The other day Shawn was passing the time while I finished getting dinner ready by roaming through the postings on Craigslist. And low and behold he found a posting for free baby chicks. A guy in town had his plans change and he was giving away 18 baby chicks--just three days old! So after dinner we went over to his house intending to get 2 or 3 and came home with 4! Now before you think we just gave in because they were so cute--you're only half right! :) They definitely are cute, but we realized looking at them how fragile they truly are and how 3 chicks may not necessarily turn into 3 hens, if you know what I mean. And also, there's not a 100% guarantee that these are all females. Sometimes the hatchery gets it wrong. So we decided to get a little more insurance with an extra chick. And then just look at them! They're adorable! And their sweet little peeps are just as adorable as they look.
For the next several weeks they will be hanging out in a cardboard box in our shop (garage) with a heat lamp. And just as you'd expect, they act like newborns. The other day I stepped out to check on them to find one of them had fallen asleep with it's face in the feed trough. The poor little thing was just too tired to finish eating!
But this afternoon I took them out to the backyard for a field trip and photo shoot.
I think they liked getting out. They definitely seemed to like the chance to explore and discover new things.
And I let the kids hold them for a bit, which they (the kids) loved, of course .
This picture sort of makes me think of the Loony Tunes cartoon with the abominable snowman who finds Bugs Bunny and says something like "I'm going to love you and hold you and squeeze you..."
And I promise that his shirt doesn't just say that he's a monster. It's got a monster truck on it. :)
A little more calm in the gentle hands of Shawn.
The big boys also decided that today was as good as any day to expand the chicken coop. This will give them better space to stay warm in the winter and more room for when all 8 chickens are in the coop together.
The space on the left side of this picture (the gray-er colored wood) was all newly constructed today.
I kept thinking of today as "Extreme Makeover: Chicken Coop Edition"! :)
power tools can be noisy
Here are the big girls (as we're calling them lately) checking out their new coop space. The guys got it all finished up today. Pretty impressive I think.
So just in case you had wondered if we were still enjoying the whole chicken "farming" thing, the answer is a definite YES!
Friday was the last day of preschool for our little girl. It was bitter sweet in many ways. It'll be nice to have a break for the summer from the school rush/routine. But just knowing that she's DONE with preschool seems so strange. She's growing up so fast! Next year is kindergarten!
Last Day of School pose
And the First Day of School back in early September
Her hair has definitely grown this year--I guess she's ready for a trim.
Her school had a combined spring program and preschool graduation. Here's both of the 4 year old classes.
Singing in the program
And then the diploma!
I'm sort of glad they didn't have graduation caps or anything. That could have been slightly traumatic--for Momma!
with her teacher
and the assistant teacher
I believe he wanted to perform as the second act!
He did such a great job sitting and watching the program, when we went to the front for pictures with the teachers, he was immediately up on the stage. Hmmm, maybe there's some sort of performance in his future.
Hope you're enjoying your end of the school year festivities.
We've had some absolutely fabulous weather here lately. It may not technically be summer according to the calendar, but May and June are really when we have our best summer weather. Or at least when we get good stretches of it rather than a day here and there between the monsoons of rain that we often get in the technical summer months. So I've have no problem referring to these recent days as "summer days". But whatever we call them, we're lovin' 'em!
The other day, we got out the sprinkler and the kiddos LOVED it! It was so fun to watch them race through the chilly water. The thermometer said it was 75* in our backyard that day. (Please don't laugh if you're somewhere in the midwest sweltering. That's our hot here. Except that today we got up to 80*!)
It took a bit of coaxing to get them to start, but once they did, they really enjoyed it. It didn't last nearly as long as I had hoped for, so I'm glad I snapped my pics early on.
Mr. Blue Eyes
Nice running form, eh?
He's running so fast, the water can't even catch him!
So live it up, folks! Summer is here in SE Alaska and we're loving every minute of it--at least until it starts to rain again! :)
Lately, my usually dainty little girly has gotten down right dirty. She's taken to roaming around the backyard, turning over rocks and sticks in search of worms and slugs.
At first she'd only touch these creatures with her trusty garden shovel or maybe with her garden gloved hand.
But now it seems bare hands are just fine for picking up these slimy things.
But she's not just collecting these for posterity or for her own personal pleasure. She had a more noble cause in mind.
She's willing to get dirty and touch slimy creatures just so she can throw them through the chain link fence into the chicken yard. These slimy things are then doomed to become...
...chicken feed.
After all, what's a little slime and dirt in your hand when your finds will cause a flurry of feathers as your beloved chickens race to be the first to gobble up the prize?
Thanks to all those who played along with me and celebrated my 300th post--just for fun. I appreciate it.
So random.org, we have 8 contestants. Who will it be?
#3 you say? Well that would be Lela.
How did I luck out? She's the only one out of all 8 that is local and I won't have to make a trip to the post office to get it to. Congrats, Lela. Let me know what you would like: the mug, the tumbler, or a $10 gift card to starbucks or heritage. Thanks again to everyone for playing and sharing the things they've done recently "just for fun". I really enjoyed reading all your comments.
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So with a mischievous 2 1/2 year old in our house, we were fresh out of "bubble juice". It seemed every time the kids were blowing bubbles in the backyard, a puddle of sudsy water would appear on or near the back step. We had plenty of formerly full bottles and wands, so I thought it would be fun to make our own. I looked through some of my kid craft and idea books and found a great recipe. It's made from simple ingredients that you probably already have at home--and it really works!!!!
Quite well actually. Here's some proof.
So here's the recipe we used. Straight out of The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions by John Thomas and Danita Pagel. (I think I picked this book up at a garage sale years...and years ago.)
World's Best Bubbles
2 1/2 quarts of water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup liquid dish detergent
(I halved the recipe and it was plenty for us to enjoy for one afternoon plus we had lots left over for more sunny days in the near future.)
1. Mix water and corn syrup together until completely blended.
2. Gently stir in the liquid dish detergent.
3. Bubbles will store for several weeks in an airtight container.
Tips and Ideas:
*Add a little color to your bubbles by stirring in a few drops of food coloring.
*Create bubbles in many different sizes by dipping various items such as a small plastic basket or a wire whisk into the bubble solution.
Here's our left over bubble solution that didn't fit into the smaller bubble bottles.
And no, it's not moonshine!
Just so you know, if you do try this recipe, your kids may just think you're amazing for whipping up "bubble juice" out of no where. That possibility right there may be enough of a reason to give it a try, huh?
Hope you're enjoying some summer days like we are.
Today, I have been feeling a bit "natsukashi". (That's Japanese for feeling nostalgic, remembering the good ole' days, etc.) The weather was pretty nice yesterday, and today's forecast was looking even better. So I asked Shawn to put up a clothes line for me last night. And today the weather was great. So I did both of the kid's laundry and hung it up to dry. This falls into the natsukashi category because when we lived in Japan, this is how I always did our laundry. And it's not because that's how we wanted it, but because that's how it's done.
So today, just for fun, I hung out our laundry and really enjoyed the memories that came back to me as I pinned up each clothing item.
Here's something else that's just for fun! And since this is post #300 for me, I thought it'd be fun to do a give away. The other day I saw this Alaska Starbucks mug and thought how so many of my lower 48-er friends and blog readers could use one of these--just for fun!
So leave a comment, and tell me about something you did recently just for fun. I'll chose one winner (via random.com) on Monday, May 24th.
The winner can choose one of the following: the mug (pictured above), or the travel tumbler version, or a $10 Starbucks or Heritage coffee card.
