Gift

A couple months ago I happened across a really great article in The Cut (of all places!) singing the praises of parenthood.  It was a bit unexpected, because more and more I keep hearing people proudly declaring themselves "childfree."  And, as you can imagine, I have very mixed feelings about that.  

I mean.  It's your life and you get to decide what you want to do with it.  So it's not any of my business if people choose to not procreate.  But.  I find so much joy in my children and I worry that young people are making HUGE decisions like this based on extremely faulty information (ie, the griping that parents like to do).  That article, reiterating that joy and giving a pretty good explanation of why parenting doesn't seem like much fun from the outside really nailed it.  I hope more people read it and that it gives them something to really think about.

All this to say-- I had a perfect example of this on Friday morning. 

Colton had an early doctor's appointment, so it was just Camille and me walking to the bus stop together, an extremely rare occurrence.  We've been having the chilliest spring I can remember, with it only being 47 degrees outside that morning!  IN LATE MAY.  We watched a squirrel standing like a statue on the edge of the pavement, before it went hopping across the grass in that way you really only ever see in squirrels, with their tails flying behind them in perfectly echoing arcs.  Camille said to me, "I understand why squirrels like to hop everywhere, because sometimes the grass is wet."  She paused thoughtfully and then continued, "Plus, that way they can go, Yippee yippee yippee every time they hop!"

And now I will never watch a squirrel without assuming it's thinking, Yippee yippee yippee! with every hop it takes.  

And now you, too, can share in that mental image.

What a gift.

You're welcome.

Camille from our 2016 trip to Disney World...

Miscellaneous Stuff I Forgot to Write About

I'm going through pictures and there are a TON of things that haven't made it onto the blog yet...

Like Easter-- yes, we dyed eggs!  I was really busy that weekend, so Craig very helpfully hardboiled all the eggs for me while he was busy trying to paint the kitchen (it's half done!  I have NO idea when he'll have time for the other half...).  This year I bought two egg dye kits off Amazon, and I was really angry when I actually opened them up and discovered that one kit only had 6 colors instead of 9 as advertised.  The other promised liquid dyes and those were completely dried up.  It was ridiculous.  Next year I have to actually make the trip to Target well before Easter.  But the kids still had fun:

Craig got this snap of a rainbow:

We realized that Bentley's shirt blended in pretty nicely with the new (half) kitchen colors.  Which, of course, meant I had to make jokes about how "You can always tell a Milford Man!"

That kitchen is going to look so great once it's all painted!

Kendra was twirling her flag in the Flowering Dogwood parade, but they needed someone to hold the sign, so Ryder got recruited!  There they both are!

Spending a gorgeous evening watching Ryder play baseball

Colton went roller skating at an old school with his buddy Walker

And Kendra helped me with a wedding at Pippin Hill

It was a Jewish wedding, so we got to watch them dance the hora.  I've never wished so badly that I could go back and re-do my own wedding as when I watched this-- these guys know how to party!

Bentley was supposed to be helping us at that wedding, too, but he decided instead to go to prom.  PROM.  I'm old enough to have a kid at prom!  I thought he and his date looked cute, and they all seemed to have a great time!

Speaking of Bentley, he also got into National Honors Society!  We might get this kid into college yet!

I think he's giving his father and siblings a "Don't you embarrass me!" look.  I was at choir, so I avoided the death glare!

Speaking of my choir, we had our final concert for the season!  I really enjoyed getting to learn not one but TWO Rossini fugues!  Good stuff!

One fugue down, time for intermission!

I wasn't the only one having concerts-- Colton's and Camille's classes each had concerts, too!

The dreaded recorders...

There's Camille standing in the back row, center.  She told us she was supposed to wear a bright color, so she wore that red shirt.  Halfway through the concert I realized most the kids were wearing white-- I think the teacher told them to wear "light" colors and then it got lost in translation...!  

It does make her easier to spot, though!

My friend Kari and I threw a baby shower for our friend Jernae.  Kari decided on a lemon theme (I think it said something about "a sweet one headed your way"?), which worked well since we didn't know the gender yet.  It was slightly stressful, but I thought everything went very well!

Jernae asked for this, so I had to comply!

I borrowed Bentley's shirt for the occasion!

Jernae looks so cute pregnant!

Kelly, Megan, and Megan!

Kari did a GREAT job with the decorations! (And I love that Amy and Camille have matching smiles!) 

Our neighbors had a "Mardi Gras in May" party (they're from New Orleans, so they get to do stuff like that) to celebrate their new AirBnb that they built (only $850 a night if you're interested!).  We had a great time, but Colton refused to smile for this picture:

And they had the dedication for the Richmond temple!  We were planning on participating from the stake center, and were pretty excited to get to include Camille this time, since she wasn't baptized yet when they dedicated the DC temple.  And then I got an email Friday afternoon saying the stake had 7 extra tickets and they were ours for the taking!  I think that was the fastest I've ever responded to an email!  😂  So that was very cool!

I was meeting Craig after school so I arrived early so I could finally see him directing traffic!  It's not quite as big of a deal here at the middle school, because he's in a nice quiet (25 mph) neighborhood.  But when he used to do this at the high school he was standing in the middle of a very busy street (where I routinely drive 50 mph and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one speeding there) and I had to try and not think about it too much or I'd be terribly worried.  Just last month, the guy who replaced him got hit by a car, so I was right to be concerned.  (To the assistant principal's credit, as soon as he came to, the first thing he did was list off the license plate of the guy who hit him!  Pretty sure that jerk will be facing some much deserved jail time!)  Anyway, here's Craig keeping kids safe!

Isn't he cute? 😍

Once everyone had gone home, we drove up to Manassas (stopping in Culpeper to collect Tom and Donna) and had dinner with Jason!  It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed sitting outside at Logan's hearing Jason's hilarious stories about SpaceX!

For Mother's Day, I was good and spoiled by Craig and the kids!  I swear Ryder, Colton and Camille were more excited about this day than I was!  But it was nice to feel so loved!

Craig NAILED it by getting a print of one of my favorites by van Gogh.  (I like it so much it has made numerous appearances on this blog!)  Craig knows what I like!

The stake had a campout that Bentley and I did not go on (Bentley had a hot date and I felt like I *probably* shouldn't leave him home all alone for that event), but everyone else seemed to have fun:

Breakfast!

Getting settled down for the night (I guess Ryder was not having fun at this particular moment...)

This just makes me laugh.  From Ryder's baseball game

And doing fundraising for camp

My kids are really weird...

And now that the temple is OPEN, we went and did a session with our friends the Shaws and then had dinner at Red Robin after!  My goal is to get there every week, so we'll see if I can make that happen!

Chris and Craig were friends growing up in New Jersey, and then we were all dating and getting engaged around the same time and got to be all friends together.  And THEN we all moved to Charlottesville within a few days of each other-- how awesome is that???

And finally, Tom and Donna are taking us on an Alaskan cruise this summer (!!!!!!!!), so they decided we all needed matching sweatshirts for the occasion-- how cute are we in these?

(Kendra was out with friends, but she ALSO got a sweatshirt and will be coming along, too! 😂) (Also, check out my amazing earrings that Camille made for me for Mother's Day!!!)

Whew, that was a lot of pictures.  If you made it to the end of this post, give yourself a pat on the back!

Take Your Husband to Work Day

I've been working at the law firm for about a year now, so I mentioned to Craig it was about time he actually saw my office.  It turned out he had an appointment to be in court that week (Craig frequently gets to appear in court over truancy cases-- his job is very weird because sometimes he gets to pretend he's a lawyer, and other times he gets to pretend he's a detective!) and the courthouse is very close to my office, so it was easy to make it all work.  He followed me to my office and I dropped my stuff off and showed him around and then we got breakfast at Iron Paffles.  So that was fun!

I don't know why, but I love that I have my own key to the office and building.

When I first began here, this desk was BURIED in boxes of files

It's a fairly nice office, all things considered.  But I have GOT to stop pulling my head back and giving myself multiple chins when my picture is taken!

Craig later admitted that he'd just been assuming I was working in a closet or something, so it was nice to show him that I'm a little better off than that! 😂 I do feel like the women I work with really appreciate the few hours I put in each week, which is a very nice feeling.

Camille recently informed me that she'd told her teacher that I work teaching lawyers how to do their job.  Obviously she got that totally wrong, but it makes me laugh to see how things can get lost in translation.  (I think I'd told her my job is to help lawyers.  Not the same thing at all!)  When I was little I knew my Dad worked at First Interstate Bank, so I told people he was a banker, and I just assumed he was a teller!  I don't think he appreciated that very much (he actually worked as an investment counselor).  I guess I should be glad that Camille elevated my position so much!

History Repeating Itself

WE DECIDED TO GET CHICKS AGAIN!!!

For the last few years, when the kids had begged us for a pet, we told them we had enough pets.  This mostly worked, but it had the huge downside of them plotting what pet they wanted as soon as one of their siblings' pets died.  This did not make Bentley or Kendra very happy.  And sure enough, within a couple days of Oreo dying, Camille was asking if now she could get a pet.  

We're pretty limited in our pet options.  We've got dog and cat allergies, so that makes the standard pets a nonstarter.  (I know there are hypoallergenic options, but they all tend to be both expensive and not breeds that I particularly like-- given a choice of dogs, I would always prefer a mutt.  Every so often Craig will talk about getting a hairless cat, but just seeing pictures of those makes my stomach hurt.)  So we have to get creative with our pets.

The other problem is that I've turned into something of a germaphobe.  So I really would prefer our pets live outside.  And be really easy to take care of.

And wouldn't you know it, right as we were pondering all this, the price of eggs spiked and Craig pointed out that we all really liked it when we kept chickens.  He suggested that if we just kept them on the porch, rather than trying to keep them alive on the grass, we could probably protect them from the fox.  I was sold.  I started researching chicken breeds immediately.  I narrowed it down to about fourteen breeds that were friendly and could survive Virginia weather, and then I let Ryder, Colton, and Camille each pick one.  And I picked one, too, just for the fun of it!  I wanted a variety of chickens and a variety of egg colors and the kids just happened to choose really great breeds for those things, so it worked out perfectly.  The only hitch was that I was hoping for another silkie, but they weren't available until July and I didn't want to wait that long.  So I chose a silver-laced wyandotte instead.

They arrived April 25th, a peeping little box at the post office waiting just for me!  And we've been watching them growing up ever since.  They're almost ready to be moved out to their coop, so we need to hurry and finish getting it set up!  (It's built, but we need to put it on something so they don't destroy our deck and figure out a feeder and waterer for them.  So we're close!)

After much hemming and hawing, I decided we would name them after pop stars.  This mostly came about because Ryder wanted to name his chicken William.  I told him that was a boy's name, but he could probably go with Billie.  Bentley told me he'd never heard of a girl named Billie and I said, "Billie Holiday!" and he said he didn't know who that was, but he had heard of Billie Eilish.  And thus a theme was born!  I gave the kids options to choose from (sadly no one picked Sza or Lady Gaga, names that would have been awesome), but instead we ended up with Dolly (Parton), (Taylor) Swifty, and my chick, Adele.  I think they're pretty fabulous names, if I do say so myself.

You want to see pictures, right?  Of course you do!

This is Billie, a buff orpington.  Her eggs will be light brown

On the left is Dolly, an Easter egger.  Her eggs should be either green or blue.  We'll see!

This is Swifty, a welsummer.  Her eggs will be a gorgeous dark brown.  I actually didn't want to name a chick after Taylor since I'm already a little embarrassed by how much I love her, but when Colton said her nickname, I was sold.  So perfect!

Camille chose Dolly

And Ryder chose Billie

In the middle is my chick, Adele, a silver-laced wyandotte.  Her eggs will be light brown.

I'm very excited about our chicks, but I think I'm even more excited right now to move them outside-- they're starting to get a bit stinky.  I'm also hoping I can use them as an excuse to make the kids play outside more.  I can say, "Go outside and take the chickens onto the grass to play!"  It might work, right?