It's been a while...

I'm about to go to bed, but I feel compelled to update this blog, albeit briefly! Since we last spoke...

• We went to the store with the plan to buy new laminate countertops for the kitchen, and we left with granite! Well, it's not in yet, but it will be soon!
• I cashed in my credit card points to buy three round-trip tickets to California for the kids' February break. They are BEYOND excited. Me, too! Honestly, February is THE coldest and snowiest month in Massachusetts. It will be nice to defrost for a week!
• Several days of bitterly cold temperatures caused the hot water line in our kitchen sink to freeze (which also feeds the dishwasher and the sink/tub in the kids' bathroom). As if that wasn't bad enough, three of our four heating zones froze up-- which shouldn't have happened, since they have antifreeze in them! Our plumber (who we last saw almost exactly one year ago...) came out and put more antifreeze in. He also sawed a nice hole in the back of our kitchen sink cabinet so that I could heat up the pipes more efficiently. Everything is thawed now! And no broken pipes-- thank goodness!!
• We went to Bingo Night at Niko's school, where I volunteered at the food table the entire time and hardly saw my family. BUT they had fun, and got as much food as they wanted. :) Actually, Niko had fun up until the very end, at which point he became bitter that he hadn't won anything. But he handled it alright.
• We decided to list our entertainment center for sale, thinking it would take a really long time to sell it. It is gigantic! And we ultimately want to put windows into that wall so that we can look at the back yard. Instead, I got one person who expressed interest. He and his family came on Saturday, paid the full price in cash, and hired movers to come and pick it up today. It's gone! In less than a week! So we have some new furniture headed our way. In the meantime, I am using our coffee table as a TV stand, and I need to paint the wall where the entertainment center used to be. Because I painted it AFTER we moved in and the furniture was in place. It looks really funny now, haha!
• Finally, we went to our first AHL hockey game! It was a fundraiser for Niko's school. And it was fun! I've never been to a real hockey game before. I don't know why I was surprised by all the fighting, but I was. Still, it was entertaining. And it was free bobble-head night, so the kids were super excited to get PRESENTS as soon as we walked in, haha! Niko is still disappointed that his team lost, though. Oh, well.

And that's been our life in a nutshell! It was actually almost 40 degrees today, which felt like summer in comparison to what we've had! We're in the thick of winter, and are just hunkering down. I've already planned one summer camping trip, and am fantasizing about setting up my hammock on the deck, once the deck is actually visible again... :)

Goodbye, Deck... Hello, Balcony!

I'm so happy! Gus needed to get cracking on better Chicken Containment this weekend, which meant putting up more permanent fencing. Our coop has an enclosed run attached to it but, as the chickens have grown, we have realized that it's just too small for them to stay in all day. The girls need more space! So Gus put up some very temporary chicken wire to cordon off a bigger area for them. But, as we know, Crispy can launch herself over said fencing and lay eggs on the woodpile. And that just isn't safe for her, especially since there are hungry hawks out there! So the new plan is to completely enclose the area under our second-story deck with chicken wire, and add a gate on one end for access.

HOWEVER... the stairs up to the deck got in the way. And they were completely unstable (and unsafe). And they obstructed our view from the dining room. So, obviously, they had to go! The first thing Gus did was remove a section of the railing and install it in the opening up at the top. We don't need a deck with a dangerous opening! So he closed that off, then went around with the reciprocating saw and cut all the connecting points. Then he tied it to the truck and pulled! I was a little nervous that the entire deck would come crashing down, but it didn't. Whew! Gus then chopped up the stairs into smaller pieces and loaded them into the truck. Success! And look at what a difference it made in the view from the dining room!

Anyway, it went well, and he did it all in the snow! We got about 4 inches today! Thankfully, it really wasn't that cold. Just snowy. Soon the chickens will be fully contained in their new, more spacious run! Woohoo!

P.S. Because they were locked up for a while this morning, Crispy laid her egg in the nesting box. Yay! Progress!

Big Chicken News!

It's been a while since I posted, so I need to back up a bit!

Late last week, the chickens were acting weird. They were being vocal to the point where I actually went outside to see if everyone was okay. Hanky was wandering around, squawking loudly. I noticed that Crispy was sitting in the nesting box, pulling straw and shavings in towards her. Naturally, I got excited! Was she laying an egg??? I told Gus about it, but I waited for him to come home so he could check. And nope... no eggs. Bummer! But the chickens were all behaving strangely, so Egg Watch 2014 was underway!

Then, this past weekend, Gus was out cleaning the coop when he discovered a rubber egg! A rubber egg is an egg that basically only has a membrane, no shell, and is fairly common when chickens lay their very first eggs. This one had gotten stepped on and destroyed, which is why we didn't see it at first. But then, we didn't know who had laid it, or when. My first guess was Crispy, but Gus was sure that it had to be Hanky. Hanky's quite a bit older, so would be the logical choice... but my gut told me it was Crispy, since she'd been acting so strangely. Anyway, we knew someone had started laying! And while it's common for chickens to NOT lay an egg every day during the winter months, we were checking the nesting box every day. And... nothing appeared. Sadness.

Yesterday, Crispy kept getting out. She is our escape artist-- she launches herself over our temporary fencing (which we will hopefully prevent from happening after we work on it this weekend). I kept going out and putting her back in with the others. But one time, she ran away from me and zipped over to where we stack the wood for our fire pit. She hopped up on top, and that was where I cornered her. When I picked her up, I suddenly realized that there were TWO GREEN EGGS sitting on top of that wood pile! They were the prettiest mint green-- at first, I thought they were fake, or were toys or something. It didn't register that they were CRISPY'S EGGS! But then it clicked, and I yelled for the kids to come and see. We were so excited! Two fantastic eggs!!!

So then I got Niko on the bus for school, and Maya and I went to run some errands. When we came back, Crispy was out AGAIN. I went out to put her away, and noticed a THIRD EGG! I think the other eggs had been from previous days. And the poor chicken had been trying to lay her egg all morning, but I kept thwarting her efforts (they generally lay in the same place every time... so she apparently likes the wood pile). Anyway, look! Three eggs! And that first one on the left most likely has a double-yolk-- also common in young layers.

The good news is that fresh eggs can be kept unrefrigerated for at least a week without any issues. The eggs you get at the supermarket are "power-washed," which strips them of their natural protective coating-- which is why they need to be kept in the refrigerator. So even though the eggs were a few days old, they are still totally fine to eat! Woohoo!

In other chicken news... We got a small package from my mom in the mail yesterday. A few weeks back, Gus had showed me a picture of a chicken wearing a winter hat, and we both thought it was hilarious. I told my mom about it, and she decided to make a chicken hat and send it to him as a surprise. So I knew what was in the envelope, but Gus and the kids didn't. We all had a good laugh when he opened it after work yesterday! And the hat was a little small, so we knew Barbie (our youngest chicken) would be the perfect model! Look-- it's a chicken wearing a hat!!! hahahahaha!!!

For the record, Barbie was NOT impressed. But I got the picture, and we all laughed hysterically. It was an excellent time!

Sadly, our fun day was capped off with a little boy throwing up in the middle of the night... Poor thing seems to have caught the stomach bug that is apparently going around his school. So we are all staying home today, wearing our pajamas and watching "Star Wars." He hasn't thrown up since very early this morning, and is just woozy and tired today. Fingers crossed that he's back to 100% soon, and that the rest of us are spared!

Mother Nature's Mood Swings...

I haven't posted in a little while, but the big story around here (and most of the country) has been the weather! On New Year's Day, in the afternoon, winter storm Hercules blew in and it snowed pretty steadily all the way through Friday. Schools were closed, which meant that we got an extra few days of winter break. And when it was all said and done, we ended up with only about eight inches of snow. But it was bitterly cold, even getting down to -15 degrees overnight on Thursday. BRRRR!!!!! Saturday dawned sunny and clear, though, so as soon as it got somewhat warm enough (around 17 degrees), we went out to play for a bit...

We didn't stay for too long, though, because anything below 20 degrees is what I consider to be TOO cold... and even though we had our warm gear on and the kids weren't complaining, their little cheeks and noses were bright pink! It was time to defrost.

On Sunday, we actually warmed up to right around freezing. And it felt wonderful, haha! It's amazing how one's perspective can change. We played outside for hours!! The sledding was great, but the building was very difficult. The snow just wasn't sticky enough. I made a little "fort," but it took forever!

Then, overnight, the temperature just kept climbing and climbing... Monday morning, it was pouring rain and over 50 degrees!! Say what?!? By the time I took Maya to preschool at 9am, most of the snow was just gone. Poof! Our yard, which had been buried under 8 inches of snow, was now just green grass again. Weird.

Even weirder was when, around 3pm, the temperatures plummeted twenty degrees and the rain turned to wet, heavy snow. And then stopped abruptly, then the temperature dropped even more. Yesterday, we never got above 8 degrees. Today, it was noon before we made it to 10 degrees, and we peaked at about 14. In other words, it's been COLD!!!! But the forecast says it's all about to change, with several days of above-freezing temperatures (they're calling it an "extended thaw" on the news). But at this point, who knows?!?!? The weather here is crazy and constantly changing. It definitely keeps us on our toes!

In the middle of all this craziness... We had karate class last night. And despite a really long, exhausting day for Niko, he did great and earned his first yellow stripe! He has to earn three stripes before he can take his belt test, so this just means he is making good progress. But he went from being tired and grumpy to being beside himself with happiness. He was so proud! Love that kid!

In other news... We had dance class today, and got to see the costumes they've picked out for the girls' big recital in June! They will all be wearing this dress, in yellow, and performing to "Spoonful of Sugar" (ballet) and "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" (tap). Yup. Pretty sure it's going to be the cutest thing EVER! Is it June yet???

Little Reader

I am just so proud of our little guy. For over a year now, he's been able to sound out words and phrases. I knew he could read, but pages with too much print were overwhelming for him, and he wouldn't try. But ever since starting kindergarten, he's been very eager to read, and his confidence in his own abilities has soared! As a result of this (and his constant talking about sight words and the songs they learn in class), Maya has also started sounding out words, attempting to spell things on her own, and pointing out sight words when she sees them. AMAZING! They are both so motivated right now. So when I (half-jokingly?) told Niko to go read a bedtime story to his sister, they were both thrilled! They ran off to the bookcase to choose a book, and chose "Danny and the Dinosaur" (the "I Can Read" version, which ends up being 64 pages long). I left them on their own for a while before heading upstairs. Honestly, I wasn't sure if he would actually be reading, or if the two of them would be giggling and joking around. But nope! He read the entire thing, and Maya listened to it all. She even helped him figure out some of the harder words (I think based on context, not because she could necessarily read them). They'd talk about the pictures and everything as they went. I recorded just a few seconds of his reading before I snuggled on the bed next to them to listen to the rest of the book... So proud of him!!! And his sister. I can't believe what big kids I have. And such sweet ones, at that! :)

(Oh, and Maya is saying "That's not a crosswalk!" because the dinosaur's long tail is resting across the road in that picture, and people are walking on it)

Happy New Year!

What a great night we had! I had picked up a few party supplies at the store (hats, noisemakers, and the like), and was fully expecting the kids to go to bed well before midnight. They surprised us, though, and made it just long enough to see the ball drop. I was shocked! Maya did take a little snooze around 10pm, and they were both ready to climb in bed as soon as the clock struck midnight, but they DID it! I was proud of them-- they really wanted to do it, and they made it happen! There is a first time for everything!

We started the evening with a dinner of various appetizers, followed by general merriment...

After dinner, we settled down and watched "The Wizard of Oz." The kids then wanted to watch another movie, but I knew that they would fall asleep (and the didn't want to do that!). So Niko and I played some video games together on the Wii, while Maya played on the Kindle Fire and snuggled with Charlie, who loves Maya's green froggy blanket.

Shortly before 11, Maya took a little nap while snuggled up in my lap. She woke up, determined to see midnight. I took the kids out to the back deck to launch off some party poppers (they were spring-loaded-- the "safe" kind). They had the hardest time getting them to go, and I had to help. And it was really super dark (we need a new light for out there). So it was kind of anti-climactic, but it did serve its purpose of waking the kiddos up!

We went back inside, brushed teeth, and stood by the fire for a bit. Before we knew it, it was almost time! We watched the last 15 minutes or so of the show in Times Square. Both kids were very excited to recognize it, having been there only a few weeks ago. Niko zeroed in on the giant Skylanders sign outside of Toys R Us. Of course! But we counted down, shouted "Happy New Year!" blew our party blowers, and went to bed. They were out cold within minutes!

This morning, both kids slept in until around 8:30. That is AMAZING, and never, ever happens! It was fantastic! Once we were up and moving, it was time to go outside for the first time in 2014, and smash a pomegranate on the front door (Greek tradition for good luck). We were going to do it at midnight, but the kids just didn't have it in them. So we did it this morning. They had trouble, and I ended up doing the actual smashing. We gave the seeds to the chickens as a very special treat, and they LOVED them! Anyway, once we smashed the pomegranate, we made sure to step inside the house with our right feet first-- to "start the year off on the right foot," so to speak!

And then it was time for the vasilopita, another Greek tradition! I put candles on it this year, just for fun!

Then Gus went through the very specific cutting routine, marking off slices and indicating who each slice is for... The first one is always for Christ, then the Virgin Mother... then there was a slide for Gus, me, Niko, Maya, all our pets, our extended family, the house, Gus' job, and the kids' schooling. There was a gold coin hidden inside the cake. Whoever "owned" the slice with the coin inside would have extra good luck in the new year. For example, if if the coin was in the "Job" slice, it might mean a promotion or a raise or something. It's all in good fun. Anyway, the very first slice I pulled out was Maya's. And as I set it on her plate, the coin literally fell out of it. The End. haha! Niko was upset:

Maya, however, was thrilled!

She is the sweetest kid, though. She saw how bummed Niko was, and let him keep the coin in his piggy bank. We all know who really got it, but she wanted him to be happy. Repeat after me: awwwww!!!

Anyway... HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope 2014 is a fabulous year for everyone! Maya will start kindergarten this year-- commence freak out!!