The Chicks are Hatching

We are sitting in the school room watching our first hatch. Adam expected them tomorrow, but we have 5 little cracks of little chicks working their way out this very morning. Kids were super excited and although it can take up to twelve hours, I'm sure they will be running off the bus today. I can hear little chirping sounds! This is even more fun because we know who's eggs are whose and we can't wait to see what the chicks will look like. Marilyn lives on!

The Seeds are Starting

My entire dining room table was full of dirt and seedlings the other night. Adam was transferring the seeds he started into their little pots. I wasn’t a huge part of this process, but I did homework with kids and made dinner and all that while Adam went to town on it for the evening. It’s really exciting. I hope these little seedlings go go go! David and Johnny took some of the extra ones and planted their own little gardens in their own little spots out back.

Anna Gets a Haircut

Anna has really needed a haircut for a bit now, but we finally made it happen on Sunday. She looks so cute to me. It is a little bit retro Jodie Foster-y. I can’t get over how grown up she is looking. Tonight we are heading into Evanston to try a volleyball clinic that Chelsy recommended. Hopefully that will be a fun time together. In other news, David finished his book about the paper route. We really need to stay consistant with his reading. I can’t back off. He even admitted to me that he liked it a little bit.

Racing is Fun

I had my first races this weekend after 7 months. I missed two big races in January and March and was beginning to wonder if I would ever actually make it to the starting line again. But YES! and this was a special weekend. Special because I got to run a 5k with my very dear friend Brittany, got to visit with my family at my cousin Lincoln’s first birthday party, with Luke and Elissa after that, bopped around with Anna, and then on Sunday, drum roll........ I got to race with my Dad at his very first triathlon!! It was the best. I looked at Anna on Saturday and thought, she is big, she can handle it. We woke up really early and I loved that she was with me. This was an indoor tri and I had never done one before. Hardly any gear! We got there at 6:30 and after checking in, found my dad sitting by the pool. Not too much to do other than warm up and get started. I did make a request to the race volunteer to adjust my lane, wasn’t super excited about sharing the end lane with someone who may have a very different pace. She was nice and it worked out that he and I both got our own lanes. The swim went well. I had warmed up 400 or so, and didn’t feel super heavy in the water. I imagine I only would have increased my distance by a length or 2 if I was in swim shape. I wasn’t sure when the time was running out so I could kick it up for the last bit, but I hear it’s not because they weren’t yelling at me! I just don’t hear that well :) The funniest part of my race was in transition 1. I have never tried to change into my tri top with race number attached to the back when I am wet. It is a 10 minute break between the pool and the spin room, so I figured I would just change. I got stuck and actually had to cry out for help. Flashback to four year old ballet class. After that was settled, I headed to the spin room, adjusted my bike settings and hopped on. I began to question how they are going to measure distance. I misunderstood, but should have known better—I had heard how it was before from friends. Anyhow, at about 6 min. I realized that I needed to take all of the resistance off my bike and just tried to keep spinning my legs as fast as I could, sort of bouncing all over the place. I saw my dad come in and start his bike right before our wave wrapped up. He looked good. Anna followed us wherever we went. I went up to the treadmill and I was hoping that I would be ready to hit it hard. Eh, it didn’t come that smoothly. I had to back it off a bit at the end of the first mile, but then I was able to pump it back up harder for the last quarter. You want your eyes to roll into the back of your head for at least a little bit of it. and Done. That’s when I got to watch my dad on the treadmill. I was probably a little obnoxious sitting on the floor right in front of him, but then I grabbed Anna and we watched him finish in a RUN. It was GREAT! but we didn’t get to talk about it because he had to get to his church to teach a class. Later in the evening, we celebrated him with burger buffet and it was fun to get all the details. HE BEAT ME ON THE BIKE! Congrats to my dad who conquers all wholeheartedly and with a smile. I want to be exactly the same and I hear his voice in my head when I race. Among many other things, he is my hero of sport!

Stef is Sitting in my Kitchen

Stef and I like to get the kids together as much as possible. Every day my kids inquire about the next time they can see Elliot and Phoebe. I don't typically like to commit to a specific time because if a detail changes and we need to adjust the fallout is massive. In order to make the last minute pop over more of an event we had this fun thing that the kids would be here when my kids jump off the bus and it would be an after school surprise. The tradition has continued. Stef and I sit in the kitchen and drink coffee. Adam comes in and makes us laugh sometimes.

Asparagus Hunters

Asparagus in our front patch

Yesterday we made our first asparagus pick. When we saw a shoot in our own patch that was ready to be clipped, Hudson, Adam and I decided to take off down the road and see what else we could find. Asparagus is kind of hard to spot sometimes because it is just a shoot that sticks out of the ground. Hudson is way into it (so am I), but it is Adam who is really good at it. There are others who hunt for asparagus. I saw a car this morning pulled over in the ditch. A couple of years ago Adam actually had to put a sign in our patch for people not to pick it right out of our yard. We have some other good spots down the road that we clipped down last year’s growth so that those other guys wont be able to tell where the little honey holes are. We have claimed them. STAY AWAY! Right now the asparagus is simmering in another batch of rooster stew.

Burgers, Mushrooms, Eggs

We had a family dinner tonight with my folks and my brother and sister-in-law plus the 7 kiddos. They even gave us our own room. Burger buffet! I popped by this afternoon with intentions of heading to the pool, but I was fine to hang out instead. Johnny and I stopped and looked for morel mushrooms at a local forest preserve. No luck yet, but we did see a snake. We played around with the bat and ball for a bit and waited for my folks to return from their five mile excursion. We took a golf cart ride and then I went home and retrieved the rest for supper. After we got home tonight we "candled" our eggs and it looks like every one of them is fertile. We are expecting our hatch on May 1st. Marilyn will live on. But then I'd better not count my chickens before they hatch.

Run Run Run

This week was full of running. I must have run a full marathon between Tuesday and Thursday, just checking 5K courses, leading Girls on the Run, running with new running friends and track practice. For real, a full marathon. No wonder I feel a little tired today. Wednesday I had my first ever mile time trial and I was nervous! I haven’t been timed at that distance since 5th or 6th grade. It went pretty well, I felt good about the pacing. I never know at what point I can give it everything and not burn up, but I was super satisfied and now I have a baseline for improvement. I had 26 girls do a 5k distance course on Thursday. It went well! Every girl finished the distance and most everyone responded that they were “proud” or that they “feel like they can accomplish anything”. That is super exciting to me. It was a perfect day and even Adam and the boys came out as my aid station. Hoping that all the girls aren’t too sore over the weekend from their efforts. I think a little sore is okay though—shows you worked :)

Rooster Stew

We ate chicken last Saturday night. We were in a rush and Adam roasted it in the oven. It was pretty tough. I actually felt a little guilty knowing that this bird lost his life and we failed to cook it in a way that honored it’s sacrifice. Anyhow, on Wednesday Adam made rooster stew and it was lovely. I feel as if we redeemed ourselves.

Cheesecake for Breakfast

Yesterday was Easter. It is an amazing thing to think how voices sing praises all over the world on the morning we observe the resurrection. 2000 years later—it still matters and even swim practice gets cancelled. We had a nice morning watching the chickens and checking for asparagus. We did a quick sweep across the road to see if we could find any morel mushrooms. No dice. Off to church and then up to Adam’s folks. We got to see baby Selah for the first time! She was beautiful. Gavin has grown so much and he was content to let me hold him for a bit—I loved it. We had lunch and a nice visit with Grampa Dan. I made David’s Cheesecake. We opened our second batch of farmhouse cheddar. Again, my stomach hurts. After Easter I need the sweets and desserts to be gone as fast as possible. I can’t handle it. This morning the kids ate the cheesecake for breakfast, even the chickens had some. Here is the recipe.

Ruth Reichl’s New York Cheesecake

by Emily and David for Easter 2012

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1-1/2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
grated zest of one lemon
2 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the graham crackers with 1/4 cup sugar and the melted butter and press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch ungreased springform pan. Chill while preparing filling. Beat the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, 2 teaspoons of the vanilla and lemon zest until smooth. Pour into chilled crust and bake 50 minutes to one hour, or until the cheese is set and starting to turn golden in spots. Remove from the oven (leave oven on) and cool for about 15 minutes on a wire rack. Stir together the sour cream, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, remaining teaspoon of vanilla and spread over cooled cake. Return to oven for 12 minutes until glossy and set. Cool completely, cover and chill at least 8 hours. Serves 8.

DAVID'S CHEESECAKE VARIATION

Omit zest of lemon and reserve the vanilla (preferably 1tsp. vanilla bean paste) for the sour cream topping. Add frozen strawberries with a bit of sugar that have been smashed and thawed to the cheesecake filling. We used approximately 1 cup and spooned it in with a slotted spoon to reduce extra liquid. We also needed to let it bake it about ten minutes longer in the first step just because of the extra liquid. I'm sure that that would vary with different ovens. I would just suggest that you monitor the situation with a careful eye after the 50 min mark.

The New Guy

Bugeye has been adjusting well. The first night we put him in the coop with the girls and let them hang out for a bit longer in the morning. The girls must have been so confused. WHO IS THIS GUY? and WHAT IS UP WITH HIS EYE? CLUCK. Bugeye has this quirky little sidestep. He must not be able to see well out of his bad eye and balance is an issue. It is pretty funny—he reminds me of a character in a cartoon. His coloring and feathers are gorgeous and he has a nice disposition. Adam is able to pick him up and hold him. We have just been enjoying him find his way here. Must be nice to be the big man now!

The End of the Road

Today was an interesting day. It started out pretty normal--I went out to Elgin to meet up with Brit for a run. She just got back from Zambia and I was super excited to see her. Then I headed home in time for Adam to drive around the world. Thankfully the purpose of this drive was to collect checks, he took Johnny along and they enjoyed the time together. I met up with Stef at Woodmans, swapped kids for a bit and then when Adam got home we swapped back and headed for Barrington Hills. This is where the day gets interesting. We stopped at the tractor supply and picked up an incubator. We want to hatch eggs from Marilyn, because his grace period was over the other day when he went at a visiting child and tried to attack me when I was loading the car. It's just not fun. I was always fond of him, but recently he has been my nemesis. I can't flap my arms when I am holding stuff, and I want kids to be able to play without worrying about being attacked. Onto Barrington Hills... We have a family friend who also raises chickens. He got a straight run and ended up with three roosters that he needed to get rid of due to noise and the small number of hens he had due to coyotes. Our plan was to pick one and swap it for our rooster. When I say swap I should say replace, because we intend to eat Marilyn. All the roosters he had were so nice! Kevin, Bob and Bugeye. LOUD though! That was the main reason he had to be rid of them--neighbors were complaining. Anyhow, Adam decided that if was going to be butchering one chicken he might as well do two more. We hopped back in the van with four kids and three roosters. I got really sad about it this afternoon. An interesting thing to be doing on Good Friday. Adam and the boys did the first birds and Adam did Marilyn alone. We didn't need to see it. Surprisingly though, when they were all defeathered and ready to bag it wasn't such a big deal; just chicken. I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes next week. 

Summer is Coming

It’s getting close to sign up time for all the summer activities and I am scrambling to make things happen. I have been GUNG HO over summer swim team since last summer and want so badly for Johnny to participate this year. I think it would be an amazing thing for him. Also, this is an activity that we can all do together. I don’t want to be divided in the summer—I want my kids working together and cheering for one another.
Girls on the Run has been going well. We are starting to build into our runs. Some girls are way into it and others not as much. It is hard to be that person who is constantly verbalizing for them to keep going, but I want them to understand the satisfaction that comes with pushing a little harder and going a little further than they thought they could. Hopefully I am coming across to them that way and not like a troll.
Last week I signed up for the Milwaukee Marathon. It was SO cheap! I figured that running is what I should focus on this year. It’s close, takes the least amount of time, and I am making some new friends! Plus, it is the thing I am the worst at.


“You achieve what you emphasize.”

Spring/Summer Goals (not in any order):

Girls on the Run program: Be a good coach and encourage those girls to do their best!
Summer Swim Team: Cheer for my kids, work on sibling relationships and working hard
Garden: Grow food with my husband and make yummy meals with it for family and friends
Running: Get faster and stay consistent while getting to know some of the other mom’s in the area
Reading: Work on having my kids be good readers—ordered Hardy Boys series for David
Hudson needs to learn to ride his bike!
Chart: Stay consistent with the chart and have the kids work on their attitudes and duties while adding to their savings accounts.

There are so many more things, but for me I need to be simple or else I will be overwhelmed and give up.

Speaking Chicken

Marilyn perched in our backyard.

Marilyn the rooster has been acting very “rooster-y” lately. He ruffles his feathers, struts, stiffens his neck, cock-a-doodle-doos, and all the other “cocky” behaviors. That’s all fine and dandy, but when he pecks he pecks hard and he is not the friendly guy he used to be. Every one of us has had a run-in with him. He is great at protecting the hens and he is beautiful to look at, but the kids are nervous to be outside with him and that pretty much stinks. I had an incident with him on Saturday where he pecked my leg when I was feeding the hens and I wanted to punt him. He and I just went back and forth for a bit with some weird sounds and I went into the house with white feathers all over me. Later that afternoon the kids went camping and I was alone. I had eaten some popcorn earlier and thought I would share the rest with the girls since it is one of their favorite snacks. Marilyn stayed back which is unusual for him. I saw his neck feathers ruffle and his wings flap, he was giving me the “eye”. The girls were eating the popcorn and I was watching Marilyn. All of the sudden, I flapped my arms to mock him a bit and all the chickens hit the woods in a flurry of feathers. I was laughing so hard. Is that what it takes? Flapping my arms? No one was home to share my chicken communication discovery with. I can imagine people will drive by our house and think we are all some sort of crazy when they see us all flapping our arms all over the place.