The Peachicks are here!

Every year I look forward to seeing peachicks (baby peacocks). They usually start appearing around June or July. This year I was very distracted by the arrival of my our baby, but I was sad that I did not see any peachicks... until now.

A peahen and her peachicks

I got to thinking that many of you have not seen the Farm and some of our animals. So here is a little bit about where we live and the pets we live with...

Our House

Our Backyard

Our Noisy Neighbors:
The Peacocks

Our Parrot

Avery our Double Yellow Headed Amazon was our first pet. My family always had parrots growing up. After bird-sitting my dad's African Gray three years ago, we decided to become "bird people" too. Avery is very friendly. She loves people, singing and laughing. Her new talent is crying exactly like Audrey, so much that we have to check Audrey's crib to see if it is her. We are really in trouble when both Audrey and Avery are crying at the same time.

Getting into my purse

The Ducky was
beheaded five
minutes later.

Our Cat


Peyton joined us last year. Someone abandoned her near our gate during the really bad frost around Christmas time. She was only about 8 weeks old. She came running up to me in the dark and I almost brought her home but I thought Eric would get mad at me. I brought Eric to the gate when he got home from work and we were at Walmart 15 minutes later buying kitty litter, food and a bed.



Our Chicken & Rooster
Rudy and Helen joined us last summer. They were another case of the unwanted animal thrown over the fence. They started sleeping on Eric's grill until the day they jumped onto the hot grill lid. After that we decided to keep them in the unused chicken coop the house.

Rudy flew into the watering can and got stuck on day.




Another day he decided to play dead
and I fell for it.




Helen lays a little light green egg every couple of days.
They are very tasty.





Our Bunnies

Yes, we also have rabbits (making that six pets). Cooper gave birth to Penny shortly after Buster (the dad bunny) died this Spring. We kept her so Cooper would not be alone. We ended our phase of baby bunnies.



Penny as a baby bunny

Audrey's First Angels Game

My friend Aaron offered us tickets to tonight's Angels game. We were going to take Audrey to her first game on Labor Day but I am categorically opposed to turning down free Angels tickets. We took our friends Kevin and Amber and despite two Vladamir Guerrero homers, the Angels lost. Audrey especially enjoyed the fireworks....though she may have thought it was her birthday. Here are a few pics of our big outing.

Cat in the Cradle

So... since Audrey is not sleeping in her crib yet, Peyton decided to help keep it warm for her.

Sleep when she sleeps

So Eric came home with some good advice before we had Audrey. Roxeanne (the "chapel lady" for you Biola folk) said that we should sleep when Audrey sleeps. What Roxeanne didn't tell us was that it would not be sleeping voluntarily. Here are a few pictures of Eric and I catching a few Z's when we could.

Family Camping at the Farm

So our family has this weird tradition. For the last five years, we have had a family reunion by meeting together for a camping weekend. Three years ago, MaryAnn (Eric's Step-Mom) suggested that The Farm might be an ideal spot for "family camping". While it certainly feels less like camping in our yard, we definitely don't mind sleeping in our own bed and enjoying our hot shower. This year the attendance included John and Mary Ann (Eric's Dad and Step-Mom, Cedulie and Luis (Eric's Mom and Step-Dad), Susan (Eric's Step-Sister) Stefanie and George (Eric's Sister and Brother-in-law), Suzie (my Mom), and Chung and Rahime (my Sister and Brother-in-law.) We were especially blessed this year when our landlords offered us the use of their RV. In addition to a sleeping space that did not need to be "pitched," the use of a second bathroom proved to be a lifesaver. What happens at family camping you may ask? The answer is very simple. We play games and eat good food. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

She has eyes!

So we realized that none of the pictures we have put on the blog so far show Audrey with her eyes open. She has her mom's big beautiful eyes and while they are still blue (for now) they should be a dark brown in no time. Here are a few more pictures of the apple of our eyes.

Happy Birthday Cole Myles

Audrey got the chance to meet her new buddy today. Our dear friends, Dan & Erika gave birth to their little boy, Cole Myles at 8:02 am this morning. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and 20 inches long. Despite being five weeks older than Cole, Audrey and he are about the same size. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy...

Cole Myles

Happy Family

The Boys

Betrothed

Back to Work

Alas...my time of "bonding with Audrey" is over...at least as far as the state is concerned. I consider myself fortunate for being able to take 1 entire month paid off of work. Today I am back to work and as much as I enjoyed my time off, I am all about air conditioning. I was also starting to go a little stir crazy as my wife and mom can probably attest. So to everyone who emailed me while I was on vacation, I am pleased to say that there is no longer an auto-reply throwing my time off in your face.

Audrey Loves Sleeping (During the Day!!!)

Meeting Grandma

Audrey greeted a very happy Grandma at the airport last Tuesday. Eric's mom is in town for two weeks. Here's some pictures...hope you enjoy.

My Crazy Ailments

Last week I spent way too much time at the doctor's office. Thursday we enjoyed a day at the fair but I think I got dehydrated and ended up with a bout of Mastitis and a 102 degree fever. I went to Urgent Care early Friday morning and basically slept the rest of the day away. Then Saturday night I was startled out of a deep sleep by some kind of flying bug that found its way into my ear canal. It flapped around for 45 minutes while I banged on the side of my head, and tried to flush it out with warm water and mineral oil. I finally gave up and headed to the ER at 3:00 in the morning. I must say that I have spent too much time at Kaiser Bellflower over the last two months.