We caught the chickens!

After much anxiety we actually caught the hen and her 11 chicks.

We decided to do the round up on Saturday night after we discovered the hen nesting in a slightly convenient location- meaning it was not under the house. She decided to nest in the coop, which sounds great on the surface. Just close the door right and you have them all locked up. I tried that. The hen stays in the coop, all of her chicks squeeze through every little bitty hole there is. This only makes the hen anxious and me worry about all of the chicks wandering the yard.

We then went and found the fishing nets, only to discover one was dry rotted. So we have one net, one rooster, one hen and 11 chicks. The rooster is actually not ours he's just following our hen around. At this time he is roosting in the neighbors fig tree just across our fence.

We formulate a plan of attack, which basically was "catch them", and then get in position. Ted crawls into the coop and throws the net over the hen. She, shockingly, does nothing! Ted picks her up and puts her in another cage. Just by chance Ted is able to net one of the chicks too. He did catch another one and put it in a box. I caught nothing initially. Well the chicks had scattered everywhere in the yard. Ted netted a couple more that had gathered under the cage where the hen is. At this point we decide to let the chicks settle down and hope the hen will call them over to the cage. We wait a few minutes and I pick up the net and caught two after a little battle. Ted catches a few more. Now we have all but four. We hear them peeping (is that a word?). They had gone back over to the coop looking for their mom. So I grab the net and start creeping that way. The chicks spot me and immediately start their panic peep. All of a sudden the rooster flies toward me. I in a split second consult all my past training and do exactly what I thought was the most dignified and appropriate response- I screamed at the top of my lungs. This actually startled the rooster and he turned the other way.

As I attempt to return to my hunt Ted says, "Don't worry if the rooster attacks you I will stand back and watch." To which I responded "What?!" He looks at me like I'm crazy and says, " The rooster has spurs!" He was joking. We both decide, sense the rooster got in on the action, to let the hen call her chicks over to the cage. This eventually works and we did catch all of the chicks. But it was an interesting evening.




"You may be the only Jesus your neighbor will ever see."
-Mother Angelica

The Adventures of Warrior Chicken!!!

Most of you know that we have a couple of chickens, one hen, one rooster. Well they just hatched 11 chicks. Yea! Now we have to catch them. They escaped from the coop about a month ago and when we tried to catch them the hen was nesting. So now we have the hen wandering the yard with her chicks in tow. If you have never been around a hen with chicks, if you get close to them the hen turns into Warrior Chicken! She does this by fluffing the feathers around her neck and bowing out her wings to make herself look big and mean I suppose.

Well one day we decided to go out to play. The boys stayed close to me but Ellie made a bee line for the swings. I am carrying Grace and her exerscaucer, so I am a little hindered. I'm trying to catch up with Ellie to no avail. As we round the corner of the garden, there is the hen with her chicks. Mama hen upon spying Ellie throws on her armor and turns into Warrior Chicken! Ellie completely oblivious to the fact the hen is trying to tell her to get away, wades through the chicks and makes a mad dash to the swings. The hen didn't know what to do because when ever she turns into Warrior Chicken people generally stay away. She, thank goodness, opted for herding her chicks back together. What are Teddy and Tommy doing, you might ask. Upon seeing Warrior Chicken they come running back to me. Tommy played it cool and slowly turned around with an expression of, "Hey Mom that hen turned into Warrior Chicken, so ya know I'll just come and stand by you." Teddy on the other hand decided this was cause for great alarm and came running back to me with a look of, "MOM IT'S WARRIOR CHICKEN!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

So in the end, Ellie made it to her swing, and the rest of us patently waited for the hen to gather her chicks and venture to new scratching grounds. She did so pretty quickly after Ellie sent her chicks running for cover.

I thought I would start to end my blogs with a quote, something inspirational or funny or both, so for the first one I thought I'd use and oldie but goody. St. Francis is one of my favorite saints, so I figure I'll use my old bud for the first one. God Bless!


"Preach the Gospel, speak if necessary."
- St. Francis of Assisi

What I learned about children's toy lables

Things I learned over Christmas about children's toys. As I am sure all of you who have ever assembled a child's toy know the levels of construction. This is what I have learned in my four years of parenthood. Now we must all keep in mind that each of these levels depends on you level of mechanical inclination.
If the box says:
Assembly required: 5 minutes to those who are pretty good 30 for those who are not quite sure how to use a screw driver.
Some assembly required: about and hour for those who can operate a Dremmel 3 to 4 hours for those who don't know what a Dremmel is.
Adult assembly required: translates into an all day affair that may eventually result in a trip to the emergency room or a necessary degree in engineering. If you have no or limited mechanical inclination you may as well chalk it up to a loss and pay good money to have someone do it for you.


We bought some ride on toys for our kids this Christmas that we thought were already put together - yah - that is what we get for thinking. We actually had to break out a hammer. Yes, a hammer for a ride on toy. Three hours later we actually had them all put together.

I'm sure every parent at one time or another has stared at a large pile of plastic and metal pieces and wondered, "how exactly does this eventually look like what's on the box."

As the kids birthdays start to pass, thankfully there has been nothing to assemble.

Well I hope to blog soon!

God Bless!

Sorry I have been away!

Hi all!
Sorry it has been so long sense I have blogged. As all of you with kids know Christmas is a harry time and we had a few events between Thanksgiving and the new year.

Let's start with the Monday after Thanksgiving. Ellie had a CT scan. It was discovered that her tonsils were so swollen that they were touching. Poor baby was hurting and couldn't tell anyone. To make a long story short the next Monday she had her tonsils, adenoids, and windows put in her sinuses. She was great through her recovery and is now much better. We made it through Christmas great. The Sunday before new years day Ellie fell asleep and about a half hour later had a grand mal seizure. This is something that has never happened before. We rushed her to the hospital and they did blood tests and everything came back normal. So now we look to the Neurologist for answers. I will keep you updated on what happens. We just ask for your prayers as we look for answers.

Mornings....

This morning was one of our average mornings. Teddy and Ellie wake me up at 5:30, I change Ellie, who has overflowed her diaper, and take her night shirt off due to the fact it was now wet. So now she is running around in just a diaper. I change Teddy who is always wet, his diaper usually not his clothing. I sleep walk through the first half hour of breakfast and Tommy wakes up. He needs a new diaper but sense the other kids are eating I just plop him down at the table. I just didn't realize how wet he was. He is eating contently, when he suddenly starts screeching at decibels only dogs and dolphins can hear. I look over at him, now temporarily deaf, waiting to see a limb amputated when I realize he tinkled and it leaked out of his diaper all over his seat. I take off his diaper and clean him and his seat up, take his, now, wet shirt off and put a new diaper on him. Now he is running around in just a diaper.

We made it through breakfast and I decided to start some cloths washing sense almost everyone wet themselves. I walk to the washer and dryer which is in one of the bathrooms. "Has anyone seen the hamper?" This was actually a rhetorical question. "Oh, there it is under the 10 foot high pile of cloths." As I'm putting the last of the cloths in the washer Teddy comes into the room pulling at his night shirt. I start thinking, "how nice he wants to take off his shirt to wash sense I was washing cloths." So I take off his shirt and throw it in the washer. Then as I start piecing together outfits for the day I realize why Teddy was so eager to wash his shirt, he was the only one not running around in only a diaper. So at this point I have 3 semi-naked babies running around my house.

Now I must go wrestle my kids into some clothing... at least everyone has a clean diaper, that is half the battle.

Invasion of the children snatchers?

The other day, after breakfast I decided to actually sit down with the kids in the living room for a moment. Yes, I actually got to sit, on a couch, for more than three seconds. Anyway I decide it would be a good idea to get the kids to pick up the toys they so graciously decided to dump out of the toy box. Now mind you I had been up twice to feed Grace that night, so needless to say I was exhausted, and the thought of arm wrestling with the kids to clean up was not exactly appealing, but I couldn't see the living room floor any more. I start after them to pick up the toys, which usually requires me telling them (after every toy is thrown in the toy box) to go get another toy. Now I'm sitting on the couch with the toy box in front of me as they throw toys in. Through out the entire process the kids will go out in the room and pick up one toy, regardless of size, and bring it to the toy box. So Teddy might to find a happy meal toy, just the one little bitty toy, and walk clear across the room to put it in the box. They haven't quite grasped the concept that they can pick up more than one toy and get it done faster. So as the kids do this I, unknowingly, doze off on the couch. When I wake up from my brief nap (the best nap I ever had) I find a completely clean room. Yes, every toy, every couch pillow, every piece of clothing, EVERYTHING was picked up (neatly I would like to add), AND the toy box was no longer in front of me, it was where it was supposed to be. After regaining consciousness from my fainting spell, I felt their heads. No fever. No clammy skin. No rashes. They seemed to be in perfectly good health. Which only leaves ONE explanation, there is an invasion of children snatchers!

Now let me go run and get the vacuum, the broom and the mop and show them how to use it before they leave!

So much to tell...

Sorry it has been so long sense my last post, we have been so busy!

Let's start with Ellie. She went to school on Monday and did very well! Her teacher said she sang a song about shoes and then pointed to her shoes! And later in the week I asked her to show Grandma her shoe and she looked down at her shoes. Such exciting news! And she decided she is a big girl now and is climbing the slide all by herself. She is starting to come out of her shell. Great news too about school, she might be able to go more than one day a week! That would be so great.

Teddy is doing great. Tonight I was telling them they were going to get their baths tonight and out of the blue clear as could be he said "bath". And he was such a big helper today! Him and Tommy compete to see who will give Grace the most kisses. At bed time while I read a book to them Teddy loves to snuggle up next to me and look at the pictures and then when we finish the book it must be turned over to him for further review.

Tommy...I think I have said enough. The other day we were all in the car and I was getting the boys to say some words, so I start with "Ted, Ted, Ted" and they both say it. And I said it again and they both said it again. Then I go "Tom, Tom, Tom" and Teddy starts to say it, but Tommy's response, with a big smirk on his face, was "me, me, me, me...". I immediately start cracking up laughing at which time he continues to say "me" over and over. I can't help but pinch him.

Grace is getting so big and she is starting to stay awake more and give more smiles! I love those toothless grins! The other day she started to giggle in her sleep.

I will have to continue this later, I think some one just fell out of bed...