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:

 

Claire Bear is 3!!

Claire had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. We had a fun little party for her. She got a new paint book and paints. 

She has been super into mermaids lately. She has a little book with a little girl in it dresses as a mermaid. Whenever we read the book Claire says" Mom, that is me! Where is my tail? I lost my tail." So I decided to maker her her own mermaid tail. It is very sparkly and shiny. And kind of big. We will probably be able to use it for a Halloween costume. Way to kill two birds with one stone.

She got a card from Bart and Katie. After she opened it she read it to me "Dear Claire, happy birthday. I love Bart and Katie. Open lots of presents. From Bart and Katie." Yep, that is exactly what it said.

When I asked Claire what she wanted for her birthday she told me she wanted a candy cake. Got to give a girl what she wants, right? Thanks for the wonderful idea, Becca. The cake was a huge success.

 Singing happy birthday. Claire has carried the candles around in a little bag for a solid week now. She is a little obsessed with birthdays. I guess she wants to be prepared in case her birthday decides to roll around again.

Blowing out the candles.

 Eating candy. No cake for Claire, the candy was good enough.

 

I made Claire a fairy house. Yes, there are lots of pics of it, but I am really quite proud of myself. 

There are three little fairies. One red-head, one blond and one brunette.

Fairies 2 and 3 think that fairy 1 might need a haircut. She can't really see under all that hair.

 

The fairy sisters live in a toadstool house together and they never, ever fight.

They like to sit around their table and eat mushrooms. (The table is not done yet. It will someday look like a mushroom if I get around to painting it. For now it looks like a soccer ball).

The fairies are very tidy. They store their mushrooms and dishes in a little bag.

 We had a fun day with Claire.  I can't believe how fast this little one is growing up! Happy birthday my little girl. We love you so much!

A Prayer From Claire

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank our blessings,
please bless we sleep well,
please bless Brynny not be sick,
please bless we get candy,
please bless daddy get home,
please bless we go swimming,
please bless we eat chips,
please bless we buy more smiley face fruit snacks,
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

A Belated Valentine's Post

Here is a belated Valentine's post for you:

Babies for my babies. I made these little Black Apple dolls for the girls. Thank you Becca for the idea and thank you mom for saving my bacon and helping me turn and stuff lots of tiny limbs. The girls liked them even more than I thought they would. We made a blanket for each doll and the dolls also have a school and a house where Sydney doll is in charge of the kitchen. I think they liked that the doll was a mini version of themselves.

Here is a photo of one of the dozen red roses from Shawn. They were gorgeous. Thank you baby! I got Shawn peanut butter cups. After the girls went to bed we ate take-out from the Tandoori Oven until we were fat and happy. A very nice Valentine's Day for all.

This is random but here you go. This is my wedding bouquet. We had it "preserved" when we got married. It has been sitting in the storage room for 12 years now. I have been cleaning the storage room and got it down and unwrapped it. It started to crumble in my hands, so I knew it's number was up. So I took some pictures then sent it on it's way. I know the roses are yellow and the greenery is brown, but I think it is kind of beautiful in it's own way. We got married in December so there are berries and pine in there also. Hopefully I have aged a little better than the bouquet did. Don't tell me if you think I am withered and yellowed.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. I am off to find some more chicken kurma.

A Story by Brynn

Brynn spent a lot of time this weekend writing a story on the computer. She told me I could put it on the blog. Here it is:

                  The Families Adventure

A family lived in the woods.    They were very poor.    But they did not mind.    Their   names were Jewel, Rose and Ruby.  Rose was the oldest.   Jewel was the medium. Ruby was the youngest. Their parents’ names were Linda and Jeremy. They loved their girls.    They all had to do a lot of work.  One day Ruby wondered   off.  The rest of the family was worried. They searched for days. “Ruby where are you?”

Then finally Jewel and Rose set off to find Ruby. Now Linda and Jeremy were really worried.   Rose, Jewel, Ruby where are you they shouted.  Rose and Jewel kept getting into trouble. First they had to swim across a lake a sea monster tried to eat them all they had do is say please and he moved . 

The next thing they bumped into was a troll and a troll bridge the troll wood not let them pass.  But the troll’s mom came back and said that they could pass and they did and the little troll got punished and the girls laughed. 

Back at home Linda and Jeremy were so worried. Wait said Linda i forgot   when we were not poor when we were rich I bought the girls a cellphone maybe I can call them.

Then she tried it and it worked yea.

    Mom: girls I am so happy that you are alive did you find Ruby?  No, we did not but we will keep trying. That is great. But I do not know we might not find her. Will you just keep trying? K. Well we got to go bye, bye. After they hanged up Rose said look out an ax! Run! You can do it. Wait why are we running? The ax is not alive. It is alive it is a magic ax! Now run go, go, go! 

The ax fell in the sea and they were safe. On the way they met a cat and it was a magic cat it said that it could take them to Ruby. But in return they would have to give it a family. The girls said that it was a deal.

So the cat led them to Ruby. It was a long walk. But if they wanted to find Ruby they had to keep going.    They met a very, very, very mean giant. This giant was a special kind of giant he did whatever you did so he is very hard to pass especially magic cats with girls. The only way to get pass the giant was to make him fall in the sea.  They tried a couple things but they did not work. Finally they pretended to fall into the sea. When the giant pretended to fall in he lost his balance & drowned in the deep horrible sea. But when they thought they won the war the giant’s huge hand reaches out of the sea & grabs them & swallows them whole. So they are in the giant’s tummy & they find Ruby. 

Ruby! I am so happy to see you I see that you are punching the tummy so is he going to burp us out. Burp! I spoke too soon. The giants burp flew them all the way home.   

AND THEY LIVE HAPPY EVER AFTER!

 

                                               The End        

December Update

So let's play game of catch-up...again. I have been bad with the blogging lately. So here are lots of pictures.

I LOVE CrossFit!!!! If you didn't already know. This is what your hands look like if you do CrossFit,(no not sausage-like that is just me. Blisters and calluses) but it really is a badge of honor. I could go on and on but I won't. You probably are all sick of hearing about it. If you want to know about CrossFit ask me next time you see me and I will talk your ear off. :)

Claire helping me make dessert on Christmas Eve. Yay for chocolate lush! Yay for a little helper.

We had lots of company on Christmas Eve, which was super fun. Mom and Dad, Jake and Shanna (and baby JJ), and Grandma Julie all ate dinner with us. We even opened some presents. Dad got this very cool skull cap from Jake and Shanna for when he rides his bike. No more cold or sunburned head. He said it was half a bra. Sydney could not stop laughing. Very appropriate, as usual, Dad.

Grandma Leslie gave Brynn her very own box of Wheat Thins. She was sooooo excited. I mean really, what more could a girl want? The box is in the cupboard now, with Brynn's name written all over it, just so we don't forget who it belongs to.

Grandpa Dave gave Syd the crazy dot-to-dot- book. Look at the picture close and you can see the dots. One picture has over 1000 dots. This will keep her busy for a while! Click on the picture to see a bigger version of it. You can see the dots better that way.

Christmas jammies! They love to put on their new jammies. And check out the super cute pregnant chick on the couch. Doesn't she look great? Two months to go Shanna!

The girls all got pillow pets. They are very cute and soft. Bunny for Claire, turtle for Syd, and ladybug for Brynn. They will be perfect for traveling.

Syd loves to read. We gave her the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and she had it finished before lunch on Christmas Day. That's my girl!

We got a new office chair for the computer desk downstairs. The girls had a blast spinning around and around in it all day long. I am surprised that nobody threw up.

Bobbi even got in on the gift-giving action. She got a new bed. It was so funny to watch her react to it. She sniffed it (it is embedded with catnip), walked around it twice, and plopped down in it like it had been her bed forever. Success! Although, she has only laid in it twice since then. Darn cat. If anyone out there ever figures them out let me know.

Casper's had a ski night at Beaver last week. Shawn and Syd went up. Here is Syd chilling in the snow. Shawn said they had a good time. Syd hadn't been skiing for a couple of years but she was able to pick it again quickly.

Yesterday was Beach Day at school for Syd and Brynn. This just means that they got to eat thier lunch on a beach towel in teh decorated gym. So they were running around the house in the morning gathering up towels and hats and sunglasses. Claire wanted in on that action so she got all of her stuff out too. So while the thermostat read 5.6 degrees outside, Claire was beaching it up inside with her swimsuit, floppy hat, beachball, and towel. She stayed in this get-up all day long. She walked around the house all day saying "We go to the beach? We go swimming?" Sometime I just have to give in to the cuteness, so that night I took the girls swimming at Sky View. It was really fun but it was really cold. I think the best part for everyone was standing in the steamy hot shower for half an hour. I taught the girls how to slide across the shower floor, like we did when I was on the swim team. Afterwards we came home and all ate jam sandwiches together. Fun night.

  

This picture is just for fun. Aren't babies so cute when they sleep? Even if they are wrapped in a stinky blanket? After the nap we washed stinky blankey so now it smells so nice. If you want proof come over and Claire will let you sniff it. She has been making me sniff it all day long.