This week I was again really busy working and getting odd jobs from friends and neighbors. Thursday we got our minivan back! It needed a new transmission and has been in the shop since I broke down April 21. It’s so nice having it back; I really missed it. Friday I took Samuel on a mommy date bike ride but forgot to take any pictures b/c we rushed through it as fast as we could to get kids we’d left at the park and do other errands. Since I started working at the bakery I’m always behind. So I’m trying to get everything done as quick as I can and cram as much stuff as possible into each day: work, come home and clean the house and take care of the kids, write lesson plans, make and clean up dinner, yard work, read and play with kids and tuck them in. Then try to write some more lesson plans and listen to my teens in the evenings. I’m behind on blogging, emailing people, calling for dentist appointments, housework, and things like that that I normally do during the mornings. But we’ll figure it out.
Chicken Fun
One night we had the sister missionaries over for dinner. We ate outside and played with the chickens for awhile. Everyone wanted a group photo of everyone holding a chicken.
Chicken Death
On Saturday afternoon Kait and I went out to collect eggs and found Swan dead. She’d had recurring vent prolapse so I was wondering if we should butcher her at some point and put her out of her misery. But she never seemed miserable. She ran and played with the rest of the chickens. So I put off asking my friend about what to do. And she’d get better for a few weeks so then I hoped it wouldn’t happen again (even though I know when it happens twice it’ll keep happening.) So we were still surprised she just dropped dead like that. The little boys had just been playing with the chickens before lunch and 2 hours later she was dead. Swan was Samuel’s chicken but Kaitlyn does the majority of the chicken work with Makenna doing the next most so they were particularly sad. Swan was my favorite chicken because she was super sweet and the littlest when we first got them. Now we’ve lost 3 chickens out of the 13 chickens we got (not counting the 2 we hatched). Two got attacked by an opossum and 1 got sick. I hope that’s it for awhile and we can find more layers to add to our flock. We haven’t been getting many eggs lately. We do have 6 eggs in the incubator that should hatch next weekend, so that will be exciting if they work.
Alexis with Swan- Makenna with Swan
- Kaitlyn with Swan
Cute Tilly
We’ve had this dress since Kylie was 5. And now Talea is 5 and wearing it! Kylie is 22 and I’d gotten it used at Once Upon A Child. One of the few dresses that went through all 6 of our girls. We have cute videos of Kylie wearing this and singing songs so it’s always special when another of my girls wear it. The lace is getting tattered and it’s not as soft as it used to be, but I still love seeing Tilly in it.
Every night after dinner I go outside to work. Most of the time we work as a family but one night I wanted to mow the driveway by myself and listen to a podcast and go as fast as I could. Talea, however, asked if she could come help. She wanted to trim, which she’s never done before, but she got the weed whacker and asked how to use it. I showed her how and helped her for awhile then let her try it herself and off I went pushing the push mower. She was so good to try for awhile! But when I got to the top of the first hill I looked down the driveway and saw her carrying her weed eater back home. It was so cute.
Extra Garden Job
A lady we met at the bookmobile asked us to weed her garden while she’s at their other house in Connecticut. So Wednesday Kaitlyn, Makenna and I spent 1.5 hours weeding it and listening to a podcast about raising pigs. We were supposed to get some 2 weeks ago but we weren’t ready and they were given to someone else. Anyway, here are the before and after pictures I sent the lady so she could see all the work we did.
Our Minivan is Fixed!
We drove the Bishop’s Expedition and our little car, “Steve” down to town. We left the Bishop’s car at his house and all had to crowd into Steve for a few miles over to get our minivan at the Toyota shop. There were 8 of us in Steve but we had a good time. Thomas drove very carefully and I rode in the passenger car and loved hearing the squeals behind me.