a little bigger, a little cuter. this guy (finally!) has two teeth on the bottom with another one sneaking in on top. he's thick & chunky and is only a couple pounds shy of his older brother. tucker is now an expert in crawling and has started to cruise. tonight i caught him standing in the tub with no hands, hands-free. you know what that means... 
 
four dozen eggs dyed between four kiddos today. and a 16 egg frittata nearly put away by those same kiddos, plus two mamas and a couple of babies. wow. that's a whole lot of eggs for one day, don't you think? thank goodness theres about 45 chickens between the two families--we've got eggs to spare. i'll confess that some of mine were store-bought, however. i'm a firm believer that the pure white eggs take on the hues a bit better than the rest, and our chickens are mostly brown and green layers. 


as far as the coloring goes, this was another year of trying the natural dyes with mixed results. red beets and purple cabbage = okay. turmeric = very good. orange tea, green tea, carrot tops, spinach, and paprika all get a big thumbs down. a cup of water and blue food coloring got thrown into the mix and it was the best by far, though obviously not very natural. of course, we're coloring with kids who don't have all that much patience to wait and wait and wait and wait some more. we need instant results, people. 
when using straight-from-the-coop eggs for coloring, it's important to wash off the protective "bloom" that coats the eggs. otherwise the dye has trouble sticking. lesson learned for next year. 
in other things egg-related, my chickens are hiding their eggs in the yard and my dog is finding them. OR, my chickens are laying their eggs in the chicken coop and my dog is stealing them and attempting to bury them. i haven't quite decided. all i know is that after some 5 or 6 years of having chickens around, my dog has suddenly developed a keen interest in all these eggs laying about. we'll find her wagging her tail at the back door with an egg cradled gently in her mouth. if it weren't quite so naughty, it'd be very cute. okay, it is very cute. and naughty, too. 

happy egg days!
 
our new kitchen may not be much to look at yet, but i think the ceiling-in-progress is beautiful. a lot of hard work has been happening and i am so grateful to think that soon we'll be living in this pretty room! lots to look forward to. of course, lots to be enjoying now, as well. 
another monday means hudson and i spent most of the day together while lucy was at her drop-off nature class. we hike around the marin watershed. it's so lovely there, with lots of little paths and places to wander. hudson talks my ear off while tucker sleeps. he is big into what-if type questioning. "mommy! what if this pipe went all the way to our house? mommy! what if i dug a hole up to my head? mommy! what if this backhoe turned on while i was playing next to it? and what if i took all the rocks and thew them in the lake? mommy! what if i was always wearing my shirt like this, even if it rained?" 


oh my goodness. the boy can talk. after awhile we headed back into town to do the grocery shopping. he likes to push the cart but today i didn't feel like watching little old ladies get run down and i got him to ride. and when i lifted him out of the baby seat to get into the car, he put his sweaty arms around my head and put his forehead against mine and said "you are the best taker-care of, mama." which is three-year-old speak for "i love you," plain and simple. 
 
a belated post, no doubt about it. the little guy is crawling like crazy and we're all busy keeping up after him. sick at the moment, but (mostly) all smiles otherwise. he's got teeth finally coming in, on top of fighting a cold. having recently been knocked down by a virus myself, i feel for him. 
he looks a little strawberry here, no? as with lucy, i think it will fade. but cute while it lasts... 
i picked up this vintage rocking horse over a year ago at a little flea market shop in berkeley. at the time i thought i paid too much ($20) but tucker has gotten a good bit of use out of it. he's the first of my babies that doesn't mind spending a bit of time entertaining himself. of course it's never long before someone is bringing him toys and books and food. such is the life of a third babe. we love him!