...the pigs and chickens got some new neighbors!

Last week, while still detoxing from hospital baby trauma, we had some exciting developments on the farm. Betty, our miserably pregnant goat, surprised us all by birthing triplet baby kids. Unlike last year's birthing, we didn't even aid (or even cheerlead) the birth. The Mister went in the back to check on the animals, and 3 little baby goats were scrambling for their first steps.



Little Rainbow Girl got stuck hanging out with the goats for a couple hours to make sure all the baby goats were nursing from their mother. Because one thing is for sure, Mrs. Olsen already has her own kid to feed, and didn't want to be stuck on bottle duty with a furry kid.



Wait a second...how did that get in there? Only machinistic institutions tag human kids. Who did that?

Back to the furry kind...



Betty on the lookout. Our other goat, Millie, tries to head-butt these baby's against the wall. What is her deal? But seriously, she is asking for it. Betty will quickly put her in her place.

Later in the week, we tackled (by "we" I mean The Mister) our new farm project of 2011. Here's a hint...



We ordered these back in February/March, and they finally arrived! There were 2 packages of bees, each 3 pounds. Nothing quite like hearing the pitter-patter of thousands of bees getting dumped into their new home. I was a little nervous.



Our neighbors got a hive last year and harvested 16 pounds of honey. We'll see how productive these guys are...and if we happen to get 30 pounds of honey, we will be more than pleased (and possibly so will anyone getting Christmas goodies this winter).



And lastly, our rooster. This guy's got it out for Rainbow Girl. He has attacked her a couple times while she was unawares, flying and pecking her knees and causing her to bleed (through her clothes. punk!).



So I've got his number:

it's

1-800-HEAD-OFF

happening later this summer.

Late last night, almost a full week after delivering this little guy, we actually got to come home! While the infection in the lungs is gone, one of the resulting symptoms of the infection lingers: hypertension.

So with a prescription for oxygen to help alleviate work on his heart until the hypertension drops down, we headed home. It was the first time Rainbow Girl was able to see her brother in person. "The boys" will have to wait, since we decided our transition would be easier if they played at Grandma's house for the week.

I tell you what, every baby should have an older sister, especially one who is so excited about them.

Last Tuesday we woke Rainbow Girl up around 4 a.m., told her we were driving to Salt Lake to have the baby, and that she needed to look after the boys until Grandma came. She never went back to sleep she was so excited, and later in the morning she decorated the house for an impromptu birthday party for the baby.

One week later and the balloons have lost some gusto, but the decorations still stood.



Here's the little guy in the moses basket at the foot of my bed. Aaahhh...sooo good to be home.

Later tonight I was changing the water in some flowers that were on the table, underneath I found these little notes written by big sister.



"Whith love and peace, I hope you can care for that sweet little Gideon. I love you so much, guys! So I hope you can still have fun whith us and this busy baby. I love you sooooo much. Love, Chloe"



"Through all the things, evrything, I know you can handle this. So stop that cryin and start livin again, the only thing thats differen is the new baby. Love, Chloe"

My heart is full, even fuller than my dang chest. Thank goodness that the prayers of children are so powerful, I'm counting on her petition over the coming weeks (and months as the bills start showing up...ugh). I'm loving her cowboy sensibilities...stop that cryin and start livin again!

Good Night!
Mrs. Olsen

Rainbow Girl and I recently scored when Grandma & Grandpa Cozy called up and informed us that they were taking us to see The 5 Brown's in concert at the local, beautifully restored downtown theatre. Having a peripheral knowledge of "The 5 Brown's", my eyes and ears perked up to their story.

All siblings from Utah. Nifty!
All classical pianists. That should help with piano lessons...
All trained at Juilliard. Whoah!

We were excited to have a special night with Grandma & Grandpa. While waiting for the big show over a month away, the media came alive with stories about the 5 Brown's that would turn me into the ogling drive-by lady in the Cadillac inching past a multiple vehicle accident with fatalities.

No one died, but in the course of a couple of weeks:
* The 5 Browns daughters (of which there are 3) filed charges against their papa for sexual abuse when they were younger
* Before his first appearance in court, the dad swerved his little Porsche off a canyon road in Salt Lake and went to the hospital with injuries (including his wife)
* Days later he appeared in court with cuts on his face, and pleaded guilty to the charges (his wife was still in the hospital)
* The next week he caused an accident when his beamer made an improper lane change

My first question is: Ew. Why does he have so many luxury cars?

And then: Wow, what a creep. Good for these girls to stand up for themselves!

So our concert marked the first performance since this catastrophe. The 5 Browns kept their touring schedule, they didn't gush about the details, and they thanked their fans for their support.



So we showed up and just look at our seats! Grandma Cozy got posh balcony seats with an amazing unobstructed view. The show was seriously amazing. You can see how their insanely big pianos are all formed into a puzzle so they can be in tune with each other. After the first number, Greg Brown introduced everyone and publically stated it was like coming home to play in Utah again. He specifically thanked all of their friends and fans for their support during this "difficult time in our family".

And then the show must have gone on. They were passionate and professional, wearing their own fashionable version of concert dress that included tweed jackets and sneakers, and rotating around the pianos with 5-somes, duos, trios, and solos.

I think one of the most touching numbers was when Melody Brown played the theme song from "To Kill A Mockingbird". What she said seemed to have layers of implication, especially considering their recent events with their dad. In a nutshell she said something along the lines of:

"I think this is the most honest piece I have ever heard. It seems to embody the story in To Kill a Mockingbird and the loss of innocence, but maintaining the faith that there is still good in the world despite that."

I'm pretty sure those were not her exact words, but it made me consider re-reading this awesome book or possibly naming this upcoming child Atticus. Most of all, it made my heart go out to this family with amazing talents, and a down-to-earth demeanor that insinuates that they will rise above this season and persevere. Of course, playing out your emotions on the piano should be great therapy as well.

At one point I found myself locked with my head sideways while I tried to follow what their hands were doing. If I closed my eyes, then it became a totally different experience. Crazy good were those little fingers dancing up and down those Steinways. Yikes!

The other highlight, was during the second encore, when Greg Brown sat down at the piano and sang this Coldplay song. Afterwards, all the siblings seemed quite emotional and hugged each other. It was touching to see their musical therapy play out on stage for us.

I love how the 5 Browns work hard to infuse a love of classical music in young people. And I LOVE that Grandma & Grandpa recognize my little Rainbow Girl's affinity for all things musical, and their support of this talent. Grandma Cozy even gave Rainbow Girl a journal specifically to record thoughts after all of her recitals and upcoming....choir concerts? plays? who knows!?



Thanks for an amazing night Grandma and Grandpa Cozy!

A couple weeks ago my one and only female child walked up to me while I was doing dishes and commented that she had a little bump in her shirt. Just one side, right on her chest. She thought it was funny. My eyes turned to googly-pies and I remembered the horror of coming onto puberty unawares. Jumping on the trampoline one minute, finding a surprise in my pants and quietly telling my mom...only to be lovingly thrown in the tub while a giant maxi pad gets taped inside a fresh pair of panties and the talk of how this will happen to me every month for the rest of my life.

Trampolines and popsicles one minute. Walking around with a crinkly diaper butt the next. So scratch that. Trampoline one minute, crying in the corner the next so no one will have to hear you walk across the room.



Please dad, I hope you aren't reading this. Mom? Don't take this personal. You told me what was up even if it was a day late. I get it that we come from different generations and that there's a good chance no amount of pep-talking would have kept me from crying in the corner...but this is real stuff ya know? It was exciting, weird, and traumatic (for me). So when Rainbow Girl came up to me unawares, all I could think of was my own naive dive into puberty and how it sucked. How would you respond?

Mrs. Olsen: Rainbow Girl! You are getting little boobies! You know what this means? This means you are starting to go through puberty!

Rainbow Girl: [places hands on her face and looks at me with a shocked and slightly happy look on her face]

Mrs. Olsen: First little bumps, then it will swell and pop! (hands flowering over chest). Then you get hair here, and here (more air flowers). You will start to stink under your arms and roll your eyes at me. Please don't roll your eyes at me okay? Your legs will get hairy too and you'll probably want to shave them. Unless you got the hairless Olsen gene. That would be lucky...

Rainbow Girl: (tentatively) Is puberty when....you know....bleed?

Mrs. Olsen: Oh yes. That too! Yes you will bleed. These are all of the changes that you will have to go through to become a woman! (pause) I can't believe you're getting little boobies. You probably won't need a bra for a year or so, but we might need to wear a tanktop under your shirt to smooth things out.

You get the idea. We have talked about all of this before, but I felt compelled to expound a crash course right there in the kitchen. Then Rainbow Girl went to her room to finish her homework and I immediately texted The Mister of the House:

ME: Rainbow Girl's getting boobies.
HIM: What?! How old were you? Isn't this a little early?
ME: She won't need a bra for a while. Maybe not so early.

So I went about doing dishes and making dinner, and thinking of how quick my little girl is growing up and how she was just a baby. She never knew I told her dad, but when he came home from work he popped his head in her room and said hi.

Then the cutest thing happened. She turned to him and said: "Dad, did you hear? I'm starting to go through puberty."

He said that yes he heard. She commented how scary it would be to go through puberty and...."you know...bleed."

And The Mister of the House sat down and said, "Yes, lots of changes happen when you go through puberty, but you have to go through them to become an adult. And you know what? Being an adult is my favorite thing so far. If I wasn't an adult I wouldn't have my own little family, with you as my daughter. I love ya. It's a good thing that will happen."

Rainbow Girl didn't say a thing and just went and sat on his lap and he held her like the little girl she still was, and in some ways, always will be (at least to me and her dad).



And when I heard about it after the fact my heart melted, and I thought that's how every puberty talk should be. Okay okay so I was a flibbertigibbet and had diarrhea of the mouth but it turned out just fine because I have back-up. I was glad that Rainbow Girl wasn't afraid to talk about boobies and bleeding with her own dad, and that he could give her a vision of why it all mattered in the end.



And what a beautiful woman she will become! Just look at her!


NOTE TO PARENTS: Apparently crash courses in the kitchen can be soaked in by little brothers as well. Which is why the next day, while carpooling friends in the mini-van, Vanilla Wafer turned to Rainbow Girl's friend and stated: "Guess what? Rainbow Girl's getting boobies!" and then proceeded to giggle.

So we're into crash course number #2 about how we don't really say the word boobies and how we have private parts and don't talk or laugh about them. That's what you get for being a flibbertigibbet.

I think it's somewhat inevitable, what with the merging of your life to another through marriage, the puffing of pregnancy, the retreat from the single life into one of quiet service to your kids...well it's inevitable not to take those kids your investing lessons and dinners into and not live through them a little bit. They are a piece of you after all.

As a born and bred Idaho Girl, I was excited for a recent reunion away from the farm, over the river and through the woods to Island Park. Driving through southeast Idaho, the valleys are wide and plain. Plod further north and you get to beautiful Ashton, and right on the border of that town, you see the impending rise of the land, a major geologic shift forcing your transmission to growl. Within the course of a mile, the landscape transitions from wide sagebrush plains and winding rivers to forest. Don't think lush Oregon forest: ferns underground shaded by the massive outstretched arms of pinion pines catching oceanic gusts. It's just miles and miles and miles of tall, straight, narrow Lodgepole Pines.

Dear Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm,

I went homemade this Christmas in at least one department: art. With my trusty supplies of...
old photos
exacto knife
cardstock
fine-line sharpies
colored pencils
ruler
scrapbook paper
and The Mister of the House...
I daresay Mrs. Olsen spent a good 20 hours making some exceptional 5th Grade Art. Eat your heart out elementary punks!

Remember the hole on Rainbow Girl's Wall? This lil' guy is going there. I call it "Egg Delivery". The Mister of the House saved my frozen brain when he came up with the trees, hills, and sun. Thanks sweetie pie!

I daresay I got some inspiration from a real artist who's whimsical take on motherhood was a breath of fresh air. Check out some inspiration from artist Emily McPhie here. She's the real deal, and I hope one day to own one of her pieces.

Next up, a take on Vanilla Wafer's current obsession: Spiderman.

See that smile? I swear he can light up a stadium with that smile, and I hope he feels that happy when he sees himself saving the day as our favorite webbed crusader.

Poor Buddha Baby got left out cause Mrs. Olsen got burned out. Maybe next time kid!

5th Graders? No More Autographs Please.

Your Elementary Artist in Residence,

Mrs. Olsen