were the shortest one on your high school team, too, right?"

God bless her.  She could tell that I played in high school.  I haven't completely lost it.

Hand-fed Chickens

Nathaniel and Lydia have taken to hand-feeding the chickens on occasion.  It makes them come up closer in general, and to Lydia in particular, which makes it easier for her to catch them.

Firsts

Yesterday was Lydia's first day of preschool.  I know I should insert a picture of her on her first day here:


But it is blank because you know I forgot to take a picture of her yesterday, just like I forgot to take a picture of her brothers on the first day of school this year.  Sigh.

She did have a good time, and so did I.  I walked into town and piddled around downtown for a couple of hours.  I got back early because I had to meet with the children's director.  (Lydia's preschool is in our church.)  I'm helping run Wednesday nights for the elementary kids again this year, starting next week.

In other exciting news, Nathaniel got home from Switzerland early!  He wasn't supposed to come back until Sat, but he was able to come home last night.

We've been trying to get some stuff done around the house.  I'm not sure how successful that is, because as soon as I start one project, it seems to lead to 10 other projects.

The garden has been SLOW.  I am getting tomatoes, but not lots.  I have lots of green ones, though, so there is still hope.  Even cherry tomato production has slowed way down.  On the plus side, I've had lots of peppers, but Lydia eats those up pretty quick, too!  I did manage to score some butternut squash and pumpkins really, really cheap at the farmer's market last week and hope to find the same deal this weekend.  Usually they are much more expensive, but maybe they were cheaper because it's early for them.  We just finished up the last of the cantaloupe I bought last weekend.  It wasn't cheap, but you all know I'd pay dearly for good cantaloupe.  Mmmmmmm  I want more just thinking about it.