Winner from the giveaway!!!

I didn't have too many entries, but there were a few to choose from. Thank you to everyone who left caption suggestions for the picture below! And the winner chosen by my family is.......

Holly T!!!! And here is her caption:

Chicken brooder

We used this as a brooder for the first time last year and it worked so well. This was just a koi pond that was sunk down in our front yard of the first house we bought 12 years ago. It was ugly and very impractical, so we dug it up. It is about 5 feet across and 22" or so deep, so lots of room!

We eventually started using it as a swimming pool for the kids. It was a GREAT swimming pool, but as the kids got older (and there are more of them now!), it just didn't seem big enough any more. I really did love it as a swimming pool though!

I also noticed a crack in the bottom, so we decided maybe it would make a nice brooder. All I can say is, if I was a baby chick, this would seem like a mansion! I'm sure they love it, and it could hold probably 50 chicks pretty comfortably for a short time, if we needed to.

This pond/pool/brooder cleans up very easy and really nicely (we've had to clean it out so many times over the years), so I think I'm going to turn it into something else this summer.....a sand box! How fun will that be?!?! And then maybe over the winter we can have it over a garden area (we've had some really nice grass/weeds in winters past!) before using it as a brooder again next year.

But for now, our new little chicks can run and play in their little huge chicky mansion.

It was a little chilly out, so it took a few minutes to warm up the place. I wish I had a picture of them when we first turned the heat lamp on. They literally stood up tall, stretching toward the lamp, and closed their eyes, just basking in the warmth! Haha! It was adorable!

Notes on what we used: The tire was just there so the 15 month old could see inside. :) The big black thing is a platform type structure built of wood and covered with some kind of rubber. We found it (and several more) in a huge dumpster. That is to keep in heat and keep rain and animals out. We took some chicken wire (also free) and attached it the edge of the black platform, attached the other edge of the wire to a 2x4 (also free), and this serves as a vent during the warmer part of the day and also to keep out predators. Then we have a board covering it, which we can remove to release heat, when needed, and a tarp over all that to keep the rain out. This is all angled as well so the rain will run down and out. It should work very well, and we are very happy with it, especially since it was all free. Oh, and the stepping stones we have the feed and water sitting on, and the cinder block the light is attached too......also free. :) Yep, every bit of it was FREE. Hey, even the eggs the chicks hatched from were free! We just had to buy a new heat bulb, water and feed trays, and wood chips. :)

New chicks and a giveaway!!!!

Heritage Rhode Island Reds. We had 5 of them hatch, but the last one had to have help, and I think it is too weak to make it. The other 4 though are all doing really, REALLY well. Here are some pics of them taken yesterday.

And now for the giveaway......This last picture for some reason just really makes me laugh! I am not a witty person though, so I need a good caption. You may enter as many times as you want and even put them all in one comment, and the caption that makes me and my family laugh the most will win this book:

Just to be clear, this is the picture to create the caption for. Share with your friends! We will pick a winner this Sunday evening, March 25th. Have fun, and thank you! :)

(I want to do another giveaway soon, so stay tuned!)

Chicken Butchering

This was our first. It was quite comical at times, but we definitely made sure it was as quick and painless as possible for the bird. We thank Yah for providing for us!

This rooster's name was Black Forest, so I had to look up a recipe for Black Forest chicken! I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (and we don't eat pork, so I left out the ham), but I used what I had and improvised, and BOY was it good! Myles had a really hard time eating it. Oh, and by the way, he wanted NOTHING to do with butchering it either. He's not quite ready yet! LOL!

November

I am determined to get caught up on photos!!! So here's November in pictures. :)

Jayla lost another tooth. This one has been loose for a while, and it is the first one she pulled completely on her own!

Some dear friends gave me a baby shower just before Joe arrived! What fun!

The dirty diaper game! Too funny!

Jacob and Jack LOVE trains. They had a close-up view one day while Jayla was in dance class!

Jacob turned 6 on the 10th!

This lady at CiCi's gave him a dollar and a balloon. :) He talks to anyone and everyone, so he just melted her heart and she wanted to do something for him. I don't think she even spoke English very well!

His main/big gift was GeoTrax. He doesn't like "trains with faces" anymore, so we got TWO TUBS of these (about 5 sets) for a great price, and he LOVES them!

Homeschool Thanksgiving & Talent show dinner

 

Jayla and Jack! Haha!!

The chicks are growing fast!

More October pics

Let's see if I can finish them up in one more post!

Once we left my brother's house, we went to visit some aunts and uncles and a cousin on the way home. First we went by Aunt T's house. We got there later than anticipated, and this was a spontaneous visit.....we just thought about stopping by after we hit the road, so she didn't have much notice! They (she and one of her sons) were very gracious though. We just stayed in a pop-up camper on their 5 acres and then spent several hours there the following day. They feed around 75 animals every day, some of them wild, so the kids had a great time helping out with that!

There were two of these geese, and they followed us everywhere, honking and pecking at us every chance they got! They hurt Jack a couple of times, but the older three would chase them away!

 Pot-belly pig

 Lots of wild deer share food with the turkeys, guineas and chickens.

 The chickens love to cross the fence and go into the woods.

 This made me nervous!

 Don't worry, he didn't really drive!

 Here they come again!

Not the best picture, but the only one we got of the two bunnies.

 My brave little guy!

 Aunt T!!!

Next we went to another aunt and uncle's house nearby......

 Two aunts! These two lovely ladies are my mother-in-law's sisters!

 We were all so exhausted, but what a fun day!

Next our Keepers At Home group had a sewing day! We met at a local sewing shop and the girls made their sashes.

Jayla

Jack was a handful, trying to keep him out of the spools of thread and bucket of buttons!

Jayla again....she has sewn before and is getting pretty good at it!

A couple of the moms got in on the fun too!

 Jayla with her finished product.

Pumpkin patch time!

Jacob was so proud of his perfect pumpkin!

Jack finally found one he liked.

Jayla loved this one but decided to pick it for Grandma so she could get a different one. :)

Jack changed his mind.

I think he finally settled on this one. :)

Jayla was helping push! Haha!

I tried to surprise Myles with a "While You Were Out" weekend. The plan was to organize a painting party (since I was pregnant and wasn't allowed to be around the fumes) while he and Jonathan were camping. I had no idea how much work it was just to prep for it! I worked my tail off for 3 weeks, then the day before this was to happen, I blew the surprise. I thought he knew, so I said something only to find out that I was the one who told him! Haha! Oh, well.

He ended up not going camping (which I knew about a couple of weeks before), so he was able to stay and help. We ended up only having a couple of people come. They did manage to get the first coat on, but then the cracks and nail holes, etc. were MUCH more noticeable, so it still needed a 2nd coat.

That hasn't happened yet, here at the end of January!!!

However, we have gotten a lot accomplished since then.

These are homemade curtain rods that the kids helped me with. I don't have them hanging yet, so I can't show "after" pictures.

I just really love this picture. :)

I think Jacob took this one himself, which I also like. :)

She insisted on helping and primed as much of the trim as she could!

And of course, Jack was not to be outdone.

Aw, a cute pic of Jonathan too! :)

I'll just post one of the chicks since I already blogged about them. Aren't they cute? :)

We went to a baby shower, and I thought the facial expression on this adorable little girl was priceless when Jayla fed her a chip with some salsa!

And I have NO idea how she got two of the exact same sweaters (plus she had one like this when she was 2 years old too!), but Jayla wanted to give one to her friend so they could match. Cute, huh?

And a pic of me with my Jack-Jack to finish off the month.

I did it! Wow, there were tons of pictures in October!