Merry Christmas!

Goodbye to Zebra 4

Well, we are down to 10 chickens.  Zebra 4, as our sons called the Barred Rock Rooster, had to be killed Thursday when Nathaniel got home.  He had started associating Lydia with a hen and was dive-bombing her back when she was in the yard.  We do miss him; he was terribly friendly and smart for a chicken, but of course we can't have roosters flying at Lydia.  So now we have 9 hens and 1 rooster.  Nathaniel also clipped the wings of the hens because we were having trouble keeping them in our yard.  They've been staying in the fence since then, so we're hoping they stay put from now on.  We don't want our chickens bothering the neighbors!

On the plus side, we've been getting 3 to 4 eggs a day from the hens.  The barred rocks and ameruacanas are laying.  I'm not sure about the Rhode Island Red, and I'm really pretty sure that the buff orpingtons are not laying yet.  Despite the trama of losing the lead rooster and having feathers clipped, we are still collecting eggs!  I'm really excited that all of our eggs are now coming from our own hens.

Wrapping Paper

 Yesterday Lydia was able to paint on the easel in the driveway.  She made several nice pictures that are now serving as wrapping paper.  Today it's raining, so we set up shop on the kitchen floor with crayons.  She's been busy making more wrapping paper.  It's an easy, creative craft she enjoys, just like her brothers used to.  Actually, sometimes they still participate, especially when I break out the paint.  I thought we were out of large paper (which is all left over from moving), but I just found another stash in the basement, just in time to make Christmas wrapping paper.  Some sheets are brown; most are white.  Either way works great.  I haven't bought wrapping paper for at least two years, because between the kids' art and the now-dwindling big box of wrapping paper Nathaniel brought home from work for free a few years ago, we've had plenty of wrapping paper.

Christmas Program

Lydia is to the far left, dressed as a camel.  She sang and did the motions to Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells like a champ in front of a packed sanctuary!  She was all smiles.

When Ms Laura asked Malachi to be a wise man, he replied, "Well, that makes sense cause I'm really smart."  My kids do not lack self-esteem! 





I "directed" the nativity.  The kids (ages 4-7) did great.  They also played "The First Noel" with handbells, and you could tell what song we were attempting to play! 

Listening to the big kids sing

Elijah played the chimes and sang 3 anthems. 

We got to see Santa at the boys' school.



Malachi talked and talked to Santa!





And one more thing- we got a blue egg!



Egg news

At least 3, probably 4 of our chickens are now laying.  Today was the first day I got 2 eggs out of the nesting boxes, and one was not from a Barred Rock hen, so either the Rhode Island Red or one of the Buff Orpingtons is laying now.  (No blue or green eggs, so the Ameruacanas aren't laying yet.)  One of the Barred Rock hens is now laying full-sized eggs.  It's pretty exciting news to us!

Lydia and Katie

Lydia Quote of the Day: "Mommy, Katie just sneezed like a people.  Can I get her a tissue?"

Chicken Pictures

Malachi had a lot of fun yesterday taking pictures of the chickens.  Here are some of his favorites:



He loves that they play in the knocked-over soccer goal.





Chickens about to escape




He calls this the "chicken tushy" picture.



And in other news, Elijah went to his first chess tournament yesterday.  He only started playing about 2 months ago, but he got 2nd place out of 15 kids!  He was very excited.  Nathaniel says he's turning into a pretty good little chess player!

How My 7-year-old's Mind Works