Lots of Excitement...

So, I'm finally getting around to getting some things posted!! It has been a crazy few weeks around here, and it's not looking any better until the end of May. Maybe we'll get some R&R over Memorial Day weekend! Goodness, let's hope that's true!

First off, do you remember how Kendall was DYING to have her very own flock of new baby chicks? And remember when I told you that we actually had a hen sitting? Well, last Monday those precious baby chicks started hatching!! Kendall was literally bouncing off the walls! Noah was excited too, but not like she was. She positioned herself right in the coop and wouldn't leave...she had to be there for everything! By Monday afternoon, all 5 chicks had hatched, plus one that had hatched, but died in the night. Monday morning before school was rough, since Kendall found the dead little chick...she thought that somehow it was her fault that it died. We had a rather lengthy discussion about natural selection, and how this is just "life on the farm". She was especially concerned with the fact that the mother hen didn't even seem to care that her baby had died, and of course, took that one step further to wonder if I would care if she died!! O.M.G.!!! So, another lengthy discussion followed about how humans and animals are very different. I think we're good now...on that front anyway!

Look at these little fuzzballs...aren't they just as cute as a bug's ear? Noah corrects everyone who calls them "chicks" and tells them, "They're NOT chicks...they're PEEPERS!!!" He's too cute!Kendall cannot get enough of their softness...
And here's the little "maternity ward" Barry built for our mama hen...he made it out of an old end table (handy guy, isn't he?)
And there's even a chicken story here for ya. The other day, we were outside checking on the chicks and feeding & watering the chickens when Noah decided to start chasing some hens that had escaped the fenced-in coop. One particular surly rooster named Speary decided that his hens shouldn't have to put up with that, so he came after Noah. Barry was up at the house, filling up the waterer, I was in the pen collecting eggs, and Kendall was in the "maternity ward" tending to her babies. All of the sudden, we heard Noah screaming, and I came tearing around the coop to find Noah and Speary in a stand-off. Speary definitely had the upper hand. He kept charging Noah (who was just standing there screaming for me), and spurring him. Now, in case you don't know, roosters have large spurs on the backs of their legs. They use these to defend themselves and their hens...and that is exactly what Speary was doing. Noah got spurred really good 4 times before I got to him. And then Kendall took charge of the situation and reminded Speary who ws boss around here by giving him a swift kick in the pants. He simmered down quite a bit then.

Now, we have been saying for a few weeks now that Speary may be getting ready to go "live in the freezer" because he's been getting so aggressive. He routinely starts cockfights, comes after the kids, and he even came after me today. THE NERVE!!! But here's where it gets funny...

We came in the house and got Noah's wounds all washed up, covered in Neosporin and bandaids, and got him settled down to watch Wall-E. Barry and I sat down with him to ask if he understood why Speary came after him...and to explain that we don't treat our flock like that. But all Noah kept saying was, "Yeah, that Speary got me real good, didn't he? Daddy, I want you to cut Speary up into pieces and throw him in the freezer so we can eat him all up!!"

Clearly, we have no issue with Noah understanding the way things work on the farm.