golden birthday

Chick #2 turned 10 on the 10th of March so it was his golden birthday. I wanted to do something just a little different for him to mark this special day. Ten presents wrapped in golden paper seemed very fitting. Now you must know that they were not expensive gifts. Just little things that I knew he would be happy with. Trading cards, gum, a candy bar, a top from the clearance rack for $4 were a few of things that he enjoyed unwrapping. He also had asked me for a Green Bay Packer cake, this was the attempt that I made.

We had his party at home and I did not want four 9-12yr. old boys running around the house all afternoon, so I sent them on a treasure hunt. They had to solve the riddles on pieces of paper to find out where the next clue was hidden. The boys plus the oldest chick ended up running all over our little town to find the clues. Chicks #3 and 4 had to stay home with us because they do not listen to the older kids so well.

His party was about week after his real birthday so he had asked The Rooster to bring him home a giant cookie from Sam's. I think that it added a few pounds to both the Rooster and I.

Here he is standing by his ten gifts. They were on our mantel for two day before his birthday. He spent a lot of his time looking at and shaking his gifts. A few of the bottoms had some how been opened by his birthday. He claims to have no recollection of removing any tape. Yeah right!

Sock

Baby chick has very cute little feet. Of course we all knew this information all along but she did not. Just recently she has begun to explore these cute little things. The other day a loose sock caught her eye and she had to find out if it tasted good or not.

A Visit

My parents were down for a visits in February so we took the opportunity to celebrate three of the chicks birthdays. Chick #2, #3 and #4 have birthdays in February and March. They gave them all their presents. Can you guess what their gifts were? Roller skates for the younger two and chick #2 got a pair of roller blades. They will be having so much fun with them after the weather warms up a little.


Chick #3 is showing chick #2 how to skate in our dinning room. Nana and I did take the chicks down to local skating rink so that they could really skate with music, lights and everything. NaNa has posted a few pictures of that here.

The three of them with the cake that had all of their names on it and candles for all of their birthdays.

Chick #2 likes to decorate the cakes too, so I let him do the yellow frosting. I am sure that he will want to help with his own cake next weekend. He had told me that he wants his made from scratch instead of from a box. I will have to plan a little extra time for that.

NaNa made sure that she had plenty of baby chick time.

PaPa made sure that he had plenty of comfy couch time. I looks like he had a valentine delivery.

The girl chicks enjoyed making homemade valentines. We do this every year and make the table a big red and white mess.

Here is everyone with the grandparents after church services.

Chick #4 is 4

Chick #4 with his Iron Man cupcakes! He just loved them.

Little chick #4 is already four years old. I thought that I better get a few of his photos on my blog before I had to blog about the other two birthday's coming up in the house. This little is still very much a Mama's boy. I know that soon he will think that Dad is the really cool guy but for now he is still very happy to stay close to his Mom. He said a funny thing to me the other weekend after we had attend a family member wedding. The Rooster and I were able to dance with each and the little chick was very sadden by seeing this. He told me afterwards that it made him sad to see me dancing with his daddy. I asked him why he felt that way and his answer surprised me. "Mama" he said "you are suppose to only dance with me." Little boys are only little boys for such a small amount of time.

funny

Now here is a question for you. Are you behind or really ahead when you accidentally fold the dirty laundry? I do not know, ask The Rooster.

Unexpected

The baby chick with her new bib. There will be plenty of room for when she starts to eat solid foods in about 3 more months.

Here I am, The Hen, making pizza crust for the Rooster and Chicks dinner. Yes, I am not wearing make-up. Now the whole world knows what I look like with out mascara. Oh the horror.

Unexpected gifts are some of the funnest ones to receive. My friend wrote about sewing a apron for a gift. I was secretly very excited because hen material would definitely give away who it would be for. I was hoping maybe I would get the gift. Why would I be chosen though? I know this woman and we really get along very well. Actually, I think that we are very much the same. I was so happy to open this gift which was a rooster and hen apron for me. I love aprons and like to have an excuse to wear them. I do not know if she knew that about me at the time when she made it. She also sent me mint flavored chocolate. This is also my favorite. If I am given a choice over flavors and mint is one flavor to choose, you betcha, I will choose it. The baby chick also received a beautiful bib. This woman is so talented and I am very thankful for the gifts she sent us.

When you buy a towel

One day the Hen was able to go shopping. OK, I wasn't really shopping just trying to get in and out of Target quickly with five children before baby chick had to nurse. I just needed to buy some basic house stuff like tp paper and toothpaste ect.. While finding my purchases I decide to look at the towels. I could really use some for the upstairs bathroom with few washcloths too. So after looking them over I bought the cheapest ones in green and pink. Two days later, at home, baby chick takes a nap, so I decide to find a home for our four towels and four washcloths. I started looking through the drawers in the bathroom and realized I needed to clean them out. I was setting my goals low. I just wanted to clean out two drawers. Opening the first drawer I begin to remove junk. I would like to know where all of this junk comes from. Shower gel had spilled into the bottom of this drawer so I pulled it out and wiped it nice and clean. Now for the bottom drawer, which I also pulled out and cleaned do to more shower gel. When I pulled out the bottom drawer more junk fell into it's place so why not clean under the sink too. I hate under the sink. It is my all time most hated spot in the house. I noticed that there were wet toilette paper rolls under the sink. Oh no! Hey I just bought these, what happened to them. I look under the sink and see a crack. Oh no again! I knew the over flow had a crack but this seemed new. I turned on the water and sure enough it began to drip. There had been some old pull ups under there from when I potty trained chick #4. Those had been soaking up the water and then drying out in between sink uses. So under the sink had to be scrubbed with bleach water do to some mold that had grown there. The Rooster was not exactly pleased when I called him and asked him if he could pick up a new sink. It had to be done, you just can not limp along with a cracked sink. Since I had cleaned that much on the vanity I went ahead and cleared out the last two drawers. I really want to know who keeps putting toys in the drawers in the bathroom. After it was all said and done there is a nice new sink in our up stairs bathroom. Just be careful if you buy new towels for your bathroom. Who knows what may happen.

Hold on to your hats

I ran across this tonight while I was looking through all of my bookmarks. Sometimes you need to checkout those things that are important but we often set aside. I am a little scared about how this could turn out. Lets all pray that the most vulnerable in this world would be protected.

Day of Christmas continued

On the sixth day of Christmas what was the Hen doing?

Said good morning to her sister. (Who surprised us by driving down all night with her husband and son to see us and my parents for the new year.)

On the seventh day of Christmas what was the Hen doing?

Visited with more friends.

To be continued.

I hope that everyone has a very blessed new year and rejoices in the many gifts Our Father in heaven has given us.

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.