Chickens in the trees

Growing up I had a few requirements for the man I was going to marry. He had to be tall, have a fancy car, and a farm. Out of those three requirements Tom meets one. He is tall. This ended up being fine because people change as they grow up. The things I wanted as a ten year old were not the same things I wanted as a twenty year old. As the years went by I realized I didn't need a fancy car. I do have an awesome minivan so I can't complain. I also grew to hate animals the older I got. I also grew a deep passionate anger for the owners of animals who think everyone wants their nasty animal to jump on them. I told Tom when we got married that we were NEVER having any animals. A few months ago my brothers all started talking about how they were getting chickens. I'm not really sure what happened, but somehow we ended up getting nine chickens. My brothers did not.

This is Gretchen, Buttercup, and Sunshine when they were new.

Tom and Brevan holding Sunshine.
Xander and Amelia
Amelia, Buttercup, Emily, and Grace
Gretchen and Cicil

So we have chickens. Us. The amazing thing is, we totally love them! They have been so much fun! Xander and Brevan chase them around the backyard and Isabelle loves to watch them. They are so fun in fact, now I want a bunny, a goat, and a sheep. They probably won't fit in our yard and the neighbors might complain. I almost bought a bunny today but I controlled myself. I think I am going to buy a farm when I have my midlife crisis.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I have always felt lucky because I have a totally awesome dad. When people would complain about their parents in high school I always felt so blessed to have such great people as parents. I feel like I was raised by two different dads. There was the dad that could do back flips and run really fast, and then there was the dad that could limp with style. Lucky for me they were both pretty funny. When I was little I wanted to write a book about our family and have my dad draw the pictures. He was very encouraging I thought he could draw better than anyone. The book might have been a success, but one chapter into it I realized I was pretty much copying Little House on the Prairie, and that really wasn't my family. I used to worry that I would never find anyone as cool as my dad when I got married...but I did!
Tom is a wonderful dad. He is calm when I feel crazy and the kids have a great time with him. I worry sometimes when they have "crazy time" but so far nothing has gotten broken. All three of our children's first words have been "dad," no matter how hard I try to lead them in other paths. When Tom cooks he always lets Xander and Brevan help him even though it takes a lot longer that way. Whatever project he is doing around the house he has little people trying to help out. It is only a matter of time before Isabelle joins in. He has also changed more diapers in four years than most men probably change in a life time. I don't know how I got so lucky! I think he gets it from his dad. Tom's dad is a wonderful dad who is very considerate of his wife and takes time out for his children. I am grateful to him for being a great example to Tom and for teaching him to be who he is today.
Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads out there. We couldn't make it without you.

I have finally decide that we need a blog. I decided this for a couple of reasons. One is the fact that I have become terrible at keep a journal. I figure if I can't keep up a journal at least I can print off the blog and I will have something. That is the plan at least. It may just become another thing that I cannot keep up. The other reason would have to be that I think I deserve one. If everyone else has one why can't I? If everyone else jumped off a cliff would I? Interesting question. I'm really not sure. If everyone else was gone would I want to be the only person left?

The reason I started this today was because of our roofing project. I am stuck in the house with the kids and my sister Katie Anne and it is getting boring. Isabelle is asleep and the boys are playing with Katie Anne. When Tom told me he was taking Thursday and Friday off to do the roof I thought it would be great because there was no way it would take two days to take shingles off the roof. WRONG! Apparently the people who inhabited this house before us thought that removing old shingles was a waste of time and so there are SEVEN layers on our house. Tom and my brothers have been at it forever. It smells pretty bad. Hopefully the new roof will get rid of the old moldy smell we seem to get in the summer. Our new siding looks fabulous but probably should have been done after the roof. I am trying to ignore the marks that the falling shingles are leaving.

By the time we finish with all of these little projects it will almost be like we built a whole new house. There is very little we have not done to it. I give credit to Will Smith, no not that one, for giving us this opportunity to learn new skills and work on our patience. He put a lot of effort into making our house what it was when we got it. After all of his hard work I feel a little built guilty destroying it all. He must have put years into all of the projects that we paid the dumpster people to take away. It is nice to finally say that there are no more naked mermaids, scary decks, rotting walls, barred windows, evil paneling, crazy wiring, leaky windows filled with years of tissue, and many other creative fixes that cause contractors to laugh uncontrollably. I feel tired just thinking of all the hard work Tom does around here!