Melissa's Birthday

Melissa turned ten last week. I now have two children in the double digits! It's crazy. She had a very perfect day. She opened her presents in front of the webcam, so the pictures are at a bad angle. She got the all-important pillow pet. It's an Easter bunny.

And because I am of the belief that no one should pay $100 for a doll (American Girl is robbing Americans), she got a Madame Alexander doll and has taken it with her everywhere since.
The cake has a suprise inside.

It's a rainbow! Happy birthday, my Melissa!

The Garden

Saturday was the last sunny day in our forecast for a week, so we worked all day in the garden. Jason hauled the mulch from the driveway to the garden one wheel barrow-load at a time, while I spread it all with a rake. I think I got the easy job. Our chickens love the mulch because it came with many, many white flies in it. Eat up, girls. Our blueberries are doing amazing and I'm looking forward to eating those in a month or two, along with my lettuce and spinach (if I can keep the rabbits out). I love my garden!!

Easter Girls

My five beauties on Easter morning.

The Chickens are Outside!!

It felt like the day would never come when we could get these chickens out of my house, but last Saturday, with the coop finally finished, and the weather taking a turn for the better, they moved out!! They create so much stink and dust it's amazing. They are so much happier now that they have room to flap their wings, and I'm thrilled to finally have my home smelling good and relatively dust-free again! In two months or so, we should see our first egg.

It's supposed to get to 80 degrees today, so I opened the little door to their run to let them play outside. They are all too scared still, but Buffy is brave enough to at least go this far. Sara is checking on her chickens. She loves them so much. Egg collecting will be so fun!

Science Fair 2011

It was Rachel's turn to do a science fair project this year. She was inspired by a project last year and wanted to learn more about quicksand. She even did a cornstarch/water quicksand demonstration. It was a fun (and easy!!) one to do, and I even learned some things!

Trouble

I have never had a kid quite like this one. She is into EVERYTHING!! I had just finished a batch of no bake cookies and before I knew it, she had moved the stool and grabbed one in each hand. She's all wet from getting into the dog water dish. It's a very good thing she's cute.

More About Chickens

I know it seems like all I talk about is chickens, but that really is my life right now. Kids are just going to school or staying home sick. Boring. In the last week, we gave away all but 10 of our chickens, so now I can handle the number! We have all we want and no more extras--yea!! This is how they look now. It amazes me how quickly they grow! They should be moving outside in a week or two, if it ever warms up aound here.

If anyone cares, we have 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Black Australorpes and 4 Silver Laced Wyandottes. Sometime in June or July we should be getting at least 5 eggs a day!!