The Prodigal Chicken

Okay, this is weird.  When hubby got home from work, we all went out to get an apple tree ( my early mother's day gift - thanks, honey!)  When we all got home, hubby went to check on the chickens, and there were....SIX! Yes, six.  How did this happen?  We have no idea.  Our first theory is that the chicken was running around in the garage the whole time.  This is not likely, as you would think she would have gone back to her roost at some time before now, but if you have seen our garage, you would realize that there are umpteen places for a half-grown chicken to hide, so it is possible.  The other theory, which is a little disturbing, is that someone actually took her for two days and finally brought her back while we were gone.  We may never know what happened, but at least all of our Lucy's are safe again.  Now, Rory has to add to his picture of his family, and write "Lucy 8."

I tried a suggestion from the blog I wrote about last night, today.  I told Rory and Lily that they are privates in boot camp, and their first assignment is to learn to come as soon as I call them.  So, we played a "game," and I called them from different rooms in the house.  They had to say "Yes, Ma'am," and come to me as soon as they heard me.  They did great!  They were actually upset when we had to stop playing and get on to something else.  I told them that I would keep doing it periodically throughout the day.  They still did very well.  They missed it once, but that was the time I was planning on giving them candy when they got to me.  I showed them that I had candy in my hand, and they had missed it.  I called them again a few minutes later, and they both came quickly.  I plan to keep this up until it stops becoming a game and becomes a habit.  Please pray for me!  I just hope that if I can get Rory to realize he can do something even if he doesn't want to, he may be able to apply the concept to other things (like cleaning his room and getting his school work done).  Hopefully, we can work on the habit of doing everything he's told right away.

We stayed on schedule much better, today.  Rory got all of his work done except for his handwriting page before school was over.  He's really enjoying his newfound reading ability, and is reading everything in sight.  He was reading "Sam The Minuteman" for school today.  It's a pretty long book for him, so when he was about halfway through I told him he could stop there and read the rest on Monday.  He said, "NO!  I want to find out what happens!" and continued reading until he finished the book!  He also picked out a library book to read..  He asked if he could read it for reading time in school.  I reminded him that he was finished with reading for the day, so he read the book to himself during quiet time.

We got to the farm market today.  The market we go to is right on a vegetable farm a couple towns north of us.  They sell all of their own plants and vegetables, and also some local items like milk, cheese, eggs, and baked goods.  They have been closed for the summer, and just reopened last weekend.  I have been there enough over the years, that the owner recognized me, and welcomed me with a big smile on her face, asking how my winter had been.  I told her that I'd missed them, and she said she had missed all the people, too.  I've been waiting for them to open for at least a month now!  The grocery store produce from California and South America starts to get old after a while.  I've really started to appreciate the ability to be personally connected to the people who produce my food.

Both kids actually went to bed decently tonight, so I am going to start soaking some beans, soak myself, and get to bed.  Tomorrow is Rory's first baseball game if it doesn't rain too much, and I want to can the beans and some rhubarb that I got from the market.  I also peeked ahead at the "Flylady" babysteps, and found that I am supposed to spend two minutes putting out a "hot spot" tomorrow.  Now, I just have to decide which spot is most likely to erupt first!