Chicken Impostor(s) - Part One

Remember when I introduced the Van Cluck Sisters?  

How could you forget these sweet, fluffy babies: 

May 2011- The Van Cluck Sisters Join the Family 

They were cute, but as soon as the fluff turned to feathers, we moved them out of their garage playpen and into "Cluckingham Palace" the royal hen house King Charming and his pals built for them in the backyard.  A sense of contentment came with officially becoming backyard chicken farmers, and we started dreaming about farm fresh eggs for breakfast.  

Two years later I can say we have more eggs than we can eat for breakfast, and we like our girls so much there are now ten "royal sisters" wandering our backyard each day instead of only five.  But of course our chicken story couldn't be simple.  What fun would that be?  (And what would I have to blog about) 

No, our backyard chickendom was fraught with drama.  Some might even call it treason or espionage!  : )  

While they were still chicks, we began to wonder how the pecking order would play out.  Who would be the queen of the coop?   Some of you readers even placed wagers.  

Most put their bets on one of these two becoming queen:  

   

"Angeline"

Lady Angeline Ann Van Cluck 

"Lady Di"

Lady Diana Van Cluck

I can see why.  Of all the chicks these two had the most spunk and personality. In the pictures they even look royal, don't you think? 

We were all so right!  (And yet so very wrong)

As they grew older, it was obvious that either Di or Angeline would reign supreme.  Every day, we changed our mind, though.  Who would win? 

"Maybe Di is the top of the pecking order."  

"No, now I think Angeline is taking first place."  

Then it happened.  It was the end of July and we were packing for our annual vacation when the girls came crashing into the kitchen to announce, "Guess what we just heard!!!"

"Di was CROWING!!"  

No!  Could it be?  A rooster!!??? We live in suburbia.  Just having chickens in the backyard was stretching the CC&R's, but a crowing rooster waking up the neighbors every morning at sunrise?  That wouldn't work AT ALL?  I could just imagine the knock on the door from the Homeowner's Association Police.  Or the dreaded LETTER IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

King Charming and I decided it was easiest to remain in denial and believe that the girls were just hearing things.  So we left on vacation while his brother and sister-in-law house sat for us.  Unfortunately, denial didn't last long when we started getting texts like this, "Uh.  Dude.  I think one of your chickens is crowing."  

By the time we got home, there was no denying it any longer.  Lady Di was not a lady at all.  She, I mean he, was an impostor! 

There was only one thing to do- what any self-respecting, backyard suburbanite farmer would do:  

GET ON YOU TUBE AND LEARN HOW TO KILL PROCESS A CHICKEN, of course.    

It was messy.  There were feathers flying.  But the deed got done.  

The kids had fun watching.  

And I hid in the house.  : )  

So Lady Di became: 

Dinner.    

And Angeline became queen of the coop.  

It's a sad tale, I know.  But of course, there has to be more to the story, right?  

Stay tuned... More chicken drama in my next post.  


Love, 


Your Favorite Chicken Farmer  

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Introducing the Van Cluck Sisters

We have some new fluffy babies around here- 

Chickens!  : ) 

We may have been slightly influenced by a certain royal wedding last week when we named our girls. 

We each picked out a chick of our own and decided they needed very aristocratic names.  Prince Charming had a little help naming his chickie.  "Bird" just didn't seem fancy enough.  : )    


Meet the Van Cluck Sisters:

"Goldie"
Lady Goldia Rosemary Van Cluck

Goldie is a Golden Sex Link chicken and belongs to Youngest Princess

"Angeline"

Lady Angeline Ann Van Cluck

Angeline is an Ameracauna chicken.  She will lay pastel Easter colored eggs.  She belongs to Oldest Princess.  

"Lady Di"

Lady Diana Van Cluck

Diana is a Rhode Island White chicken and belongs to King Charming. 

"Ramona"

Lady Ramona Augusta Caroline Van Cluck

Ramona is a Golden Sex Link chicken and she belongs to Prince Charming.

"Bea"

Lady Beatrice Anastasia Adelaide Van Cluck

Beatrice is also a Golden Sex Link chicken and she's mine!!  : )

We are so excited to have fresh eggs.  They should be laying for us before school starts again in the Fall.  Right now they are still in their brooder, but King Charming is hard at work designing and building "Cluckingham Palace" (a.k.a. The Coop).   

As soon as they establish their pecking order, and we can see who is the boss, we will know which of the ladies will receive the title of "Her Majesty the Queen".  After that we'll decide who will become our princess, duchess, countess, etc.   We're not having fun at all.   : )

I originally titled this post "Meet Our Newest Family Members" but King Charming put the kabosh on that.  He has told us over and over again they are not family members, to not get too attached, and to remember these chickens are food providers, might die, and might end up in soup.  We're prepared for the worst, but still having so much fun.  I can't believe how fast they are growing and changing.  On Saturday they were puffballs.  Now they are already getting their feathers.  

I like being a chicken farmer!  : )   

Want to vote on which one you think will end up Queen? 

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Seeing Green

The Corned Beef and Cabbage are all set to go for dinner tonight with Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream for dessert of course. 
Yum, Yum, Yum!!   

And after the fun we had with our Valentine's Hair-Dos, the girls and I decided we needed shamrocks in their hair today-

Oldest Princess

Littlest Princess

Directions for hairstyles are from this site: http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/ 

All Ready for a Green Day at School-

No Pinching! 

Hey!!  Did You Forget Someone, Mom! 

 See I'm wearing my green, too- 

My husband's family on his mom side came from Ireland only two generations ago, and although I can't claim as much, there's some Irish blood in me, too.  We have a lot of fun  celebrating our Irishness and St. Patrick, a man credited with bringing the good news of Christianity to Ireland and who was described as being "humble" and "thankful" for that honor.  

Happy St. Patty's Day Everyone! 

Love, 

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Last Year It Was That Mustache...

Last year he grew that THING-

 I think they call it a mustache?  I've repressed it.  : ) 

And now??  That King Charming of mine just can't seem to leave his good looks alone-

But this time I can forgive him because it was for such a great cause: 

Being the hero that he is, he shaved all his hair off to show his support for kids with cancer and to raise money to help find a cure.  

Before: 

After:

My Hero!

Thank you so much to all of you who put up with our constant begging on Facebook, and to those of you who contributed to the almost $500 he raised.  His team took first place with a total of $6,800 and the event here in our city raised over $50,000.  Awesome!

My new hero is the lady he works with who shaved all of her long, beautiful blond hair off in memory of her mom who recently passed away from cancer.   And one of the men raised another $600 or so when he promised to shave the mustache he had been growing since he was 16 years old.  Of course they took care of that on stage.  : ) 

It was a good lesson for our kids.  Prince Charming didn't recognize this new bald version of his daddy, but the girls are now growing their hair out for Locks of Love so they can be like their daddy. 

Hope you all are having a blessed weekend and surviving the Day Light Savings change. 

Love,

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The Best Birthday EVER!

That's how she described it. 

Hearing that and seeing the look on her face in this picture did my heart so much good!! 

I love seeing my baby girl so happy. 

It really was a fun celebration.  First it was pizza at our house, then a trip to the theater to see Tangled.  (I loved that movie!) and then home for an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and a sleepover. 

(It only took me until 1:00 in the morning to get the giggling to stop)

We topped it all off the next morning with some unplanned sleepingbag sledding and a batch of homemade waffles.

It seemed to be a success.  I'm just still in shock that my girl is 9-years-old.  I'm going to be in major shock next year when she turns ten.  

That's a decade. 

Oh my goodness! 

I MUST STOP BLINKING!!! 

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Creation-Deprivation Disorder

Creation-Deprivation Disorder

That's what I've got. 

And I've diagnosed my family with the disorder, too. 

I don't believe we were created to be so sedentary or confined, and I've craved more interaction with nature, but I haven't known how to make it happen.  

I've recently begun reading this book, hoping it will inspire me, so I can inspire us:  

 

The author labels this generation's lack of being outside as "Nature-Deficit Disorder" but I prefer to call it "Creation-Deprivation Disorder".  I'm craving being surrounded by creation so I can know the Creator better and to worship Him as I see Him in what He has made.  I want that for my kids, too.  

Today, I was reading the book and making excuses about it being too cold outside, when I heard the sound of a Disney movie trickling down the stairs.  I decided Prince Charming and I needed an adventure, so I bundled us up and got on my bike and left our neighborhood.  

Thankfully, it doesn't take long for us to get away from our concrete subdivision.  First we said hello to some of our animal friends- 

Then we stopped at a dried out creek bed on the edge of our neighborhood and played and explored, romped, and threw lots of rocks:

It was gray and cold.  The only color was Prince Charming's jacket.  But it was the perfect backdrop for imagination. 

We had a lot of fun on our adventure! 

Well...at least for awhile. 

Then the wimp came back out in us.  : ) 

It's been about three days that I've been very intentional about getting myself outside and encouraging the kids to do it, too, and I can't believe how great I feel from the walks and bike rides.  They've left me hungry for more.   

When the girls came home from school I showed them this website and sent them outside to build their own Fairy House. 

They are mid-construction, so I'll save the update on their progress for another post.  They said I could share the end result as long as I reminded you all not to scare off the fairies.  : ) 

Here's to more adventures to come!  

Q4U-  Do you feel like you or your kids are creation deprived? 

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Princesses Show Off Their Heart Hairdos and Final Made to Crave

We were all so proud of the girls' Valentine's Hairdos this morning, I wanted to show them off:

The girls woke up and asked for hearts in their hair this morning.  I didn't know if that was possible, but figured Google is good for everything.  : )  We stumbled on this amazing hairdo site here and decided to give it a shot.  It's a miracle we made it to school before the tardy bell, but it was very easy and so much fun.  

I hope you all have plans for snuggling your family today and remembering the greatest Valentine of all:

Don't forget tonight is the final Made to Crave webcast.  You can watch it here.  I'm so thankful for all I've learned from Lysa these past six weeks and for the honor of being a part of her blog tour. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

Love you!

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Prince Charming Hijacked my Blog Today

I hijacked Mommy's blog today, because I wanted to say hi to my cousins.  


Even if you are not one of my cousins, you can still watch my videos and see how hard I have been working on my speech. 

Mommy says I've come so far from when she was just hoping to hear me say, "Mama". 

She is proud of me.

Happy Friday!

Love,

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{{Hugs}}

My oldest princess has been so independent from the beginning. 

She crawled at 5 months, walked at 9 months, and had a new baby sister that needed our attention one month after her first birthday.  She didn't seem to have much time or need for snuggling- she was on the go and she was the big kid, not the baby. 

Recently, she has been doing more growing up.  You know that kind of growing up that happens when you are almost nine, when you start changing, and everything seems so overwhelming?  Along with that changing and growing up has come a lot of emotion- tears and frustration and bickering. 

I felt this ache in my heart as I realized how quickly she is growing up and how disconnected she and I have been this winter.  I"ve been frustrated with her and she's been frustrated with me and more than a few nights I've cried and prayed about how sad I was to be losing my little girl to the tween years.  As I prayed, God gave me some direction that was different from what I expected.  You know what He told me to do?    

Hug her more.      

I was so surprised.  Every once in awhile she's asked for a hug or snuggle time, but it always seemed to come when I couldn't (or didn't want to) give her that kind of attention.  It appeared to come when she wanted out of something like going to bed at night or when I was right in the middle of something like cooking dinner or finishing a project and my answer had to be, "I can't right now.  I'm busy."  

I hadn't noticed how little physical affection I had been giving her lately, and I hadn't noticed how hungry she was for it.  Until I started giving it to her. 

Instead of opening the door in the morning and saying, "Rise and shine.  Get up for school!" I've been going in to her room a few minutes early and snuggling with her until she wakes up.  At school, I won't let her leave my car in the morning without a kiss and hug goodbye, and throughout the day, I've tried to grab her as often as I can and hug that little girl that she still is and will always be to me. 

I didn't know hugs were her love language, or how empty her little love tank had become, but she's blooming lately and seems like a new, more peaceful girl.  She needed Mommy hugs, and I'm so thankful God showed me she did, because what I didn't know or expect was how much I needed those hugs, too. 

I love my girl! 

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Sometimes a Princess Just Needs a Day at the Spa

Lately, I've felt a little disconnected from my girls.  

I don't know if it is busyness or grumpiness or hormones (theirs and mine, LOL), but I felt like we needed some good old fashioned girl fun.  

So I declared a spa day.  Because sometimes princesses just need a day at the spa, and so does their mama.  : ) 

We piled in the car and shopped the Wal-Mart cosmetic isle then came home and put Princess Charming down for a nap because boys weren't invited.  

First, I greeted them and told them to put on one of our comfy red robes and to relax and let the stresses of princess life fade away.  They decided to stretch out on the kitchen floor where the sun was streaming through the windows for a little Vitamin D Therapy.  

Next, the princesses were served cocoa with whip cream. 

Next they were treated to an apricot exfoliating scrub, an avocado mud mask, and a hot oil treatment for their hair. 

Here the princesses enjoy some leisure reading while waiting for their mud masks to set. 

And of course no spa day is complete without a manicure.  It was definitely a bonding afternoon and a memory to remember.   For a few dollars at Wal-Mart we ended up having a very special time. 

And now they want to know if we can make "Spa Day" a Saturday tradition.  I'm afraid I may have created two spa monsters, but our pampering did our spirits good.     : ) 

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When a Princess has a Crisis of Faith

Make sure you don't miss your chance to win Lysa TerKeurst's newest book, Made to Crave by clicking here. The winner will be announced on Friday.

I've always said I didn't want to shelter my kids or give them an unintentional message that I was afraid for their faith to be challenged.

I wanted to raise them to not be afraid of the tough questions because what we believe is True, therefore it can stand up to skepticism and challenge and still be True.


Both King Charming and I have also raised them to be critical thinkers, to not just take something as true because someone (or the Internet) says it is true, but to test what they are told.

We want them to use their minds and although it is an act of faith, they do not need to check their intellect at the door in order to place that faith in Jesus. Faith in Him is reasonable.

All of that sounded great in theory, but recently I had to put that confidence into practice and I must admit my gut reaction was to panic.


Sometime in mid-November, I began to notice changes in one of my princesses. In order to protect her privacy, I won't go into great detail, but I was so worried about how resistant she suddenly became to any activity that had to do with church, the Bible, praise, or prayer. For two months I fretted and worried and tried to get it out of her what was wrong, but she wasn't letting me in.


And then I finally got smart enough to pray about the issue. Why, Oh why don't I remember that is where I'm supposed to go first?


The answer was to pray more. Somewhere along the way this past year I got off course with my prayer life and I realized I had stopped consistently covering my family in prayer. And when I started praying for her, the guard came down one night at bedtime, and in tears she started sharing a list of questions she had and let me see how doubt had crept in and how she was afraid and not so sure that what we believed was true anymore.


I wish I could say I was able to calmly and rationally reassure her, but emotion crept in and turned my mind to mush. I didn't have all the right answers. I just tucked her in to bed and ran to King Charming for help. : )


The next morning, I sat back in awe and listened as he led her through a set of questions that helped her come to logical conclusions on her own about the real evidence her faith was built upon. He also praised her for being a critical thinker and let her know he was proud of her for thinking through this stuff. Later that night she prayed, "Thank you, Lord for showing me you are the true God."


And then I breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. : ) I was so thankful for the answers to my prayers for her. And I'm so thankful for the continued peace I see in her lately.


She is such a smart little girl and so young to already be going through these times of doubt. But it was so cool to see how God carried her through and encouraged her. I believe her faith will be stronger now then ever because she is learning that He is worthy of her trust, and I'm glad that her faith is becoming her own, not just something she believes because her parents do.


I learned a lot going through this first little crisis of faith with one of my children. Here are some highlights:


• Don't stop praying for them. I pulled out this list again to help focus my prayers.

• Don't panic, just pray even more. The more I panicked, the worse pressure I put on her.

• Remember God will cover where I fail. He answered her questions even when my stumbling and stammering couldn't.

• I'm thankful my husband is so smart. : )


Thank you, Lord, that you are worthy of our trust. Thank you that you are real and what we believe is True with a capital T. Thank you for loving my family even more than I do, and for answering my prayers. Thank you for helping my sweet princesses grow up to be beautiful women of God.

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This One's For You, Grandpa!

If you are looking for the winner of the Read and Share Bible giveaway, my two princesses announced the winner via video in an earlier post this morning.  Click here to see if you are a winner.  : ) 

Wow!  Two blog posts in one day!  This morning's post and this post are evidence that I am enjoying the new Flip video camera I bought King Charming for Christmas.  I'm having so much fun in fact, I have to remind myself that I got it for HIM, not for me.  : )   

This post is dedicated to Grandpa.  Grandma gets a lot of air time here on this blog, and Prince Charming and I decided that Grandpa needed some blog love.

Here you go Grandpa, some love from your grandson and a little showin' off of his hoop skills. 

(And the video's also for everyone else who wants to see the cutest 2-year-old on the planet.  No, I'm  not at all biased, hee hee) 

Make sure you stop by on Monday for a new series and a giveaway.  Happy Friday Everyone!

Love,

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