How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck?

A lot has been going on around here. As if you expected any other answer.  Today was a noon dismissal for big kids, which means my 2 plus the 1 I babysit plus my 2 neighbor kids are all playing in the backyard.  RJ is asleep after being robbed of his morning nap earlier and Riley is putting stickers on cards made out of construction paper.  Now, perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me, but in MY recollection of my childhood, my brother and I and whoever else we could scrounge up from our street (a long, winding unpainted road with few houses on it and even fewer kids) would head out to the backyard and eventually the woods on summer days, afternoons and weekends.

We would be out there for HOURS and had no problem whatsoever coming up with things to do.

We might have had a random toy or two, or dress-up stuff (I was ALWAYS in the Army), but mostly we had NO props, just our imaginations and our creativity to make what we needed for play out of sticks, leaves, rocks, etc.  So how is it that every 3 seconds one of these kids is at my back door, asking for this, or that, or can we do this, or how about that?

 I actually just locked the door.  Really, I did.  Our back yard is not as big as what I had growing up, and there are no woods attached, but there is a hill, a small almost-sortof-wooded section behind the shed, a concrete patio WITH basketball net, scooters, sidewalk chalk, there's the digger box and there's THE YARD.  AND EACH OTHER.  Why is it SO HARD to figure out something to do????   Honestly, unless I am totally wrong about this, and Matthew (my bro) and I were at the back door bugging Mom every 3 seconds for something and I just have no memory of it, I am a bit worried!  This is our future out there having trouble with inspiration.

So the locked door thing has worked.   After shaking my head at some confused and long faces while typing this, they are all now happily playing TOGETHER in the digger box.  Whew.

In other news, our resident groundhog, which according to google is ALSO the woodchuck (seriously? did not know that!) has brought her new spawn out into the world for the first time this week.  Patti the Fatti, who lives under the shed, has babies every year and they only hang around for a few weeks so its really neat and educational to watch them and learn about them.  This year Patti the Fatti (who used to be Peter until she procreated) has 5 little chubby rodent babies that come out and explore the yard.  They climb on bikes that are lying sideways and then fall through the spokes.  They climb into the PowerWheels cars.  They climb on the steps that lead up to the trampoline.  And meanwhile, Patti the Fatti travels off and leaves all her babes to fend for themselves.  Oy.  I guess she is not getting Mother of the Year!  So we spent several minutes the last few days precariously leaning and craning ourselves to see over each other and watch them from inside so that we don't make any sound and scare them back under the shed.

Chase's baseball team WON 7-3 on Tuesday which was awesome.  Indy learned a new song on the violin.  She is getting really good and can play without looking at what her fingers are doing.  The 4th grade band has their dress rehearsal in front of the rest of the school today and parents were invited so I went (other-kid-free of course).  They all did so well, I was very impressed and Chase even gets to announce one of the songs.  The laundry (which I hate with a passion!) was so backed up that it was traumatizing.  I have announced to everyone that from now on we are going to dress like the Amish so that we can cut down on clothing.  The school's Spring Fair is this evening, with carnival games, food and inflatables and so I said to the kids yesterday that the laundry must Absolutely Completely Totally No Exceptions be DONE before we will even THINK about playing with friends after the noon dismissal and before going to the Fair.  And they did it.  WooHoo!!

Check out our new pics and have a great weekend!

Piles of laundry everywhere. I don't really think this picture quite captures what we were dealing with...

Riley in a nutshell... passed out on top of books and more books.  

I put RJ in the saucer so I could go shovel some dirt out of Roger's truck into the garden, and 5 minutes later he was asleep. 

Chase in the 4th Grade Celebrity Shower at the Spring Fair.  It's a big deal.  For 4th Graders.  His buddy Jacob is in with him.  

Riley and cotton candy.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Some of this, and some of that

Another inclination to post!  Or perhaps just another massive escape attempt from the every-day craziness around here.  Since this is becoming more than just the farmhouse update site, I figured I would share some of our goings-on from the last month or so to keep everyone fresh.  In a nutshell, it's FINALLY getting warm out, so we are outside more and more.  Which means more and more dirt makes its way inside my house.  Dirt, and sand from Ry's "Digger Box" which is a baby pool filled with sand, dump trucks, shovels and excavators.  Tonight is Indigo's first violin concert, at the very same time as Chase's 3rd baseball game this season... aaargh!  So we are dropping him off, going to the concert, then booking it over to the field to watch the last quarter of the game and hopefully some awesome plays by Chase.  RJ is standing up and letting go, inching a foot forward and then freaking out.  He drops back down, looks around for support, then does it again.  Riley just started preschool, sort of a test to see if we want to do it next year when she's 3.  The office end of the biz has needs and there is simply no time for it!!  And none of my pics have anything to do with what I just wrote, well, maybe a few!  Enjoy anyway!

 RJ making a mess.... about 465 times a day.

I ran my 1st 5K a few weeks ago.

Our cinderblock herb garden is planted, with herbs plus some salad mix and strawberries and a Fairy door so the fairies can come and go and leave us little treasures.  

Indy used her chore jar cash to buy matching Hello Kitty shiny hats for her and sis.  And a new purse.

Riley's 1st day of preschool.  We loved this school... it's fun and caring and they learn as they go.  

A trip to the "farm" for ice cream and animals after school.

Digger Box!  We've actually upgraded to a bigger pool since this pic.  HOURS of fun.  

Swinging away.  This kid giggled the ENTIRE time.  

Crawled in. Stood up. Got stuck.  Cried for help.  Got rescued AFTER Mom took the pic...

Chase's suave 4th grade haircut.  

Indy said she didn't know what her eye looked like.  Now she does! 

Well Then.

So a year has gone by.  A crazy, crazy year full of... I couldn't even tell you.  If you asked my brain if a whole year went by, it would say, not a chance. no way, couldn't have!  But the calendar says otherwise.  We're busy.  Big kids have school stuff, sport stuff, musical instruments, play dates.  Small kids have needs, they tend to like to eat, sleep, go potty, get changed, etc.  The baby was born in August and decided it was fun to cry in the afternoon/evenings for oh, about 4 months.  He chipped away at my sanity while proving that he was still one lovable amazing little dude, even when he was yelling his head off.  The coolest thing he did was march.  At a month he would sit in the exersaucer (slouched over from lack of core control) and just march his legs back and forth.  At least when he was marching he usually wasn't crying.  Fall blew by like a loaded freight train.  Winter came and teased us with cold weather but only one decent snowfall.  We made a snowman, watched it melt, bundled up for the rest of the season and watched the weather radar on the TV dump the white stuff on everyone else but us.  We shuffled about in the crappy cold, taking forever to get out the door with coats, hats, gloves, scarves, etc, etc.  The groundhog popped up and said "Early Spring!"  Yeah, last I heard his butt was getting sued.  Later in February, little man began to crawl.  At just over 6 months.  Which is surely contributing to the slow deterioration of my nerves.  He is a fast learner, and started going far and wide all over the house in no time at all.  His main purpose?  To crawl to something that he could pull himself up on.  At 7 months, he was ahead of pretty much every baby we knew, and every baby we had previously raised.  And also, at 7 months, he knew a whole lot of nothing about what to do once he was up.  Which consequently led to bumps, bruises, scratches and tears.  Many, many tears.  Now, a few days away from 8 months, he can finally manage himself a little more effectively, but there is still a good deal of head-bumping that goes on.  As for the farmhouse, we have our general plan, we have some humps to get over before we get there, the big kids are ready to help.  Not much a place for a tot and a baby but we'll figure out a way.  So we're back in the game.  And we have some pictures to prove it!  

Who needs a playdate when you can invite your friends over to smash walls?  

My ever-frugal husband... we shall cut and burn this stuff, all of it.  Must save dumpster cost!! 

Mighty big hammer for a 2-yr-old! 

MESS!  

2nd floor all cleaned out.  Didn't find much goodies in the walls, except for an issue of Playboy from 1990 and a covered up doorway and window.  

Chase was definitely our top-destroyer.  

These are just a few shots from my phone, once I find the camera cable I'll add some shots of the kitchen coming off and the original well pump that we found underneath the added-on kitchen.  Check back in soon!