A New Home

The chickens were getting much too big for their little bucket, so my mom brought over this bird cage. They are much happier and so am I!

The kids love to feed them things. They gave them a few grapes from their lunch and watched them play tug of war with them. Jaden said they were having "the battle of the grapes."

Chicken Coop

Granddad came over today and started working on our chicken coop. The kids absolutely loved it, Jaden helped him and is so proud of the results. We are not quite finished yet, but it was a good start.

They like to look through the hole in the shed and watch for spiders.

I think this is a great place for kids. We might just forget about the chickens and leave them out there from time to time!

Quote of the Week

If you find yourself loving any pleasure more than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of the Lord, any table better than the Lord's table, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better than the hope of heaven – be alarmed.

Thomas Guthrie

Yay! Homeschool Curriculum!

So exciting, we got our curriculum in today! More on this on our other blog. =)

Three Years Ago...

Happy Birthday Bayleesan Bunkins! We love you!

Kindergartener!

It's official. Jaden is registered for Kindergarten! He will be attending Valley Oaks Charter School and will be there one morning a week for elective or "enrichment" courses. Otherwise, he will be here with me and we will be going through a great Kindergarten homeschool curriculum called My Father's World. =) We are very excited to start! He is bragging to EVERYONE that he is now a Kindergartener. I'm feeling kind of old!

The Newest Members of the Family!

Meet our newest additions, two hens that are (hopefully) going to be great layers in about 4 months! This one is a White Leghorn. It will grow up to be your very basic white chicken and lay about an egg a day. It is very smart and looks you straight in the eye. Jaden loves it.

This is Piper. I picked her breed because she is much more sweet and docile. She is a Buff Orpington and will grow up to be brown and lay about 5 eggs per week. She is at the bottom of the pecking order right now, but in a few days we are going to add two more babies, so she still has a chance! =) This is Baylee's favorite.

Aubrey just thinks we are crazy for buying baby chicks. I think I heard him say, "you know those grow up to be chickens, right?" Maybe I'm just remembering that phrase from my childhood, but that is the general attitude we get from Aubrey. I think he secretly likes them though. He pokes at them a little.

Jaden on the other hand has taken full responisbility for them. He LOVES them and wants to play with them all the time. He cleans up poop, refills water bowls and watches after them if they are out of their bucket, and he does it all on his own. I love the fact that he is so interested in them, we have been able to talk about so many things already. He asks great questions and we have many teachable moments. He knows about instincts, why they don't pee, how God made them to provide food and so many other silly things. He is getting very good at handling them and I've been very impressed with his attention span and the responsibility that has kicked in.

Aubrey makes sure that they don't tear apart the rug by yelling, "No! Stop! SHOO!"

They tear up the rug anyway because that is what chickens do.

They are still cute though, at least for another week or two.

Baylee loves them from a distance. If they try to fly to her, she freaks out and cries like she is being attacked by a lion. She is a totally Mother Hen, unless they try to touch her. =)

My Big Kids

Can you believe these two are turning 3 and 5 next month? Where does the time go?

Baylee's First Haircut

Before

After

Baylee the Baker

Grandma and Grandpa always come back from vacation with the coolest toys. They got Baylee this adorable baker's set. She loves it! Also the crazy glowing bracelet. They gave Jaden a neat firestation with many little pieces, and Aubrey a fun Airplane. They also, very thoughtfully, dropped of three very noisy flutes before they made their way back to their peaceful, quiet home. They will never be forgiven for this. ;)

Quote of the Week

What can be more excellent than prayer; what is more profitable to our life; what sweeter to our souls; what more sublime, in the course of our whole life, than the practice of prayer!

Augustine

Easter