Thursday, March 22, 2012

Chicks go wandering

Under the protection of mama hen, the chicks have decided to flee the coop.  They all enjoy the yard, and Sol (the hen) is very protective of them.  She allows us (the people) to pick up her chicks, but she doesn't allow any other hens or the rooster near them.  I saw her run the rooster off of the treats I brought out this morning, and then she and the chicks devoured the muffin crumbs while the other adult chickens clustered in another area.
Here Sol is clustering the chicks in the corner away from the neighbor's loud lawnmower.  As the lawnmower receeded to the other side of the yard, the chicks were out and about again.



Lydia is very good at catching chicks.  She loves them!  She's trying to be gentle, although I have to remind her of course. 

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Around the yard today



Lydia and I have really been enjoying this weather.  She's loved being able to play outside "barefeeted".
And check out this gorgeous tree by our deck:

And now that it's been warm, I've been using the clothesline again.  (Yes, those are cloth diapers.  Lydia's been potty-trained for months, but she still wears diapers to bed at night.)

It surely doesn't feel like March around here. 

In one week...

I will be in Rome.  Wow. 

I've been trying to get everything done, shopping, birthdays, consignment sale, etc.  I'm almost done with my medicine for the poison ivy (and it's healing nicely).  We have had several projects around here that I'm either wrapping up or stopping until we get back.  Whew.  And Nathaniel leaves in the morning for Missouri for a couple of days. 

It's just a bit crazy around here...:)

Saturday, March 17, 2012

New Floors

Our hardwood flooring came in, and Nathaniel and his coworker Bill picked it up today.  I love it!

As you can see, it's a lot of flooring, since we're going to put hardwood throughout the upstairs.  We also have butcher block counter tops, but one of the two we ordered was cracked, so they had to reorder that one.  I am so excited to finally have hardwood floors!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Creativity

Yesterday at church, the kids in my class were given foam blocks, popscicle sticks, and small wooden figures of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to make their own nativity scenes. 
What, can't you tell that this is a manger scene?!!  Look closer, and you'll see the people inside:
Yes, this was Malachi's version of the nativity.  He very excitedly constructed it, and when he was done, I asked him to tell me about it.  His response?  Mary, Jesus, and Joseph are inside the temple of doom and have to be rescued.  There are lots of booby traps, and you have to be careful and brave to get to them and get them out.
Can you tell that they've been playing Indiana Jones Lego Wii lately?  And that he's a bit obsessed? 

P.S. I really did tell them the Christmas story, and it did not make any references to temples of doom or booby traps.  Just in case you're wondering. :)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Spring Day

Well, it may not be officially spring yet, but it sure looks like it around here.  It's hard to believe that we had snow a week ago.  Lydia had a blast in her rain boots:
Right now our yard is heaven for mud-loving toddlers.  You can hardly walk across the yard without slipping because of all the mud.
 And the flowers, oh, the flowers!


The hyacinths are starting to bloom and smell heavenly.  And, of course, you know about our little baby chicks:

So it may be early, and winter may yet decide to come back, but for now, it's spring.

Monday, March 12, 2012

5 Little Chicks


Well, I thought the chicks would arrive Thursday, but instead they hatched Saturday afternoon.  I took these pictures yesterday afternoon, so they were 1 day old.  We have 1 all yellow one (like the mama), 2 yellow with brown stripes, and 2 black ones (which are obviously from the barred rock hens).  All 5 hatched from brown eggs, so if they're hens, they should grow to be brown egg-layers.  For now, though, they seem happy hanging with their mama in the coop.  Sol is being a good mother hen and keeps them warm and feeds them.  She seems to like me and doesn't mind me messing with her and the chicks (gently), but her feathers get ruffled when Nathaniel gets close.  We aren't letting the kids reach in yet; I got out the chicks one at a time for them to hold/pet. 

We had a very busy working weekend.  I painted both bathrooms, and Nathaniel put in a new light fixture and put a border on the mirror in the kids' bathroom.
He's going to replace the faucet, too, but they didn't have a silver one in stock at Wal-Mart, so that will have to wait until a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot.  Our bathroom will need another coat of paint, but I'm really happy with how much got done inside.  Outside, the kids were hauling the logs that Nathaniel and Kevin cut up from the storm damage to stack them for next year's firewood.  I worked on more mulch, but I took yesterday off of mulch.  I have poison ivy on my arm.  It's raining today, so it will be at least tomorrow before I get back to that.  Nathaniel also cleared out the garage and fixed the tiller.
Things are coming along! 

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Who needs snow?


 There wasn't enough snow left for sledding by the time the boys got home from school yesterday, but today they were thrilled to see that our mulch had been delivered.

Monday, March 5, 2012

The view this morning


This is the view from my front porch at 7am today.  So pretty!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

We're ok

Well, following the bad weather Friday, we are all ok, including the chickens.  My in-laws were on their way to visit us and narrowly avoided a tornado, so we are just very thankful that everyone is fine.  My brother was here putting on garage doors during the storms, too.  So we had lots of company for unpleasant weather, and we were fortunate enough to not even lose power.  We are all feeling very sad and saying prayers for the many who were not so lucky...
The greenhouse and 2 trees did not survive the storm.  So it looks like those carrots in the playroom are still our best bet for an early bit of gardening.  Oh, well, maybe we can plant some lettuce in pots in the playroom tomorrow.  And my father-in-law and husband made quick work of cutting up the trees for firewood. 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Planting

Lydia and I have been planting seeds lately.  Now, it is too cold out for planting in the garden, but we have some cool-weather-loving seeds planted in the greenhouse.  The first pots we planted got knocked over by high winds, so this time we used bigger pots, and they remained upright despite the crazy wind yesterday, so we are hopeful that we will soon have lettuce (red and green), spinach, parsley, lavender, and mint.  In the playroom (which is in effect a large greenhouse!), the carrots are coming along nicely:
And we have planted a couple of things in pots there, as well.  So we have big hopes for a home-grown salad in about a month or so. 
And, here are some pictures of the amazing party:




Of course, I was too busy playing to get many pictures, as is evidenced by my husband's rather unflattering shot of me walking backwards on the beam: