Beginnings of Summer in June

 Love those missing front teeth!!!!  Annie has such a catching grin...I will miss this whole when the new teeth come in!  Below, our cute little neighbors moved a bit ago.  During the process, we inherited their swing set!  Abby and Maddy came to visit it...and the chickens...and us!

 These two just melt my heart!  Mitchell copies whatever anyone else does, especially Ben!  They have so much fun together!  Tonight I watched them both tickle and tackle Annie while we were trying to say prayers.  Mitchell kept looking up to see what Ben was doing and would mimic the same motions...this will be a great reminder for Ben to set a GOOD example!

 Quirkle was introduced to Andy and I through some friends in Texas.  We were so excited to get it for Christmas, thinking that some day we would teach the kids.  That day came much sooner than we expected, one night when we had some popcorn and a good 30 minutes before bedtime.  Emily caught right on and LOVES it!  While Mitchell would take a nap, she and I play most afternoons.  She has an amazing knack for picking just the right block to make a "QUIRKLE!"

 'Watching' Ben play baseball.....

 Our new favorite lunch/dinner - pita bread pizza!  Load those babies up with sauce, toss on some cheese, sprinkle with marinated artichokes (and some jalapenos), bake for 7 minutes and enjoy a little slice of heaven!

 Coloring outside with a neighbor - love these beautiful days!!!

 Evelyn - a beautiful girl from church, who Ben has a 'slight' crush on - he is hiding behind her.  She is such a treat and always makes sure to say hello to Ben..and possibly blow him a kiss!

 Annie and her friend Gabby went to basketball camp and had a great time!

 Ben went to Cub Scout camp and had a hot/smelly great time too!  Sadly, 3 of the boys in the picture have moved...

 We decided to hike one morning...I realized about 10 minutes in, that the jogging stroller would have been PERFECT for this activity, as opposed to the backpack with the baby who must also carry a walking stick...  Yes, hiking in June - a totally foreign concept in Texas!

 My three little outdoors kids, complete with walking sticks!  Love the adventurous spirits of these little ones!  Love that they will humor my ideas and even jump on the bandwagon without too much complaining.  Love their thirst for knowledge and joy in the earth around them!  Love that I get to be with them FOREVER!!!!

The Custom Chicken Coop

 When discussing the possibility of chickens, I asked about a coop.  Andy said he had drawn up some plans for them.  I was expecting to see a little one-page rendition of how the picture would look.  Turns out, I completely underestimated my structural engineer spouse - he proceeded to show me 6 pages of drawings (made with a ruler and all types of notations that just make my head spin) complete with cross-sections...  After I okayed this and revised the budget a bit, he went to work!  This all happened while he was studying for the bar exam.  Working on the coop was his mental break from case after case of reading...in a month we'll see how well that paid off!

Below - yes, we started out with 3 baby chicks.  Then we decided that just wasn't enough.  (Really, who could blame me???  The cost of a coop is quite ridiculous - even if it wasn't an Andy Maas original...and all that for 3 little chickens that wouldn't supply enough eggs for our entire family?!?)  Andy found a feed store down in Malvern that sells chicks, so we went to pick out a few!  I was anticipating 3 more more - the rest of the family was envisioning many more!  We ended up with five more...yes, 8 chickens total...holy cow!  They lived in a stinky box in our garage for a few weeks until they were old enough to be outside...in their house...that wasn't yet completed!

 Definitely a group effort - Andy would give us little assignments to complete while he studied all day.  Then he would come home and work for an hour or so after dinner and then retreat to his cave to study more.  The kids LOVED painting (and their are white footprints on our driveway to prove it!) and did an awesome job!

 We love playing with our little chickens!  Highlight of the day was taking them in the front yard to run around!

 The naming of the chickens...the kids were entralled with the idea they would get to name these little friends.  They came up with blackie, whitey, goldie, etc.  I couldn't handle it!!!  These pets need a real name - something that means something - NOT a color!  (especially since they were babies with baby feathers)  It took a few weeks, but we came up with awesome keepers!  We would name one...wait a few days trying it out according to each chicken's personality...and then decide it was final.  I won't give you pictures of each little chicken, but I will share their names.  Drumroll please....
1 - Princess Buttercup (Princess Bride - we all love the movie)
2 - Nanny McPhee (again love the movie ((read: colin firth)) and she seemed to take care of the others.  she would squawk when we took any of the little chickens out and wouldn't stop until everyone was back in the box together)
3 - Junie B. Jones (from the books - this little gal is spunky!  When she runs, it is a complete zig-zag pattern with no rhyme or reason!  so funny to watch her)
4 & 5 - Pocahontas and Sacajawea (both are Barred Plymouth Rock hens and needed Indian-type names.  These are some of our favorite females from history!
6 - Little Red (either Hen or Riding Hood - Annie was desperate to have one of the chickens with a color name.  Little Red Hen is a book I often quote about all needing to pitch in because many hands make light work...so I could go with this one!)
7 - Kissin' Kate Barlow (from Holes - a book I have read-aloud to the kids and another favorite movie.  She has turned out to be the SOFTEST chicken imaginable.  She is very docile and we all love to hold her - her feathers are shiny and almost purple - definitely attractive, just like the real Kissin' Kate!)
8. Miss Betsy (Ross - she is 'supposedly' an Americana and should lay blue/green eggs.  My favorite female in history is Betsy Ross - I love the American flag and still tear up remembering our visit to see it in Washington DC.  She is a most beautiful hen and has been the favorite for a long time...Ben is holding her above)

The finished coop!  Wait...not quite done, but mostly there!  The box on the left is the egg box where there will eventually be little spaces for the hens to have quiet, private time to lay with eggs.  The window was $10 on craigslist and our super easy way to let the chickens out to roam around the yard.  (Yes, at dusk, they return home to bed!)  Inside is a heat lamp and a fan - with a little thermometer that reads inside the house so we can make sure they stay warm/cool enough.

Inside the coop - on the left is the food box, built from leftover scraps.  We can pour almost a full bag of food in there and it will last for several weeks.  A few weeks later, Andy made a tube going down to the ground so if the chickens are hanging around outside, they also have food.  On the right is the watering container - again, with a tube and spouts going outside below the coop - pretty cool contraptions if you ask me!  You can also see the perches on the left - the chickens like to be as high up as possible...  

                                       

 Above - we love to feed the chickens, leftover corn on the cob is a favorite, so is watermelon and cantaloupe!  A few weeks later, Andy built a chicken run so our little hens can leave the house and be outside when they want, not just when we let them out.  We now let them roam around the yard 2-3 hours each day.

 Emily loving on Nanny McPhee, by our huge squash plants...that only had male flowers!!!  For several weeks the kids kept trying to tell me that one of the hens was really a rooster.  I didn't believe them.  More and more evidence was pointing to the fact that Princess Buttercup was most definitely NOT a princess...starting about 430 in the morning and lasting throughout the day.  Were you aware that roosters crow ALLLLL day, not just before the sun comes up?!?  Once our neighbor could hear her/him, we knew it was time to make a change...

 Andy posted on craigslist, asking if anyone wanted a rooster and would be willing to trade for a hen.  He found a taker in Cleveland and drove our somewhat aggressive 'princess' to her new home.  Kids are saying goodbye...he returned with a smallish looking hen that supposedly was already laying eggs.  We kept her secluded in the garage for 3 days until introducing her to the rest of the group.  Each day, she layed an egg!!!  It was awesome!  She is very docile and sweet, and we love our Princess Buttercup so much!  (Sidenote - I was the one who was most adamant about getting rid of the rooster...I was also the only one who worried about his happiness no longer living with us.  The home he went to had 9 hens but a little coop and not much yard...would he still be happy?????  I still think about him at times and hope he is loved by his new family.)

Yesterday, October 1st, Ben went to look for Princess's egg in the coop - and found a tiny brown egg as well!!!  Someone else has finally started to lay and we are all so excited about it!!!

Our New Family Pets

Long story short, we had planned to get some chickens while we lived in Texas.  Andy started to make drawings for a coop but then the whole law school thing came up - so no chickens.  Ben thought we were moving to Ohio so Andy could learn how to be a chicken farmer (per his kindergarten teacher) and was vastly disappointed when we got here to realize...no chickens!!! 

Come graduation, Andy brings up the idea of chickens again...we do a bit more research, lots of planning and discussing...then we ordered 3 little chicks!  They came overnighted to the post office...so after dropping Ben and Annie at the bus, we came home to see them!  Abby and Mrs. May joined us on this delicious unveiling of sweet little tiny baby chicks!

This was a constant scene...we were all enthralled with our new little friends.  Mitchell would wake up from his nap, do the sign for bird, and say, "peep peeps!!"

We had to put the food on a paper towel so they could see it, dip their noses in water so they could learn how to drink, and constantly check the temperature.  Love these little ladies!!!  More to come...

Annie and Her Events

 Love this little girl!  She is so much fun and just a treat!  One of her greatest talents is memorizing things - kind of drives Ben crazy because this is a real challenge for him.  Alas, her class did a poetry celebration and her poem was about Pigs.  Pigs are playful, pigs are pink...  Mitchell had a hard time sitting through the program and the slide show after, so he went to snuggle with Annie for a bit.

 She loved being in Girl Scouts - there is a huge group of fabulous little girls that love to play! 

 Crossing the bridge from Daisy to Brownie at Jackson Park!

 She's had such fabulous leaders who are so organized and prepared and excited about life!!

 My beautiful little daisy...such a sweet little girl!!!

 Annie and her teacher, the fantastic Mrs. Steadham.  Love her!  She loves this little chatty girl!!!

 Being served by her brother.  Ben loves to play beauty parlor with the girls - painting their fingers and toes.  We have to lock  let Mitchell hang out in his high chair anytime this event occurs because he definitely wants to be in the middle of the action!!!

33 Months Later...

 Mother's Day 2012...waiting in the auditorium...plied with treats, books, and electronics (until the show begins)...

 90 minutes later (after many speakers)...we finally catch up with our favorite post-JD student!  No longer is he just a candidate for a JD/LLM in Intellectual Property degree (he walked 2nd during graduation because of the joint degree - after which we semi-patiently waited for the many other students to walk...), but a newly graduated student!  Yeah!!!!  We joined many other graduates and their families for a reception in the foyer (and outside on the concrete where spilled food isn't much of a concern) with veggies, fruit, cheese, and delicious cake!

 It was now almost 5 pm - we'd been at the school since 130, with minimal nap for out little 18 month old friend - he did absolutely fabulous!

 The rest of the munchkins - posing happily in the bring sun.  Love these kiddos.  They have been so incredibly supportive and patient these last few years.  We are all so glad to have this time behind us and look forward to...studying for the bar!!! 

 Well, at least the studying doesn't start until TOMORROW morning...we'll enjoy our bread while it lasts...Home for a few games of corn hole and swinging in the hammock, then off to bed for school tomorrow.  Happy Mother's Day to me!!!

While Parents Are Away...

 The kids had a grand old time while Andy and I were gone.  Ben and Annie were in school most days, so lucky Emily and Mitchell had Grandma allllll to themselves!  From what I heard, Emily is a puzzle and memory whiz!  Below - the kids also love and appreciate Grandma's willingness to share her ipad...

 There was much joy and entertainment with the newest pet - Bella, a frog that had the misfortune to hang out in our yard!  She was huge and had many habitats...and she needed to get home before Sunday dinner so her family wouldn't miss her, so she was released soon after mom and dad came home!

 Cutie boys!

 Is there really any wonder why Mitchell loves Ben so much???  These two are so incredibly fun to watch.  As tough and intense as Ben is, he is so kind and gentle with little ones - and they all love him, Mitchell most of all!  This series of pictures is one of my favorites!!!

 The preparations for our return took many days....lots of balloon blowing...

 ...coloring and letter writing...(all of Emily's words are written from right to left - that lefthanded thing is a trick to figure out!)...Mitchell's joy at finally being able to use markers!!!

 Love this one - Annie's hands are so classic.  The left hand trying to explain and brainstorm with Ben on how to get the ball from Emily, the right hand hitching up her shorts.  (She loves these and wears them several days a week but refuses to wear either a belt or tighten the inside straps more...whatever!)

 This game also ensued for a long time - the joy of a ball.  Even clutching at her shorts, Annie is super fast!!!  Ben jogs along just fast enough to keep the game interesting...

 Just before we left, Andy found a youtube video that Mitchell would sit still for - it's a sesame street song called 1, 2, 3, 4.  He showed it to mom in case she needed Mitchell to sit still.  They both enjoyed the ipad and Grandma went home singing this addictive song!

THANK YOU for coming to play with the kids!  They had fun (and really enjoyed going out to eat) and sad to see you go.  Thanks Grandpa for letting us borrow her for so long!!!