My big kids and Happy Spring on the Farm

Avenlea:  My little sweetheart had her 18 month appointment last week on Wednesday. It was a little rough to say the least. Avenlea cried basically the whole time after a nurse accidentally knocked her down when she was walking down the hall. She has an ear infection and we started abx two days ago since she keeps getting little fevers and just acts sick.

 Poor little sweety has had a cough for about 2-3 weeks now and although she doesn't cough all the time when she does it sounds pretty bad. We have a followup appointment in 2 weeks to see if the ear infection goes away. She weighs a whopping 20lbs (11th percentile) and is 31 inches tall (12th percentile). I love my little tiny Avenlea. She isn't a big eater but she loves her cream of wheat and toast, peanut buter and honey tortilla, bbq chips, and yogurt.

Avenlea has been really into books lately and especially loves Grover and Elmo books, but has a special place in her heart for Theres a Wocket in my Pocket. We have about 4 or 5 sesame street books that she alternates carrying around and asking me to read to her. She even tries to say all the characters names which is awesome for her since her vocabulary isn't very big yet.

Avenlea loves doing whatever Chloe and Blain are doing. If one of them are in time out she likes to go sit with them, if they are taking a picture she goes and says "cheese" right next to them. She loves to play playdough and actually plays with it suprisingly. She can roll it into balls and make snakes. She likes slides at the park and runs with the cutest straight legs I've ever seen. She kind of leans back a little and sticks her belly out then runs real cute.

Avenlea has moved into her big kid bed and made the transition like a pro. She goes to sleep around 8, wakes up around 6 and we put her in her crib to go back to sleep until 8. She usually naps once per day from 11 to 1 while Chloe is in preschool. Lately she has been taking 2 naps but I doubt that will last once she recovers fully.

My little one still loves to be held and gives us the best cuddles, hugs and kisses. She will smooth your face with her tiny hand and make cute little noises when she does it. She loves her tiger blanket and refuses to keep it on her bed because she likes to snuggle it throughout the day. She also loves her stuffed animals and will carry them around two at a time right up by her face.

Overall Avenlea is happy and sweet and learning lots of new words. She still has her super strong will and lets us know when she's not happy. But she's learning to communicate and I think it will only continue to get easier to figure out what she wants. We sure do love our Little Avenlea.

Blain: Blainito didn't have an appointment but he was there the whole time answering questions, playing with the otoscope, and reading his library spiderman book. Blain weighs 34 lbs right now and is finally wearing 3T clothes. He was so proud the other day when he could turn on the downstairs light all by himself.

 Blain has been really into dress up and role playing. He is wearing his prince cape in this picture and he also loves his superman suit, firefighter, pirate shirt, knight "army" (armor), and all the associated hats and helmets. He has a sword and shield in his hands about 80% of the day and loves to have sword fights with whoever will fight him. He likes wearing his cowboy boots with his pants tucked int them and pretends they are prince boots just like Prince Derek from Swan Princess or Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty.

 Blain still loves his Blue Blanket and the tickles. He has been using it as a fort lately over the piano bench and as a cape with the "tickles" tied around his neck and wrists. He has his little "theme song", as grandma calls it, going all the time (ba da daba don). He still likes dragons and is getting more into play dough as well.

 Blain loves cream of wheat and toast, chips when we have them, breakfast sausage, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, pancakes, and PB & J sandwhiches. He always requests his warm "honey milk" in the morning and still lays down to drink it. I have a feeling they may never break themselves of that habit on their own. Blain has been following in Chloe's shoes and has started sneaking treats. He ate a whole row of brownies the other day that were on the counter and broke open a bag of jelly beans today when I wasn't looking. He's learning that sneaking is not ok, but it's so hard to be stern when he is so cute telling me about his mischief. He melts my heart.

Blain loves pretending to be an American Ninja Warrior, jumping the rocks by the garden fence, somersaulting, or playing on the couches. We can't wait for the next season to start in May. If Nate wants him to try something new, he just has to tell him to be like an American Ninja Warrior and that will usually get him pumped up enough to do it. What a tough guy :)

We are planning on putting Blain in Sunshine Circle just like Chloe next fall. He shows occasional interest in learning his letters and numbers, mostly if I make it into a game with skittles or jelly beans involved. He learns quickly and continues to amaze us with his gigantic vocabulary. We love you Blain and are so happy to have your rough and tumble ways in our family.

Chloe Rose: My big girl was so brave at the Doctors office. She had to get all her kindergarten shots and she barely cried. The first two she didn't even flinch, but the last two burned and brought on some tears. I was so proud of her, we all got a soft serve ice cream from McDonalds as a treat for being so good for her shots. Chloe weighed in at 54 lbs (96th percentile) and 44inches tall (76th percentile). She impressed Dr. Larsen with her drawing and writing abilities.

 And speaking of drawing, Chloe is addicted to her art box. She loves to just sit at her art table with her art stuff everywhere and draw, make books, paint cards, write invitations, and color.For the book making she takes several sheets of paper, cuts them in half, staples them together, then draws pictures and writes some words to show what the book is about. I love seeing all her crafts and watch how creative she is. I'm so glad we have a designated spot for her to craft and create as much as she likes without little hands interrupting, which was a big source of contention before we put a table in the mud room for her.

 Chloe has her own sense of style these days. She loves to wear her hair up in a ballerina bun with sparkly skirts, shirts and shoes. She loves to wear dresses and skirts and will usually put one on over pants if I put them on her. She likes headbands and hair accessories and loves to be fancy for school, just like Fancy Nancy. We have a deal where she gets to choose her hair and clothes (no matter how crazy or cringeworthy - but has to be modest) everyday but Thursday and Sunday. I get to do her hair how I like and put her in a matching outfit those days. Chloe loves primary, especially singing time. She sings the songs out with all her heart and is learning the articles of faith by heart in her sunday school class.

 Chloe loves to eat cream of wheat, spaghetti, ramen noodles, rice, pasta and meatballs (she listed those off for me). She also loves salads and was especially happy one day when I made cobb salad. Chloe loves icecream, popcicles, hot chocolate and "tea" (hot water, milk, sugar).

 Chloe continues to be my good helper and is the best big sister to Blain and Avenlea and is getting REALLY excited about her new baby sister. Chloe is getting more responsible with her toys and likes to show us when she cleans up after herself. It's so nice having at least one kid that can get dressed, brush teeth, get shoes on, brush hair, and buckle herself into her carseat. It makes my life so much easier, and it teaches Blain and Avenlea that mommy doesn't have to do everything for them too.

 Chloe loves preschool and is kindergarten ready if you ask me. She loves sounding out words and reading little books. She likes spending time at school with her friends and talks about how fun her teacher is. Chloe reports to me that, "I was the quietest one" meaning she didn't talk when she wasn't supposed to. She even raises her hand at home sometimes when she wants to ask me something. What a cutie.

 My little farm girl is learning how to work hard and calls herself a "farmers daughter". She is now a proficient cow pie scooper, chicken feeder filler upper, hose turnerer onner, and seed planter. I like to enforce that families work together and play together so after chores I try to spend some extra special time playing just what she wants so she can see what I mean. I still haven't let her try to milk Betty yet but when the time comes I'm sure she'll be an awesome milk maiden too.

 Life wouldn't be the same without our Chloe Rose. She loves to hear stories about when she was little, when I was little, and tries to play the same things that I played from the stories. She has a cute and unique way of putting things into her own words and I love listening to her describe things. She is developing her own sense of humor and likes to tell jokes, mostly by saying something silly, then adding just kidding. I can't believe this sweetheart has been ours for 5 whole years. Can't wait for the rest to come.

Thank you Wendy for these Awesome Pictures! I love them!!

Farmy Update: Real quick here is what's going on around the homestead.

             Garden: No sprouts from the peas or cool veggies I planted about a week and a half ago. The weather has been nice so I'm hoping they will germinate soon. I have six or so plants in the window that sprouted, (2 amish, 3 cherry, 2 broccoli) but they are no where near ready to go outside.

              Betty: We are getting close to a half gallon per milking now that the calf nurses for a tiny bit before starting. It's just such a pain getting her in the milk stanchion with a pesky calf trying to nurse off her the whole time. I need to get a halter on that calf and tie him up in the milking area so she will go in there willingly, let him nurse for a minute, tie him back up, then let them both out. I'm completely winded and my hands are rope burned by the time I get her in. 

               Chicks: We are picking up 5 or so chicks from the feed store tomorrow and our big shipment should be coming tomorrow as well. Nate split the coop with chicken wire so Siri can see the chicks but not attack them, and still leaving her a roost and a nesting box. The set up looks pretty cool, I'll have to take a picture and post it soon.

                Pasture: The water is on and Nate threw down some pasture mix seed so hopefully the barish spots can turn into beautiful grass. Our neighbor's water line was broken or something and when I went out to do some chores I found our orchard in a foot of water in some places. Nate turned their water off but I worry about our trees sitting in that much water. Hope they pull through.

               Fruit Trees: The plum trees have blossomed and most of the flowers are gone now. The two big apple trees are just starting to open some of their blossoms. We were worried we wouldn't get any apples again when we saw just leaves appearing but I guess that's how apple trees are. We should have a really good year for apples and plums again. Hooray!