Boots, Chicks 'n' Eggs

HAPPY EASTER!! I hope your day was as wonderful as ours. It’s 7pm and I’m writing while still in the pj’s I awoke in. That alone denotes a great day. I was also able to take a brief nap in front of our fire, until the Rescue Heroes started conducting missions over and around me.

The boys entered our room at 6:35 with a cheerful “Happy Easter!” Then they were ready to hunt for their baskets. We put them off until 7:10 and then everyone had a fun time hunting (including Andy). Shoes were the theme of the baskets as Tegan, Riley and Conner all got cowboy boots and Andy got some new basketball shoes that he’d been eyeing for some time now.

Next they had to hunt for the family surprise. They found the cutest little girls in the laundry room. Our six chicks are a little over a week old and sooooo fuzzy and cute. I got them yesterday and was able to keep them hidden until this morning even though their night time peeping was quite boisterous. Tegan and Riley both remarked (several times throughout the day) that these were the best Easter presents ever (we’ll see if they still feel that way in three months after caring for them daily). They have been loving on them all day and can’t seem to get enough of them. We have to force the boys to give the chicks a break for a while. They all have names now so I really hope they all survive (they have a fairly high mortality rate). Tegan has Lucy and Teddy, Riley has Goldie and Midnight and Conner has Chirps and Peeps (in honor of Uncle Don). They can actually tell them all apart too. If they do all survive we’ll somehow have to choose two to send to live at our friend’s since we will only have room for four in our coop. Why didn’t we just get four you ask? Since they die so easily I decided I’d rather send some to a friends than have one of the boys lose his while the others’ chicks survived. They are quite comfortable and seem to be doing pretty good so they may all survive. I've decided I want one of their heat lamps over me all the time. I think if I get a long enough extension cord and an extra tall IV drip station to hang it on I might be able to pull it off - at least while I'm at home.

The boys had to take a break from the cuddling to hunt eggs around the house (yet another rainy Easter so no outdoor egg hunting). Everyone found their plastic eggs filled with surprises, although we think we’re still missing one so maybe we’ll find it next year. Speaking of eggs you wouldn’t believe the fun uses I found for eggshells this year. Of course, we made our annual confetti eggs. We did 3 dozen this year so the boys could take them to school and share them with their classes. Next, I filled some empty shells with jello and gave them to the boys and their friends for breakfast. They were quite dismayed at the fact that they were served hard boiled eggs until they discovered the true contents of the shell. I also used some empty shells to make the boys each a solid white-chocolate egg, but I colored the chocolate several colors before pouring each layer in so they unwrapped a beautiful egg as they removed the shell. I’ll need to look online for more eggshell uses next year.

Breakfast also caused a pause in the chick cuddling but, we sat down to the favored crepes and cheese blintzes with a pile of bacon – YUMMMM. With an ice cream snack and then frozen pizza, Juice Squeezes and strawberries for dinner (not to mention all their basket candy) the boys were quite pleased with the food for today. I think I did throw some carrots on the table at dinner, but Andy may have been the only one that ate those.

After breakfast the boys hid their surprises for each other. Somehow, a few years ago, we ended up taking them to the Dollar Store and let them pick out something for each other for Easter. I don’t remember why we did it that year, but they remember each year and remind me that that’s one of our traditions. This year they took their own money and had a great time picking something out and hiding it for one another. Riley also came up to me today and insisted on giving me a dollar so I could go to the Dollar Store to get myself an Easter present. He’s so sweet!! I didn’t want to take it but he was so sad I wouldn’t that I finally decided to.