A Good Long Weekend

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have a had a bad case of spring fever this year.

Could be the fact that there have been 6+ months of snow and cold weather. Could be that Papa has been working a ton of overtime and his girls have missed him like crazy. Whatever the reason, the good thing about spring fever is that there is a sure fire definite easy cure for it...

SPRING!

Last week, we bought four ducklings.

Well, actually three of them are my sister Meagan's kids.

But since they have a Great Dane they didn't feel like their house was a safe place for the little fuzzies. So we worked out a plan to get four ducks that will all live at our house, but they can come visit and play with as much as they want.

Bunny promptly named our duck Jemima (of course). She says she is their mother and crawls around playing with them whenever she is allowed to have them out of their brooder.

Squirrely is quite fond of them as well, as you can see.

Then, oh joy of joys, last Tuesday, we found out that Papa was going to have a, not 2, not 3,

but 4 day weekend!!!! 

Thursday morning started with Papa letting Bunny and me sleep in, but waking me up to take Squirrley so he could go talk to the state road workers, who were working up the road from our house. He came back and said he was going to get some of the fill dirt that they were removing from a hillside that was slipping. We spent the rest of the morning running errands and when we got back we found TEN TRUCK LOADS of fill dirt piled high behind our shed. Bunny was excited that Papa got her mountain and she spent quite a bit of time climbing them. Papa did end up flattening them a bit for now. Bunny can still play on them until he gets a chance to smooth the dirt properly.

Friday, we cleaned out the shed and Papa began our big weekend project of making it into a new chicken coop and fencing in a run. Using my dad's tractor, he pulled the shed around the side of our house the backyard. 

The way he took it, there is a steep slope down to the creek

I am quite sure he was trying to give me a heart attack.

As he pulled and pushed it into position, he had some help/direction from both of the girls' great grandpas. Their papa's Papaw Gene and my Poppaw John.

Bunny was pretty excited when they finally got it in place.

She played outside so much and so hard that day, that as soon as we had eaten dinner, she laid down on the hallway floor and fell asleep as her bath water was running.

Saturday, we fenced in the empty space behind out house and backyard. 

Squirrely, who hadn't been feeling well but was finally feeling better, was happy to sit and watch or hang out in the Ergo while we worked.

Bunny kept herself busy playing and sometimes helping.

Having spent several of my younger years, growing up on a small farm, I am no stranger to fencing.

With Papa having put up fences at his old job, and knowing his way around them pretty well, we made a pretty good team. With a little help from Poppaw John, we got it done pretty quickly.

We then prepped the shed to be the new coop.

Not too shabby. These chicken should have no complaints.

And they don't seem to.

The view from my kitchen window.

I am really excited to have them a bit closer to the house. 

It will make taking care of them easier.

I am sure Poppaw John is happy to have his own space back.

And as if we hadn't had enough of chickens for a day, when we got the girls to bed, I realized that I still had to sew the girls Easter dresses.

Papa helped a little and we knocked it out in very little time.

Then we filled up their Easter basket with goodies and went to bed.

Sunday was filled with basket hunting (we hide the Easter basket. It is a tradition), church, Grandma's dinner, home for rest times, Nana and Pap's house, and finally home to bed.

Papa finished up the chicken coop details, and I cleaned up the house a bit.

Today Papa is back to work. But it is 45* out. I have chickens in my backyard, ducks in my laundry room, slightly flatter mountains in my yard, awesome next door neighbors on both sides, my two favorite little girls in the world, and a very full heart.

Each week I joined several linky parties!  What a fun way to share and learn! 

Natural Living Monday,  The Children's Bookshelf,  Monday's Kid Corner, Hey Mom, Look What I Did!, Montessori Monday, Made by Little Hands, Homemade Mondays, Mama Moments Monday {Link Up}, The Gathering Spot,  Little Wonders' Days,  Mom's Monday Mingle,  Hip Homeschool Hop, Mom's Library,  Tuesday Tots, (tot school tuesday), The Tuesday Baby Link-Up, Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}, Tuned in Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, TOO Cute Tuesday, Open Call Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Tuned in Tuesday, Kids in the Kitchen,  Waldorf Wednesday,  It's Playtime, We Made That Linky, What I Learned Wednesday, Super Link Party, Kids Co-Op,  Artsy Play Wednesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Kids Crafts, Link and Learn, Thrifty Thursday,  Hearts for Home,  needle and thREAD, Made U Look, Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers,  Natural Living Link-Up, Small Footprint Friday,  Our Days Homeschool Link-Up,  For the Kids Friday, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday, Read. Explore. Learn., Creative Learning on Friday,  Preschool and Kindergarten Corner, Friday's Nature Table, The Friday Baby Shower,  TGIF Linky Party, Family Fun Friday,  Creative Friday, Friday Flair Link Party, Shine on Fridays, Friday Favs, Outdoor Play Party,  Do Something Crafty, Tot School Gathering Place,  Sharing Saturday, Share It Saturday, Country Kids, Link and Learn, sharing creative, ideas {all weekend}, Show and Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, The Preschool Prekinder Nook, Fun Sparks, The Sunday Parenting Party, Making Boys Men, Made with Love

And each week I co-host two such parties: 

The All Year Round Blog Carnival and Eco-Kids Tuesday Link-Up!