Here Comes Rubble

"It felt so good to have a day off today."

This coming from Mr. Incredible after nine hours behind either a sledge hammer, rototiller or a Bobcat. I am learning, that what my husband really wants to do in his free time is be a twenty first century gladiator. To destroy, or build, that is the question. I'm also learning he is really good at doing both.

Tom Builder has a full week with a rented Bobcat. What this guy can do with a Bobcat in thirty minutes is a wonder. On Wednesday evening, on my way to drop the kids off at AWANA, I drove between two gaudy fortress-like structures that buttress either side of our entrance to the property. Tom Builder and I have always disliked these things as they scream with their white stucco and lion topped heads "Welcome to the Fortress. Don't touch anything." We wanted our property to have a more inviting feel that matched our family's personality and said something more along the lines of "Welcome to our Home. Take a load off and stay awhile." Upon my quick return, I was greeted with "The Fall of Rome"...


The picture above was taken a day later, when most of the stucco and concrete had been transported by Bobcat to the second entrance to the property that goes down to the barn. Tom Builder's plan is to lay all of this rubble down on the farm road, crush it, and then pile pea gravel on top of it. Meanwhile, he spent the rest of the day yesterday, smoothing out the entrance with dirt so that he can start laying pallets and pallets of sod at the entrance today. Did I mention we are also getting our new carpet today?? Did I mention that we could be watching up to 4 additional dogs for a week beginning tomorrow? The next few days are going to be CRAZY!

But as long as Tom Builder has a smile on his face, and is so loopy about driving a Bobcat that he can act goofy with his hat...it is all worth it.

Free Ranging The Chooks

I was trying to stay away from another chicken post, but after I wasted a blog day and didn't post, I figured what's the harm in using a wasted day and posting a few more chicken pictures in its non-existent place? The girls and roo are getting really plump and fancy. Lately, I've taken my chances since we are not even close to building a chicken tractor, and I've let them soak up the shade and sun ungaurded. It is clear that chickens were never meant to be cooped up, as they all pile up at the door clucking in jubilee and hysterics when they know they are going to get outside time. The barnyard looks much more lively and festive with colorful chickens scratching it up.

Most of the girls have names including: Sandy, Alice, Penny, Ms. Delaware, Ginger, Leopard Head or Fuzzy, Zebra, and Scooter. The Silkies still don't have a name that sticks, but I'm quite fond of naming the female "Daisy" and the rooster "Duke". Our barn cat has a new favorite place to lay out: on top of the screened in ceiling of the chicken coop. She's also unfortunately discovered a new extreme sport, and has been caught on one occasion hunting down giant chickens. Our faithful dog, Hatch, has also been quick to get involved in the X Games scaring the absolute tar out of cats who chase down beloved chickens. The whole crew had us rolling in the dirt in laughter this week.

The silkie chickens are looking more and more each day like their distant cousin Elvis. "Duke" The Rooster is growing his wattles and comb, and starting to play more the part of a man, keeping a strong eye out for anything that resembles a hawk in flight (big birds, helicopters and airplanes). So far, "Duke" is a mute.

"Daisy" is our most delicate flower. She's always the last to get anywhere, more than shy and skittish. This, of course has me worried, as it is clear she would be the first to be nabbed by any lurking danger. Especially when she can barely see through her growing coif of feathers, But she is gorgeous. (If you can say that about a chicken.)

Missing: One Rolodex Thingy

As promised, each week I will be sharing with you a portion of how the Knucker Hatch household runs. Last week, I revealed our laundry management system that falls on every Monday. Tuesdays, are reserved for bathroom duty. But after cleaning SIX toilets today, the last thing I feel like doing tonight is blogging about the worst chore ever invented. I'll save my blogging about bathroom routines for a day other than the dreaded bathroom day. So this Tuesday, I'll give you a glimpse into how I try, (and I do stress try) to keep things organized. More specifically, how I manage keeping track of the daily outside activities and appointments for a busy family.

Does anybody else out there have a mother that keeps one calendar on a wall somewhere, but honestly that is just for back-up, because she has an unbelievable Rolodex in her head? When I was growing up, my mother amazed me with her ability to rattle off everyone's birthday. I can remember thinking, that when I grew up, I would one day get one of those Rolodex thingys in my head. Sadly, I never received the Rolodex thingy. I'm horrible with five very important and basic things in life: names, birthdays, phone numbers, anniversaries, and anything that requires RSVPing.

I'll give you one example that will immediately make you understand how much I stink at this side of life management:

I have a cell phone. I couldn't tell you to save my life my cell phone number.
On a really bad day, I will hesitate before I can tell you the full birthdate of one of my children.

I learned a long time ago, that to keep up with the Rolodex Mom's in this world, I would need to write it all down. In essence, I don't think I have ever departed from the required "Assignment Notebook" all of us as teenagers carried around in junior high and high school. It is tempting to go all electronic with my information management, of which I partially do, however, I need to have a hard copy at my finger tips. Leaving notes on a wall calendar in my kitchen doesn't help the helpless. I need it to be portable. As a result, almost every year I have used a bound monthly calendar to stay organized.


Last year, I stumbled upon a wonderful calendar/organizer created specifically for mothers with children by a company called MomAgenda. In addition to the monthly calendar in the front, each week is laid out with space for myself plus individual spaces for four children. I use different colored happy face stickers to identify each child's weekly row. There's even a space for dinner plans. I have enjoyed the classy feel of this calendar, and it's many, many extras that are included. It is the only bound calendar I have found that allows me to manage my entire family's numerous outings and activities. Last week, I purchased my second refill for the Pink Executive Portfolio Tom Builder surprised me with last year. (MomAgenda calendars are 17 month day planners beginning in August.)

This is my Rolodex ladies. This is the only reason I know what pregnancy week I am in. It allows me to write it down, and permits me then to let go and forget it. My only responsibility is to check it every day, BEFORE my day begins. So how do you survive the day to day grind? Are you a mental Rolodex Mama, or do you use another method to keep life organized?

My Shoe Box Full of Joy

All weekend my little girl put a smile on my face, because of the abundance of her own smiles parked right below her button nose. She is such a cheerful butterfly in my life right now, full of gutteral garbles and chattering. None of it making any sense, other than the wonderfully clear "Hi!" she lavishes on each passing soul. Yesterday, she spent part of the afternoon dressing and diapering her bears and babies, grunting dramatically over their weight as she moved them here and there. However, her finest moment was her attempt at squishing into a kid sized shoe box, as she practiced rolling her "Rs". I could look at these smiles and six pearly toofers all day.

The Storm Before The Calm?

You know when you are trying your best to get organized over something, and how for a moment (or months in our case) things look even worse than when you had started? That is exactly where we are with this moving in and onto the farm process. And honestly, when you are gaining on a month away from delivering a new baby, the aisles of piles can start to make you a little crazy. I am so tired of trying to feel my way through mazes of unhung picture frames in the dark, just so I can get to the loo in the middle of the night. I should be wrapping up my nesting now for the little one, and instead I am inching my way around endless piles of wood and unfinished business.

We ARE making progress. It just doesn't quite feel like it yet. For instance, we have made the farm safer, by having a number of giant, but sick or dead trees felled. We had a magnificent 50 year old pine growing right by the side of the barn, but it was clearly ill, and would have squashed our barn and whatever else into mere splinters if it had crashed down on its own. In addition, there were already about 15 large logs piled up on the property. The pine has been cut into campfire sized seats, but as for the rest of it, we are surrounded up to our ears in bad wood. Mr. Incredible and I have dreams of hosting an October bonfire with friends, but alas, there will be no bonfire with a burn ban that threatens to last until 2010. So here it all bakes in 100+ temperatures.


Everyday, I have to walk by this ugly mass on my way to the barn, and I'm starting to think to myself, "And who lives here? I wonder what small animals are multiplying or slithering under that pile? The very same pile that was here before we moved in, but we continue to add to it...":


Walk around to the back of the pile, and it is a crying shame. Beautiful cedar wood from the sauna that the previous owners decided to build in our master closet. We tried to take it apart gently, but it was no use. The wood is gorgeous, and smells wonderful, but we really have no idea what to do with it in this state. And so it sits threateningly on one of many burn piles that encircle the property.

Inside the house, we have encountered an entirely new monster. Disgusting carpet and walls in need of TLC means new carpet and new paint. Sounds lovely doesn't it? However, putting the plan into action is an entirely different beast. Everything we put away when we moved, gets pushed back out to paint.

And then, me and dreamy self decide after all the painting is done, that it sure would be nice to have the closets painted as well. "I mean, now is our chance Honey. Our closets will feel so nice! It will help me want to organize. It's now or never." So I talk my patient Tom Builder into "Now", sweet man that he is, and all Closet Maid stuff has to be unscrewed from all of the closets so we can paint the walls of the closets. We were going to have to tear apart the closets anyway, to get the new carpet installed, so my pleas for painted closets weren't entirely ridiculous. However, the interim result is the center of our house gets stacked 5 feet high with pressed wood, along with everything in every closet. But the empty freshly painted closets are beautiful. :)


And here we sit. Waiting for our carpet to arrive that was at our house two weeks ago, but had to be returned due to a color mix up. This really would be fine and dandy, if it wasn't for the giant reminder in front of me outside and inside that the place is a disaster. And the other reminder that occasionally contracts into a hard beach ball, telling me that it is almost game time. Everytime I pull into our drive, I am in humble awe over the property the Lord guided us to. A tree filled treasure we now call home...even with the piles of junk everywhere. But for a moment ladies, I JUST WANT TO NEST LIKE A PREGNANT HUMAN. Instead I feel like the animal that must be trying to multiply under that burn pile outside.

Bible Thumping

When it comes to Bibles, I'll be the first to admit that I am a complete dork. But really, can you ever have enough Bibles? I love old ones, new ones, those filled to the brim with study notes, slim lines, wide margins, etc. Between Mr. Incredible (who is moving toward my dork side) and myself, our Bible stash might lead one to believe we were seminary graduates. Which we are NOT. So I hide them and the numerous volumes of study companions, shy a few, behind closed cabinet doors to avoid drawing attention to the obvious dorkdom in this house.

But when this arrived on my doorstep yesterday, I couldn't help but embrace my dorkiness for a moment:


When coffee recently spilled on my favorite compact Bible, sealing all of Genesis until the end of time, which is completely unacceptable, my first thought was..."It's Bible time!" It didn't matter that Mr. Incredible offered up one of his exact same Bibles for adoption. The itch needed to be scratched.

I went from my tiny purse sized NASB to a mammoth yogurt carton sized parallel Bible containing NASB, NIV, KJV, and the Amplified version. And then counted the days until it arrived. Drop this thing on the coffee table and Richter scales around the world are displaced. I'm only hoping that the Bible cover I have coming to ehm...conceal my neon nerd sign...will cover this big boy.

Airing Out The Dirty Laundry

I am always interested to know how other mothers manage their daily tasks. Whether you are sharing with me how many baths your kids get a week or I am sympathizing with the more mundane bathroom cleaning. There is this drive inside of me to be more efficient. More organized. It's a sickness really. But I constantly have my ears and eyes on the look out for tips and tricks used by other veteran managers of the home.

I thought I'd start a new series of weekly posts sharing how we at the Knucker Hatch home manage some of our "stuff". And in return, I'd love to hear from you, and how your day goes on these topics. Are you game?

Let's work from the bottom up: Mondays. I don't know about your house, but Mondays are the heart of the Mother-Lode work week here. Second only to Tuesdays. Mondays are all about the ever prevailing, never ending laundry. Other than the daily tasks that are required around the house, laundry management is my sole focus. It used to be that I followed the FlyLady's philosophy on laundry which required a load a day, but after trying that method for a year, I quite honestly grew tired of having to look at laundry every stinkin' day. Just give it to me square on for a full day, and let me be done with the entire ugly thing for the rest of the week.


I know my limitations on this however. And I have a two too many loads to do, to get things completed on Monday before I grow weary of the assembly line. Almost always, I never get that last load out of the dryer and it sits for a week. So to offset this pitfall, I usually start Sunday evening with two loads that require very little attention, or if I don't do Sunday evening, I'll save these loads for last: the table cloth and towels loads. That way, if they sit all week in a drier, no one cares if they are wrinkled, and there is no big loss. Or if I get them washed Sunday, they can sit over night in the drier until Monday when I throw the first clothes load in.

I will confess that with the new house we have two working laundry rooms. However, with 10 loads of laundry to do, it is still quite a project to tackle, requiring firm commitment to complete. For the extra nitty gritty details I'll share that I am a liquid Tide, Bounce drier sheet, Oxi-Clean stain removal user. TMI, I know.


What may make our house different than your own, is our closet management. This is something that I started after moving into our new house, and it has been one of the best changes in my life of laundry and closet management. I have often read how larger families have found it liberating to pool all of their clothes into one hanging closet. I wasn't sure I would like that idea, but I decided to give it a try when we moved to the farm house. We have a large walk in closet on the older side of the house, which is also the side we do all living in right now...aside from sleeping. There is room enough for my daily clothes and all of the children's clothes. The clothes are on low enough poles that the children can access their own, and we hang everything short of underwear and pants/shorts. Ken has his own closet in the master which still works well for him. Each child has their own PJ bin on the floor. High above, are storage bins of clothing and shoes sizes that are not in use.


Two things have resulted in using primarily one closet. First, I have more control over the daily mess that can occur in the closet, rather than being surprised with a trashed closet every week, and I can stay on top of the kid's habits better. (Mom's you know what I am talking about here.) Their rooms stay amazingly clean since all clothing and baskets reside in a closet on the other side of the house.

Secondly, when I put laundry away, I go to one closet. No more trips through three rooms to deposit all of the clothing. No more going to three different rooms when the kids need help with clothing selections or dressing. And the added bonus is all hangers and dirty laundry are in one location. Ahhh....consolidation.

We still use our dressers for winter clothing storage. But honestly, most of them are empty with the use of one closet. The extra closet space is used for other needed storage. I can tell you, that once I was over the "oddness" of using one closet, the entire concept was a dream.

So there you have it. My dirty laundry. Monday is laundry day at the Knucker Hatch house, we do it all in one day, and we use a one closet management system. How do you manage your laundry and clothing? And readers want to know...What is your laundry detergent formula?

The Bob Books Marathon

Since this January (when Jack decided he wanted to learn how to read), Sir Bugga-Lot has been working through 5 sets of Bob Books. Every school day, he would look forward to the moment that he would open the colorful cover of his latest book and begin plowing. It has been a more difficult goal than he anticipated, but he has rarely given up on his day to day assignments. The last set of Bob Books have been significantly harder with more meaty pages, and complicated words. But he has persevered. Eight months later, still at the wee age of five, we closed the last book on the last set. What an accomplishment!!! One of which he is very proud of because he decided to take this challenge on himself.


Jack was very interested to know what reading journey he would be embarking on next. And I was honestly searching for an idea myself, one that preferably moved toward a more Charlotte Mason style, when I remembered a set of Nature Readers that I had purchased a few terms ago. They were originally intended for Grace, but the required reading she has from the Burgess Book of Animals has kept her busy enough. After inspecting the first of four Nature Readers, I decided to go with it.

It will continue to be a challenge for Sir Bugga-Lot, mostly due to the addition of quite a large number of intimidating sight words. So, two nights ago, I sat down and created a Word Game Board for Jack to use while we tackle his first chapter on Wasps.


He is quizzed on 10 sight words a day, and for each word correct, he receives one penny. On the first day we tried this method, the board was a tad overwhelming, and he struggled with confidence despite earning six cents. But by that evening, he was already asking when he was going to get to do the game board again. With a sigh of relief, I am glad this tool has helped him to look beyond moving into a higher caliber reader. And I have to admit, it is nice to actually read about something more meaningful like wasps making nests, than the trivial (BUT OH SO WONDERFUL) Bob Books.

Checking In On Hope

It's official. I have just about two months of pressure cooking left for our fourth baby. And that is including the allowance they'll give me beyond my due date before we need to make induction arrangements. Which we WILL end up doing. Oh me of little faith.

As of my doctor visit today, I've gained a whopping 30+ pounds (which is right on target for me and my pack-on-the-weight pregnancies). I've learned not to freak out over the weight gain though, as nursing requires every inch of that extra weight for energy and reserves. It always amazes me how smart our bodies are. We know exactly what we need months before we even need it.

Hope is growing out and forward in similar formation to her sister Faith. We might have another petite baby pea coming. She is beginning to make her presence much more noticed with an increase in movement, kicks and hiccups. The old ribs at the top of the "Sphere of Life" are quite sore by days end. Hope is facing down and I'm measuring right where I should be. In short, all is well. And I am very thankful that this pregnancy has gone so smoothly in the midst of the chaos of moving around us. I'm only now starting to feel some pain and pressure in the pelvis which is a blessing, considering it came at around four months with Faith.

I'm getting very excited over meeting our newest member of the family soon. One more arrow! Now if I could just talk to someone about the excruciating heat index around here. I've held my tongue and endured this convection oven for weeks. I'm already cooking from the inside out, do I really need to be cooking from the outside in too?

What's Under The Hood

Retreat! Retreat! There are times when a woman needs to crawl inside herself for a couple of days and inspect the engine...so to speak. I can't tell you the last time I've ditched the responsibilities of home in order to attend an all-girl, all God, sleepover weekend. All I know is that I was in need of a tune up. We're talking 1,100,198 life miles beyond the date of service due.


This past weekend, was a fabulous treat! A number of gals from my Women's study group got together to attend the Women of Faith Conference in Atlanta including an all day Pre-Conference event with none other than Beth Moore herself. She was outstanding. {sigh} I've packed at least six of her life changing studies into the last four years of my life, and it was a privilege to listen to her speak in person. Once you do one of Beth Moore's intensive studies you'll never look at Bible Study the same again. She has certainly become the most influential teacher in my life.

After getting a complete soaking in the Word among godly women for 48 hours, my insides were utter mush. I was more than pumped up to experience another event of a lifetime...the tangible end results of a 3 year church building campaign. On Sunday, our church moved into a new facility that blows the socks off our old campus. I've never been a part of something that took three years to plan and contribute towards.

If it wasn't for a mailed flyer and a year long unsuccessful search for a church six years ago, I never would have entered our old building for worship. I didn't realize it until we were pulling into the parking lot for the first time on Easter Sunday, that my own stereotypes regarding what a church should look like had kept me at a distance. I had passed by this church numerous times. But what lay tucked underneath the hood of that bland exterior was the very treasure we had been searching to find. I often wonder how many others have driven past our church and dismissed its worth on exterior alone. And how often I've done the same with people.

We have memories at the old building. We experienced real spiritual growth within those walls. We came to know and appreciate the need for a church family in our lives. We've built more friendships in that place than in all other places put together. Tom Builder and I were stretched beyond our comfort zones into areas of leadership and participation. So I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised to find my own face awash in salty tears on our last day there.


On Sunday, our family walked into a church that would have captured my eye. I would have given it the chance it deserved a long time ago. All I could do was raise my hands in praise during worship, and thank the Lord for the extra kick in the pants I needed to get my tail to squish through the doors of a much duller structure six years ago. How much I would have missed. How little I would have been stretched. How much more ready I am now to be on the inside of those new doors looking out, waiting for an unfamiliar face to walk in and meet the body of Christ.

Ween Bean Goes To College

Right before my computer met its temporary demise from milk and cheerios, our family went on a very important trip back to Missouri. It was one of those, "This is the last time..." trips. My little sister, the baby of four, graduated from high school. I am the oldest. She is the youngest. With two meat heads in between. There is a fifteen year spread between us, and I still remember her birth like it was yesterday. Mom and Dad offered me the opportunity to take part in the moment of her arrival. The experience was unforgettable. Sarah was a dream come true for a firstborn with two younger brothers. I had a baby sister.


Sarah brings an incredible youthful joy to our family that has all too quickly grown up. She is a gift of spunk. And I think all of her siblings would agree, that the good Lord, saved the best for last. She's beautiful. She's brilliant. She's the girl in high school that had a tight circle of friends, wore the trendiest clothes, was the football team's manager, had to-die-for hair, a knock out smile, an above 4.0 average, and was friendly to everyone. That's my sister.

It was hard to believe my eyes when I watched her walk across the stage to accept her diploma. The world suddenly went into slow motion while my brothers and I hooted and hollered her family nickname, "Go Ween Bean!!!". It feels like yesterday that we were snuggled under the covers of your four poster bed reading your first chapter book..."The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe".


Probably one of the more difficult things I've had to do as a young adult, was leave my baby sister behind to head off to college. And after college, I was leaving a little six year old to get married and soon move across the country. I know that siblings need to move forward with their lives, but I'm not sure I've ever gotten over the guilt of leaving and feeling like I missed out on the sisterhood experiences and a little life that I had wished so hard for.

One by one, all of us left for the big world, and Sarah took on the "only child" status. But now it is her turn to leave the Missouri nest. And I couldn't be happier, as she has chosen to fly south for college. Tonight she is actually catching a wink or two in my house before moving into her dorm room. She's moving HERE. To Georgia. Almost four kiddos, and fifteen more years later, our paths are crossing again. For a moment in time, the distance between me and her will be short again. And it will be me that is benched, while she comes and goes. But I've got a second chance on sisterhood. I'll take it, and hope it takes her the new standard of five years to graduate.

Congratulations again Ween Bean...now you're going to be 'All That' AND 'Southern'. Good luck with Rush Week...one more thing I never, ever, could have done.

The Chicken Coop de Ville

It would have to be a blazing 100+ degrees on the week that we are to complete the chicken coop and let the girls experience life outside of a TV box. Sheesh. The good news is that the coop is 95% done, and allowed for us to place the "Spice Chicks" safely out in their new Coop de Ville last Sunday. They still don't have a roost, but are using our ladder and some chairs as makeshift roosts. The entrance to the coop is the equivalent of trying to enter solitary confinement at Alcatraz - sporting multiple locks and doors. If anything gets to my girls, it deserves a free meal for brilliance.

The girls are now over six weeks old and, after three days in their new pad, are beginning to feel very much at home. They are enjoying their dirt dust baths in the coop corners and (probably the most entertaining) establishing their pecking order. Chickens have personalities. I never would have believed it myself, but they do. And they are much friendlier than I ever anticipated. Take a seat in a coop chair, and it won't be long before you have visitors landing in your lap and settling in for attention. The only one we really have to keep an eye on is our large Delaware girl (Ms. Delaware, pictured bottom right) who has an uncontrollable fetish for teeth. She can't resist a strong peck at the mouth which has bloodied the mouths of Grace, Jack and myself on a number of occasions. It hurts!


Faith no longer stands back to observe the chickens. Oh no....she's seen her siblings pick them up, and now she bravely does it herself, lifting chickens a few inches off the ground and then releasing them.

The chickens always put a smile on my face when I see them all lined up at the screen door waiting for visitors or for Mama to give them the O.K. to free range a bit around the coop. The satisfaction is setting in that we haven't had a single loss, everyone is gaining weight and feathering out lovely, and the coop is for the most part done. I've also found great pride in our dog Hatch who is doing very well with the chickens, often standing guard a good distance away. His presence alone, makes me more confident that a hawk won't be dropping in for take out when we are around.


We are still working on names, but to date we have Ms. Delaware, Ginger, Zebra, Sandy, and Spice Chick...a wide variety, clearly. We still don't have names for the Silkies who are going "poof" with their white billowy feathers. They are looking terrifically hysterical! Jack often says "Pish-Posh!" to things, so we've thought about naming one "Pish" and one "Posh". Any suggestions for two white puffballs are welcomed.

And now I promise, to spare you all from more chicken posts and move on to...ooooo...hold on.....going through a contraction...other more...pressing...matters.

Roll Call

Aside from the coop, this week was the Back to School week. I have to be absolutely honest here. There was no mega planning ritual, no thumbing through piles of juicy homeschooling supply magazines (ok...maybe a little thumbing), and only a few purchases of some Audubon field guides we didn't have in the library. I was starting to feel a little bad, like the children were being cheated out of the "Back in School" hype that we used to do. But then I remembered that technically for The Queen's Grace she is in the middle of AO's curriculum for Year 2, and I spent Christmas break entering in the first half of that year on my handy dandy monster Excel spreadsheet. Jack is also in the middle of his books, which was easy to pick back up. And, being that my computer holding my ENTIRE UNBACKED UP LIFE was still in the shop, I had no schedule to tinker around with anyway.

So people, we winged it. And gosh darn, if we didn't do great. Nothing a little white board, some colored dry erase markers, and a small amount of planning can't take care of. We even managed to start Spanish (which the entire family will be trying to learn including Tom Builder). Jack doesn't know it, but we are slowly entering into the 1 1/2 year AO Year 1 program that I created for Grace when she started Ambleside. When I asked him for his first narration, he froze, going through all of the motions Grace first went through when we started narrations. But today when I asked Grace for a narration, and she actually froze, he chimed in, "I know!" and off he went.

So we didn't have much fanfare, but it has been a crazy summer, and it all just seems to fit with how life has gone for the last six months. Everything is exciting these days, which perhaps dulls the excitement of what we used to get excited over in the past. I can tell you that there is one change in our schedule, that has me very happy -- The Princess of Wails will start a two-day half-day program at our church beginning mid-August. WAAA-HOOOO!


A large part of me, longs to put her in our Montessori school's half day program, because of the benefits both of the older ones received from such an awesome program. But really, this is less about my already smart-as-a-whip girl's education at this point in her itty bitty life, and more about me trying to homeschool the older ones with a new baby also on the scene soon.

I have no idea what I am up against. I admit it. I'm pretty sure though, that I'm going to need two days of cushion in the mix to get the schooling accomplished. Two days of running around with other little ones is heaven to Faith, and what she loves most. What she doesn't love, is Mom sitting at the table trying to school her siblings when Mom should have her attention on either her or the dishes (what is with that??? I can do dishes or laundry, but sit down with the older ones, and she's a bull in a china shop!). And she has made that loudly clear this week, in addition to zapping her morning nap and saving it for late afternoon!

I'll have just enough time to catch my breath between August and October, and then the rubber will hit the pavement again in full force. But if my sweet Hope turns out to be a floor potato, well then maybe we'll only have to worry about a little wibble wobble here and there.

Floor potato...floor potato...floor potato...

Souping Up The Chicken Coop

I'm running to catch up on a number of blog posts for this week. This post is all coop baby. Tom Builder is a born natural at many, MANY things, but there is one thing I can always count on...phenomenal construction skills. I realize just how much I think like a girl when it comes to moments like this. And how limited I am spatially.

Tom Builder listened carefully to my list of needed upgrades to convert one of our barn stalls into a predator proof chicken coop, and then headed down to the stall with pen and paper. Thirty minutes later, he was back making final calculations on the amount of lumber needed. It would have taken me a week of obsessing to arrive at that same junction, with many errors close on my tail. And the small ideas I provide Mr. Incredible turn into bigger, much more substantial ideas. More than once this week, you could hear me saying, "I'm getting that? Cool!! I was thinking it would be like this...".

So last weekend, we worked on the coop, and we worked on the coop some more. There was a lot of coopin' going on. For good reason. There is a lot of poopin' going on in the TV box, and my nose can hardly stand it anymore. The girls are over 5 weeks old, and starting to out grow their welcome in the house. In the name of Knucker Hatch spirit, we tried to involve the whole family as much as possible in the building experience.

Jack was all about the guy stuff: measuring, making cuts, handing tools to Dad as needed. If Dad was at the coop, he had to be down there too. Grace was our cheerleader, always giving out a "That looks great!", or "Perfect fit, Dad!". When not handing out complements, she could be found hammering nails into spare wood pieces. Faith, was always quick to alert the family when a stray nail or tool dropped, with her new "Uh, Oh."


Predator proofing was an essential, that has involved rivers of sweat in the sweltering heat, yards and yard of 12 gauge hardware cloth, an additional ceiling, and 1 million staples. The entire stall is being wired in, so that the girls can sleep at night without having to worry about the coons, foxes, dogs, rats and snakes. The only thing we are not wiring is the floor, which has me a little concerned about something deciding to go on a digging spree underneath the floor to get to the chickens. The chicken coop already has a name due to the amount of metal going in, and the caged in feeling it exudes: The Panic Room.

In addition to the ceiling, Tom Builder added an entirely new door to go behind the stall doors so that the girls could enjoy peace and safety with fresh air in the evenings. I have since lined both sides of the door with hardware fabric. We finish up the coop this weekend, and I can hardly wait. I'm excited for the chickens, and I'm happy to have a chicken dust free house again soon. After this, we will begin a new project devoted to chicken raising: The Chicken Tractor.