Hen days of Christmas

This is to be sung to the tune of The Twelve Days Of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas what was the hen doing?

Having guest come over for some dinner.

On the second day of Christmas what was the hen doing?

Packing for vacation.

On the third day of Christmas what was the hen doing?

Traveling to her parents.

On the Fourth day of Christmas what was the hen doing?

Singing in a church.

On the fifth day of Christmas what was the hen doing?

Shopping with her Mom.

There will be more to come later on during this Christmas season.

reading 100

There is a reading challenge going on next year that I think I will be able to do. My friend Gina told me about it and you can sign up here. So this will be where I will be keeping a list of all of the book I will be reading to myself and the chicks.

1. Superman Returns by Brandon T. Snider
2. Milly and Tilly by Kate Summers
3. Sea Monsters by Marfe Ferguson Delano
4. Milly and Tilly by Kate Summers
5. I'm a Manatee by John Lithgow
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
7. Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant
8. Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit
9. The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
10. Opera Cat by Tess Weaver
11. Mouse in Love by Robert Kraus
12, Forgot My Shoes by Jessica Harper
13. Mad, Mad, Mad Toy Craze by Stan and Jan Berenstain
14. Too Much Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain
15. MaMa's Day Surprise by Stan and Jan Berenstain
16. The Birds and the bees and the Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain
17. The Prodigal by Beverly Lewis
18. The Revelation by Beverly Lewis
19. Curious George by Margret & H. A. Rey
20. Berenstain Bears and Too Much Vacation by Stan & Jan Berenstain
21. Arthur's Halloween by Marc Brown
22. The Obvious Elephant by Bruce Robinson
23. Cowlick by Andrea Renaisse

Chick got a new dew

Chick #3 needed a new look. She had been working on growing out her bangs for some time. As you can tell, she is now able to tuck them behind her ears. She had two layers of hair, a very long layer and then her bangs that were down to her chin. The Rooster had made appointments for the boy chicks to have their hair cut this past Wednesday, but Chick #2 is boycotting haircuts because he wants to grow his hair out. It must be a pre-teen boy thing. I believe that he is looking up to a few teen boys in our church that have long hair. Since there was extra time scheduled I figured I would give chick #3 a treat and let her have a hair cut. She has always been the one to want to short hair. The new short hair cut matches her personality to a tee and it looks very cute.

The next morning after her hair had dried from her bath. I flipped up the end with a curling iron. She was as bouncy as her curls for the rest of day. Today she has been attempting to write lyrics to some songs that she hopes to set to music one day. Chick #1 has been gracious enough to write the words down for her because she is not able to spell many words yet. I will keep you posted on this musical endeavor.

I got her smiling

The baby chick has been smiling for some time but it is very hard to take a picture of it. I finally was able to succeed earlier this week. Of course she smiles at me the best. While NaNa was here visiting, she said the that the baby chick really looked like me. To tell you the truth I had never really thought about it. Then tonight when I was looking at these photos trying to pick out the ones to post, I saw the resemblance. The pictures reminded me of baby photos I had seem of myself.

Halloween

We have started a Halloween tradition of having some friends over on Halloween so the kids can have some good old fashioned fun and the adults can enjoy some nice conversation. This year I made Cheeseburger soup and chili. It was very tasty and everyone enjoyed it.


Here is a picture of chick #3 and 4 with their friend the Cool Cowboy.

Chick #1 was a wife of an Frontier minuteman from the Revolutionary War and her best friend is a veterinarian.

Here are the Minute Men ready for fight for our freedoms. Chick #2 is the smallest guy on the right.

Here the whole crowd in enjoying the wonderful chocolate harvest. Yet again my dear chicks have failed me and they did not harvest enough Twix candy bars.

I do believe that little chick #4 had his fill of candy after all of the fun was over.

Opps!

Are bagless vacuums really that best thing to buy? Right now I do not know. Please excuse the mess!

She is eleven

Chick #1 is now eleven years old. She has really changed and grown-up so much in this past year. The changes in her almost seem as great in this one year as a new born turning one years old. In this past year she has learned to deal with her emotions is such a better way. As a young girl, chick #1 would become very nervous over tiny things and in the past year she has learned to deal with things very well. She has become a wonderful helper in our house. It is just amazing to the Rooster and I how she is missed if she is gone. Nothing seems to get done as easily as when she is hear. The other kids mope around and will not pick up their things. Then chick #1 will come through the door and the house is all a twitter again. She has learned how to cook a few things and sew in the past year. She has learned many things about how to motivate a three year old to do things. Her creativity is amazing when she comes up with games to help the little chicks #3 and 4 pick their toys.

Her party was held this past Saturday with a trip to the movies. We took her and four of her friends to see High School Musical 3. The movie was actually very good if one could just get past the singers awful tone.

Here is a picture of her just 3 short years ago. You can really tell how much she has changed!

Chick #1 sewed with wool for first time this year. A wonderful friend of mine taught her and she was able make this lovely skirt.

This picture was taken at the county fair during the fashion show. This is the highlight of her year when she gets to model an outfit that she bought (very cheep). The girl knows how to spot a bargain. She also modeled an outfit the she sewed. This year she was able to bring home two trophies.

Today is also my birthday. It is fun on the mornings of our birthday because we can tell each other happy birthday instead of Good Morning.

Chubby Cheeks

Little baby chick is already 1 month old. It had been the fastest month of my life. Even the other chicks are commenting upon how quickly time seems to be going now. The little baby chick has gotten her cute little chubby cheeks from nursing so well. I think that they have filled out even more over this past week. Today I may try to take the ugly duckling for a walk this afternoon. It has been four weeks since my c-section and I am feeling fairly well. I do think I will push it to hard and only walk 1.5 to 2 miles. It will do me a lot of good to be out in the crisp fall air. Fall has sprung up so quickly here. In two weeks we have gone from wearing shorts to sweatshirts and jackets.

A few picutres

Opps! My pictures turned out in the wrong order but I will live with it. This is a picture of the baby chick taken last Sunday when she was three weeks old. This past Wednesday at 3 am she smiled at me! I guess it was worth it getting up and feeding her if I get a little smile out of it. She is being stingy with them though and has not smiled at me since. The other chicks claim to have gotten a few.


He really loves her. When I first told the chicks that we would be having a little baby, chick #4 said "No mommy, we do not need a baby in the house." I think that it is safe to say that he has changed his mind now. He really loves kissing her and loving his little sister.

Chick #1 had her first volleyball game this past Saturday! She really had a fun and time and enjoyed that game very much. Her she is severing the ball for her team.

Oh, and now the work really starts. I had spoiled myself for the first three week of the baby chicks life and we used disposable diapers. Last Thursday was the first time that I had to use the cloth diapers. The Roosters has to wash them for the time being because I am not suppose to lift anything heavier than the baby chick for 6-8 weeks. It sure does take a lot longer to change a diaper when you are using cloth but the little babies just look so cute with those diapers on.

unschooling

Is it a good or a bad thing that the three year old chick figured out that the bouncy seat can be used as a catapult? Now who knows where I will be finding legos.

Baby chick's washing

Baby chick was baptised on October 4th at our church. It was a very lovely day and we all rejoice with the gift of forgiveness that was given to our little one through the waters of baptism. God that Father has given this to her through His word and the water that she may have life.

Me (the hen) with the wee baby chick. She is tiny and sweet.

My husband (The Rooster) with her. He always makes our little babies look so small in his big arms.

The baby chick with her sponsors, my sister, and our close friends that I will call Pastor K and wife. We have been good friends with them for 8 and a half years. We always have fun having impromptu dinner with them or watching football.

A picture of the whole family

This is a picture with my parents at the front of our church. Chick #4 just barely made it through the pictures with out starting to cry. He had been missing out on his normal amount of sleep and just could not handle all of the pictures. The fact that he also had a cold did not help matters any at all.

chicks with the baby chick

Chick #1 with baby chick

Chick #2 with baby chick

Chick #3 with baby chick

Chick #4 with baby chick

These are photos that were taken while I was still in the hospital. Each of my little chicks had a turn holding the baby chick. They were so excited to get to meet the baby girl chick.

The littlest chick

Here is a picture that the Rooster took of me before I went into the OR. Many of the nurses were surprised to find out that this was my fifth c-section. It seemed to go about as well as the others but the meds. seemed to make me more nauseous. I had my good friend Diane come to support me if there would have been oxygen problems with the little chicks. C-section babies seem to have low oxygen levels and then they need to stay in the nursery longer. Chick #5 cried very well after her birth so all of the gunk came out of her lungs. I was the one who was bleeding to much and shaking to hard to hold her. That soon passed and I was able to snuggle with the tiny chick.

Here is the Rooster making on of the many phone calls after the little chick was born.

Our littlest chick was born September 26th at 8:11am. She was 20 inches long and weighed 7lbs. 15oz. We handled the deliver OK, she seemed to fair it a little better than I did.

She was very alert and wanted to look around a little before she attempted to nurse. I was anxious to have her latch on but I needn't not worry. She nurses like a trooper.


Here she is soon after her first bath. The other chicks were able to help the nurse wash her hair and little baby Chick #1 was so happy to have the chance to help.

The next day I was able to be up and walk around a little so I was able to bath her. Chick #3 was helping me wash her beautiful hair this time. In case you did not know, all of my little chicks have been born with lots of dark hair. I just would not know what to do with a bald baby.

The other chicks along with NaNa and PaPa went shopping to buy chick #5 a coming home outfit. This is what they picked out. It was such a beautiful little dress for her to wear home.

A sad statement

While I was reading the morning paper, the following quote caught my eye. More over is was that the following quote was called a Gem!

"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers." -Edgar W. Howe

Now isn't this statement fitting with what one hears at the end of August. Everywhere you turn mothers are talking about how excited they are to be sending their children off to school. "They will finally be out of my hair", "Oh, it is so good for them to be away from me" and "The pre-school teacher told me that they cried half of the day, but it was good for them." These are all comments I have heard from passing mothers in small talk at summer picnics.

Do you know what my main reason was that I started this homeschooling adventure? I like my children! I did not want to see their little five year old selves walking up to the school and their hearts aching for their mother. I could not suffer in such a way and have my children gone away from me for such a long time.

A women VP

My first reaction to having a women running with McCain as the VP was shock. My gut told me that we would for sure loose now. I was upset and thought her job should be at home. But that was my first reaction. Now after some education I like her. She has the guts that I think McCain is sometimes lacking. Last night during her speech she impressed me and I liked what I heard. I believe that she will stand up for the right thing. She is supporting her children and I think that her husband will be supportive of her. I also liked that her daughter's soon to husband was standing up there with his soon to be wife and unborn child. This young lady is not running for anything and I wish the press would leave her alone. I could not imagine going through what that young woman is going through.

Summer update

No, I have not fallen off of the face of the earth, bur sometimes I think that it would be nice. The summer has been way to busy here in our hen house. I remember having lazy days in the summer as a young girl and I wish I could have them back. I am a home body and having one activity a day is sometimes to much for me. With four children it is bound to happen that there will be hair cuts and ball games on the day so I better learn to live with it. For a short summery of the past few months continue reading.

End of May and the month of June!

It was filled with ball games, cancelled ball games and make-up ball games. We have had a very wet summer. It you can believe it our grass is still green! Usually, by this time of year The Rooster does not have to mow very often because the dry weather has caused to grass to go dormant. Most of our games would begin around 6 PM so that would mean I would have to have supper on the table no later then 4:30. It seemed like as soon as I was done cooking lunch I would have to get started on supper. That is the life of a baseball mom.

Chick #1 was on a large team this year so she did not get in a lot of playing of time. She basically likes to play because she can hang out with her best friend (white haired chick) (sorry, I do not have picture) and a lot of other girls. The girls were scared to bat the ball this year because many of them were hit with wild pitches. Chick #1 was one of the few who did pull off a few hits. In this photo she missed that ball, but it was taken early in the season. The umpire in an ever famous pastor around these parts who I will not name. Let just say that he and The Rooster like to pump iron together.


Chick #4 is a trooper and gets drug to everything. He loves all of the activity and was a blue ringpop junky during the ball season. If his little lips were not blue it just did not seem like a ball game. As you can see he was very lucky on a little fishing trip we took. He had the first catch of the day. We were all very proud of the little guy for bringing in the fish. Can you tell he has two older sisters? Yep! He is using a pink fishing pole. He really thinks that he should have Superman fishing pole, but beggars can not be choosers.

Chick #3 also played t-ball but I did not get any pictures of it. A pregnant mommy just can remember everything. She did have fun when we went to a 4-H painting class. She was in the youngest of the three group and did very well on her art work. She is still working on growing out her bangs. Some days she will have a head band on and on others she will put her bangs in little pig tails on the sides of her face. I am impressed that she works so hard at keeping them out of her eyes.
Once while it was pouring cats and dogs there was not any lighting and the little chicks went out to play. Kids just do not play in the rain like they used too, I hardly ever seem them stomping in puddles any more. My little ones love it. When chick #1 was under 1 year old The Rooster used to take her out into rain and walk around with her.

Chick #2 was the catcher with the mostest! He would dive, run around and roll to get the ball quickly. All of that movement would make the chick a sweaty mess. His last game ended after 10 PM and I made him take a shower before he could crawl into bed. He was just mud and sweat. As long as he was behind the home plate his head was in the game. We had to watch out if he was in the outfield though. He was more likely to be catching June bugs than watching the ball. What do you expect he is only 9.

Dancing dolls

It seems that I am having troubles with posting photos again and it takes over 45 min. Maybe that is one of many reasons I have not been posting anything. Life may settle down for a little while since the girls are now done with dance. We have have their photos taken, rehearsed and performed over the past two weeks. During that same time there has also been many ball practices, games and graduations to attend. Both of the little chicks wanted curls for the dance recital so I pick up some fun little foam curlers. They absolutely loved having their hair in rollers and having a fuss made over them. Of course the Ugly Duckling needed one roller too. He really did not want to have his photo taken but the oldest was finally able to hold him still. During the recital the oldest chick had four costume changes and the younger one only three. This whole year chick #3 kept telling me that she hated dance and wanted to quit. She never cried about going, she just was never really excited. Then it came time for recital, costumes, jewelry, lip gloss and curls. She was is heaven! I told her that this is what all of the practicing was for and now it was time for her to show off. This little chick now tells me that she never wants to quit dance and she was a little sad when the recital was over. I am glad that she now understand that hard work can really have a fun pay off.