The trip to Georgia

Well, I think that most of the people who knew I went to Georgia to visit my family know that a couple of days into the visit I got some VERY nasty food poisoning. Starting at 11pm at night and all through the next day I was throwing up every 45 minutes. Then I slept for almost 2 days straight and then we drove home. I don't think it is an overstatement to say that the visit could have gone better---just a bit.....

What really bums me out is that I was so excited about going to the Georgia Aquarium but I got sick the night before we were to go. I hate that.

Oh well. No good pics of the trip either -- shocking, right?

So, it's been a while, again, since I've blogged. What can I say? I am a terrible blogger.

November is flying by, I just got back from a trip to Georgia which I will probably write about later.

I know Halloween was 2 weeks or so ago, but I wanted to post Evan's Halloween pics. He didn't go trick-or-treating b/c we don't really live in a good area for that, so we took him to a Halloween party at our Gym and he had a Halloween Parade at his MDO Program. This year he was a Bumble Bee.


There were some good costumes at the Halloween Party. I liked the Storm Trooper-very realistic.

Evan and his Daddy both chowed down on popcorn. I couldn't get a good pic of Evan in the Moonwalk Castle (behind them in photo), but it was hysterical watching him get bounced around by all the other kids jumping. He loved it! I don't know if you can see him in the photo, but there's a kid who looks like he's trying to escape the moonwalk. I can almost imagine him yelling "let me out of here!"

This kid was a little too scary looking for me.

Evan had a great time. He didn't choose his costume this year but I'm pretty sure that by next year he will be old enough to have a strong opinion about his choice of costume.

Evan, the 2 year old toddler!

My baby is 2!!!!!!!!!!!

He had his birthday a couple of weeks ago. It was a very small affair; daddy, baby and mommy. We thought about a party but things have been a little off lately so we decided against it. We did have a cake, balloons and presents. That was plenty for my little guy.

He is into his "bossy" phase now. I mean REALLY bossy. He tells me, daddy, the pets, kids at the playground, everybody what to do. If I'm in the wrong frame of mind, it can be a little annoying....

He's awesome, though, and I love him terribly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost 2

Here is probably one of the last chances to see Evan as a One year old. He turns 2 shortly. I cannot believe he's growing up so fast.

He's quite the talker now. It took a while but now he repeats everything he hears--which is not always a good thing. He has cut down on the use of the word "sh*#" because we have made a monumental effort to stop saying it but we still hear it from him occasionally. I guess the good news is that he knows how to use it in context. For example, he might trip and drop something he's holding and the word will pop out. I wince on the one hand, and feel an irrational pride that he knows how to use it, on the other. Like I said, though, he is using it less and less--thank goodness. Cross your fingers, he hasn't used the "F" word yet.

Chicken Growth

Well, my newer chickens are growing up. I think the last time I reported on "Coop News" I had purchased some americauna chicks. They are almost full-grown now and they dwarf my bantams. Scott says they look a bit "hawkish" and more like predatory birds rather than chickens. I cannot wait until they start laying b/c they are supposed to lay blue eggs. These are 2 of the 4 americaunas.
This is what they looked like as babies:







I gave away the other set of chicks and all of my roosters except for Teddy, my black cochin. He's such a sweetheart. He never gets aggressive and is pretty quiet for a rooster.



I really didn't need any more chickens, BUT, back in May I was buying some feed and I saw the cutest little bantam chicks. There were only seven left and I knew I shouldn't come home with 7 chicks, so I asked for 4. HOWEVER, they were looking to get rid of the last of them, so I got all 7 for the price of 4. Lucky me!



Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them when I first got them and I lost one, so now I have 6, and they are cute! As they get more mature, it looks like I've got some white cochin bantams, and some mixed bantams, one in particular is looking more like a porcelain bantam. I don't think any of them are purebred, though.






Everybody gets along great. Ever since I got rid of the other roosters, it has been very peaceful.

Fish Bowl

This post is for Jeni because she wanted to see my fish bowl. It's not for fish, per se, but they seem to like it well enough. I've had the bowl for years and didn't know what to do with it b/c it's so big. I had been wanting to get some fish and one day it dawned on me that I already had a home for them. It turns out that the bowl holds 10 gallons of water and is perfect for fish, in my opinion. The only thing is that the curve of the bowl distorts the shape of the fish and makes them look so much bigger than they actually are, but I think this just adds to the enjoyment. I've had them for about 5 months now and they seem to be doing well.

I put Nina beside the bowl to give people a point of reference as to the size of the bowl. Then, of course, Evan wanted his picture taken too. He's so cute!

If you look close you can see my blue Beta and a couple of other fish swimming around.

Chick update

My chicks seem to be doing well. They are feathering out and getting bigger.

This is what the chicks look like at approximately 2 1/2 weeks old. You can see their feathers sprouting out. They are kinda gangly-looking at this age. It's sort of an "in-between stages" look but they'll turn pretty over the next few weeks.


I've also added 4 ameraucana chicks to the group. They look very different from the others. I've never had ameraucaunas but I am very excited. They lay BLUE eggs. So far, my chickens have just laid the regular brown and beige, so I can't wait to see some blue ones in the mix!

Here's what they look like as chicks. Very different from my

other chicks.