The chicken coop

 Our girls are growing up.  They spent their first night outside in the coop on Saturday night.  Jack had a lot of fun building the coop.  He enjoyed rummaging around his shop and using materials that he already had.  I think it turned out great.

 Jack says the six chickens will have to share the three nesting boxes.

 Rounding the chickens up to introduce them to their new home.

 For all of Saturday night and most of Sunday the chickens were being, well.... a little bit chicken about going outside the coop.  They would go to the open door, look out, and then scurry back inside.  They have been out a little bit today.

 Spying on the chickens through the nesting boxes.

Easter... finally

Hmmm.  New blogger format to get used to....  Anyway, Easter!  We were home.  It was a great weekend except for the fact that both Aidan and Lauren were miserably sick.  Just look at their faces in this picture!

 On Saturday night before Easter, we prepared to "peep" our friends.  "Peeping" involves skewering a lot of peeps, sneaking into your friends' yards after dark, and leaving a colorful present for them to find in the morning.  We were peeped last year, so then it was our duty to peep.  The kids were, of course, ecstatic to help! 

Peeps are cheapest right after Easter, so I bought a bunch last year on the Monday after Easter and stored them for the year.  So let this be a warning to you all:  If ever you are peeped, don't eat the peeps.  They are probably a year old.

Having friends over for brunch after church gave me the opportunity to use my beautiful Hungarian tablecloth for the first time!  I've never had a table big enough, but the island is the perfect size.  I love getting out all of the "pretty" things.

 Another bit of Easter silliness.... the yarn hunt.  Using this idea from our friends (the idea the kids have been BEGGING we would incorporate into our Easter traditions for months), we tied yarn to each kids' bed and then strung it all over the house.  The kids had to follow their yarn to their Easter basket before beginning the egg hunt.  Jack did the boys' yarn.  He went a bit nutty, going on all four floors of the house and outside.  I think the kids' arms actually got tired from winding the yarn back up on the hunt.  But, they loved it and I'm sure will want to do it again next year.  We set this up as the last things before we went to bed.  Good thing, because it was tricky to get around the house after it was set up!

 Lauren's new gardening tools in her basket.  While she was waiting for Jack and I to call the kids down to start the hunt, she got dressed in her church clothes.  I think she was excited to wear her new dress.

 Jakin stuck outside on the yarn hunt.

 Winding yarn

 Finally!  Found the basket!

 Lauren ate a lot of candy Easter morning....

 Aidan didn't get to eat any candy, but I don't think he minded.  He was sick and just wanted to go back to sleep!

And who can resist little girls in Easter dresses!

I HAVE DRAWERS!

I know I promised Easter pictures, but those are going to have to wait. There's some exciting stuff going down this week... Jack installed 10 of my kitchen drawers last night! I have been dreaming of putting my utensils and such in their appropriate place in our home since we moved in a year and a half ago. So to do that today was a pleasure.

Staining the drawer boxes


Installing the runners. Lauren doesn't like the noise.


Here come the boxes!


Ta-da!


Lauren wanted to help put things away, one fork at a time.


This is where my utensils have been for the past 17 months, right in the box in which they were moved from our old house. I called this box "the utensil drawer", but it's not really a utensil drawer, is it?


The fake utensil drawer sat on this table many steps away from where anyone might actually need a utensil.


Plates in the drawer. For as large as our kitchen is, we don't have many wall cabinets, so our plates are going to be in a drawer. Unloading the dishwasher was dreamy today. So easy because it's right there.


This stuff one drawer up. I know these pictures are boring to everyone but me. To me, they are quite lovely.


These drawers are so huge that I don't even fill them with what was intended for them.


New utensil and knife drawer. Dividers are coming later, but I'll enjoy taking one step and opening a drawer when I need the carrot peeler for a while.

Thank you, Jack. I'm still enjoying this new thing. I haven't really even moved on to thinking about the next thing yet.

My Corban

THIS is the boy who, when asked during a recent grammar lesson if he remembered what "D.O." stood for, responded, "Diabolical ostrich". He knew very well that I was going for "direct object", but he can't bring himself to give me real answers. And such is life as Corban's teacher.

He's shown here with two of the hot cross buns I made for our Good Friday breakfast. More Easter pictures to come...