Allelujah! Christ is Risen!
I hope you had a blessed Easter! We sure did! Check out the boys' blog for a photo post.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The chicken coop
This is the story of a little henhouse built by wonderful friends and a devoted husband...
Last Saturday, our home improvement co-op came over for our first Work Day since 2005. The men, with the help of the kids, put up the walls and roof of the coop. The kids also helped my friend Emily and I put in the spring/summer garden. Everyone worked really hard!
UberDad was on Easter Break, but it wasn't much vacation! He shingled the roof, fitted the enclosed portion of the coop, put in windows, and trimmed all the openings.
My friend Cassandra spent all day Thursday helping me paint the beams and trim, so Scott could get the hinges and chicken wire on. She even stayed after I had to leave for an appointment I'd forgotten about!
The chickens got to come outside with us while we worked. We couldn't just let them run free, unfortunately, because the neighborhood cats were definitely aware of their presence!
The chickens got to spend their first night in the coop after the doors were finished. They were very excited to have so much space to flit around in! They went from 6 square feet in the brooder to 32 square feet in the coop.
Saturday was sunny and warm -- the perfect day for the girls to come outside to play for the first time! Another 80 sq ft of space to play in -- plus grass to nibble on and bugs to search for.
I still have to finish painting the eaves and walls this week, but for now, we have seven happy chickens in a henhouse built with love!
Last Saturday, our home improvement co-op came over for our first Work Day since 2005. The men, with the help of the kids, put up the walls and roof of the coop. The kids also helped my friend Emily and I put in the spring/summer garden. Everyone worked really hard!
UberDad was on Easter Break, but it wasn't much vacation! He shingled the roof, fitted the enclosed portion of the coop, put in windows, and trimmed all the openings.
My friend Cassandra spent all day Thursday helping me paint the beams and trim, so Scott could get the hinges and chicken wire on. She even stayed after I had to leave for an appointment I'd forgotten about!
The chickens got to come outside with us while we worked. We couldn't just let them run free, unfortunately, because the neighborhood cats were definitely aware of their presence!
The chickens got to spend their first night in the coop after the doors were finished. They were very excited to have so much space to flit around in! They went from 6 square feet in the brooder to 32 square feet in the coop.
Saturday was sunny and warm -- the perfect day for the girls to come outside to play for the first time! Another 80 sq ft of space to play in -- plus grass to nibble on and bugs to search for.
I still have to finish painting the eaves and walls this week, but for now, we have seven happy chickens in a henhouse built with love!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
See how they've grown!
Here's a peek at how big the chickens have gotten! They're officially "pullets" now because they have all their feathers. They'll be pullets until they're one year old, then they'll be grown-up hens.
How to make butter
UberDad is home for Easter Break, and we've been busy building the chicken's new house and planting the garden. But before I post more about that, I realized I never answered Angela's request for how to make butter! We just winged it, but Crunchy Chicken has some nice, specific instructions here:
Handmade Butter Recipe
Handmade Butter Recipe
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Exercising our right to be home
Today we had one of those rare, nearly-perfect, quiet days at home. Well, at home except for a fun lunch break. At noon my mom stopped by see if we'd eaten, and we hadn't, so she invited us out. And that was nearly-perfect, too!
This morning Grouper and I read through a couple chapters of the "Fun with Spanish" book he picked out at the library last week. We have friends who speak Spanish, and friends who are learning Spanish, so he wants to as well. Sometimes he gets discouraged easily, but today he was in just the right mood for it.
We sang and danced to Ralph's World. We fed the chicks raw oats and parsley, which they went crazy for. I watered the seeds I planted this weekend. I folded laundry while the big boys played on Bionicle.com, and the baby napped. I baked cookies while they played outside with the neighbors. Then my mom took Puffer to kung fu, and I watched Grouper ride his bike and Baby ride his fire engine.
We enjoyed being homeschoolers -- despite the controversial court ruling of last Friday that has a lot of California homeschoolers worked up now. But I don't want to post about that, so I'll link to Tammy's very sensible summary here.
Our quiet day at home followed several days of lots of activity and socializing. We had friends over to play and meet the chicks on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. We had Shabbat dinner Friday night, and a potluck gathering to discuss renewing our home improvement co-op on Saturday night. We met friends at the rollerskating rink for Homeschool Skate Day yesterday, then went grocery shopping.
Tomorrow we'll be home again, although we may go get the car washed. I'm picking up friends tomorrow night to go see a local showing of "The Business of Being Born." I'm so excited to have a "Girls' Night" with my buddies and to get to hang out with birth activists from all over town!
This morning Grouper and I read through a couple chapters of the "Fun with Spanish" book he picked out at the library last week. We have friends who speak Spanish, and friends who are learning Spanish, so he wants to as well. Sometimes he gets discouraged easily, but today he was in just the right mood for it.
We sang and danced to Ralph's World. We fed the chicks raw oats and parsley, which they went crazy for. I watered the seeds I planted this weekend. I folded laundry while the big boys played on Bionicle.com, and the baby napped. I baked cookies while they played outside with the neighbors. Then my mom took Puffer to kung fu, and I watched Grouper ride his bike and Baby ride his fire engine.
We enjoyed being homeschoolers -- despite the controversial court ruling of last Friday that has a lot of California homeschoolers worked up now. But I don't want to post about that, so I'll link to Tammy's very sensible summary here.
Our quiet day at home followed several days of lots of activity and socializing. We had friends over to play and meet the chicks on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. We had Shabbat dinner Friday night, and a potluck gathering to discuss renewing our home improvement co-op on Saturday night. We met friends at the rollerskating rink for Homeschool Skate Day yesterday, then went grocery shopping.
Tomorrow we'll be home again, although we may go get the car washed. I'm picking up friends tomorrow night to go see a local showing of "The Business of Being Born." I'm so excited to have a "Girls' Night" with my buddies and to get to hang out with birth activists from all over town!
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