Birthdays, Smiles and More

Griffin turned 2 in August. He was excited!

He loved his Elmo cake and his new trike.

We blessed Greta Jane on August 4.  We were happy to have Grandpa Cory, Grandma Lillie, Aunt Lindsay, Calvin and Mason with us.

The boys went to see the Orioles play the Royals in Kansas City.....

...then they played some baseball at home.

 I found them surrounding her swing one day...they look they're trying to figure out how to take it apart.

Ezra started Kindergarten and Max went to 2nd grade.  I love their pose.  They're best friends.

 We loved having G-Mom come visit!

 Now that the boys are in school, these 2 spend a lot of time together....

 ...this is a common scene.

Here is a collage of pictures of me trying desperately to capture Greta smiling.....and finally.....

...we have exactly ONE shot of her smiling!

I had a fabulous 30th!

And finally, a random shot of Ezra, because, why not? He's adjusting to being at school all day even though he really misses his legos. 

Greta Jane

Greta Jane arrived at 9:43 pm last Thursday, July 18.  She weighed 8lb 2 oz and was 20 3/4 in. long. She has really long fingers and toes and we were shocked that she has a lot of brown hair. All the boys are smitten with her although we can't figure out why Griffin calls her Baby Sue.  Here are some highlights of her first week:

 

 For those wondering about the birth-here's a timeline:
Thursday morning at 4:30ish-woke up with sporadic painful contractions that happened all morning
1:00ish pm- appointment with my midwife where she tells me its false labor and I'm still only dilated 1 cm.
5:00ish pm- contractions are now less than 5 minutes apart so we decide to go to the hospital
7:00ish pm- at the hospital they tell me I'm 7 cm so I get in the tub (planning to have a water birth)
9:00ish pm- have to get out of the tub for a possible placenta problem so the water birth won't happen
9:43 pm- Greta is born!  I"m thrilled to be done pushing because she was posterior (face up instead of face down) which basically means it was pretty terrible and I required lots of stitches...I'll spare everyone the graphic description.....we're delighted she's here in our family!!

We got chickens....

With a freezer still full of pork, we couldn't justify raising more pigs this year so we decided to try chickens.  We have 4 hens named Pearl, Peanut Butter, Maisy and Stella.  A few days after we got the hens, Ephraim and the boys picked out 10 chicks to raise.  So far we're loving the fresh eggs and loving that the chickens don't escape like those darn pigs did.  

A bonus cute picture of Griffin.

I've made the Grandmas wait long enough for some new pictures! Now that its FINALLY getting warm here, I need to hurry and recap a few highlights from the winter. Way back in November we had a delicious Thanksgiving feast with Grandma Lillie and Grandpa Cory.

The Prep: 

Ephraim made a "spatchcocked turkey" that was flattened and buttery and crispy and delicious.

 Grandma Lillie made her famous stuffing.

 The boys enjoyed making and eating oreo turkey appetizers.  

Somehow I didn't get a picture of the 6 pies we made. They were all tasty.

 We decorated for Christmas and celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa.

The boys love their Doctor Dreadful edible alien autopsy set Grandma and Grandpa gave them!

 Later on in December we spent a lot of time baking goodies. 

Just like pies, I can't ever narrow down the cookie selection so we always make (and eat) too many.

In February Griffin had his first day of nursery...just in time for their Valentine's party.  

This week we'll finish up the winter recap and post pics of our newest adventure...4 chickens.