Real stuff

We actually have stuff to report on this time...
We had a bobcat sighting in our backyard (see short video above). Our chickens survived the ordeal, but Caleb thinks it would be ALMOST worth it to lose a chicken to see a bobcat in action. It was cool to see a bobcat so close (20 ft. away), but it really concerned Fern. (We weren't in the backyard--we were in the kitchen--just so you know that she didn't have anything to be concerned about...) And then a couple of nights later we saw 2 coyotes just a couple blocks from our house. I guess this warm weather is bringing them out of hiding.

It's been sunny and warm the whole winter (yah, no rain in Seattle...weird!) It even got into the high 50s /low 60s this past week. If only every winter could be like this...

The kids have a new game called "lion". It involves Henry pretending like he is a lion, chasing Fern, and Fern running to daddy's arms saying (in her best dramatic voice) "saaaave me daddy, saaaaave me!" and then tells daddy to whack the lion. It's pretty fun to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8luKxrYiOU One of their other favorite pasttimes is playing this song over and over and over and over and over....(Henry figured out how to make the CD player repeat...) and dance around the house wearing assorted dress up clothes (I'm not sure where the dressing up came about for this particular song...it just happens): tights on the head, several shirts, skirts, socks (on hands, feet, multiple layers), diapers on head, whatever can be found. Fern has also discovered that swimsuits fit over several layers--no matter what they are... One time she had so much on her head that she couldn't see where she was going and walked into a chair--she doesn't put things over her face so much anymore.

Valentine's day was fun. We celebrated it on Saturday. First of all, Caleb picked up balloons for the kids--as in one for each of them. Those balloons received more play time than anything else for a week. (This would have continued longer, but Henry's floated out the door at some unknown time...) It was fun seeing their imagination. Henry turned his into many contraptions for lifting, transporting, etc. He is very mechanically minded. He also invented games of trying to catch the balloon with a piece of rope and a binder clip...anyway, it was fun. For lunch we had a "Seattle picnic". It was raining, so we all got into the good old Trooper and drove to a nearby park that is not well used. We then folded the back seat down which made a bed of sorts and set up blankets and lots of pillows. Then we put the laptop on top of a milk crate and watched "The Love Bug". It was kind of like a nest and was very snuggly. It was a novel way to spend the afternoon.

After my class on how to ferment food (OK, so I took it for Caleb...I found that I can't stomach most of this stuff...but I really liked the sour dill pickles...Caleb really likes sauerkraut, so I will see if I can successfully make it :) ) we headed over to UW arboretum to go canoeing. Henry wasn't so sure about this adventure when we encountered the wake of larger vessels and wanted to know when we were going back. After we got into some shallow water where we could see turtles and the bottom of the lake he started loosening up and even liking it. Caleb explained to him that there is something difficult about everything that is worthwhile. We asked him if he was enjoying himself, to which he responded 'yes'. We pointed out that he is one that kind of needs to warm up to things, to which he responded, "yah, I'm like a toaster."

As for how we are doing:
no job until April (commission only...eek!)
car broke down (Caleb fixed it for $30!!! woohoo for a husband that can fix stuff!)
landlord is selling our house (but not sure how soon...so not sure how stressed we should be)
but....we do have unemployment, we have a car, we have a roof to live under, we have food stamps to keep us fed, and cute kids to keep our mind off the other stuff.

(By the way, if you like any of the pictures, you can click on it to bring up a bigger version and then you can right click and save it.)

Thank you for leaving comments-- we love hearing from you :)