Thank You Mom and Dad!

My parents still spoil me even at 30! I love taking pictures I guess you might have noticed. :) For my birthday they sent me a new lens for my camera, and some other goodies. A zoom lens with image stabilizer to capture the movement of these busy kiddos and animals. YEAH! I LOVE IT! Here is a sneak peak. I plan to post more of our Memorial Day weekend at a later date I am wiped out! Check out the water droplets on the ducks. I am so looking forward to playing with this more and being able to capture even more of our lives. I have been given advice not to blink because it all happens so fast. Well since I don't have that option I plan to capture and keep as much of it as I can.

Dwey and Lueys' First and Second Trips In The Pond

Before... I gave a speech to the kids about how the ducks may or not come back to us. We got these guys when they were a few weeks old, and they were still very skidish with us though we have had them over a month now. I think they bonded to each other instead of us. We were all sad thinking that we may never be able to get our hands on them again.

And here we go

They are off

Uh maybe not so much

They kinda high tailed it outta there

And guess what they came to us, they are bonded with us! Made us feel so good!

Duey says please Brenden please don't put me back in there!

We gave the water a try, and then decided to let them just get used to the surroundings. So many sounds and sights, this was not their first time out just the first time to the pond.

They stayed for a bit and headed back to what they think is their territory the back porch LOL.

Oh and there was a monkey in a tree to!

Attempt #2. Josh had the idea that maybe one of us should get in with them, make them more comfortable. Brenden of course volunteered, he loves the pond! Duey is in his arms,and Luey swimming free.

Duey likes it better on the bank.

Luey and Brenden

They felt safe in the safety of his arms. AWE!

This is the longest Duey stayed in, only with "his" buddy.

And look Grandmommy I have nails. Not so much fun for mom when she picks me up and I don't want her to. This was one of the reasons I felt they were ready to graduate to the pond. These claws don't feel to good when they freak out being picked up! I know I can't keep them in a cage forever and they weren't seeming to warm up to us. I felt they would be happier. Well that seemed to be just what they needed to warm up to us! We are thrilled, and are going to work with them to get them used to their new home.

Tree House Progress

Side view of the house and Josh on the way to the put up the tractor.

Monster Stairs as I call them. Josh has more faith in me than necessary, thinking he and I could load these on the trailer and then carry them up the hill to the tree house. I couldn't get them off the ground much more than an inch! We are waiting for Memorial Day Weekend company(more man power) to help us attach them.

We have the railing up!

The view is awesome from up top! We haven't been able to work on this due weather and Josh being gone so much. But we are back on track. Next step stairs attached, finish trimming out, and roof. Then on to Project Chicken Coop, when that is done back to the tree house for windows, door, and siding.

Chicken and Ducks Oh my( Picture Heavy :)

Houdini sun bathing. The first time I caught one doing this my heart stopped. Over by the window Patty below was stretched out on "her"side eyes closed. I just knew "she"was dead. So I walked over and poked her and she jumped up and ran! Never knew they sunbathed, learn something new each day!

Nugget with an attitude. This one has a complex and is always challenging everyone.

Patty one of our fathered feet little ones.

Growing fast. Peep, BR, and Bumblebee(a.k.a. Bee)

She loves these guys as you can see and is really great with them. We have sad news about Sonny here on the right our chicken on steroids. He is actually a Cornish Cross(between a Cornish Game Hen and Partridge Rock). (The bin we picked him out of said Buff Orpington. )And therefore is a meat bird. They are bred with only food on their mind and are usually slaughtered between 6 and 8 weeks of age. They as pets are not expected to live long due to growing so fast they have leg and heart problems. I am really upset that the feed store had these and most were being sold as pets. I won't be buying from them again, even when they were able to tell us the breed of birds we were buying were wrong! We are limiting Sonnys' food hoping to slow his growth and keep him healthy as long as we can. Thanks to folks at
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
for giving us lots of info and helping us to identify some of these guys! PS seems Sonny is also a rooster as he has knots on the insides of his legs for spurs. Thanks mom for that info.!

Mother Hen Tayler...

Luey and Duey are not easily separated and each will holler in protest when this happens. Sorry guys you two are to big to tote at the same time. They are now almost completely white and have at least half of their big guy feathers in. It won't be long until they can go to the pond.

These are 2 of our 4 new additions. These girls are Barred Rock.

Second set. Daddy was only supposed to bring home 2 more, but decided on pairs and an even dozen. These girls are call Silver Laced Wyandotte. He picked them up from a feed store in Greenwood. They seem to have a much better set up and are able to tell you what you are buying and the sex. We wanted to even our odds and make sure we had at least a few females for egg laying. Joshua's' fav. is the smallest closest to his stomach. He calls her sleepy guy, this is the only one he likes to hold. The other 3 are still nameless feel free to help us out. :)

Butterfly on left and Houdini on right. Big size difference, we are thinking that Houdini is either a Bantam(small breed) or possibly a Jersey Giant (one of if not the largest breed of chickens). "She" as you can see is very small compared to others, even the other bantams. The Jersey Giant matures at a very slow rate, and "she" seems to have barely grown at all. Only time will tell.

Major Mud Puddle!

Josh is in the process of fixing our driveway so it doesn't wash out with rain. He got the water running right where he wants it to, but collecting in another. So another load of dirt and gravel if and when it dries out should fix this. In the meantime the kids love this puddle. I will let them play in it a couple a times a week before dark and baths.

Brenden pulling Tayler through by Black Snail Island.

Trucks are fun in mud, if only I hadn't pressure washed the garage before they brought them in. :( Now they have to rinse them in the hose first.

Who needs a shirt it was wet anyway!

Even this girly girl loves the mud!

I took this picture the same night of the pond, I loved the reflection of the clouds and trees in the water.

Flower Beds Right Side

Joshua helping daddy dig a hole for an Indian Hawthorne bush.

Tayler and Brenden took the extra dirt and filled in the holes around the bricks.

Flower bed under porch beside the steps. Gardenia, Indian Hawthorne, and Lorapedlum.

We aren't quite finished. We still have to buy 3 more Indian Hawthorne, and 1 more Lorapedlum. I have flowers we bought and have been trying to plant them if the rain will ever hold up and let things dry out long enough! The flowerbed under the window (far right) is yet to be decided. I think we will just leave it for now and plant something in the fall. Josh really wanted me to post some pictures, to show off our hard work. :) So I will post in stages.

Growing Babies Now With Names

Sonny looks a bit rough because new feathers are coming in. This is baby chick on steroids as I call it. Sonny is by far the biggest and was the same size as all the others 2 weeks ago when we brought them home.

Here we have Left to Right Nugget, Patty, Peep, Griffin, Butterfly, Houdini, and Bumble Bee. These wings have really developed and many have taken to flying now! On Griffin(red) you can even see tail feathers starting to grow. How neat it is to see their progress.

They really love to cuddle and will get right up under my chin to snuggle.

Heuy, and Duey investigating Taylers' clothes.

These guys or girls :) are getting their tail feathers as well and even have white down coming in under their yellow feathers. I think they have doubled in growth the last two weeks.

Rain and A Puddle

Brenden running threw a puddle.

As you can see in the background Joshua wasn't to thrilled about getting splashed. This was his first experience playing in the rain and it didn't last much past this.

Tayler was the one who started it all. I looked all over and finally found her outside in the rain playing. I figured why not the weather wasn't bad. So I went and asked the boys if they wanted to join her.

Here Joshua got a head start running for the porch leaving Mommy when the rain started really coming down as Brenden and Tayler headed to the creek.