New Family Pictures...

The Girls,

And the Boys,

Ashley,

Evan,
Zebidiah,

Shauna,

Kyla,

AnnaRuth,

Ruby McKenna,

And Sweet Little Titus!

-See? This is what happens when SOMEONE leaves her blog signed in while she's at her friends house!! LOL!!!-

some more chicken tidbits!

We are so proud of our chickens! They are quite exceptional birds!! Remember, there are only 12 hens...

Today, we retrieved 13 eggs!! One laid double time! What hard workers they are!

We usually collect 9-10 a day from them, which is still wonderful odds!

Unusual bunch of chickens we have

We recently acquired chickens...12 hens and 1 rooster. Our chicken breeds consist of 2 white plymouth rocks, 3 black australorps, 1 dominique, and 7 white leghorns (the rooster fits in this last catagory).

Our lovely chicken band weren't being fed to produce eggs so when we got chickens, we were only getting 1 egg a day. They are older chickens, so we weren't for sure if they would lay well either. Well, needless to say, they are happy chickens now!! On average, we get around 9-10 eggs a day. We are quite thankful for their hard work!!

A couple of days ago, we were quite shocked when we looked into their laying box. This is what we saw...

The egg on top is an average size egg. It measured 2 1/2 inches from tip to tip. The HUGE one measured in at 3 1/2"! I don't think I have ever seen such a big chicken egg!!

The boys know which one laid it. They didn't actually see the act (though, some they have LOL), but the one they suspect laid it was in the box right before they found it and she was some kind of mad...clucking and feathers ruffled. After she jumped out of the box, she was actually salivating!!

Well, this is what we found today...by the same exact chicken that laid the massive one! Look how cute....



The "normal sized" one is on the left. The petite one is well, on the right. The small one measured in at 1 1/2" and the average size one was 2 3/8".

How can one chicken lay such a range in sizes? Anyone know?

while waiting...

...for this baby to make his/her arrival, I have occupied my time sewing for my gaggle of girls. Beside these, I have also made matchy dresses for the 4 little girls (still need to make Ashley a khaki skirt to go with them), 4 head coverings, and a couple of pantelets.

Here is Kyla in all her "pinkness"




And here is Ruthy ready for the orchard...

A Simple Misunderstanding

Ashley showed me this in a book that she was reading. This particular section was about misunderstanding what people say...

The following story is well known. Unfortunately its origin is uncertain. It is an exaggerated and comical illustration of what can happen when our words are misunderstood.

An English woman looking for a room in Switzerland asked for help from the schoolmaster of the village where she wanted to live. After finding a place that suited her, she returned to London for her baggage. Once there, however, she remembered that she hadn't asked about a bathroom, or "water closet," as she called it. So she wrote the village schoolmaster with her question, referring to these facilities in her letter as a "WC".

The schoolmaster, puzzled by these initials, sought the help of a parish priest. The priest decided the woman must be asking about a wayside chapel.

Now imagine being this woman and receiving the following response to your request.

Dear Madam:

I regret very much the delay in answering your letter. But I now take the pleasure in informing you that a "WC" is located about 9 miles from the house, in the center of a beautiful grove of trees. It is capable of seating 250 people at a time. It is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday each week. I admit it is quite a distance a way if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. The last time my wife and I went was siz years ago. It was so crowded we had to stand the while time we were there. It may interest you to know that there is a supper being planned to raise money to buy more seats. Likewise, it may interest you to know that my daughter met her husband the first time in the WC, and they were later married in the WC. I would like to say it pains on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you should decide to come for a visit, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks. Remember, this is a friendly community.

Yours truly,
The Schoolmaster

A little bit of fun!!

Just follow the link... ;)

http://sweetmarmalade.blogspot.com/2009/06/want-to-have-some-fun.html

A contest to win something awesome...

...for all my cloth wearing friends. ;)

http://homesteademporium.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/win-a-100-00-gift-certificate/#comment-360

My little Artist...

here she is. Isn't she just so adorable?


Here was her choice of crafting...


And here was her masterpieces...







And I saved the best for last...


Fortunately, I had just the tool for removing her "artwork".


See...all better~and after a good talking!

DANA!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are just SSSSOOOOO funny!!! Friends...they are so good for a laugh. :)

Some Little Known Facts about Me!

Let's see...
* I LOVE the color gray. LOVE it!!!
* I can not STAND Reeces Peanut Butter Cups.
* I never season my food when I'm cooking it, I believe it's better to season-to-taste at the table.
* Okra makes me gag.
* Tomatoes are even worse. Mega gross!
* My very favorite insect is the roach. The lovable, adorable roach. Especially the flying ones!!
* I am by nature an 'early to bed, early to rise' kinda person.
* I recently discovered that I'm not actually a "Southerner" after all.
* I never, ever, absolutely NEVER leave myself signed in to my blog when I'm at someone else's house. Never do that. Never. Ever.

Wow! Has it been awhile since I have posted!

Life has been quite busy!!

Between being a midwife to our dog and dealing with broke down vans, we have had quite a bit of adventures around here.

Let's see, what have we got going on? I have sewing lots of dipes. Soon after that, I will be making 5 dresses for each one of my girls...a total of 25 dresses, pantalets (hopefully) for them, and a couple of skirts for me. I am going to *try* to have this all done before our trip in March.

Speaking of our trip. Ashley is turning 13 this month. This is a very special time in our family, so we have decided to create a lasting memory for her 13th birthday and take a mini family vacation. The children are really looking forward to being able to just be together as a family, and enjoying Danny not having to work for a week!!

Today makes the first day of my 15th week of pregnancy as well. Man, has time flown!! My first trimester was pretty rough, so I spent alot of time resting and just sitting around. I am glad that seems to be behind me for the most part! I still have moments, but I think it is because my body is telling me to go eat something~so I am working on that. Tomorrow we are going to get the first sonogram I have had since I was pregnant with Ashley!! There is a local pregnancy center that just recently received a new machine and wanted volunteers to be willing to be "guinnea pigs" while they are being trained. Danny said it would be a neat experience for the children to see our little bundle. It will help to make it even more concrete for them.

As I mentioned earlier, we have been having van issues. We are at the point where it will cost a lot to get them repaired, so we are debating whether we should get a new to us van instead. We want to hear the Lord's will in this and don't want to jump ahead of Him, so we would love your help in praying for that very thing.

Well, that is what's been going on around here lately.