Elena's third birthday party!!

What is Elena thinking?
Option A: "I am so excited about my birthday party!"

Option B: "Will my mother live up to my expectations and provide for me a perfectly balanced blend of entertainment, surprise, and tradition? Can she possibly succeed in entertaining 6 kids and their parents whilst maintaining a sense of humor and calm? Surely, she cannot prepare a birthday that seems both warmly and charmingly home-spun AND flawlessly thought-through to the smallest detail. Surely, she will fail, as she does daily in her meager attempts at nurturing me and my brother while performing at a high level in her profession. Does she really think I haven't noticed?"
The game of Twister acting as a subtle metaphor for our life in the Krentz Family. Those smiles are deceiving.

Making pizza

Pizza making was the "home-spun" element of the party. Everyone seemed happy with the results.

Entertainment from the chickens

The chickens enjoy left-over pizza crusts.

The troops head up to the coop to check for eggs.

Birthday party kids

All in all, it was a successful party!
1. No one seemed to notice that most of the games and decorations were done at midnight the night before.
2. Nobody flinched at the canned pizza sauce and Duncan Hines "funfetti" cupcakes.
3. All of our little (and big) guests were delightful.
4. Nobody broke down and cried (hostess included).
5. The chickens did not mess up the carefully choreographed "chicken dance" that we had been rehearsing for months.

One more birthday party checked off as a success (out of two). How many more to go?

Happy Birthday, Amy!

We had a birthday song video for you, but I am still having camera problems!
We love you!!

Till the camera-computer poor communication is solved...

I am having trouble downloading stuff, so here is what you have missed this week:

1. A video of Jesse saying all of our names. Actually, first we pointed to everyone and said, "Who's this?" and he answered, "This-this!" over and over till finally he caught on. He says "Mama, Daddy, Ella, Obie, Fish" very clearly. He says "mamamama" for "more," pounds his chest for "me," and produces many other warped versions of many other fantastic words!! His most impressive word so far is "Are-you?" when he has lost something. I'll ask him where his toothbrush is, and he starts walking around the house saying "Are-you shshshs?" He also, strangely enough, says, "Au revoir" instead of "bye-bye." I kid you not. I did not teach him this, just coincidentally, his first attempt at bye-bye sounds like "Ah-va!" accompanies by a sweet little wave. Then, also very charming-- he loves to sing "Jingle bells" over and over by singing three notes in a row, twice, then saying "Hey!" and throwing up his hands. Seriously, he walks around the house singing to himself. Can't get those Christmas carols out of yer head!

2. Elena and her extremes. This kid is a born pre-teen. When something goes wrong, she is all about "never, ever, anything, nothing, can't" and her personal favorite: "RUINED!!" Yesterday after being chastised by Kevin for not staying in bed: "I will NEVER be a good girl! I will never ever sleep!" and then "Jess RUINED my tower. It will never ever be right again! I will never play with legos again! I can't. I won't! I will never ever!" Hilarious. She is also extremely into fashoin these days... as long as it is pink, and involves tights. She not only picks out her own outfits, she also dresses herlsef from head to toe (thank you, pull up diapers), and then undresses herself to try on a different outfit a couple times a day. She often comments on my clothing, "Mommy, I love your beautiful, soft, orange, sparkly shirt!"

3. Cambela. Cambela is her newest "fav" animal friend. Carebear and Flora have taken the back seat to this little brown bear that she has dressed in a dancing outfit (borrowed from Missy Mouse, no less!) This was a bear that Santa put in her stocking, and she didn't blink at till she discovered that Missy Mouse's ballet outfit fit Cambela perfectly. Now Cambela is always by her side. The name? Well, I suggested "Pamela" to continue the 80s name trend, and she revised it to Cambela. Jesse has a similar bear who has been named "Bradley" and recently got arm surgery after a particularly enthusiastic jump from a tall tower.

4. Lots of yard waste! We have been raking leaves and pruning back shrubs a lot and the yard is starting to really look fantastic. My tulip bulbs were coming up, till the chickens discovered the tasty sweet shoots, and now I'm not sure they'll bloom at all. No worry-- there will be plenty of spring glory to enjoy in just another few weeks!! I love an early spring!

that's enough for tonight-- back to work.

My son the goof

An almost forgotten Christmas video...

Roo!

This morning, at the break of dawn...

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo! (times 20)

Hello, Mr. Duke!

It seems that Duke needed some time to discover his true gender identity. Now we need to talk with the neighbors, make sure he is not bothering them, and figure out what to do with him if he is. It is actually illegal in Seattle to have a rooster because they make so much noise!

In other news, we rented our apartment to a platinum blond registered nurse with two tiny Boston Terriers. I guess we just can't stop adding small annoying creatures to our family? She assures us that they do not yip, and spend most days in doggy daycare, though frankly, I am fairly convinced that my own screaming, crying, clucking and crowing creatures will be a lot more disruptive to to her than hers will be to me. Regardless, we are so excited to finally be in the last stages of finishing up the basement and enjoying a little extra money to cover childcare costs. Just a few more details to go... then we will need to find another huge project to soak up all our time and money. Any ideas?

Hen or roo?

Daisy or Duke???

When we got back from Florida, Daisy's comb and waddle were bright red and very, very large. She also seemed to have a growth spurt and was showing some rather masculine traits. She was being... affectionate... towards Betsy, and would puff out her chest and strut around in a very unfeminine manner. To add to the mystery, we never saw Daisy in the nesting box and were pretty sure we were only getting three different eggs (this is harder to figure out than you might think! Chickens lay the same color egg every day, but very different shapes and sizes!) Living in Seattle, we are used to all sorts of variations in gender identities, and consider oursleves pretty tolerant, so we approached Daisy with sensitivity and a non-judgemental attitide. We had raised her as a girl... but if she felt like she was a boy, deep down, then who were we to judge? We told her that we would support her if she would prefer to be a... Duke. Or, it was possible that she was happy to embrace her gender as a girl, but just liked to be butch. Again, she is God's creature just as much as Scarlett and Betsy and we love her just the way she is.

Then, today, Daisy crowed. A real, legitimate Cock a doodle doo. Is Daisy a rooster?? Could it be?? It is super easy to mix up girl and boy chickens when they are chicks, so that is certainly a possibility. But we have never actually heard her crow before. She seemed to be doing in to call the other chickens-- roosters like to keep their flock together-- but again, this was the first time we had heard it. I was actually cooking in the kitchen and was surprised to hear Jesse waking up early from his nap... except that it wasn't Jesse-- it was Daisy crowing away. So, now the mystery deepens. Lesbian hen? Tomboy chicken? Transgender fowl? Mistaken identity? Switched at birth? I guess we will only know for sure if in the spring when the hens go broody, we end up with a flock of chicks!!

Florida, Part 2

The second half of our week in Florida, we went to St. Pete's Beach for a conference on teaching psychology. In between talks, we went to Sea World and Busch Gardens. Jyl got to join us for the fun stuff. Unfortunately, it was really, really cold the whole trip so there was no sitting on beaches or basking in the Florida sun. I actually had to buy a fleece jacket at Sea World to stay warm.
Ellie's camera smile.
Jesse's camera smile.
A rare moment when Jesse was in the stroller... he spent most of the time running away from us into large crowds of strangers, having tantrums on horribly dirty floors of public places, screaming for me while banging head against hotel room door, or alseep in the sling on my back. It's a tough age for travelling!

Trip to Florida

After Christmas, we took a trip to West Palm Beach to visit Kevin's parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, aunt, cousins, and family friends. Papa Tim greeted us with a huge wall of awesome goodies and a grand old time. We had a blast at the annual New Year's Party, complete with all-you-can-eat King Crab and REAL fireworks right on the beach outside his condo.
The kids taking a ride on the Papa-mobile. Jesse called Tim "ho, ho, ho" the whole visit because he looks a little bit like Santa.
Elena and her beautiful great-aunt, Jennifer. I seem to be the only one who thinks they look alike. Those Krentz genes run strong!
The kids and their cousins, Madison and Aiden, on the terrace over looking the ocean and a beautiful sunset and blue moon.