It's goat time!

Several baby goats were born a couple of weeks ago so we decided to run out and look at all of them and put down a deposit on the ones we wanted (before they are all picked over). My Mom came with us and she really fell in love with a tri-color goat that looked like it was wearing brown boots. She wanted to buy it and keep it at our house... that goat was a boy so it was not an option. The girls each picked out their favorite (female) goat. The boy goats STINK and we don't want to worry about multiplying goats.

Although they can't be taken away from their moms until June, we will go out often to visit and help the girls & goats bond.

Ruby choose this chocolate/ white mix with blue eyes. She is still deciding on a name but right now she is thinking about Coco.

I shouldn't have a favorite... so I wont. But this little goat that Haley choose is adorable. She has a heart on her nose, and it looks like she tried to paint on eye brows. Haley is in love with her, but no idea what to name her yet.

Lucy choose hers from a photo online and never changed her mind when we got there. Lucy's goat is white with tan markings on her ears. She has blue eyes now, but they may change as she gets older.

The girls have been begging us to take them early and bottle feed them... With so many baby chicks in the house, garage and yard... we just can't agree to that right now. Plus I know after the first few feedings the novelty will wear off.

Ruby & Grandma's New York trip

They visited lady liberty

FAO Schwarz

While at FAO Schwarz Grandma let Ruby adopt a baby boy! I got a very excited call from Ruby informing me that she wanted me to have a baby boy sooo bad she just adopted one. 

They had lunch at Rockefeller center and got to watch all the foreign tourists wipe out on the ice- ouch!

 They went to the top of empire state building.

 They went on a tour of the fashion district and designer showrooms. One of the jewelry makers let Ruby and Grandma go behind the scenes to see how they make their stuff.

Ruby said the first day she was really scared because it was sooo crowded. There were people and cars everywhere and nobody followed the rules. She told me about how the cabs drive and how often they honk. She commented about how many people smoked and how few people smiled. I thought to myself "Ya, that sounds like New York". When all was said and done she loved it and wants to go back someday.

Thank you Grandma!!!!

Chicks round two

We brought home 4 white polish crested chicks, 3 barred rocks

and 4 gold sex links

The polish crested are tiny and have little mohawks,

but when they are full grown...

These 11 new chicks are living in our bathroom off the garage. Somehow Eric got this huge horse feeder in the tiny room, so these girls are living well.

The round one chicks have gotten large enough and have feathers so they are in the pink coop in the garage.

The silkie's are already sporting some fashion boots!

I need to do an update on Cami because she is huge. This is not the most recent photo, but you can get the idea.

She is so sweet, she seems more like a lap dog then guard dog.

Ruby's big trip

My Mom flew in Saturday....

and left this morning at 4:30 am!!!

For New York city!!!!

My Mom has a tradition of taking each of her grandkids on the trip of their choice as long as it's educational or historical and they have to be over 8 years old. Ruby choose to go to New York to learn about the fashion industry.  I can't wait to heat the stories and see the photos!

Ruby's ortho adventures

For almost a year Ruby has been seeing the Orthodontist. She has had space maintainers then a pallet expander bar on the roof of her mouth that we would turn with a key. She has been so excited about all of this even marking the calendar and reminding me when to turn her bar.  But when the Dr said she was ready for braces and we set the date she could hardly contain herself. To say she was excited is a total understatement!

 before

during

Receiving instruction on using her reverse-pull head gear.... She is even excited about this!

(luckily she is only to wear this at night)

Ruby with her braces!

She totally thought she was "all that"... until she woke up the next morning.

Now she is no longer smiling.

It's a good thing Grandma Bonnie arrives tomorrow to take Ruby on her BIG TRIP to New York. I just hope she will be able to eat there.

The new coop/ day spa

I realize there are way too many photos in this post, but I have promised DETAILED photos to a few people, so here they are.

It all started in the garage. I was worried it was so big we would never get it out, but Eric assured me he built it in sections that he could take apart and put back together.

Once the wood frame was complete, he took it apart and used our suburban pickup to load the large pieces from the garage and drive them down to the new chicken yard. Yes this man needs a pick up truck.

He even used the Mule to help with some of the pieces.

Eric installed hydraulic lifts (like on the back of a mini-van door), to make sure the younger girls could lift the huge lid to the straw and food storage.

He also installed a light sensitive automatic door on the coop. This opens with the sun and closes when it gets dark. This is such a gift to me as I have been the one at the crack of dawn and dusk in my pink bathrobe and red boots opening and closing the old coop. I LOVE THIS!

All the windows open and close to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

There is a built in toilet under the nesting bars. Another gift to me as I am the one that "helps" Lucy clean out the coop.

Eric did a linoleum floor to make it easier to clean out (and it just looks cute).

Eric did the roofing, I did the painting and we moved the girls to their new house today. I thought it would take some training for them to recognize this as their new coop, but they used it right away. I know they love it because they cranked out 8 eggs on an overcast day.

Now we can see the coop and watch the chickens from our breakfast table. Love it! After almost a year I can finally eat the eggs without being a just little grossed out about where they came from.  The baby chicks we are going to move into the pink coop and put it in the garage until they are older. 

For the recored we have only had two babies die so far and even though Eric promised me he would not buy replacements, he bought 3. So we are at 15 babies so far. 

Round one!

It's still winter outside, but inside our house it sounds like spring! 

 I picked up our first shipment of chicks today and I love the sound of them chirping. We got our Silkies, silver Wyandottes and black Australorps. 

I wonder if any of these girls realize they won the chicken lottery. If they only knew the palace of a coop they will be moving into soon.

Here are some stolen photos from the web to show you how beautiful these birds will be:

Silver laced Wyandotte (we got 5 of these)

White Silky (we got 2 white, 2 yellow and 2 black)

Black Australorpe (we got 3 of these. They are like egg machines!)

Can't get enough of Cami!

Cami loves her new home and we love having her. Except for the  three pairs of ripped pants. We have never had an outside dog so it is killing Eric and I to leave her outside all night when it's 20 degrees! But we have held strong and she has never been inside our house and we hope to keep it that way.

Since we won't have the goats until April, she herds the chickens and humans. When ever she is walking next to me she walks right by my leg and kind of leans into me. When the ground is icy and I'm wearing my rubber boots I have a hard time not face planting. 

Cami was hanging out with me while I was painting the new chicken coop. When we were done I realized she had leaned up against the paint and had red tips all over one side of her making her look pink. She is having a hard time looking like the man dog that she is supposed to be.

Even though she is little, she is REALLY heavy. 

This cute little puppy will not last long, she is already changing/ growing so fast!

We love our Cami!

Lucy lost her tooth!

Last Friday Lucy hopped in the car and gave me a huge toothless smile. I was completely shocked because I did not know that tooth was even loose. She said she was so excited to loose it at school because they gave her a little plastic tooth necklace to put her tooth in.

In other Lucy news... She continues to tear up the gym floor and was promoted to gym green!  While I am really excited she is doing well, I would like her to stay put.  The next level is a 2 hour class, twice the price and not offered on the same days as karate. I know it's a selfish, but I can't help it.