Welcome Baby Buster

Born today at about 1pm.

8 pounds 15 ounces.

22 inches long.

Melita and Baby Boy (still choosing the perfect name) are doing great.  Cody is excited to be a Dad again and Savannah is still deciding what she thinks of it all :)

Test Baby

Last week Bryce and I had a loan of Savannah while her mum and dad had a night out. we survived. as did she. thank goodness :)

we spent most of the night snuggling her - she's a real sweetie.

welcome Savannah Reese

Born Tuesday 8 March at 12:18pm, at about 7.5 pounds. I finally got to meet baby Savannah last night, and she is such a little cutie. Basically a little clone of her dad (but way cuter), she has these amazingly long dark eyelashes, tiny long fingers and seems to be a happy little girl.

Melita is tired but so happy to be home with their little bundle of joy. Cody is the total doting dad, and it's pretty sweet to watch him with her :)

we're so happy for the 3 of you.

kisses and hugs

I'm not the only one with a baby bump...

since she hasn't mentioned it on here (that I can recall), I'm going to spill the beans and let you know that Melita and Cody are having a baby.

Today!

they were officially due on Saturday but with no signs of labour, today they're in the hospital where they're making it all happen :) here's probably the last photo of them as non-parents that I took last night at dinner. (sorry about the crappy iphone photo...)

so cross your fingers and send good thoughts their way :)

They're Growing!

We take the chicks outside to play everyday. They mostly stay in one spot

and like to huddle under the roses. They're getting hard to catch so we have

to wait until they fall asleep to bring them back inside.

Nancy is my bold and curious girl.

She is alway the first to come check things out.

As you can see the girls are growing and will soon be feathered out enough to live outside in their coop. As for the coop, I have been looking high and low for one that's affordable and large, but haven't had much luck. Did you know a new coop costs about $600, and the ones on Craigslist that are used aren't much cheaper? I was getting desperate because the chicks need to live outside soon, but sorting out their coop situation was problematic until I realized we have a perfectly sized garden shed that we never use out back that would be perfect for them. So this weekend we're hauling all the rusty, crusty tools out (the ones that are still useful will get moved into the garage) and then overhauling the shed into a new coop. All we have to do is weather and predator proof it, build the nesting boxes and roosting bar, and build a pen for them to play in and viola! new coop for around $200. I'm really happy because not only am I saving money and recycling the shed, but it's a great size for my flock. I will try to remember to take pictures of the project.

Rainy Days

It starting to feel like Fall now! This weekend was stormy and grey and it's definitely getting colder. I love this time of year because I like to bundle up and the holidays are almost here. We're almost done with re-doing our master bath and bedroom (photos to come shortly) and I can't wait until the room is all finished and cozy. I want to stick a fireplace in the room so we can stay under a pile of blankets and be toasty. My girlfriend Gloria made stew this weekend and I think I'm going to swing by the store on my way home and pick up some ingredients to make my own pot tonight. I love to eat toasted sandwiches, comfort food, and hot soup like tomato or navy bean when the weather is like this. In fact, yesterday when it was rainy I made C get out of bed and take my to Harry's Hofbrau to enjoy a gravy drenched turkey lunch with extra cranberry. I had to be helped out of the booth after lunch and I wasn't able to finish everything (the chickens LOVED the leftover macaroni and cheese). We actually let the girls play in the rain yesterday since I'm hoping to encourage their feathers to fill in faster. I love them, but they are still in the house and they smell to high heaven no matter what I do, so they're going outside into their new coop by next weekend. I just looked outside and it's still gloomy - yay! I'm heading home to hot tea, a fire, a pot of bubbling stew and my stretch pants in a bit.

Finally Got Them!

Last Saturday I went to Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond and took a chicken raising class. There were two big boxes filled with tiny fluffy chicks
This is one of the breeds we got - a Cuckoo Marans (ours is named Doug)
who will lay beautiful chcolate colored eggs

Cody and Doug hanging out. Doug is our favorite!
I had no idea chickens were so friendly and curious.

Here are all four chicks sleeping in a pile.

From left to right: Doug, Nancy, Willow and Buffy.

Kate and Bryce came by to check the chicks out. Here is Kate and Willow.

Nancy is always climbing on top of the food container

to see what's going on in the world. Here are Cody and Nancy.

The class was very interesting and along with the four chicks I was sent home with instructions on how to brood them, a heat lamp and some chick starter. I ended up with four different breeds who will all lay different colored eggs sometime in the spring.

Bento Cuteness

We had dinner with Kate and Bryce this weekend and I admired their vast collection of food storage options. I've been looking at different food storage stuff for awhile now that we have the kitchen basically completed (the cabinets are in anyway) and I've wanted to get some nice Tupperware or something to store food. Then today I came across this site that has the most adorable bento boxes I've ever seen! They also give 365 lunch combination ideas that all look super healthy and fun to eat - and they're all in the perfectly portion controlled bentos. Not only are these cute and perfect for toting healthy lunches, but they're also eco-friendly and contain no phthalates, BPA, or lead.

CB2 - The Selby Is In Your Place

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I fell off the wagon and just haven't mustered the energy to get back on until today when I found this cool project and thought it'd be fun to share. It's a contest where you could win a $10,000 CB2 shop card and a photo shoot with Todd Selby. You can find the contest information here and also check out the cool entries already submitted. So far, I'm leaning toward the mid century homes and design.

poodle (and pooch) parade

on sunday we headed out to the annual poodle parade which as it turns out wasn't exclusive to poodles, there were doggies of all shapes and sizes all over the place!

Hannah with mckenzie, max and cooper poses for a picture while we waited for our turn on the red carpet
gino goes head to head with a french bulldog

we got bored while we waited, there must have been 150 dogs all lined up to strut their stuff, so I thought it would be a good idea to get a cute group photo of gino, charlotte, cooper, mckenzie and max sitting all in a row... here's how that turned out

this was the only cat at the parade - a sphinx cat at that (hairless) and their owners really got into it all dressed up as vampires... I must say I like their umbrella though - I have never seen an umbrella built for 2 (or 3 in this case)

Hannah and Max (awww)
and it was their turn on the red carpet
lots of dogs had to be helped up those stairs, but not little Max, he's a determined little guy
they worked the catwalk and did a trick where Max jumps through Hannah's leg and the crowd was very impressed!
quick stop for the puparazzi (I'm so funny... :P)
dog modeling is so exhausting...
Cody and Gino were up next and he was almost the biggest dog there (so many small fluffy types)
all for the reward of the treat though, hey Gino?awww
ok that's enough now...
this poodle was dressed up like Mr T, I think
we won a $30 gift voucher to a local pet store in a raffle - yay mckenzie!

and now it was Coop's turn, and we were determined to show up clever Max with a combo of tricks :) first high 5
then shake
dance
and then through the leg - yay!
quick photo opand then it was McKenzie's turn which her trick was just making it through without getting too scared (the poor skittish girl)... family portrait

and then they're outta there!
it was so hot so we didn't stick around for much after that, so we cooled down with some frozen yogurt yumminess

Letterboxes

I just heard about letterboxes today and thought it was the coolest thing! Letterboxing is the hobby that combines art, puzzle solving, and orienteering. Basically letterboxes are small, weatheproof boxes that are hidden somplace public like a park or mueseum and clues to their location are published in a catalog or on a website. The letterbox has a notebook and a stamp inside and the person who finds it uses their own stamp to leave an impression in the notebook and takes an impression from the found stamp. Here's an example of the stamps and pages from Simon Litton's letterbox journal

There are quite a few places in the Bay Area to hunt for letterboxes - maybe I need a new hobby and should start collecting stamps.