Twelve

A few weeks ago this boy turned twelve.  Its hard to believe he is almost a teenager. He has the biggest heart, most creative mind, exasperating stubbornness, perfect comedic timing, strong determination, and we couldn't imagine our lives without him. 

He had been trying to figure out what to do for his birthday but when your birthday is in July a beach party seems like a great idea. 

We met some friends at the bay for the morning and then they all went to swim practice. It happened to be a fun friday swim practice so they played games and relay races and then I brought popsicles for all the kids. 

I hope he knows how loved he is by everyone. There really is only one Joel. No one else is quite like him. I'm so curious to know what his brain thinks and how it connects everything.  Joel will be doing something  and my friends will say only Joel. We except nothing less from him.  

We've been spending a lot more alone time together lately because he is going to a new doctor/trainer twice a week.  This doctor is trying to deplete his glycogen stores so his body will absorb his insulin. This is a last effort before he goes on medication.  I have a lot to say about all we are learning but he works so hard there and I get an ear full the entire car ride there and back. I really enjoy this time with just him.

I feel like we will hear a lot more from him as a teenager than Colin. Joel already asks me how to ask a girl to be his girlfriend (don't worry he doesn't have anyone in mind that he admits to yet he just wants to be prepared) He has no regard for hygeine so I'm sure when he is ready to ask a girl to be his girlfriend he might start bathing more often. He loves to sit in the backseat middle and stretch out his arm across Norah since she is the height of his smelly armpit. 

He did his birthday belly flop and as another parent told me, "Joel's birthday belly flops never disappoint" 

4th of July

We were all excited when the city decided to have fireworks this year for the 4th.  Ours are always held on the 3rd.  It was a perfect night for listening to the band and letting the kids run around and play.  

She told me she wasn't afraid of fireworks anymore...

She had carefully planned her patriotic outfits for the entire weekend.

Then the next morning I woke up everyone at 6:30 to get to the Yorktown parade. It was the only city doing a parade for the 4th so we thought it would be pretty good. 

It was the fife and drum corps and then the rest was all politicians. I don't think they will let me wake them up early next year but it doesn't feel like the 4th of July without a parade. 

We stopped in williamsburg to see Jeff at his store and then headed home for a cookout at our friends house.  They had bought fireworks from south carolina back in the fall. 

The kids set up their chairs. 

And then one went sideways! All the kids but one girl jumped into the pool.   Thankfully no one was hurt but now Norah told me she is still a little afraid of fireworks. 

They watched the rest like this. 

Joel told me on the way home that the fireworks was an answer to prayer. He had asked God to show up that day and he told me "God showed up. None of us got hurt" 

 

Nugget

Norah's art teacher this year incubated and hatched chicks and it was the coolest thing to watch. One week when we went to pick up the kids one egg was hatching and so the next hour a few of us moms sat and watched it come out.  I mentioned to her teacher that Joel had been asking for years to incubate eggs and she said we could use all her stuff when she was done.  We just had to find fertilized eggs. That very week I was going to pick up eggs my friend had for me so after that it was hard to say no to the kids. 

We did end up buying our own incubator because after the chicks hatched, my friend said it was gross and hard to clean. Ours wasn't hard to clean so we have it if we want to do this again. 

We might've candled them a little too much. But it was really cool to see them forming and hearts beating. 

Meet Nugget.  Our one and only chick that ended up hatching and quickly became very spoiled.

I was worried it would keep us from eating chicken but the day after Nugget hatched Norah fixed herself some chicken nuggets for breakfast.  

I dont think this chick was put down very often. She loved to be held and would chirp at us and run back and forth in the brooding box when we would put her down and walk away. She was happiest with someone. We quickly all became very attached to little Nugget. 

She loved to sleep being held. 

Norah had a lot of fun playing with her in the dollhouse.

One night at swim practice we brought Nugget to our friend Whitney (the one we got eggs from) to try to put her under a mother hen who had hatched her own eggs. Nugget was actually from that batch of eggs.  It worked at first but they found Nugget alone and cold the next morning and anytime they put her with the other chicks she would run away. 
 

So we went and picked her up again. The kids were thrilled and hoping she would stay permanently. But we read that chickens are very social and need their own kind to really thrive so I texted Jeff and his neighbor took in Nugget. 

It was a success.  Nugget is thriving with this flock and still loves to be with people and held but Patty has been a good mother hen to Nugget. 

We get weekly videos of Nugget and cant wait to go see her and see if she remembers us.  We missed her more than we thought.  One day maybe we will get chickens