Sleep all day, party all night

I'm going to be truthful here; I am getting tired of moving chicks from one place to another! The last three nights I have been kept up until the wee hours of the night by week and a half old chicks that think they can sleep all day and party all night. Yeah, "peep peep peeping" is not quite as cute at 2:00 in the morning as say, at noon. So I had enough. Last night was the last straw! I was in bed, dropping off to sleep and they started up with their crazy 'help me, I've flown out of the pool and can't find my way back in' peeping so I climbed out of bed and rescued the little buggers only to have them do it again five minutes later. Meanwhile Dexter is trying to burrow into my neck, my very pregnant 'barn cat', Daisy is purring in my ear and my husband is snoring on the other side of the bed. Needless to say I was not very well rested when I got up this morning. So we moved the pool downstairs to the storage room and set the chicks up their own little place where they can make all the noise they want night or day. Oh I look forward to a good night sleep tonight! Good night!

A Birthday Party!

Though my son's actual third birthday doesn't come for a couple more days, we had his party today. It was a small event with just a couple friends but the kids had such a great time! They played inside and outside(despite the rain), ate chips and hot dogs and cake and ice cream before watching "The Princess and the Frog" and then opening presents for the big finale.

The train cake I created last night. It was supposed to be a surprise but a certain little monster decided to climb on the counter this morning to get his own cereal bowl and saw it hiding in the cupboard!

A Spiderman big boy bike from Mommy and Daddy!

And you can't have a Spiderman bike without a matching helmet!

When the party was over and our friends were heading home, he thanked them and wished them a happy birthday. Then wished us all a happy birthday when he went to bed. It was really cute. And the best part of all? He asked for a kiss before he went to sleep. I always kiss him good night but he never asks for one and that was really sweet. Maybe the terrible twos are on the way out? Hmmmm... wishful thinking I'm sure!

Seriously...?

Mother Nature has struck again! We woke up to snow this morning... on May 30!

The ducks are the only ones who seem to be enjoying themselves!

They are calling for a drought this year. Its been raining for a week. I don't know, I think maybe they should be calling for us all to build arks.

One week old!

The chicks are one week old today! They sure do grow fast! And in growing fast, they sure poop a lot! Like A LOT! I can't wait for some warmer weather to get these little chickies out to the shed so they can stink that up to their hearts content!


This is today's little portrait model with the SUV.

And just a little memory refresher, this is what the chicks looked like a week ago.Pretty big difference huh? Won't be long now til I have fresh roosters in the freezer! Mmmm, finger lickin' good! *smile*

I have an illness *wink*

It's called the "I can't help bringing home cute and cuddly creatures" illness! This is Dexter(or at least that's been his name for the last 10 minutes. First it was Kluny but my daughter decided she didn't like that so now its Dexter) We went to Spruce Grove to pick this little guy up. He's a long haired Chihuahua and the super sweet lap dog we've been looking for.

Our Jack Russell, Onyx died tragically in January and there has been a void in our house. Though she is certainly not forgotten nor being replaced I'm hoping that by welcoming another small(yet slightly less rambunctious) dog into our family we can heal from our loss. Miss you Onyx xoxo

Come for a walk with me?

After the kids were asleep I took a walk to find a bit of peace at the end of the day.

Have a wonderful night!

Right vs. Wrong

I was watching my chickens free ranging this morning and it got me to thinking about Right vs. Wrong.

This is the way chickens should be raised:

But unfortunately this is how most of them are raised:

(google images)

This is where the majority of our eggs come from. From chickens just like this that are in cages for their entire lives and their sole purpose is to lay eggs. Our meat birds live similar lives. Did you know that meat birds grow so fast and get so heavy with meat that they have heart attacks and can hardly stand on their own two feet? All in the name of KFC and supermarket chains.

I know free range eggs are a bit more expensive and organic meat is too but isn't it worth it? Not every one is as lucky as me to be able to raise my own and teach my children good animal husbandry so that they can grow up respecting the animals that we eat and living healthier for it. But next time you buy eggs at the grocery store for $1.97 remember that the chicken that laid those eggs lives in a cage just like the one above. Just something to think about.

Ode to my friend

I was thinking about friends tonight and how some of us have lots of friends and some of us have just a few. I'm one of those people who has a few close friends and then the rest are more acquaintances that you know you can call up and meet for coffee but you don't do it every week.

I'm missing my friend Kristi today because you see, she lives 1400 kilometers away from me and we only get to see each other once or twice a year. We talk and text nearly every day but that isn't the same as seeing one another face to face and having a good old fashioned visit! Kristi and I have been friends off and on since Kindergarten(yes, that is alotta years!) and even when we lost touch a few times here and there we managed to make up for lost time whenever we saw each other again. And to make things even tougher, she has this adorable little boy that I haven't even met yet and that breaks my heart especially because I'll want to squeeze him and hug him and kiss him when I finally do meet him and he will probably get that look on his face like, "Mom! Save me from this crazy person who is blubbering all over me!"

Anyway I found this picture of Kristi and me from New Years Eve of 1999. Yes, we were both a little tipsy(I don't think Kristi even remembers this picture being taken) but it makes me smile and makes me think that if you have a great friend then you need to give them a bear hug and tell them how much you appreciate their friendship! Kristi thanks for being a great friend... hope I haven't embarrassed the hell out of you! *smile*

Farm + Harmony = Farmony

Just thought this was cute and wanted to share!

Road Trip!

While I should have been at home folding this:

or scrubbing this:

or cleaning this:

I decided we would go to Red Deer and spend some money here:

and here:

Because that is way more fun than what I should have been doing! *smile*

Heat

My dog Zama went into 'heat' a few days ago. This of course is my fault because I had an appointment at the vet to have her spayed back in April but decided that the $300 price tag was too much at the time so I cancelled. So now I have to keep a hawk's eye on her at all times so that she doesn't wander off and find a boyfriend to shack up with. In the mean time, this is my solution!

Watching sleeping babies

I couldn't help myself last night. After the kids were in bed I stole into the bathroom and sat on the floor to watch the chicks settling down for the night. At first it was like one of those sleep overs when you were a kid- a couple kids wanted to sleep but a couple wanted to pull an all-nighter and wouldn't stop bugging the kids who wanted to sleep.

A group of the chicks would settle down and almost simultaneously their eyes would close and their heads would droop to the floor. Then another chick would run over all of them and wake them up and they would scatter. This continued on for a little while and then I decided I had better get all my other creatures settled in for the night.

I came back into the bathroom at 10:30pm and watched them for a bit longer. By this point they were mostly all sleeping and this is what it looked like:


The photo isn't that great because the bathroom was dark and the only light coming from a red heat lamp but I think you get the idea. It was cute to say the least. *smile*

The babies have arrived!

Like I mentioned earlier, the phone rang at 6:30 this morning. I was not particularly pleased with the hour that the post office decided to call but it certainly got me up and at 'em early! I headed outside to a most miserable morning- windy with snow and rain both falling from the clouds. I had to fix one of my downs pouts that had fallen off at the front of the house and didn't enjoy the snow and rain falling into my pajama pants while I did that. I had to make a change of venue for the chicks. As it turned out the shed is not warm enough even with the heat lamp so guess what? I have birds in my bathroom... again. Its a good thing they are cute other wise I might not be so pleased about it. Anyway without further ado, here are some pictures of these sweet little one day old babies!

This is how the chicks arrived to us from the hatchery in Westlock.

There they are- all 50 of them(I hope! I forgot to count when I was taking them out!)

Under the heat lamp so they can get warmed up and settled

Do you think she looks excited? She's been in the bathroom glued to the babies all morning!

Such a tiny baby. To think these guys were in an egg yesterday and today they can fend for themselves(in a carefully created environment, mind you!)