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!

A Snowy Weekend

The first big snow of the new year was a little late this year, but it came with a vengeance! I think we got about 2 feet of snow from Friday night until Saturday night. The kids were beside themselves with excitement, but it was short-lived because after bundling up and going out in it yesterday, they quickly realized that the cold and wind made it unenjoyable to play in the snow. Our neighbors generously invited us over for brunch yesterday with another young family on our street, and that ended up being the highlight of our day. Sharing a meal and entertaining conversation while the kids played happily with their friends as the snow was falling around us was really neat! (Walking up the hill in the heavy snow afterward was not much fun, especially when we discovered that it had piled up another 4 inches in the few hours we were there!)

Last night Nate and I watched a movie while the snow finally tapered off. It was called "The Age of Adeline", and we both liked it! (This is a rare occurrence, that's why I'm mentioning it!). The movie was clean, no language or funny business, but the plot was suspenseful and the characters captivating.  I would highly recommend it!

Today Silas woke up with a fever, and Rowan has a cold, so they just staying inside. We'll have to save the sledding and snow play for another time. The kids didn't seem to mind––we did a lot of baking instead. Nate, on the other hand, spent many hours outside yesterday and today snowplowing, shoveling and cleaning off the cars multiple times. We're very thankful for his hard work!

Here's some pictures of the snow, and an overview of our first few weeks of 2016:



This was the view when I woke up this morning––the sun was a welcome sight!



Rowan and Allie had some playtime on the porch with Nate yesterday.

We came back from a 5-day trip to Connecticut on New Year's Eve. While we were away, Rowan slept in a twin bed for the first time (with bed rails), and all the kids slept in the same room. Nate thought it would be a good time to move the kids into the same room back at our house too. So in this picture, Rowan is saying goodbye to his crib on New Year's Day. They disassembled the crib and set up the toddler bed in Silas' and Allie's room. I was not prepared for this change, and it took some time to adjust to it. But the kids did great together right from the start!

Rowan taking a nap in his new bed and new room.

My brother Matt and sister-in-law Elise, who live in Boston with their 2-month-old baby Jack, got to watch the kids open their Christmas presents via the iPad. Technology sure changes things!

We had some snow flurries one day, and Rowan was so excited he rushed outside to see them. But once out there, he didn't seem to know what to do, and realized it was actually pretty cold. He came back in shortly after, having learned that watching snow is more enjoyable to watch inside a warm house.

Allie posing with her rods work during school one day. "Playing" (aka learning math concepts) with the rods is one of her favorite school activities.

The kids play games every night after dinner. Silas is the biggest fan of board games, although all 3 of them start out playing together. Rowan is often the first to get bored, and announces to everyone: "I'm done. I'm tired." Sometimes he'll get a blanket and lie with Nate. In this picture Allie was following Rowan's lead. The funny thing is that Silas will keep playing the game, and even taking the other kids' turns for them, until everybody wins.

The kids this morning watching Nate snowplow the driveway––again.

Rowan and Silas, hanging out with the iPad.

Allie got a Christmas gift called "Roominate" where you put together different pieces to make a house and furniture, and she and Rowan are testing out the motor that came with it. 

On a sad note, we had to put Yuri down when we got home from Connecticut. He had gotten injured while we were away. That was hard and sad, at least for me. We got Yuri in September 2006, before Nate and I got married. He was born in Nate's neighbor's yard from a stray, and one day when he was about 4-months old he came running over to me and rubbed against my leg. He let me pick him up and bring him inside, and from then on we decided to keep him. Our neighbor was relieved to have one less stray to feed. Yuri was a sweet cat, but he wasn't crazy about kids. He was mostly an outside cat for the last 6 years, but even then he would join us when we were outside, and even follow us on walks. He was like a dog that way. He loved being outside, catching mice and other critters, climbing, lying on Nate's desk, and chin rubs on his white beard. He was a half brother to our other cat, Leo, and so gentle and patient with him when Leo was a kitten. They were a funny pair. We will definitely miss our Yuri.