All the way from Nottingham!!!

Yesterday, I received my very first international package.

I was so excited to open it and discover the goodies inside.

My sweet blogging friend, Ann, made these amazing items. A cute Christmas chicken (which Sara Lynn has laid claim to), a needle case, and a beautiful bag.

The stitches are perfectly sewn and the yellow floral fabric is amazing.

I can hardly wait to tuck my needles and thread into those cozy little pockets.

I am absolutely in love with the items.

Thank you so very much, Ann!

I will treasure them always...

First cold snap of the season

Around here recently, there has been much sunset watching...

And farmer's market visiting...

Pumpkin loving...

More spiced apple drying...

A lot of peanut boiling... It's a southern thing!

Some definite fish catching...

And chicken coop building...

Perrinial herb and flower planting...

Lots and lots of serious playing...

And one captured crescent moon rising over still waters at twilight.

Meet the Girls

We're finally getting fresh, organic eggs everyday from the girls! We have 6 hens, and each hen lays an egg approximately every other day. So, we get about 3 eggs per day. Raising chickens has been one of the most fulfilling and fun experiences we have shared as a family.

They are much easier to keep than I imagined. Really, they require very little care. We change their bedding (pine shavings) a couple times a month and feed them leftovers and garden rejects in addition to their feed. They love tomatoes, grapes, and watermelon! We did invest in an automatic waterer/feeder to simplify our daily routine. But that's about it.

We raised these beautiful girls from day-old chicks we purchased at our local farmer's cooperative. All you really need is a large cardboard box, a heat lamp, pine shavings, and chick starter feed. We were able to purchase all of the supplies at the coop as well. If your interested, go to www.backyardchickens.com

The result: beautiful, delicious, organic eggs.

Chickie Growth Spurt

These little ladies know how to put down some food! They're a little over two weeks old, and we are just about to finish off the last of a 20-pound bag of feed. Unbelievable.

Our weather was warm enough last week to take them outside to play for a few minutes...

The kids love them so much already. The first thing they do when they wake up in the mornings is check on them. They even say goodnight to the chicks when they're heading to bed at night.

For some reason my husband thought it would be funny to put one on Sara Lynn's head... All I could think was, "Please don't poop!"

One did poop on Daniel - poor guy! He wasn't too thrilled about that. I made sure everybody washed up really well after our little outing.

We had plans to build the coop this weekend, but it rained. And rained. And rained some more. Literally, it began raining on Friday night and didn't stop until Sunday afternoon (and then started again Sunday night and rained all day long Monday). My garden should be very happy. My lettuce, arugula, and radishes are almost ready. I am itching to make my first salad!

Chicks... have I lost my mind?

Well... maybe I did lose my mind. But regardless, we are now the proud owners of 8 of the cutest newly hatched chicks you've ever seen! The kids already adore them and have been checking on them repeated to make sure that all is going well in their little box.

We decided on Light Brahmas, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorps, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and Auracanas. Araucanas have been dubbed the "Easter Egg Chickens" because they lay eggs in assorted shades of blues and greens. I can hardly wait to see those eggs!

Baby chicks are surprisingly simple to care for and will be ready to live in their new coop in about 5-8 weeks... which reminds me, we have to decide on a coop design! I think we've decided to build one similar to this and we should be able to get started on it this weekend. According to the weather person, temperatures should be near 80 degrees. I'm getting warmer just thinking about that sunshine and fresh air!

Completely changing the subject - I dropped my most prized coffee mug and broke the handle off last week. I was quite disappointed. This mug is fabulous. Ceramic. Insulated. Beautiful. And it kept my coffee hot for the entire 30 minute commute I make to work each morning. Bummer.

I found a replacement here, but I just can't convince myself that I need another mug when I have other (albeit inferior, drippy, and stainless steel) mugs in the cabinet. I've actually been using my broken (but still fabulous) mug anyway.