And in Other News . . .

So the story behind the chickens . . . I arrived home from a women's conference to find Buck had baby fever. The two interested kids (bookends) hopped in the van with us to do some chicken shopping. We selected our four little fluff balls, dropped the kids off at home with instructions to prep the chicken condo, and then Buck and I went out to eat. We also got some groceries. Since I'd been at church the day before for band, then choir, then the women's conference (Caelan watched these two little cuties so her friend, their big sister, could attend the conference with her mom) and at the conference all day the following day, I was zonked and ready for bed. 



But at 4:15 a.m. I hear the sliding glass door open ... we don't open exterior doors at these hours, so I rolled out of bed to find Brennen--who said Chauncey had jumped INTO bed with him (a big no-no in our house, pets aren't allowed on the furniture or there would be no room for the people :). 


Brennen said groggily, "One of the chickens is chirping really loud." 

I said, "That's a fire alarm battery going out and that's why Chauncey is freaking out." The dog frequently races out the door when our cooking attempts set off the hard-wired alarms throughout the house. He wanted out NOW (but then back in again because he also doesn't like the dark).

So I grab a battery from the kitchen, head downstairs, and drag over a spinning office chair and try to reach the alarm (which is right outside of the room the chicks are in), since I can't find the step ladder at FOUR IN THE MORNING. Without my glasses, I can hardly see the alarm, much less read the instructions, and I can barely reach the thing attached to the high ceiling, anyway. I head back up to our room (alarm still beeping, dog still freaking, boy still wandering) and wake up Buck by accidentally crashing into the bedstand next to my pillow. 

"What is happening?" he says, finally noticing the hubbub. Ha! 

He takes over standing on the dangerous chair (in nothing but his boxer shorts; reminded me of dad chasing goats in his underwear when we were growing up, lol), changes the battery, and calms the canine. 

In the meantime, I'm worried the baby chicks might not be warm enough ... and, are they breathing?!! So I poke one through the cage (you know, like when you wake up a real baby to make sure it's sleeping :) and it pops up and starts chirping, which wakes the other three--yup, everyone's alive! And then we all went back to bed. Happy Daylight Savings to us!

Just a few hours later, we were up and headed to a baptism class at church. Our new, good friends were also at the class, along with two of the kids' karate instructors. In fact, Mr. Karate Instructor was so excited about the class that he took the "if you're a legit believer, there's really no reason to wait to obey God's command to be baptized" message seriously. His wife said, "Mr. KI is getting baptized, NOW!" So cool! Even cooler, the karate studio owner's son and his wife happened to be at church that morning too, so people who have been in this couple's life a long time got to witness the bold step and declaration of faith. We, too, were happy to cheer them on!

After all, we weren't going anywhere. We had church to attend :) And when church was over, why not go to the missions trip meeting, afterward (seriously considering a trip to Africa, ya'll)? And when we get home from that (after a solid hour plus nap) why not go BACK to church for the member's meeting and potluck?! Seriously, I was at church all weekend. But, what better place to be, right?

Other than that, we've started back to karate. Brennen grew so much that his uniform was almost unimaginably small on him. In three months. He skipped the girls' uniform size completely and went straight into my old (like new) uniform. I pulled patches off of Graysen's uniform and Caelan sewed them on Brennen's. We did it this way because Graysen had grown so much that he fit in Brennen's uniform! Caelan has lots of practice sewing on badges from her stint as badge-sewer last month.

Also, our girls got a big bag of cute clothes from the mama of those two cuties pictured above. She was going through her closet and thought of Caelan. Caelan is modifying a few things, but other things she loves! Gabby found a few treasures, too. Yay for new clothes we didn't have to buy :) Now we just need some smallish, tallish young guy to drop a box of cool-duds off at our door. I know the whole world is melting right now, but that is no excuse for B to wear high waters ;) Just kidding, it's not quite that bad . . . yet.