chicken update

Okay, I promise there is a photo of a human being that you care about in here.

I put the new chickens in their outside box spring coop for a while today. They loved it.

We're going to eat these two chickens.
But you know, most of the chicken you eat doesn't get to peck around and eat worms.
I don't know how many chickens I eat a year, and we're probably not even making a dent in that at all, but I like the idea of giving them a nice life before I eat them, rather than having them in some chicken shed and letting someone else do the dirty work of slaughtering birds who never saw the light of day.
The weird thing about all of this is that I still totally love Chicfila.

The old guy meets the new kids.
I was a little surprised no one got killed.

This buff orpington seems to be the one that likes Evangeline the most.
This is a good thing because we're not going to eat this chicken.

I moved that black pot and uncovered a big anthill.
The old chickens came and devoured them, but the little guy wanted to see what was going on.

That didn't last long.
But again, no one got killed.

Wintry Mix

So Greensboro is in an official state of emergency.

Much of the city is without power, and this will not be restored until Wednesday.

Our electricity remained intact.

We've had some powerless houseguests the past two nights.

The storm was pretty crazy. Lots and lots of heavy ice that just stuck to the trees.

The tree in the driveway was shedding branches left and right, so I decided to move the cars.
About 3 minutes after, this branch fell right where the windshield would have been.

Those telephone lines didn't survive, and are now laying in our driveway.

We took a stroll down to church to see what was going on there.

Then today we headed up the mountain for Aunt Carol's 60th birthday.

The kids abandoned cake and ice cream to stand attentive at the opening of presents.

New Routine

The bedtime routine changes every few months. 

For a while it was listening to Born to Run. 

For a while it was chocolate prentzels. 

For a while it was Irene went to bed and Evangeline got to watch stuff in our room.

Here is the new bedtime routine.

After the bath, they get to watch one (or two) videos on the netflix.
Tonight they also wanted to eat some fruits and vegetables.
And then Irene laid on Evangeline.
And then they went to bed.
At the same time.

Future Flower Girl

Audrey came over and gave us this beautiful flower girl dress the other day.

Which is exactly what Evangeline has been wanting - 

a long white dress that goes all the way to the ground.

So here it is!

Holding the doorknob.

Having accidentally removed the doorknob, she now tries to show that its not a big deal.

See?! Fixed it!

Yes, I gave her some m&m's.

Ballet class

Today was the day when the parents can go and watch ballet class, so Ellee took Irene to music class, and I went to ballet (after quickly running to the shoe store to buy some new ballet slippers, since someone lost them...)

I'm happy to report that Evangeline is not the worst kid in the class by far, although we've got to work on things like "how to stand in line."

She's a pretty great dancer.

Her recital is May 10th.

You are invited.

And then we found the ballet slippers in the glove box.

pollo

Thanks to Aunt Jessie for the underpants and cat shirts.
This was a pleasant surprise.

 We went to a birthday party with an actual piñata, which is impressive, since these things aren't exactly pc these days, what with all the violence and whatnot.

On the way home from Ava's party, which was out in the country, we stopped and picked up some baby chicks. I think we've got a fox family thats been dining on our chickens lately. We've lost 5 in the last four weeks. So, we've got to give them something more to eat of course.

And then Irene comes around the corner using a belt as a whip.

Kaleb (my sole catechumen) had a championship game, so we went.
They lost. Evangeline was actually pretty sad that he lost.

 And then today we went and picked up EIGHT more chickens. Two are speckled sussex, and aren't for eating, but the rest of them will be eaten. The kids seem surprisingly okay with it at this point. Lets see how well the parents hold up.

Nighttime Serenade

This had been going on for about five minutes before I decided to make a video.