Centennial Farm

As many of you know, we purchased our house from my grandfather (John Morrison). He was born in and subsequently lived in this house on and off for most of his life until we moved in.

Although it was not his first purchase in this area, Grandpa's grandfather (I think) purchased the house and immediately surrounding farm land around 1895. At one point, the Morrison family owned a great deal of the local land, extending all the way north to the Salt Fork River.


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Over the years, the farmland was sold, handed down, and sold again. Now, the Morrison farm, still owned and managed by my grandfather, consists of approximately 100 acres, surrounding our house on all four sides. Because this piece of farmland has been in the Morrison family continuously for more than 100 years, the farm qualifies for the Illinois Centennial Farm Program. Grandpa recently completed the paperwork, and when he came to meet Atticus, we planted the Centennial Farm sign at the end of our lane.





We're very proud to be able to help keep the homestead, in addition to the farm, in the family.

Atticus Gray Ashbrook Through The Weeks

I just realized that I never actually blogged about Atticus's birth. Hopefully, everyone who should know knows that Atticus Gray Ashbrook was born on September 29, 2009. He weighed in at 9lb, 5oz.

It only took about one hour for us to confuse his name. I tweeted his birth announcement from Kimberly's BlackBerry and realized a few minutes later that I mentioned Aidan Gray Ashbrook...nice.

With that in mind, we have had a crazy 6 weeks, juggling 3 "big kids" and a newborn. We're all starting to adjust, except Atticus who likes to keep things mixed up a bit, especially at night. Because that's not crazy enough for the Ashbrooks, we've also torn up our main bathroom for some renovation work. I'll have pictures of that later.

So, without further ado, here are pictures of Atticus as he's grown in the last 5-6 weeks:

One Hour:


One Week:


Two Weeks:


Three Weeks:


Four Weeks:


Five Weeks: