More Eggs.

Sunday I went out to gather eggs and there on the floor of the coop was the cutest little brown egg. In the box was a large light brown egg belonging to our hen Cinnamon. I was so excited to see the little egg. It was the first of my black sex-linked girls. The black girls looks exactly alike so we call them the twins. Later in the day I got a large brown egg know to be from our hen Ginger. Yesterdays count 3 eggs. WOO HOO!

The great thing about only having 4 female birds is that it is pretty easy to figure out who laid what with little effort. So today I go out in the early afternoon and check. TWO little eggs on the floor. WOO HOO! That means both of The Twins are laying! Later Cinnamon blessed us with her egg. Ginger skipped today but that is fine.

It takes chickens around 25-26 hours to make an egg. So that means most hens will not lay every day. For example Ginger is our best layer. She lays about 5-6 eggs a week. She will lay for about 3 days, each time later in the day by a few hours. Then skip the 4th day and start over in the morning on the 5th day. Chickens also do not lay eggs after dark. So if they haven't laid by evening then they usually wait until morning. Pretty interesting huh? Cinnamon will do the same, but sometimes skip after 2 days. Stress will also interrupt the laying cycle. Things like extreme heat, cold or wet, even moving to a new coop or home can be stress for them. For the most part they are pretty easy to care for an I am excited to be getting more eggs now.

Kids Picnic Table

This week I made the kids a picnic table out of recycled pallets. We picked up lots of pallets for free and they are nice pallets. So I made this picnic table for the kids. The top is a whole pallet about 40x30 (roughly). Then for the benches I cut a same size pallet in half. Each half was enough to make one side of the bench. I did have to buy one 2x4 for the legs. So cost was about 3 dollars. I painted it with our giant 5 gallon bucket of barn red paint. I plan to make a grown up size table some time but its on hold for now.

Weaning.

This last week we had a huge change at our house. I decided it was time to wean Luca. We have nursed for an amazing two years and I have enjoyed all of it. I really feel that we mamas know when it is right for us to wean our babies. Some kids may need to nurse longer than others. Nursing is a two way relationship involving two people. I was really feeling it was time for many reasons.

All that said, it was hard. It was much harder than with my other two. One reason was that Luca was still nursing at night, which was one reason I was ready to do this. I wanted sleep! :) About day 2 and 3 I had a major hormone shift. I was very sad, emotional and feeling really not myself. Of course it took several days for my boobs to get the message as well. Then finally by the fourth day I was feeling much better and so was Luca. He finally slept all night and has every night since. He wakes sometimes early in the morning and I snuggle him back to sleep.

Friday night I went to a Moms Night Out at a friends house. It was much needed after our tough week. My husband was able to put him to bed and he stayed asleep, not waking up and crying for me. I know that makes my husband much more able to help with Luca now.

We had a good run and it is very bittersweet. We are moving on with a new phase in our life.

Cedar Nightstand

We had a Woodworking Moms Night In at my friends house a few weeks ago. I finally got it sanded and finished. I just finished it with a Satin clear coat. I think it looks great. I am excited to make a second one for DH's side of the bed. It will replace the wooden TV trays that I have been using for 10 years. HA HA!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Luca!!

Last week this guy had a birthday! He is so sweet. We celebrated by getting ice cream at Braum's. It was amazing! I had Blackberry Almond, Luca had Rocky Road, D had Pistachio Almond and Gioia had Cookie Dough. Massimo had some of everyone's. HA HA!

Devil's Den Vaca - part 2

So part two of my posts about the vacation are pictures of the cabin. It was a sweet cabin with a spa tub and Dish Network on the TV. We are not a huge tv family but it sure came in handy with all the rain we got. It also had a separate Master bedroom in the next room. Outside was also a picnic table, two wooden lawn chairs and a grill for cooking out.
http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/devilsden/

Cabin living room with futon couch bed.


A/C, dining room, fireplace and kitchen around the corner that I didn't get a picture of.


Spa tub! Amazing how a little bit of shampoo makes LOTS of bubbles in a spa tub.

Devil's Den Vacation

We went to Lake of the Ozarks, then down to Arkansas to Devils Den State Park for our family vacation this year. We stayed in a really sweet cabin and did a lot of hiking. Then the last few days we got the tropical storm rains so we had to do inside stuff. We went to movies, mini golf and out to eat pizza.

Massimo and kids on a cool wooden bridge.

The kids on tree root "stairs".
Giant Bench! Look its me! In a picture!



Kids hiking on Lee Creek Trail.

So on day one it looked like this.


Then 3 days later it looked like this! Water rushing over the dam and filling the creek to the banks. All those rocks in the above picture where covered all the way to the tree line.

Happy 5th Dominic!

My baby boy turned 5 this week! Can you believe it!?? He is such a joy and a challenge all wrapped up in one. It seems like just a few days ago he was my little fat toad all squishy and new. For his birthday we first went to Iowa for the weekend and had a little party there. Then on his actual day we went to my moms where we had more cake, ice cream and presents.