family

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Hannah’s Birthday

Wow, have we been busy!  It’s already been 2 weeks since Hannah’s birthday and I’m just now posting this.  

We celebrated Hannah’s 2nd birthday with our family on March 27th.  It was a chilly but beautiful day for a party.  Hannah and Noah had 5 other children to play with, plus 2 babies.    Everyone enjoyed the company and the food.  I loved spending time with everyone even though I didn’t get to talk with everyone for very long.  As always, I had a blast making the food.  Here’s my menu for the day:

 Snacks & Appetizers 

Pretzels & Potato Chips, Tortilla Chips and Salsa, Spinach Dip, Veggies and Dip, Cheese tray with Brie and Montchevre Cheeses (herb, fig and cranberry cinnamon), Wilted Greens and Sheep Cheese Bruschetta 

Dinner 

Pomegranate Glazed Rotisserie Chicken, Spinach Quiche, Artichoke Quiche, Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus, Salad 

Dessert 

Chocolate/Vanilla Swirled Cake and Cupcakes, Fruit Tart, Ice Cream 

 Hannah had so much fun opening her presents and Noah was right there to help her when she got stuck!  She got so many pretty dresses and she loves wearing them all.  

Opening Presents

By the time we were ready for cake and cupcakes Hannah was so tired and glassy-eyed, but that wasn’t going to keep her from her Mickey Mouse cupcake. 

Sleepy Hannah eating her Cupcake

  

I didn’t get too many pictures that day, but hopefully some of our guests will email me some of theirs!  (hint, hint)  😉

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Dreary, Rainy Monday

What a sad day Monday was.  Dave stayed home because we both had doctor appointment…our colds were just not going away.  When I got back from dropping Noah at pre-school, Dave met me with bad news.  He’d found Abigail’s single lamb strangled in a rope hay feeder.  He was a week old.  We both felt so guilty.  It was my brilliant idea to make the feeder and re-use baling twine; and we had turned off the baby monitor in the barn since we weren’t expecting any more ewes to go into labor. 

Later, at the doctor’s, we learned we both have sinus infections and I have bronchitus.  At least we’re now on antibiotics and getting better.  🙂 

I worked that night.  Dave called me around 8pm because Noah got sick.  He continued to get sick every hour until 4:30am.  Poor kid!  Every time he got up again I had just fallen asleep.

What a dreary, depressing Monday.  I’m glad Tuesday brought a sunny day.

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Corned Beef and Cupcakes

We had a St. Patty’s Day dinner tonight since I have to work on Wednesday and Dave’s parents were here today.  I made corned beef for the 1st time…I never knew it was so easy to cook!  I didn’t make cabbage (it probably wouldn’t go over well with the picky eaters) but I made roasted potatoes, “Aunt Jack Carrots” (glazed carrots with butter and brown sugar that my sister makes) and asparagus to go with it.  Nice spring veggies!

Anyway while the corned beef was cooking Noah spied the cupcakes I had bought for dessert.  I told him they were our dessert and the green “jimmies” on them were for St. Patty’s Day.  OK – he went back to playing. 

Later, after Dave brought him and Hannah out to the barn to show Pop-Pop how big the ducklings were getting, Noah showed Daddy the cupcakes.  Dave acted surprised and asked him what they were for.  He proudly said, “For Aunt Patti’s Day!”  I hope my Aunt Patti smiles at that!  🙂

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It’s Almost Spring!

This past week has been so nice! We’ve been outside so much because the weather has been sunny and warm. The only snow still on the ground is in the heavily shaded areas.

Last week I made farmer’s cheese with cow milk since we were hosting a small family get-together. I made 2 different kinds: herb cheese – with garlic, tarragon and salt; and sweet cheese – with sugar, chopped raisins and dried cranberries, and drizzled with honey. I liked the sweet one better, but everyone said they were both good. I just think the herb cheese needed more herbs. We really enjoyed having our family visit on Saturday. My sister and her family came over from New Jersey and my aunts, uncle and cousin from Long Island drove down with my aunt from Nevada. Another of my uncles drove up from the Baltimore area. It was such a nice and relaxing day. Noah and Hannah, especially, enjoyed the company.

Aunt Laureen with Noah & Hannah

 We strolled around the farm in muck boots (mostly borrowed and not the right size) and enjoyed the sun on our skin. We checked out the animals and watched birds soar overhead. My Uncle Frank loves nature and does a lot of birding. He gave Noah a picture of 4 young raccoons that he took while hiking in NY. Noah was so happy and has displayed his picture proudly on his dresser. We’ll get a frame for it and hang it up this weekend.   Hannah loved playing with her cousins, Summer and Cole.  They’re only 5 months younger than her so they have lots of fun together.  Noah loves his cousins, too.  He likes being the big boy and taking care of his  younger cousins. 

On Sunday Noah decided to go sledding in the little bit of snow left on our front hill.  Hannah even hopped on the sled with Dave for her 1st time sledding.  All the other snow was just too much for her and she didn’t have too much fun.  After about 5 minutes outside after we got that blizzard she turned to me and said, “Mommy, inside!”   

Sledding with Daddy

After our sledding fun we wandered around, then spent some time with the baby ducks.  They’re getting big, but they still don’t have any adult feathers.  It’s funny because by 2 or 3 days baby chicks are already getting some adult feathers.  

Holding the Ducklings

 

This week Hannah, Noah and I have had colds but it’s been so warm that we’ve gone outside for walks.  Aurie came over with Sophie and Isabelle on Tuesday and it was just a house full of runny noses!  But everyone had a fun day… that’s all that counts! 

We’re still waiting for our lambs to come.  We have 3 girls due any day and they’re huge.  I’ll post pictures of the lambs when they’re born…hopefully soon! 

Our VERY Pregnant Sheep

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Hannah’s Early Birthday Present

Noah and Hannah with the ducklings

Hannah got her birthday present today.  She absolutely loves ducks so we got her 2 ducklings.  Noah got 2 ducklings, too, because we couldn’t get pets for Hannah and not for him.  Everyone loves the little ducks and they are staying in the living room for a few days before moving out to the brooder in the barn. 

Our 4 little ducklings

 I tried sexing them the way I found in a book and, as far as I can tell, they’re all girls but how could we get that lucky?  We’ll have wait till they’re older to be sure.  If they are all girls we’ll have ducks eggs available in a few months because they are Gold Hybrid Ducks  – a layer breed.

Hannah helping put the duck in it's box

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Such a Big Boy

Yesterday morning Noah greeted me with what he’d been writing on his dry-erase board.  He loves to write and copy words.  Anyway, he’d taken all his Thomas trains and copied the names off the bottoms.

In case you need help, it says:

“Henry  Molly

Chicken Car

Spotlight Car

Holiday Percy

Clarabel”

My little boy is growing up!  He is constantly asking what things say and just soaking up all the information.  I still can’t believe he’ll be going to kindergarten in the fall!

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Not Again…

We lost our 8-year old house bunny Beau on Thursday afternoon.  Dave and I adopted him from a bunny rescue 3 months after we were married when Beau was 11 months old.  He was a spunky, aggressive bunny who had been neglected by his previous family.  He would nip us whenever we put our hands in his cage to feed him!  He soon came to trust us and loved getting petted.  He even would let strangers pet him in his cage! 

Noah feeding Beau animal crackers

Soon after we moved to Douglassville Beau got a little “sister”, Lola.  After a few disputes about territory and Lola’s spaying they became very bonded.  We hope she doesn’t become too depressed being alone.

Lola and Beau

Up until Beau’s last day he was still that spunky bunny we first adopted.  He still ran around and “binkied” like a young bunny all the time.  He passed away quietly and peacefully with his family near him.  We’ll miss you, Beau!

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Sophie’s Birthday Party

Last Saturday, January 9th, we traveled to NJ for Sophie’s 2nd birthday party.  It was a “Fancy Nancy” tea party and all the girls had such a good time.  Aurie made tu-tu’s for the 5 girls and they each had a tiara.  Hannah wore her tu-tu all day until we went home after dinner!

Hannah in her tu-tu and tiara

Aurie’s friend who’s a face-painter was there painting the girls’ faces….and the moms’, too.

Hannah and Mommy

 Sophie’s favorite toy was a Thomas the Tank playset.  It was very funny to see all the little girls playing with the trains!

 

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Hannah’s visit to the Plastic Surgeon

Tuesday we had our 2nd appointment at CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). Our first appointment was December 2008 with the dermatologist, Dr. Yan. Although Hannah’s pediatrician could diagnose her birthmark as a Nevus Sebaceous, he wanted a specialist to confirm the diagnosis and to decide if she should have surgery to remove it. Dr. Yan had recommended that it be removed since it’s in a place where Hannah cannot see it easily to check on it for changes (it’s behind her right ear).

Anyway, we saw Dr. Jackson in plastic surgery. She was very nice and answered all our questions. Because of its size, Dr. Jackson said we could have it removed in one surgery or two. If we opted for 2, they could reduce the size of the scar. It’s borderline in size and her hair covers it so we chose to so it in one surgery so she won’t have to be under anesthesia twice.
In a few days we’ll talk to Dr. Jackson’s secretary about scheduling the surgery, but it won’t be for at least a couple months. CHOP has a surgical facility in Exton (about 45 minutes south of us) so we don’t have to go all the way into the city for the procedure. She will be completely out for the surgery, and it should only take about 30 minutes.
The reason they sometimes remove this type of birthmark is after puberty the make-up of them can change. Some can develop tumors such as basal cell carcinoma, but the most frequent type is trichoblastoma. In very rare cases the birthmark can become malignant. If you’re interested in learning more about this type of birthmark I found some basic information at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevus_sebaceous and more technical info at http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1058733-overview.