Paper, Crayons, Finley...

My kids have great distrust when it comes to dogs. They have also picked up on Chris's dislike of doggie poo in the yard. Finley decided to make a sign for the front door to make it clear to the neighbors that there are to be (translation) No dogs in our yard.

Fin came down with a cold this week, so we have stayed home all week. This, combined with paper and a new box of crayons made for a lot of pictures. Here are two I was especially fond of:

Jane, our rabbit

(complete with small black spots in her fur)

and a cow.

I should have taken some pictures of some of her more colorful (and typical) work. Perhaps I will post more later.

Now that she is over most of the cold and only a cough remains, I think she is hungry for the company of others. She made this sign this morning:

(translation) Come to Fin's house if you have a kid.

I love how she is trying to sound out words. I think I'll worry about spelling later.

The Search Continues

One thing I'm learning about myself is that I give up too easily. Being the realist that I am, I see negatives and difficulties very clearly and tend to shut myself down as a result. I'm trying to overcome that tendency.

Just when I was starting to re-examine all the difficulties of selling the house, downsizing, and sacrificing for this crazy dream we have, and wondering if we should just stick in out in Nashville until the kids are grown, Kevin and Norm from This Old House were on a talk show on NPR. Some guy called in to say that he and his wife had built their dream-home from scratch, debt-free, buying supplies with any extra money they had after paying the bills and feeding themselves. He credited TOH with giving him some of the confidence he had to tackle such an endeavor. I was re-inspired. As Bob the Builder says: "Can we do it? YES WE CAN!"

So last Wednesday, we drove down toward Chapel Hill to look at a piece of property that Chris had seen online and was obsessed with. It was a forty acre property with a house, a trailer, and some storage buildings not pictured on the listing. This turned out to be another one that looked a lot better online than in reality... The house was a natural fun-house with sloping floors, a maze-like layout, ridiculous paint colors, and the terrible smell of mildew. The trailer wasn't in much better shape. The walls of the barn had lost most of its boards. The previous owners had deposited large piles of trash throughout the property. Thirty of the forty acres was tremendously rocky; and not much can grow on a rock.

But it was beautiful. The wooded acres were beautiful. Moss on the rocks were bright and beautiful. The leaves were changing. I could see potential in the grown-up pasture.

I found myself looking at the falling-down barn, and imagined re-locating the solid, round cedar posts into the house we would build back from the road and salvaging the barn boards for weathered looking cabinets. The hardwood floors in the house could be re-used. The mounds of trash could be hauled away...

So although we (thankfully) aren't scrambling to sell this house to snatch up this particular piece of land, it would be a possibility if the time and price was right... I can't wait to see what happens when the time is right.

Midweek Update

Took Z to the doctor today to get another x-ray of her hips. Things are looking good, so she will only be wearing the brace at night. What a relief.

While at the appointment, Finley and Joe got to pick out some token toys while Z got her x-ray. Joe ended up with a small 'bouncy ball.' Later, while the doc was reviewing the x-ray, Joe stowed the ball in his jacket pocket. When we were getting ready to leave, Finley asked him where his ball was. "Right behind here," he said as he pointed to his crotch.

Finishing up lunch, Finley asked me what 10 plus 10 plus 10 was. I held up three fingers and had her count by tens with me to thirty. Then she held up four fingers. "Do you know what four 10's is?" She asked rhetorically. "40! Do you know what six 10's is? 60!" The kid is multiplying and doesn't even know it.

Weekend Update 10/26

For those of you wondering, the pigeon is gone. We saw it for the last time last Monday or Tuesday. This was right after Finley named it 'Sarah'. Perhaps it didn't like the name. Chris was incredibly disappointed when it didn't come back. He keeps talking about it. He might need therapy.

In other news, Chris painted our back porch this weekend...

and Jane was moved into her new, larger hutch that we found on craigslist for a really good price. I also built a little hide-away for her like the ones I saw at a pet store but could not imagine paying $20 for.

Last night, we had another little driveway campfire. The kids didn't bother to really toast the marshmallows, as you can see.

That got me thinking about going on a 'real' camping trip with them. I had visions of me trekking through the woods with the pack, Finley and Joe running ahead, stopping every now and again to soak in the beauty of nature. Surely the three of us could fit in a two man tent. But then I got stuck. They don't have nice, lightweight, 20 degree sleeping bags. If we do go camping, I guess we'd have to settle for one of those close-to-the-parking-lot sort of places. Oh, well.

Joe woke up from a nap the other day and wandered into the kitchen. "Mom?" he said in his still-groggy voice.
"Yeah?" I answered.
"I love you, but, Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's Fin?"

Being a mother to a son like Joe is very funny to me. I am here for him to hug and kiss on. Dad is here for him to wrestle and beat on. Joe was so desperate to help us this weekend, that Chris outfitted him with my old DeWalt 12 volt drill. He carries it around like a machine gun. He helped me screw Jane's hide-away together, but still wanted to drill something, so we let him 'drill' holes in an old piece of drywall.

Finley is in that stage where she automatically puts -ed on the end of all verbs to make them past tense. I can't wait until she gets the hang of irregular verbs. My mom sent a few bags of craft popsicle sticks to us a few weeks ago. This has kept Finley very busy gluing them together. I would take a picture of one of her creations, but the camera battery is dead. To her dismay, she ran out of glue this morning. We may need to make an emergency trip the the store.

Thursday, I take Zivah in to get another x-ray of her hips. I'm hoping things will look okay. She's been babbling a lot, but still not many recognizable words. Figured out how to say 'ball'. I think she's tried to say 'Joe'. My favorite, though, is when she sees you for the first time in a while, lights up, and says 'hi!' in her sweet, airy voice. She has mastered the stairs, and I'm quite thankful that she is one of those cautious, sensible toddlers. Once at the top of the stairs, she always crawls forward until she is a safe distance away before she sits down and approaches the top with caution before turning around to back down.

I had better stop rambling at get to the laundry. (groan)