It's that time of year again. If you have a local feed store, the chicks are in!

That may mean a whole lot of nothing to you, but this girl has been itching to get chicks ever since we regretfully lost our Rhode Island Red, Poulet, to a local fox (or raccoon).

I put it off and put it off and then decided no longer would I be put off. It was go time.

I have a pile of reclaimed wood in my backyard that I snagged from the curbs around here. And I have purchased a Garden Coop plan. I even sat down last weekend, measured each piece of scrap wood I've collected and matched it up to my coop plan. Waste not, want not.

I have been researching chicken breeds and picking my favorites. It's looking like I'll be placing an order on Murray-McMurray very soon for chicks to be delivered March 18th! I think my brother and neighbor will be going in on this with me, and I have given myself a timeline in which to get my stuff together and get my coop built! 

Kyle shakes his head and wonders who this girl is that he married. I certainly didn't appear to be a backyard chicken keeper 17 years ago when  I caught his eye. I surprise myself, even.

Look out! The chicks are a-coming!

Some things go by so quickly that it really makes you pause in amazement.

How, for instance, is it possible that Brooklyn Reese has already been here 7 years? How is it possible that she could already be 7? I have been a mother for 7 years. 

I can't begin to tell you what a delight my Brooklyn is to me.  She makes me laugh on a regular basis. She's insightful, energetic, has a non-stop imagination that dictates the play around this house.  She is beautiful and long-legged and lean and eats next to nothing. She is wonderful with her two younger brothers and a fabulous helper to me and her Daddy.  She's extremely dramatic and turns every little thing into a production.

She is the most awful sick person imaginable. You'd think she has the plague when she gets a slight fever. The moaning and wailing...it's Oscar-worthy.  But that's just part of who she is! She sings constantly - putting music to her Bible verses, and sometimes just normal conversation.

She loves to read and draw. Boy, does she ever like to draw.  She draws constantly, on everything and anything.  Sometimes, I have to motivate her to finish a math problem by telling her she can draw faces or clothes on all the images on the page. She doesn't just draw pictures - she draws stories. She recently drew a picture of a pirate dangling a puppy over the side of a boat just above the fierce jaws of a crocodile. There's a whole other scene unfolding on the other side of the page that tells the rest of the story.  The pirate had a patch over his eye and the eyebrow above the patched eye was quirked wickedly. I'm keeping it for posterity. It was a great picture.

She is upbeat constantly. She's persistent. She's loving and affectionate and sweet.  She loves dogs and cats and says she wants to be a vet when she grows up. She's very smart and isn't all that crazy about addition, although when she puts her mind to it, she breezes through it.

She reads aloud with the professional quality of a book on tape! She does voices and the inflections are always correct. It's truly amazing how well she reads for just a 7 year old. 

I love this daughter of mine. Can you tell? 

For her 7th birthday, we stuck to our family tradition which is to forego a traditional group birthday party and turn the whole birthday into an All-Day Family Party.

Her birthday was on Monday, February 18th and Kyle took off from work to spend the day with us. We had breakfast and then one of her best friends, Hollis, came over and we took them to the Climbing Center for the afternoon.  Having never been climbing before, I really didn't know what she'd think.  I actually thought she might have been a little scared of the heights. Boy, I misjudged her.  She has all the fearlessness of her mom and dad combined. And she's part monkey.  We're considering letting her participate on a JV climbing team, she was so good at it!

After we wore her and Hollis out, we took them to get smoothies (B's request).  She then picked her dinner of choice (spaghetti) and dessert (PW's Knock-You-Naked Brownies) and closed out her birthday with presents and a full belly.

It was a great way to turn 7. 

   

  

 Happy Birthday!

My kids hair grows so fast. And it's very difficult to get in to the lady who cuts our hair, so I recently decided I'd attempt to do some minor trimming on my own. 

I'm not saying I'm a budding hairstylist - FAR from it. I completely recognize the limits of my skills. 

Just look at the joy on those faces. Old, young, it doesn't make a difference. 

Kyle said Ms. Marie was a feisty one, and clearly she found a buddy in my children. 

I am so proud of them.

Since Kyle works in advertising, he occasionally is asked by local TV stations to weigh in on various things. In particular, he was on TV talking about the commercials shown during the Olympics. And since commercials are synonymous with this past Sunday's recent major sporting event, 

he was asked to talk about his top three favorites and three least favorites!

He watched the SuperBowl with a note pad and a critical eye. He took lots of notes and asked my opinion on a few, but mostly he just payed close attention. He had a schedule showing him what buyers had purchased commercial time when and so he knew what to expect.

I love it when he gets to do things like this, because he's really so good at it! 

Check it out here...

This past Saturday, it was the birthday of someone very very special to me. 

My father. Dad. Randy.

While my Dad has been without a doubt the World's Best Father to me and my siblings, it became clear Saturday that he was very special to a great many others as well.  

My mom planned a surprise party at her house to celebrate the 60th birthday of her husband, our Dad. She invited lots of people, and because my Dad truly is so special and has meant so much to so many people, almost all those people showed up.  Which means that when he opened the door to his house, expecting to see his kids and his grandkids for our standard cake and birthday song, he was shocked to hear the voices of over 60 people (not even counting kiddos) welcoming him home. 

The house was literally overflowing with bodies.  Not to mention the little ones tripping over each other.

My mom and the daughters had prepared a huge table of food for the guests, and for hours and hours, people ate, visited, hugged my Dad, shared their love for him and enjoyed fellowshipping with dear friends.

It was a wonderful night, and I was almost moved to tears to see my Dad's eyes fill up with tears at the surprise of it all. 

I could and probably will do a post later on my Dad and all he's meant to me, but let's just say for now that he is truly one of a kind. And I am honored and blessed to be his daughter.

Praise God for blessing him with 60 years of life and may he be blessed with many, many more wonderful years.  I love you, Dad!