When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things" from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Copyright © 1998. Published and reprinted by arrangement with Counterpoint Press.

Part two of my latest pics. Had a problem uploading more pics!
These pics were taken by a friend as McKenna's 1st grade photos. Some of these are cute or silly, so I thought I'd throw them in! There's more pics in the earlier post so check it out!

It's a snowy day here today. We probably got about 4 inches. The ground isn't frozen though so I'm hoping that it will absorb it all when it melts in the next 24 hours instead of flooding out my chicken coop like it did last time.

Noel's boss Steve Appleton died last week and the memorial service was last Thursday. He was the CEO of Micron so there's a little uncertainty about the future but I think they have a good interim president so we're not terribly worried.

The kids are all doing good. We're ready to be healthy and well, though. They had the stomach flu last week and a nasty head cold this week. We all suffered, even Noel for different reasons. He had a pinched nerve in his back that I couldn't remedy. I massaged it as best I could and since he hasn't gone in to see a chiropractor like he was talking about I assume it's feeling better for him.

I received my bow from ebay and have to take it in to Archery Central to get it strung, a nock put on and some arrows cut and measured for me. I'm really happy with it. The draw weight is about 22 pounds which will be good for working on form. The girls are really into archery too. We purchased a membership at a local bow range and we take their bows there so they can shoot them. We also have a 3D deer target set up in the backyard.

I enrolled McKenna into a homeschool co-op that meets Monday mornings. She gets the experience of being in a typical school-type classroom with different teachers. She is taking Social Studies: States for 1st period, P.E./Health for 2nd and Super Science for 3rd. Eli and Madelaine stay with me in the nursery although Madelaine may be ready for structured classes next year. At home, she's learning her letters and their sounds and knows her shapes and colors. She really likes to "do school" with her sister. Eli sits and plays with legos or tangram blocks or pretends to shoot us with his toy bow and water gun.

Noel is doing reloading for his guns and Eli will sit with him for an hour just watching the machine measure out the gunpowder and then watching Daddy fill the bullets. He really enjoys pulling things apart - just like his father at that age. He'll climb anything he can wedge his little toes into and delve into the garbage to help Mom out! He loves helping me unload the dishwasher. He'll stand on the door and hold things out for me. He's still in his crib sidecar co-sleeper in our bedroom but likes snuggling in bed with his sisters when they're being put to bed so I have no doubt that soon he'll be wanting his own big boy bed. (Which will be fine with Noel!)LOL

I'll have to throw up some pics!

A couple pics of the guys!! Eli loves helping Noel out with anything technical. LOL

Eli is growing fast! Here's some pics of him getting into trouble! And here are a few pics of our pumpkin patch train ride!

My first EGG!!!! Woo! It came from one of my Black Sex Link hens... it's so cute and small next to the store bought eggs. The culprit sang her little egg song this morning, too. And she was loud! Hope the neighbors won't mind too much. :)

So what's new? Well, horseback riding for the kids at Blazing Hope Horse Ranch and they had loads of fun - we'll probably go every week. He takes donations so this is a fantastic and affordable way for the girls to get involved with horses. And they LOVE IT!! Beg me to take them all the time!

McKenna has asked to take her training wheels off and I spent all day pushing her up and down the street. She ALMOST has it. I'm betting Noel will come home soon, push her a little and off she'll go. (And he'll take all the credit, the stinker! LOL)

My chickens are about 2 to 4 weeks away from their first egg. I'm looking in the nest boxes everyday though - the black stars that I have are known for starting as early as 15 weeks, although that's really rare! Mine are 17 weeks today.

Noel received a raise which is fantastic. It's not much but every little bit helps out. I'm proud of him. They pushed to get him some extra money and only a few in his department got a raise, so it shows he's a valuable asset to them. (And to me!)

Enough for now - enjoy the pics!

Peaches, blackberries, raspberries!!!

I took McKenna to a u-pick farm and we picked blackberries. I froze most of them for later use in jam or cobblers/pies and we had a great time. She was such a trooper. It was hot, but we weren't out picking for more than an hour. I'm glad I didn't bring the younger ones.

My neighbor also has nectarines ready and we went over today and picked a couple big boxes worth which I'll either can or freeze. Also went to the local produce market and got some nice stuff. I'm enjoying trying to buy local, in-season fruit and veggies, but it can be tough on a budget. At least the peaches and blackberries will last us through the winter!

We'll be starting our homeschool year the first week of September. I'm excited, and this year will be more structured (1st grade) and we'll be doing lots of stuff. Mckenna has PE at the local rec center, piano lessons and riding horses at Blazing Hope ranch. She'll also be working on time, coins, mastering her addition and subtraction which we've already worked on, some science starting with biotopes and history starting with Nomads and Egyptians. And of course lots of reading with her Alphaphonics and readers. Writing and spelling, too. I'm reading the Little House on the Prairie books to them right now, too. We've got safety and values lessons built in as well.

In and of itself is coming up with ways to keep Eli distracted during school and ways Madelaine can feel a part of school, too. I've got my schedule made up for the 1st two months of school and think that's a good way to go. That way if someone gets sick or if McKenna does better than expected in a given subject I don't have to adjust her schedule for a whole semester or year.

Noel will be doing shop-type projects with her starting either this year or next, it depends on what he comes up with. He's been busy with his extra computer jobs for customers and is in the process of building an $1800 computer for someone. His profit is $80. (Personally, I think he needs to charge more but he has lots of work, so I'm not saying anything unless food prices start getting much higher!)

Speaking of food, my garden didn't produce well this year. I think it was a pollination issue. We sprayed our dandelions and of course the bees disappeared. I did get some peas, broccoli, lettuce and carrots. My beans aren't doing well at all - I've gotten maybe 5 off of 60 plants. They look healthy and are blooming but the beans aren't following. My squash would put out 4 inch squashes and then would shrivel at the ends, which could be due to pollination as well as a couple other things. My onions were rather small and the potatoes I haven't dug yet. Tomatoes are doing decently but I think I have leaf curl.... I just planted more peas for a fall crop and the chickens dug up one row. I'll have to put netting around them until they get bigger.

Enough for now. Dinner at our friends Patty and Joes tonight. And it's time for eye drops - my allergies are killing me!

He's getting so big! I'll be needing to trim his hair soon, too. :)

Eli took his first steps yesterday! All day today he's been walking in short spurts. We are so proud of him!!

It's time for some updated pics of the kids. Mom and Dad were here for a week and it was WONDERFUL having them here. I wish they lived closer. Mom helped me make a dress for Madelaine and we worked on a quilt top, as well.

So our new coop is finished! Here are some pics: I am just so thrilled! Noel did a fantastic job and I sat out in a chair next to the coop watching them for a good hour before bedtime. They hadn't been in the actual coop yet so when night fell they were looking for higher ground and kept jumping on the ladder but didn't go in so we had to chase them down and shut them in the coop for the night. We may have to do that for a couple of nights until they get the idea. They won't go out to free range until they are bigger and know where they are supposed to go to sleep at night!
The girls have been in there feeding grass to them and last night after they were in bed I went out and raked poop into a pile and scooped it out. It may sound ludicrous but I want to be able to walk in there without getting really nasty and since we only have three of them it shouldn't be bad. Didn't take me long. I did realize that Noel will need to put a latch on the inside of the run door because it kept swinging out on me when I was in there trying to do things. And a way to lift the end of the ladder and hook it up off the ground while I rake in there at night would be awesome, too.

Noel worked hard to get our chicken coop up last weekend. It's not finished but here's a pic of it's current state. It still needs a roof, a ladder and the hardware cloth as well as windows. I'm betting he'll be able to finish it up this next weekend! We are really excited to get this project finished. The girls picked out a light blue paint for my coop and I'll be finishing it with white trim.

Here's pictures of the kids painting. Eli had to get in on the action, too. McKenna really wanted to paint with an easel and palette, so we created some for them. This was taken right before Eli got smeared in the face with Madelaines green paint!

I had put together a temporary outdoor enclosure for our chickies and Noel is going to make it sturdier for me with some hardware cloth. It'll be easier to move if he puts wheels on it, too. Eli had to get in some Daddy time. He's quite the little helper! This was right before I wisked him up to bed.

These are my growing girls - Casey in the front in the Ameracauna and the two black ones are the Black Star or Black Sex-link chickens. They had just finished eating some meal worms that we gave them.

Here's updated pics of our fluffy butts! They are a week old now and already in larger quarters. And a quick pick of Eli as he was charging toward me!

Here they are! McKenna named them all. The Ameracauna (striped one) is Casey, the black one with the white spot under her eye is Sarah and the other black one is Ally.

Well, I'm all set up for my new chicks! I have my brooder ready and have done my homework, so I'm hoping all will go well. We'll most likely be getting the chicks tomorrow. I'll be picking them up at a local hatchery - and I'll probably get two black sex-link and an ameracauna. I know the girls will enjoy the blue/green eggs. Here's my set-up ready to go. The big waterer is too big for chicks, I think - so we picked up a rodent-style hang down waterer as I've heard chicks will drink from those. I'll post chicky pictures tomorrow, too! The girls are so excited!