Not What I Expected...

This wasn't what I expected when I went to check for eggs yesterday morning. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I heard lots of sqwaking outside. I figured I better go check it out. I realized the gate door and the house door where both left open overnight. When I first opened the house door I saw all the hens on the floor of the house. They were sqwaking and running around. I figured they were just antsy to get outside.

So I shut the door and locked the gate. I decided to check for eggs and that is when I saw this guy. He was all curled up in the nest box. I was shocked to say the least. I opened up the doors of the gate and coop and headed into the house to get my camera and call my husband for advise! (I figured no one would believe me if I didn't have proof).Then I went back out and was able to scare him into the corner of the house where he just sat huddled. In the meantime I tried to push all the hens outside but they wouldn't go because of the snow on the ground. Finally I got them out.I then called my brother who lives next door. He came right over and was able to get him out. We then had to chase the birds around the yard to get them back in the house so they didn't freeze their feet! It was quite the event.

Thankfully no one was injured in the above chaos! All the birds were unharmed. We learned our lesson though. ALWAYS close the door at night.

Baby Chicks

Here are the new babies. We added 4 new Barred Plymouth Rock chicks to our house. The kids are enjoying having babies again in the garage! These ones were about a week old I am guessing when we got them since some of the fuzziness on the wings have turned into feathers. They are growing fast and are already bigger than what this picture shows. (This was taken a few days ago).They will stay in the garage for the next couple months before we try and move them outside. I have a plan to get them mixed into our existing flock. Remember the chicken tractor my husband made me last year? Well I am going to keep the new hens in there next to the chicken coop for a couple weeks. Then I will eventually add the new birds in. Hoping it works out ok and I don't start any hen fights!

I'll keep you posted on how they do.

Emily 4 Months

Emily is 4 1/2 months old now. At her 4 month check she weighed in at 13 lbs 12 oz. She is in the 55% for her weight.
She is a really happy baby. She still sleeps with me in the chair at nights. For the most part I don't mind because if she is my last baby, I want to enjoy every moment of her infant-hood. Eventually I will move her into her own bed or at least our bed. She still has a problem with reflux so laying flat really isn't an option right now.
She doesn't spend alot of time on the floor but when she is on the floor she is really close to rolling over. We got her a new jumper and she really loves that.
Our friends let us borrow their Bumbo. It is funny to see her sitting in it. She wants to sit so bad on her own. This allows her to do that.

Drew Bug

Me: "It's time for bed Drew."
Drew: "Ok mommy, I will sit here and wait for you to come in and sleep with me."
Me: "It might be awhile, I am going to spend some time with Daddy."He did sit and wait for me, but I guess I took too long.

Spring Break

This last week has been Spring Break for the kids. I feel like we didn't do a whole lot. We hit up the library and spent most of the week just being outside enjoying the warm weather.

Jake spent half of his time at friends houses. Brodie and Drew spent half of their time at their cousins house next door. Tony kept busy sharpening sticks, tending the fire outside and reading. Emily is still very much a momma's girl and wants to be held mostly.

I feel like I am behind on most things. I still haven't finalized my garden plans. I really want and need to "spring" clean the house. I have so many things I want to do but can't find the time to get them done!

Pretty much right now I am just trying to keep afloat with all that is going on.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday was a great day. I spent most of the afternoon working outside with my husband and kids. We got some raking done, sticks picked up out of the yard, strawberry bed cleaned out as well as the garden. We also had our first fire of 2011. We love burning. Being outside, the sunshine, the smell...

I have a little more work to do in the garden before we are ready to till it up for Spring. I dumped the chickens bedding in there over the winter. It should give it some good fertilizer. I am so excited for this years garden.

My strawberries look pretty good. I was going to thin them out but after raking all the dead vines and leaves out they are looking awesome so I am just going to leave them where they are at this year.

We got all the broken toys and sticks cleaned up out of the yard. Now we just need to rake up the gravel that was brought in by the snow plow. It looks alot nicer. Now all we need is green grass!

Jake's New Hair

I forgot to take before and after pictures of Jake's hair. He went and cut almost 5 inches of hair off the other night. I think the barber was a little nervous when he said he wanted it all off. This is the best before and after shots that I have.

BeforeAfterIn theory this should make him faster in track. I guess it worked because today he was chosen to be on the varsity track team!

Waiting for Spring

Just when you are feeling like Spring is around it snows again. Sigh. At least it wasn't alot and it should melt off fast. I am so ready for Spring. Playing outside, trips to the park, hikes and gardening!

I am planning a big garden again this year. This year I am adding green beans and carrots. Something we eat of lot of but have never planted. I am excited to see how my raspberries and strawberries do. I would love to plant blueberries but I heard our soil is not good for them and they are difficult to plant so I am sticking with the local berry patch for these this year.

I am crossing my fingers I get peaches this year. If I don't then I am pretty sure the trees are done for. I don't know much about peaches, but I heard the trees that are planted here only last about 12 years. I haven't gotten peaches in 2 years. I should in theory get them this year.

The apple tree I planted almost 2 years ago is growing well. Not sure if it will produce anything or not. The deer munched on it a bit last year so I will have to watch that closely. If I can find room somewhere I would like to plant a plum or pear tree. I have to do some research, not sure if they have to cross pollinate or not.

Hoping to get the final outlines done on planting this week so I can get my seeds ordered. Then all I will have to do is wait for warmer weather!

Siblings

Emily Joy at 4 months old.
Brodie Michael at 4 months old.

See any similarities??

Learning

The kids and I have been in a major funk since bringing home the new baby. I have been slacking on doing our usual table time in the mornings. It's not just me though, the kids haven't been in the mood to craft or do much with writing. So we took a break. A 4 month break.

I have no concerns for either of the boys really. They each have their on way of learning and that is very evident. Brodie loves to write, always has. He is very much interested in sitting down and paying attention when teaching something new. He is very patient. Drew is the exact opposite. He is very impatient, can't sit still and is very much a hands on kid. He could care less about letters, numbers and all that. He does what he wants to do and I am ok with that.

Yesterday however I decided to try our table time again and the kids were all for it. We did a few of the file folder games I made last year. I was completely surprised that Drew could actually name all his colors. Well, he struggled on black but he new all the others! Then you can imagine my shock when he wanted to write his name and he did this....Every time I have asked Drew to practice his letters I get a response like "nah not right now". So to see this I was impressed. I have felt a little guilty because I don't work with him that much because he is so difficult. It just goes to show that even though we aren't doing formal sit down time he is still learning and picking things up on his own. That makes me happy.

The other day while Drew and I were deep into a project Brodie sat quietly in the living room playing with his Legos. Little did I know he was following step by step in his book and put together a truck. He amazes me how well he does for only 5 years old. He was pretty proud of himself and I was pretty impressed.