Blocks

I'm building things with blocks with/for Asher. Here is the list of things he has wanted me to build with about 6 blocks:

airplane
boat
robot
telescope
baby
toilet
helicopter
toy box

I love this kid!

Chicken update

My sister brought it to my attention that I haven't mentioned what we named the chickens. The day after we got the chickens, the boys and I went down into the garage (where they lived in a box) and we set about naming them. Brayden pointed to the first chick and shouted "Clever!" followed by the second one "Pout!" and the third "Clifford!". Then he started looking around the room and throwing out names like "Couchy" "Wall" and "Light!". He finally settled on "Cheepy" since they cheep a lot (can't fight that one) and "Blacker" since he had a lot of black feathers on his back. (Who coincidentally is now one of the lightest chickens.) So, there you have it Heather... Clever, Pout, Clifford, Cheepy, and Blacker.

We put the chickens out in their coop last night. I didn't know how the transition was going to go because even though it is Summer (Summer? What's that?) in Oregon, it still gets pretty chilly at nights. They'd been in our insulated garage where it didn't get too chilly at nights so I wondered if they'd stay warm enough. I went and checked on them this morning and they were all running around, seemingly happy! I'm glad the transition went okay cuz I'm not gonna lie. I was kinda nervous about it.

Nickname

Brayden has been really interested in nicknames lately. I think he is finally grasping the concept and it is exciting for him to understand the difference between his full name "Brayden Kyle Janeway" and his self-proclaimed nickname "Bray". He was asking me what Everett's nickname was and I said that he didn't have one. He responded "Yes he does! His nickname is 'Ever' because he has the cutest hair EVER!!"

Chickens

I took some pictures last night and today that I wanted to share, mostly for my boys' future's sake. They are having so much fun with these chickens and helping Daddy build a chicken coop!

Sean holding "Cheepy".

Brayden playing in the "Bunk Bed Chicken Coop"

We had these old bunk bed frames that Sean was able to use as the chicken coop structure. He still has a few hours left on it til it's done, but it's gonna be a pretty sweet set up!

Asher helping Dad draw the "saw" line

Everett, enjoying the outdoors!

Hopefully I'll post "completed" pictures soon!

Our Growing Garden

I don't know if I've blogged about our garden yet or not, but I know I haven't posted pictures. Mostly because I've been horrible at taking pictures lately. Sean spoke with our neighbor that owns the lot behind our townhouse complex. He asked if we could use his backyard for a garden. Lo and behold, the guy said Yes! So Sean has spent countless hours out there killing the grass, plowing the dirt, fertilizing, incorporating in better dirt, etc. He has planted raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, and basil. The bugs and squirrels got to the strawberries before we could but everything else seems to be holding up. (Maybe because they aren't ripe yet?) Anyway, I just took some pictures of how things are looking now and I wanted to post them before I forgot!

Baby Zucchini -- We have about 12 of these growing!

Tomatoes -- we have 3 different varieties, and all are growing well so far

Rhubarb -- Sean transported dirt from my parents gigantic rhubarb patch and put it around our rhubarb here since that is what they were used to. They are flourishing! Only 1 or 2 more weeks before I can make a rhubarb crisp from rhubarb out of our own garden! Yay!!!

Cucumber -- I only see one of these so far. We'll see if we get more than one

Bell Pepper - We have 3 or 4 bell pepper plants but only 2 peppers growing so far.

Blueberries -- I just realized that this pic is a little blurry. Oh well. You get the idea. We've been eating the blueberries every day and they are AMAZING! They are so good. We only have had about 4 or 5 a day so far but I can't wait til they are all ripe!

The strawberries are past their season and the raspberries won't grow this year. Hopefully next. Soon, I'll be blogging about our chickens (that are HUGE) and the RAD coop that Sean is building. He's a rockstar! We need to own some land someday... we are having way too much fun!!

Not bad for our first time ever gardening, right? I'm so excited to eat everything!!

More Black Eye Pictures

I forgot I took these pictures of Asher's eye and I wanted to share. This was when we were leaving Immediate Care so only about an hour after it happened.

Progression of a Black Eye

Our plan Wednesday evening was to drive to Ryan and Heidi's, then head up to Enumclaw. I was upstairs feeding Everett one last time before we got into the car, and Sean was downstairs loading the van. I told the boys to go get into their carseats. A few minutes later I heard a loud THUD. Sean didn't react and there was no screaming so I just figured Sean dropped something. Then the screaming came. Asher was playing in his carseat...he was standing up looking backwards, and when he turned to sit down, his foot got caught in the seat belt. He fell, face first, from his carseat, onto the driveway. Sean was rounding the corner to see what the thud was right as Asher started screaming. He had a nice bunch of cuts on his forehead, his nose was scraped up, and his eyelid was extremely swollen...to the point where we thought he busted his eye socket. We finished getting the kids in the car and headed to Immediate Care. I took him in and after a thorough examination, the doctor said that there were no skull fractures, and he didn't have a concussion. He was perfectly fine! WHAT. A. BLESSING. He told me to ice it (if Asher would let me...which he didn't) and to wake him up every 4 hours that night to make sure that he could in fact wake up. Then, off to Ryan and Heidi's we went! I was grateful that we were able to continue on with our normal lives and not have to go up to the hospital for a CT scan, stitches, or anything else more dramatic. Thank goodness for children and their resilience!!! The morning after, Asher was back to his normal, energetic personality. It hasn't slowed him down even a little bit! He does like to look in the mirror and admire his purple eye.

Boys will be Boys.

About 45 minutes after it happened...in the Dr's Office

24 hours later

Day 3

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 (today)

 

Brayden wanted some of the camera's attention. Isn't he so handsome!?



Brayden and Asher...my goofy, happy boys!

And yes...I am nervous to take him in public...in fear of angry stares from strangers that think I abuse my child.