Meet Rodney and Teyla

This is right about lunch time (when I was scorching the kids' pizzas):

IJ and I actually saw the second chick come out of its egg.  I've just been on cloud nine all day.  Because I knew that the other chickens would not receive the new chicks very nicely and my quarantine area is occupied by eagle victims and sour crop sufferers, I moved the chicks indoors.

Now, at dinner time, the chicks are about 6 hours old.  They are so CUTE!

They went from floppy, weak newborn chicks to fuzzy little things that flop over and fall asleep wherever they have been standing.  Chicks are the cutest things ever.  And to think, I almost tossed the eggs out this morning.  Whew!  I'm glad they said something!  And I just noticed that I am using an old egg poaching cup for a food dish.  It doubles as a sleeping spot.  How funny is that?

What Are You Doing Today?

Whatever it is, it can't possibly be as cool as what I'm doing today!

I've been watching these eggs since the beginning of May.  I knew there was a chance that they wouldn't make it (and I know there is still a chance they won't).  In fact, I thought that I'd toss them today since they hadn't hatched yet.  But when I picked them up, they peeped at me!  What a surprise!  I held them each to my ears and sure enough, the peeping was coming from inside the egg.  I'm heading back out to the coop now...I'll let you know if they are boys or girls or both.  I'm mostly excited to see if I can tell what breed they are.

And before this was done uploading, two chicks hatched!  One looks a little Americauna-ish and the other looks like a Buff Orpington.  I'm so happy.

When Eagles Attack

Every day, we have seen the eagle.  Yesterday afternoon it attacked again!  This time it cornered two chickens in my garden.  The window was cracked open and M heard the roosters call the alarm.  He ran out, with us all close behind, and was able to scare it off the hens and into the tree.  M has never been so close to an eagle.

 We were able to save the hens, but one was badly injured.  She is resting easy today.

Both roosters and some hens were hiding under the bushes next to the garden.  The rest of the poultry, including the turkeys, high-tailed for the coop.  A very exciting moment in our poultry-raising experience!

"It's safe to come out now!"

Headcheese Anyone?

You know it's time for a Costco trip when the only lunch meat you can find is headcheese.  I'll never eat it, but I'm not going to spoil the kids' chance to make up their own mind about it.

I got two yucks and two yums.

Homeschool Trial

 Subtitled: Living In Chaos or Getting Used to Change or Being Flexible When Life Throws You a Curve Ball

 Nature Crafts!

This week I've been experimenting with a new daily routine.  I'm sure this method won't get the laundry or dishes done in any reasonable time, but the learning we've done has been so much more gratifying.  Why would I change the way we do things? Again?  Because my life is always changing so rapidly that if I don't stay flexible, I will shatter. It isn't fair to my kids if I am a total wreck, day after day, just because I'm not keeping up with whatever program I have in place.  Our time with our loved ones is just too short to worry about programs.

 Gluing and Labeling Seeds

I've bordered on unschooling this month...  After my kids took and scored very high on the standardized tests, I stopped regular teaching.  I can't even remember what we did last week.  I know it wasn't laundry!  But this week, I'm getting back in the groove again.  We do math together at the same time in the morning.  IJ and S take turns on the computer and E either does a math workbook or plays a math game with me.  Then I take a coffee break and think about what we are going to do next...

 That's not my coffee!  What is that???

...today I have IJ finishing up some work on his World Conservation Award in Cub Scouts.  That required a trip to the pond.  But before I could go to the pond, I had to try out my new insect repellent.

  Vinegar of the Four Thieves

This is an herbal concoction I have been curing on my window sill for a few weeks.  I sprayed it only on one arm, just to see if the mosquitoes would bite one and not the other.  This was an official lesson in data collection.  However, I can't tell you if the insect repellent worked or not because I didn't see any mosquitoes.

 What we did see was...

...all sorts of cool pond life, including frogs, tadpoles, and salamanders.  Although IJ didn't really learn anything about pond life that he didn't already know, he has to write about it.  And spell.  And looks words up in the dictionary.  And that was his Language Arts: writing about real things, not circling and underlining sentences in a workbook.  This is schooling I can get used to.

One of the best days of Spring

IJ started up the lawn mower all by himself

Mowed the lawn

Mark joined in with the tractor

And I planted 18 pepper plants, weeded, and put up a fence.

Thank you for sleeping, D

"Best Birthday Yet!"

Either IJ has really low expectations for his birthday, or he is just a swell kid.  This morning I had to wake everyone early, feed them the quickest, most filling breakfast, and take them and Grandad in to the hospital for scans/chemotherapy.  I couldn't tell the kids what we were going to do for fun today because I had no idea if I was going to have to wait at the cancer center all day or what.

But we got lucky!  We got to run quickly through the grocery store for picnic food, call a friend, and go the beach on a super low tide! As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see that other people had the same idea.  And the beach was open for clam digging!  We saw all the cars and S said, "Great. It's just like Hawaii here.  Crowded."

Yep.  It was packed.

Normally, the area in the picture above is all water.

Then I found out that Grandad was already finished with his chemotherapy and was waiting for me!  Our friend graciously offered to take the boys back to her place for more fun.

And video games

See the vacant expressions?  Haha! We girls sat out on the porch and enjoyed the sunshine, flowers, and chickens.

Then we did some of our own "jumping for joy" on the trampoline.  It was a fine day for jumping, wasn't it C?

And as IJ was sitting outside at home, using his pocket knife to whittle a stick, he said, "I feel so much older than I did yesterday."

Hungry Eagle

Good thing Eagle-eyed IJ spotted him as he was coming in for an attack!  We were able to open the window and yell until he flew up into this tree.  On the ground, the eagle was larger than our turkeys.  Very exciting, indeed!

Turkeys

We are having fun with our turkeys.  They have just started fluffing up their feathers and showing off their fan tails.  I tried to get them to fluff up for me, but they wouldn't do it.  I guess they just like me too much.

They do NOT like our one-eyed rooster.  Which is why he is a one-eyed rooster.  Two days ago he was a fierce, protective, two-eyed rooster that would attack me if I came too close.  Now he can't see me coming from the left.

We don't know for sure that a turkey got him.  It could be a hen tired of his attention. Or the other rooster.

I did manage to get this turkey to turn red!  But the turkeys are normally so calm when I'm in the pen with them.  They follow me around "pipping" for food.  The chickens will peck my legs when they are hungry.  The turkeys just pip.

The are so ugly in such a cute way.  Or is it cute in an ugly way?  Which ever it is, these are my favorite turkeys:

Don't Panic! and other random cancer thoughts

Sleeping baby pictures always calm me down.  And why am I in a panic?  Because I have a lot to do, what else?  Having five kids keeps me busy.  Homeschooling five kids keeps me even busier.  Homeschooling five kids, feeding 49 poultry-birds, going to baseball games, and caring for Grandad makes me so busy I don't know what to do.  Now that M has injured his knee to the point I had to take him in to the ER and I don't have him to rely on because a man on crutches can't hold a baby or carry anything...well, you can say I'm ready to panic (and yes, I know that is a run-on sentence; it illustrates my point).

Grandad has radiation treatments in town every day.  Today he starts chemotherapy.  This is great news because a few weeks ago the doctor didn't think Grandad would be strong enough to withstand chemo.  A few weeks ago he almost died!  So we are thankful to be driving him back and forth every day.  Radiation takes about 15 minutes and is very easy for me to handle with all the kids.  We have a system, every one has a job, and the people in the waiting room love watching the kids play.

Cancer is such a weird, scary thing.  While I sit in the waiting room at the cancer center, I feel a connection to everyone else sitting there.  We are all waiting...waiting to see if our loved ones will survive...and it is stressful!  I'm thankful for the 15 minutes of childishness my kids bring into that room.  They scamper and play and exclaim about the fish and say funny things and chase D around and remind us all how precious life is.

So, as I read one of my favorite poems (Babies Don't Keep), I get my focus back into place and get ready to seize the day!

"There's a Bear in the Pasture!"

Super Iron S

Last night at our baseball game, S had to leave the field to use the little boys room.  As he was heading around the back stop, a kid took a practice swing with a bat and slammed S across his arm and chest.  Neither boy knew the other was there.  The parents all gasped in horror.  One coach out by center field heard the thump.  A dad felt the vibration hit his own body. 

And he wasn't hurt!  I asked, over and over, to the point where S was quite irritated with me.  He just needed to go to the bathroom!  I called our 24-hour nurse to see if I should bring him in to the ER (because the coach was really worried), but she said to just keep an eye on him.  Today he has a small bruise on his arm, but that is all!  Sometimes I think this boy has a special guardian angel that works overtime so S makes it to adulthood.

A Fun Project

We are taking standardized tests this week.  E went yesterday and scored at a first grade level.  Pretty good for a kid who only does school work a few hours a week since January!

While one kid tests, the others play.  Preferably somewhere besides the computer area.  Having a fun, quiet activity for these times is a must.

And beading looms is it!  How fun!  And educational too!  They create patterns on graph paper, keeping in mind the Sioux like symmetrical, geometric designs (math, history, cultural awareness).  Then they transfer the design to beads, improving their fine motor skills.

I ordered these bead looms from Blick Art.  They are made for pony beads so I don't have to worry about losing millions of tiny beads all over the floor.  Just thousands of bigger beads!

F Turns Three

Tucked away during the weekend in which we prepared to bring Grandad home from the hospital, F turned three years old.  Friday night, after we had gotten her pjs on, I held her in my lap and had a mama moment.  That night would be the last night I would snuggle my two year old.  For in the morning (cue dramatic music), she would be three.

F was the most fantastic two year old.  I've always said I was thankful she wasn't my first two year old, because I wasn't too sure I could handle a second one.  But as the fourth two year old, she was highly entertaining.

She makes the best faces, knows exactly how to pout-including the dramatic sniff, has an incredible imagination ("Mama, a shark bit my arm off and I died!"), and you should hear her!  She can really project her voice and make her opinions understood!

I've heard she looks like me...and might possibly be a mini-me...but I think she is a lot cuter.  And she is a princess, albeit an ogre, through and through.  Purple? Her color.  Sparkly?  Love it!  Princess-y?  Must belong to her!

Happy Birthday Darling!  I can't wait to know your three year old self! (Which so far has a runny nose and is slightly neglected due to Grandad's circumstances-but he will be home soon and she will recover)