Eggs!

This morning my daughter brought me a handful of sweet peas from out in the yard. They're a surprise flower because we planted tons of them this spring and none of them lived! I guess we spilled a few seeds and were blessed with some beautiful blossoms.

On eggs and chickens:
This is our chicken Little - she's not really little anymore though! She was the tiniest out of all our chicks in the beginning and Maddie named her "little."  Do you see the little egg she layed? There are also some golf balls in there to encourage the chickens to lay their eggs in the nesting box...

Earlier in the week she started laying eggs! They're tiny little things - more the size of a bantum egg than a full-size chicken egg. We've only eaten one so far and it was quite tasty - although it was weird eating her egg - I see what they eat!

The other chickens should start laying soon - Winnifred - our Golden Laced Wyandotte - is from the same setting as Little and should start laying soon. Her eggs are supposed to be brown, so I'll be able to tell the difference. Coco - our Araucana will lay blue or green eggs and it seems the other breeds we have will all lay brown eggs as well (except the silkie who will lay small, white eggs). 
This morning Little was sitting on her eggs - she layed TWO! The four previous mornings she just left them in the egg box, but this morning she was sitting on the nest! I had to move her to get the eggs (to my surprise there were two!). She's been very consistent - laying 1 egg a day since she started laying. 

Maddie was encouraging Little as Winnifred (dark) and Chloe (white) poked their nosy beaks into the egg box (or rather baby bath tub recycled into a nesting box).

digging a hole

The kids and I were out in the backyard just now - working in the garden and such. My father "papa" walked into the backyard and started digging a hole with a post-hole digger. 

I inquired several times why he was digging a hole in my backyard and he refused to answer.

"You'll see," he said.

After he'd dug a rather deep hole - he went back to his truck and came back with a huge, black pole. I got it at that moment - remembering that the basketball hoop from his driveway was dismantled and in the bed of his truck last night.

Wyatt was ecstatic! He now has his own "real" basketball hoop just off the back patio and it's been lowered to the perfect height. He can shoot hoops to his hearts delight.

Thank you papa for such a sweet surprise!

Superman to the rescue

"I'm superman, I'll save you" Wyatt tells his sister (who is always the damsel in distress). 

It's amazing to me how the simple act of tying on a blanket - a fleece, penguin blanket in this instance - can create minutes (hours one day?) of fun.

"Stop falling Maddie!" Wyatt screams at her as he comes over to ask me to remove his cape  - "I'm not superman" he tells me. 

I guess in this case it only created a few seconds of fun, but it was fun watching them.

At almost 3 and 5 their verbal skills are improving daily and I love listening to their conversations. They don't always speak nicely to each other but there are a few moments here and there.

Presently Wyatt is running around in his diaper with a spiderman sticker on his chest. "I'm going to the water, mom! I'm going to see the mermaids and go swimming!" 

Honestly I'm proud of my son who is so verbally affluent - even if he's going swimming with mermaids.

"Daddy's fishing," he says. "Daddy doesn't love me" (What? of course he loves you!) "I'm crying."

Why are you crying I ask? 

"Because I want dad," he responds.

Mike is fishing today and it's always hard when he's gone on the weekends. Our weeks are so full - school, mom's day out and various other activities - they don't get to spend much time together except on the weekends. 

Well the moment is deteriorating and it's time for a certain little boy to take a nap!