Zack and tall young men

Zack, age 14 1/2, is now as tall as Jenni, 5'10''. He is going through that crazy time of fast-growth that accompanies puberty, so his voice is starting to crack and he is experiencing all those other corresponding changes. We've realized that a little over 7 years from now, when Luke is also 14 (and Nathan is 16, Joel 18, Evan 20 and Zack 22), we will be surrounded by tall, young males. Hard to fathom! The grocery bill is already frightening.

Project updates

We've been adding to our landscape in recent months. We now have 6 more hens (they are all red and so Zack calls them the "anonymous reds," no doubt a better name when they become stew hens) and maybe a rooster. I say maybe because it is still young and looks unisex at this point; Zack's Uncle Pat is raising chickens now and hoped to pass on an extra rooster...Rabbits have now joined our little animal farm. We got them because the aforementioned Melissa who just got married loves rabbits and wanted some at her reception (yes, I know) so this gave us some impetus to buy meat rabbits and begin raising them for well, meat. These rabbits are named Snowball, Marshmallow, and Cotton and will be the mommas, not eaten. Their buck has yet to be acquired. We ended up having to use a shock collar to train the dog not to eat the chickens. He seems to be over that now, so the chickens and rabbits are at peace.
Our garden bed is planted now too, with mostly greens, and we planted fruit trees: a peach, two pears, and a plum, also a cypress tree for Mom who loves cypress trees even if they don't bear edible fruit. Bill put up a big tire swing for Evan, and Joel, who just turned 11, got a zip line for his birthday. So we've got a happening place here. Don't you want to come visit?

Nathan

Nathan recently turned 9. Here he is in his frontiersman costume. He also got a mailman costume for Christmas and so is well-endowed with new personalities to emulate. Now that he is 9 I have been feeling a bit more concerned about his academic progress, and so am trying some new therapies to help remedy some of his struggles, such as balance board exercises, lip training (to improve his mouth-breathing tendencies), and various other exercises to improve his auditory processing. Hopefully we will begin to see some breakthroughs. Despite his struggles, he is a content guy most of the time who loves tramping around outdoors.

The line up

What are the chances of getting 9 people to all look decent in a photo? Not so good, apparently. This was taken when we attended our dear friend Melissa's wedding. It took me weeks, literally, to make sure that everyone had shirt, pants, belt, shoes, socks, etc appropriate for a wedding. I had a hand-written spreadsheet to keep track of who needed what.

No training wheels

Eliza has joined the league of "true' bicyclists in our family; she no longer depends on training wheels. She now careens around the property quite happily scaring up chickens everywhere she goes...

Our dog

We have a dog! He looks like this pic except that he has one blue eye and one brown eye. His name is Gypsy. He's an active dog who loves to run with the kids and play ball or frisbee. Unfortunately he also likes chickens. We thought he had killed our white chicken, Sofia. Turns out that she was playing dead; once he was secured she jumped up and ran off, and laid an egg an hour later (she's one tough chicken). Dog and people training are in progress...

Settling in...

Well, we have lived in Cedar Creek now for a bit more than 4 months. We like it! A slower paced life is refreshing. September actually feels cooler than August (we're not using our AC any more). The kids are running and playing and making trails in the woods, and not bouncing off the walls or the fence like at our other house.
We are involved in some activities now too. Zack is a high school homeschool freshman, and is taking Biology, English, Algebra I, and Computer Science through two different venues in Bastrop. He is also participating in the Bastrop Community Orchestra, playing violin. All of the kids go to a co-op on Fridays, where they take two classes and then get to hang out afterwards with new friends at a park on the Colorado River. Evan and Joel are taking music lessons as well, piano and guitar, respectively. We bought an old piano, which everyone wishes to play all the time...

Jeremy

Jeremy is about two months old now. He has turned out to be a fairly peaceful baby. We're all enjoying having a baby again, especially Eliza who is always certain that he either needs a blanket or a pacifier. Nathan is good at making him laugh, which is how he got to laughing and smiling in these photos.

fancy dress

Eliza is getting into dressing like a princess, despite the fact that she still likes to play with cars and carries a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack. She got this outfit for her birthday, and then became heiress to a princess dress collection passed down from the daughters of one of Bill's colleagues. When she pulled out the dresses from a plastic bag, she exclaimed, " Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I'm so happy." She has been in costume morning and night ever since.

New Baby!

Jeremy Andrew was nearly born at the hospital on July 17. The midwife thought that Jenni had been leaking fluid and could not safely deliver at home. But two hospital tests turned out negative for fluid, and so Jenni was released to go home. Jeremy was born on the 22nd at around 1:30 pm, 7 lbs. 13 oz. The birth went very well; Mom and baby are both in good health.

Our new hens

Here are the girls in the new coop. ..

Chickens!

The guys also built a chicken coop. Our friends the Leakes generously sold us a few of their laying hens. We had 4 eggs just a few hours after we got them home.

Lofty living

There has been a lot of building here at our new house. The boys and Bill (with help from our friends the Matthews!) painted and built three loft beds for Zack, Evan, and Joel. They are quite tall so they can be walked under. Leaves a lot of space underneath for desks where they will hopefully study...

News

In case you haven't heard, we're having a baby in July! Don't know if it is a girl or boy...

And, we're moving! Finally. We found a house in Cedar Creek, TX on 10 acres. It's not too far from the 76 acres, which we likely may still build on and move to in the future. Here is a photo of the front of the house. We hope to move in a week or so, round about May 8-10. It has 2 acres of pasture, 8 acres of woods, about 2500 sq ft. We are all looking forward to more space, especially outside.

The boys

Eliza gets a fish too with Evan's help

Luke's guitar he sawed and nailed himself

Winter/spring happenings

In January, the big boys (which refers to Zack, Evan, and Joel, and often Bill) went hunting on Bill's parents' ranch with some friends. They shot 4 deer most of which we have been eating ever since (yes, Jenni knows 101 ways to cook venison). The younger boys (which refers to Nathan and Luke and Bill wishes him too) got to go camping also, this time on our land, the 76 acres that we bought back in October. They even found fish in the pond (see photo). Eliza is ready to be a bigger girl and get to go on these trips too.
The other major happening for early '08 was that Zack and Jenni took classes and became certified "permaculture designers." Here is a link about permaculture if you care to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture. Basically it is sort of like landscape design with an environmental emphasis and it includes home design and farming/agriculture elements, in both urban and rural settings.

Princess Eliza

Eliza is now 3, and definitely a joy to us all. She is happy most of the time, especially when she is outside. She is extremely independent, and has learned to do a lot of things "by herself" at an early age. She likes to hang out with Luke and Nathan, but also enjoys her "babies" and books.

Big Luke

Luke turned 6 in August, though he is big for his age and already has permanent teeth on top. He is kind of an enigma. He loves music and wants to learn to drum, he is a very good artist (probably the best in the family), but he is also very active. He is the kind of kid who can sit still for about 2 mintues and then needs to go run around, unless he is drawing, in which case he can sit still longer.