What a surprise this morning!!

DH woke before I did, went outside to take care of the animals, and this is what he saw! He ran back inside and woke me (seriously scared me) to come out and see. One of our Auricanas hatched 12 chicks! We had no idea she was sitting on eggs under the back deck. We knew we had 2 hens sitting in the hen house, but had no idea this one was out of the chicken yard and hiding her eggs from everyone. 12 chicks, wow! Aren't they adorable? Looks like we'll have some colored like their Mama and 4 or so that are white with the dark pattern like their dad (not the best rooster we could have, he's pretty timid, but he's also really pretty). Hope we have some hens, ha ha. Wouldn't it be awful to have all roosters?? Hope we have all colors of eggs since they are pure, unlike the Buff Orpington that is sitting on eggs. If or when she hatches any, they will be half Auricana.

The boys were such good helpers today and earned themselves a popsicle. They helped me clean out the dog kennel and work to secure it along the bottom with chick wire, and put the chicks and their mama in it. We had to. Sadly, we lost a chick when it got too close to the chicken pen and a cannibalistic chicken pulled it in and killed it. Poor J was nearly beside himself seeing it happen. There wasn't anything he could've done to save it. I took it away from the chickens and held the poor little chickie until it died. So sad, the sweet baby was so soft and so tiny. I guess it was a good lesson for our boys about nature. I explained that we'll most likely lose more too. 11 chicks is a big number for the mama to look out for, care for, and keep warm at night. We'll see how it goes. So far, the mama is really good with them, but she wasn't able to keep that little one away from the chicken yard fence. Hope they stay in the dog kennel, it's their best chance to survive.

DH is like a little boy with the chickies. He's so excited about the chicken hatching her babies. And it was just too cute to see his excitement today :0)

A friend owns a bookstore, Grassroots Books and we love to visit. She's a homeschooling mom too, and has a lot of sales and specials. She had a special this evening, allowing folks to go through books that she was planning to have recycled. Wow! It was awesome! We have a car trunk load of books, all for free, and most are new. A lot of learning books for the kids, me and DH, and some reading books for fun too. I'm excited to have found a new boy scout handbook book for J. Hope to get him in a troop next fall.

Have to brag a little on E. She is such a sweet baby girl. I just melt each time she smiles. She smiles all the time too! She loves to have her belly tickled and her sweet pudgy cheekies and chin tickled too. She's been saying "nnng" and then smiling really big, like she's so pleased with herself for talking to us. We are so lucky to have her. I still can't believe she is here, ya know?

Well, that was our excitement for the day. It's been a long one. Good night.