Whenever I see people I haven't seen in a while, I usually say, "What's new?" Most people say, "Nothing." Even if there is something, it's easier to just say that....but around here, there are a few new things so I thought I'd give a quick update!
No that is not a greenhouse you are seeing in our yard! A neighbor friend asked if we wanted his chickens - he had already built a sweet chicken tractor for his yard and offered to bring that too. It's pretty amazing to see how smart he was - he used things like gutters and framing materials from the Habitat Restore in town. I always love seeing how people use pretty ordinary things in new ways and we are so grateful for this!
Here are Pippa and Lois, our original two chickens. They are taking a dust bath in the next door neighbor's flower bed! It's one of their favorite spots and he says he doesn't mind. =) We are so lucky to have accommodating neighbors!
And here are the 3 new chickens! Jessie is the white one, Brownie is the brown one and Lily is the black and white one. I have wanted to add to our flock for a while and truly, it is a blessing that the neighbor was willing to give us all of this for free! We promised him some eggs anytime so come and get them whenever you are ready! I think one of the best parts (to me) is that I really had my heart set on a black and white one like that - I know it sounds silly but I feel like God answered my prayer about what kind of chicken I wanted! So Lily is my favorite - but I like them all b/c they are all very friendly and willing to be picked up.
This is a closer look at Jessie.
Jessie and Brownie drinking. These 3 chickens came 'pre-named'. I don't mind their names but I must admit that I find myself calling the white one Lily since that seems logical to me. Lilies are usually white flowers! I have to remind myself sometimes that Lily and Jessie are opposites. Brownie is the easiest one to remember of course! We have slowly been introducing the original and new girls to each other. One of the first days there was blood - Pippa is by far the smallest hen out there but we think she was top of the pecking order for the original two. Now? They are hashing it out and Dave thinks that Brownie might be the highest rank...They have endured a few daytime hours here and there together and so far so good. At night the original two head to bed in the original coop while the other 3 retire in the 'annex', or the new part of the coop. For a few nights Dave was trying to put them together, but maybe they don't mind sleeping in separate quarters. Either way, we are happy to report that we are now getting about 3-4 eggs each day! I expect in summer we will be getting 5 a day. YUM YUM!!
In other news, I believe this is the first year in a while that we have put up a Christmas tree. Other years we may have had one, but just a table top. No babies in the house means we can set up the big one =) I cannot describe to you the excitement that ensued when my kids heard that! "This is soooo exciting, Mom!" I grabbed my new camera and took some pictures...I want to remember the excitement! I get a little OCD about decorating the tree but I tried my best to let the kids help. Now I'm glad I did of course b/c the little things make me smile! There's about 4 ornaments on 2 close branches, clumped together...when I told Moses he could bend the fake branches up a bit so the heavy ones didn't fall off, he started to bend them up at a 90* angle!...Colleen wanted all the sparkly, dangly, pretty ones close to the bottom so she could touch them whenever she feels like it...no one wanted to put any ornaments on the back side...very few of them are higher than chest height...etc...I went back and added a few tonight, but took pics first. I think next week we will get out 'the kid tree' - we probably have 3 trees that are between 3-6' and then at least 2 that are little tabletops. I'm thinking we try to decorate a new one each week? I like the excitement! And the others are small, so it won't be too much work =)
The boys assembled the base.
Everyone got into the task of pulling the branches down and apart!
This girl was over the moon...she must have told me that she loved me about 100 times!! (Trauma mama's/parents of RAD kids will get that more than others...) She was also excited b/c she had found her sparkly Rudolph shirt and had chosen to wear it that day so decided that was why we put up the tree. Yes, we put it up all b/c you wore that shirt...I had to get a pic of her standing by the tree - I wish it captured the awe on her face better but I am still learning to use the new camera. She was bouncing and singing and just very happy! This morning I found her sitting on the couch in the dark, basking in the glow of the tree lights! I remember doing that as a kid =)
Well, I guess that was only 3 new things, but it's not nothing anyway! I hope to post one more update before the Christmas letter...
No comments:
Post a Comment