A Story Telling Blog

A couple of weeks ago I received an email.

From a doctorate student from USC asking that I fill out a survey.

{And since he wasn’t a Nigerian prince asking for money I thought it was safe to reply.}

About my blog.

Apparently, this doctorate student who is in computer engineering {or science?} is developing a program that can search the internet to see if it can generate assumptions about the general population.

Much like a Gallup poll did before the dawn of computers and the internet.

So, this program searches for keywords that are selected in the hopes of finding out information about how the world is viewing things like presidential candidates, laws, religion, etc.

Well, I guess I’ve been writing this blog for so long and with such frequency it came up pretty regularly in this student’s searches,

hence the contact and survey.

He referred to my blog as a storytelling blog because it documents my daily activities and basically generates no income.

{You’re welcome to be that change….}

I started this blog January of 2010.

{Six years ago, I’ll help you out with the math.}

Since that time I’ve had three more kids,

moved to Oregon,

and

accumulated some chickens.

I was trying to come up with thirty other things that I’ve done in that time but in reality,

not a lot has happened in those six years….

I’m probably a tad more patient and a bit more tired.

Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to post one of my first blog entries:

Adeline

Things I say to Adeline:

"Good morning."

"Let's go potty."

"Did you wash your hands?"

"You have to stay on your own couch cushion."

"Stop going onto Elizabeth's side."

"Thank you, I don't think Meg wants anymore hugs."

"Stop poking Meg."

"You don't have to take out Meg's pacifer to talk to her."

"Finish your breakfast."

"No, you can't push your baby in the stroller for our walk, that takes five hours and we only have thirty minutes."

"You better stop by the time I count to five. One...two...three...."

"Where did you put Meg's pacifier?"

"You want to watch Peter Pan, AGAIN?"

"If you want to talk to Dad on the phone, you need to stop crying."

"We don't hit."

"Timeout."

"Please don't put Elizabeth in a choke hold."

"Hurry up."

"Do you want to hold my hand?"

"Go put your coat and shoes on."

"Go put your coat and shoes on."

"Go put your coat and shoes on."

"If you do a good job putting on your coat and shoes you can have a fruit snack."

"I love you."

"Why are you so crazy?"

"No, I just got all of the coloring stuff out for you and you colored for a total of 2 minutes. You'll have to wait or go color."

"Adeline, Elizabeth can sing in the car, too."

"No, you're not done eating."

"If you do a good job eating you can have a treat."

"Yes, I can color with you."

"I don't know when Dad's going to get home, but I hope it's soon."

"You threw up because you drank your own bath water and I had already told you to get out."

"Adeline, you need to find Meg's pacifier."

"What did you give Meg to eat?"

"What's in Meg's mouth?"

"Yes, you can put on your pjamas for nap time."

"I love you, good night."

"You need to take a four hour nap, okay?"

"Yes, I can read you a book."

"Put that down."

"Don't cut that."

Katie

I Don’t Have A Favorite

Which I think for a child,

when you are completely convinced you are superior to your siblings

in every aspect

is hard for kids to realize you love them all, equally,

even if it’s differently.

Soooo

I made all of the girls a new dress

that way they wouldn’t think Libby is the favorite.

Although, babies?

They’re pretty darn likable.

Adeline:

I was pretty impressed I lined the dress.

Turns out it was a waste of my time because the outer fabric snags like heck and pretty soon it will be nothing but a distant memory.

 

And Elizabeth:

I kinda hate myself for making her a full length dress.

Why is she so grown up?!

 

And Meg:

Navy blue with red anchors.

 

 

And I couldn’t not take some pictures with the baby chicks.

I read a statistic that like 78% of the chicks and bunnies that are purchased for Easter gifts won’t make it.

And I in no way condone purchasing animals for the sake of awfully cute pictures.

But…

if you all ready have a chicken habit, no reservations.

{No chicks were harmed in the making of these photos.}

My friend made this quilt for Libby.

Darling, no?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, can we have a brief discussion about Instagram?

Do you do it?

Do you like it?

Does it take a lot of time?

Do you prefer that over Facebook?

Should I try it?

Anything else I should know?

Happy doing six loads of laundry, cleaning up your house after a full weekend at home and going to the grocery store because you forgot soap last week when you went to six different stores day Monday,

Katie

Mediocrity

I stumbled upon this article today.

I connected with it because that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately.

{Obviously much less eloquent inside my own head.}

Which is partly why I haven’t been posting.

Sometimes my life is really just filled with runny noses, messy refridgerators, stay-at-home dates, sewing projects that don’t work out, craft ideas that are never realized, trips to the discount bread store, and running mutliple loads in the dishwasher.

Bryce and I were talking the other day and he asked me how I would like to be remembered.

I went to a funeral of a relative I had never met, one of my mom’s aunts? almost twelve years ago now.

And I left there wanting to be remembered like her.

She was loud, loving, hard working, and content.

She lived her whole life in small town Idaho but was reverenced after she passed by her family.

{As a side note, it wouldn’t hurt if I was also remembered for my fried chicken….}

So, here’s to mediocrity:

I made this dress and leggings for Libby.

I pretty much love that pom poms are a thing now.

 

 

A couple of years ago we bought a breed of chickens that are broody so that we could give them baby chicks to raise.

You know, instead of a saw dust filled galvanized bucket with a heat lamp and a brood of baby chickens underneath our kitchen table.

It is so, so fun seeing a baby and a mama interact.

This is a Cochin with a Buff Orpington baby.

I’ve ordered ten other chicks for later this week and I have another mama Cochin brooding to give them to.

 

 

Hope your March is off to a great start,

Katie