Fence-Building, chicken-coop-moving, and other autumn adventures

Our biggest house project of the fall has been to create a garden and move our chicken coop across the yard so that it's next to the garden. Nate has been putting in lots of hours to build a sturdy, deer-proof fence. Last week he was far enough along to pull the chicken coop to it's new spot. Let me tell you, those were some surprised chickens!

Our blueberry bushes finally went in the ground that we bought at the shore in September, and soon Nate will put in our fruit trees. There's still more to do, but the progress is very encouraging. We're looking forward to planting lots of delicious produce next spring! 

The garden is modeled after the Back to Eden garden, by the way, so we're using wood chips to keep the soil moist and cut down on weeding. 

This is the outline of our new garden. 

Nate's building the fence himself––a time-consuming process!

The chicken coop at it's new and improved location 

after Nate dragged it across the yard with backhoe-power.

For the first time, Rusty had complete, unfettered access to the chickens! 

Thankfully he was well-behaved (mostly).

Silas had a home-made robot costume for his Halloween parade at school. 

Nate even put a little flashing light behind the heart to make it look like it was beating.

Rowan's homeschool coop took a field trip to a farm, and he enjoyed 

picking out a small pumpkin and taking a hayride with his class.

On an unseasonably warm day in October, we went hiking at Green Lane Park. 

Allie noticed she could be as tall as Nate if she stood on a boulder.

A friend's mom taught me how to curl Allie's hair using rags. This was our first 

experiment with it. I should've take an "after" picture––they came out very cute 

the next morning. Allie was thrilled with it.

Rowan enjoyed our first real fire in the fireplace.

Our Little Guy is Growing Up

Rowan turned 4 years old this week, which was a great celebration for most of us. For me, it was bittersweet. I really wanted Rowan to stay little, but as one of my favorite blogs is aptly named: Babies Don't Keep. And neither do little boys.

We had a small party for Rowan, and the highlight 

for him was unwrapping his presents! 

Allie made this gift for him––a block of wood 

on which she painted a yellow "R" for Rowan.

Family portraits

The anticipation of blowing out that cool number "4" candle put a smile on Rowan's face.

A few days later, we celebrated Rowan's actual birthday with presents just from us.

Allie, the newest gift-giver in our family, had been in the store one day with Rowan when he saw this squishy fish and said he liked it. She decided she was going to do enough jobs to buy the fish and give it to Rowan for his birthday (this was over the summer). She made good on her promise, and had the joy of giving Rowan a present he really liked!

Rowan's card plays a silly song that makes him smile and dance whenever he hears it. 

He keeps it in his nightstand and listens to it every night before he goes to bed. 

The terrific trio!

Hanging with his Daddy.

What's Up With the Paines?

I wanted to share some photos of the kids -----> they are literally growing so fast! And then I remembered this old blog where I used to post stuff. I'm a little rusty on how this works, but here goes!

Allie began 1st grade this year, and was enjoying her math work on this particular day.

Rowan is doing preschool now, and loves activities that involve play dough!

Silas' teacher took this picture during his first week of 3rd grade.

We adopted a kitten (the second time this summer, but the first kitten went
to live with my parents) and named him Cole. He and Rusty became tentative friends. 

One week when our science unit was on flowers, Allie got an edible flower for lunch.

Rowan's edible flower.

The kids love playing with these pattern blocks,
and make some amazing designs!

We rolled some flower petals in water to make colored liquid.

In late September we did the Walk-for-Life to support the Pregnancy Resource Clinic.
Nate and the kids ran across the finish line and someone snapped this photo for their website.

Our beach vacation to Ocean City, NJ in mid-September.

Silas had a blast in the ocean all week. He barely left the water's edge. 

Some days were chilly and windy thanks to Hurricane Jose, 

but we got several beautiful beach days at the end of the week.

A family photo on the boardwalk during the hurricane 

(thankfully it went far out to sea and didn't cause too many problems).

Puppy Love

Rusty has become a beloved member of our family...for most of us, that is. The kids can't wait to see him when they wake up in the morning, and squeal excitedly when he comes inside after spending the day in the garage with Nate. They run around with him in the backyard, run around with him inside, and dutifully bring him dog toys when he starts to gnaw on the furniture. Nate's having a great time with his canine companion. They've gone on walks together, played ball in the backyard, and become great pals.

As for me, I am tolerating the puppy. It's hard to see past the accidents, chewing damage, barking and general disorder that seems to have become the new norm. But he seems like a good fit for the kids and for Nate, so if he could become a little better behaved, I think my opinion of him would improve. I hear that happens for dogs around 2 years old... and I've also heard that it will get worse before it gets better. So only 22 months to go!

Rusty bonded with Nate right away.

Reading and napping...

Enjoying an appropriate chew toy.

All tuckered out.

Chewing on a basket...one of the many things he likes to sink his teeth into around the house.

Getting to know his Grandmom.

Rowan investigates the puppy's ears.

He loves to snuggle up next to his human.

Rusty fell asleep one night while Nate was holding him, and
Rowan took the opportunity to examine him with his doctor kit tools.
(Silas is checking the weather on Nate's phone, one of Si's favorite things to do.)

Rowan bundles up for a snowy morning in March.

Rusty's first snow!

Leo has been avoiding Rusty like the plaque, but in the past few days he's gotten slightly bolder.
This is the first time he didn't bolt when he saw Rusty, even through the door. It's made life tricky though, because Leo still needs to be fed and cared for. We found that Rusty likes cat food as much as dog food, leaves, straw, stuffed animals, and everything else he puts in his mouth. So Leo has to be sneaky to get a meal in. But so far we're managing!

A boy and his puppy, playing with the hose. Don't get any better than that!

Welcoming A Puppy Into the Family

We'll always remember "Leap Day" as the day we brought our puppy home!

We first met him on February 11th at the foster family's home when he was a wee 5 weeks old, and waited 3 weeks until we could bring home to join our family. Although it felt like a long wait, it was productive time as we gathered supplies and read about how to care for and train a puppy. Nate was also traveling during the last two weeks, so the timing was perfect.

The puppy is a Lab-mix whose mom was a rescue from Virginia (the organization was called Mostly Muttz Rescue, although we first saw him on petfinder.com). We're not sure what the father was, but we're beginning to suspect he was a hound breed. The mom was a tan lab, but only one of her puppies looked like her; the rest were a mix of black and brown like ours, and all-white with brown over the eyes. We chose our puppy from among his brothers and sisters because of the coloring on his face and for his laid-back personality.

Without further ado, we would like to introduce Rusty!

This was Rusty the day we meet him at 5 weeks old.

Rusty was ready to come home with us on Leap Day when he turned 8 weeks old.
We almost named him "Leap" because of the special date.

We decided on "Rusty" because of the coloring on his face and legs,
and because we wanted a name with a strong beginning sound and a vowel sound
on the end (recommended by the Monks of New Skete, the dog experts).He has some big paws, so we'll see how big he gets! 

For weeks Rowan had been asking, "When my puppy coming?" in his cute little toddler voice.
He was so excited when we finally brought Rusty home!

Rusty bonded with the kids right away. 

Silas was at school during the day, so he didn't get to see Rusty until he came home
in the afternoon. Although Silas seemed initially excited about the puppy,
he seems more interested in causing the dog mischief than
actually playing with him.

Nate's been dutifully attending to the task of taking Rusty out throughout the day.
Nate is our pack leader, and he'll be doing all of Rusty's training. 

Good dog!