Word of the Week: EGGS!

I'm so egg-cited!!

Thursday afternoon, my girls came bounding in from playing outside, yelping loudly, "Look! We found an egg!"

Sure enough, they had indeed found the first egg laid by any of our hens!

I was amused at the timing of this finding, on the coldest day of the year. Coldest, that is, until Friday. Which, much to my delight, was even colder, and on which Zak came bounding in near noon announcing another find.

We got sure confirmation today that it's Butterball who finally started. Kit and I were outside playing around the time I figured our Golden Girl might drop another. Sure enough, she wasn't in the run with the other girls. After about ten minutes, I heard a thump in the hen house, and a second later Butterball popped her head into the run. We ran excitedly to open the egg door, and sitting in the nesting box was a beautiful little light tan egg!

Theoretically, the others are age-wise in the range to start laying for their breeds, but honestly, only two others are really showing more signs of readiness.

I was really beginning to wonder if we had somehow messed up some vital step to helping chickens grow, though everything I read said we didn't. Mostly though I hoped we hadn't missed our window for them to start, with the weather cooling finally, and less daylight, the conditions for laying are not exactly "prime" from what all the research says.

Clearly however, our chickens are as quirky as their owners and like to do things with flare. And just like all of my kids, in their own time and way.

Now that we have three, I had promised the kids I would cook one for each of them. Guess were having eggs for lunch!

Linked up with Word of the Week!

Le Petite Chef: Mud Pie

Here it is, as promised, Grace's Mud Pie recipe! She did all the work, I helped explain terms and measurements, stirred at the very end to make sure everything was evenly coated (at her request), and helped hold the pot. She let one of her friends spread the Nutella and add the "dirt" to one of the pies while she did the other. This is a very kid friendly recipe, I highly recommend it for ages 8 and up! The original recipe is in the book The Cooking Book, by Jane Bull. But we modified it just a bit. Here are our supplies: 3/4 c butter 1 tbsp cocoa powder 1/2 c sugar 1 c graham cracker crumbs 1/2 c dried fruit 1 chocolate bar (we used Nutella spread instead) We added: Heath chocolate and toffee bits Black Sixletts (found in the party aisle) These are the original measurements, we doubled the recipe though. Step 1: Crush graham crackers. We used a gallon size zipper bag and a coffee mug (I don't own

Saying Goodbye

For the entire month of August, I just didn't let myself think about it beyond the facts. For the last two weeks, I just focused on anything else that took my mind off of it. Over the weekend I was busy getting things ready, so I was too busy to think about it. Tuesday came. Miss V came. It was a good visit, with laughing and smiling, and questions asked and answered, and Kit played with her, and smiled and made us laugh like usual. But it was different, and we felt it. I didn't let myself go there, because I didn't want to break down, not that it would have been the first time in front of her (nor the second, or third, or even fourth probably.) And then it was time for her to go, and we took some pictures, and all the kids hugged her, and I held Kit on my shoulder on the steps so she could wave goodbye until Miss V is out of sight like she has every week for at least five months. And then we closed the door, and Kit went on with business as usual, beca

Preschool at Home! Chalkboard Painting

Here is another treasure from the backfiles. This started as an act of desperation on my part, I just needed her to be occupied so I could finish something, but it quickly became one of her favorite activities. If you have a chalkboard (we made ours on a half wall with chalkboard paint), all you need is a paintbrush, sponge, or washcloth, and a cup of water. Dip the brush in the water and have at it! Kit LOVES how the water turns the board black. So often, she will be at this so long that by the time she gets across the board, the first area she painted will be dry and a fresh pallet once again. You can get creative with the things you use as paintbrushes, but she has been completely happy with our basic art brushes from Walmart. I love watching her do this.

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