One in a billion

Another chicken blog, sorry about that. Seems like it is all I write about! But this one is really cool! Often when hens begin to lay it is very common for two yolks to be in one shell. They are normally found in quite large eggs. Today I was fixing Logan an egg for breakfast. Of course he found the largest egg I had and I cracked it in the pan and was amazed. It had not one or two yolks but THREE! I of course grabbed the camera and called everyone to see this amazing egg. I must admit I was the only one truly thrilled. Mason thinks I am crazy by this point! Emily then chose the second largest egg only to be disappointed when it had only one yolk. I looked up triple yolk on the internet and found that the odds are one in a billion. But with all the eggs produced daily maybe that isn't such a huge thing after all. I found another really unusual thing that can happen that did happen a few weeks ago, a yolkless egg. Guess those would be handy when making angel food cakes!

Fresh eggs anyone??

Well, the girls are laying. Some of my 15 hens started laying eggs several weeks ago. Call me silly but there is something so exciting about that first egg arriving! We had our grand nephews here for the weekend and I wanted them to be able to gather some eggs, just one problem. My hens weren't laying yet so I went out to "plant" some eggs and the hens had surprised me and laid 2 eggs! I am getting anywhere from 5-7 a day,some big and some very small!

Barred Rock
(this girl nearly died when our dog thought she was a chew toy-I know where the saying tough old bird comes from!)

Black Sexlink

Buff Orpington and Black Australorp

Rhoad Island Red and Barred Rock

PS. If anyone needs fresh eggs just call!

Babies and toddlers in the house

Greer and her quilt

Greer

Natalie and her quilt

Cole and Burke

Natalie

Greer (love those pigtails!)

Emily and Greer

Feeding the birds

BurkeCole

This past weekend our two nieces Heather and Darcy traveled from Indiana with their kids, two almost 8 month old girls and two boys of of which one was 3 in August and the other turns 3 in December. It was great to see them but wow did I forget how busy a house is with little ones it it! Our kids really enjoyed playing with them and were a big help with them. Ted took the boys out in the morning and let them ride the tractors around. Cole's dad is a farmer but he just drives red tractors so Ted let him drive the green tractor! Hopefully he told his daddy about that! I had decided to have the boys get some eggs while they were here, just one problem, my girls weren't laying just yet. I was expecting it any day though. So I went out to "plant" a few eggs and there was the cutest brown egg ever! My chickens surprised me and laid their first egg! Photos will be coming soon for those of you wanting to see tiny pullet eggs! The boys also had fun jumping on the trampoline. We had a nice day on Saturday so it was nice to for them to be outside some. The girls headed to town in the afternoon to do some shopping and left the all the boys at home. We came home to one sound asleep on the couch and one sound asleep by the front door! It was quite funny. Guess that is what happens when guy's are left in charge.

Vistor's from Afar

We recently had some good Scottish friends who we met while living in India visit us a few weekends ago. It was so awesome to see Helen and Fraser in our home in the US. It was a strange sensation though to be sitting around the table here rather then in Chennai and to not have the entire group here as well. They came along with their son David to visit see other son Liam who lives in Chicago run in the Chicago Marathon. While their visit was short we cherished every minute of it. The kids were thrilled to see them and were quite please to get Fraser up on the trampoline! Ted and the guys got out and did some skeet shooting even though the weather was freezing!


When people ask if we are happy to be back in the US my first response is that it is good to be back, however I still miss India! I think what I miss most are our friends in India. While we knew them for such a short time the bonds of friendship that were formed were strong. They became our family.

A few days after Helen and Fraser left my parents came for a visit. They drove up from Florida and visited all but one of my siblings. We had seen them in June at the family reunion but it was nice to have them at our house. Logan was delighted to see that he is almost as tall as his Grandma. Here are a few photos of the kids and my Mom. I am frustrated I didn't think to get some photos of my dad with the kids...

Birthday photos...

Just a week after Emily's birthday Ted celebrated his birthday. He had the day off on his birthday. I found a recipe to make a Lemon Struesal cake that he remembers from childhood. He thought it tasted great! Due to a hectic schedule Emily just had her friend birthday party this past weekend. She had a hard time deciding what to do. She wanted to have a sleep over but I limited the number of kids so she decided to have a bowling party instead! The kids had a lot of fun and I didn't have to clean up the mess!

The Birthday Girl

Today is Emily's 9th birthday. I don't know how it is possible that she could be 9 years old today. Where did time go and what happen to my little girl? She is growing up so fast. On one hand it seems like she should be about 3 years old still and coming down the steps with her pink puppy in hand but on the other hand she seems so mature for just turning 9! We are so proud to be her parents and love her very much! God has been so gracious to place her in our care. Emily, we love you very much! Happy Birthday!!

A summer storm

This photo was taken late August. I just loved the powerful looking clouds as the storm rolled in over the fields. We were driving somewhere and I had Ted slow down so I could take the photo. What a beautiful world we live in!

Puppy Time

Last week some good friends of our who also raise Golden Retrievers asked us to puppy sit for their ten 6 week old puppies and the mama. Of course we all excitedly agreed to this. It has been such a long time since we had pups around, I think it was the first part of 2007 when we had a our last litter. We had so much fun playing with them. Millie was a bit unsure of them but Sydney just adored them! The pups would walk under Sydney looking for a teat and she would stand so patiently for them to discover that there wasn't anything for them. Sydney played and played with them. She was a bit rough but gradually learned to play a bit gentler with them. I can't believe how big Sydney looks now! Our puppy has grown up! The kids had so much fun with the pups. We were blessed with really nice weather, it only rained the last day we had them. Our kitten Griffin was glad for Sydney to have different playmates. Most of the time Sydney is chasing Griffin around the yard and getting him all slobbery.
We are hoping to have a litter sometime last this year or early next. We found a really nice "husband" for Millie. I can't wait for Millie to have pups. It is a lot of work but so much fun! I think the kids will really enjoy the whole experience this time.

Emily and a pup (love this photo!)

Logan and a pup

Playtime (Sydney looks enormous!)

Millie's future husband Riley

Sydney covering Griffin in slobber~ yes on top the picnic table....