Surprise!

There are times when I wonder what life would have been like if Frank and I had stayed in the city- surely it would be very different, not better not worse but different. But it is nights like tonight when I am truly grateful that we made the decision to move back to the "country." We have managed to find such a nice community of friends and neighbors here who last night threw me a surprise baby shower! It was so sweet. I felt like such a dumb ass walking in and being like ooh a baby shower..OMG it's for me! I totally didn't get it at first! So yes ladies I was very surprised! So despite the fact that she can be a HOLY terror most of the time I guess we have Cassie to thank for dissapearing into Lynn and Bruce's general direction and Lynn just happening to be out on her porch with Molly when Frank went looking for her and striking up a conversation with him and for Jen being such a wonderful extrovert that she looked us up and invited us over that same night! Thank goodness for coincidences..and runaway dogs! I'm so glad that my children will have such a wonderful community of neighbors to grow up in!

Adding to the menagerie!

Well the menagerie..uuu huumm, I mean Farm.. has had several new additions over the past few weeks. First there were the ducks, then the geese, then the chickens, and most recently 2 new cows- well actually a cow and a heifer if you want to be precise. So we are now the proud owners of 4 sheep- 2 ewes named tasty and yummy (really they need some new names but since you can't really tell them apart...we haven't yet bothered) and 2 ram lambs named Shish and Bob (as in shish kebob...I know we have very morbid naming tendencies...). 4 muscovy ducks- we think 3 females and a drake (we hope...) as yet unnamed. A goose and a gander named MJ and Grimm (MJ is short for Mother Goose but Frank decided that MG sounded weird so MJ it became...). 7 chickens I think- 3 Rhode Island Reds and some red Stars who currently number 4 but as they are free ranging they have a tendnecy to become coyote food...chicken juts don't seem to do all that well on our place. And then there is the herd... At the moment we have Bert the Bull visitng with hope of actaully having calves next year. Then there are Fame and Linny- 2 sweet little borwn swiss heifers that are the property of 2 4Hers boarding at our place. And our 4- Molly the milking shorthorn and her calf Butch- who is the youngest yet biggest cow we have- helps that he is steer. He'll make some yummy steak next spring! And the 2 new girls Lucy and Effie- another cow/calf combo we picked up this weekend. They are Jersey girls and despite their horns are very sweet looking. Lucy is a good girl, Effie not so much. She needs some people time b/c at the moment she isn't the friendliest cow on the planet! I wanted to rename her but Frank thought Effie was appropriate b/c he called her an f-ing PITA! Someday I need to get out in the field and take some photos of Xander and the animals b/c he is so cute with them. Frank said today he was out with the rams and he walked up to them reaching out his hand and said hi, hi, hi and then baaaed! How adorable. Bob even let X pet him- he won't let us pet him! He has finally started distinguishing his animals sounds though- at first he just baaed at everything but now he appropriately baas at the sheep and moos at the cows- well it's really more of a maa instead of a moo but you get the idea! He adores all his animals- he's going to be a real farm boy like his daddy!

Oh and I think we finally have come up with a name for the farm.... Baobab Acres. We're still testing it out but so far I think we might actually be in agreement. Now all we need to do is find a name for the baby!

Six Flags

So Monday we went to Six Flags with my mom and Riley and Connor. At first I thought that Xander would be bored and he wouldn't have too much fun but in all honestly I think that he had more fun than Frank and I combined. He actually started crying when we had to get off the first ride- luckily there was no line so we just got right back on! Technically I am not supposed to go on any of the rides- including the kiddie rides- a fact that I ignored a few times but I did have some issues with the belly actually fitting in some of the rides. We did the Route 66 cars and I almost didn't fit behind the steering wheel and obviously Xander couldn't drive! But I had a good time even though I couldn't ride many rides. We went to several of the shows and we spent a good part of the afternoon swimming in the water park. Xander discovered splashing and boy did he have fun! I was a little concerned about him and the water b/c other than his bath which he loves he hasn't shown much interest in the pool/lake/swimming idea. On one of the few very hot days we have had this summer I set up the kiddie pool in the backyard thinking he would enjoy cooling off but all he did was scream bloody murder. Apparently it just wasn't hot enough b/c he went right into the pool at Six Flags and splashed and frolicked and even let me swish him around through the water. He wasn't too excited about floating on his back but other than that he enjoyed himself. It was nice going with thte big kids though b/c it meant that Frank had someone to ride the big rides with and also that I didn't have to be alone with Xan all day. All in all we had a nice day I think. It was the end to a very busy weekend though b/c we went to the Cheshire Fair thurs, fri, sat and sun and then to Six Flags on Mon! I am ready to just stay ayt home for a bit!