10 months

Miss Lily is getting so big.  Our little gal has changed from a little sweetie to a little pill.  Through it all, she still wears a lovely little smile.  From the moment she awakens, she is on the go.  Like a wind up toy, once she hits the floor, she is gone.  She has discovered every area in our home that she has access to.  She makes her rounds the instant she is free.  Check the plants. pull on some leaves and try to eat them. forage the floor in the kitchen. insert yummy finds. make a mess with the peat moss.  forage some more.  nibble any shoes left out.  finger through the dust mop if left out.  make siblings scream when she has found and used the remote.  shred the magazines left on the ottoman. check to see if any doors have been left ajar.  and if so, first priority, the bathroom.  attempt to climb into the tub-yet to be successful. dump out the garbage. in mom & dad's room, more plant play.  dump out her baskets of shoes, hats, and socks (her personal effects are distributed in everyone's rooms).  try to climb on the printer.  head for the bathroom.  rummage through the shelves.  crawl into the shower.  mop the floor with wet knees. Off to Chase's room to play, eat some books, find some tools,  and play with trucks. 
We have come to find a love for sane restraint (highchair, playpen, stroller, swing, crib).  She tolerates sane restraint.
Lily loves her brother.  She thinks he is the best.  He is getting better at sharing and playing with her.  You can tell that she feels at home in his room.  We have even moved many of her toys into there.
Her eyes light up for Bayli as well.  She loves her siblings.
Our littlest bird remains a mommy's girl.  I don't mind, most of the time.  I love her hugs and kisses.
She loves to watch daddy.  Like Chase, she could watch him working for hours.  She is showing signs of loving anything with an engine.  Daddy better be careful, he is going to end up with two little shadows.
She is a speed crawler.  She tries to climb up on everything.  We have seen her stand unassisted for a few seconds.
She says "hi" and "dada" and loves waving.  She is starting to chatter more when she plays.  But for the most part is still pretty quiet (a quiet little tornado).  She loves to giggle.  
She is still very much a people watcher.  Can you blame her?  People are so interesting.

How sweet our Lily grows!!!

 

chickens. or as my husband refers, peckers.

After years of proclaiming his love and desire to have chickens, Jed's dream FINALLY came true.  I finally gave him the go ahead to get some, and let me say that he jumped on that boat FAST.  He must have been pretty worried that I might change my mind.
I gave him some limitations on the birds.  They had to be as far back in the yard as possible.  They are HIS birds, he feeds, waters, and cleans up after them.  And, they are to never run free poop in my backyard or they will be made into soup.  I totally sound like a mom. He has kept his end of the bargain (I have only fed them a few times).

Jed chose out his birds back at the beginning of April.  He picked out an Orpington (the yellow), 2 Rhode Island Reds (obviously the little red ones), a Barred Rock (my favorite), and 2 Black Sex-linked.  Although he asked for hens, we think that the Orpington just might be a rooster, we shall see.

The cute chicks, only a few days old when they came to live in our basement.  I am very glad that it no longer smells like a barn down there.

He borrowed his dad's brooder (box/crate with warming lights).  And he began his hunt for the perfect coop. Of course, he couldn't find the perfect coop to purchase.  Either they were too expensive, or they were made poorly.  So, he began accumulating plans and pictures of coops that he liked and began the process of building one himself.

He began building the coop, in the basement shop.  His tools were all right there, and the weather has been less than cooperative over the last few months. 

And during the building process, he kept getting inquiries from me.  They pretty much entailed, "how in the heck do you plan on getting this out the back garage, turn the corner, go up the hill, turn the other corner, go across the grass, and make it to the back of the garden?"  He got pretty annoyed by these inquiries.  But on my behalf, it was completely a legitimate question.  And, I wasn't the only one asking.

So, on "moving" day, this was his plan of attack:

And let me say, it was a little bit intense.  Not to mention, my blood pressure was boiling as I watched my paint job mess up (I did contribute to the coop a bit-have I mentioned how much I despise painting?  Hey, I have to get my share of the eggs somehow.)

I think I was the most scared at this moment.  Turning that corner is crazy even without a little house on the front loader.

Poor little house needed a few touch ups when the job was complete.  Thank goodness Jed did the touch up paint, I think he might have gotten the hint that I was completely DONE painting.

From this point, on the edge of the grass, I was very interested to see how he planned to get it the rest of the way without the tractor.  He wasn't about to mess up the back lawn and garden.  This is where we definitely are missing a big piece of the move.  Just imagine the house up on stilts with long boards connecting them and 4-5ish strapping young to middle aged men packing it.  I don't know that our neighbors will ever answer the phone when Jed calls again.

Cute little coop, finally complete.  After he got the house back there, he had to patch it up, shingle it, and complete the run/yard.  He was pretty excited when the project was complete.

The nests are inside this door, easy access to the eggs once the hens start laying.

Our mystery Orpington.  Boy or Girl??? We are kind of hoping for a boy at this point.  One rooster would complete the bunch.  He can compete with all of the blankety-blank dogs in our vicinity.

The Orpington and Barred Rock (the black and white speckled one) are the most interested in us.

I will say, that they have grown on me.  But, I still will not include them in my chores. 

Little biddies better be good layers or we'll be having chicken soup!

1-800-tot haul

If you need some material moved, we know just the guy for the job. 

sleeping beauty?

Well, she is a beauty, but I don't think that the real Sleeping Beauty would be caught dead in a position like this.  And, I think that the Prince would think twice before he  laid a smooch on this one.  He just might turn tail and run.  Can we say, bed hog?

We frequently find our little beauty in all sorts of odd positions snoozing away.