Easter Egg Hunt #3

You may have noticed that the post before this said Easter Egg Hunt #1. There was a second hunt, but I wasn't around for it and there are no pictures. It was hosted by my mom and step-dad. Maybe they have pictures.

Anyway...this was our family egg hunt. It's the one we colored 5 dozen eggs for. We have our hunt on Saturday and save Sunday for the actual meaning of Easter. We started doing this some years ago, and I have really like the difference it has made!

Since Daniel roped us into not eating candy for a year, we didn't even bother buying any. The only eggs we hunted for were the hard boiled variety. And those are almost gone...surprisingly.

We made the kids go downstairs and "clean" while Chad hid eggs and I set out the Easter baskets. When we called them up, they came like "gang busters." So we made them freeze and let them come through, youngest to oldest. This is a shot of them "frozen."

Their Easter baskets were set out oldest to youngest...something I almost always do. Even so, there was still some confusion. Maybe we'll have to add name tags next year.

The kids always get some kind of Easter gift, but this year was a little more extravagant than usual. I think I may have mentioned Santa's pathetic sewing machine for the girls. That went into the garbage and the Easter Bunny stepped up. Since it didn't feel right to give the girls a sewing machine and the rest of the kids something like a coloring book, all the gifts were nice.

And since then, the 4 older kids have practiced threading the machine over and over. They are chomping at the bit to start actually sewing. Too bad their mother feels too overwhelmed with life to stop for 20 minutes and get them started!

After the thrill of gifts and snacks, we headed outside to hunt for eggs. What a difference a few hours makes...it was much warmer than the weather we'd had the night before!

Sarah was really getting the hang of looking for eggs.

But not so much the idea of keeping them.

Chad hid SEVERAL eggs in the pine tree branches and on the 6-ft-high fence posts. It was entertaining to watch when the kids just...couldn't...quite...reach.

And then it was time to count (and show off) because we don't want to find any rotten eggs 3 months from now!

Yes, all 62 eggs (we used 2 from the hunt the night before) were finally accounted for. They were so pretty to see on that miracle of GREEN GRASS!

This was the first Easter Egg Hunt we'd had outside since moving to this house. I'm pretty sure it was because Easter came so late in the year. We are used to seeing come late to this area.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

The kids were invited to an Easter Egg Hunt at a friend's house this year. They held it on the Friday before Easter. The weather around here has been...unreliable - to say it nicely. But this day was a break in the storm. The sun came out. Unfortunately, the temps didn't really come up. Ahh...Spring in Eastern Idaho!

Chad followed the older kids,

and I followed the younger kids. Sarah quickly got the point.

Joseph was on fire and ready to fill his basket!
Nathan was a very serious contender.

Joseph used his small arms to reach into tight places.

We were very thorough and looked everywhere we could think to look.

(Rebekah)

But like I said, it was cold. And the wind rarely quits around here. Sarah got a little too cold for her liking!

And now the kids were primed and ready for their own Easter Egg Hunt!

EGGS!

Remember those chicks that were hatching back in June? They started laying eggs about 3 weeks ago. Now we are getting about 10-12 eggs a day. At first they were very tiny and then got to be a more respectable size. Occasionally, we get a surprise.

How do you like that egg? It dwarfs the other eggs! I've been waiting to take a picture before cracking it open to see what's inside. Maybe it's a dinosaur!

And do you see that little green egg? We have some hens that lay green ones. Each day is a surprise.

Ah...simple living. ;)

And come March, we will have a few more layers. These chicks hatched just before Halloween. There are 7, but we don't know how many are roosters. These chicks came from our old chickens. We gathered some eggs from those guys and then gave them away (they were only producing 0-3 eggs a day).

Rubber Egg

Want to see something really gross? This egg was laid without a shell. It's just the membrane...and it's squishy. It's called a rubber egg. You can probably understand why. Several things can cause it.

Chad didn't want me to blog about it because he didn't want it to end up printed in a book - forever. I think he'll get over it. :)

I don't know if this has been happening often or not. It's a miracle it didn't break in the chicken coop. The chickens will eat the eggs that break (which is why I'm unsure if we've had these before).

One year on the farm

October 29th was our one-year mark for living in the new house. It doesn't seem like it's been that long! We've turned into quite the little farm in that year.

We've finally been enjoying eggs from the chickens. This is the 2nd container full of these beautiful brown babies. We have 12 hens, but average about 4-5 eggs a day so far. We got 6 eggs one day this week. We've already given one dozen away!

Leah learned that if you hit the egg on your forehead, it will crack (the egg, not your forehead). It made her cry. I think she thought she was in trouble. Often times, the chickens will peck at the eggs and crack them anyway. But let that be a lesson to all of you...no hitting your heads with eggs!

We recently got 3 more cows in the corral. I know some of you are shocked and some are just slowing shaking your heads. The cows are part ours and part Chad's business partner. That brings us up to 5 head. (Sounds so farmer-ish, right?) All 3 are steers (males that can no longer be daddies). They are much more vocal than the two we already had. I'm sure the neighbors are glad.

Here's a little picture of the "farm" one year after we moved in. It's already outdated, though. We butchered one of the roosters, so we really on have 13 chickens. We hope to be down to 12 soon, when we get rid of the second rooster. Roosters are pesky things.

The kids have enjoyed playing in the pasture all summer. Here is one last shot before the snows come in and bury all the tall grass under a couple of feet.

And isn't this a beautiful sunset? I'm really glad we live here.

An Egg-stra Special Day

We have an egg-citing announcement! We have our first egg from the chickens!

This is a long-anticipated event on the Collett Farm. We'll remember it fondly.

Isn't it a tiny beauty? *sigh*