Distressed chick

Well, I have a distressed chick. I don't know WHAT is wrong with her. She is chirping chirpING CHIRPING very loudly and I don't know how to help her!

I have lowered their heat lamp, changed their water:

their food:

and given her lots and lots of attention. I have an inkling that the problem might be attention, which would be terrible, because every time I hold her, she is happy. AHH! So Dan, Sayed, and I have taken turns holding her tonight.

All the other chicks seem nice and happy. I don't know how to help this little chick. Please Please sleep tonight little crazy peabody!

Mornings

I love mornings. It is the only time of the day when June will play by herself, uninterrupted for more than 30 minutes. Sometimes it is even an hour! I get so much of my work done and then around 9:30, she takes a nap- perfect!

I can't even get still pictures- she pays no attention to me.

But in the afternoons, totally different story. She wants my complete attention.

I am thankful for both! :)

Happy 1st Birthday June!

Well, it has officially been one year since I was laying in the hospital recovering from my 40-hour labor and eventual c-section. June was definitely worth it and she gets cuter every day! ...with no lack of hated kisses from her daddy - It hasn't changed in a year :)

This morning, she received her first ever birthday present- baby chicks! They were sent last night from Ohio and arrived this morning bright eyed and peeping! June was very interested...

And we prepared a nice little place for them for the next few days until they transition to their brooder/cage, which they will be in for six weeks before moving to their home-made hen house. They have water, food, a t-shirt to lay on, and a heat lamp that must keep the box at a regulated 95 degrees (decreasing 5 degrees every week for three weeks), as well as a clock thermometer that they like to snuggle with :)

They will stay in this crate until next week and just peep and poop and eat all day. Yep, that's what they do. But it is pretty cute! They are very happy. If you remember, we were going to get four kinds of little chicks that I had picked out. Well, they called me yesterday and told me the one that I was the least excited about wasn't available! So, they sent me the friendliest breed that they have- a black copper maran. She is an excellent addition to our little flock and I think, will fit in nicely.

No names yet, but lots of love from our other animals. Although, I am not sure if they exactly love them or want to eat them. I will work on that... :) Oh and please ignore the terrible '80s wallpaper that we need to replace in our breakfast room. Soon, soon....

Fast asleep about every 30 minutes - I had to poke them the first time to make sure they were alive.

And I also wanted to mention my good friend, Courtney's blog shout out to June for her birthday! Adorable picture - Thank you Dentons!

And a last Happy 1st Birthday little Junie!

Afternoon Soccer

These past few days have been beautiful! I am not sure, but I am guessing the groundhog didn't see his shadow, or did- whichever is supposed to mean no more winter.... Anyway, Sayed got a soccer ball for his sixteenth birthday from my parents and Tom, so we decided to go try it out! The only soccer field is where Sayed is the manager of the Lubbock High team, so we had to do a little fence-climbing/breaking and entering, of which Sayed was terrified. But it was all ok and June got her first lesson in breaking the rules!

June is running all over the place and has been for the last three weeks. She keeps going faster and faster. The whole downstairs of our house is pretty much baby-proofed, so I can do my work and she can run around and get into little things that I have strategically placed around for her. Perfect for both of us!

But anyway, soccer this afternoon was super fun. It was really nice. Sayed and Dan played while June tried to steal the ball...

Dan, of course, is the sweetest dad and let June play a little bit before he scored more goals than Sayed!

Nice afternoon in the sun- there is nothing like living somewhere where it is cold to appreciate the warmth when it comes!

The art of playing the piano

I am sad to say that I am just not really one of those people who has the "knack" for playing the piano. On a good day, I can play 2-4 songs, and that is after 10 years of lessons. Suffice to say, it does not come naturally to me. I have to really work on it and learn a song.

Anyway, the other day, I was playing one of my 4 songs (which is very good, I might add, after 15 years of practice!) and June wanted to play with me. She had so much fun sitting at the piano with me, pointing at things, and occasionally hitting a note that, in her head, went along with the song I was playing.

Fun times.

Oh yes, Sayed was watching and Dan was taking pictures. Since I am the only one who knows how to play at all, I was considered an expert musician. I like it when things work out that way :)

Do we look at ALL alike?

Goat herders?

Sayed finally got to talk to his mom and brothers the other day- he was SO excited! He has been trying to call them for a week and we couldn't figure out the number correctly... Anyway, when he spoke to his mom, she reminded him that he has gifts for us. Maybe he forgot to give them to us (like he said) or maybe he secretly doesn't like us and was saving them for his next, cooler family... Regardless, here they are in all their glory.

Dan thinking he is part of the Taliban:

Me wearing some of the clothes brought for Dan- I got all of the jewelry:

Dan enjoying his wares:

June and the jewelry:

One of the MANY pictures Sayed has taken of himself. In Afghanistan, the internet speed is so slow, they cannot upload pictures. I think he keeps taking these so I will upload to his facebook profile- we have about 50 to choose from (the other 150 were deleted because he didn't like them :)