Classic Calla

Yes, this is Classic Calla. Or shall we say, Classy Calla.



Calla is visiting grandma and grandpa this weekend. All by herself. She's thrilled. Grandma sent this picture this morning. That's my girl!

Sometimes I just don't know what to say

My parents:



Obviously, I get it from them. But I guess it's true that I come by it honestly.

On a side note, that's actually a great picture of them!

My little readers

The other morning it started out as this:



And a very short time later, it turned into this:



Little Miss Grace is becoming quite the reader. We're super proud of her and she loves sharing it with her sisters!

Covered in chalk

The driveway . . .



And by default, the artists. (Yes, that's snow in the background.)

Calla-ized

Yesterday Calla got a package in the mail. A surprise package. From her aunt and uncle.

Turns out it was a be-lated birthday present. Personally, I think those are the best kind. A new, pretty dress. She was thrilled.

And she immediately "Calla-ized" it.



Don't worry. It's still clean and she'll be wearing it to church on Sunday. Maybe with some different tights. But we'll see. (She is after all known to some as the little girl who always has black tights on. I find that funny, especially since she only has one pair of black tights.)

What is pregnancy without a remodel??

With this baby coming we found ourselves suddenly a few spaces short. Currently Violet shares her room with the office, Grace and Calla share a room, my sewing is in the guest room, and there are toys strewn throughout the house.

And we have a big, empty, unfinished basement.

And we know there is hardwood all through the house.

So, about a month ago I announced to Brent that I had a crazy idea. I have all sorts of crazy ideas, so this wasn't too much of a surprise.

What if we cleaned up one side of the basement, took the carpet out of the livingroom, exposing the hardwood floors, put the carpet in the basement, moved the office, sewing, toys and television down there, put Grace in the bedroom and bed that is currently reserved for guests, and put Violet up with Calla?

After a few days, he started cleaning up the basement. And yesterday, we took out the livingroom carpet and put it in the basement.

Before:



Just getting started:



And after pulling tack strips and a million staples, the current state of the livingroom!



I cannot tell you how thrilled we are. The livingroom seems liberated and our furniture no longer seems out of place, the kids are thrilled to have the basement, and we were pleasently surprised at the state of the wood floors. They could use a good sanding and re-finishing, but that just isnt' going to happen just yet. We will give them a good cleaning and fix the ledges and hopefully find a piece of bound, padded carpeting to put in the livingroom. But right now, I'm loving the character this old hous has; Brent and I agreed that it just keeps getting better.

So far the total cost has been (drumroll please) . . . $0.00. That's right, we haven't spent a dime.

Up next, the basement.



It does currently have the carpet and the kids' toys, but we need some sheetrock and a few other details before we consider that project even close to done. We do have until August, but so far, we've got a good start!

'tude

I think she's got some.



Apparently taking lessons from her sisters.

Five new babies

For the last three weeks we have been incubating chicken eggs. And this weekend five of them hatched. I'll be honest, I'm pretty disappointed that we only got five. We had ten eggs. But between the fact that I don't think the source was all that great and the fact that they got a little cold over the Easter weekend, we only ended up with five babies.

But, the girls are thrilled. Grace and Calla cannot stay way from them. And Violet wakes up in the morning and goes to sleep at night talking about baby chickens.

I'm sure it would be more economical to go down to the farm store and get babies, but the experience my kids get watching the process is invaluable. Plus, since five of them didn't make it, we get to experience reality on a small but very real level. Yes, death happens. And I think it's good for them to experience.

The other side of the coin is three little girls VERY excited to watch eggs hatch and VERY excited to sit around a water tub and watch baby birds.



Priceless.

My goal is to have between six and ten laying hens by fall, so we'll go supplement these with some babies from the farm store. That's pretty fun, too--taking kids down to the store and buying baby chickens. It's sure to be a good time!