a giraffe kind of day

Sam woke up in one of those moods. You know, when you can't live without ALL of your giraffe toys in your arms? It happens to all of us.

What can I say? The boy loves his "ah-waffs".

"Sam, where are your giraffes?"

Giraffe attacks are funny.

Sam has been so helpful this morning. I'm on day 4 of waking up totally exhausted (thank you sinus infection) but he has been an angel. Handing me tissues, putting toys away and giving me kisses on my cheek.
 
I had a little sneezing fit after breakfast and when I had finished there was Sam at my feet stroking my knee. "You aright? You aright, Mommy?" I couldn't help but pick him up and squeeze the little man. He is such a love!

Chickens!

After years of begging, Matty finally caved and allowed me to buy chickens! (and dont say anything, but I'm pretty sure Matty is starting to like them.) Besides the fact that I LOVE me some birds, I am excited to gather eggs, build them a coop and use their mess to fertilize our vegetable garden. Bring on the overalls and plaid shirts because I'm a farmin'!

Meet the little ladies!

This is Dotty. She is a Barred Plymouth Rock hen. She is quite shy but still super sweet. She is the loudest of the three and "peeps" a lot during the day.Dotty will grow up to look something like this:

This is Daisy. She is a White Leghorn hen and she is large and in charge. She is a week older than the other two and she thinks that makes her "Mother Hen." She is a drama queen and yells bloody murder when you pick her up. She is quite the character already.

She is going to be pretty like so:

And last, but absolutely not least, Doris. She is my favorite. (don't tell the others!) Doris is a Rhode Island Red. She loves to be cuddled and is sweet little soul. She is the best at keeping herself clean and eats a whole lot.

She should grow up to look like this:

They have been so much fun. We are going to enjoy the cute baby phase as much as we can because these 3 will be mature and laying eggs by August!

Sam is AMAZING with them. He is so gentle and they actually seem to really like him. They stay seated in his lap and allow him to pet them.  Sam gets so excited to tell people about his chickens and is so proud to show them off.

Here is Daisy doing what she does best. Protecting her "babies."

We have had lots of visitors that will hopefully get these little girls socialized.
HEN FACTS:

An egg takes the hen 25 hours to make, so at most, a hen can lay 6 eggs per week. (That's 18 a week for us! Our neighbors will be getting free dozens, I promise you that.)

A minimum of 3 chickens makes a brood. If a chicken is alone, they can easily die of loneliness.


A hen lives an average of 5-7 years, but can live up to 20 years. She'll lay eggs her entire life, with production decreasing every year from year one.

Alektorophobia is the name given to "The Fear of Chickens". I have the opposite of this :)


Eggs have a natural protective coating called the "bloom", which gives the egg a slightly "matt" finish. Washing Grade A eggs before selling them to the public is illegal, as it removes this coating. In the 19th century in Ireland, a farmer could be put in jail for washing eggs.


A chicken with red earlobes will produce brown eggs and a chicken with white earlobes will produce white eggs.

Olympic Game Farm

Since I was off of work last Saturday we decided to enjoy the time off together and head into Sequim with my parents. We have been wanting to drive through the animal reserve since we tried it out last summer, so we caught a ferry and spent the day there.











The elk. Showing us how he really feels about wheat bread.

Look at that face! Aren't the oxen kind of cute?

Me feeding the lama. I was pretty sure I was going to get spit on.





This bread-preying eagle,

Plus bread-hungry peacocks,

equal = a fight.

There were monkeys there too :)









And, scene.

Our new hangout

The Lynnwood Rec center. Only $4.50 for adults and $3.50 for kids to use the pool. This post may sound a little like a paid advertisement...but it ain't.

We have spent hours and hours there just this week. Sam has tons of fun splashing around while Matt and I trade parenting shifts to try out the water slides (which are surprisingly fast!).

If we're not home, chances are this is where we are. Such a fun place!