War, Eggs, and Birthdays

I just tucked two crying boys into bed… we just watched the Anne of Green Gables sequel, which includes some pretty scary war scenes, and I guess the boys were pretty affected. I had to explain to Levi that it was really like that in the war, and there are families today that have loved ones gone and killed, and war is a horrible thing. I didn’t expect to have to confront such a serious matter watching Anne of Green Gables!

We are finally getting eggs from our chickens! They are coming slowly at first, but will hopefully increase steadily. Here is a picture of three eggs, one from a grown bird that we just got, one from a pullet in our own flock, and a wee one from a banty hen.



Today was Levi’s 9th birthday, and he said he LOVED this day. That’s a pretty good feeling, considering we didn’t have a party, or anything big. We try to just make their birthdays special with our immediate family, and I think it makes us bond more. We started the day dropping Jake off at his choir class and going to Chuck E Cheese for an hour, after some serious deliberating as to whether a birthday boy with a bad attitude should receive such a treat. (There are some moments when I just wish I weren’t the mom!) They had fun and played plenty of games, which, of course, means they got to pick out several worthless, made in China toys with their tickets that will soon find their way into our garbage. Then we went to lunch at Fire Hut, where our sweet Mrs. Jan showered us with hugs and kisses, and treated Levi to a big brownie and ice cream sundae with a candle. She always makes our birthdays special, and any visit! Levi told us that when he blew out the candle, he wished that he would look just like Daddy when he was little, AND when he was grown. When we got home, the gifts were opened…

All Levi really wanted this year was a metal detector, ever since we listened to a Hardy Boys episode where Chet Morton (had to ask Jake what his last name was, and, of course, he knew) had one and found a gun on the beach. So, that made our job easy. We got him the detector and the headphones, since I KNOW I’ll be sick of that beeping in about… three minutes.

Luke wrapped up a few of his own things, and gave him a $5, which was really sweet. The problem was that he kept going back into his room and wrapping more things, so I finally had to tell him that he had already given enough, and that he couldn’t give EVERYTHING. Jake (who is currently laughing incessantly because he put fake poop on my mouse) got creative and handed Levi a riddle, which he had to solve in order to find his treasure map. Tonight he found one of the five gold dollars that Jake hid in the yard and mapped out, and he can’t WAIT for tomorrow to find the rest. As he was getting ready for bed, he put his detector in the kitchen and said, “Tomorrow’s a BIG day!”

Here he is opening his knife from Bub, which was a jaw-dropper. It’s made from a real deer horn… every 9 year old boy’s dream. Perkins boys, anyway. He said he wished Bub was here, then he said, “All I want for my next birthday is for Bub to be here.” Sniff. He did get to call him and say thank you.

For dinner, we had a shrimp and crawfish boil that was poured onto the table, to everyone’s delight. That was how I talked him out of fried shrimp… with the promise of getting to pour it on the table. They were pretty pleased. Since shrimp is a nasty bottom feeder, and on mom’s list of banned foodstuffs at home, they always ask for it as their birthday meal, usually with a little help from daddy.

The birthday celebration was finished with the other usual birthday request… dirt cake. Jake has finally moved on to cheesecake, but it’s still a hard decision for him. This year, it was dirt pie, with everything but the Newman-Os (the all-natural and just-as-tasty alternative to Oreos) made from scratch. Let me tell you, there isn’t much of anything in this life tastier than warm, homemade vanilla pudding. I actually jumped up and clapped my hands like the kids do, it was so good.

Speaking of jumping up and down, I’m not doing much of that, but I am feeling a lot better since starting the iron supplement. I’m not nearly as tired, haven’t been down all week, and haven’t had a headache in, like, three days. That’s a lot of improvement! If it keeps up, I’ll get back to riding my bike in the mornings, and we have to get some cardio going. Craig and I are trending toward the “squishies” these days, and that’s just not going over well.

Bedtime… I have to get an early start on sleeping late tomorrow.

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