New chickens

Well as time marches on our flock is aging.  We have decided to introduce some new hens to take the place of the ones that are getting too old.  We have lost three hens in the past month and the other hens are showing their signs of age as well.  Production is down and well..... as you know, their end is near. 

Here are a few of the new girls.  We were lucky enough to have our friend Kristin raise the babies in her brooder.  She passed on ten to us this weekend.  We have some Isa Browns, Easter Eggers, and a GIANT Jersey giant.  The babies that came to us have a week difference in their hatch dates so you can see a pretty big difference in the size in just a week (not counting our Jersey Giant who is just as giant as her name promises). 

The new babies will not be able to mingle with the other hens for quite a while so they are in a small run for now.  If you live in the neighborhood and want to stop by to meet the babies let us know, they sure are cute and we are trying to get them socialized so they come when we call them and they aren't afraid when we are in their space.

Pioneer Day

Well what would third grade in Illinois be without dressing up like the 1800s and making butter while you play the button game?  It's another school curriculum thing that my kids love and Maisie finally had her turn. 

15? YES 15!

15? Yes 15!

Our son is 15!  Where has the time gone?  Today he celebrated with his friends who are getting ready to move on from eighth grade with him and go on to the high school.  They had the best time ever and I haven't laughed like this in a long time.  Seven teenage boys have a sense of humor like nothing I've ever seen.  Ben has chosen some really cool friends to hang with!

Thanks to his awesome sisters for decorating his cake.  It rocks!!

So Proud!

In case you haven't seen it on FaceBook, here is a picture of Ben with one of his middle school teachers.  He won a Eagle Award at the middle school for achievement and character.  It is such a great honor and we are so proud of him!  We went to a beautiful ceremony at Cantigny and were able to meet the other ten families whose children won.  There are about 244 kids in their class so this was a very special night.  Thank you for all of your well wishes on FaceBook, I will print them for him to keep in his memory book from the night. 

Maisie is Nine!!!

Where did the time go?  I remember waiting for her to come.  The big kids told everyone we were having a baby for Valentine's Day but Valentine's came and went without her arrival.  Maybe that's why I think of Maisie's birthday from the 14th until the actual day two weeks later!  This year was a fun day with two of Maisie's friends.  We went to a hotel for the night, swam, ordered pizza, had another one of Sammy's well made cakes (rainbow this time) , did mani's and pedi's, swam some more, played games, and had a lot of fun away from home.  Zoe is one heck of a Bananagram player and kept me up until almost midnight filling up the board. 

Two teenagers!

Happy Birthday to Sammy.  We had a great get away weekend to celebrate her thirteenth birthday.  We went to Milwaukee.  We visited the Discovery Center which is AWESOME!  If you are in the area, check it out.  There was a fantastic Les Paul - House of Sound exhibit that we spent over an hour in.  What a create genius he was.  We enjoyed exploring sounds with everything the museum had in the exhibit.  The kids were playing on all kinds of modified and tricked out instruments including old video games.  Cool Cool Cool!   Maisie flew a flight simulator and we explored Great Lake Shipwrecks.  We also visited to Pabst Mansion which was beautifully decorated for the holidays.  The best part of the weekend?  Ordering in Dominoes at the hotel while the kids swam the night away in a hotel pool.  Thirteen is great!