Double Up

Today was beautiful and we went for a walk using our new (to us) double jogging stroller. It was mostly fun but I'll say that in this picture I suspect both of them are independently planning on how to make the coming afternoon really long.

What To Say

A couple of days ago I was at the store in the check-out line with Irene. Two older ladies were behind me and oohing and aahing over her. They told me all the nice usual things like "it goes by so fast", "isn't it a miracle", etc. I agreed and thanked them and even let them get in line in front of me. While I waited I thought about how tired I was and then told myself to remember when I'm older and in their position and admiring a baby in the check-out line that I want to say "What a lovely baby. Poor dear, I imagine you are quite tired." (yes, I imagine myself to be British in old age).

Crazy Mom

Irene was doing some really cute laughing until I got the camera out. I'll post this video because she is quite cute, even though the mother trying to make her laugh appears to not understand that what she is doing is not working anymore. (Also featured in this film is the mom's right-hand ring finger with but a ring of rash on it instead of her beloved engagement ring, which occurred during the gestational period of Irene and had never happened in the previous four years of wearing the ring. Rats.)

The Youth

Kyle's catechumens sometimes stop by to witness some nature in our back yard or in our home. Today the big lesson was that dogs don't lay eggs. Besides that, I found it very sweet to see the kids holding the chickens under Kyle's watchful eye and asking all sorts of questions and generally delighting in our feathered gifts from God.

Kyle and Evangeline went and  got a new chicken yesterday.
A Dominique (pronounce it:  Dom-i-nekker).
Kaylie is good at holding her.

Moses and Jayla discussing the hen's crooked beak.

Bossing people around with a stick.

Evangeline is a protective farmgirl.

Sisters, dad, doing their thing.

been readin' too many o them books

So, its a well known fact that I only thought I could do this chicken thing because it was in some books. Ellee took it to another level today by making meat extract from some bones we bought at the farmer's market last week. We read about this in Robert Farrar Capon's "Supper of the Lamb." Our house smells wonderful, and we have a whole jar of meat extract and a whole bunch of broth too. What next?

This is definitely not how its supposed to work.

"Oh mommy, can I lick the meat extract spoon???!!!"

I read about chicken composting in a book too.

She can't read.

Chickens. Toddler. Chihuahua beagle. Totally normal.

The mighty Wyandotte. She is at the top of the pecking order.

Car Rides, Friends, and Colds

I'm tired so this will be short. We had a great trip, are very thankful for our great hosts, hopefully were a good example to our kids by going to the March For Life, had fun with cute friends, had astonishingly good kids on both car rides, and woke up with colds.

Ready to go.

Playing with Eva Marie, Ella, and loads of cool(er) toys.

I was surprised to find out Evangeline knows how to play with a dollhouse.

Can you spot Irene?

This was the response to "raise your hand if you're the tallest"

Irene, Eva Marie, Evangeline, Ella, Sofiya

Have cold will sleep with pillow.

famous?

My head made it into a photo in a reporter article about the March for Life.

There are some big egos at this thing, but mine could be the hugest.

Marching On

We're leaving tomorrow afternoon for D.C. It's the March For Life again. This year the anniversary of Roe v Wade is Sunday (tomorrow). Monday is the March, and is supposed to be cold and snowy again, and Evangeline, Irene and I won't be going on the Mall for it. It was too cold last year for me to really think about anything else. But we will go to a church service in Alexandria beforehand, and Evangeline and Irene will get to spend the day with three friends, Sofiya, Ella, and Eve Marie. Please keep all the marchers in your prayers (one estimate is 500,000!), as well as everyone who has been hurt by abortion everywhere. We hope that you have a peaceful and prayerful day.

Last year at the March. We didn't even have boots for her.

There will be two more girls this year. Five little girls. Sounds fun.

The Doctor

Today Evangeline went to the doctor for her 2-year check-up. We talked about it a bit beforehand, and even practiced the part where the doctor wants to look in her mouth. She seemed ok with it all, like it would be a breeze.
I stayed in the exam room to take care of Irene and Kyle went with the nurse and Evangeline to do the simple weigh-n-measure.
So, if I had been another mom  in that office, hearing this girl scream, I would have felt bad, like "poor child has to have some terrible yet simple procedure (lancing a boil? a few stitches?) done". And she was just getting weighed and measured. So she screamed and screamed. Checking heart? Screaming. Looking at dry skin? Screaming. Looking at from across the room? Screaming. Poor, nice nurse.
Then she had to have her blood taken. Surprisingly, more interest in procedure, less screaming(?).
Then the doctor came in. More screaming.
Looking in ears? Screaming. Feeling joints? Screaming. Listening to breathing? Screaming. Looking at from across room? Screaming.
Poor kid. Poor doctor.
Then the nurse came back in to give her two shots...
So anyway it was pretty terrible. Lots of screaming. Irene just sat there and looked at Evangeline like she was crazy, which she kind of was.
But the doctor said she looks great and will not see her (hopefully) until next year.
And, in between screaming sobs, Evangeline managed to say thank-you to both Nurse Rose and Dr. Thompson.
She is of average weight, a bit above average height, and a bit more above average head circumference. She also has terrific hemoglobin.
Then she sauntered out of the office in her vest and faux fur hat, commenting on everything as if we had just had a nice, newsy visit with her old pal Dr. Thompson.
Whew. Then we went out for coffee ("boppee") (Evangeline had a vanilla steamer) and had a good time.
And the doctor never even looked in her mouth.
Then later tonight Irene wouldn't stop crying until I put her in her cradle alone, turned off the light, and left the room.

The night before, "So, yeah, I have a doctor appointment. Ho-hum,
right? I mean, I'm just gonna whiz through it so I can have some
steamed milk after."

Later this evening, casually hanging out with  Irene and eating ice.
"Hey Irene, remember that time I went to the doctor?"

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███ ██ chickens ████ ███ ██ Evangeline █████ ██ chasing ██ ██ ████ ██████.

A Scholastic Miscellany

I have this book on my shelf with that title. It basically means "Crap That Came Before the Reformation." This is actually just a few pictures I took today that relate to my kids.

This is what it looks like when Evangeline looks to see if you layed an egg today.

This is the hen that lays blue eggs, who has been alerted by Evangeline's attempt at egg theft.

Party time.

Well, how do you think they are going to learn their alephbet?

Seriously, these kids aren't going to teach themselves Hebrew.

Modern Hebrew doesn't have vowels, so they weren't included in the set. This probably okay, since the yod already gives her enough to choke on.

c u p c a k e s

Ellee and Evangeline made some cupcakes today for MLK.

I am actually amazed that she will cooperate, and seems to enjoy the baking of these miniature cakes.

 I don't know if it counts, but it actually does seem that this could be in observance of MLK. Rather than just pretending that we like black people one day a year, like every other institution in the world, we are the only white people in our neighborhood, and my wife makes cupcakes with my daughter here. I think if MLK was successful, colleges and cities wouldn't just have one day a year to acknowledge his work, but would just do it the rest of the year.

Find the chicken.

Snow!

Not here, though. My dad sent this picture of Evangeline's  (and Irene's) playhouse in Alaska:

I showed Evangeline and she laughed.

In other news, the chickens continue to lay eggs. We have a dozen in the refrigerator. Now we just have to decide whether to use them or continue to hoard them.

chickens and kids

We still have chickens and we still have kids.

L-R:Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, Partridge Rock, Ameraucana. All tasty. Seriously. The color and taste of these eggs is incomparable. Our backyard has some great forage. Oh yeah, they pretty much roam the yard all day long now. Its actually pretty fun to run around the yard with them. Unfortunately my favorite hen seems to have fallen to the bottom of the pecking order.

They sit like this sometimes.

One of Evangeline's favorite things to do is to press on her sister in order for her to be able to get around. I think Irene gets what is going on here with the whole abdomen pressing.

They didn't have any milk left, but I finally got up the courage to try the sour cream. It is good. If only the fascist government would allow them to sell it to people for their food. Seriously, how does it make any sense to just completely outlaw raw milk, so that I have to buy this stuff with the apparent intention that I am going to feed sour cream and ice cream to my dogs? They don't get to monitor it at all, but yet it still gets sold. Anyways, there is something exciting about eating sour cream that has a label like this on it.

Weirdness

Here are some videos of:
1. Evangeline being weird.
And then:
2 & 3. Me trying to get Evangeline to bounce and/or give Irene a hug and/or kiss.

And, today is Evangeline's baptismal birthdate. Happy baptism, girl! (we sort of observed her baptism on Sunday, which is the observance of The Baptism Of Our Lord, which was the day she actually got baptized, but we're not sure weather to celebrate that Sunday or the actual date. etc.)

d, 

More Eggs

These chickens must have read the same books that I did that talk about how they are supposed to lay eggs.

The Ameraucauna hen lays blue eggs.

I ate the other egg this morning and it was like nothing I'd ever eaten before, in a good way. I think this brown egg is from her again. The other two have some catching up to do.

Swingset

Evangeline took a turn on her "swingset" between church and lunch. I just noticed she's got a lot of pattern going here.

At Long Last... An Egg

If you have spoken to me very much in the last two years, you will know that I have been mildly obsessed with chickens. I am pleased to inform all who have been subject to my boring discussions, that we have an egg. I repeat, we finally have an egg. Today, at 3:32pm, a partridge rock hen laid a large, light brown egg in a nest box. It was exactly as it has been said to be in the books. I must admit, I did not think this was actually possible. But here it is. A genuine 1st article gift. Worms, slugs, grass, and grain go in, and this comes out.

There are so many people whose influence I should acknowledge for this remarkable achievement. Obviously I need to thank Concordia Seminary and the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod for making me think that raising chickens is a good Christian thing to do. Also, Pam Mietzner is at fault in the laying of this egg, as she gave me the Encyclopedia of Country Living for Christmas in 2008, as well as Q for making me read something in the Omnivore's Dilemma a few years back. After this, I was into goats for a while, but Fr. HR Curtis mentioned that chickens are easier. It was then at Rob and Q's that I first set my eyes upon the magnificent creatures that we know as gallus gallus domesticus.

Now we just have to figure out what to do with it.

Happ-Epiphany

 We made it to the Epiphany service tonight. We almost didn't due to Evangeline's cold, and a struggle-y day. We were glad we went and Evangeline managed to perk up a bit in time for Ms. Graeber's King Cake.

She did a few test-runs with this and we all
ended up with a delicious cream cheese filled
King Cake for Epiphany. Thanks Sharon!

Cold? What cold?

Shirley kept the baby throughout church and
the celebration after. She also got the baby in
her cake. See this space for Shirley's cake
creation next year.

Beehive

Today we went out to our local Quaker college and saw an art installation. While others might puzzle over it, Evangeline got it without hesitation, and buzzed around happily for some time.

 Irene's been smiling and talking a lot. We tried to capture it:

And Evangeline helped me make minestrone.