Seth's First Day of School

Seth is very excited for school.  He wanted to practice riding his bike to school a few days before the first day.  We got a picture while we were there.

Seth enjoyed his first day at school .  When he got home he said that he had a great day.  He called Grandpa Higham and told him all about it.  Hope he keeps it up for 13 more years.

We Got Chickens

I was listening to Barter Bar and a lady was selling chickens.  She only wanted $2 each.  She was saying that these chickens are good egg laying chickens.  I did not tell her, but I just wanted the chickens for their meat.  She sold me two chickens and one rooster.  If you thought we were getting these chickens as pets, you must know, we are NOT pet people.

I got them on Friday and took them to my house.  I did not have time to slaughter them until Saturday.  I knew the rooster would crow the next morning and I had a plan.  The dang rooster started to crow at 4:50 am.  I went outside with my head lamp on and sprayed it with the hose.  That shut it up for 30 minutes or so.  Then it crowed again.  I sprayed it with the hose again.  This went on for the whole morning.  I told Jennifer that I almost killed that rooster at 6 am, but I did not want to finish skinning it that early; plus I wanted the boys to watch.  

We kept the chickens next to our shed and fenced them in with Seth's baseball backstop gate.  

I was told to hold the chicken upside down to let all the blood rush to its head.  I killed the rooster first, because I did not know if I would be able to handle killing all three in one evening and I did not want the rooster crowing again the next morning.  We decided to skin them.  This was much quick and cleaner then plucking their feathers off.   

All three chickens skinned and processed.  

The two hens went into the freezer.  The rooster went straight into the crock pot.  We did not want it crowing in the freezer.

Keenan's 1st B-Day

Keenan turned one year old on Aug 12, 2013.  We had my parents over for dinner and cake.

Keenan got his own piece of cake.  He enjoyed it very much.

Keenan is a little camel.  When you give him a drink from a cup, he puts his hand on the end and will not let it down.  He gets upset if you take the cup down to let him take a breath.

He got a little Elmo phone that makes noises and lights up.  He was very pleased with it.

We pulled an old bike out of the closet for him.  He cannot walk yet and therefore cannot ride it yet.  He was content to just sit and play.  He sat on it for quite a while playing with his other toys.  

Carter's Broken Leg

Carter ended up at Primary Children’s Hospital last week.  He had an accident on the stairs and broke his leg.  He broke the femur in his right leg.  He had an orthopedic surgeon set and cast his leg.  When the nurses came in the room to work on him, he complained.  Not about the pain, but that they were blocking the TV.

He got a cast from hip to ankle.  He cannot walk or move at all on his own.  We have to lift and carry him everywhere.  It is a good thing that he only weighs 32 pounds.  

He was a tough little kid.  He tried to smile even when there was nothing to smile about.

With weeks to go in a cast, he will just have to relax, watch movies and play games on the kindle.  He loves the movie Cars.  He watches it daily and most of the time twice daily.  We took some old shorts, cut one side and added velcro.  This makes them easier to get on and off with his cast.

We try to get him out of the house as much as possible.  While at Gma and Gpa Higham’s house, we walked down the street and threw rocks in the pond.  Seth rode his bike and Carter rolled behind.     

We also made some black shorts to wear to church.  Carter wears his white shirt, tie and black jacket with his black, velcro shorts.  

Gma and Gpa Jenson brought Carter a few toys and some coloring books.  He colored every inch of this page and had a great time.  

We left the room to help Keenan get in bed and help Seth get a treat.  When we came back Carter had taken the marker apart and squeezed the ink out of the cartridge all over his hands and a bit on his cast.  We washed his hands with soap and got about half of the color off.  He will have red hands for a week or so.  We used bleach to remove the marker ink from his cast and vinegar to stop the bleach from turning the cast yellow.  I guess this boy is not ready for markers; unsupervised anyway.

He still wants to be part of all that we do.  Carter hangs out in the wagon while Jennifer picks green beans and works in the yard.  He loves feeling part of the action.  

Seth's Blue Bike

We bought Seth a bike at a yard sale a few months ago.  The rear tire was nearly worn out.  Also the plastic parts of the pedals were broken.  Everything still worked, just not in the best condition.  

We looked to buy some new parts.  It was going to cost us more to buy parts, than it had cost us to buy the whole bike.  We decided that we needed to find a "parts bike".  We have been watching at DI for a boy bike the same size.  We always find girl's.  Girl bikes have nearly new tires, but they are white.  We do not want that.  Boys are much harder on their bikes.  

We finally found one.  It ended up being better than the one we already had.  The parts bike has become the main bike and the other will be for parts.  We painted the handle bars and seat.  Seth loves it.  He rides it everyday.