Merry Christmas

Seriously

I love these guys

Best kids ever...

Hot Date

Daniel's 9th Birthday. we spent a night in SF dining and seeing the sights.  

Coit Tower- He got a $2 bill for change and we rode to the top.

The Farallon Restaurant, seafood. Delicious!

 

Dessert at the Fairmont. He charmed everyone.

 

Serenaded by the piano player, treated to dessert for his birthday. He drank lots of Shirley temples and we had a great date.  love this 9 year old.

Fresh Eggs!

 Our first eggs have arrived! Dixie (seen above on the right side of Gavin) laid two before we found them, then she laid another one that evening and a fourth the next morning. Daniel got to see her lay the fourth one. They are a beautiful blue/green color. We plan to eat them for breakfast tomorrow. I can't wait to taste them.
 Several months ago, we took guesses on when our hens would start laying. Normally they are between 5-6 months old when this happens. Gavin won the bet. They are just about exactly 5 months old this week.

Toothy

 Vincent is almost done with first grade and still has all of his cute baby teeth. I love the smile! We had a little photo shoot to make sure and capture it before things started falling out of his face.

 Daniel is well into the stage of things falling out of his face. The fang on the left held on by a thread for weeks. It's finally out now.

 

Please note: skateboards and exercise bands do not mix well.

It's a rough road to the X Games. Amazingly, he still has all of his teeth. While he was dripping blood all over the cement he was saying "Oh no! This is not good. This is not good!"

They've flown the coop

 The chicks have moved outside to their new chicken coop. They seem to like their new home and I'll be happy to have my garage back once all the dust has cleared. The kids all love the chickens. I'm surprised by how much every kid that visits seems to be totally enamored with them, especially the toddlers.

This is Snowy and Dixie.

USS Potomac

 We took a docent led tour of the USS Potomac during Spring Break this year. This was FDR's floating White House. The boys listened "okay" according to our 88 year old docent.

 Here we are sitting exactly where President Roosevelt once sat.

 They each took a turn steering

Babies

 I got to see some dear old friends from high school last weekend and celebrate new babies. Janis has a girl on the way and there were several other baby girls there too. So fun to see Bonnie, Jaime, Janis and Kristen.

At Janis shower, I missed Dar and Char by 15 minutes. Lucky for me I got to do a little photo shoot of her baby girl a day or two later. Aiko is adorable. Dar wanted the boys to pose with her and set up this elaborate shot complete with an apple cut in the shape of a swan. Then she let the boys eat all the goodies.

Adolescent Chicks

 This kids love playing in the chicken coop. It won't last much longer since this chicks will be moving in there next week.

 Most days, Daniel and Maggie bring the chicks outside from their brooding box in the garage to get some fresh air, sunshine and bugs.

 The chicks are 5 weeks old and almost ready to move outside to their new home. The chicken run still needs some finishing touches.

Award

 Gavin won an award for being such a great kid at school. He loves his class and his teacher. We are so thrilled about the Developmental Kindergarten class he gets to go to this year.

Talent Show Night

 Iron Man is a hit in our house right now. So this Power Rangers costume from 5 years ago doubles as that. Also, Power Rangers are big in our house right now. So sometimes they actually use the costume for what it is, finally, after 5 years.

 

Vincent rocked his new shirt for the talent show. So handsome.

 

Daniel wears his boots and hat whenever he gets a chance. This is usually on Sundays...or to talent shows.

 So glad to have Maggie as our neighbor. She is our chick expert. I'm talking about our birds. She comes and takes care of them. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. We're letting her practice on our pets.

Vincent sang "Do Re Me" with his first grade class for the school talent show.
They did great and you could tell they practiced a ton for this. There were some other great acts too, several from "Frozen" and an awesome rendition of "What does the fox say" by one of Gavin's DK classmates and his brother.

Meet the New Chicks

 We got some new chicks about 5 days old. They were soft and cute for about two minutes. Then they turned into teenagers. They live in the brooder box in our garage under a heat lamp until they are 6 weeks old. Then they will move out to the chicken coop and run that I'm building for them. It's a big project. But the boys are loving their new pets.

 

Daniel chose Snowy for his bird. He loves her and holds her often.

 Gavin's chick is named Aidan. He has two Aidens in his class and apparently likes the name. Nickname: Beakpuncher.

Vincent's chick is named Blackfeather. He's not crazy about holding the chicks.

100 Years Old

 For the 100th day of school, all of the first graders dress like they're 100 years old.

 Vincent is a goofy kid. He's really smart and is doing good in school. Sometimes he gets a little distracted though. Sometimes...a little...