Brrrrrrr....

Mother Nature must be playing with us. This week has given us unbelieveably beautiful weather with cloudless blue skies and sunshine but the temperature doesn't want to get above the freezing mark. We've been breaking up the ice on the animal water troughs with shovels and trying to collect the eggs before they freeze. Our aracauna hen finally started laying so we have some 'ready-to-go' Easter eggs. Hers are generally a light turquoise color. Another hen has decided she's a B-2 bomber and lays hers while sitting high on a perch, dropping them to the ground. The only time they don't break is when they land in a pile of chicken poo, making them a joy to collect. We feel pretty lucky the girls are still laying even in the cold weather. We're collecting about 3-4 eggs a day.

We're still at six kids but the agency just called to update our records and see what ages we are willing to take. That usually means they're looking for a place for somebody.

Our little girl is getting a bit braver about trying to take some steps. She does best when she's wearing her specially constructed shoe inserts that help lift her arches and straighten her legs, although she'd much prefer to be barefoot. So far her record is walking about 6 feet without sitting down. She likes to have the boys clapping and cheering her on. She's learning many new words, trying several new signs and definitely knows how to tell us she's not happy. Her favorite thing is to announce that she's going to cry if she doesn't get her way. She'll ask for something and then say, "I cwyyy...." How she figured out to do that, I'll never know.