Picture drive-by

Ainslie is sick and has been nowhere except in my arms since Tuesday night, so pictures alone will have to suffice today.

Should I possibly be concerned about her future hair style choices? ;)

Little Lily, sleeping soundly (with a lightly demonic glint in her eyes)

A picture Fionna took of me today. Holy forehead wrinkles, Batman! :o

Lenny, Grady and Ainslie having a Hot Wheels extravaganza.

We've added to the four-legged part of the family...

It's that proverbial time, when I get to eat my own words. When Mo died last fall, I truly thought that we would not be getting another dog for a looong time. But, as the great wheel of life often does to us, my plan was spun upside down. And now Lily has come to live with us. She's a miniature dachsund, just a few days shy of six-weeks-old at this point.

My brother's dog had puppies in late-November and, as dachsunds have been a kind of traditional family dog for my family, it seemed too well-intended to pass up the chance to have this little critter come live with us.

We picked her up last week. The kids knew nothing of it until I announced that we were driving out of town to meet the grandparents for a "live present." The kids promptly guessed that it was a "donkey. " **scratching of the head** But they were soon happy to make do with the puppy. A dog this small is something new to my kids. Our old dachsund is a standard-size as well as being 11-years-old, so they hever experienced him this tiny. They dubbed her Lily but she gets called Little Lily at this point. She's frequently carried in the sling, rocked to sleep and already sleeps with the kids. I think the love is very mutual at this point. :)

Our beautiful eggs...

We've been very happy just being chicken "farmers" (as Fionna would have us called) but I won't deny there's a huge boost in the satisfaction when you began finding lovely, delicately colored orbs about the coop and the yard. Our hens have been laying for about 10 days and already, we have such a bounty of eggs. The grey/white barred hens lay green and the black hens and brown hens lay brown eggs. There's some variation between the brown eggs; the brown chickens lay more of a salmon tinged egg whereas the black hens lay a pretty uniform tan egg.

The school session recommenced for Fionna just days after the hens began laying. Fionna immediately instituted a rule that we gather "no eggs" without her. I'm happy to comply but Grady only manages to hold out on some days. It's common for any and all family members to step out the back door and eyeball the coop, so as to report which hen is laying. Although we all know when a certain brown one lays as she's mastered her loud and dramatic "b-gawk."

Have I mentioned, we're getting 4-5 eggs daily at this point? Such fun! :)