The Scarlet "hand off"

Sunday afternoon, Erica, Grace and Carter brought Scarlet to live with us.


Erica made me this wonderful egg gathering apron to remind me of them each day when I gather eggs. I just love the egg material!

The drop off was going well until it was time to say goodbye - Grace didn't want to leave. Erica reassured her that Scarlet would have a wonderful home here, be very happy with the other chickens and that she could come visit her again soon.


As Erica quickly loaded the emotional Grace into the car, Allie and I found the sweetest little "Thank you" note I have ever received.



Don't worry Grace, we are taking super good care of Scarlet for you.



After just one day here, Scarlet is already having a ball with her new "big brothers and sisters."

Car #20

Allie has been waiting for Saturday, May 1st for quite a while. Not only was it the "kids day" at Home Depot but it was also the day that the Home Depot race was to be on display at our Home Depot.

Skye was here for the day and got to go with us. Both girls had a great time at the "kids day" where sky made a planter and Allie made this wooden replica of Joey Logano's race car.

Allie just happen to wear her Joe Logano shirt - What a coincidence!

After our morning at Home Depot the girls got to ride Cutter a little.

Yet another mouth too feed!

I have my chickens, the girls have their goats and now David has his horse!

Cutter is a beautiful, wonderful spirited, sweet horse. He has been living with our friends Sue & Jason for the last few years. Becasue they were not able to take him to New Mexico we bought him from them. He has not been ridden a lot in the last year but he is doing really well. He is getting really spoiled and seems to like all the attention we are giving him.

Eric & Lisa and Markus & Constanze came out last Sunday for a short visit and to see Cutter. The kids loved playing with all the animals.

I wonder what these two were pondering....

David giving "pony rides."

The chicks are hatching...

Check out Eric's blog to see the first of the three chicks, "Scarlett," hatching. Come on you other two - we can't wait to see you!

NASCAR!!!!!!!

A little late on this post... This was two weeks ago -

Thursday after school we loaded up the RV and headed to Fort Worth for a weekend of food, fun and racing....

Sue and Jason are moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico and asked us if we wanted to use their in-field camping spot for the NASCAR race at the Texas Motor Speedway. We could not pass that up - there is a 10 year waiting list to get these spots!

We had a great spot just after turn two... If you taped the race go back and see if you can spot our boxing kangaroo flag in the infield.

This is a special photo David took - it shows the Boxing Kangaroo flag and Marcos Ambrose (#27) - the only Australian NASCAR driver.

We rented "kangaroo tv" (no kidding that is really the name) for the kids so they could watch the race on a small tv screen and tune into the drivers talking to the pit crew. Actually it was really cool to hear the drivers talking as the cars zip past you.

It rained Saturday and Sunday but we stayed on Monday and got to see the race.

I am a Jeff Gordon fan (#24) while David and Emily root for Jimmy Johnson (#48) and Allie likes Joey Logano (#20) the Home Depot Car. It was a great time - would have been better if Jeff Gordon had won!

I could not resist....

I spied it at the checkout stand at Tractor Supply and just had to try it...

I really like Grandpa's comment...

"If ya got dry lips, put chicken poop on 'em so you won't lick 'em!"

Some much needed, super dooper space for the girls

I have been bugging David to help me build a new chicken house for a few months now. I just wanted something a bit bigger than the chick box we built when the chickens were small. Now that the girls are laying they really need more space and some nice nesting boxes for their precious eggs.



As always, David has totally out done himself on this project. Not only is the new place super cute, but it has plenty of nesting boxes, roosting and storage space. In fact there is room for at least another 15 chickens! :)

As with ever project David does, appearance is as important as functionality. I think it is super cute!

Tender and Annie trying out their new roosting space

Tender checking out the new nesting boxes... Hopefully she will start to lay her eggs in them and not all over the yard like she does now.

Thank you so much for all your hard work David - I know the girls are going to love their new house as much as I do!!!

The Easter Bunny brought what???

The Easter Bunny took full advantage of us living in the country this year and brought the girls these adorable mallard ducks.


They will get along great with the chickens and will love swimming the the tank once they are a little bigger. Until then, they will be hanging out in the "chick box" since the "girls" moved into their brand new, super dooper chicken house David built them.

Erica's "Operation Chicken Hatch"... exciting news!

I LOVE my chickens. I really do! They are very therapeutic to me. When I am stressed, I can sit and watch them scratching around for a few minutes and I feel much more at easy. Sort of smelling the roses I guess. So when a friend wanted to hatch a few chicks in her homemade incubator, I was very excited. Erica lives in town and can't keep the chicks so they will be coming to live with us a few days after they arrive.

Because our rooster actually turned out to be a hen (it stared laying eggs!). I sweet talked a neighbor out of three fertile eggs for Erica to hatch. The science of hatching eggs can be very complicated and I could not have hand picked anyone more diligent for the job if I had tried. Erica has done TONS of research and is updating the progress on her blog every few days.

Today, Erica has some great news just 8 days into the process. I won't spoil it for her by telling you, but I will let you read for yourself! Operation Chicken Hatch - day 8

Emily turns 15

My little girl is growing up so fast. It seems like just the other day she was just learning to walk. Now she is talking about taking driver's ed and what kind of car she wants.... I just want to cry!!!!!



For the past few years Emily has wanted to spend her birthday having a nice dinner with her family instead of having a party. The past two years she has picked The Olive Garden but this year she opted for The Saltgrass Steakhouse.