a late summer retreat

After several reminders that we live in Vermont and haven't even gone camping once we decided to pack up and go for a long weekend - leaving all our would-be projects aside and taking a moment to breath.  Luckily we were able to stay at a friends cabin in the woods of Sugar Hill, NH - thereby eliminating the need for half our camping equipment and meaning that we didn't have to strap Adele to the roof of the car...(packing a car for camping was tight before acquiring a dog and a new baby!).  And let me tell you...it was lovely.  We hiked, swam, saw two moose, a bear (well 99% sure a bear) and even had some pancakes at Polly's Pancake Parlor.  Life was good!

perfecting his stair climbing skills

and fast crawl

still laughing...
this is when I noticed Owen was chewing on a huge glob of candle wax....
look at that goofy face

Saturday morning Isabelle had a tough time understanding why on earth we would want to go camping after getting so many sweet little chicks in the mail the day before.  That was until mama came to the rescue with flower crowns and daddy helped build a fairy village in the woods - then...and only then...was she convinced camping was alright.  Later that day we hiked Lonesome Lake trail and took a quick dip in the lake - Isabelle walked all by herself (almost) the whole way up...we were so proud!

a flower crown of wild flowers

a heart healthy breakfast: bacon, eggs and potatoes cooked in bacon fat...

hard at work building a fairy and gnome village

Owen splashing in lonesome lake

enjoying a snack after a long hike

sunrise from the cabin

a tired dog

We had a great mini retreat and are excited to be "retreating" again this weekend (this time down to RI for a much anticipated wedding celebration!).  Thanks so much to the Jarzombek family for letting us use the cabin for the weekend!!

and well i can't leave you without a harvest photo right?

and of course there was good reason to come home...two days away from our garden and this was half the harvest

more chickens

Yes...why not add a few more (28 to be exact)?!  We had debated back and forth over committing to buying meat birds for a few months...until finally I just hit the submit button, and done was done.  The reality is simple:  eating the type of food we want is expensive and outside of our budget.  Solution: grow it ourselves.  So here we are...like little squirrels getting ready for winter.  Freezing and canning produce, singing to our chickens in hopes that another starts to lay an egg (still only lexi is laying for us), and brooding some new chicks that will eventually be in our freezer and then into our bellies.  And the fate of these sweet little chicks is known by all and even still they are loved by little hands all day (possibly loved a little too hard sometimes...).

a quick morning run to the post office in our jammies...

receiving lots of love

...and attention from little ones

our "big kids"

tomatoes...and possibly early signs of blight...boo

Where did I read or hear the saying..."we spend all winter dreaming of summer and all summer preparing for winter"...not sure...but so true.

Meat our new birds..

I mean MEET! More on this venture later...we are all enjoying our little fluff balls (especially Isabelle) and planning a weekend getaway! Happy Friday!

8 months

So much has happened over the past month.  I will bullet as this will be easier for me (thanks melissa for making it okay to bullet baby accomplishments...).

• crawling, this month we officially left the army crawl behind and are crawling.  everywhere.
• pulling up to standing position. on everything.
• climbing up the stairs.  (insert mama banging her head on the wall here)
• responds to name- he has been doing that for a while, but now his response is a quick look with a big grin and a faster crawl...
• not sure if it is coincidence but is always saying dah dah dah at the dog
• very interested in anything that is in sisters hands
• using his forefinger and thumb to pick up rice puffs...and usually getting them into his mouth
• sipping from a sippy cup...sort of
• refusing a bottle (of mama's milk) and still loving the boob
• still eating through a syringe most of the time.  he is eating 3 times a day and enjoying plain yogurt, mangos, peaches and pears.  yes the darn sweet stuff...because it is all he will eat and i am desperate....see next bullet.  he also enjoys feeding himself steamed veggies (more sucking and chewing...not swallowing).
• failing to g-r-o-w (or thrive, as the doctor wrote).  it is true, at his last weigh in we saw very little growth.  we are awaiting some blood/urine analysis to rule out any major issues.  i'm not worried, because i can't allow myself to worry.  he is just small and refused food for a long time.  i know he is growing...just a tad on the slow side.  i guess trying to bonsai my baby is backfiring...wink wink.
• sleeping THROUGH the night...ALL the way through.  yes, it is so amazingly true.  all those months of sleepless nights are (hopefully) over.  This is partially due to mama giving up and putting him in his pack-n-play in the sun room (this strangely resembles when isabelle ended up in the sunroom of our place in Kingston,  yes?).  I let him cry...and boy did he cry.  i stayed with him the first few nights and then gradually got myself back into my bed.  And now i haven't heard him wake up once in the past week.  marvelous!  I think he and mama both are catching up on 8 months of sleep deprivation....
• TWO bottom front teeth have broken through this month...thankfully my nipples weren't the ones who found out...Aaron felt them a few days ago (with his finger)...no pictures of a toothed grin yet
• and yes, still the cutest baby in my world

enjoying his steamed summer squash & zucchini

yes the cutest

eat boy eat!

morning light

It is quiet and oh so peaceful in the morning light.  I curse and thank the roosters each morning I am able to get my slumbering tired mama face out of bed before my kiddos are awake.  To sit, reflect and wonder what the day ahead of me might bring.  A few quiet mantras - and I remind myself to be more patient...that every time I ask a child to be patient, I need to really be asking myself to be more patient.  Parenting young children is so tiring and so rewarding and I am trying (my hardest) to take the path of least resistance...trying to say yes as much as possible and telling myself to let go of the notion "no is no".  It is all so silly...a child's world is endless and we try to put up boundaries.  It makes no sense to her...or to me.... so I try to knock them down.  I try.

isabelle: mama i want to go to the moon

mama: then we must make you a space suit

isabelle: can it be purple and silver?

no...i didn't secretly have another....
meet harper, isabelle's "sister" on thursday & fridays

a little garden gnome(s)

Owen is awfully gnome-ish these days....so obviously when we broke out the face decorating pencils we just had to give him a mustache.   And of course after she got flowers all over her face...Isabelle wanted one too.

no so sure about his facial hair....

flowers and funny mustaches...

And these little garden gnomes of ours must be bringing a little luck to our garden this year...  Here is a photographic tour of the garden led by Isabelle (sorry... I know...it seems like all my posts are somehow about the garden...).

colorful carrots

corn (we counted 26 ears!!!)

black chrome tomatoes...soooo good

butternut squash growing anywhere it can...up the fence, over rocks and into the yard

cantaloup!

pumpkins also growing anywhere they can....in between fences makes sense to me?!

jalapenos

runner beans

tomatillos

harvest basket

Isabelle excited to eat her purple carrot!

A small morning harvest

There is still much more to find out there... Kale and chard desperately need my attention and the tomatoes are just too well hidden (and wet) for me to venture into this morning...best part, by far, is finding that second egg this morning! What a perfect addition to our morning harvest...don't you think?