Chicks and Concerts

Malachi had the first of many concerts this week.

He has at least 4 more coming up, plus a small concerto performance on Saturday.  November, March, and May are all big months for performances.

The bigger chicks swamp the feeder when I refill it in the morning:

This little one was the first to discover that I filled two feeders, and she enjoyed it alone for several minutes:

Eventually, the others figured it out!

And check out the black chick in the back with the poofy hair.  It reminds me of Elvis:

 

Chicken Photo Shoot

 I asked Lydia and Malachi to do another photo shoot of the chicks, and they had a good time:

We have a good variety of chicks.  They are about 6 1/2 weeks old now.

These last 2 are the Polish ones Nathaniel bought, so they are only about 4 weeks old.

They are doing great in the former duck pen.  We have had to have a heat lamp on them the past few days because it's been so cold, but that should be going away soon.

Also, Elijah had a horrible case of poison ivy all over him. 

He's doing much better now after a week of steroids, but he's still not over it.  His arms and waist are still looking pretty bad, but it has improved overall.  I hope it all dries up soon.

This and That

 My dad made an adaptive cutting board for Gyunay, and he's really enjoying it.

I could never let him cut much more than mushrooms before, but now he is proud to cut up radishes so we can pickle them.  He and I both love pickled radishes.

Lydia's school had a special baseball game played at Slugger Field, so I took her, Emry, and Gyunay to see it.  The boys had never been to a baseball game before, so it was quite the experience for them. It was a very good game, and we enoyed ourselves.

Also, Malachi and I moved the bigger chicks out to the former duck pen a little over a week ago.  They are doing great.

We have 9 new meat birds in the shop pen, too.  Birds everywhere!

Book Review - After the Shadows by Amanda Cabot

 

Amanda Cabot's new historical novel, After the Shadows, was a sweet romance with a bit of a mystery.  Overall, it was an easy read with good characters.  The author is good at creating realistic characters and showing their growth during trials.  I liked how the romance developed slowly and realistically.  The mystery of her father's death was an added element that lent interest to the story.  I did enjoy several side characters as well, particularly Beulah.  Overall, it is a good historical romance.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Happy Easter!

 Christ the Lord is risen today, alleluia!  We went to the Easter vigil last night.  It's the first time all of us went to that Mass, since it is 3 hours long and starts at dark.  I was amazed at how well the kids did.  They were excited to see their friends get baptized, so that probably helped.

Today, we of course had an egg hunt:

Elijah and Malachi had as much fun hiding the eggs as the younger 4 did finding them!  Acorn was an active participant, too.  She found at least 3 eggs herself.

We also had the opportunity to travel to Nathaniel's sister's house and visit with her family today.  

On Friday, we dyed eggs:

And the youngest three joined Nathaniel and I visiting the Mega Caverns.  They had a cool dinosaur event, where you drive through a cave and see animatronic dinosaurs.  

It was really cool, and we all enjoyed it.

Meet Pistachio

 

So we now have a squirrel.  This little guy was found in our backyard by Emry, Gyunay, and two neighbor friends.  I didn't find out about it until they had been carrying it around for at least an hour.  After I made them put it back, in hopes that the mama would find it, it didn't get reunited with the mama.  

Eventually, we decided to try to care for it.  When I walked across the backyard, it ran onto my shoe and up my leg.  It jumped into Lydia's arms.  

So we are pretty sure it needs some help, and it definitely wants to be around us!

We've been researching squirrels, and now guess that he's around 10 weeks old, so almost but not quite old enough to be on his own.  We set him up with food, water, some milk replacement, and a nice dry shelter on the back deck, where he can come and go as he pleases.  Every time I go on the deck, he runs to me.  Anyone who sits on the deck will end up with a squirrel in his lap!  

Overall, it seems healthy and pretty happy.  We're hoping to keep it alive until it can fully fend for itself.  I think it's probably a boy.  Lydia named it pistachio, and I think that's really cute.

Birthdays Galore, and a Zoo Trip

 

March is always a busy month, with 3 birthdays just from our house.  We went into town and visited my side of the family and celebrated Lydia's and Elijah's birthdays along with my littlest niece and my brother-in-law.  

Today was a beautiful spring day, and we had a fabulous time  visiting and celebrating.  The bluebells were blooming, and we always enjoy seeing those.

My 14-year-old niece made the pretty flower cake.  

Yesterday was a not-so-pretty spring day.  It was chilly and so very windy, but Elijah and I took Emry, Gyunay, and my nephew to the zoo.  We were all excited to see that they have a one-armed monkey:

March Harvest Totals

 Eggs - 205

Baby Spinach - 1/2 c

As you can see, the egg numbers keep going up.  And I have planted radishes that are starting to sprout: