The Farm Report

Category: Shep

  • Book Island

    Book Island

    Today was room cleaning day. Somewhere in the middle of cleaning, Neko veered off track and suddenly she had turned her entire bedroom into a library.

    Each book had a green strip of tape on the spine. There were sitting areas, advertisements encouraging you to read, and a book return. A kind librarian checked your books out on an iPad, and her friendly assistant, wearing a Rapunzel dress, offered tea to all visitors.

    As it turns out, I had a book on hold at Book Island!

    Later on there was a bit of a disagreement between all parties under the age of nine, and Book Island’s owner stormed off and declared Book Island would be closed forever.

    I’m happy to report all conflicts were later resolved, and Book Island reopened with a technology upgrade—the addition of a Lego Mindstorms contraption that beeps each time you place a book under the sensor.

    (And, no, she never did finish cleaning her bedroom.)

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  • Christmas

    Christmas
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    I only took these photos today. But we did set the time-lapse camera the night before. My favorite part is that the kids were all like, “Oh, we just got out and took a look at the presents for a few minutes, that’s all.” But, I don’t know about you, but I see a whole lot of investigating going on.

    A fantastic American Girl, Star Wars Lego, skateboard deck, car radio, whole lotta family time day was had by all.

     

  • Xmas Eve visit to Chris’ new apartment

    Xmas Eve visit to Chris’ new apartment

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  • Carbo-love

    Carbo-love

    This boy has had a love affair with bread since the beginning. I once put him down for a nap, clutching a bagel, because he simply could not be calmed down without it in his hands.

    So after a long day of errands, I took the kids to Panera as a reward, letting them choose any one thing from the case.

    But my boy looked past all the pastries and smoothies, as he had his heart set on just one thing—a baguette, which he declared he would eat all by himself. I can’t even describe the glee with which he clutched that loaf.

    Eat up, kid.

  • World 8

    World 8

    A certain 6-year-old just finished Super Mario 3D Land. The whole thing.

    I can’t decide whether to be proud or super afraid. 

  • Tree trimming

    Tree trimming
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  • The tree

    The tree
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  • Dinner by candlelight

    Dinner by candlelight
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  • Family hug

    Family hug

  • Spa bliss and the Dark Side

    Spa bliss and the Dark Side
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    The kids got haircuts today.

    Ellery crawled into our bed sometime in the middle of the night. At around 6:00am I awoke to someone excitedly whispering in my ear, “We’re getting haircuts today!”

    This girl was born for the spa. She’s been excited about this day for a week. I think haircut day trumped both Thanksgiving celebrations. When we arrived, she settled into the chair like she owned the place, and never stopped smiling.

    In between haircuts and the Muppets (YAY!) with Chris, we killed a little time at the Lego store. On our way through the mall we ran into the Dark Side. A certain six-year-old was impressed.

    As for the movie, I got a bit teary-eyed as they sang the opening sequence, my own children the same age as when I first dicovered the Muppets. That’s all kinds of full-circle awesome.

    (Unlike this post, which is all kinds of scattered and disjointed.)