candling on day 16

We're less than a week away from hatch day! Normal incubation is 21 days but every time I've hatched they've come on day 19 so we're getting close!

I used this idea to make our own candling station in the bathroom today. I used what we had around the house. An Ikea lamp similar to the one in the link, a black turtle neck and some cardboard. Easy as that!

Above is a bad picture but you get the idea. You can see the air sack on the left side of the egg. if you look closely you can see veining and a dark spot (that's the chick!) We candled using a flashlight at 7 days and below are the results from both candling sessions.

Day 7: 11 yes, 1 no, 2 questionable

Day 16: 9 yes, 2 no, 3 questionable

Getting very excited to see our results this year! We'll be set up on Ustream once the action starts... link soon!

2012 garden

it's garden time!

Seems like it warmed up early this year and the garden is already almost finished. We have the zucchini to plant and then we'll be done. Today the kids helped plant the tomatoes.... 

We're not doing much different this year. The most noticeable difference is the fence which our addition of chickens has deemed necessary. We we're offered the strawberries from our neighbor who has a ton of them and they seem to have transplanted nicely. 

we'll check back in w/ the garden later this season. YUM!

Project Hatch: year 4

It was April 2009 when we hatched our first chicks. looking back the kids were so little!! We've hatched every year since and I think it's safe to say that this is our Spring thing. We're not even able to keep whatever we hatch this year (we have homes lined up) because we already have 5 and 5 is enough! Each year we get eggs from a different location. This year is the first we've received fertile eggs in the mail. Very exciting! So, today we start with 14 eggs in the incubator... i'll be back in 3 weeks for more updates!

bath time!

Mayden's Eye: Smithville

A February hike at Smithville Park... complete with a big smudge on the lens!

You've got mail!

One of my favorite things about elementary school was making mailboxes for Valentine's Day! I remember loving giving and receiving Valentine's from my classmates. So we made some... I'm hoping this will encourage us in reading, writing and positive encouragement.

So we started out with (what else?) some empty Girl Scout Cookie boxes. Covered them with plain wrapping paper then cut a slit on top with an X-acto knife.

we were just going to use stickers to decorate but I couldn't find the sticker so we brought out the paint....

and then... i found the stickers. 

because of the paint the stickers didn't stick really well so I added a layer of mod-podge which helped!

Winter scavenger hunt!

the boy has been sick. 

but, outside has been unseasonably warm and wonderful! May needed a little something to encourage her to be outside and not glued to the TV like her brother is.  So, I created an outside winter scavenger hunt!

Ready? GO!

She loved it so much that she requested a new one for the next day. I think we'll be doing many more of these and maybe even include the boy next time!

Here are her finds from the first scavenger hunt...

Want to join in? 

Between our two lists you could probably come up with one for things common to your yard.

List 1

1. acorn

2. stone

3. shovel

4. colorful leaf (tricky this time of year but we found one!)

5. egg

6. corn cob

7. stick over 12 inches long

8. stick under 12 inches long

9. something that does not belong outside (make sure you find it outside!)

10. bark

List 2

1. shell

2. berry

3. 7 blades of grass

4. brown leaf

5. green leaf (think bushes)

6. trash on ground

7. something (else) that does not belong outside

8. ball

9. flower (good luck!)

10. pine cone

Found stuff from list #2