Eggs!

The one part of going to China with everyone was finding pet sitters for our manageria!  One way we bribed people was telling them they could have all of the fresh eggs from our chickens.

Do you know that those stinkin' chickens did NOT lay a single egg while we were gone!  Not ONE!

Apparently they missed us because this is what we were presented with this morning!

And this array of eggs is why exactly we began with backyard chickens - I dare you to find pink and blue-green eggs in any grocery store.  Funny thing is we don't have a single normal size white egg laying chicken this year - I think I was a little to zealous in selecting brown egg layers though!

Almost anyone can have chickens in their backyard and they eat tons of scraps.  Heck, they were thrilled when we first got home as they LOVE and I mean LOVE noodles and with the amount of noodles Cav was or wasn't eating everyday they were in hog  chicken heaven.

A great resource is http://www.backyardchickens.com and they have an awesome resource whether there is an anti-chicken ordinance in your town.  I'm thinking omelets for breakfast!!

Project 365 - christmas lights

So I mentioned we only put up two little bitty trees this year.  Before we took them down I wanted to try out some light pictures with little man.  There wasn't a ton of ambient light from the little trees and a great big tree would be better, but since I set a goal of trying to take photos everyday I wanted to take the opportunity.

Food ~ Glorious Food!

One of the things I was unprepared for was the amount and length of time these guys spend at the table.  I mean I knew that their schedule was 

Wake up ~ eat ~ play ~ snack ~ play ~ lunch ~ play ~ snack ~ tv ~ dinner ~ bed

But that now equates to eat ALL DAY LONG!  It doesn't help that my oh so helpful husband introduced them to kiddie crack ie Frosted Flakes.

FeiFei refuses to eat with chopsticks anymore 

(so glad I bought a bunch of those in China) or eat noodles or rice.

Cav still eats a little blander diet but is now refusing noodles and frankly I suck at rice.  

FeiFei is used to fruits so I try to have a bunch of that around, and I try to offer oatmeal for breakfast instead of the kiddie crack but man if she sees the blue box it's all over!

I am now at the point that I make dinner for everyone else and if our two newbies don't like it they can always have the bowl of noodles (costco) which has been a lifesaver.  It was all Cav ate for the first week (adding some meat).  I don't think he ate many veggies and even lemonade is to "spicy" for him.  

They still mainly just drink water, and are constantly thirsty.

Anyhow, snack #253 was blackberries (thankfully I found on sale!)

Don't mind the Carl's Jr cup it was orthodontist day and not FeiFei's!  

We aren't quite that bad - yet!

Outside Fun!

One thing you have to love about Colorado are the surprise beautiful days - it was 65 degrees today!!  Last day of break and of course I had to kick all of the kids out.  They actually had a blast!

* FeiFei loved the snow
* She figured out quickly snowballs
* Cav actually went in the grass - we have to figure out better pants
* They loved the trampoline, dollhouse and swingset
* They especially loved the hot chocolate surprise when they came in!

I have to admit I was surprised that Cav actually went outside, and didn't freak out at everything.  Just when I think I have this kid figured out he surprises me.

People have asked about FeiFei - she is just - well, she is just family.  She feels like she has been with us forever, Baba adores her and laughs at her dwarf antics.  The only time she is sad is around bedtime and she quickly calms with food, family, fun!  Prayers please as a part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop and I am wondering if that will be tomorrow when the kids start back to school.

Since I wanted this adventure to be transparent and not all rainbows and lollipops.  Life is rough with Cav.  He is either whining, crying or hitting.  He has no idea how to share and frankly the other kids are about done with him.  I really have not wanted to say it out loud but there you have it.  I think a big part of the issue was that his caretaker was a 20 something year old man who gave into Cav's every whine for the last 2 1/2 months.  I know we have only been home for a short time, and hopefully getting into a routine will help.

We will see how tomorrow goes as little man has kindergarten for 3 hours in the morning and I am a little worried about drop off and pickup and how to juggle everyone.  I think I have figured out all of the carseats and everyones cloths are laid out.  We are notorious for being late so lets hope we get there remotely on time!

Project 365 - 1

I have thought about it in the past, but I can just feel that this year will be full of so many changes and so many new thoughts, I decided to join the project 365 movement.  Simply, it is photographing something in our everyday life, staged, unstaged, but our life, to document the little things that once everything is all said and done become the big things we remember, we miss.

I am not sure if I'll be able to post them everyday, but at the very least once a week, I will share the photos and our life - naked, and pure.

For today I start with - well our everyday adventure, after being home not quite 2 weeks, having survived pneumonia and a terrible GI illness, oh and the holidays - our dishwasher gave up the ship.  DEAD!  My dear husband decided to try and revive the old thing (I must admit much to my chagrin) and this morning I found these on my counter.  It hought they were kind of cool.  They are like a music box, and truthfully the dishwasher brings so much harmony to a house doesn't it!

Cav and I had some much needed alone time and went dishwasher shopping.  We found a great deal in the scratch and dent section and best news of all it can be installed hopefully tomorrow!!