some things...

here i am trying to play catch up again. while the rest of the blogging world carries on at pace, this little spot seems to fall upon silence a bit too often. truth be told, we have a lot going on, but then again, who doesn't? real truth be told? i got (kind of, sort of, grossly) addicted to past episodes of greys anatomy. you probably know that we don't own a t.v., but trust me, netflix can be just as dangerous. a total time suck--why we got rid of the tube in the first place. my nighttime ritual of tea, photo uploads, blogging and journaling for the kids was swiftly replaced with tea, greys and halfhearted laundry folding to make myself feel less guilty. rest assured i am now current and the world can (hopefully) carry on as normal.



hudson and i took a mini vacation--the annual women's retreat for the family. the sweet (19 month-old!) boy joined us girls on a 4 night cruise that sailed out of san francisco and ended up in vancouver. lots of food, some wine, some sightseeing. the weather was surprisingly decent and he & i were able to enjoy the pool and spas on the ship. hudson turned out to be a pretty agreeable traveler and not-so-fussy-roommate--even sleeping in past 7 which is practically unheard of around here now that it is so light outside. must have been the blackout curtains. this was the first time i'd left lucy for any chunk of time--she's had a few overnighters with grandma, but nothing more than that. she and jeremy got to spend some daddy-daughter quality time together. they marked off half-days on the calendar that i wrote out for her, and followed the ship's travels on the map. when we arrived home, she was all in one piece and happy, and that's the best that a mama can hope for. she and hudson had a cheerful reunion and pretty much have not left each others side since.



of course, it's not a perfect relationship. it's all fun and games until someone brings out the teeth, people. ouch.



our baby chicks grew and grew and grew until we decided they were ready to move out. all was well until tragedy struck--in the form of two troublesome dogs who forced open the coop when we were out and killed all seven of them. it was a definite halting moment for us--the small scale responsible urban farmers that we strive to be. in all truth lucy handled it best--we told her the simple truth of what had happened, she asked a few questions and moved on. the entire situation was completely out of her control, and i guess that's something that three year olds are used to. as adults, we aren't quite capable of that innocent three year-old mentality: we blame ourselves, question what we could have done differently, and think a lot about the circumstances that surrounded the entire situation. what if, if only. after all, one of the main reasons we keep chickens is to give them a good life. we can chalk those seven lives up to a learning experience, but it somehow seems cruel. though really, there is no other choice. next day we got four little fluffballs, and a few days later, four more. we're moving forward with a life lesson under our belts, and of course with fondness in our hearts for the little chickies that we lost.

of course, music remains lucy's favorite chicken of all time. she's teeny and grey and i think just a little bit slow due to a bad pecking when she first arrived. lucy has taken music under her wing, for lack of a better term. let's just say that the doll sling gets washed a LOT and lucy's babies now spend their days tucked comfortably into the cradle.



are you thinking we eat a lot of bananas? ha. we got an exciting shipment from the midwest a couple of weeks ago. more on that later.



my mom turned sixty in may, and i just celebrated my 31st birthday on sunday. there was a surprise party organized by jeremy. never in my life did i think i'd write such a sentence, but i was grateful and flattered and loved and most of all, surprised. shocked is a more relevant term. next time, honey, pretend we're going to a fancy restaurant so that i'm dressed appropriately. m'kay?



we have got a box of vintage straws and really, the kids think there's nothing better. they suck up water like it's going out of style and it makes me happy. that's it for the moment. i'm sure there will be more to come... unless anyone can recommend another highly addictive show.

(just kidding, please don't).