Happy 9th Birthday Grace Susannah!

Grace's Baptism

Piano & Violin Recital (July 19)

Just who do we think we are . . .

This morning for breakfast I sauteed some golden chanterelles given to me by a neighbor. She had found them in the local woods. I then added them to some scrambled local cage-free eggs with some raw milk, chopped chervil, and shredded Cabot cheddar. How very localvore and gourmet, right?
I had to chuckle as I cooked it up and ate it with our house in total disarray. Who eats golden chanterelles in their eggs while his son's carpet is still wet with urine from an early morning accident?
But man those eggs were good.

Can't wait for church tomorrow.

Ordination

These are the only decent pics that I have from the night. My hands were full with a cranky 3 year old boy who only wanted his momma. It's nice being wanted.

Thoughts on Parenthood

Baby Miles is wearing one of our old onesies in this picture and when I saw it I just started to bawl! It brought back memories of my newborns who are no longer babies and never will be again. It also brought the realization that there will probably be no more baby Tates on the East coast. But being on this side of parenthood (post diapers)has it's shares of blessings as well. We are now approaching a time where we can discuss scripture, literature and life in general with our older girls. I feel as though we are walking through life with our kids now instead of making sure they survive it (Obie being the exception). It's parenthood on a whole new level but just like bringing a newborn home it's still exciting and scary all at the same time.

And then there were two

This being a family friendly blog we're not posting any pictures but I will tell you that I have "processed" seven of our nine geese, "processed" being a euphemism for "clumsily butchered."
It did not go as well as I would have liked. We will not have any roasting geese as the pin feathers were beyond anything I might have imagined. But we have a refrigerator full of breasts and legs.
And though it didn't go as well as I would have liked it wouldn't have gone at all had it not been for Tim Elliott's equipment and assistance.
And I'm relieved that it's done.
It was a hard day for Elisabeth, though. That girl has been wonderful with the geese and it pained me to see her so saddened, and all the more so because she bore her sorrow with such great restraint.
But we've decided to name the remaining two Adam and Eve, unless they turn out to be two ganders in which case we will call them Adam and Steve, our Vermont geese.