Category Archives: Parenting

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner No More

The mystery of our neighbor’s wrangled chickens has been solved! This little ring-tailed bandit won’t be saying “Winner winner, chicken dinner” anytime soon.

winner winner, chicken dinner, raccoon, rodent, animals
Ummm, I’m sorry?

Yep, our nice neighbors who let Avery pet their chickens on our daily walk, and would give some of their eggs to us for months caught animal responsible for killing all but one of their chickens. A raccoon, of course, it even has bandit as a nickname!

They set a trap before, but the sly guy would reach his paws into the cage and grab the food without going inside. Then our neighbors outsmarted the night raider and rigged the trap to finally catch him. As you’d expect, celebration soon followed.

raccoon, wiinner winner, chicken dinner, kids, celebrating

That’s Avery in the middle with our neighbor’s two year old boy, Bexar (pronounced Bear) and five year old gymnast, Taylor. She was the only one up for facing the camera, Avery and Bexar were having too much fun playing….or celebrating.

Kids posing with Racoon

They also have an older boy, Brazos, but he’s suffering through the last few days of school before summer starts. Taylor is the girl who usually caught a chicken for Avery to pet and is always happy to show her cools things she has.

Looking at chicken
RIP, Rose the Chicken

Being the kind folks that they are, they released the crazy bandit back into the wild, just away from their home. Hope it learned its lesson to stay away! With only one chicken left, they plan to restock their fowl soon.

I gave them a little money to pay for one just so Avery could name one of them. So far, when we ask what name she wants to give a chicken, she says “Yellow”. I keep asking at different times, but she keeps the same answer. Guess our neighbors will have a chicken named “Yellow” soon…..even if it’s black.

As for the other crime in the neighborhood, we have a break in the case. They haven’t been caught (yet), but were captured on video as they attempted to use a stolen credit card at a 7-11. Here is the report and some pics, maybe you’ll see them and can help trap them just like the raccoon.

Police Report
Police Report
Bad Guy Vehicle
Bad Guy Vehicle
Bad Guy 1
Bad Guy 1
Bad Guy 2
Bad Guy 2

Hopefully, with the raccoon trapped, the criminals exposing themselves, and an awesome neighborhood on high alert, our little crimewave will vanish. Once the replacement chickens arrive, I’ll be sure to share a pic of “Yellow” and the others soon after.

That’s it for now. Avery and I are going to go patrol the neighborhood to maintain order in the community!

Memorial Day Facts + Her Crazy Hair Growth

Today we’re celebrating our third Memorial Day as parents to a precious little girl by doing something totally crazy. And by crazy, I mean staying home and begging my wife to take a break from painting our boring beige walls with something brighter to cut my hair. Oh, I’ll probably mow if it’s not too muddy.

Insane, right?! If you’re a humble homebody like us, it probably sounds quite nice, but if not, we just sound dull and not cool to hang around. It’s okay, I understand.

The banished beige walls are looking much better and vibrant, I must say, and Going Mom gets all of the credit. If you’re reading this, dear wife (and why wouldn’t you?), you’re doing an awesome job!

Despite our lack of an exciting Memorial Day, we are making sure to pay our respects to the soldiers who died while serving our country.

Memorial Day Facts Infographic

They paid the greatest price which allows us to enjoy an extended weekend to do things like go to the lake,  cook-out with friends and family or even have your spouse cut your hair. The least we can do is make sure we know why we’re celebrating and be mindful of the sacrifices made.

Speaking of haircuts, I was revisiting Memorial Day posts I made the past two years and can’t get over how much Going Daughter has grown, especially her hair. She was 6 months old for her first Memorial Day, and it was around the time we started baby-led weaning.

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It was a rough start, but our persistence and determination paid off as she’s a healthy food (albeit, slow) eating kid who loves eating daddy’s homemade fermented cabbage and cucumbers. But that hair was so thin and barely making a presence.

The next year, her hair was coming around and curls were starting to develop on the sides a little.

memorial day, kids, cute, smiles, curly hair

Now, at two and half years old, that hair knows no restraints as it has turned into a beautiful mess of waves, curls, and, well, freakin’ cuteness!

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As you can see, the hairs seems to of brought a new attitude along with it. Mostly fun, but sometimes it brings out the inner demon child we’ve all seen in the past at full force.

It’s scary, but still cute in a way.

With absolutely zero plans of getting scissors anywhere near her hair for a long time, it will be fun to see how much it has grown in another year. Will the curls continue or will everything go straight? When I was her age, I had crazy curls, but now I have none, so we’ll just wait and see.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day, and be sure to take a moment to reflect on why we’re celebrating today.

Cold Water, Warm Smiles: #MySundayPhoto

Look, I’m back for the second #MySundayPhoto post in a row! Exciting, right?

Well, I’m excited.

Avery and I have been going to our neighborhood pool every day of the week lately. The water is still pretty cold, so we are always the only ones there, but we don’t care one bit. Cold exposure, i.e. cold thermogenesis actually hosts quite a bit of health benefits, so why not share the wealth health with my daughter?

#MySundayPhoto, swimming, cold thermogenesis, pool, kids, parenting

After 20 to 30 minutes, she’s shivering but still says she wants to stay in the pool. That’s when I say just a few more minutes and then out we go. She doesn’t fight it, and is happy once wrapped in the towel. I’m loving this time with her and we’re so proud of her swimming by herself, with floaties, of course.

Big thanks to Darren and his fun #MySundayPhoto linkup. Be sure to check out his blog full of beautiful pics and maybe share your own #MySundayPhoto!

Photalife