Into the chicken barn

The young ladies have moved out of their cozy stock tank home and into their very own newly remodeled and refurbished barn. They are living high on the hog - or at least where hogs used to live. 

 By some miracle we still have 26 chickens.

 It seems like they've moved out of the cute stage into the awkward adolescent phase of life. But I don't think they're as awkward or ugly as I anticipated they would be. I held one the other day and was amazed at how different they feel. It's important that I keep interacting with them because my fear of birds is pretty strong and I'm hoping to keep that in check when it comes to these chickens.

 The boys would kind of like to hold them, but don't like how the chickens' feet feel and those birds are  fast! They're almost always in a flutter of activity - truly enjoying their new spacious accommodations.

Now to snap some photos of the outside of our spiffed-up chicken barn!

Haircut drama

Our boys don't like getting haircuts. They would prefer we take them to the barber so they can get a piece of candy at the end of it. But, we try to simply cut their hair at home. Well, Ben does. Me and the clippers don't get along very well. 

Anyway...Levi says he doesn't like it but at least he sits still and lets it happen.

 Noah however, hates it. The hair makes him itch and because it itches he wiggles which makes the hair itch more and so on and so on and so on!

Too much drama for this mama.

growing chicks

I read that chicks change quickly and seem to grow before your eyes, I just had never seen it in real life! My goodness our chicks certainly are growing and changing quickly!

I took this photo on Monday: 

and this one on Friday.

Their feet are much larger, their wings are much bigger and they have tail feathers.

 They're not necessarily cute anymore, but the colors in their feathers are pretty.

 After it rained the other day, the boys found worms and fed them to the chicks. So far, none of us are too scared of the birds. Axle has continued to be curious but kind to the chicks. We've got our fingers crossed that his good behavior continues.

MCC sale

The MCC Sale is a big deal at our house. The boys love the kids building and the big slide. We all love the food. Ben and I love to look through all the auction items, shop for plants, crafts, Ten Thousand Villages and visit with friends. However, doing all of those things with our boys is tough. We actually spent the majority of our time eating and watching the boys play in the kids building. I think Noah played mini-golf three times. Levi enjoyed the inflatables more and kept returning to them to do more bouncing.

The big slide is always a hit. Levi went by himself this year and was pretty proud of himself.

The food was a delicious treat, as always. We intended to buy New Year's Cookies but we waited too long because they were sold out when we finally got around to trying to buy some.

Thankfully, my parents went the next day and picked up New Year's Cookies and kettle popcorn for us. By Saturday afternoon, even without going to the sale that day, our MCC Sale experience was complete.

the Chicks

The chicks arrived on Wednesday, all 26 piled up in this box. Wednesday was a cold, rain-turning-to-ice kind of day. Not an ideal day to bring 26 two-day old chicks to the farm. 

 But they have a nice little space to call home. The old milk barn is heated and gives them protection from predators.

 They seem happy and they're just cute as can be! We've spent a lot of time watching them, holding them and watching them (they're fascinating!).

 The trickiest part of Wednesday was that we lost power for several hours in the evening. Thankfully, the power came back on around 11pm.

 We're introducing Axle to the chicks. So far, he's curious and has licked a few of them - which is exactly what he's done to all the kittens on the farm too. He's curious and friendly. I hope that continues!

So the chicken adventure has officially started. We've read about what to do, and common sense tells us a lot too, but there is a sense of pressure now that there are actual birds in our care.

First Peep...err...Peek!

The chicks are at the farm! On a cold, icy day they're safe and warm under their heat lamp in the warm barn.

Knowing me, there will be many more pictures to come! :-)

Preparing

We spent our evening preparing for cold weather and chicks! We covered the little garlic and onion plants that have sprouted up in the garden. That was no small task considering how strong the north wind was blowing! The forecast calls for rain turning to ice over night. Just when we thought spring was here for good!

We also spent time preparing a new home for the 25 chicks we're getting tomorrow!

They'll live in this black stock tank in our old milk barn until they're bigger.

 The boys are both very excited to welcome the new chicks to the farm tomorrow.

 We're hoping it all works out and that we manage to keep them all alive....we've read books, talked to friends and family that have chickens and feel like we've got a good handle on it. I guess we'll wait and see, and learn as we go!

Easter

Easter was a beautiful day full of church, friends, family, good food and candy. 

Both of the boys enjoyed the Easter egg hunt after church. Yes, if you didn't know, pants are usually supposed to be tucked inside your boots. And anytime your playing on sand socks and shoes are completely optional.

In the evening, the Epp family gathered at Megan and Chelan's farm for dinner, egg and basket hunts and playing. Levi LOVES the toy gator.

Rylee was adorable, as usual! She insisted on wearing her dress all day because it was her Easter dress and it was Easter all day long. :-)

The finding of the Easter baskets:

We told the kids to come to the front porch for a photo and the only two that listened at first were Rylee and Delaney. I snapped this photo just after Delaney opened an egg filled with jelly beans. Their expressions crack me up! Both momentarily frozen as they watch the jelly beans spill out down the steps.

And one photo of all the second cousins. It is a pleasure to watch them grow up and see how they change as individuals and as a group.

It seems that each time we're at Megan and Chelan's farm one or both of our boys is in tears as we drive home. Noah and Levi love to play there and we always have such a good time that they never want to leave. We were successful in keeping our record in tact that night.
Thanks for hosting our entire family and making it a wonderful Easter celebration Megan and Chelan!

Creek Coffee Shop

On a trip to explore the creek on Saturday, the boys opened up a coffee shop. 

 They set up their shop and started serving us every drink we could think of.

 Yummm....

 Adding the whipped cream!

 Axle loves, just LOVES, to follow us out to the creek and take a dip.

Ben and I had so much fun sitting and listening and watching the boys pretend. We could only order drinks and food items that are available at the Perk at Bethesda. They kept this up for a long time and only stopped because Ben and I asked to move on to another spot along the creek. It was a fantastic way to spend an hour together on a beautiful day.

Signs of Spring

In the course of a week, we went from a snow covered garden to one with potatoes, onions and garlic planted in it.

 The boys took a break from their pretend farming to put a few cloves of garlic in the ground.

We built a fire and invited some friends over for hot dogs and smores. 

 Then it was time for a "game" of baseball.

 It was wonderful to have the Burkholder's help teach our boys the basics of baseball.

 I snapped this one photo of the garden at this point. Lots of shades of brown and black. Hopefully, little green plants will emerge soon.