Kickin' Chickens Out

We have kicked all the chicks outside now.  They were (mostly) feathered out and the basement was getting pretty stinky.  The eating chickens are amazingly different from the layers.  Here's a picture of our broilers.

Not completely feathered and still ugly.  And they are voracious eaters.  And here's a few of the layers.  Much cuter by chicken standards.

 That one with no feathers on it's neck is one of our Turkens.

The one with the funny hairdo is some special/exotic/fancy chicken breed that sports a strange arrangement of feathers on it's head and is still a good egg layer.  And darned if I can ever remember the name of the breed.  All of our chickens are separated.  The old ones have run of our land and every day is an Easter egg hunt.  Jeremy's building some nests out of the old horse hay feeder.  The broilers are in a new pen using the old goat house as a coop.  And the new layers are in the existing chicken coop and run.

Anna Randomness

I caught some cute pictures of Anna lately and just had to share.  This one is right after her bath, she put on the socks herself.  What a goof ball!

Jeremy got some headphones with radio, mostly for when he's mowing.  Anna's listening to the radio.  And those chubby cheeks are so darn cute.

29 weeks me

The picture isn't so good, but here is me at 29 weeks with baby #3.  Only 2 1/2 months left.  One of the few pregnancy pictures of me, ever.

Anna's Quilt

I've been working on a quilt for Anna since she's now in a big-girl bed.  All the squares are done, I'm on to assembling the top.  Here's the quilt top in it's infancy.

We have also settled on a first name for baby #3, Leah.  We are still cussing and discussing a middle name and we thought we'd best have a boy name, just in case.  We haven't gotten to that yet either.

Our chickies are growing quickly, especially the broilers.  They're still not quite feathered out enough to go outside.  So we have separated the "eaters" from the "layers" in the pens in the basement.  I think the "eaters" have another month or so left before they become chicken on the grill.

Ballet

On Tuesday, Grace got sick at preschool, so I picked her up and we went home and watched TV and napped and generally lounged around.  Tuesday is also ballet day and this time we had the leotard, tights, and shoes and she wanted to go so badly.  So we went to ballet and you could tell she wasn't feeling herself, but she said she had fun anyway.

Not the happiest face in the world, but she likes her frillery.

At highway speeds, my car would vibrate, a new development.  I made an appointment to see what was up.  Turns out there was mud caked in the tires and that's what was causing the vibration.  One expensive car wash later, it drives like a dream.  A tad embarassing on my part, especially since I'd washed the car a few times since the muddy season was over.  Next time I will remember to thoroughly clean my wheels.

Grace's graduation

Last night Grace graduated from preschool.  They had a little program where all the kids sang some songs.  We watched a slideshow with pictures of the kids as babies and current photographs.  They got their diplomas.  Then we had cookies and juice.  Grandma and Grandpa Yearout came to enjoy the festivities.

I can't believe my little girl is getting so big!  Love you lots, Grace!

New Lessons at the Y



Grace swimming from last session

 This week marked the beginning of new lessons at the Y. Grace wanted to try ballet. I told her that some of the girls may have been in it before and had the leotard and tights and not to worry, we'd get her some if the instructor recommended it. We show up and the 3 other little girls are all in their leotards and tutu things. Then when the instructor comes to talk to her, she turns all shy and crawls in my armpit. The instructor wanted her to sit with the other girls, but Grace was still firmly wedged in my armpit. So we watched the first lesson. Grace wants to try it next week, so we're off to the store to find some frillery.

Then the next day Anna has swim lessons. The instructors are men and she's wanting none of that. She doesn't even get in the pool. So we watch for a bit. I tried to reschedule in a class with a female instructor; no such luck. So I ask if she'd still want to swim with the boys if Grace was in the class. She now doesn't want to swim at all. I'm tempted to just pull her from swimming lessons this session. Very trying for this mama to coax them into at least giving it a try.

Chickies

About a week ago, our chicks came in that we had ordered.  We ordered 30 and are down to 26 now.  Some are butchering birds and most are layers.  They are staying in a pen in the basement under heat lamps until they are feathered out and can go in the chicken coop.  We were cleaning the pen yesterday, a good opportunity for pictures that aren't red from the heat lamps.

Welcome Warm Weather

We have finally got some more season appropriate temperatures around here. It's been in the 70's and 80's most of the week. I finally got my garden planted. We planted peas, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, corn and okra. Jeremy wanted okra so we'll see how that goes. And it is the season when all the trees are in bloom. I captured some of these apple trees where I work. You walk by and it smells wonderful.

Jeremy's working 7 nights in a row, which isn't his usual schedule. I try to make breakfast on the weekends so he has something to eat when he gets home. I'm running out of ideas…eggs, waffles, pancakes and hot cereal get pretty old. I might try a coffeecake or something this weekend.

Yesterday, Grace got her immunizations needed before she starts kindergarten. She screamed bloody murder, but I think the Barbie helped her mood out.

Swimming

Yesterday was the last day of this session of swimming lessons for both the girls. Grace got a report card saying she's improved a bunch. I don't need a report card for Anna; she doesn't wanna get out of the pool when class is over. I knows she loves the pool. This also means that's the last time I have to get this pregnant body in a swimsuit if I want. But I do plan on taking the girls to open swim this summer. For the next session, Grace chose to try pre-ballet and we put Anna in more swimming lessons. Then we're gonna take a break for a bit before and after the baby comes.

Over the Memorial Day weekend (while Jeremy worked nights and slept the day away), I cleaned out the girls' closets. It was one of those TV moments when you had to stand back when you open the door because the mass might fall on you. I donated some stuff and threw some stuff away. Now you can actually step into the closets! I also shampoo'd the nasty half of the carpet in the baby's room. I didn't get around to planting the garden because it was rainy, foggy, and cold most of the weekend.

In preparation for summertime...