Baby Chicks!

     I have been trying to convince my husband that keeping a few chickens for fresh eggs and for our children to experience the responsibility of caring for an animal as well as thinking about where food comes from is a good thing for a couple of years now. 

Thankfully our new neighbors next door got a few layer hens last fall and so he has gotten to watch and see first hand how low maintenance and quiet they are. (No roosters) 

Needless to say he has changed his tune and is actually excited about the prospect. I think he mainly realized that it wasn't just  a fleeting desire and that it really would make me happy. I am so blessed.

And so, he set about to build a home for our future flock. 

Getting everything laid out for building the coop. 

He loves building anything out of wood. 

 Our little man "helping" daddy with the hammer. 

Like Father, like son

 Bird's eye view

 The roosting boxes. We painted the inside white to make it brighter and cleaner looking (for now). 

Also thought it might help with cleaning?

 Finishing up the roof so they'll stay dry.

 That's the CUTEST baby chick I've ever seen! 

Oh wait, that's my adorable nephew Joshua and his pretty mommy Gloria. :)

 Since we built the coop at my in-love's house they delivered it to us the next morning.

 My handsome hubby next to his chicken palace.

 So, when you build a chicken coop a funny thing happens. You buy chicks! Shortly after the coop was settled into the backyard we were off to the farm store to pick out our new babies. We thought 6 would be a good number so we bought 8 (Braid math - we figured some would die, we were wrong)

 These are the new chicks still in the box when we got them home. 

There are actually 8 little fuzz balls in there 

2 barred rock, 2 black Australorp, 2 New Hampshire Reds and 2- Golden sex-linked.

 Putting them into their brooder box.

 Very excited

 Naomi is pretty timid of the chicks but was able to hold one with a little help.

 Settling in

 Rosen did not leave this post unless I made her the first 2 days. 

If I ever couldn't find her, this is where she'd be. She was so concerned about the chicks. 

She will make a great mother someday.

 This is her favorite. It's name is Goldie. 

The other golden is Diamond and one of the Black Australorp's is named Penguin 

(because its face has markings like a penguin). 

The others will get names when we can tell them apart.

Three days after we've brought them home they are already starting to look different. See how their necks are getting longer and some of them are starting to get their wing feathers? As Nathan says (affectionately) "They get uglier everyday."

Ravioli Makers

Aunty Gloria is a wonderful cook and Uncle Justin is like her Sou Chef. Together they taught the girls how to make yummy mushroom raviolis with their pasta machine. Uncle Justin prepared the dough and gave each of the girls their own ball of it to work while Aunty Gloria cooked the mushroom filling. As you can see they were dressed appropriately in their princess dresses. 

They had a great time and the dinner was excellent!
Thank you Uncle Justin & Aunty Gloria!

Naomi's first haircut

Naomi's first haircut was not planned. In fact it was just getting nice and long and we were really enjoying how pretty she looked with it. BUT she had other plans. Apparently the story goes that she was watching Rosen cut out some shapes out of paper and then take a little snip off the end of a piece of her hair. Well, needless to say Naomi tried to imitate her except she took about 6-8 INCHES off of a LARGE chunk of her hair. (I still don't know where she got the scissors from)
There was only one thing to do. . . . finish the job. I very calmly explained to her that because she had cut so much of her hair off the only way to fix it would be to make the rest match. She very seriously consented while her sister Rosen started running around the house WAILING over the fact that Naomi would have to get a haircut and lose her "princess hair" and that it was all her fault for first cutting her (Rosen's) hair. Now I was impressed with the level of care Rosen was displaying for her sister's well-being and for taking responsibility for the part she played but this was really over the top. I spent more time consoling ROSEN over the fact that Naomi would have to get a haircut than I did Naomi. In fact, Naomi even seemed to be a little excited about the prospect. After all was said and done, I think she looks pretty darn cute in this new shorter style. We may even have to keep it! :)

Pizza Hut Field Trip

Rosen's preschool had a field trip to Pizza Hut today. 

They opened the store early just for us! 

We were each given a pizza crust in a pan and allowed

 to pick from an assortment of toppings to make our own pizza masterpieces. 

(From left to right): Naomi's, Mom's, Rosen's

 A good time (and lunch!) was had by all.

P.S. - Thank you uncle Justin for watching our little guy while we feasted on pizza!

Valentine Cards

My grandmother (my mom's mom) whom we affectionately call Granny is so good about sending the kids St. Valentine's Day cards. Here you can see them with their cards 

(Liam was not cooperating so Rosen is holding his as well). 

Thank you so much Granny! They loved them!

Princess Time!

 Our old neighbors have a daughter named Charli that is right in between the ages of our girls and so they've formed a fast friendship together over the last couple years.

 (We've been having play-dates since they were babies)

For her 4th birthday Charli had a "princess party".

 As you can see, all the girls are dressed accordingly. 

Our girls had a ball (no pun intended) at the birthday party.

Rosen with the birthday girl.

Family History

This is a old postcard of my great-grandparents on their wedding day. 

Their names are Jesse & Mary Elizabeth Sulgrove. 

They are my dad's mom's parents. 

I just saw it for the first time recently and I just love looking at it. I wonder what their life was like and if I get any of my personality quirks from them. 

I know that they went on to have 8 children. First my grandmother and then 7 boys! My grandmother practically helped raise them (being the only girl and the oldest) and since she had 7 kids herself says that she's raised 14 kids in her life. (2 girls and 12 boys!) She is now 91. 

I actually have a recipe of his (Jesse) that my grandma gave me at my bridal shower. It is for a breakfast hash that he liked to make on the weekends. I think my grandma must have been Daddy's girl because she has such fond memories of him. She also told me that her mother (Mary Elizabeth - which happens to also me my mom's name - how ironic) liked to read and my grandmother thought that it was terrible that a woman would sit down to read before her chores were done. :) Been there! (reading that is) 

How fun to learn about our ancestors. I hope to remember as many details about those that have gone before us as possible so we can keep their memories alive and tell the future generations about where they've come from. :)