Here a Cheep

There a cheep. Everywhere a cheep cheep.
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That's what's going on at our house these days. Chickens are hatching like popcorn kernels.
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We decided to give chicken farming another try. Our first go around was an amazing experience that I am grateful for but the end result was a little distressing. Picking up chicken feathers scattered throughout our yard is not how we wanted to end our brief journey with chickens.
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So now that we can actually keep our chickens and raise them to adulthood we've given it another shot. But this time hasn't been a walk in the park either. The morning after we put our 20 eggs in the incubator for their 21 day incubation period, Colton came in and woke me up saying "one of our eggs is cracking!". He was thinking that a miracle super chick was about to emerge after just a single night of cooking. Well the egg was cooked all right. The little man in the house had pulled a chair up to the incubator, which I thought was out of his reach, (yea I know, nothing is out of Fletcher's reach) and decided to play with the temperature knob. When I went to see this super chick what I saw was a bunch of boiling eggs. The temperature had maxed out at 120 degrees when it is supposed to remain at a constant 99.5 degrees and the eggs were beginning to crack and ooze. Okay, we're not off to a great start so far.
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A few days later we visited a local chicken farm, and a sweet chicken lady sent me home with a fresh batch of eggs to stick in the incubator and told me to toss out the cooked ones as they'd never hatch. I decided to wish for good luck and keep those old eggs in the incubator along with the new fellas just in case. Well, before we knew it we began to hear cheeps coming from the incubator. And on the morning of our homeschool Valentine's day party 3 beautiful chicks came into the world, one with crooked toes and all. No, it's not normal for chicks to have crooked toes but remember, these chicks were partially baked at one point. But it's fitting that crooked toes just happens to be Fletcher's chick which he so lovingly named Zorro. Zorro's alive and well and that's all that matters! We love him just the way he is even if he does walk a little funny!
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While waiting for our other batch to hatch we came home with four new feathered friends after visiting the feed store. We just couldn't resist these fluffy cuties. And before we knew it our new batch was hatching so we have joyful peeps filling up our home these days.
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And here the pictures to go with the story.
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{zorro, just minutes old}


{gracie's barred rock baby named cleopatra}


{an australorp we bought at the feed store}



{the night we first heard the peeps coming from the eggs, fletch was all giggles and said "mom, this is going to be awesome!!!}











{colton's lacy, a silver laced wyandotte}


{fletch calls this one cheep cheep. she is a buff cochin}



{maggie's rhode island red named henrietta. she's a real sweetie!}



{zorro does look a little half baked doesn't he? poor guy!}





{here are our newest hatchlings that arrived february 19th}




{just hatched. not so cute yet, huh?}


{so excited to have another plymouth barred rock. these chicks have always been one of my favorites!!!}

The Absent Blogger

After taking a long hiatus from this blog I decided I either needed to ditch it or carry on with it staying more diligent about posting on a more regular basis. Since I am so seriously bad about journaling in a book for the kids, I love the fact that this can serve as a sort of journal recording special events in our life that I'm sure to forget about. So with that said, I have decided to jump back into it with full force. To play catch up from where I left off, I am just going to simply say that we had a beautiful Christmas and enjoyed the past three months of "laying low" with a newborn at home but are ready to dive back into life now as a family of four. I have a massive overload of pictures I am going to post from the past few months to get me caught up on where we are today so this will be completely scattered and random. So if you start to feel dizzy, don't worry, it's not just you!
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So let's get started!
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I procrastinated on doing Christmas cards this year until the very last moment. One morning I woke up and thought "okay, if I am going to do this I'd better do it now!" So after getting the kids all ready I went to grab my camera and head out back to the pond and... uh oh! "Where is my camera? KIDS!!! WHERE IS MY CAMERA?" We searched and searched but no camera we found. I panicked! Okay, slightly panicked. But then I figured I'd better get out my back up camera (just a small throw in the diaper bag type of camera) and take some pictures before the kids start shedding off their outfits or the baby starts crying. So off we headed to the pond.

Aren't the kids so cute how they were all matchy matchy? I love it! As corny as it is, I have always been one to love dressing my kids in similar or matching clothing. I can remember after Fletch was born thinking I've got to get these boys of mine matching baggies! And that is just what I did and still do. I have to give credit on their Christmas outfits to my mother in law for putting this ensemble together so perfectly. She even sewed Maggie's dress and coat to match Gracie's outfit. Amazing!

With a little photo editing they didn't turn out too too bad. I found my camera as soon as I came inside and opened up Gracie's bedroom door (which is still being used as a storage room) to find the cord to import the pictures we had taken and what do I see sitting on top of stacked up home depot moving boxes? My camera! Oh that's right. I set it down there the day before. Oops!

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carrying on...

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There are two things about this picture that make me smile. The pretty little babe in the basket and the cool old door behind her. I am in love with old doors. Especially the key holes on them. Oh, and old windows too but it wouldn't have been practical to put old windows in this house.

(ps... my mother in law made their blankets too!)

Is there anything cuter than a chubby little munchkin'? No? I didn't think so.

Maggie and Fletch received Colton and Gracie's hand me down pottery barn chairs with new covers. After Fletch got kicked out of their chairs for so long now, he was pretty pleased to claim that this is MY chair!

We had our first fire in our fireplace Christmas morning. Don't you love how I'm wearing a tank top? It certainly wasn't cold out but we thought this was the perfect day for this special "event"! There was something so magical about the kids opening up their presents in front of the fireplace.

Oh boys and their toys! Santa didn't bring the bb gun Colton asked for but brought him this instead! A paintball gun! So far no injuries just a little added color to our backyard. ; )

Our Christmas was pretty special with our new wee little one to share it with. She's the youngest babe of ours to celebrate her first Christmas.

We cherished the time we spent with the Sylvesters this Christmas since they no longer live just a short drive away. We miss them dearly but respect them for making this life change that they have. Life is too short not to take adventures and follow your heart. And besides, Costa Rica has got to be one of the most beautiful places to live!

Fletch missed his uncle b. so very much and was happy to have him back to be his buddy again. As you'll see in the picture he also has a fetish for ears. He does this all the time to Colton when they're lying in bed reading or watching tv and now he does it lots to Maggie too. He's such a touchy feely kid. He has always loved rubbing on my arm and elbow since he was a baby. He hasn't been a fan of this winter season as I am often in long sleeves. He'll say in such a sweet little voice,"mama, take your shirt off." He's too funny!

Father and daughter

Can you tell by Gracie's smile how overjoyed she was to have her best friend and cousin here? Words can't even say how much she misses her sweet Ava Rain! So sad to think that it'll be months before we see them again. : (

This visit was Uncle B.'s first time meeting Maggie. Kelly had come down just a few days after her birth but oh how she changed since first meeting her.

We had a boom of babies born into our family when Gracie, Ava, Kaya and Fletcher were born (4 babies in barely 3 years). Maggie is the first baby to be born in three years (Since Fletch) so she gets lots and lots of lovin' from everyone! It seriously makes me want to cry thinking that she could be the very last Sylvester baby to be born between my brother and I. Come on B & K, it's time for you to catch up! : ) An aunt can only dream!

We had a delicious Christmas dinner at Katie and Austin's where Fletch had fun with their pets. He always has been a big animal lover. A touchy feely animal lover! ; )

Ladies in red... Suzanne (Josh's mom) Florette (his Grandma) and Paulette (his aunt)

The day after Christmas Pop Pop (aka Maggie's husband) celebrated his 87th birthday. His daughter and her sons came down from Jacksonville and we had a grand ole' party for a grand ole' man that we love dearly!

Now moving right along, I wanted to share a few homemade Christmas gifts that we received that I LOVE. There is something so special about gifts that one creates out of their hearts and from their hands. Homemade is the best!

The first picture is a small section of the print that my brother gave us. It is one of his first paintings done since moving to Costa Rica and I love how it reflects the beauty of the sky and trees there. I love the rain forest canopy shown. Something I look forward to going to see again hopefully sometime this year!


Josh's aunt Paulette made these super yummy pretzel treats that we all enjoyed so much!

Check out these cuties below. Josh's mom Suzanne sewed these (yes, for realz!) for the three big kids. I especially loved how they each had their own names... Bob, Billy and I think Gracie's is Sally. So unbelievably cute!!!

Josh's cousin Joy made crocheted dish towels. Oh how I'd love to have the time to learn how to do this someday. It's on my ever growing list of things to do.

These next pieces of art weren't made by anyone we know but a local Tico (a native Costa Rican) made them and they are really cool! Pura Vida!

I didn't get to make all the gifts that I had planned on but I did embellished some of these bags and loved how they turned out - minus the wrinkles. A big minus! I ironed them as well as I could before adding the monograms and fabric flowers but they still looked as wrinkled as ever. Hmm... I'd love to make more but need a wrinkle solution first.

One of my favorite things about cozy cold winter days was snuggling in front of the fire for reading time. This became a favorite of ours! I even learned how to start the fire myself for the times when Daddy was working. Thank goodness for gas fireplaces to get things started!

Maggie fits perfectly in our farmhouse sink. Love it!

And she fits perfectly in here too.

Uncle B. and Maggie meeting for the very first time. I think she likes him!

Colton loves the freedom of cruising around the property each day. I think it makes him feel so grown up!

When it's nice out the three big kids take their surfboards out to the pond for a little paddling practice. It is so neat to see my girly girl also have such a tomboy side. I'm sure it's a combination of living out in the country and being smushed in the middle of two boys which helps her to be this way but I love her versatility. She'll build mud castles, catch crickets, run barefoot down the dirt road, and swim in the pond one minute then it's off to shower to get ready for ballet the next minute where she fits in perfectly there too. I think she'll make a very good wife one day as she's got the nurturing / homemaking thing down pat yet she likes to get dirty and work hard too.


And here are pictures of my girl at 3 months.

Loving my new Mommy of 4 shirt! I thought there could be no better feeling than having three children, but I have come to realize that there is something so undescribably magical about having four. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! The love it brings is so powerful! And I also believe that it's something only a mommy of 4 (or more) could understand. Because I certainly didn't until now.

We often go visit our neighbors donkeys while on our way home. The kids like me to drop them off at the donkeys then they run home down the dirt road as I follow closely behind. Exercise in any form is good so I gladly drop them off!

I am sitting here pondering on the question of why time passes by so quickly when you have kids? Is it just in this time period or does it continue like this until the end? Wait. Please don't answer. Because if you're going to tell me that it's going to fly by, I really don't want to hear.

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My first born is almost 9! I am in awe over this!

My sweet G is now 6 1/2! Amazing!

My silly little man is almost 3 1/2! It feels like yesterday that I first cradled him in my arms.

And my little miss Magnolia is almost 4 months. Somebody please push the pause button quick!

Hey, it's great to be back! I'll be posting about our adventures with animals real soon! I'm going to try and get on an every few days system. Try is the key word here. I haven't updated Maggie's baby book since... uhh... week 3 I think. And oh my she is "talking" up a storm and rolling over and giggling and just growing up way too fast for me! And her biggest fans over here didn't think it was possible but we've all admitted to falling even deeper in love with this daughter and sister of ours each and every day.