How cool is this?

Ok...yesterday I was joking about being obsessed with these little chicks, but today...it's official!

The bad news is that of the 6 I can successfully candle, I think one is a dud! I haven't seen any change in it the last 3 days :(

The good news is that of these 6 baby chicks, I think the other 5 are progressing and most certainly, I can see an eye in 3 of them and movement in 2 of them!

I'm going to leave them alone now for a week, not to disturb their development. By the end of next week, I should be able to candle the darker ones and see how their developing.

Tell me that you can see that little black eye! Gabe and I marveled in the coolness of watching this little baby move around in it's warm and comfy egg. I can't handle it...I'm in love :)

Candling...Day 5 and 6

Initially, this started out as a project for the kids, but it's turning into my new obsession. Which is good, because I think my husband is tired of hearing about the Pioneer Woman and would like to indulge in a regular dinner every once in a while (by regular dinner, I mean cheeseburgers or Papa John's)!

Below are my shining star embryos! The Tucks didn't donate any white or light colored eggs, so they can't be candled until day 8 or 9, according to my resources. I, however, thought I'd prove the book wrong, but didn't see anything yet :)

Martin Egg - Day 5 of incubation

You can see the darkening at one end and a few blood vessels (which are hard to see in the picture), but no embryo yet. Tomorrow will be the earliest that an embryo could be seen. Still, things look good so far!

Martin Egg - Day 6 of incubation

Things are progressing! Not only can you see the darkening at one end of the egg, but I can see the veins much more clearly and that sweet little reddish spot in the center near the top is a baby chick!

Tuck Duck - Day 6 of incubation

Now, this little treasure is AMAZING! In the picture, you can see that the left side of the egg is darker...just as it should be at this stage. If you look closely, you can see the veins, as well. In the center of the darker part is a duck embryo! Tell me you can see it! I didn't have enough hands to video this because I was working alone (didn't trust the boys to hold my camera or the egg...too clumsy), but I could actually see the little thing moving! I'll take video of that later when I have Matt's help.

We're progressing well!

Memorial Day Weekend!

We started our weekend with a Pre-K graduation! We love you, Gaber, and Mommy can't believe that you're going to Kindergarden in a few short weeks! How did that happen? Thank you, Mrs. Lucas, for a GREAT year!

We didn't do much on Friday night, other than pack and make a quick visit to Mamaw and Papaw David's. We had to check on their new kittens...Hook, CC, and Shadow! Matt, don't be suprised if these little babies end up at our house. I'd like to tell you that I had nothing to do with it, but that'd be lying! I don't even like cats, but the smiles on these little Houdini's faces is worth it!

Spent Saturday at Kings Island! This was Nate's 2nd trip and Gabe and Adri's 1st trip. We were invited to go with some friends to celebrate Eric's J's birthday! As were were leaving, Gabe informed us that Kings Island needed a sign that said, "Best place on earth!" I have no doubt that our kiddos had a splendid time! The trip was even sweeter because we got to spend the day with some awesome friends. Our kids think so much of these incredible people! We are so blessed to have other adults in our lives that love our kids! Nate even suggested that next time we stay home with Adri and and he and Gabe go with Eric, Rebekah and Athena! Thanks for sweating with us, friends! And by sweating...I mean...SWEATING!

Probably should have started off a little smaller, but for some insane reason, we decided that the boys should ride The Beast...as their first roller coaster!

They look pretty scared in this picture and although they both admitted to NEVER wanting to ride it again, there was no permanent harm done because by the end of the day, their roller coaster tally was uncountable! Good thing the lines were short and we have fearless boys!

Adri with Athena! She loves her so much!

Sweet Natalee! How can this face not cheer you up?

Can't ever get enough of the carousel...or the scrambler...which is impossible to take a picture of! We had to take turns riding with her on that because no one could stand to ride it over and over again! We're old folk!

I think this may have been the only thing I rode with Adri all day...she'd rather ride with Mommy and Daddy's "special friends, Ewok, Becca and Afeena!"

Cherubs...all 3 of them!

I must confess that I got a bit teary eyed watching my big boys ride some of the rides. I couldn't help but imagine when they were just babies and now they were riding rides and roller coasters at Kings Island! I grew up going there every summer and never imagined having kids that I would take there someday! Again, I'm old!

Any time the Martin's take a trip, it usually involves ice cream! This yummy stuff used to be called Smurf ice cream and now it's Snoopy blue...still tastes the same and they loved it, even if my kids don't know the Peanuts characters!

I don't think Gabe savored this cone, one bit. I handed it to him and then looked over less than 1 minute later and it was gone! The Martin's don't mess around when it comes to ice cream...especially Mommy and Gabe! No one wants to see a picture of me eating Snoopy ice cream...too scary!

After a day in the sun (sweating) at 'the best place on earth,' (did I mention we did A LOT of sweating?) we headed to a hotel to recuperate before spending Sunday with some of Matt's family that lives in Cincinnati. I guess they're my family, too...I can say that, right, after almost 13 years of marriage? I hope so, because there were a few precious little ones that I wanted to bring home with us...Baby Joey, Faith, Reagan, Rachel and Bo the dog. I mentioned sweet Rachel in a post in November. Her and her family spent the weekend with us for Thanksgiving and I was hoping that I'd get to hear her sweet little voice say, "CanIhaveapeanutbutterandjelly?" again. I'm so glad that I did...that should hold me over for a few more months :)

The sweating on Sunday was optional because we were poolside. I'm sure that Nate only got out of the pool to eat and this morning, he said his fingers were still puckered. Thank you for the hospitality Tracy and Kevin (and the tons of other Cowans that we don't see often enough).

We might have overdone it last night...didn't leave until 11:00! The kids were asleep before we even left their neighborhood! We rolled into our driveway about 1:30 a.m. this morning and I don't remember how Matt and I got the kids to bed and still made it to bed, ourselves! What a fun weekend!

Found Adrianna this morning, at 8:30, still snoozing! I think she was tired...that girl never sleeps past 7! And yes, she still has the remains of chocolate milk on her mouth from last night...we were too tired to worry about it!

Todays' plan was to spend the day in our jammies, but a few things came up!

I headed out to our ladies this morning and found 5 beauties eager to greet me, however, the other 4 were missing and when I looked in the hen house, all I saw was 8 feet (and part of head)! That's country life, I guess. Good thing my Honey was around to help with clean up duty! He's spent the afternoon beefing up security on the hen house and chicken run. He also managed to finish our swing set! Yeah! The kids are super excited!

Sassy the Cat likes it, too!

And, we couldn't resist an invite from Mamaw and Papaw John for dinner. I think we'll still head over there in our jammies :) Keely, we missed you...here we come!

Last week of school for Nate! As of this Thursday at 3:30, summer will officially begin!

From Egg to Chick!

It's no surprise to those of you who know me at all that we LOVE our ladies! I must admit that one of the very best parts of moving out of a neighborhood is that we can have animals (that don't live in the house). Looking forward to the next step...getting a barn so we can get a few 'bigger' animals!

We've had our ladies for a little more than a year and we love them for more than the convenience of not putting eggs on our grocery list. I love watching the kids jump up when I tell them that I'm going out to get eggs or feed/water the chickens...that is if I have to mention it at all! Gabe is usually the most eager one to head out there (sometimes 3 or 4 times a day) and check their food/water and get the eggs. Sometimes I imagine that they're thinking, "If this kid would leave us alone, we could get to work!"

Seriously, how beautiful is this?

We know that our ladies, which have just turned one, will never lay as well as they have this past year, so we're certain that to keep the egg production up, we've got to restock our supply. The bad news is that when you want a chicken to sit on her eggs, she usually doesn't. When you don't want her to sit on them...that's when she does! So, my CFO and I had a meeting this weekend and we decided that purchasing an incubator would be a good investment and a fun experience for the kids...AND US! Matt tried to play it off, but when I popped open that box last night, he went from being completely emmerced in work at the kitchen table to practically knocking me over to get a peek!

We also spent some time making a poster so that the kids could see what was happening inside the eggs as they develop. 21 days and counting! Hopefully the end result will be a tray full of baby chicks!

Interesting fact: Those little chicks have a beating heart by the 2nd day!

Since we only get about 6 - 8 eggs a day from our ladies and you've got to get them in the incubator quickly (and we wanted to fill our 41 slotted tray), we partnered with our friends, the Tucks, who have a plethora of fertile eggs (they're in the egg business).

So, here they are...35 Tuck/Martin eggs! Is there a better word than, 'DORK' to describe how excited I am about this?

And, leave it up to the Tucks to step it up a notch and add a duck egg! I'm looking forward to seeing that little waddler, too!

Updates to come!

Mother's Day

I'm thankful today for the opportunity to be a mom to these amazing kids!  Nate gave me a card this morning that said, "I'm glad God chose you to be my mom."  Nate, I'm glad He did, too!  

Happy Mother's day to all of the special women in my life...my mom, grandma, sisters, aunts, nieces, and friends.  

I also realize that in the midst of much celebration, this day could be a tough one for some.  I know there are woman out there who have lost their mothers or women close to them that felt like a mom.  I know that there are many woman out there that anxiously await the opportunity to become a mother as well as many others who have lost children or miscarried.  As a woman who has experienced some of this pain, as well, let me assure you that there is only one Healer that can take away that pain and replace it with a peace that surpasses all worldly understanding! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Workin' in the garden

I woke up this morning to this...

Thank you, Matt, for being so sweet with your kids and taking the time to teach them things that may not seem important now but will in years to come.  

I can't describe how incredibly blessed I feel at this moment...there are no words...

I love my family!