Weekenders

We love weekends!  The kids had Good Friday off school, and were happy to have a 3 day one!  I decided to take yesterday off and Quincy and I went to an auction the neighbors were having.  I know I have mentioned many times how much I love auctions!  This one said they had multiple things we were interested in, however we were disappointed in the things we went seeking.  That did not stop my hand from flying up a few times!  I just can't seem to help myself!   I found the girls a plastic nativity set.  They always want to play with mine. Of course, I never let them. They were so excited.  I also got some bar stools, which is something I had been wanting for a while now. These are good quality, but decorated sort of weird, so I plan to paint them.  Not a total waste of time, but definitely not the fencing supplies and cages I went there for!  

After Good Friday Mass, the kids were super excited to decorate the cookies that Madison sent them in the mail!  

I love the amount of excitement children get for holidays.  The little girls are all kinds of stirred up about Easter!  They have been good help with making the desserts though!  We miss Madison, but Mallory had some mad culinary skills too!  

Atlanta and stuff.

With KSU making the elite 8 in the post season, the boys decided they should make a little journey to Atlanta over the weekend.  It was completely spontaneous and last minute.  Colin called me Friday morning and said he told Cameron if they could use his car, he would buy the tickets.  Cameron readily agreed to this arrangement, and quickly packed a bag! Colin had to work, so they left on Friday evening as soon as Colin could get here.  Colin's friend Lake also went with them, so they would have a 3rd driver (because they were driving through the night).  Lake does not know how to drive a standard, so he got to sleep instead of drive!

They were also saving money by staying with a friend of Colin's who lives in Atlanta.  The friend took these great pictures of the guys for me.  I really like them!   When Colin and Cameron were little boys, people used to ask me if they always got along, and I could honestly say that they did.  They have been best friends forever.  I am thankful they love doing stuff together- even if I was worried all weekend because I was not convinced Cameron's car is the best choice for an across country adventure!  I was sad that KSU did not win, but I was really glad when these dudes rolled back in my driveway!

Ollie is a hot mess.  He is a really smart puppy, but he is definitely a puppy!  He has stolen shoes, chewed up a Barbie, shredded a field trip note, and tonight he decided he should pick up his food bowl and run with it.  Luckily, both dogs helped with the clean up!  I know he will out grow it quickly, as puppies never stay small for long, but for now we are in a constant state of amazement over what he will do next!

Today was sort of one of "those days."   Mom got a notice that the chickens we ordered were in, but they missed the truck to Overbrook, so if we wanted them today, we would have to go to Topeka.  Mom and I ran to rescue them.   When we got there, we noticed they were not all there.  We had all the pullets, but none of the 100 broilers we ordered.  The post office said they might have gotten separated.  We took the ones that they gave us and headed home.  Around the time we got to my house, there was another call saying there was a second truck that came in, and our broilers were in Topeka.  Needless to say, we made a 2nd trip to town.  Everyone is all settled in and happy to have food!

Because the girls used their gift cards to order what is literally called "a rainbow variety pack" I have no idea what we are looking at, but they sure are cute!

Back to it

The younger crowd and I had a low key, easy going spring break. I think it was just what we needed.  The kids enjoyed playing with baby goats, baby chickens (freshly hatched by Quincy), and Ollie the wonder-dog.  Nobody was very excited to set alarm clocks and lay out school clothes.  Instead of focusing on how sad we were to go back, we decided to focus on how few days there are until summer break!  There are 34 more school days.  

Quincy and I made a small error with the incubator humidity which cost her a couple of chicks.   She had 2 success stories though.  Today, I told her we should get rid of the rest of the eggs.  She begged me to wait another couple of days.  A little later, I was hearing noises coming from there, and found another chick completely hatched!  Good thing we waited!  We also had a message saying the chicks from the hatchery were shipped today!  The girls are excited!  

I was told that everyone had good first days back.  Saige even learned a new song about the planets.  We are officially back to it!    

Little projects

It was "baby animal" day at the library.  Somehow my parents got roped into bringing a calf. Somehow we also ended up bringing a couple of baby ducks and a puppy.  The kids enjoyed showing off the critters, and the library kids loved seeing them!  Quincy loved this!  

So many of my family members in one photo! Mom, brother, sister, nephew, and a couple of my kids.  I think it was a success!  

Ordering chickens was just not enough.  We had to use the incubator too!  Today Quincy was delighted to see pipping.  The eggs are loud!  So far no little chicks have hatched though.  

The chickens we ordered will be delivered next week.  We went over and helped clean grandma's chicken house so we can keep our broilers over there.   The kids worked really hard and we got it all done.   Afterward, we had to hang out with Jesse the cat, and Speedy the tortoise that Grandma is babysitting.   These warm days and hard labor make bedtime so much less work!  

Cameron shared a couple of his favorite photos from the trip. 

Tomorrow brings vaccinating, worming and hoof trimming goats.  And moving baby ducks out of the garage!  I am happy Cameron is home, he makes a good goat holder!   I have a few other projects I intended to get to over spring break but whether they get done or not remains to be seen!  

Enjoying

The kids are really enjoying their new dog.  He seems to be pretty smart and is doing amazingly  well at minding and not pottying in the house.  Quincy and I took him to the vet today.  He is 8 weeks old, weighs 12.5 pounds and is now wormed and up to date on shots. He also liked the vet a lot.  He spent the whole time wagging his tail and acting happy.  I just can't get enough of his sweet face.

The girls had their cousin Lily over to play this afternoon.  They all had a great time!  They wanted to try the bubble cups again, but this time they wanted to add food coloring.  The food coloring didn't change the color of the bubbles.  It also might have been just a little bit chilly today for this kind of an experiment!

Preston was brave and used the "b" word with me today. This breaks a major rule in our house.  The "b" word is bored.  First off, only boring people get bored.  And secondly, I have lots of lists.  He quickly changed his mind upon seeing that the list was pre-existing.  ;) I bet he won't be making that mistake again!  
Cameron got back early this morning from his band trip.  He said it was a good time but he couldn't sleep on the bus very well so he was really tired.  I missed him and am glad he made it home without incident.

Ollie

We absolutely love our border collie.  She is smart, sweet, good with the kids, good with the farm animals and so easy to train.  I have never had a dog I loved as much as I love Blitz.  Back at Thanksgiving we made the decision to have her bred.  I couldn't find a border collie stud, but we tried to breed her to my brother's Australian Shepard.  She didn't settle.  I have since been looking for someone with a male who we could try with this spring.  My kids have cringed as I approached people at the coop, and even one man in Lawrence.  They tried to say it wasn't normal to go looking for a mate for your dog by approaching random strangers who happen to have border collies in their vehicles.  Luckily, I have more tricks up my sleeve than just talking to strangers.  This week, I found this chocolate border collie pup on a farm animal swap page.  For me, it was love at first sight.  I just couldn't get him out of my mind.  For Jim....well poor Jim.  It wasn't that he was opposed exactly, he just doesn't jump in with both feet like his wife does.  My Jim is a thinker.  And a rational reason seeker. This was a discussion we had over a couple of days.  In the end, my Jim is a sweet, old softie.  And this little dog took one look at him, started wagging his tail, and licked Jim right on the face!  Let's just say Jim is smitten.  

The little dog has already proven to me that he is smart.  He is pottying outside, has already endeared himself to Blitz, and is starting to come when we call.  The kids are calling him Ollie.  He is also excessively calm for a puppy. He slept the whole hour and a half home, got out of the car and went to the bathroom and then settled right in with a chew treat.  I can't wait to watch him grow and learn new things!  

Cameron on spring break

The band left Friday night and traveled on a bus overnight to San Antonio.  Luckily, my cousin Melissa is the high school counselor and is a sponsor on the trip.  I say luckily, because she seems to be taking a lot of pictures so we can all see how much fun they are having.  We have not heard much from Cameron! 

They spent yesterday at Sea World of Texas. Last night, they attended a chuck wagon dinner 

Today they are touring the Alamo, River  Walk, and some other places and taking a ghost tour of haunted places in San Antonio.  Tomorrow they will take a master class at Trinity University and go to a water park.  It sounds like a ton of fun!  I am thankful for the band teacher for continuing to take on these type of trips.  They are a huge undertaking and he is a brave soul!  Not everyone is willing to travel across the country with 87 teenagers!