Green Eggs (no ham)

The pullets are laying! The pullets are laying!!!! (can you see me jumping up and down with a huge goofy grin on my face???)

It’s finally happened – on Saturday we got our first pullet egg (a brown one, which means it was from either one of the three Buff Orpingtons or the two Silver Wyandots), and then this morning we got a tiny brown egg AND a tiny green one (which means it’s from one of the three Americauna pullets – sometimes called “Easter Egg Chickens”. Don’t worry, they’re perfectly normal inside, it’s just the shell that’s green!). These are the three on the left in the picture (aren’t they cute??). The four on the right are from my “old reliables” – the three Rhode Island Red hens from last year, who are still laying like clockwork. I am a happy chicken keeper today!

I think for breakfast tomorrow I will have a green egg and ham sandwich (or perhaps I will save it for Sam I Am)

(A note for those who haven’t studied about chickens obsessively for the last couple of years (like I have!) - pullets are young hens who are just starting to lay eggs. Their eggs are usually noticably smaller than eggs from mature hens. In a month or so, the pullets’ eggs will be the same size as the older hens’)

Let’s get real . . .

Apparently it’s time for those cheesy email “get to know your friend” surveys to cycle around again, because I got three this week! Instead of answering those same inane questions, I decided to tweak the questions to make it a little more realistic:

What time did you get up this morning? How many times did your kids make you drag yourself out of bed last night? 2 

Diamonds or pearls? Cloth or disposable?Cloth!

 

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? What is the most recent Veggie Tales movie you’ve seen? The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything

 

What is your favorite TV show? What is your favorite Veggie Tales movie? Little Joe

 

What do you usually have for breakfast? What do you usually throw together for breakfast last minute because your kids are whining and you just can’t take it anymore? pancakes, or if I’m really desperate, I have been known to resort to Cheerios

 

What is your middle name?Quick – what are the full names, birthdates, social security numbers, and full medical history of each of your children? Am I in the emergency room???

 

What foods do you dislike?  What foods will each of your kids not eat? Sam is pretty good, Hannah is learning to like noodles, Naomi won’t eat ham, Elaina changes every day, and Josiah is pretty indiscriminate as to what he’ll throw on the floor . . .

 

What is your favorite CD at moment?  What is your child’s favorite “read it again” (for the fiftieth time) story? Mister Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr.Suess

 

What kind of car do you drive? What kind of minivan do you haul your kids around in? GMC Safari

 

Favorite sandwich? Fall back, ran-out-of-time-to-make-anything-else lunch? PBJs

 

What characteristic do you despise? What bad habit are you currently trying to work out of your kids? hitting each other with the cool toy sword Mom bought in a moment of sheer stupidity . . .

 

Favorite item of clothing? Favorite outfit that’s been ruined by the kids? Actually, it wasn’t even mine – it was an adorable baby outfit that got too spit-up stained to be presentable.

 

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? When you dream of being away from your screaming kids, where do you want to go? Anywhere there is silence and a soft bed. 

 

Favorite brand of clothing? Who gives you the cutest hand-me-downs? Laura Lee, via her sister-in-law Eve (so they’ve generally been through three girls before my three get their hands on them. Now that’s recycling!)

  

What was your most recent memorable birthday? How much do you usually spend on each kid’s birthday?  We can usually manage to keep it under $20 

Favorite sport to watch? Favorite sport to coach small children? Kickball (a very fond and hilarious homeschool phy-ed memory)

 

When is your birthday? In ten seconds or less, rattle off all of your children’s current ages. 8,6,4,2,1

 

Are you a morning person or a night person? Is it harder to get your children to go to bed at night, or to deal with them in the morning? Morning, hands down. I hate dragging myself out of bed to stop them from waking up everyone else!!!

 

What is your shoe size? Quick – you’re at a garage sale – what are the clothing and shoe sizes of each child, and what items do they need? 8,7,6,2,2; 2 1/2, 12, 12, 7, 6; a jacket, pants, pants, nothing, sleepers.

 

Pets? What is your favorite response when your kids ask for another pet? Are you going to pay to feed it?

 

Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us? Any new and exciting thing your kids share with every stranger they meet? They’re all pretty excited about their new winter boots . . .

 

What did you want to be when you were little? What do think your kids will be when they grow up? An inventor, a writer, a mommy, I can’t tell yet, and it will be a miracle if Josiah makes it that long!

 

What is your favorite candy? What used to be your favorite candy, but you never get any more because a) you’re on a diet and b) you would only get 1/6 of it anyway? Whatchamacallit

 

What is your favorite flower? What unbelievably hardy flowers survive the kids and pets in your garden? Johnny Jump-ups and Chamomile

 

What are you listening to right now? What mildly distressing sounds are you trying to ignore right now? Hannah’s playing piano, Sam is making sword fighting noises, Naomi and Elaina are fighting over a toy, and Josiah is slamming cupboard doors in the kitchen.

 

What was the last thing you ate? What was the last thing your dog ate? Josiah’s PBJ (after he threw it on the floor, thankfully)

 

Do you wish on stars? When was the last time you were out of the house after dark? Thursday for Bible Study

 

The first person you spoke to on the phone today? The last person you had an actual conversation with? Peter, after the kids were in bed last night.

Favorite soft drink? Favorite flavor of Kool-Aid? It makes me shudder now, knowing what’s in it, but when I was a kid I liked the blue stuff

Favorite restaurant? Restaurant you don’t mind taking the kids to? Pizza Hut is usually loud enough I don’t feel like we’re disturbing people.
 

What was your favorite toy as a child? What’s your least favorite toy to step on in the dark? Mega Blocks

 

When was the last time you cried? When was the last time you held a crying child? Last night at 11:30

 

How many years at your current job? How many years before your youngest turns 18? 17

The Goddaughter

The Obvious Superiority of Homeschooling

With results like these, why would anyone send their children to public school??? 

I asked the kids to each write a story about a picture I gave them. The picture was of a boy sleeping, with a toy ship on a shelf above his bed, and through his bedroom window floated small balls of light. There was a caption underneath, which read, “A voice said, ‘Is he the one?’”

Here is Naomi’s story:

“I thienc tHe Lit Dots re stres AND I thiec tHE WuN HW SED tHE ViWS WUS NAMED PETER AND I tHIEnC tHE HSiP WuSCOLDtHEDOWCHREtR.”

(I had her read it to me, and this is what she meant to write:

“I think the light dots are stars, and I think the one who said the voice was named Peter and I think the ship was called the Dawn Treader.”) (we have been listening to the Narnia series on tape again lately)

Perhaps we should focus more on spelling . . .   ;)

(but cut her some slack, she’s only four!)

Do you know where your children are?

This is how I found Josiah one afternoon after “just quick checking my email” – it is now the desktop wallpaper on my computer, to remind me to check on the kids more frequently and not spend so much time on the computer.

Elaina plays Goliath

You know you’ve been watching too many Veggie Tales movies when your darling, petite two-year old girl, on waking from her nap, calls out from her crib, “Who will fight me?” in a deep (for her), gravelly voice (her best Giant Pickle impression).

Thankfully none of her siblings took her up on it (this time. . .)