WHY OH WHY SO MANY CHICKENS-Izzy has been wanting chickens so Jared and I told her if she got the chicken coop cleaned out and read about how to take care of chicken she could get a FEW.  We had talked about getting a couple of hens that were already laying and then maybe get two babies, I didn't want any more little things to take care of.  Monday I was gone all day and Jared was with the kids so he helped them finish the chicken coop and and then took them to get chicks and this is what they ended up with, 18 chicks that are only 5 days old.  But they said they might not all live, THANK GOODNESS.  They still have to be under a light and we were worried it was too cold the first night so I let them put them in the mud room the first night, by morning with the smell I woke up to they were back outside.  If they can handle being mauled like crazy I think they can handle a little cool weather.
The girls are out in the chicken coop 1st thing in the morning and many times in the day checking and rechecking the chicks.  They took the pictures, I try to avoid the stinky place.  I am just the hand washing Nazi.
Izzy loves the chicks. Abby and her studied about how to care for chicks for days before and they are taking good care of them. I am really proud of how much Abby help Izzy learn, they know a ton about chicks. The first night Abby noticed that they had pasting which basically means that they have a bunch of dry pooh on their bum and you have to clean it off so they can poop and not get sick. So Abby got a rag and her and Izzy cleaned bums for a while, Oh the joys of farm life.  For some reason the little things really gross me out.
Molly doesn't make too much fuss about it all she just thinks they are sooooo cute.  I am really excited to have our own fresh eggs, for those of you who don't get fresh eggs each day they really are so much better than the genetically altered yuck you get from the store.  If you ever have a chance to go to a commercial egg farm you should go and see where your food comes from, then you with have 18 chickens in your front yard too.

I can't believe my first baby is 12 and my baby boy is 1.  Why oh why does time have to go so fast.  I have always thought that having my babies grow up would be so sad which it is so sad that they will not be my babies forever but as Abby has gone into young womens it is so fun to watch her grow up and she is such a good girl and so cute it is getting scary.  I am so glad she still likes me to home school her because I would really miss her if she was gone all day.  I could not have asked for a better girl, she is blazing the trail for the rest to follow.

Ross is so fun at a year.  He keeps us all entertained and so busy chasing him all day everyday.  he never slows down and is already trying to run.  If the door is open he is gone, no shoes, rain, it doesn't matter he takes off and never looks back.  I worried about him with all of these girls trying to mother him all of the time but he holds his own-he is still Ross the boss.

Time really does fly,  I just try to love everyday that I get to have these little people (yes Abby you are still a little people) in my home.

I wanted to put some tomatoes, just for eating, on the porch.  I didn't have any big pots but I found these in the chicken coop and since I have been trying to be extra thrifty lately they worked great.  They don't look to snazzy now but wait till I pick up some red spray paint for plastic.

Yes, we still have to cover plants since it freezes here until I swear- July.  Jared came up with this plan and it works pretty nice, this afternoon it was toasty warm in there.  I planted all salsa ingredients except cilantro, I just could not fit another thing. 

This year the garden is a lot more enjoyable.  I actually like to garden when I am not a week overdue like last year when we tried to plant.

We decided to do everything in boxes this year and not put anything right in the ground since we are not the best at weeding.  I hope we can get one more box built this year for a few things I didn't fit.

I am back to the blogging world.  I have decided to use our blog as my journal since I am terrible at writing in my journal and I am prompted daily to keep some sort of record of this great life that I live. So rather that try to catch up I am just going to start now and if I get a chance to add more past pictures and events I will just do it randomly.

Yesterday we planted the garden.  I decided to try square foot gardening this year and man, it was fun.  I fit so much more into our three boxes.  I planted this box about a week ago and yesterday me and the girls finished the other two.  I had to pick up my bountiful basket in the morning and the girls had play practice so between those two things and a few garage sales we didn't get started until noon but we worked all day long.