Chickies!

What's more fun . . .

. . . than watching cute little chickies

hunkering on their heating pad?

Holding cute little chickies!

I know Todd looks like he's about to cry,

but he is actually just overcome with fluffy chickie adorableness.

He really loves holding Reesey (AKA Debbie).

Anna Quiz

What do you think is the most unusual thing Anna has done today?

Bake Zimbabwean sweet potato cookies?

(We skipped the glaze, and they were still really good.)

Make a slide show about Zimbabwean sweet potato cookies

for her social studies class?

Or hold a chicken on her shoulder?

The Deluxe Chicken Box

Our chickies seem pretty happy 

with their new-and-improved brooder box.

There is plenty of room for them to take pine-shaving dust baths . . .

. . . I clamped some grow lights on one end 

to give them light during the day . . .

. . . and I put their old heating pad and plastic bin in the box

so they would have cozy and familiar places to hang out.

This evening, I heard some peeping and discovered that Martha 

had flapped into the bin and then wasn't sure how to get back out.

I guess I'd better add another, small box they can hop onto

so nobody gets stuck in the bin.

Tractor Friends

Our cute little chicks are quickly outgrowing their well-ventilated bin.

We let them out to play on our towel-covered couch a couple times a day,

but they really need a bigger and more permanent home soon.

Fortunately, we have handy friends 

who came over today to help us build a chicken tractor . . .

. . . using this pattern I bought off of Etsy.

Our version isn't going to be pink . . .

. . . and although we're off to a great start,

it will take us a few more weeks to get the tractor finished

so our chicks will be safe from predators out in our yard.

In the meantime, we took my sister Heather's advice

and asked for a watermelon box at the grocery store 

so our growing chickens have a little more space to roam.

Our friends helped me line the bottom of the box,

since our chickens have a bad habit of tipping their water dispenser over.

Cici: Oo! Can we move into a watermelon box too???

Tia: Only if it has a colorful wooden ladder we can destroy.

Spring Break Goals

In addition to watching the Boston Marathon,

we've spent our spring break . . .

. . . having a family sing along . . .

. . . eating Cherry Hill ice cream . . .

. . . and working on goals.

Daniel asked me to print handwriting practice sheets

so he can learn to write with his left hand . . .

. . . and Joy is working toward earning her driver's permit.

Her next step in that process is to complete an online driving course,

and she had the option to either attend a virtual class every Saturday for five weeks,

or cram the entire 30-hour course into her spring break.

She decided to just grab some snacks, dress in something fabulous,

and power through the whole thing this week.

Eighteen hours down, twelve to go!

Skit Kits

Anna's church activity group isn't meeting during Spring Break,

so she joined Todd's group this evening.

The kids divided into pairs, and each group got a skit kit:

a bag of random items to use as props in a short play they make up.

Anna ended up being a superhero trying to save a monkey from Todd the Pirate,

only to discover that Todd was a nice pirate making pancakes for his monkey friend.

After each group presented their skit,

they rolled a dice with different emotions on it 

and then performed their skit again with whatever emotion they rolled.

Anna and Todd's randomly-selected emotion was "tired."

Marathon Cheerleaders

The three younger kids and I spent our first morning of spring break

watching the Boston Marathon.

Our friend Danny qualified to run in it this year,

and we hoped to catch a glimpse of him as he ran past.

Although we didn't get to this stretch of the course in time to see him,

it was still fun to watch a portion of this world-famous race.

The weather was a bit rainy, but that didn't deter the roughly 30,000 runners . . .

. . . and 500,000 spectators who lined the course to cheer them on.

I thought it was a especially cool to see blind racers

running with a guiding teammate . . .

. . . or wheelchair duo teams like "Team Unstoppable."

Go Mike and Kyle!

Turkey Show

At the grocery store this morning,

I glanced toward the woods at the edge of the parking lot . . .

. . . and saw a bunch of tom turkeys

strutting their stuff in front of the local ladies.

They had puffed their feathers up as big as possible, and fanned out their tails.

Every few seconds, they would stretch out their necks and go,

"GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!"

This hen turkey seems pretty impressed by the show.

Which of the handsome bachelors do you think she'll choose?

Spring Colors

Spring is a colorful time of year.

The lawn is looking green(ish) again,

there are clusters of yellow flowers all over our maple tree . . .

. . . and Joy found some awesome red pants at the thrift store today.

The Return of Neighborhood Supper

Back in 2019, a few months after we moved to Massachusetts

our family started volunteering at Neighborhood Supper

the second Tuesday of every month.

We loved helping serve a delicious dinner

to elderly members of our community.

Of course, the pandemic put a stop to that for a while.

At first the Supper shut down completely.

Then it resumed in a limited form, with volunteers providing freezer meals

or boxed dinners for people to eat at home.

Although Joy willingly supplied lots of brownies for those take-home meals,

we're all glad that Neighborhood Supper is back to its former glory this year.

The kids are excited to help out, serve our neighbors, eat the yummy dinners,

and spin around the poles at the end after we clean everything up! 

Scrap Gardening

Some people like to spend their spare time scrapbooking.

I chose to spend this morning scrap gardening--

planting crops that I propagated from grocery store scraps.

The souvenir mint cuttings I brought home from California

are finally putting out roots . . .

. . . so I planted them in their very own bucket today.

I also potted up the little bok choy plants I regrew after making a salad . . .

. . . and divided a clump of alpine strawberries 

that I hope will fill in this planter in the coming weeks.

Aww . . . aren't they cute?

New and Old Traditions

When I first became a mother,

I assumed our family would quickly settle on some favorite holiday traditions

that we would happily repeat year after year.

Maybe some families do that,

but I've found that my family (or at least their mother)

tends to tweak a few things every year.

For example, this year we ditched cleansing the temple for Holy Week

(because it always seemed more rowdy than reverent),

and focused instead on why Jesus cursed the fig tree,

and how we can produce good fruit in our lives.

Then we ate a bunch of fruit, plus some fig bars for good measure.

You never know what the annual Easter party will be like at church.

Will it be a breakfast or a dinner?  Will there be a religious program, or just a fun one?

In a previous ward, they had a full-on sugar fest, complete with Easter bunny.

This Easter Week, our ward hosted a nice soup pot luck, with a little play about Christ's Resurrection

and some Bible-themed activities for the kids.

 

Some of our Easter celebrations are variations on a familiar theme.

For example, when we decorated pieces of a cross this time,

the kids upped the ante by using fancy art supplies,

and Joy decorated her piece with watercolors.

We also decorated Easter eggs on Spy Wednesday as usual

(and Daddy made the dye baths because that stresses me out) . . .

. . . but the kids decided to mix things up by decorating some of their eggs

to look like national flags.

Arriba, Argentina!

My favorite part of our family's Holy Week celebration is always

watching Easter Bible videos while baking Empty Tomb Rolls on Sunday evening.

(We've noticed that no matter how carefully we seal those rolls, 

the marshmallow always leaks out.  

One of my kids noted that that may be a bonus symbol of the recipe,

since the tomb couldn't keep Jesus in either.)

I still felt like there's a little something missing from our Easter Sunday though.

It's the most important holiday of the year, and I want our family to find 

a joyful but meaningful way to celebrate together after we come home from church.

As I pondered that dilemma this evening, I think I finally hit upon a solution

(probably some variation of an Easter egg hunt and Resurrection eggs).

Tune in next year to see how that works out!

Hand Warmers

Houston, we have a problem.

I thought the chicks wouldn't be able to get out of their brooder bin

for at least a month or so,

but at the tender age of 12 days . . .

. . . Mary found a way to hop up onto the rim, and then down to the floor.

It's an impressive feat,

but it also means we need to add some side vents and a lid to their bin

far sooner than I expected to.

While Daddy cut holes in the side of their bin,

I kept the chicks in a temporary box with very tall sides.

Mary and Martha were fine with that,

but Abby and Debbie began making distressed little peeps

because their tiny bodies were getting too cold.

We found that if we made mini-brooders with our hands

and held them in the warm sunshine,

they were nice and comfy until we finished remodeling their home.

Ta da! With the addition of some hardware cloth and zip ties,

we now have vents in both ends of the bin

so can put a lid on and keep the chicks from getting stuck outside their brooder.

Safer for them, and better for my peace of mind!

What's in a Name?

Since our Barred Rocks are named Mary and Martha from the New Testament,

I decided to name our Cinnamon Queen chicks after

two heroines from the Old Testament: Abigail and Deborah.

As a bonus, their celebrity couple nickname is fun to say: Abby-Debbie!

Of course, my clever plan was promptly derailed by my kids,

who dubbed the new chicks "hairballs"

and gave them not two but THREE nicknames.

The kids thought the new chicks looked brown and sweet 

like Reese's peanut butter baking chips, 

so they nicknamed the one with the lighter face "Reesey" . . .

. . . and the one with the orange face "Chip."

To further complicate things, Joy prefers to call Chip "Peebs"

(a reference to character in a thoroughly delightful novel).

Speaking to my children about our new chicks

is a challenging mental exercise for me.

"Cinnamon Queens" is a mouthful to say,

but I can't bring myself to call them "hairballs"

(they don't even have hair!),

and I can never remember in the heat of the moment

which one is Peebs.

Thank goodness the chicks don't care if I call them the wrong name!