Kittens and Kites

Our cat, Theresa, surprised us all by giving birth to her kittens earlier than we anticipated.  Thankfully, Theresa is a good mommy and has taken great care of her two babies throughout the unseasonably COLD weather we have been experiencing (it went down to the mid-30's several nights in a row here).  We fully intended to provide warm housing for the lot of them, but apparently Theresa had it all under control.

In the meantime, Annabel and Thane have gotten creative in their outdoor play.  Below is a pic of the two of them playing with their new "kites" (those bags of air used to protect fragile items in shipping).  I'd say that's recycling at its finest.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the solstice.  Happy Summer!!

Climbing the Ladder

It's chore season, and we've decided that the kids need to start doing their fair share of the work around here.  Now don't get all uptight and call the Dept. of Labor on us - we are certainly not working our children's fingers to the bone or anything like that.  We are, however, trying to instill a good work ethic in them.  Now that Annabel is 4 1/2, she has taken over the morning animal feeding, in addition to other odd responsibilities around the house and farm.  She even has a chore calendar, and she gets a sticker for each chore completed.  At the end of the month, she gets .10 a sticker for her allowance.  We didn't implement this system until the middle of May, but Annabel still managed to rake in a little over $2 (which she is saving for a Barbie, of course!)

Our reward system seems to be working well - maybe a little too well.  Just the other day, we asked Annabel to put an extra clothespin or two on the towel drying on the line.  It was fairly windy that day, and I didn't want my clean towel to blow onto the dirt below.  She'd been especially helpful that afternoon, and I offered to give her an extra sticker if she complied without complaint.  Later I came to retrieve my towel to discover that Annabel had perhaps gone just a tick overboard:

At 2 1/2, Thane is just a wee too young to follow a self-motivated chore schedule, so we let him "help out" when appropriate.  Not that he doesn't have ambitions, mind you.  His latest pursuit involves climbing to the top of our play dome, where he is determined to jump up and down.  He hasn't made it yet (thank God!), and let's just say that we aren't going to let him in on a little secret:  climbing is immeasurably easier when one's pants aren't hanging halfway down one's legs!

With all of this activity and fresh air, it's gotten a bit easier to get the kids to bed, although Thane did manage to stealthily sneak into Annabel's bed the other night.   Who cares?  They were both out cold!

The View

Just a reminder about why we love being here

(and why you might like to visit!)