Ode

Okay, so I haven't written a new entry in a while and I was trying to think of something to write about. Lately I've been pondering our chickens. Now let me say that when Ryan first came up with the idea of getting chickens and he was searching websites and drawing up chicken coop plans I may have been secretly hoping that this dream would fall by the wayside. And when he came home with two big chickens and two scrawny and kind of ugly little chickens I may have secretly in a tiny way hoped that they would be eaten by a cat or something. But that was then and this is now and I've got to say that I am smitten with these dear chickens! They are pretty cute and they take care of themselves, they have little preening parties on the porch which leaves their feathers clean and shiny and a little pile of dirt on the porch to be swept off by the kids (okay, swept off by me.) They run over to me on their cute little legs every time I go in the backyard, mostly because every time I go out there I'm giving them watermelon rinds or potato peels or some other tasty treat, but I like to think it's because they like me. And today when I was out filling up their water and was heading back in the house they all ran over to me on the porch even though they had lots of tasty treats and water and things to eat. I think it was because they like me and they didn't want me to go so soon. So Fish Blob jumped up on the chair arm and I petted her for a few seconds. Now that is my kind of pet! They don't jump on me or bark or shed fur all over me. So maybe there is a pet out there for everyone. . . I'm glad mine is a chicken instead of an alligator.

Piggy

Here's my sweet Pete playing with Alana's piggy this morning. Don't be offended, he isn't sticking his tongue out at you to be rude, it means he likes you.



Here is a picture of Alana cuddling with same piggy when she was a tiny critter.


It is crazy to think that that little bitty orange-ish girl is my Wello and she is starting preschool soon. They get so big so fast, and piggy has hardly aged at all. . .

School : )

School has begun, some of you will be shocked to know that I have been looking forward to this a bit. We've now got first, second and third grade covered. Both Leah and Tessa have teachers that Jeff and Leah had last year so we only have to get to know one new teacher :) Alana starts preschool on the 18th, hopefully she will be in the same class as cousin Oliver so I can go to only one place to collect them.

So my days of leisure are fully here, in just a week and a half it will be only me and my sweet Pete for 3 hours in the morning, for four lovely days a week. What will I do with all my free time? I will make Pete's Christmas stocking, I will read books, I will fold laundry and iron clothes, I will prepare dinners, oh, it will be bliss. I will be calm and collected when my darlings arrive home from school and though they be in nasty tempers we will accomplish our piano practice and homework with the promise of cookies or a light snack before dinner. I ask you, is it only my children who are monsters after school? Jeffer requires a straight jacket and a stern talking to every day, it is awesome. But I digress. I am glad my sweet babies are in school, they have fun there and they learn stuff too, not too shabby.

P.S. Chickens love watermellon.

Fun with Cousins

Monday - Tuesday we went and stayed at the Arizona Grand Resort. We went with my parents, sisters and their families (except Lindsey). Here is a picture of the 10 big cousins that went, the only ones missing in the picture are Pete and Wyatt (Whitny's baby).


Alana and Burton, she has cups on her feet.

Tessa, Wesley, and Oscar.
Pete, Me, and Wyatt. Pete and Wyatt are almost a month apart in age, Wy is older. Aren't they cute?

I went in to check on the sleepers after a long day of playing at the waterpark and this is what I found. Seriously cute!

Chickens

I realized that I'd never blogged pictures of our chickens so here are some photos of the ladies.

These are Fish Blob, she is Tessa's chicken and they all got to name their own chicken. We don't know why she named her that, she's kind of weird. Fish Blob used to be kind of ugly but she is quite pretty now that her comb is grown.

I think the chickens thought I was trying to steal their soul by taking their pictures because they all ran away, but I got some action shots.

That is Princess, Alana's chicken. She jumped over the fence last week and I got to chase her around the neighbor's yard at 6am, good times.

Rainbow is Jeffey's chicken, she is all black and her feathers shine rainbow colors. She is quite pretty and very polite.

Dot was the biggest chicken about having her picture taken, she's pretty fast. Dot is Leah's chicken. She and Princess are the same kind.

P.S. the kids watched me post this and Tessa said, "Are you trying to sell our chickens?" Aren't kids cute?

Jeffey's Exciting Day

This morning Jeff was the hero because he found where Fish Blob has been laying her eggs! We all suspected she'd start laying soon but we hadn't yet found any eggs from her. She was a pullet (a couple of months old) when we got her and they start laying at around 6 months old. Well Jeff found the jackpot, five of hers (hers are white) and three of either Rainbow or Dotty (I can't tell theirs apart since they are both brown). It's fun to send the kids out to find eggs because those sneaky chickens change their nests around all the time, we never know where they'll be!
And Jeffey's big day didn't end there, no sir! He's been working on losing a tooth for months now and today it finally happened (Leah's lost 6). He lost his first tooth after an agonizing struggle; "Can I try to pull your tooth, Jeff? It looks really loose." "No, Mom, I'll do it."
It isn't fun to look at, and that's because it is twisted all the way around. Yes, it is. The thing was hanging by a thread and he wouldn't let me near it. I just avoided looking at him and it didn't bother me (okay, it still bothered me). So we were eating dinner and I told him that he could say the prayer and ask for his tooth to fall out during the meal so that he could eat his food easier. What do you know but he took a bite of his tostada and wondered why there were seeds in it. The blasted thing had finally leaped off his gums and tried to make a break for it. But Jeffey didn't swallow it and it is safely in the tooth fairy pillow this very minute, unless she's been here already. . .
On a somewhat related note, 8 year old boys are kind of goofy and weird (can you tell from the pictures?). When I met Justin (Ryan's brother) he was that age and now he is 18 and much less obnoxious. I'm glad that my fears about not being able to love having an 8 year old son were baseless, he is a great kid (it's 7 year old girls we had an issue with tonight) *grimace*

Fireworks!

Ryan got some fireworks for his birthday so we had a little show last night.



Plus, I chopped all my hair off and sold it to a person from Slovakia. I haven't gotten a picture of the front of my head that I like yet so here's a pic of the back of my head. Is it strange that I did that? I don't care, it is just so much cooler and I'm not always having to shovel it out of my way.