We have CHICKS!!!

December is such a fun time of year.  It's filled with celebration, excitement, surprise, and sheer joy.  This year my sister and her boyfriend gave Tim and I our Christmas gift a week early.  I generally can pick up on what I am getting, but this year caught me by complete surprise.  Although they had received approval for one chicken, they ended up bringing home 3 Silkie chicks.  I thought it was a bread machine. :)

Silkies are unique in many ways:

1. The love to sit on their eggs, although not great for egg production, they make for very good mommas.

2.  Their skin and bones are black.  Chinese use them for medical purposes.

3.  They are cute looking birds.  Click here for pictures.

4.  A very friendly breed, so the girls will enjoy them.  Our current hens aren't as social, in fact they have been known to harass the little ones.

5. They live 15 years!!!!! That's a long time for a chicken.

They came to me 1.5 weeks old, and have grown so much in the past couple of weeks.  My dad tried to name them the worst names possible, and since Isabella couldn't remember them we have since renamed them Marissa, Piper, and Natalie (all friends from school).

So that they get use to human contact, we play with them every day. Isabella has the petting technique down, petting them with two finger knuckles facing down.  Abigail on the other hand could unknowingly kill one in a blink, so we have to keep an good eye on her. 

They live in a plastic Rubbermaid container in our empty dinning room, and will remain here for the next couple of months.   Tim, as my Christmas present, has committed to building me my dream coop so they will move there once completed. We are scheduling chicken play dates as we speak.  :) Come one..come all, these chicks are growing fast.

Santa 2011

 This year we did Santa at Winters Chappel Methodist, where Isabella and soon Abigail go to school.  This Santa was a bit slimmer than years past, but who could blame the guy for wanting to skip on a few cookies from time to time.  As you can see from the picture, it went about the same as years past but this time Abigail was the one having a melt down.

This is the first year that Isabella actually got the concept of Santa, her request was modest: Polly Pockets.  Was she naughty or nice?  Stay tuned.

Christmas Dressing

Just a fun little post showing off my beautiful girls.  My mother always buys their dresses, and of course with that comes a mini photo session. 

These two girls definatly have their moments, but the majority of the time it's as sweet as this picture.  We are so blessed.

How we created such perfect little girls, is beyond me.  Even in the middle of their terrible twos and threes, there is nothing we would change about them. It's part of who they are.  Here is to a wonderful advent season!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

I am finally posting about our Thanksgiving, six weeks late. Now that we have Abigail, it's been difficult keeping up with all things especially my blog. Now that Tim is watching a PG-13 action flick, I am taking advantage of this time to play catch up.

What were we thankful for that holiday? Thankful first and foremost for our loving Savior, without him we would have nothing. Then falls everything else in on our list: our never dull moment marriage, two beautiful girls, loving parents/grand parents, our awesome siblings (especially my sister, who does so much for me and the girls), and dependable friends.

We spent the day hanging out and preparing for dinner.  The girls got to play outside together, and I of course had my camera handy.  Below is a picture of my newest niece, Maggie.  What a cutie. 

Grandma made dresses for all of her grand daughters, below are my girls in their adorable outfits. 

I don't have many picture of the actually dinner, we got off to a late start and kids quickly started melting down.  I think the entire dinner lasted a total of 15 minutes.  That was OK things happen, we had a ton of fun during the day and thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law the food was fantastic. 

Pre-Thanksgiving Festivities

 Since Thanksgiving was at our house this year the day before was spent preparing for the day of.  We cleaned, we baked, we cooked.  However, we did receive a surprise visitor: Grandpa Walker.  We served popcorn, and of course Grandpa made an instant friend.  No worries mommies, we only gave her the puffs so she wouldn't choke. 

Later that night Uncle Ted, Aunt Amanda, and their pug Clemi arrived at our house.  Below are the girls gleeful introduction to Clementine.  Clemi and Abigail were BFF's from the start as Abigail would follow her around feeding her anything she could.

Here are Uncle Ted, Tim, and Isabella rolling mommies Mexican Wedding cookies.  So yummy, thanks for all the help!!!

This was the first time Ted and Amanda had stayed with us, and it was great having them here.  Isabella is still talking about Clemi!!

We HAVE AN EGG!!!

I use to think that the only way to get eggs was with a rooster, which couldn't be further from the truth. Some chickens can lay an egg a day (during their prime) without a noisy rooster. I checked on the girls before church, some say they like to lay in the morning and even after we got home but to no avail. Since patience isn't my middle name, I started looking around the Internet and learned that a change in environment could affect egg production. Resolved that it may be a week or so before I see eggs, I went to the coop one last time. To our surprise....we have an egg. Our first egg, Isabella is so excited to have it for breakfast.

Chicken Adventures

 

As some of you may have figured out, I have chicken fever. I can't remember how the idea got stuck in my head, maybe it's when I learned some small group friends had some...I have no idea.  That's all behind us (sort of), because today October 8th, 2011 we adopted three ladies.  Tips the gender balance agaist Tim's favor, but it's not as if we could get a rooster (the neighbors would have our heads). 

We packed up the girls and headed out to Douglasville, GA to meet the chicken couple The Penny's.  Virgina showed us around the place which was interesting to say the least.  Isabella and Abigail loved seeing the free range ducks, geese, and various foul.

We walked into this huge pen where she kept the pullets, females under one year and we got to see the different breeds.  We settled on two Road Island Reds and one Sex Link, which is a cross between two breeds to improve laying.

They made it back in a rubbermaid bin with netting on top, and are adjusting well to their new home.  Isabella has named them: Dora, Madeline, and Mama Lama.  It's all a  learning curve, but we've enjoyed having them around.  I am so blessed to have a husband who puts up with my obssesions & dedicates his Saturday to making me happy.

Lake Lanier Fun

We took one last trip to the lake mid September with Aimee and Cary, her boyfriend.  The ride to our favorite cove was fun, with Isabella at the wheel of course. 

 In the above picture Isabella is trying to catch a fish with Tim.

Wait what's wrong with this picture? Tim and I joke that if our kids go missing, Aimee is the first person we're calling.  We're blessed to have her so close and that she enjoys spending time with our girls. 

Abigail is such a big girl, playing in the sand with her sister.

Isabella hasn't really learned how to horse play with kids, so when we made friends with a set of siblings she let loose a little.  They were sweet kids, who let Isabella chase them with buckets of water; although, the concept of dumping water on someones head was foreign to her, she picked it up real quick.  It seemed like yesterday she was just a baby, now we hear ourselves saying, "Isabella, go get him...run run...you got him good!" it's a bit surreal.

It was a fun time, can't wait for next year.

Walker Girls

We finally had a Walker meet-up in September. As always Auntie Angela got her camera out and lined them all up. The pictures are far from perfect, but sweet never the less. Aunt Melissa took a picture of what was going on behind me, can't wait to see that one. In order from left to right we have: Grace, Maggie, Abigail, Mary Clair, and Isabella.

This one just cracks me up with Mary Clair interacting with Isabella.

Abigail stands up on her own!!

The date was August 11, 2011 Abigail brought her self up with out assistance. She stood up just long enough to snap the picture. The green foam puzzle is being dangled over head by big sister Isabella in an effort to get her to stand up.

Corpus Chrisit Beach

Given that it's nearly 100 degrees here in the Corpus Christi heat, we're limited in terms of what we can do during the day.  This evening we set out to one of a several beaches Corpus has to offer.   We picked up tortas at a drive-thru taqilleria, which is so common here yet so rare in Atlanta. 

 By the time we got to the beach the weather was perfect for dining al fresco.  Abigail enjoyed her dinner on her granfathers lap, an interesting development having earlier had serious stranger anxeity.  This was Abigail's first visit to the beach, and to my surprise she was more comfortable in the water than her older sister. 

What Isabella enjoyed most was playing in the sand with Grandpa and looking for sea shells. 

 That ship in the background is the USS Lexington, one of Corpus Christi's main tourist attractions.

QVC Model

The only trip we took was to see my Tia Toti's new home in Victoria, Texas.  For most of my childhood, my Aunt has lived within a very close distance so it's strange going to Corpus Christi and not having her around.  She didn't have daughters, so she would never pass up the chance to go shopping with my mother, Aimee, and I.  

One of my Aunt's hobbies is jewlery making, so I asked her if she had any extra supplies we could craft with.  Isabella was so cute helping my aunt make her a bracelet.   

When they were finished she taught Isabella how to model her bracelt just like the QVC models do. Now everytime we say "QVC Model" she puts her right hand on her left shoulder and smiles....so sweet.

Abigail slept through most of our visit, but the time she was up was delightful. 

Bathing al fresco

My parents had their only bath tub taken out a few years ago, so for bathtime we had to get creative.  We tried taking the rubber tub into the house, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as doing it outside.   The girls had a great time as you can clearly see. 

Grandpa & Me

 There is a toddler DVD series called Mommy and Me, which Isabella loves.  If I had to put a label on our 22 days in Texas, it would have to be: Grandpa and Me.  From the day we arrived Isabella was in love with her Grandfather.  Her favorite activity was catching roly polies, grass hoppers, and any other insect she could find. 

Here she is with her little shovel helping Grandpa fill in the holes in the yard. 

My parents went out of their way to make sure Isabella and Abigail enjoyed their visit.  It was a little stressful for me at first, but when I finally let go of our routine and relaxed we were able to really enjoy ourselves.  There is so much more to post about our summer trip, so stay tuned.

Birthday at Lake Lanier

My sister's boyfriend owns a house on the lake and was generous enough to take our family out for the day.  I really couldn't have asked for more fun on my birthday.  The weather was perfect, not too hot and enough overcast to keep us happy. 

It's been some time since we've been to the lake, problably shortly after we got married.  To our surprise Cocktail Cove has been replaced with Sunset Cove, a man made beach that you can dock the boat on.  Isabella enjoyed playing in the sand and going in and out of the water.  Abigail loved being in the water as well; although I think she enjoyed drinking it more than anything....yuck.   

The parts Isabella is still talking about are driving Mr. Cary's boat & feeding the ducks.  It really was one of the best days we've spent in a while, thanks guys!!

Can you find Isabella?

This was too funny to pass up.  Isabella's favorite part about Old Navy is that silly dog you see in the picture.  For some reason she got on the platform and posed long enough for Aimee to take the picture, and just before the manager said something to us.  Oh the life of a toddler.