Thursday, March 10, 2011

Our latest addition..


Perhaps we were starting to feel a slight emptiness with the idea of the McClellans moving out looming over our heads or maybe we are just crazy, but Sam and I decided to get chickens!   It's been something we have been talking about for a while now and it just so happened that our lovely neighbor, Mr. Johnny, had just the place to keep them and was really eager to let us use it.   As luck would have it I have a dear friend who had some birds she maybe didn't want anymore.  I may have talked her into selling them to me, either way we are now the proud owners of 5 hens and 1 big daddy rooster.   These are our breeds and their very wonderful names that Jackson picked out.

2- Easter Egger Hens ( Paprika and Cinnamon)
2- Dominque Hens   (Salt and Pepper)
1- Australorp Hen  ( Big Poppa)
1- Dominique Rooster (Baseball)   
This is the awesome run the Mr. Johnny built us just for fun.
Jack took a long moment to consider this and then jumped right in to the muck with everyone else.

Our Ladies

'Baseball'




















We are pretty excited about the whole thing.   Mr. Johnny is also providing the most amazing gardening spot we could ask for.  Hopefully we can be pretty self sufficient when it comes to produce and eggs this summer.   And possibly raise some baby chicks along the way.  We shall see!!    

Sam helping Catherine wrangle the chickens to the carriers




Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Long overdue update...

Hey all! Sorry that it has been over a year since my previous post. I thought I would jump back in to posting with a quick recap of the past year and what is going on with us today.
Last post you learned about Jack's big boy bed..what has happened since then...
1. We finished building and moved into our beautiful new home in May 2010( which I wish I had pictures of but do not at the moment).
2. We entertained our very first guest in the new house a week or two later. Grandma Gladys came to stay a week with us. Jack thoroughly enjoyed every second of that.
3. The very next week we received our next guests, the McClellans! My wonderful sister and her family moved back to Jonesboro from Idaho and took up temporary residence in my basement, making this the McPalmer house! 6/10
4. Jack turned 2!! 7/8/10
5. Sophia Grace Palmer was born 8/23/10
Having Kristen here throughout the pregnancy and the past 6 months has been priceless and I don't know what I am going to do when they leave me. I think every mom that is transitioning from having one to two( esp when the oldest is two and the baby comes out thinking she is grown) needs a "another mama" or "mama bob". Two loving names Jack has giving her.
6. Jeremy got to come back from overseas. We got to meet the beautiful Salina Rose Holder, and will hopefully get to spend more time with her soon!
Aside from the holidays I really think that is the biggest stuff that has happened.

Presently Jack is 2.5 years old and Sophie is 6 months to the day. Both of them amaze me each day with their love and brilliance!! The first thing they do each morning is greet each other with bright smiles and Jack smothers her in kisses. She is starting to return them now, which is kind of painful but he loves it! They can't stand being away from each other, she is constantly looking for him and whenever he is not in the room with her he hounds me about where she is! I hope this bond keeps growing, though judging from the personalities differences we are going to have our fair share of fighting for sure!
Jack started really talking in November last year( much to my relief) and pretty much started with full sentences. Initially he would say it just until he knew you understood him and would not repeat it for anything, now he never stops talking...to me any way. still a little shy around strangers or people who aren't living in this house....or papa. He learns new stuff every second it seems( pretty sure Piper is homeschooling him) and luckily for me this includes knowing his left from his right and telling me which is which. I apparently haven't fully committed this knowledge to memory yet. Also I am pleased to announce that he is potty trained!!! Even through the night! Not saying we don't have accidents every now and again, but the kid is doing great and I couldn't be prouder! It's amazing to me how much we save without buying pull ups or diapers( I use clothe with Sophie). I think the key to this success was letting him know that he couldn't go to 'presbool' until he could go potty like a big boy and dress himself. Preschool is his dream and he will be starting in the fall. If you need me on Thursdays starting in August, I will probably be a sad sack sobbing with Sophie at home.
Sophia Grace has from the second she was born thought she is grown and could/should be doing what everyone else is doing. This is why at 2 months she was rolling both from front to back and back to front and sitting up by herself, 3 months she was "lunge crawling" across the floor, 4 months she perfected the crawl and and took the fifth month off to work on perfecting that delightful high pitched screech owl type sound she makes to alert you of any emotion she is having, and now at 6 months is pulling up to a standing position and climbing on to anything she can. I was not prepared mentally or physically for this child, I am not even sure there is a way you could prepare. Luckily, she has the same infectious smile as her brother and is a delightful little girl( most always!) Do not ask her Kat-Kat and Papa Jeff about this right now, I think they are still in recovery from a Sophie needs her mommy melt down. Those times are terrifying.

That's life with us. Loud, exhausting fun!

Next time I promise to have pictures! If anyone would like to see pics of the house leave a comment, otherwise I won't put that up because I am lazy :)

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Big Boy Bed










We recently switched Jack to his big boy bed, which he LOVES! I'm not sure why, but the new independence has made bed time a million times easier and much shorter process( most nights). We didn't intend to make this switch until after we moved, but the more I thought about it I decided to start slowly with all the changes coming his way and go ahead with the switch. Our mornings start a little earlier since he can just get up and wake us up when he gets up now, but mostly he just wants to come in and get some cuddling in. What better way is there to start a day than with a family cuddle session and Curious George? Days just don't go the same if we try to skip this step..

Snow Day!

So technically this was not Jack's first snow, but it is the best snow that he has even seen. I think its one of the best his daddy has seen too. It put me back in Germany for a minute, remembering how much fun a real snow can be. I think that I was particularly excited for Jack to experience this because for the last couple of weeks his favorite book has been, "In the Snow" by Peggy Collins. It's all about a boy who wakes up to snow and spends the whole day in it with his daddy. While he didn't get to spend the whole day out there, he really got to live out the story a little bit which I think is neat. He was excited from the minute I opened the front door for him to see the snow falling and all that had fallen already. Lots of ooos and eees and squealing went on that morning as he watched it coming down. He stood at the front door for most of the morning watching Sam scrap ice off his truck and was just delighted.
( ignore the fact that I still have fall decor on my door please, I tried to take them down but they are very important to a certain toddler)





These are the kinds of things we do when mommy doesn't want to go outside in the cold:



Thursday, January 21, 2010

Bun in the oven..

I guess that I should have made this announcement on the blog already. I realize that it's probably not news to all of you, but there maybe some who don't know. I am pregnant! Sorry if you did not get a personal announcement about this one, things have just been a little difficult the past few weeks. I am about 2 months in and due August 30th. I will post more about the changes going on around here later, but Sam just got home with lunch and I am desperately needing those McNuggets!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Jack's Awesome New Bike/wagon/pushcart/awesome thingie



Thanks Papa Jeff and Kat-Kat!! This thing rocks!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Recent Rambling of Jack..

In the past few weeks Jack's vocabulary has been exploding , I thought I would post some qoutes from the little guy from this morning.

"No mom-ee, no Mo no Mo" ( after over hearing Elmo's World on Sesame Street while he was taking a bath. This quickly ended our bath b/c the poor kid was in hysterics until I got him out and rushed in to turn off Elmo- he HATES Elmo)

"Bitte Bitte Please" while signing please on his chest.

"ooo dat's mom-ees beedy-buddon"

"poop poop poop pooooop" not as delightful unless you hear that this is a beautiful song for him