Just a few moments ago...

We returned home with the first batch of chickens for the season... 100 Cornish and 20 turkeys... they will be housing communally for the first few weeks and then they will be separated at night. They are so flipping cute!

The only time in there lives that these turkeys will ever be cute i am sure...

Later today we head to Regina to pick up our layers.... Easter egg chickens and wynadottes... they will be a great addition to the group...

Here they are......

Monday....

It has been a fun filled week with Mr. Rigger at home but today he heads back to work.Our week was full. It always flies by so quickly that its hard to remember what we got done, however we will both admit that the day after Mr. Rigger goes to work... Nothing gets done.... Mama goes to bed at 7pm with the kids and catches up on all that missed sleep....

Tuesday.... Picked up Mr. Rigger and headed to a friends to pull down the remainder of the demo project we had undertaken earlier in the week. Got home, bathed kids... watched a movie together... passed out

Wednesday... DATE DAY... Dropped off some kids to a friend, left some with Gramma and headed out.... To town for gas and mail then the city for lunch, then Swift Current to pick up OUR NEW VAN!!!! Picked up the kids in that next Van and they were soooo excited!

Thursday... Mr. Rigger hauled water,played with babies, and cleaned the yard. Went to town and got birthday presents, Easter supplies... etc...

Friday... Picked up a kid from Lisas... Released BOB ( the turtle) into the slough in our yard (he LOVES IT), Cleaned the barn, played with Sheep, Cleaned, cleaned.... cleaned

Saturday... Picked up some kids from Lisa and decorated eggs, watched Mr. Rigger clean the barn, cleaned out a granary for the chicks coming THIS WEEK!!! Cleaned.... Cleaned oh and we cleaned

Sunday... Easter!! Chinese dinner and egg hunt at Lisas... It was awesome... We are pretty good cooks! Ginger Beef, Pineapple Pork, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chicken Balls, Spring Rolls, Rice, Stir Fry and Noodles.... It was like take out! mmmmmm.....

And today.... we have to hook up the heat lamps in the chicken barn..... haul more water, laundry... lots of laundry!... go buy some new fish.... a bit of groceries and drop Mr. Rigger at the airport....

It will be a long day... oooo... french toast for breakfast.... yum yum.....

This is Big Dog with his very swollen face a day after getting his top braces... He is super sore but getting used to them...

Lots of Basil .... Yum yum yum...

Our tractor and head driver.... with assistant driver.....

This machine is going to make my gardening soooooo much easier.... Mr. Rigger also informed me that the next time he is home he will pick up a cultivator (plow)... its not a rototiller but it will be awesome.

That is one FABULOUS sweater and scarf set right there!!!! I CANT WAIT!!!

That is a whole lot of room for a whole lot more kids.... seven more to be exact..... Ohhh the kids are so happy not to be smooshed into the back of the truck... all but big dog have booster seats or car seats, they all have window seats... they love it..

Ain't she perdy?????

Tomato..... amongst many dead plants....

Mama... doing some surgery on Big Dog... at home dentistry is what we call that!! He had a wire come loose and it was cutting the inside of his mouth.... rather than a two hour run to the city... a pair of wire cutters and tweezers work just dandy!!

(blurry huh?)

SOON TO BE FULL OF 150 chickens AND 20 turkeys!!!!!

Have a good week....

Hopefully i get inspired and get a moment to blog again soon... ITS ALMOST MAY.... when did that happen!! 

GUNS......

Over the past four weeks Big Dog and I have been attending a Saskatchewan Hunting Safety Course. It was two nights a week for 2 1/2 hours and last night we had our exams....


Big Dog...
Practical 88%
Fire Arm Safety 88%
HUNTERS EDUCATION 93%

Myself
Practical 96%
Firearm safety 92%
Hunters education 91%

Congrats to Big Dog... He will be receiving a BB Gun for his birthday in July if he doesn't save up and buy himself one by then. In the camp he attends this summer he will be able to participate in Rifflery. He is super excited!

I am glad we had the opportunity to learn something together. He did very well... We had stopped y to see Gramma just before our test and while there he pet the cat... He managed to do both exams with his eyes half swollen shut and having a hard time breathing, sneezing, watery eyes.... hives on his forehead... he was a mess.... but i am very proud of him.

We have to wait for our certificates to come back which we are told takes a few weeks, then I am able to apply for a PAL and he will apply for a minors license and then to the firearm store we will go.

I am thinking for myself, i will purchase a pump action shotgun. In theory if i ever was in need of using it to protect our family (God forbid) then the scary kshh kshhh it would make as i merrily asked the person to leave would be helpful i think.....

Good times.....

Just checking in...

What full days these are.

We have been doing.....
..... I'm not even sure what..

WE BOUGHT A VAN!!! going to pick it up this week...

We have prepped for the 150 chickens and 20 turkeys that are coming next week.

Received a letter confirming the 500 tree seedlings that are coming in 2 weeks.

Received a letter confirming the surgery (finally!!!) for my schlerotherapy... (varicose vein surgery).... also in two weeks....

WE BOUGHT A VAN!!!! I'm a little excited...

I have been trying to confirm my spot in a course that starts in September that in a year and a half will employ me as the coolest thing ever... okay maybe not the coolest but best suited to me....

Mr. Rigger comes home tomorrow and we are going ON A DATE THIS WEEK... which by the way i was so excited about... so excited to buy a dress for... to plan to be sooooo perfect.... i managed....

TO FORGET HIS BIRTHDAY!!!

I forgot my husbands birthday.... I am the worst wife ever.... i thought it was next week...

hmmm.... I wonder what day it is today....

Oh and I am one short class away from having a license to own a firearm. I CANT WAIT TO GET A GUN....

SUPER FUN!!!

Will write more with pictures soon....

Managers of their chores....

In our opinion all children need chores. That being said it is quite difficult to make sure all chores are being done when all these children are running in different directions. We were in need of a system...

I found on this glorious Internet a book called MANAGERS OF THEIR CHORES. I bought it about six months ago. i read it in one night and spent the next six days putting together highly detailed chore packs...

The kids had set times everyday were they were to do their chores and it was awful..


I FAILED. I made chore packs that contained chores they had never done(like dusting).. (I have never dusted) I made the chore packs UN manageable.There was no way i could keep up with the training and the inspection process and still manage to get food on the table.

I QUIT.

While i was cleaning the bookcase the other day i found the book again and i thought i would give it another try. however i would go about it differently. I will make it work for is. I was so excited to have a immaculate house with many hands to help that i totally overlooked our lifestyle and i overlooked our children.

We have a new chore chart with the cards from the chore packs. It is in a main area of the house so no one can "lose" there chores. 

The chores are do-able this time. Make your bed, put your pjs under your pillow, get dressed, brush your teeth, etc...

We flip them when they are complete and no one forgets if they have done them or not.

Each chore has a minute value. At the end of the week all minutes are added together and those minutes can be "spent" on media time on Saturday. They can play the Wii, DS, or computer.

This system did not work in week one... they got to Saturday and most had only accumulated a few minutes.So they were only able to play on the computer for that time. Getting them all booted up and ready to play and then having the alarm clock ring 10 minutes later and me cheerfully telling them that their time was up worked like a charm, i explained as they balked that they had earned every minute of the time they had and that if they were unhappy with that time then they had an opportunity to work a little harder this week.

WELL HMMMM....

This week we have had kids up and dressed with teeth done and a bathroom that still looks like a bathroom when mom gets up. The girls are brushing their hair everyday without tears. Monkey boy is getting dressed (always been a fight for us) It has worked like a charm and for now and until it stops working I am delighted. I'm also happy that their was no need to yell or harrass them... Thats the way it should be!

Thank you Managers of their chores.....

Still building....

So the kids have been outside which has given me a little time to play catch up.

In our family, we go through a lot of clothes. Kids grow, fall and rip knees out of pants, find stray threads and pull apart sweaters, put holes in socks....they WEAR their clothes...

So Mrs. Birdie has had no hand me downs lately. (J Bear never has much left when hes done with his clothes) so i decided she needed a few pair of pants that actually covered her enormous cloth diapers, and some tops that covered her kidneys and belly in the spring winds.

I finished this tunic type top....

While Birdie was doing this.......

I think she likes it.......

Its a bit big, but that's how we like our clothes around here. These kids are like weeds.... Every time we do laundry we have to evaluate sizes and change wardrobes...

Too big is a good thing....

More building...

If you have wood floors they are bound over time to get gouges. Around our dining room table it is common for fidgetting children to bounce there chairs all over the place and gouge the floors on a daily basis. It was driving me crazy. So we decided that benches would work well for us. We went to antique shops and found beautiful vintage benches for about 300.00 a piece... Not likely... So we went to furniture stores and found okay benches for around 200.00 a piece... Again not likely... So one day while i was looking through a 2X4 design book I found a pattern for a picnic table and benches made out of 2X10s ! 

 We made these benches....

2x10S were about $10 a piece and two benches requires 3 2X10s... we bought stain and pre-stain and some sanding pads and in total spend about $60.00 for two benches!

So no more retro chairs digging into the floors in the dining room

I think this looks much better. I only have one stained and completely finished, I am still sanding the other one but i couldn't wait to bring it in.....

Another huge bonus is where we could only seat 3 on each side with our over sized retro chairs five can sit comfortably on each bench ... we have seating for twelve! We wont have to up size for quite a while. I am considering making short benches for the ends but i was also thinking i could find some vintage captain chairs and stain them to match...

I think this may be the beginning of a trend for me... furniture that.....

 MATCHES!!!

How very foreign...

I have never had any style of theme in our home... But i like how clean and tidy it looks... And we (Mr. Rigger measuring, cutting and putting together) and (me sanding and staining and keeping children off it while it dried) make a pretty darn good team, yet again.