NO!

The following is yet another conversation I had with Rebekah, and yet another reason when she turns 13 we will be shipping her to live with her Memaw and Papa....

"Mommy, what does 'Cup' start with?"

"C"

"No."

"Yes it does Rebekah"

"No how do you put the letters in 'cup'?"

"C.U.P"

"No"

"Yes Rebekah, thats how you spell 'cup'."

"No. Its spelled 'C.S.S.L.P.Q.'"

"No its not."

"Yes."

"Rebekah, it is NOT spelled that way."

"oh."

And then enters Coby and says to me...

"Oh, you too are gonna be FUN when she is a teenager."

Fun-sucking at its best

A conversation tonight...

"Mommy, when is Santa coming?"

"He doesn't come to our house, remember?"

"I know, but where is he?"

"Hes in our imagination"

"No"

"Hes not?"

"No, hes in other peoples imagination."

Glad we cleared that one up...

Merry CHRISTmas!!

When I opened my Sunday school book this week it was met with dread. Don’t hear me wrong, I love teaching my little cherubs, making glue messes and being a part of that “AH-HA” moment when truths in the bible start to connect. This dread, I am ashamed to say is a dread for this season. Christmas. It used to be met with such fearless joy, happiness, and excitement leading up to the BIG day. These last few years it has been a feeling of sadness, sorrow, and a sad realization.

A realization that there are so many people who totally miss the boat when it comes to this time of year.

I cannot even tell you the number of people that ask me what I am getting my kids for Christmas. Or how many phone calls I get from people scrambling to think of something to get someone. Or how many people I talk to that cannot find one single evening to be at home because their calendars are so full of shopping, parties, etc. Or how my own daughter starts counting down the days till Christmas not so she can hear about Jesus but that then it “can be her birthday”.

You see it seems to me that we as Christians are missing out. We who should know what the reason for the season truly is are failing utterly to share that with the world.

This season I am challenging you all to think of ways you can share the TRUE meaning with the lost, and maybe, just maybe find your way to the joy, happiness, and excitement that Jesus SHOULD bring 24-7. I know I am. Gone are these days of dreading. I am gonna find ways in this santa ridden society to make this about Christ. Its going to happen in the Bennett home. Lets RE-claim CHRISTmas, together.

Joseph Who?

We have a missing person in our home. The person is Joseph. Joseph is four inches tall and wearing "carpenters garb". He was last seen in the stable with Mary and Jesus. We have reason to suspect he was abducted. If you or anyone you know has any information on his whereabouts please contact the Bennett farm immediately. Thank you.

you thought WRONG!!!

I had a conversation with my almost 10 year old chicken the other day, it went a little something like this...

"Justin, I bought you an additional pair of snow pants, hat and gloves for you to keep at school."

"COOL!"

"I just thought it would be a few less things for you to remember everyday for school."

"COOL!"

So that was it. I being the "Mom o' faith in my chickens" thought to myself that this was the end of it. I had communicated what my intentions were for said extra snow pants, hat and gloves. Fast forward to this morning....

"Mom, I know the other chickens are sleeping but can I go in my room and get my gloves for school?"

"What?"

"My gloves, they are in my room."

"your 'home' gloves?"

"no, my 'school' gloves."

"why are your 'school' gloves in your room?"

"cause thats where I put them when I got home from school." He says with his "DUH Mom" look on his face.

"I understand that, but my question is why they are even in the house?"

"Cause I thought you would be mad if they were left in the car."

"Justin, why are your gloves that I told you to keep at school now at home?"

"Cause I thought you meant for me to bring them home everyday."

Wow, clear as mud.

Mother

I am no longer called "Mommy". I knew the transition would come but I thought it would be from "Mommy" to "Mom" most certainly not from "Mommy" to "Mother" and I also thought this transition would come from a MUCH older chicken. The other day Chicken number 4 came to me and said "Mother. Mother. I shall call you Mother. Cause you are my 'Mother May I?'." And as is the trend once the queen has spoken it shall happen. "So let it be written, so let it be done." So I am Mother now much to my dismay. I MUST remember to thank her teacher for playing 'Mother May I?' I really must.

Hurry!!!

My days are generally filled with little chuckles. Some I forget and others I tuck away for a day when chuckles are NOT abounding. This is one I have tucked away and thought I should share:

We have LOADS of wild turkeys that like to live on our property and Rebekah has decided they are her "friends" and we need to take care of them. I have not succumbed to feeding them as she would like and DEFIANTLY will not be letting them sleep in her bed as her royal highness has requested. These large "friends" of Rebekah's like to line themselves up in middle of the road and "squat" there, never budging. The other day we were coming home and I saw in the distance there were some "squatters" in middle of the road and I thought to myself..."I have 2 options. 1, I can slow down and wait while they take their own sweet time moving from the road. or 2, I can speed up and try to get them to move a little quicker." Well I chose option 2. So here I am speeding up to get these "friends" out of the road and all I hear from the back seat it "Hurry little friends. Hurry little friends. hurry. hurry. hurry little friends. Yea, you hurried and Mother did not run over you!!" Good deal. :)

An un-welcomed friend

Rebekah has a "little friend" that came to visit yesterday. Well, not really a visit. A visit implies one will LEAVE. This "little friend" has come bring LOADS of other "little friends" with it. It seems THIS "little friend" thinks that everyone in the Bennett home is happy to see them come. NOT the case. Now, I will give them the benefit of 6 out of 7 people are THRILLED that they have come but I am most certainly NOT in the majority. And so there is nothing else to do except leave you with a chicken picture with Rebekah's "little friends" all around. This little chicken went outside with the "little friends" and kept pointing saying "whats dat?".

BUBBLES!!!

My day in a nut shell:

Dropped the two oldest chickens off at school and am heading home at 8:20. I then hear this from my back seat...

"These are your bubbles and these are mine."

"No, all the ones from this line are mine."

"okay, but then this is mine over here."

"Well, that ones mine too."

"But then I don't have as many as you."

"but you have those two."

"yea but you have twenty."

"well, I will just take these two and then I will have four."

"Mommy!!! Michael's taking my bubbles!!!"

Now I am not the smartest Mom at 8 O'clock and most certainly not the most observant before my first cup of coffee but I did however deduce that there are in fact NO bubbles in our car today. In fact there never have been bubbles in my car. That being said I think I can clearly state that my chickens are in fact fighting over imaginary bubbles.

They call him MISTER Bennett

Well it happened. A full day focused on chicken number 3. (much to chicken number 4's dismay.) A day for an adoption!! Upon waking I asked the chicken in question if he wanted to be adopted and he slyly stated "No. just kidding...YES!!" Further affirming his place in our family. YEAH for sarcasm, where would we Bennett's be without it? The day progressed to standing in the court room answering the questions from the judge and listening in slight dismay as chicken 2 & 3 corrected the judge and the courtroom filled with laughter. As we left he looked at me and stated "Now you can call me Mr. Bennett." and we did just that. Welcome to our crazy family Mr. Bennett!!

THATS NOT EVEN A WORD!?!?!?!

There are many days I feel like I need re-enforcements and today was no exception. You see, I have in our lovely little coop several chickens who tend to go back to their native language and try to confuse me, leaving me questioning my motherly super powers.
Like I said today was no exception...
I was in the laundry room...where I seem to live these days...and in walks, no crawls, Michael and Rebekah. They quickly look at me and say "birrr maama flibbit" and then exit the room. I am left thinking that they are simply playing "bolt" a game they play that is really just them simply fighting over WHO is going to be bolt the dog. So I continue to go about my lovely task of folding laundry and in walks another small chicken, who looks at me and says "birrr maama flibbit" and then walks out of the room. Well this is a new development I think to myself. This small chicken has never had the honor of "playing" bolt. hmmmm a few minutes later in crawls the first two chickens and they look at me and say "birrr maama flibbit" and then leave. I start thinking that maybe they are trying to tell me something so I go and seek out the chickens in question and ask simply...
"what are you trying to tell me?"
"birrr maama flibbit" they tell me in unison.
"what?!?!?" I ask.
"birrr maama flibbit" they state simply.
"Thats not even a WORD!" I say to them.
"oh" Rebekah states like she is shocked to find out she is speaking gibberish.
"Mikayle diaper stinks." Michael says.
Really? Really? "Next time just tell me." I tell them.
"We did" they both state in shock.
and so, today was yet another day where I needed to have re-enforcements. Anyone want a job?

good-bye dear friend

They say "parting is such sweet sorrow" but I cannot find sweetness in this good-bye.
You were a dear friend.
I held you close to my heart.
Never will I find another like you.
You had a way of making me smile at the end of a long, long day.
You kept me warm at night.
Thoughts of you made my heart fill with joy.
Never have I spent $0.97 so well.
I will never be able to replace you.
You are my one and only.
You are the best pajama pants a girl could ever have.
Good-bye dear friend.
I will miss you always...

yet more conversations with CN4

Today's conversation went a little something like this...
"Mommy, when we get home can me and Michael watch a movie?"
"You mean 'Michael and I'?"
"No, I want to too, so can ME and Michael watch a movie?"
"Rebekah say it like this, 'can Michael and I watch a movie?'"
"Can me and Michael watch a movie?"
"Ok Rebekah its like this, if I want to say something about me and another person I say their name and I, like this...'Brittany and I are going to the store later.' or 'Can Michael and I watch a movie?' like that. Got it?"
"You and Brittany are going to the store?!?!?! Am me and Michael going too?"
yea...clear as mud.

Chicken Moment #2,982,475,315,634

We had another chicken moment today, well more of a chicken day then a moment but the most memorable part of this chicken day was this morning...
15 minutes before we are scheduled to depart for school I ask my chickens "Do you have everything you need for today? your books? your shorts for gym? lunches?"
"Yes, yes and yes" they all reply. So we leave for school and drop the little chickens off and I return home to what should ave been a relaxing morning. As I went about my chicken mommy activities I go to the dinning room and start putting away groceries from yesterdays "chicken pantry stock up trip" and I discover a curious thing...
Sitting right there on the table was a stack of books. Not just any books...school books. School books I asked three little chickens if they had in their back packs. School books that three little chickens assured me were in fact in their back packs. Upon further investigation I found it was just one lonely chicken that had managed to forget not one, not two, but THREE school books AND a home work folder. Now I know what chicken you are all blaming and I am here to tell you, you're blaming the WRONG chicken. I KNOW!!! Shocking, huh? It was in fact chicken number 1 that forgot these books, and not only that but ALL three of her morning subjects she needs the books in question for. And I am left thinking to myself...
Chicken. Of. The. Year.

the saga of the shoe

I took a night quill last night. That was my first mistake. I hit the snooze button 3 times this morning. That was my second mistake. I trusted my five year old to do what I told her. That was my third mistake.

This morning we were running late and so as a result my follow through was a little, um, less follow through-ish. As I told my children to get their shoes on I went to start the car and assumed that my children would, well, put their shoes on. They all come out and get in the car and away we went. When we arrived at school I kissed my two eldest children and whipped my youngest chickens face before letting her leave the car I then watched as they happily walked into school after crossing the street. I then go home and go about my normal routine and return to school to pick one little chicken later in the day. When I entered the class room to pick up chicken number 4 I notice that she has shoes on that I do not recognize and I ask...
"Rebekah, who's shoes are those?" Thinking to myself that she must have stolen some poor little girls shoes and I envision in my mind a school yard fight ending with my daughter shoving dirt into this little girls mouth and making her take her shoes off and give them to her.
"She did not have shoes on when she came to school today." Her teacher chimes in snapping me back to reality.
"What?!?!" I ask shocked.
"She did not have shoes on when she came into class today."
Then it sinks in. I sent my child to school without shoes. I dropped my child off at school, watched her get out of the car, walk down the sidewalk, cross the street and go into the school with. no. shoes. on. her. feet. yup, Mom of the year. Mom. of. the. year.

Still MORE conversations with CN4

I have had people (who shall remain nameless) tell me I should write a book. I promptly reply, "as long as the only people who read it can't spell". Any way, after a conversation with Rebekah today I think I really could write a book just on her, so maybe if I ever did write a book it would have to be a series. Any way, moving on to this mornings conversation...
In the car on the way to school...
"Mommy I am gonna look for my turkey friends."
"ok Rebekah"
"mommy I think that I will catch some"
Justin pipes in and says "how are you gonna catch em Bekah?"
"Well, you see since I am a chicken I think they will look at me and think I am cute and then I will grab them and put them in my pack pack."
To this I reply "and then you will take them home?"
"Nope."
"well what then?" I ask dreading the response.
"Well mommy, I think that my friends need to go to school so I will bring them there and they will like it cause my teacher will think I am cute and that the turkeys are my brothers, cause they look like chickens."
"oh I see, so only turkeys are going to school with you?" I ask, knowing better but still I ask.
"Nope. ALL my friends will come with me in my pack pack.....OH LOOK, there is my deer friend Mommy!!! Stop the car so I can catch him with my pack pack."
"Um, Rebekah I think that we had better just keep going, I dont think your teacher would like your friends coming to school."
"HUMPH!! Mommy, she SAID I could bring a show and share today."
WOW, I think bring your woodland friends in to school would be bring the whole "show and share" thing a little too far. Yup that's Rebekah.

and the chickens rejoice

I have always been amazed at the simple things that bring out my chickens personalities and yesterday was no exception. You see, this last week chicken number five turned 1 and there was great excitement, rejoicing, planning, and with one small chicken, great dissension. It went a little something like this...
Chicken number 1 flutterd about wanting to help in just about any way she could, holding CN5, playing with CN5, even assisting CN2 in a little creative "snap circit" building to play "happy birthday". (Thank you Aunt Heidi.)
Chicken number 2 was bouncing off the walls with excitement and asked at least a bagillion times if CN5 was going to get his own cake to "eat really messily.".
Chicken number 3 was his happy little self, just pleased to be involved and willing to do whatever task was presented him.
Chicken number 4 was less than thrilled that the day was about CN5 and not about her. She even went so far as to try to eat her cake with her hands like CN5 was allowed to do.
All in all it was a good day and we had a little blue smurf after the cake eating and after a quick little bath we had a blue tub. Note to self....don't use blue frosting on a one year old's cake...ever...again.

Shots With Rebekah

Today was D-day for one little chicken in my home. Her last shots before she turns 12. A moment I was so very excited for as she like with most things, over reacts to shots, I know surprising to say the least, but we have on our hands a very dramatic chicken. She has been this way from a VERY young age and bofore any of my family tries to blame me I just want to make this clear...I blame her bio-mother. Yup, I said it. Its all her fault, never mind the fact Rebekah has been in my care for the last 4 years 8 months and 10 days. I beleave that in the argument of "Nature vs. Nurture" I can blame "Nature" on this one, please let me live in my delusional world. So, back on track, today was shot day. A day that I have been preparing for the last few weeks, ever since I got that pesky little reminder card in the mail. Stupid mailman. Stupid post office. Why couldnt they have brought my PhD instead? Any how, shots, lets stay on track please. Rebekah has followed the same routine since she was about 9 months old. We enter the nurses office happy and go lucky, we play in the waiting room like nothing is wrong, we follow the nurse back to the room with a smile on our face, we sit in the chair and look around the room, we smile at the nurse, we look at the distracting toy she puts in front of us, we trick Mom into thinking we are not going to scream bloody murder like the time before, and then we see the tray, the ominous tray, and then we start to scream....bloody....murder. Yup, just like that. ALL my other children do not cry or scream till the nurse has actually given the shot or has the needle in her had. Not Rebekah, nope, all she has to see is the tray and she screams bloody murder....kinda like she does when she is coming out of anesthesia. (see anesthesia and me post) Then after another nurse comes in (because they don't believe me when I tell them we WILL need a third set of hands. Why do medical professionals never believe me? Maybe they would if I had my PhD...) to help hold her down and they try to talk softly to her I have to say like a SUPER mean Mom, "Just do it already!" and then they poke her and all is fine, she sits up bats her little eyes and says, "Oh, is it over?". Yup, the queen getting shots is quite the sight to behold. I will give you all fair warning when we get her 12 year shots....I might need a few more hand to hold her down. ARGH!!

The Clothing Project

Once again in the grand tradition of "incrediblesmartmothering", I have discovered yet another way to "predict" chicken behavior and possibly make a "preemptive" strike to detour such "chicken ciaos". You may be sitting there and wondering how could any one person have so much knowledge and insight into the lives of chickens. You may even be asking yourself how do I handle all this knowledge and wisdom I have had bestowed upon me. But those are not the things you need to be pondering my friends, no you simply need to ponder this...Why does she not have her PHD yet? and Why is the post office holding it hostage? Those are the things you need to ponder, and maybe right a letter to the post office general, he may be able to help. Any way, moving on to yesterdays study.
In the midst of a crazy Bennett morning I found time to do a simple study. You may be asking yourself "How does she do it? How does she find the time?" and my friends I ask that you keep all questions to yourself until the study has ended, it really is distracting. Thank you. Any way, as I said I preformed another study yesterday, a clothing study, I named it simply "The Clothing Project". So here it is...

THE CLOTHING PROJECT
a study on a chickens inability to clothe oneself
By THE Bethany Bennett

First Subject: A 10 almost eleven year old chicken AKA Brittany
Task Given: To get her jacket from her room as she went to turn out the light.
Assessment: Chicken was unable to furnish a jacket and had forgotten to turn her light off. When asked "Well, what did you do in your room?" she responded simply "IDK". It is apparent that chicken number 1 is entering into the realm of "adolescence" and is not only absent minded, moody and can not complete multiple tasks but has also started speaking in "text". Great.

Second Subject: A 9 year old chicken who's feathers ruffle regularly AKA Justin
Task Given: To get his lunch box and back pack BEFORE he put his shoes on.
Assessment: The Chicken went to put shoes on without getting his pack pack OR his lunch box and it took putting on and taking off said shoes three times before he had both items where they needed to be. It appears that this chicken is only capable of "hearing" when you hold its head in your hands and force him to make eye contact. A task that is hard as he like to peck when you go to hold his little head.

Third Subject: A 6 year old chicken AKA Michael
Task Given: To put on the pants I had laid out for him in front of his dresser.
Assessment: The chicken came out 10 minutes later with sweatpants on that he had furnished from his dirty clothes and stated "I couldn't find the other ones". I then went toward his room and from 6 feet away from his door could see the pants in question laying where I told him they would be. It appears that this chicken cannot function and does not fully awaken until noon.

Fourth Subject: A 5 year old chicken who thinks she is queen AKA Rebekah
Task Given: To put jeans and a shirt with sleeves on her body along with uMMerwear.
Assessment: This chicken returned to the kitchen wearing shorts, a tank top and NO uMMerwear. It is apparent that this chicken will not preform a task unless it is HER idea.

And that my friends was just the tip of the iceberg, I could go on and on but I will stop here as not to overwhelm you with data.

I never thought I would see the day

We had a busy day yesterday. Between dropping off and picking up chickens and my two meetings I barley was home. My wonderful husband picked the chickens up from school as I had a CPR class to take, just a side not for those of you who don't know what CPR is it is short for Chickens Personal Rights. So I was at my "Chickens Personal Rights" class learning how to save our youngest chicken if anything happened and he stopped breathing, as breathing is a "personal right" of a chicken, got it? Moving on. I was at my CPR class and Coby was taking care of the chickens back at the coop. I came home from the CPR class for a few minutes only to leave again for another meeting. A 'FOC' meeting, "Friends of Chickens" in case you did not know. So again my wonderful husband stayed at the coop to corral the chickens. When I arrived home the chickens were just about ready to go to bed so we said our chicken prayers and tucked them in their chicken beds. As I went about the coop I found and interesting little curl in our bathroom and just feet away from that said curl was a pair of my hair scissors. Now at first you may wonder just who could have committed this 'hair cutting scissor using" crime, but with my super crime fighting skills I got to the bottom of it. you see we only have 5 chickens in our home, so it was simply a process of elimination and it went a little something like this...
Brittany...already committed the 'hair cutting scissor using' crime when she was 5. Shes out.
Justin...already committed the 'shirt cutting scissor using' crime when he was 6. Hes out.
Michael...never touches things he is not supposed to. Hes out.
Mikayle...too short to touch the counter to get said scissors to commit the 'hair cutting scissor using crime'. Hes out.
That leaves us with one little chicken. One little Curly headed Chicken. One little Curly headed, does not like to listen and obey Chicken. One little Curly headed does not like to listen and obey, likes to touch things she shouldn't chicken. in case you are still confused I am talking about Rebekah, Chicken number four. The child I have to constantly tell to say to me "thank you Mommy for this opportunity to listen and obey." instead of pout and throw a fit. Yes, that chicken. When she emerged from her little chicken bed this morning I examined her and found that yes she did in fact get my scissors and cut one big fat curl off her beautiful little chicken head. Does EVERY chicken have to commit this crime!?!?!?!

I REALLY should be more careful...

I got an email today.
I was excited at the caption.
It grabbed my eye.
It had me wondering at its contents.
It simply read: 5 things to do with Chickens
When I read that caption it had me saying to myself "This is just what a tired Mom needs in the last weeks before school start. I wonder just what ideas they may have." So with thoughts of little chicken games and chicken ideas to jump start my creative mommy juices, as my excitement grew I opened the email...
I was SHOCKED!! Would you believe that email had NOTHING to do with chicken games?!?!? I KNOW!!! Would you believe that its so called "ideas" where things like: "stuffed" chickens, "grilled" chickens and "GLAZED" chicken. I was horrified. How could anyone be so morbid? How could anyone be so cruel? I had no idea there where people in the world with such sick twisted minds. I really need to be more careful who I give my email address to.

Conversations With Chickens

The following are some exchanges I have had with my chickens.

From the back seat: "Mommy, this road makes my bummy hurt"
From the Front seat: "Thanks for sharing."

From a chicken room: "Mommy, do you think the red or brown?"
From my room: "The Green."

From the yard: "Mommy, can we come in yet?"
From the house: "You have been out there for 10 minutes!!"

From the Swing: "Mommy, I think my belly likes this."
From the ground: "Good Deal."

From the bathroom (NEVER a good place to start a chicken conversation): "Mommy, can you come here for a minute?"
From the livingroom: "Do I have too?"

From the kitchen: "Oops."
From the living room: "Do I even want to know?"

one sweet chicken

Tonight we were reading some chicken stories before putting the chickens in their chicken beds, and as I was reading one chickens story to all the chickens I developed some chicken hiccups. (are we following?) Chicken hiccups are similar to human hiccups, in fact they are identical, I am not even sure why they are called chicken hiccups, they are the same in every way so I guess we could just call them all "hiccups" instead of "human hiccups" and "chicken hiccups". Oh well, any way I developed chicken hiccups when reading a chicken story to my chickens before their chicken bedtime. (are you still following? good.) When the chicken hiccups came upon me my little chicken number 2 got up while I was reading the chicken story to my other chickens before their chicken bedtime. Chicken number 2 got up and got me a little chicken cup of water so I could get rid of my chicken hiccups and continue to read my little chickens their chicken stories before their chicken bedtime. I have the sweetest little chicken. :)

Mommy Day

We chickens in the Bennett home have been slightly busy. A fact that I knew in the back of my mind but did not realize the extent of it till yesterday. You see it is a very rare occasion when I find a day in my planner that I have nothing written on. Yesterday was one of those rare days and I just getting back from a little extended stay with a chicken in another city seized the opportunity and declared it a "Mommy Day". The night before after tucking all the chickens in bed my husband asked me what I had planned for the next day. I told him...
"I am having a Mommy day."
"Okay" he said "But what are you gonna do?"
"Nothing, its a Mommy day." I stated. thinking to myself "Didn't I already say that?"
"K, I get that but what do you have going tomorrow? he asked again still not getting it
"NOTHING, I am just gonna stay at home and have fun being a Mom."
"really?" he asks
"yes" I reply."I may not even do laundry or clean, I may just spend the WHOLE day doing fun Mommy things."
"WOW" he says.
Not sure how to take that "WOW" I ask him "WOW, what?"
"well its just not very often when I ask you what you are doing that you say nothing."
hmmmm I think to myself, maybe I should address that problem. But instead I go to sleep dreaming of the nice "Mommy Day" to come.
The next morning as we are eating breakfast Brittany asked me...
"Mommy, what do we have going today?"
"Nothing" I reply.
Her and Justin look at me like I have horns on my head or something crawling out of my ear.
"Nothing?" they both reply.
"No, Nothing." I tell them. Thinking to myself that I might need to give this a little more attention to this matter.
Later that day Rebekah came up to me and asked...
"Mommy, when are we leaving?"
"Leaving for what?" I ask her.
"you know, leaving."
"leaving where Rebekah?" I ask again
"You know like leave the house, to go do something." She says.
I tell her "We are just staying home today. We are not going anywhere. We don't have anything we need to do."
"You mean like we are staying at home ALL day?" she says.
Then I got it. It only took one conversation with my husband and one with each of my daughters, but I think I finally understand. I have to block more time out to simply "be home". Maybe I will get better at that....maybe.

PoiNtS tO PonDeR wIth CN4

The following are just some of the random thoughts from Chicken number 4 that I have collected over the years...all of them truly random, just a thought before bed, when eating dinner, or simply finding me to share her insight.

"Mommy, when will my wings get here?"
"Mommy, when will I fly high like the birds?"
"Mommy, when I get bigger I am gonna be a REAL chicken, k?"
"Mommy, do my eyes go all the way behind me? Cause I can't see back there."
"Mommy, when will I be on an airplane with pirates?"
"Mommy, so when I am bigger and you are smaller I will be bigger than you. k?"
"Mommy, I think I will have a dog when I am bigger and I will name him dog."
"Mommy, when will Michael marry me?"
"Mommy, I thought I was not a Chicken, I thought I was a Rebekah."
"Mommy, does God know that the sun sleeps? Cause I don't think He would like it."
"Mommy, I think I must be bigger than Zacchaeus cause he was a WEEEEEE little man."
"When I am a Mommy I am gonna let my chickens eat cake."
"Mommy, I am gonna ask you something and your gonna say yes."
"When I am five you will be surprised!"

Yes life with CN4 is never dull!!

Kicking Me When I'm Down...

We took a nice little trip to the city last week and the chickens had great fun at my expense. Chickens 1 and 2 were on a roll with little pecks here and there at their super fun Mom. At one point Rebekah asked me where we were going when we were in the car and I turned to her and said "To Denver where I am appreciated." to that she replied "Mommy, sometime I want to go to Denver just you and me." so I looked at my two obnoxious chickens behind me and told Rebekah, "Okay, we'll do that. Just you and me, no other chickens but you." Brittany piped in, "I want to go too." and I looked at her in disbelief and said "you have not been very nice to me and you think I should reward you with a trip to Colorado?" "But I LOVE Memaw and Papa..." she said. Really? Really? That is the best you can do? That's not even buttering me up!! That's kicking me while I am down!!! Guess who WONT be going to Denver!! Oh yea, I went there.

Camp With Chickens...

I spent this last week at children's camp with all five chickens. The eldest two chickens were campers and the youngest three were with me, I was supposed to be helping in the kitchen with chicken number 5 on my back and chickens 3 & 4 were to play for countless hours with their friends.
The week started off grand, Chicken number 5 quickly found out all he had to do was let out a cluck and there would be 5 ladies there immediately wanting to hold him. This continued through the week and as the days wore on he did not even need to cluck just simply throw a toy on the floor, hit my back or just look at someone with his great big chicken eyes.
Chicken number 4 would wake up in the morning and simply say to me "Mommy, wheres Lilia?" no "good morning my wonderful Mommy." or "Mommy, thank you for letting me crawl all over you in the night, kicking you and hitting you in my sleep." not even a "Mommy I love you, you are the most awesome Mommy a chicken could have." nope, just "Wheres Lilia." I now know where I rate among chicken number 4, somewhere between her stomach and a scraped knee.
Chicken number 3 followed chicken number 4's lead and would wake up and immediately get disgruntled if I would not let him go play with his friend and made him get dressed first!! Oh the horror. Needless to say I think I rank about the same with chicken number 3 as I do with chicken number 4, somewhere between his belly and blood.
Chickens 1 & 2 were quite preoccupied with life at camp and found it quite nice to come and see me in the kitchen or at meal time. I think I might rank a little higher with them than the other chickens, then again, they always seemed more interested in showing off chicken number 5 to their friends and a little less interested in showing me off. hmmmm.
Anyway, it was fun for all and a very tiring week as well. I think I may contemplate doing this again, but most definitely not with a 10 month old chicken.

Yet Another Study On The Effects Of Anesthesia

For those of you who have not read my blog post "anesthesia and me" you must go back and do so. I have further confirmation that my findings are in fact correct and now am blaming the post office for the non-delivery on my Doctorate as well as for many other things. But all that aside, well besides the post office bit...something really needs to happen about that.
Moving on...
On Wednesday morning I had to take the youngest chicken into the dentist to have some work done on her little chicken teeth. (Who knew chickens had teeth AND that chicken teeth could get cavities?) When meeting with the anesthesiologist he asked me how she responded to the anesthesia the last time. (He obviously doesn't read my blog...shame on him) I told him that she was quite "cranky" last time. HA! Little did he know the extent of crankiness I was referring to. Serves him right, he should read my blog.
So we go back and I hold her little hand and and watch as she enters the "rag doll realm" and than they usher me out to the waiting room and tell me they will let me know how she is doing. I sit in the waiting room and chuckle to myself at the "storm" that will ensue shortly. "hehe" I think to myself, "they have NO idea what they are in for. MUHAHA" Well the evil laughter didnt really come out quite like that but you get the idea.
A short while later a hygienist comes out and says "She did great, she is so cute, what a doll" I say to myself..."wait for it..." "They are moving her to recovery and will come get you when she wakes up."
Great. Again they have no idea. Wait for it...wait for it....
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!
Yup, there it is. A Nurse comes through the door and says, "she's awake now, I think she may want YOU!" HA shoulda read my blog, shoulda listened.
Upon entering the room I she my little chicken wrapped in blankets thrashing about the table, kicking, screaming, and hitting anything that comes close to her. Yup that's Rebekah, a fighter till the end. I think I will save this mental image and retell it to her future husband.

3 of 5

Its quiet in the Bennett home right now.
I don't know what to do with the stillness.
It is kinda weird.

THREE OF THE FIVE CHICKENS ARE SLEEPING!!!!

tHe aDDitioN oF a NeW chiCKen

Life has been quite crazy for these Bennett's these last few months, as I am sure you can see from the lack of posts, well that or life is dull, I think I will go with the latter. I thought I would bring all my adoring fans up to speed via blog post, since it is so personal you know. Well here is goes...

The last few months have been filled with Chickens learning how to swim, feeding sick little chickens chicken soup (a little morbid I must admit), Trips to see about getting the eldest chicken some help with her teeth (does anyone know a good chicken-provider?), but alas the biggest news is the addition of a BRAND NEW chicken. Yes you read that right. As I stated in my MUCH earlier post: mommy block, I might need to add a new chicken to the coop, well we have done just that and let me tell you I am just oozing with blog-worthy-stories. So here we go...Let the blogging begin!!

The newest chicken hereafter to be reffed to as chicken number 5 or CN5, is an almost 10 month old male chicken. He is so much fun and has brought all of our little chickens personalities out in a matter of minutes from his arrival in this little coop.
Chicken number 1's motherly instinct kicked into high gear and she promptly started to guide him around under her, um, little wing.
Chicken number 2 promptly pointed out that the male chickens now out number the female chickens. I promptly thanked him for pointing out that our egg production would also go down because of this little fact that he was so proud of.
Chicken number 3 is just pleased as punch that he is no longer the newest chicken and that he has a new position of the dreaded middle child, a spot he seems to fit into nicely.
Chicken number 4 has all the answers to all of chicken number 5's problems and has no problem telling me when I am doing something wrong..."Mommy, you need to give him smaller bites." "Mommy, he does not like you to do that." "Mommy, do you need me to show you how he likes it?"

Ah yes, the introduction of a new little chicken seems to be just what this little coop needed. :)

"Tings"

Somewhere in the last few years Chicken number four has developed her own language, one that makes perfect sense to her but takes a highly trained ear to understand. Many times I have found myself in a situation where I have someone giving me a blank stare as chicken number four (here after to be referred to as CN4) is trying to tell them something. This situation has happened many times over where I am left listening to CN4 and translating for a person with, shall we say a not so trained ear. I as a mother of four chickens have been able to navigate through these situations with minimal problems but every once in a while I need to bring in re-enforcements. I find my most reliable re-enforcement to be chicken number two, (here after to be referred to as CN2) he being an author of his own language himself has a better understanding of CN4 than I do at times and so I find myself enlisting his talents often. Today was no exception...
CN4 came to me and asked "Mommy, whats dat ting on da table?"
"What 'ting' CN4?" (yes I do talk to them with their chicken numbers)
"Dat ting dat is on da table, next to dat odder ting."
"OH, 'dat ting'."
"yup."
I than realize I need to enlist the services of CN2 and call him...
"Chicken number 2"
"Yes Mommy?"
"What is CN4 asking me?"
CN4 than says to CN2 "Whats dat ting on da table?"
CN2 turns to me and says "She want to know if the balloon on the table next to your purse is for her to play with."
"You got all that from what she said?" I asked slightly impressed.
"Yup. Can I go now?"
SURE! Go in peace. I then turn to CN4 and tell her "Yes you may play 'wit dat ting'."
Its so very nice to have translators in your home, every family should have them.

the invension of the middle name

One of my chickens asked a good question today, one which in hind sight I should have had the answer to, but in my lack of answerness I was able to see the creative genius genes that I posses being passed down to my oldest child. Let me explain...
Today, Justin asked me a question. The question was simply:
"Mommy, why do people have middle names?"
I was stumped. Kinda caught off guard. What to say? What to say? Nothing was coming to me. What was happening? I began thinking to myself, "is this the end? have I lost it? where is the wittiness that my children have come to expect? Come to count on. WHERE DID IT GO??? Who am I? Where am I? What is the point of going on???" When I arrived on that last thought my daughter saved me. With a few short sentences she brought me back to reality.
"Mommy, I know" she said
"You do?" I asked tentatively
"Yup. Its cause a LONG time ago there was a Mommy who had a couple children. One day when they got in trouble she called there names. But the kids did not listen to her, so she made up a second name to go with their first name and yelled that. Then her kids came and listened to her."
Oh my purpose has been restored! I almost heard Handles Messiah playing in the back ground. It was like fireworks going off. Mission accomplished. Thank you Brittany for restoring my hope. I can sleep tonight. Life WILL go on.

When I get bigger, k?

I was handed some Birthday cards today from my chickens and as I read them I came upon my youngest chickens card. In it there was a drawing of 2 people, I asked her who they were and she said: "Me and Daddy" Thinking that they were in my card to wish me a happy birthday or just simply tell me they loved me I ventured ahead...
"Oh, how nice. What are you doing?" I asked thinking that I knew the answer already.
"I'm getting married" she replied.
"Oh you are?!" How silly of me, I thought we were past this stage.
"So whats Daddy doing?"
My youngest chicken then looks at me with her 'mommy face' and says, "Mommy. When I get bigger I am going to marry Daddy. When I am bigger. K?" That kinda caught me off guard and left me wondering about poor Michael being cast off like last years purse, but before I could say anything she said: "And when Michael gets older hes gonna marry you." So now that my future has been planned out for me I do not need to worry about a thing. Not one little thing. Rebekah has it ALL under control. Nice.

Chickens in the Carry On

So I am sitting here in DIA. Sitting waiting for my flights "OK" to leave. Waiting. Sitting. Questions keep running through my head. Questions like:
"Why did I leave my power cord in my checked suitcase and not in my carry on?"
"Why did I put my four chickens for my four chickens at home in my carry on?"
"Why am I sitting in an airport and not hanging with the 'Big Deal' that dropped me off?"
"Why am I blogging about my chickens chickens being in my carry on and not my power cord?"
Things that make you go hmmmmmm...

Hunting for Treasure

We went for a treasure hunt the other day and some interesting things happened. It is very interesting to me just how my chickens different personality's come out and 'the great treasure hunt' was no exception.
We set out with a super great map, a camera to document our findings and hopes of treasure at the end.



As we set off our first task was to jump over the canyon of craziness and once on the other side the personalities started to come out.
Michael was super excited for well, pretty much EVERYTHING.
Rebekah was excited because she was outside with Justin and her Michael.
Justin was happy to be exploring.
Brittany was skeptical.

The next task was to find the abandoned tower of the princess. On our way to the princesses tower we saw a ferocious lion, we had to walk slowly and try to avoid him seeing us.



And then oh how the skepticism grew.
"Mommy, that's not a lion."
"Mommy, he is NOT ferocious."
"Mommy, there is no treasure is there?"
I almost gave up right there, but there was treasure to be had and the other chickens wanted to find it. So we set off again, around the tower past the dragons, and at last we found the treasure. HA I showed my little skeptical chicken what was what. And oh my how her tune changed...
"Mommy, that was SO cool"
"How long did you plan that?"
"Mommy can we do that again?"
Yup, worlds best 'Mom O Chickens' here.

WHERE IS MY AWARD?!?!?!?

They Are After Me!!!!

Wednesday as you all know was St. Patrick's Day. We have been studying the origin of holidays in school but somehow this one got lost in translation. I was meeting my wonderful husband of 9 years (yes we got married on St. Patty's day, no we aren't Irish) for lunch so I had dropped Brittany and Justin off at Grandmas and was heading to drop the youngest two chickens off at their posts. While in the car driving to drop off Michael he randomly says to me...
"Mommy, I am not wearing green."
"That's OK Michael, you don't have to wear green its just something some people like to do."
"But Brittany and Justin are."
"Yup, they wanted to wear green today."
"So, they wont get me?"
"Who?"
"The tiny little people."
"Do you mean leprechauns?"
"Yes, Brittany told me if I wasn't wearing green they would come get me."
Oh my. We need to have a little talk with the eldest chicken.
"No Michael, the leprechauns will not get you, they are not real."
"Oh, good, I was gonna hide in my closet if they were."

Mommy-Block

Oh life has been crazy, mud caking, stick impaling, toothless smiles, Frisbee diving, lake swimming craziness, but at the same time I find myself strangely without 'blog worthy' stories. I have been racking my brain as to which subject or chicken to blog about. I could blog about Brittany asking every other day to read our latest blog and the look of utter dismay when I have to tell her there have been no posts of late. I could then blog on the finer points of Justin, but I am not writing a book here and most certainly not a trilogy. I then find myself thinking on Michael and his 'blog worthiness' and am coming up short, I guess I could write about how he lost his second tooth. Then comes Rebekah, and we all know how her post would start...her royal highness has bestowed upon her subjects...Yup I am just coming up short. I think you may even call it "mommy block". I just don't know what to do. So I am left asking some very hard questions...

What do the great writers do when they experience such a block?
Could it be that my chickens have stopped producing...blog stories?
Do I need more chickens?
What do farmers do when their chickens stop producing?
(I think I may not get any more chickens from my supplier if I follow the farmers route.)
Do I need to introduce a new item into my chickens environment to stimulate 'blog worthiness'?
What to do? What to do?
I guess I will just leave you with a lovely chicken picture and come back when the 'blogger-rific' stories return.

tHe enD oF BriTTanYs life as sHe KnoWs iT

Tonight may be the last time I EVER let Brittany do anything. I may never let her leave the house ever again. Her world as she knows it will soon change radically. You see, when my oldest child leaves the house for any reason, she leaves in her absence a trail of sorrow and hardships for her dear mother. I don't think she means to be so cruel, but she is. She is leaving tonight for her first 'all night-er' at church with all the girls from her Wednesday night class. She will be gone and this is what I will have to deal with:
"Mommy, wheres my Bit-ney?"
"Mommy when is my Bit-ney coming home?"
"Why can not I go with Bit-ney?"
"But I am big."
"But I NEEEEEEEED my Bit-ney."
"Mommy, my Bit-ney needs to come home right now!"
"I can NOT sleep without my Bit-ney!"
What a cruel, cruel child I have. Yup, I think tonight will mark the end of life as she knows it.

To Be Or Not To Be...

Last night Rebekah got her finger smashed in her bedroom door. I don't really want to know the "truth" behind just how this smashing of the finger came about but I can imagine since it was my children there was a brother, a tattle tale, and a bystander involved. You can probably guess who is who. Any how, Coby and I were at the other end of the house listening to our children "getting ready for bed" and were greatly amused at the giggles and laughs coming from the other end of the house. As we were talking and this great pride and love was swelling in us that our children were listening so well and, well pretty much all that and a pickle we had a child come to us. This child shall remain nameless, and so to protect the Innocent we shall call this child 'the tattletale'. Well the tattletale came to us and said, "I am not sure what happened, (never a good sign when the 'tattletale' does not even know what is going on.) but Rebekah got her finger smashed in the door." Not hearing crying we ask, "Is she alright" and in the grand tradition of tattletales she replies "I don't know" Brilliant. Wonderful. Thank you for your insight. Note to self: Get a new tattletale for our family. Coby left to view the damage and then I hear the crying. I go to see if my services can be used, I see the 'Brother' and the 'bystander' innocently in the bathroom brushing their teeth. I then go to see Rebekah and look at her finger and see her pinkie is quite swollen and has some skin off of it. I say to her (Momentarily forgetting myself) "Oh Muffin..." She then stops her crying and looks at me all matter of fact and states "Mommy, I AM NOT a muffin." "Oh your not, you are a chicken, I'm sorry" "That's OK." And life goes on.

Shhh Dont Tell...

On Sunday night as we were sitting in church singing Rebekah leaned over to me and whispered...
"Mommy, when we get home I am going to 'Mawry' Michael"
"oh, does he know this?" I asked.
a little muffled giggle and then she says to me
"nope. not yet."
Then she covered my mouth and said
"don't tell."
She is a persistent little thing. Maybe one day Michael will give in....maybe.

A Very Chicken-y Valentines

There are a few holidays I don't care for, Valentines is one of them. I never really got into it when I was single and in the last 10 years of having a 'significant other' I still have not really cared for it. Quite frankly I think it is a rather silly holiday that has NOTHING to do with romantic love and no one really understands the true meaning behind it so it just gives women a reason to get mad about being single or mad at their husband/boyfriend if they don't go all out. Just plain silliness I say. I think that is my real problem with a lot of holidays, people celebrating them just because and not knowing the why behind it, not really knowing that it has a COMPLETELY different meaning then what the world thinks of it now. All that to say, I am trying to teach my kids the meaning behind these holidays so they know what they are really about. This year we had a little valentines party with some homeschooling friends that came over for the morning and we made sugar cookies, valentines, and just had fun being together. I want my kids to have that 'fun' of these parties and get together but I feel it is super important to have them know the REAL reason for these many holidays our country and world has. Not just a date on the calendar that you get off school or work, or just an excuse to party and goof off, but to really know what the meaning is behind these days. So I guess I am wanting to challenge you all. Do you know the meaning, the history behind these days? The real reason for them being on our calendar? If you don't I would challenge you to find out. I think you may be surprised with what you find.

Which Came First The Chicken Or The Child?

Ah yes, the age old question that sparks many a debate. The Chicken and the egg. This is a question that many a philosopher has tried to answer. A question that has sparked heated debates and friendly banter. I am here to put it to rest once and for all. You see I have the answer. Yup, that's right, I Bethany J. Bennett have in the vast files of my brain the answer to the age old question. I know you are excited to finally know the TRUTH behind the all the controversy but first I must tell you a story...
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a small child. All this child ever wanted was to get married and raise chickens. She dreamt of the day when she would meet her prince charming and they would ride off into the sunset on back of his noble steed, bound for his castle and there they would live and raise little chickens and live happily ever after. The years went by and she kept dreaming of that day, dreaming of the prince, dreaming of the chickens. Well one day she met that prince and they married and they rode off into the sunset bound for his castle, but a strange thing happened when they arrived at the castle, there were no chickens to be found. You see this prince was not a farmer like the young princess was and so he did not posses any chickens. The princess was saddened by this news but alas their lives went on without chickens. She would often times visit neighboring farms and sit and pet the chickens dreaming of the day when her fine prince would allow her to raise some chickens of her own. Well while she was dreaming of these future chickens and all the chicken adventures they would share some children came to them and they loved these children, but alas they weren't, well, they weren't...chickens, the princess loved them just the same. She did start to notice that they did have 'chicken' tendency's. You see when they were out in the market she would notice that the children had a tendency to 'scatter', and when dinning in the palace there would be food left under chairs and on the table. The younger children had even on occasion 'pecked' or bit the other children. And so as time went by she began to realise that her dream of raising chickens had in fact come true.
So you see, the answer is simple. When someone asks you "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" you can simply reply "The Child."

Life Without Daddy...

My husband has been gone for a few days and as mentioned in the post "Where did the fun maker go" I happen to become more "funner" when he is away, at least that is what my chickens continually tell me.
So when he left on Wednesday I thought to myself how can we make these days fun for the kids and so I made a check list of sorts...
1. Have a couple 'snow days' = NO SCHOOL = FUN!
2. Have a 'camp out' in the living room = Hurt back = FUN!
3. Make little homemade pizzas for each chicken = Big Giant Mess = FUN!
4. Spend one whole day in jammies watching movies playing games and coloring = Stinky Chickens = FUN!
5. Have slumber party in Mommies room = Tired Mommy = FUN!
6. Make little mini pumpkin pies for each Chicken and their friends = BIGGER giant Mess= FUN!
7. Eat 'C-Roll' and watch a movie for breakfast = Cheerios in my sofa = FUN!
8. Snow ball fight = Mad Girls = Happy Boys = Slight amount of Fun!
Adding all these things together I then asked my Chickens if they had fun while Daddy was gone to that each replied "YES!!" all except my youngest. I asked her why not and she said "Not till Daddy comes home, then it will be fun." So 3/4 is not a bad fraction right? I mean 3/4 of my chickens thought it was fun, only 1/4 did not. So yes I will count this time as a success and look forward to my husband being home so I can once again hand the reins of fun MAKER over to him and take on the fun-SUCKER roll once again.

tHe aNTs gO MarCHinG oNe bY oNe...

Today my wonderful husband got up early to go to a prayer meeting and came home to our youngest chicken saying she was hungry. The next sound I heard was my husband opening the pantry to get said youngest chicken her C-Roll, easier said than done.
You see we have in our little chicken coop what some might call an infestation, an ant infestation. These little guys like to get into my pantry before I can put my youngest chickens C-roll in a nifty little container known as a "lock and lock" (every chicken coop should have at least one). So needless to say I lost my mind momentarily yesterday when I opened a SUPER surgery C-roll and forgot to put it into a "Anti Ant Container" and today my husband discovered little ants all over the C-roll. Rebekah however was quite delighted to discover her new little friends share her love for the same C-roll. She was then quite devastated when Coby threw her little friends in the trash along with the C-roll she was going to share with her new friends for breakfast. Coby made the kids oatmeal instead and every so often I would hear Rebekah shreek delightedly "Oh! My friend, come here little friend." and when Coby killed it and put it in the trash she was very sad "don't trow my friend away." "He's happy, he is with all your other little friends eating the C-roll" "OH!! HAHA. Its their new house, their new square house." Yes Rebekah, your little friends are happy in the new square house that is the garbage can...

ewwwwwww

So this morning my four year old went in to get dressed and reappeared with the same clothes on that she wore yesterday, proudly saying...
"I can wear these again."
One look at the dinner remaining on her shirt and I told her...
"you can keep the pants on but you need to change your shirt."
"k, and my ummerwear?"
"you put dirty underwear on?"
"noooooo, I put on the ones with yuckys in them."
A moment to scream to myself 'EWWWWWWWWWW!!' and then...
"you need to get in your drawer and put on underwear from your drawer."
"HUMPH! I like THEEEEESSSSSEEEE ones."
"Rebekah that is gross, change you underwear NOW!!"
So long story short, I thought we were past the whole "ummerwear" thing but alas we have digressed. YUCK!!

A Chickens Dictionary

So I thought I would share some of my most favorite saying from my little chickens. I know you must be excited, try not to wet yourself.

Butternard=Burnard Our Cat (Brittany)
Ogrit=Yogurt (Justin)
Less=Yes (Justin)
Blutterfly=Butterfly (Michael)
HUCKleBERRies=Huckleberries (Michael)
CeROLL=Cereal (Rebekah)
PackPack=Back Pack (Rebekah)

All Hail The Queen

Friday was D-Day.

The day we have all been dreading.

The day one lowly chicken has been looking forward to ever since Jesus decided to trade with her.

Rebekahs fourth birthday.

The day went a little something like this:

Friday morning I walk into her room and find her on Brittanys bed, I sing "Happy Birthday" and she in turn looks at me and says "Mommy, its not my Birthday." I then tell her yes it is and that she is now four. We then get her birthday "C-roll" and put her birthday candles in it and she is happy to be the Queen even if she doesn't think its her birthday. She gets phone call after phone call giving her birthday greetings. She is happy with each phone call until she asks if they are coming to her party and when she does not receive the response she wants she is done talking to them. We move onto our routine and she is reminding us every five minutes or so that it is HER birthday, in ways like: "Justin, you have to play with me cause its my birthday" or "um, I get to pick cause I am four today". So we go about our day counting down the hours till she is in bed and not the queen anymore. Her party went well she did tell me that I had made an OK cake "even though its not red." Ah yes Queen Rebekah was happy with all her royal subjects. She went to bed that night a happy Queen. The next day she woke up and informed me that "Today can be my birthday again. Its ok with Jesus."

Here Chicken Chicken Chicken...

On Saturday we went out on a family excursion that ended with a trip to Costco. Yup, non-stop action in our world. Any way, as we were leaving a lady was walking in to the store with 2 small children following her, she turned around and said "come on chickens". Brittany who was in front of me turned around and flashed a huge smile at me. "That Mommy calls here kids chickens too!!" What a trend setter I am, I mean, I have never met this women but she MUST be reading my blog or have heard of me from some fabulous person. Those of course are the ONLY options.

Birthdays, Berry People and Blueberry Muffins

My youngest chicken is turning 4 on Friday. She is VERY excited about this event and we have been counting down the days for about 3 months now. (See Blog Post: October) Since we have returned from our little extended stay in Colorado, (oh bloger-ific-ness, why did I fail you) we have been talking more about the day to come. She is convinced that since she switched Birthdays with Jesus (again read "October" blog) that she is in fact going to be five on Friday. ah yes the logic of an almost 4 year old.
We do not do BIG birthday parties for the chickens every year so one of the things we do is let them pick a "birthday dinner". When I asked Rebekah what she wanted for her birthday dinner she told me "Croll" (Cereal). I asked her what she wanted for her birthday cake and she told me that she wanted "blueberry muffins with bee's on top" "okaaaaay" I am thinking to myself, this is slightly weirder then Justin wanting Campbell's chicken noodle soup for his birthday when it fell on thanksgiving. Oh well, I think to myself, I can let her pick out her own box of cereal and then cook something else for the rest of us.
I then asked her who she wanted to come to her party. She said "memaw & papa" Oh boy, here we go...
"so if they cant come who do you want to come?"
"Mommy! Papa has not been to my house in a LOOOOONG time."
"I know Rebekah, but if he cant come who do you want?"
"uncle Jeremy."
"ok, and if he cant come, who?"
"Aunt Heidi"
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
"k, if she cant come who do you want to invite?"
"MOMMY!!! She has not never been here!!"
"I know that Rebekah but I think she has plans next week so I don't think she will be able to make it. so who do you want to invite?"
"HUMPH!! "
So I took that as my cue that we were not going to get anywhere and maybe I should move on.
Last night I began to ask her about her blueberry bee muffins and she stopped me.
"Mommy, I don't want muffins."
"you don't?"
"nope, I want strawberry short cake."
thinking for a moment I might be saved, I asked...
"like the dessert or like the toy?"
"like the toy"
oooh Boy here we go again!!

Where did the fun maker go?

About a week ago Brittany asked when the next time Coby was going to be gone was. I was unsure about his schedule over the next month or so, so I told her I did not know. Then a day later Justin asked me the same thing, again I told him I did not know. Thinking it odd that two of my chickens had asked me the same question in the course of 48 hours I asked a question that I did not want to hear the answer to. "why do you guys want to know when your dad will be gone?" They both replied..."cause we always do way fun things when he is gone." So apparently I am not a "fun" Mom, and I only become "fun" when my husband is gone. So while I feel like I am holding on for dear life they are having the ride of a lifetime. hmmmm interesting, who knew that this mother of chickens transforms into a fun making super hero chicken mother when her rooster is away....interesting.

is it 2011 yet??

On Monday when we started school I made a big production about changing the calendar, something I have gotten out of the habit of doing but I thought a new year deserved some attention. Michael and Rebekah really got into it and on Tuesday Michael asked me what day it was I told him and he asked "2011 right??" Oh I hope not, I just started my 2010 to do list!!