April 24, 2011
Easter! After a wonderful morning hunting eggs and finding “giant bunny tracks” in the yard, we went to church and then lunch with my parents and sister. Big Boy was the first to discover some “tracks” by the fence, and to be truthful, they look a lot like the Easter Bunny dug in right as he hopped over the fence. Good eye for tracking that boy has, a very good eye.
All three of the children went to the Easter service with us in the Nave. They were very good and quiet the whole time. I wonder if our days at the church nursery are over…maybe it will depend upon the day. Anyway, I was very proud of their behavior and focus at church today.
Today we moved the chicks out of the guest bathroom. They have grown tremendously in the last three weeks and have learned to get out of the tub. Bird poop in the tub that I can easily bleach is one thing - knowing that the longer they stayed in that room the longer I’d be scrubbing it to sanitize it inspired me to get kinda bossy about getting them outta there.
My Sweet Husband is heading into his last law school exams ever so spending time to build a super nice coop just isn’t in the cards for a few more weeks. The chicks are also still just a little small I think to be outside all alone at night. (I’m a mother…hen…get it?) Anyway, we’ve come up with a solution – using a lot of repurposed parts we’ve built a temporary chicken run to keep on a tarp in the garage. Sweet Husband did pretty much everything, God bless him. It’s a big rectangular cube, wrapped in chicken wire. There’s a little bit of a roof on one end in case we want to take it outside and use it as a chicken tractor. We made it out of our old compost pile cube from our old house, some wood we had from other projects and another roll of chicken wire we got by returning some light bulbs. I love making new things without spending a dime!!!
It’s not beautiful by any means, but I feel good about Juanita and Miss Cluck living in it for a while. Tomorrow I’ll disinfect the guest bathroom and feel civilized again.
Also in the yard today we watered the two raised beds both morning and night. The corn, lettuce and pepper seedlings (planted yesterday) wilted by late afternoon, but perked up again once they were watered. We’re just going to have to be really good about watering them a lot until they are established.
The two eldest children planted purple petunias in a border around the front flower bed. It’s a sweet story that began with tears. I was beginning to mow the front yard with my super awesome manual lawn mower (more on that later) when Precious Daughter burst into tears crying “you’re mowing my flower land!” Oh no! Her “flower land” was made up of all of the wild flowers that grow in our “native” lawn….aka “weeds.” But in the eyes of a three year old with a beautiful imagination, I can see how it was indeed a Flower Land. What to do?
Luckily, I had two flats of purple petunias that I had been meaning to plant for the last two week -- I love it when procrastination pays off. I took her sweet, tiny hand and we walked together to the flowers in their trays and I told her she could plant herself a new Flower Land wherever she wanted in the flower bed. I’m so happy to report that not only did this help her with the loss of her wild flowers, but she did a great job with the help of her big brother! He dug the holes for her, and she put the flowers in and patted down the dirt around them. I looked up from my mowing to find that they’d made a lovely border around the main flower bed. Not bad for a 5 and 3 year old, huh? I’m so proud! After they were planted, Precious Girl was going to each one and watering it with a water bottle she was refilling and talking to them. SO SWEET.
Tiny Baby was determined to be held most of the time he was awake today, so I didn’t get to help just a ton. What mowing I did was while he was asleep. But I know too well how fast this time will pass and I’m cherishing it. He’s so precious and small and making all his baby sounds. Oh my little Boogie Bear. I’m going to go join him in bed right this second, co sleeping is the BOMB. I’m so glad we’ve slept with all three of our babies. There’s nothing that compares to it. Snuggles rule.
