TATTOO!!!!!

Oh yeah. I finally got my tattoo! I have been contemplating and planning this for years. Years, I tell you. How long will it be before my next one? Years, I tell you! That mother hurt! HA HA!!! But really it was not that bad. It has quite a bit of detail and while I was there 1 1/2 hours. It only took about an hour or hour ten minutes of tattooing. So not bad at all.

I got it done by Alli at Irezumi on Wornall. She rocks. My sister helped me draw it. Alli cleaned it up and fixed it a little and then we were on our way. It has Dh and I's initials in the tree trunk. Then it has each of the kids initials worked into the leaves on the branches.

It hurts. I love it. I am super happy. The End.

My baby girl is seven!

I can hardly believe I am the Mom of a seven year old. She is beautiful, smart and a joy to be around. Times like this make me so glad we are homeschooling. It is wonderful to get to spend every day with her. It goes by so quickly and I would be missing a huge chunk of her life if she went to school every day for the next 11 years. :) Which brings me to my next task that this year we will have to start our record keeping for her. That is ok because it actually helps me be more aware of what we are doing and keeps me on task.

For her birthday this year she wanted to have a sleepover. At first she had a big list of girls, but I asked her to narrow it down to 1-2 girls. So she did. We met my friend Jill and her family to swim. It was a blast. Then I took the two girls home for the sleep over. It went really well. Later in the day my kids were grumpy and tired from staying up so late. I told Gioia she was like her Aunt Mel. I remember my sister (who always needed her sleep) being a total crab anytime she went to a sleepover. That same sister is now pregnant, so watch out world when she is a sleep deprived new mom. HA HA!!! (Don't worry sis, I will be MORE than happy to come hold your baby while you nap!)

Nesting Boxes.

We have been working on fixing up the chicken tractor. First we did the tin on top to keep the predators out and provide shade. Then we needed nesting boxes. These weren't in the original designs because meat chickens don't need them. This chicken tractor is already made out of 80% recycled materials, so it is appropriate that the nesting boxes be as well. We screwed two milk crates to the wall. I lined the bottom of the crates with a wire screen cut to fit. Then I screwed a kick board in front of the boxes. Finally, I filled them with fresh bedding.

When I went out to check on the chickens this morning someone had been in the boxes. We don't have any eggs yet today, but I expect some by evening. Yesterday the boxes weren't installed yet so they laid on the floor. As you can see in the picture there is enough clearance for the food bin to be under the boxes. The wire screen in the boxes prevents bedding and poop to fall through and get in the food.

Eggs!

Well the chicken adventure has been quite exciting lately. Let me go back a week or so to tell the whole story.

4th of July weekend - We went to Mom's house. We had a great time at my Uncle Bobs cabin. The cousins took a collection and bought fireworks for a huge fireworks show. It was really great. Then Gioia and Dominic stayed all night for 3 extra days. Massimo and I came home on Sunday and the kids stayed till Wed.The chickens were fine while we were gone.


Then the next weekend of the 10th. MY BIRTHDAY! Happy birthday to me! Massimo's sister and family came to visit. We had a great time with them as well. We went swimming, ate good food, drank some beer and had some laughs.

Then Sunday morning Massimo went out to open the chicken house and a raccoon had gotten in and killed 5 of the 10 meat birds. CRAP!! So Sunday evening we butchered the remaining 5 birds. So meat birds done.

Monday I cleaned and fixed up the coop. Tuesday we put the new birds in there. Wed. morning I went out and all of my "girls" are now crowing! DANG IT!! I also noticed that Otis, my Polish Frizzle was gone. We later found a pile of feathers and a couple tiny bones. A fox (we think) pulled him through a 2-3 inch gap. To fix this problem, we took the wheels off the front of the chicken tractor. So far all seems well now. Darn predators.
We went Thursday night and picked up 4 girls (for sure!!). I will get better pictures when I can. But the first day they did not lay. Today 2 of the girls that are 1 year old laid eggs! WOO HOO!! The two black ones we are calling The Twins should start laying this summer but they are not quite yet. Cinnamon is a Cinnamon Queen and Ginger is an Easter Egger (or Barnyard mix). Ginger may not be a true EE because she laid a brown egg instead of Green but thats ok.