No, she didn’t have the baby, but I thought I better get the pictures from Maren’s baby shower posted before she does have the baby.
I thought it would be fun to highlight why we like to call it home...out here on the AZ "range"! :) Nicknames have [hardly] been used to protect privacy. I tried and failed.
No, she didn’t have the baby, but I thought I better get the pictures from Maren’s baby shower posted before she does have the baby.
Chase is known for many things, such as: eating little smokies, spilling liquids all over the house, love of baths, love of outdoors, love of relatives, toys in pockets, aversion to haircuts, mischief making, did I mention mischief making?, cartoon crazy, and many other little idiosyncrasies. One of his funny, little habits (OK, not so funny to some of the cousins) is that of shutting the door behind friends (whether they be animal or human) to keep them in his general vicinity and therefore, playing with Chase. He lures them down to his room and once inside, he quickly shuts the door so that no one can escape. He doesn't do it in a mean spirited way, he really just wants someone to be with him and play with him. He used to do it with his kitty, but now that he has Ree, he has the ultimate playmate. As soon as she could crawl, Chase learned quickly that if he went down the hallway to his room and called to her, she would willingly (this was a bonus) speed down to his room to look at books or play with toys. She would actually stay without the door being shut, but Chase just can’t help himself. The minute she’s inside, that door is thrown shut so that she won’t get any ideas. I’ve tried threatening and blocking the door, but nothing deters him from shutting it. He really can’t help himself, and a lot of the time I can’t say that I blame him so I let him do it and just check on them every few minutes. (spoiling him, I know)
I love the look on his face, it’s the one that gets him out of a lot of trouble. Here he is trying to get Ree to help him move the diaper box barrier I’ve set up to keep him from shutting the door.
For a while it blocks Ree in, which he appreciates.
This not-so-innocent face is not helping his case, is it? What a boy.
Ree has unfortunately inherited a male driven household. We don’t own any baby dolls or tea sets, but we have about 20 swords and 20 guns (play ones, of course). It doesn’t help that she is being raised by the former, quintessential tom boy, me. (Think shooting barbies with bb guns and an abhorrence of dresses) So it is not surprising that at the age of 10 months, she already has an affinity for swords and knows how to swing one in hand to hand combat with Chase. The other night, the boys outfitted her with a sword as a belt and and extra switchblade down the back of her pants. Hayes and Chase laughed and laughed as she crawled around in her get-up. She was pretty pleased herself. (The weapons helped her plunder the refrigerator :)
The best indicator of Spring is the appearance of new baby calves. I would have said wind, but I swear we’ve had wind all winter so the spring wind doesn’t seem to be much of a change other than it’s a little more constant. I’ve got a few daffodils coming up in my flower beds and Hayes has been pointing out the song of two Meadowlarks that must have a nest nearby. I love to hear them in the morning; they’ve always been a favorite of mine.
We drove with Spence to the Silva yesterday morning to check on the cows and calves. Chase was squealing with delight and Ree was trying to moo back at the calves.
And if the calves aren’t enough to prove spring is here, you can see the wind blowing the hay away as the cows eat it. Kind of makes you want to swear.
With the warmer weather, Hayes has been assigned the red four-wheeler for chore and trash duty. He also takes his little bro on rides which makes his day.
Sunday after church, we went with Spence to do chores. Spence keeps the apple of his eye close to him whenever possible!
Hayes came home from homeschool group today with this picture he drew in art. I don’t know if they did something to give him the idea or if he’s been secretly plotting behind my back. :) Pretty funny.
Ree will probably make me delete this in a few years, but I just can’t help myself. Early on we noticed something special about this girl. Many people have advanced babies who develop quickly in areas of speech, mental acuity, or physical prowess. The parents are quick to provide a laundry list of their son or daughter’s accelerated accomplishments to the amazement of all of those within earshot. I must confess, I am one of those parents. Ree is very accelerated in one area in particular. I don’t know if it’s through the Jackson or Platt genes, but she is developing way faster in this area than many of her counterparts. What area, you may ask? Well, the girl has some serious junk in the trunk! Her booty would rival J Lo’s any day. She is a fairly petite little thing, but she has one enormous bum. The first time we noticed it, we all starting laughing and had to check again. The girl is 1/3 bum from behind. Every time we see her naked, we all just stare in amazement. So when we go out with friends and they tell us about their gifted children, we just say “Oh, yeah. Check this out!” and Spence proceeds to pull down her diaper to show off her exquisite derriere. (This actually happened in a restaurant one time) I feel “seriously so blessed” to have such a talented baby! :)
I’m laughing just looking at this picture.
Now, after making fun of my sweet, little baby, I have to post some cute pictures too.