thu, 4/1...day 91

This evening Niall performed in the long-awaited "Annie" production at school. It was energetic and lots of fun.

We got to see two shows, as the chorus sang after the scene from "Annie." Between the families of the actors and the families of the singers, and with all the room taken up by the stage (so the kids had room for their choreography), it was quite a snug fit in the Center Room.

wed, 3/31...day 90

The brothers ready to head home from school after Extended Day.


And some very dramatic clouds at an intersection just down the hill from our house.

tue, 3/30...day 89

Loved the long shadows at school today.

(A camera in my pocket for quick photos is my new must-have!)

mon, 3/29...day 88

I finally finished repairing Cory's Hot Air Balloon Blanket quilt, after many months of "almost there." He snuggled it so much over the years that the flannel back wore through along the edges. Some of the yarn ties that (more or less) held the layers together had also untied or tore through so the batting was quite uneven.

So I added a new backing, quick straight up-and-down quilting, and a flannel binding. The last part is what took me so long. The poor quilt sat in the corner of our dining room for months before I finally moved it up to my craft room when I got that set up last Fall. And then...it sat *there* for more months.

But now at long last the quilt is shipshape and back on Cory's bed.

Of course, in the meantime, he's gotten very attached to his "colorful blanket" so Hot Air Balloon Blanket doesn't have the same spot in his heart that it used to. So it goes!

sun, 3/28...day 87

Today's project was hen house updates Part 2: An access door to the nest box so we can easily retrieve eggs. I've been going through the main back door and then the door to the hen house, reaching way back to pull out the nesting box, removing eggs, and then pushing the box back in the corner again.

But with the new door, we can just unlatch it, reach in for eggs, and close it back up again. It'll make it really simple for even Cory to get eggs. Yay!

Tynor and I worked together again, through spats of rain and challenges of making starter holes and cutting through plywood in reasonably straight lines (he did a great job :D). Another mission accomplished!

Of course - between those two projects, that was almost my whole weekend devoured. But it was worth it. This is going to be a busy week, though, finishing up everything else to get ready to go.

sat, 3/27...day 86

It's such a pain to have the chickens split up into two separate chicken tractors and deal with double the water, food, moving, egg-collecting, etc. duties. Now that the low hen on the totem pole has completely recovered, I wanted to move her back in with the others. But I think lack of space (after we added the hen house) contributed to the pecking problem.

So I devised a plan for expanding the big chicken tractor and wanted to get it built and ready for four-hen occupancy this weekend, so Grandma won't have to deal with double hen-care while I'm gone to Malawi (leaving Friday!). It took several trips to McLendon's, of course, but eventually we had all the lumber and supplies needed and Tynor and I knocked out the addition by early evening. So satisfying!

The hens are all back together now, and although some feathers flew early on (re-establishing the pecking order), they seem to be settling down now. Fingers crossed.

fri, 3/26...day 85

Cory got this little umbrella at Legoland when we were there (almost three years ago now!). It was the perfect size for him then - but he's grown just a tad!

He was still delighted when we rediscovered it recently, hanging behind some other stuff on the coat rack. He's happy to have it at school where apparently it's "in" to have your umbrella with you at outside time. :P