Chicken Feathers

Here at the Half-Acre Woods, we’ve decided to bring a little country to the city. We brought home 6 baby chicks at the end of March—rather on a whim, to be honest! Sure, we’ve talked about chickens occasionally. But never did much more than talk.

Then one day, I texted Brad at work and told him that we should go that evening to get some chicks. He agreed that it would be fun. So we ate leftovers for dinner (I was too busy cramming chicken research during the day to cook anything original that night!), loaded up the kids and all the papers filled with my thorough research, and headed to the farm store.

After choosing our 6 little chicks (4 Rhode Island Reds, and 2 Brown Leghorns), we bought a few other supplies and headed home with a big cardboard box that would be their home in the garage for the next month.

And that’s when Brad and I started trying to come up with a plan for a chicken coop. After we already owned chicks. It was a fun process to come to a good compromise for our different personalities! Brad did a great job with designing and all the math! And he’s been doing a great job building as well. When the coop is finished, I’ll post pictures of the progression!

Here- the boys entertain the little chicks with free bike rides!

John’s 5th Birthday Party

Yee-Haaawww, our little Cowboy John turned 5 last Saturday! We had so much fun celebrating his life, and thanking God for this great boy! He was very specific in telling me that he wanted a “wild bull head cake with smoke coming out of its nose” (which we accomplished, thanks to some pvc pipes and dry ice), a game of “pin the  horns on the bull’s head”, and a piñata. Another great touch was that our friend Ryan, who is a horse trainer, brought a saddle, rope and a red practice bull head to let the kids have turns “roping” the bull!

John had a smile on his face for 2 straight days, and has dressed in cowboy attire almost every day for the past week! It was so much fun watching him enjoy his party! God has blessed us so much with John. Some of our favorite things about John are his ability to figure out things that have buttons or need tools to fix them, his enjoyment in doing puzzles, his meticulous attention to detail as he colors pictures, his silly jokes and funny sense of humor, the way he helps his younger brothers accomplish tasks, and his enjoyment in biking, riding his scooter, playing baseball, and running. And it’s so great to hear him talk about the Lord, and the precious Bible stories he’s already hiding in his heart. He is such a joy and a blessing!!!!!

I’m so thankful that our nearby relatives were all able to drive and join us for the party, and thanks to all of our far-away relatives for waiting an entire week to see pictures! Here they are:

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Back To School

Seems that every summer I disappear from this blog for a couple months! Well, school is back in session, and I will hopefully be back to blogging a little more regularly.

This year we’ve got 2 in school! Evelyn started 1st grade, and John is in Pre-K. He just goes 3 mornings a week, but it’s a great adjustment for him and for me. And he is really enjoying school! The night before his first day, I could tell he was a bit nervous. So Brad and I both prayed with him, and encouraged him, and told him some things to expect. He is usually our most timid kid in new situations.

Well, God certainly answered our prayers for John to be brave and to be excited and to enjoy preschool! On the very first day, as we were driving into the parking lot of his school, he uncharacteristically said, “Can I unbuckle and go in by myself??” Of course, I didn’t let him do that on the first day—how could I??? But when I walked him up to his class door, and said goodbye, he just waved really big and said “Bye, Mommy!” then turned around and walked in. It is wonderful to see him adjusting so well!

Evelyn was excited about starting 1st grade, and enthusiastic about getting the teacher she wanted. I heard her talking on the phone to my mom, and say “I got the teacher I wanted, and I’m so glad, because otherwise I would have been terrified!!!” Now that the second week of school has come to a close, her “butterflies” at morning drop-off have finally subsided. Thankfully, I remember those feelings well from the first few weeks of school. So I was able to encourage her that soon everything would be fine!

Every morning, we pick up one of Evelyn’s friends and take her to school also. And thankfully, so far, our mornings have run quite smoothly. We’ve always managed to leave with plenty of time to spare, which makes for a much less stressful day for everyone!

On the first day, we had so much time that we were able to have a leisurely “photo shoot” before leaving home. Here’s a sampling:

A few days before school started, we took John to get him some new boots, because he had outgrown his other ones. He has worn them every day since—along with his belt! Don’t you love the look of a cute little Texas cowboy in the heat of summer? Good thing shorts have belt loops, just like jeans!

Decisions

Last week we took a little road trip, and hopped on up to Kansas to spend time with Brad’s family. True-- Kansas isn’t usually the hot spot for vacation destinations. But we had such fun! We all came in from different directions to see Great-Grandma and other Kansas relatives, including aunts, uncles and cousins. It was refreshing to see so much of our dear family!!!

 

Recently I read that on average, we make nearly 5,000 decisions per day. That’s just in our waking hours! I know I make lots of decisions in my dreams, too. (In my dreams, I usually possess some sort of super-human abilities, like defying gravity or incredible strength. So naturally, I have a lot of split-second decisions in my dreams-- about who to save, and how to save them!)

So anyway, back to our daytime decisions. Some decisions are no problem—like the decision to drive our family to Kansas to visit relatives. Other decisions aren’t quite so easy, though. For example: We stopped at the Cowboy Plaza truck stop in Oklahoma for a bathroom break on our way back home to Texas. As we pulled in, I noticed a sign that read: “Truckers! Free with the purchase of 150 gallons of gas, you can choose either: a BBQ beef sandwich or a shower.” Hmmm. That’s a tough one!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!!

Brad’s mom just celebrated her 68th birthday yesterday. What a wonderful day! God has blessed us, and countless other people, through the life of this wonderful woman! Grandma, we’re all so thankful for you!

So I’ll use this special occasion to post a slew of random recent pictures for the enjoyment of all the grandparents (and anyone else who’s interested)!

Last Day of Kindergarten

Evelyn has been counting down the number of school days left for over a month now! I’m pretty sure they were doing it together as a class. Hearing that number get smaller and smaller was wonderful!!! I’ve been looking forward to having all my chicks together for a long time.

Here she is on her last day of Kindergarten:

 

And in her backpack, she has the clipboard that we made for her teacher. We came up with the design idea together, and then I made it after she went to bed. Here’s a picture:

I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the other gift she made. She said her teacher needed a new pointer, because the star kept falling off the end of the other one. So she came up with the idea and design of a new pointer. It looked just like a fairy wand—a slender wooden stick (painted purple) with a wooden star (painted pink with colored dots) on the end. We glued it together really well so it wouldn’t fall apart as easily as the other one. Evelyn really does a great job of putting a lot of thought and detail into gifts she gives others. I love her sweet, generous heart!

Little Monkey

Samuel is definitely our little monkey! If he’s not climbing something, he’s asleep. At 13 months, he was climbing the ladder of our outdoor playground, and sliding down the slide. Since then, he’s continued to conquer and climb many things: couches, beds, stairs, chairs, tables, and car seats.

A few days ago, he pulled a chair out from the kitchen table, pushed it across the kitchen up to the counter by the sink, and climbed up to see what was up there! He is very confident, which also means that he’s fearless. It’ll be exciting to see what that means as he grows older!

But for now, he’d rather sit on top of a table than on a chair, which is why I often find him in this position, taking snack matters into his own hands (raiding the fruit bowl).