chicken feathers

we've been...

...admiring

 

...growing

...writing

 

...creating

 

...scooting

...yoga-ing 

taking flight

Tonight as I was making dinner I happened to look outside the kitchen window and saw this:

Playing outside - Dad style.

- - -

Grant came home the other day asking if he could have a jet pack.  Russell said "Sure!  You design it and we'll build it."  

The design was sitting on the table the next morning.

If you can't see it, the question at the top reads, "How do I land on the ground?"  

Grant has all kinds of plans for how he will use his jet pack.  The first was to outfit it with some sort of GPS tracking device that will plot the location of his classmates as they head to school.  Once Grant can verify their location he'll strap on the pack and blast to school before his friends can get there.  Tonight he was telling me that he'll use his jet pack to go to Alaska so he can hunt caribou with his Grandpa Bob.  I was asking what he would wear since the trip would likely be pretty cold.  He wasn't sure and offered the additional challenge of having to pack lightly because, "I couldn't carry a very big suitcase."

These are the moments that make parenting worth it for me.  It reminds me of a piece on the Director Alexander Payne that I heard on NPR this week.  The statement he made that resonated the most was, "If you were falling in love and you could go back in time and relive a day and see the banal things you did that you'd forgotten about, you'd weep, looking at that day.  Somewhat dramatic things happen, and you don't even always notice them — that's what life is."  Isn't that true?  The significance of the everyday.  

Jet packs and pulley rides - this is the good stuff. 

 

 

offerings

I walked into the bedroom the other day and saw this...

Oh, to be the center of the universe, surrounded by devoted followers.  I wish all babies could have this common experience.  

snow days

We have finally been hit by some winter weather!  Of course we don't often get much snow so when it comes the town pretty much shuts down.  For a week.  School was cancelled Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...today is Monday and we have a two hour delay.  We've been trying to avoid killing each other with all this quality time.

There has been sledding.  I finally had to shut down the sledding hill when it started to get really icy and I watched Grant miss the edge of the house by inches but still manage to run into the hose at about 25 mph, shattering the watering can that was innocently lying (laying?) in his path.

 - - -

There has been a date night.  Grant and I braved the roads and went to a Mother/Son dance.  There was dancing, of course, games, prizes, and a paper airplane flying contest...which Grant won!  That was the highlight for Grant.  He will tell you his winning strategy in great detail if you ask...or look like you might ask.  My favorite part of the evening was when Grant broke out of the uncomfortable-to-be-at-a-dance-with-other-people stage and really started cutting up the floor.  He is an AWESOME dancer with all kinds of cool footwork.  I died a million ecstatic mom-deaths when he grabbed a hold of me and spun me around in the joy of the moment. 

dinner before...at burgerville.  grant's choice.

the mighty wingman.  with his plane and prize!

- - - 

There has been playing in a [clean, unused] garbage can.

What, you don't do this?

pet blessing

I have a lot to catch up on, I know.  Before I get to that, I just have to share today's event.

Our kids go to a Catholic school and one of their activities is a yearly pet blessing.  Families are welcome to bring their pets to the playground where we sing a few songs, listen to a few scriptures, the pets are blessed by the priest and then we pack up our assorted furry creatures and head home.  While we've been at this school for a few years now, this was my first pet blessing attendance.  At the kids' request I brought a chicken.  

Yes, a chicken.

Anna asked that I bring Rudy.  To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure who Rudy was so when it came time to load up the lady I had Rhett come out with me and point her out.  He told me in a very serious and somewhat warning voice, "Rudy is verrrrry fast!"  Dang it, he was right!  After he watched me chase her around the coop a few times he said, "Mr. Easy to Catch is slower."  He pointed her out to me and dang it, he was right!  I grabbed her, plopped her into the cage and waddled my way to the van.  I had to flip the back seats down to get the cage to fit and as I was sliding the CHICKEN INTO MY CAR I couldn't help but laugh.  If I wasn't a mom before, I certainly was now.  Who else stuffs poultry into their minivan to go to a pet blessing?  A mom whose kid with wide, pleading eyes asked me to, that's who.

So now Mr. Easy to Catch (who is a Ms., by the way) has been blessed.  I'm expecting double eggs from her now.

The poulet transport.

merry christmas

bee-ing rhett

A common sight.  Rhett as a bee, I mean.  He buzzes around at least once a day.  I don't know what he's doing with the the peas and a murky glass of water.  Actually, that's pretty common too.  Not necessarily dipping peas but dipping anything.  The bloated pretzels I found the other day totally grossed me out. 

with help like this...

If you need any help licking anything, sampling everything, and/or gnawing on measuring spoons, these two are for hire!  They also double as lovely counter decorations.

The (fantastic) apron pattern, in case you were wondering, came from here (under the tutorial section).

what a day!

Last Sunday, right before bed, Grant caught a frog (he was outside right before bed...we do not have frogs roaming free in our home).  The excitement level was through the roof.  He put it in a big jar and made plans to show it to his Kindergarten class the next day.  Then it was time for bed.  It was physically impossible for him to stay prone on the mattress.  He had to keep coming out to the kitchen to check on the frog.  "Oh, I can't WAIT to go to school and show my frog!!!"

Grant finally managed to stay in bed for a solid 15 minutes when we heard an excited yelp...our frog catcher, in his state of excitement, pried his second tooth free.  All bedtime plans for the night were off.  As I was admiring the bloody hole, he kept saying in the most deliriously happy voice that can only come from a 6 year old boy who caught a frog and lost a tooth within 90 minutes of each other, "Oh, wow!  What. a. day!"

 

junior birdman

Apparently someone has been watching his older brother and has learned some whispering skills.  He seems to have a thing for Marley, the black and white girl.  Marley is IMPOSSIBLE for me to catch.  She is so fast and refuses to go anywhere I want her to.  How Rhett manages to get his hands on her is a total mystery and yet he does it over and over and over.  Here are some action shots of the process. 

Amazing.  Even more flabbergasting is that when he puts her down she doesn't run off...she lets him pick her up again!  He's got some mad chicken skills, I tell you!  I can see it now - "Loughmiller Bros Poultry Dude Ranch".