Little stinkers.

I'm surrounded by little stinkers today. Yesterday morning I found this little guy near death. This is one of our remaining 13 chicks, we have dubbed him 'Cross Beak'...because, as you can see, he has developed a scissor beak (where the top and bottom beaks don't meet like normal, they cross over instead). His is actually quite severe, especially for only being 9 weeks old, it is going to keep getting worse. I tried to switch the chicks to pellets instead of the starter crumbles...didn't even think that Cross Beak would not be able to eat, so he went without food for 2 days before I noticed he wasn't looking so good. I nursed him back to health all day yesterday, with Jericho and Kitsune helping. Thankfully he pulled through and today he headed off to a new home. His new owner has another scissor beak, and a 1 legged chicken, so Cross Beak should fit right in, and his special needs will be able to be met.

Don't mind my son, last night all the kids decided to wear someone elses PJ's...who knows why, but Jericho ended up in Lily's My Little Pony PJ's LOL.

After I got home from an hour long drive to drop Cross Beak off with a woman who would take him another hour to his new home, I was surprised by 9 more little stinkers.
Just when I was starting to think the turkey hens were sitting on duds. One of the momma's hatched out 9 of the 13 eggs she had been sitting on.
To help ensure their survival, I grabbed up the babies, with mom following, and got them settled in the outdoor nursery for a bit.

Mom was not happy that I was taking her babies away from her, so she followed me...with the little peepers held in my shirt, she was calling to them every few seconds and when they answered back she would keep closer to us.

I got them settled in, turned on the light and left the door open...I was hoping mom would join them.

Dad was pretty proud of himself I think.

Michonne figured out what building they were in, she got up on the roof and calmed down a bit. After about 10 minutes she got off the roof and joined her little stinkers in the nursery. I turned the light off and she snuggled down to keep them warm. Keep up the good work Momma.

More little stinkers...perhaps the cutest 4 legged little stinkers on the farm right now too. The tenacious two...they have made it to 2 weeks old! Apparently with rabbits you are never really "out of the woods" but they are looking good, hopefully these two continue to stick around. They are bright eyed and trying to cruise around a lot now. 

Oreo, you are too adorable.

That face!

Cupid is super cute too, even though I am not a fan of red eyed critters...this one pulls it off pretty well.

Look at that little bunny bum...just look at it!

My own little stinkers, they ruined their surprise. Guess you can't leave a giant tarped object in the back of a truck for more than 1 night. Can't wait to set this baby up!!!

Yeah they were just a little excited for the new pool!

When you are out picking salmonberries and get caught in a bit of a rain storm. Nice hat Xan. Only problem here is they didn't check in about heading back to the back of our property to go berry picking. When Jason brought up setting up some rules and parameters for the kids Hayden yelled out "No, I want to roam free!" LOL. At least Kitsune was with them, and escorted everyone back home.

Progress!

Can't remember if I ever did before and after pics of the house remodel/decoration projects....so here are a few. Still lots to complete, and things I want to start....but my poor hubby can only do so much at once, even if this clipboard holder likes to pile it on LOL.

Tata carpet...hate, hate, hate carpet.

What a difference.

The kitchen was at least very clean, the whole house was thankfully.

Love the granite! We ran out of back splash, need to get more and finish that up. Tile will be next on my kitchen list. Staining the cabinets a light reddish wood tint is being discussed, not sure yet if I want to do it or leave them as they are.

Biggest transformation in the house. Fixing the dinning room situation.

So much better...I love this room.

The Salmonberries are starting to ripen...they aren't as good as blackberries or raspberries to me, but my kids will plow any fruit LOL.

Hopefully our odds get better.

And then there were two. Dang it, these baby bunnies really do have a death wish. That same chocolate bunny that I saved yesterday did it again today, sadly I did not find it in time to save it. So now we are down to two. We moved momma and babies into the hutch instead of leaving them in the bunny tractor...hopefully these two can hang in there. This litter has not gone well, it is normal to lose a baby or two in every single litter...actually really rare to have a whole litter survive, but we are looking at a 25% survival rate this time, and that sucks.

12 days old, and they both opened their wee little eyes today. So cute.

Oreo has the cutest markings.

Hayden loves the babies.

Now a Jericho funny to share...
He had to get a shot today, I was trying to pump him up as we walked to the clinic door. 

Jericho - I'm not ready for this. 
Me- Sure you are, you are awesome, you are a super star, you are so brave. 
Jericho- No Mom, I'm just a regular boy, with flabby butt cheeks. 
I literally busted out laughing. I know what you are thinking, I was thinking it too and asked him where he heard that. Thank you Teen Titans.

Can't leave out Lily.
A little back story...
1- Lily has been extra clingy lately, and has been coming in our room in the middle of the night
2-Jason snores like a beast.
Jason told me Lily actually woke him up last night...

Lily *whispering* Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad. 

Jason- What Lily?
Lily- Uhh Dad can you sleep a little quieter?

Too bad I slept through that...I would have been LOL!

Meet Twinkie and CupCake.

I have a Kindergarten packet to fill out, hard to believe I only have 3 1/2 more months before Jericho starts school. I am looking forward to some alone time, but am sad at the same time.

I'm going to miss the Hot Cocoa and coffee mornings.

These bunnies do not have any sense of self preservation. I found this little guy out of the nest and cold on the ground, thankfully I found him in time.

They have grown so much.

And this is why they keep having near death experiences....they are on the move, blind. Silly babies.

The trio's spring pictures...so much change in one years time.

Hayden just adores this haircut...I wonder if we will ever get her to change it up..

Lily, her hair looks so red sometimes. I loved the background choice.

So the kids have fulfilled their deals with their Dad. They were ready for the carrot at the end of the stick. Originally they wanted a couple hermit crabs. I did a bit of research and decided I didn't want hermit crabs LOL. So I started negotiations to pick a different kind of small pet. Since we have already been there, done that, with rodents I thought maybe we should try birds. I had Cockatiels when I was a kid/teen, and adored them, but since Jason was not as keen on the bird idea we started off smaller...Parakeets! Hopefully these guys work out and we can work our way up to a bigger bird.
Meet Cupcake and Twinkie!

This is Cupcake, we think she is a girl. Both birds are really young babies...less than 8 weeks old I think.

This is Twinkie, we believe he is a boy....it is really hard to tell on babies so young so we will have to wait to see if they end up as we believe or not.

We have them set up in the girls room, they are not hand tame yet...but being so young it shouldn't be too difficult.

This is their cage, it is a touch smaller than the Parakeet fanatics say you should use...but they seem happy.

The wood top and branches from one of our apple trees will be a mobile play top...where they can enjoy lots of out of cage time. Hopefully we can get it finished this weekend.

Can't wait until they are more comfortable so I can get some good pictures, they are so pretty...love all the colors and patterns parakeets come in.

Meatball sammies for dinner...quick and easy, and the kids are digging meatballs these days.

A few pictures from yesterday. The kids had science fair at school last week. One of the experiments they saw done by the older kids was that peeled oranges sink, while unpeeled oranges float. The girls decided to recreate the experiment so we could see it LOL.

Xander called me to his room at bedtime last night, his typical stall tactics, he said he had something special he made for me to show me. It was so sweet I had to go grab my camera and take a picture. He spelled out I love you Mom. What a sweetheart.

Jericho fell asleep in his little boy cave. He was smart enough to put a pillow at the bottom, and pad the sides.

Silly boy...Daddy moved him to his bed LOL.

A little Jericho funny.... Jericho was in not so rare wild man form tonight. He had been told 10 times to brush his teeth for bed. He came out saying he brushed and was ready for bed. Jason smelled his breath, not minty fresh.
Jericho said, in a reprimanding tone, "You don't sniff someone's teeth!" Hahaha.