Oh Tell Me Where You've Been ......

I don't know about your household, but ours has been crazy busy the past two months. It was as though someone hijacked my day timer and just crammed every day as full as they could get it. There are lots of problems that can cause and I'm thankful that it looks like the schedule is back in my hands - now I'll just have to work extra hard to keep it there.

September
 Thoroughly enjoyed the boys' last flower pickings of summer.

Homeschooling is going well though it's had some very unique challenges this year. I've never before had a child who knows sounds of letters before he knows names of letters. Each year holds it own distinctive flavors and the mix this year is interesting. 

 I think the boys are trying to send the message that they're cold - right after this picture was taken Stephen went to get his blanket too.

Chickens are still continuing to do well - laying 11-13 eggs a day. Egg size and color vary significantly. The boys have just done such a good job of taking good care of them. There really isn't anything that I have to do other than check in 1-2 times a week and turn their bedding. 

Since Stephen gets done with his studies early, he comes up with the most unique ways to amuse himself. A recent trend has been developing costumes strictly out of paper, crayons, and lots and lots of staples and tape. The top two is a crab (complete with eyes and pincers). The bottom is a "Fang of Dang" from the Wingfeather Saga which is the book series we read together over last winter. They LOVED this series! 

We celebrated Daniel's 8th birthday. 

We also had a visit from my dad - but I have no pictures of that. 

October

Stephen marked turning 6 years old. 

One of the special things we do in our house to celebrate turning 6 is going out with daddy for breakfast. Philip woke him up the day of his birthday and said, "Are you ready to go out for our special breakfast?" He pulled the covers closer and said, "I don't want to go anywhere in the middle of the night" and it was evident that he wasn't going anywhere. Unfortunately, when he did wake up, he realized that going for breakfast did indeed mean getting up before his brothers and it would still be dark out. The next morning he was more prepared! 

Then fall arrived in all its glory. 

We had one staple job (Daniel's first - he's broken his winning streak) and Stephen had a stress fracture in his foot. 

One wedding cake for a friend - only because the bottom two layers are made of Styrofoam and it wasn't as stressful as a normal cake. 

We went to the Kentucky Wool festival.

Had a visit from cousins (actually both sides of the family but we only got pictures with one). 

And typical days involve some type of conflict - in this case, land mines with all of the pillows in the house. 

Busy, busy days. And they must slow down for in busyness one misses out on so many of the simple joys of just living. Now on to November! 

The Dog Days of Summer

This was quite the summer. A bit too busy for my preference but weather wise, I don't remember a nicer one. Only within the past week has it really felt like a "real" summer. Most of the time it was so balmy and cool that we were able to keep the house open and air conditioners off. It  was lovely but didn't allow the garden to produce like we had hoped. The garden looked lovely - it just didn't produce very much.

The chickens are doing wonderfully and we had one hen who started laying about three weeks ago. So far she's the only one but she's produced 19 eggs in 20 days. When we opened the first week's eggs to have fried eggs one Sunday evening, we discovered that in the first week she'd laid two double yolks. Since then she's also laid one other one.

We've discovered that the really big ones she lays are the double yolks.

The layer is one of the Silver Laced Wyandottes.

We started homeschooling early this summer since little boys without structure will create drama just to have something to do. It was nice to knock out some of the English and Math lessons before starting full bore. Now God's Bible School and College classes begin tomorrow and thus starts another school year. It's nice to have campus "come alive" again and we're looking forward to God's transforming grace working in our lives this year. There are good days ahead. Happy end of summer everyone! 

It is finished!!

No, this isn't a late reference to Easter - it's in reference to our chicken coop remodeling job. It's done, I'm tired, the boys are tired, and the three chickens living there are happy.

These pictures were taken before the final trim was put in place but Philip finished that last evening.

Stephen wants us to put a few steps up to the door and we need to do some landscaping. Right now - I'll just be glad to go to sleep at night without trying to figure out how to make some idea work. My dad gave us lots of feedback on my ideas and how to best accomplish what we were trying to do. It turned out quite cute. Tomorrow we'll set up the run and see how our three nine-week-old Silver Laced Wyandotte's like their new home.

Chickens.....in the city?

Yes - the city of Cincinnati allows chickens. Our backyard neighbor, Mr. Murray, has had chickens for 5(?) years and there is another couple on the street behind us who have chickens - they have a Williams Sonoma chicken coop.....the very thought of those two concepts being in the same sentence amuses me.

Anyhow - this dream started several years ago and has finally come to fruition (or hatched you might say).  We were given this:

Which we are in the process of converting and dressing up a bit.

That involved taking all the boards and doors off.

And building exterior nesting boxes. Which is now done and has the door on it but I don't have a picture.

Last night we installed the studs for the side walls and today we hope to get the T1-11 in place. The boys have LOVED this process. We work on it a little each day - just yesterday they spent several hours priming the trim for me.

One week ago 10 of them arrived (there is sure to be a rooster in there so we probably won't end up with that many since no roosters are allowed in the city). Interesting note: when we went to pick them up at our branch post office (by the University of Cincinnati) - the man in front of us picked up chickens and when I asked for mine the lady said, "Oh good - we've got chickens, ducks, and quail back there today and they're making such a racket." Good grief - I'm surrounded by farmers and didn't even know it! They are (were) the cutest things ever!

I must update their pictures today - they now have wingfeathers and one lady is even sprouting some tail feathers. So - we're spending less time on handwriting and spelling these days and working on the more practical aspect of learning.

February Recap

Happy March! February was awfully short but chocked full of activity for us. Winter gave us some lovely snow and ice that made for some very happy boys and many hours of outdoor play.

We started the month with our (what seems to be coming ritualistic) burning of the Christmas tree. Very good object lesson on why Christmas trees should not be left in the house after they dry out. The flames were 12 feet high at times.

Then there was the snowstorm followed by the ice storm. I can't remember what the name of that storm was (what's up with naming storms anyhow?!) nor what number - I've lost count of the number of storms.  This means that we actually had a winter as opposed to other years when there was a little blip between Fall and Spring.

This storm was fantastic! The boys discovered they didn't have to use sleds - just plop down on their bottoms and they'd slide. Hard on the snow pants but such fun.

Then there was Valentine's Day (which I have no pictures of) and though we don't do much I do make sure the boys know that it's a day they're going to need to learn to appreciate.

There was a very fascinating conversation I had with Stephen right around that time. He told me he'd decided who he was going to marry. I asked him some questions, one of which was, "What do you like about her character?" He told me he's been watching her a "long" time and so I asked about the specifics that we've told the boys to be watching for in people with whom they want to be friends. Do they obey their parent's? Are they respectful? How do they treat their siblings? Is their speech wholesome and uplifting? Stephen told me, "I've watched her and she obeys everyone, even her brothers, and never says a word. That's why I'm going to marry her."

It's pathetic but I don't have many pictures of the month at all - unless you like endless pictures of little boys in snow gear. There were bridal showers and discipleship groups, GBS's winter break and "Train and Multiply" training, homeschooling and lots of baking. Just a busy, busy time of year.

Perhaps the biggest news is that after years of planning and saving - we're getting chickens! Come mid- April we should have three Black Australorps,

 three Golden Buffs (also known as Red Star or Golden Comet)

 and three Silver Laced Wyandottes - aren't they pretty?

And - we had God do something really neat for us in this area. I had budgeted $300-350 for fencing  for this project. I didn't want the flimsy chicken wire that can look a bit tacky. Since living in the city means it must look neat and be kept smelling neat, extra work has to go into getting ready for this venture. I wanted the vinyl coated green fencing 48 inches high and 50 feet long. At Lowe's this was $57 per roll last fall (this spring it's $58). So with the wire, posts, staples, etc. I thought I had pretty good idea of what we'd be looking at.

Leaving out lots of details - Allan and I ran to Lowes two Saturdays ago and "just happened" to double check the fencing prices. An employee told me to check in the store at a certain place because they'd just marked some down. We went to that section and I could not believe how much it was marked down! The 48inch by 50 feet rolls that are normally $57 dollars were marked down to $15... yes $15 and the 42inch and 50 feet that was originally $52 per roll was now $12 per roll. We were able to purchase $327 worth of fence for $81. I even bought enough for around my new little trees to protect them from inquisitive little people and plenty to give our chickens a nice sized run. I've not even made that a matter of prayer but God was watching out for us anyhow. And a building that can be used as a coop was given to us for free (I had budgeted $500-600 for that). So we're so very thankful and excited that this is happening much sooner than we had anticipated.