Time flies!

Yesterday Pla Shee's baseball team had batting practice at a local amusement park, and while we were entertaining the little ones in the arcade area, I remembered that I had taken Kai to the same place exactly two years before.

So here's my precious boy in April 2011, at one and a half:

And here's our picture from yesterday, at three and a half:

A perfect Spring Saturday

Today was just about perfect.  We started off with donuts for breakfast, which helped everyone maintain cheerful attitudes for the remainder of the morning.  Baseball opening ceremonies and a baseball game for Pla Shee took up most of the morning.  Kai could not have been more thrilled with the bounce house that showed up at the park while we were at the game.  We literally had to pull him off of it when it was time to leave.

Here's Pla Shee during the opening ceremony this morning.

When we got home from the game, we were so thrilled to see that Pu Lue and Paw Moo, Pla Shee's biological parents, and Pa Day Day, Pla Shee's 18 year old brother, were at our house.  Pu Lue is helping us replace some rotten boards on our house since his carpentry skills are a thousand times better (and faster) than ours.  Paw Moo and I spent most of the afternoon in the garden, getting the beds ready for the tomato and eggplant seedlings that are going in next week.  

Pla Shee and Pa Day Day played catch in the yard for a really long time.  Pa Day Day said it was the first time he'd worn a baseball glove!

Kai and Aaron got in on the baseball fun as well.  Kai can't wait to be old enough for tee ball next spring!

And finally, in keeping with our nutritious start to our day, we finished the day off with ice cream cones on the front porch.  Good times.

Muddy Puddle fun

The boys begged to go outside yesterday afternoon to jump in the muddy puddles that had accumulated in the front yard as a result of all the rain we've had this week.  It was freezing outside, but they seemed to have a blast.  Ruby was not allowed to partake in the fun, but squeezed in a grin as an onlooker, nonetheless.

Easter Weekend

We had a fun-filled weekend, starting with a trip to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Friday night to watch Michigan beat Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.  We had a blast, and Pla Shee could not have been more excited that he got to go to the game...one of the perks of being the oldest child!

Saturday we had a pancake breakfast and Easter Egg hunts at Kai and Ruby's school.  Turns out Kai is not the best egg hunter...he likes to examine the contents of each egg as he picks it up.  So Ruby hauled in about 20 eggs to Kai's 4.  But both were happy with the results, so I guess it worked.  Pla Shee lied and said he was still 11 so he could hunt eggs also, but I limited his haul, much to his disappointment.  He is a champion egg finder.

Here we are at church on Sunday morning. I laughed when I compared this pic to last year's Easter pic--Kai's doing his best frown in both!
This year:

 Last year:

And here we are at Aunt Nita's house.  Same problem!
This year:

And last year:

Sunday we had an egg hunt of a different sort, with 4 of our turkey chicks hatching in the afternoon.  They are super cute!  We put them in our rabbit hutch with a heat lamp, because we've learned from past experience that our hens don't do a very good job caring for the chicks once they hatch.  Ruby is fascinated with them.

We had a great time at our niece Sarah's house on Sunday afternoon.  The kids love playing with their cousins.  Here's proof that Kai actually did smile this weekend!

Spring Break

I was super brave and flew to Saint Louis for Spring Break.  With all three kids.  Without Aaron.  The flight there was about 10 times worse than miserable.  Ruby cried the entire flight, refused to be held, and wanted nothing to do with any of the new toys, books, crayons, bribes, etc. that I had so meticulously packed for my "supermom" adventure.  Alas, the flight was pretty bad, and we made our share of enemies.  Thankfully, the trip improved immensely once we arrived in Saint Louis and spent the next four days with our incredible hosts, Aunt Sara and Uncle Lyndy.

Ruby at The Magic House, the most incredible Children's Museum I've visited.  I can't wait to go back on our next trip.  Knocks Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Charleston, and Denver's Childrens Museums out of the water.  Really great.

The boys enjoying some frozen yogurt in downtown Webster Groves, despite the really cold temperatures.

Visiting with our friend Lit, whose mom, Melissa, is a Texas transplant from my childhood days.

 Aunt Sara and Ruby experimenting with electricity at the Magic House.

Pla Shee and a puppet at the Bob Kramer Marionnette Studio, another really cool thing to do in St. Louis with small kids.  It was like taking a trip back in time.  The kids absolutely loved the quirkiness and were completely enthralled with the old school puppet show.

Here we are cooking out hotdogs in Sara and Lyndy's backyard the first night.  We had a great time and can't wait to visit again soon.  (Sara and Lyndy may need a little while to recuperate from our whirlwind of fun, though)!

Farm Fun!

We've been taking advantage of every minute of sunshine we can get lately.  Yesterday I snapped some photos of the kids helping with the daily "chores" around the farm--feeding the sheep, goats and donkey, collecting eggs from the chickens and turkeys, and checking on our newest additions--two sweet black baby lambs.  Living on a farm can be such fun!

Kai wrestling with "Brittany"

Ruby in a standoff with a rogue hen.

Kai "helping" Pla Shee refill the chicken waterers.

Ruby with her Daiya.

First lamb of spring!

Well, we had our first lamb of the spring season born yesterday evening, and this morning, more evidence that One World Farm truly is "back." Yesterday evening Pla Shee went out to feed the animals and came back inside a few minutes later with a precious black lamb all bundled in a towel.  He was so proud, and immediately decided to name her "Brittany."  I have my suspicions about the name choice being connected to a potential love connection in his class, but he adamantly denies this. ;)

Anyway, we set up Brittany and her mom in an enclosure together, hooked up mom with water and extra feed, and called it a night.  This morning before work, both looked great, so I got them more feed and water and headed to work.  Well, wouldn't you know that on the drive to work it started pouring down rain.  Despite having already driven 20 minutes, I turned the car around and headed back home.  Then, with Kai and Ruby snuggled up in the car, I wrestled the enclosure and mama and baby sheep into the barn through the rain and mud.  All in my work clothes.  And through it all, I actually had a smile on my face.  I wasn't irritated that I was wet and muddy or that we were all going to be over an hour late to school and work.  Nope, I was smiling because I realized that One World Farm is back.  And I'm back, as an enthusiastic participant.  For the past couple of years, life has been just too demanding to allow for a return trip home to take care of a baby lamb and its mom.  Getting the kids up and dressed and fed and not forgetting lunches and extra diapers and gym clothes was all we could handle.  And that was okay, because it had to be. Just a short while ago, the prospect of going back home to check on a lamb would have been too overwhelming.  But it's not overwhelming anymore. It's okay again.  We can do this.  We can raise a happy, healthy, active family, work at jobs that fulfill us, and do the farm thing.  It's good to be back.