Brynn's Dance Recital

Brynn's dance recital was just over a week ago.
She did fantastic!

Brynn has done ballet and jazz this year. Her ballet dance was from Swan Lake. It was absolutely charming. She did fantastic and I loved her cute black tutu.

Her jazz dance was Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti And Spearhead. It was lots of fun and Brynn's even got a special part in it. Here are lots of pictures of her in her costumes:

We love you Brynn! You are a great little ballerina!

Night-time Antics

So apparently things are happening at my house while I sleep. This morning Claire was asleep on the couch downstairs. Like REALLY asleep. I chatted with Brynn (her roomate) and from what I can piece together this is what happened last night:
Claire got up at 10:30 to take herself potty. We were super-proud. She got up again at 12:30 to go potty again. Proud again, but a little suspisious at this point. She never needs to go more than once at night. Shawn went to bed shortly after this and apprently this is when the party really got underway. Claire got up and sat in the rocking chair in her bedroom and read stories. After a while she started reading out loud to Brynn. This was somwhere around 4:30 AM. Brynn told her to stop and go back to bed. Claire came upstairs and told Shawn and I that there was water in Sydney's window well. This caused immediate action because this really has happened before. Shawn assesed that there was no water anywhere and put Claire back to bed. At some point after this she got up again and found a pen in the family room. She proceeded to color all over her arms and legs and tummy, and she even gave herself a moustache. I think she fell asleep on the couch after this. I am not sure, but that is where Sydney found her this morning at 7:00 when she got up. I woke Claire up at 8:45. It took some good effort on my part and she was not happy to have to get up.
So I guess the conclusion is that if you want to party, wait until the parents go to bed to get things really rolling. I am a little scared that she knows that this early. But don't you like her mustache?

What We Did Last Weekend

 I ran in the Health Days 5K race. I did okay. 32 minutes. My bro-in-law, Jon, also ran and kicked my trash. That was fun for him. His time was 28 minutes. Seriously Jon, you did fantastic.

We watched Brynn in the Health Days Parade. She rode on a float with her dance group. Hi Brynn! We also got lots of taffy.

We painted the hen house. Doesn't it look great! We got the paint for free at the paint recycling shed at the landfill. How cool that they had barn red?

I love the nesting box and little door in the coop.

We moved the chickens into their new home. I think they like it.

 The ladies are growing super fast!

I hope you all had a good weekend too!

Up next: Brynn's dance recital. Stay tuned.

Mother's Day

I would like to introduce you to my Mother's Day presents:

 This is Cee Cee. She is a Barred Rock hen and will be black and white striped when she grows up.

 This is Peck. She is a Australorp and will be black. She will probably lay brown eggs.

 This is Stretch. She is a Rhode Island Red. Guess what color she will be? Syd has nicknamed her Mrs. Attitude and I would not be surprised if she ends up being the ring-leader of the bunch.

 This is Delilah. She is the sweetest little thing. She is an Easter Egger and will lay blue or green eggs. She will sit on my hand and hang out. Very cute and sweet.

Shawn and I have been toying with the idea of getting chickens for quite a while now. I kind of backed off the idea because we will be remodeling a big portion of our kitchen/living room this summer and I felt bad making extra work for him. But he told me last week that he wanted to get me chickens and build me a coop for Mother's Day. How fantastic is he? So we went down to IFA and picked out some little sweeties. I can't say there was any method to choosing them other than I wanted them to be pretty when the got big, nice to my girls (non-agressive), and I loved the idea of lots of different colored eggs.

In the few days we have had them we have all fallen in love with them. We have spent lots of time holding them, checking on them, and just watching them roam around their little box. Bobbi (our cat) is bewildered by them. She doesn't know whether to ignore them or eat them. After the first day the girls said to me "Mom, thank you so much for getting us chickens for Mother's Day"

Ha, ha, I'm sure they will be thinking that when I make them clean up chicken poop this summer.

 Shawn is building me an awesome hen house for my little ladies. It is going to be fantastic! But I have a dilemma: What color should I paint it? Barn-yard red with white trim or make it match the shed it is right next to: tan with brown trim. What to do. My dad suggested I just paint a big Chick-Fil-A logo on it.

This will be the nesting box. Chickens like to go into a little space away from the hustle of the coop. They will actually cackle for each other when they lay eggs. My girls will not start laying eggs for 4-6 months, but we are looking forward to watching them grow and develop into full grown chickens.

We will keep you all posted as to the going-ons in the hen house. For right now they seem to like to eat and sleep and poop. Kind of like all babies. Thank you Shawn for a awesome Mother's Day gift!

Oh and just in case you think I forgot here are some pictures of my other babies who I love more than life: