The House Band

After Mary got her ukulele for Christmas, Catherine was ready to pick up another instrument also. She worked on the guitar for a bit but the ones we have at the house are pretty big and she really wanted to practice and play with Mary, so we got out the extra ukulele of Daddy's. Catherine took to it right away and she and Mary were quickly playing together. But that is an old (and rather valuable) ukulele so Catherine couldn't haul it around with her everywhere like Mary could hers, which meant within a couple weeks we were heading out to pick up another inexpensive ukulele. Now there is no limit to their practice time, other than basic school duties. This is what most of their breaks from school look like (unless it's warm, then they're out on the porch).

Mary began writing her own songs as soon as she knew enough chords to piece one together. This video is her first original song, music and lyrics. My audio recording isn't that great and they are still learning to strum together, so I added the lyrics in CC so you can appreciate her songwriting.

I will admit that when I only had babies in the house, the idea of having kids this age was quite intimidating to me, but I was completely wrong. These girls are so much fun!

Around The House

Edie got a bunch of these magna tiles for Christmas and they have been well used already by all the kids. I can't remember who came up with this "sitting chicken" - it was either Gussie or Mary. Or maybe Catherine. Then Gussie modified it so it could be worn as a hat.

Side note: those blocks came with a set of instructions that show you how to lay out the blocks in patterns on the floor so that when you pick up the center, a shape comes together in 3D (like a ball or a house). Gussie started trying to figure out his own patterns to set up on the floor, and became very excited when they started to work. He dubbed these patterns "magical positions." So if he exclaims to you that he has a new "magical position" to show you, it's ok, it's just blocks.

Michael Jr got a Titanic Lego set for Christmas. It's his biggest set ever. I think it actually intimidated him a little when he opened it because normally he sets to building new Lego sets immediately but this box lingered on his table for a few days. I think Mary pushed him into starting it and helped him out in the beginning, then he had it together in a day or so. He declared it was one Lego set he would never destroy.

Then he destroyed it and he and Mary and Gussie built smaller boats out of all the pieces for a few weeks. Then he gathered up all the pieces again and set to rebuilding Titanic, although he had to scour Lego Land for some replacement pieces for a few of the original pieces that were misplaced while they were making smaller ships. But he got it finished, and this time he's *really* not going to destroy it.

Catherine must have taken this picture of Mary sewing new bonnets for her rag dolls because it just showed up on my camera.

Edie has been building a lot of "shooters" out of her Duplos and asked me to take a picture of her collection.

The shooters all make high-pitched "pew-pew-pew" sounds. I'm pretty sure it's from catching bits and pieces of the Star Wars trilogy that the big kids recently watched with Daddy.

Eggs! Our chicks from last year are now old pullets, almost full-grown hens, and with the days getting a tiny bit longer and warmer, many of them have started laying their first eggs. This greenish egg is from Catherine's Americauna chicken. Her eggs will all be light green or blue.

The pullet eggs are still small. This is a large store-bought egg next to a pullet egg. But they will get bigger over the next month or so until they are full size.

Edie went through a couple weeks where she demanded to be wrapped up on my back every morning when she woke up and every time I was working in the kitchen. I think she's back to her normal independent status now.

A Day at Twin Oaks

We've reached the point of St. Louis winters where there are random 60 - 80 degree days sandwiched in between the cold, rainy, dreary, and/or snowy days. So we took a Sun Day off of school and spent the day at Grandma's and Grandpa's farm, named Twin Oaks. They have made a ton of progress on the property since the last time we visited. The garage building is mostly finished; there is some work left to do still but it is functional, with a bathroom and a loft apartment above the garage. I totally failed to get pictures of the garage, but you can see some of it behind Gussie zip lining here.

And the kids enjoyed grabbing a snack and lounging on the beds in the apartment.

We spent a lot of time "helping" Grandpa continue to clear the trail through the woods, cutting briars and small trees and moving rocks into a little gulley so the tractor could get over it. It's really nice to be in the woods right now - no bugs and easy to see the kids through the trees!

Michael Jr kept asking Grandpa to find more trees he could saw down.

Of course the trail work required driving both the tractor and the new Mule. Edie doesn't ride on the tractor far but Grampa showed her how to move the bucket up and down and tip it, which she loved.

That's her "pleased as punch" face.

Gussie is all about steering.

Before she even saw the Mule, Catherine was dead set on learning to drive it. The starts and stops and always tricky at first but she did great after a few practice runs! A couple more visits and she'll be ready for solo driving.




As always, there was lots of zip lining and tire swinging and running with Charlie, who discovered it is great fun to chase the kids down the hill while they ride the zip line.

Yes, that's Mary trying to bunny ear her sister's picture, but she was too short.

They thought it was funny.

Charlie's ears and Gussie's hair looked pretty much the same, bouncing along as they ran through the field.

Gussie has been determined for months and months that he doesn't want to cut his hair because he wants to look like a lion. However he recently decided that lions have to spend too much time grooming; he's ready for a haircut now.

Edie will ride the zip line on her own now, but someone still has to help her off at the bottom, especially if Charlie is lying in wait to leap on her when she gets down.

The rocking chairs on the front porch are perfect for relaxing.

We're looking forward to expending a LOT of energy at the farm this year!

A Quick Zoo Trip

Michael took the kids out to the zoo for a bit on his day off. The zoo is fun when it's cold because there is no one there but there are plenty of indoor animal houses to enjoy. Catherine took a camera, and from what I can tell, they spent most of their time in the reptile house and the monkey house.

When they got home they had a long discussion about how the turtle and the snake could live in the same enclosure and why the snake didn't eat the turtle.

And they liked the turtle's lunch.

Edie saw this baby monkey and sat down to watch and refused to move for quite a while.

Thanks for being my eyes when I'm not around, Catherine!

Horses in the House

On any given day our house might be inhabited by monkeys, lions, octopuses, cats, puppies, hug monsters, gorillas, and occasionally, children. The horses have really taken over of late. This is Michael Horse, who excels at jumping courses.



I came into the room and asked Edie why she was so sad, and she said, "I not sad! I'm a baby horsey. This is how baby horsies look."

Edie has been practicing her jumping but she hasn't quite made it to Michael's skill level yet.


Gussie alternates between being the horse and riding the horse.

Yes, we'll be moving into a barn any day now.