Hodge Podge

And now, here are all the pictures I wanted to show you that didn't fit under the categories of a) chickens, b) New York, c) Easter, or d) my flowers...

Maybe for my next post I'll actually have something interesting to say!  But for now, here are a bunch of pictures of Colton, and a few of my other kids as well!  Enjoy!

We'll begin with my standard picture of Colton asleep.  Love how he sucks his thumb!

Such a happy baby!

And possibly a crazy one, too!

Walking home on a hot day, they decided to take a break in the shade...

Here, for a change, is Ryder napping

And Colton sucking on...  I think that's some thing for blowing up balloons?  I don't know.  But he thought it made for a great bottle...

We love the swings!

Selfie with Baby

Our little daredevil...

Another sleeping Colton shot

She thinks my tractor's sexy!  Okay, just kidding.  All those other kids were here for a field trip and waiting for a turn.  But Ryder really does look like quite the lady's man here...

Then their bus left, giving Ryder and his buddy Luke a chance to have the tractor to themselves

This is why all my cupboards are locked all the time now.  And all my saltines are crumbs...

Ryder continues to be weird...

Selfie with Baby, Stripes Version

Colton playing with Kendra's Barbie cracked me up!

After a torrential rainfall, the soccer fields turned into a big lake!

Walking to school together.  Moments like this make me go, "Ahhhh..."  I was glad I caught it on film!

And last but not least, this is Ryder looking for his Easter basket.  Can you find it?  All three of the big kids climbed up on those pillows and didn't find it AND managed to not break it.  Impressive and sad, all at the same time...!

Unintended Consequences, Part II

I know I already spent more time than I should have whining about my allergies here.  But now that they've subsided and I can breathe a little more easily, I have to say one more thing about them (hopefully in a non-whiny way).  While my eyes were itching so badly, I stopped wearing my mascara.  This was no small thing, since-- despite my best efforts-- I'm still pretty much addicted to mascara.  (At least now I can go out in public without it and not apologize for my appearance.  This is progress, believe it or not.)

Anyway, I went two weeks without hardly any mascara at all, scratching my poor eyes so badly they'd turn bloodshot and watery. 

And then I put on mascara anyway, probably for church or something.  And realized that I wasn't scratching my eyes.  Because I knew I couldn't.  Because I didn't want the black smudges all over my face and hands.  But because I wasn't rubbing them, my eyes didn't itch nearly as badly.

Mascara as scratch deterrent-- who knew?



I wonder if it would work on mosquito bites...?

May Flowers

Some of my flowers have been lovely this spring...

Ryder with the azalea in front of the house

They turned pink and purple, but I'm pretty sure these are blue bells out behind our yard

Irises that we got from the Corbett's a few years ago

Click on this so you can see Ryder...

I do enjoy those flowers...  So many of them were just here when we got the house, and I always feel so grateful for whoever planted them so many years ago.

RELEASE the CHICKENS!!!

Sorry I've been bombarding you with pictures recently!  Today's post will be no different, I'm afraid.  Consider yourself warned.

But.  Remember those adorable baby chicks we got a couple months ago?  Well, it turns out that so far (knocking on wood!) we have managed to keep them alive!  And they just kept getting bigger and bigger...

Emma, taking a little rest

All three, happily roosting on Craig's arm

Kendra absolutely loves her little chickens

Feeding clover to Sophronia

Bentley actually managed to catch Emma, who has been aptly nicknamed Zippy

Our next-door neighbor and friend, Jose, enjoys holding Lucy Mack

Kendra was actually singing lullabies to Lucy Mack here...

 Clearly, our little chickies were growing up.  They were getting big enough (and smelly enough) to go outside!  Craig finished up the chicken coop, and we put them in it.  In order for them to understand that it was "home," we needed them to stay inside for three or four days.  Once enough time had passed, I finally got to open the door and let them back out again into their little caged area.  I was so excited for them!

Here is Zippy Emma, finally emerging from their very hot coop.  It just happened to be about 90 degrees that day, so I'm sure they were excited for some fresh air.  They were also very nervous about walking down their little gangway there...

Doesn't she look like she a descendent of the dinosaurs here or something?  I really wanted her to howl in rage or victory or something, but she was so busy panting from the heat, she didn't really make any noise at all...

From the inside, as they contemplate going outside

Exploring, but still unsure

Sophronia (the brown one in the front) totally looks like she's dead right here.  Rest assured, she really is fine.  Her ability to blink for the camera just proves she's part of the family!

And here they are, our little flock!

I finally had to lure them out with clover.  That did the trick.  Then they experimented with going up and down the ladder a few times.  And now they're all settled!  On days when we're in the yard working, we let them out so they can roam freely (and so Kendra can hold them).  And every night, as it gets dark, they head back into their home for the night, and then we just close the door to keep them safe!

Chickens: who knew they could be so easy?  And I love the colors of our little flock of hens.  Emma is getting a lot more white in her feathers every day-- I'm excited to see what she'll look like once she's fully grown.

Obviously, this is still pretty early in the game, but so far I'm really enjoying our little pets.  I've been pleasantly surprised by how happy they make me.  And double bonus, I heard the fox barking up a storm last night (creepiest sound ever, if you know what to listen for!), but the chickens were just fine.  Hopefully their coop will be plenty strong enough to keep them safe!

A Little More Easter

We didn't just dye those eggs, we also had an Easter egg hunt on a perfectly beautiful Saturday morning in New York.  After that final snow and the general coldness of this entire winter, this warm day was exactly the breath of fresh air we all needed.  So what if we couldn't wait until Sunday?

Ryder and Eliot in action!

Enjoying the hunt as a spectator sport

Eating egg salad sandwiches afterwards!

We left right after the Easter egg hunt to drive home.  Rather than risk getting stuck in traffic on I-95, we decided to take the more scenic route through Pennsylvania and close to Hershey (we used to do this and drop in on Natalie-- we were sad they don't live there any more!).  We stopped once, pulling over onto the shoulder so Craig and I could switch drivers, and that was it.  Six hours in the car, and the only one complaining was Colton (well, and maybe me, a little bit)!  Our kids are troopers!

As soon as we were home and the kids were fed and put to bed, I sent Craig to the store for whatever essentials we needed and I got to work boiling more eggs for the next day.  (Leah would have let us take some home, but I thought the car ride would be too long.)  As I was working away, I glanced outside and noticed this perfect Easter egg sunset taking place.  It made me happy...

Gorgeous

This wasn't actually taken on Easter Sunday.  But I'm pretty sure that's what my big kids wore on the actual day, so close enough!

We had a lovely time in New York, but it sure felt good to be home and sleeping in my own bed again!  As much as I love traveling, I'm always so happy to come back!

New York Pics

I forgot to show you the rest of the pictures from our New York trip!  I guess I'll start remedying that now...

Eliot and Colton up to no good on the trampoline

We were startled to wake up our second morning to snow!  So much for "spring" break...

Here's the tile that Craig put down while we were there.

Colton wasn't as excited to watch Frozen as his Grandma was...!

The tricky part of the tiling was how to tile around the sump-pump.  I like how that Pac-Man shaped piece on the right took about eight cuts with the tile saw...

Ryder and Kendra apparently can't tell the difference between bean bags and Aunt Tracy.  Can you see her in there?

Dyeing Easter eggs

For reasons that were never clear to me, Bentley insisted on wearing Aunt Tracy's sweatshirt the entire time.  He seems to be concentrating very hard on his egg here...

Ryder and Eliot were more interested in trying to throw their eggs into the dye, which made things a bit messy!

Meanwhile, Colton was happy using Eliot's high chair

I've still got more.  Next up, the Easter egg hunt!