Pictures of Lent and Easter

Our Jesus Tree Stations of the Cross

Resurrection Rolls

Easter Baskets and Sacrifice Beans

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Coloring East Eggs

Happy Easter

Robin's nest day #2

As if life is not complicated enough with the chicks, we have this brave robin that decided to make a nest outside my bedroom window. I thinks she's become quite familiar with all our faces peering at her behind the glass.

Today's latest count

Chick #7...Did you know brown chicks come out of brown eggs. The kiddos were so excited to see what color chick would finally emerge from the brown egg.
Chick #8...I'm amazed at how tired they are when they hatch. They sleep on and off, but within 24 hours are fluffy and playfully with one another. As seen by the brood below.

Now we incubated 12 eggs total. 8 hatched and seem to be thriving. The other four eggs are a bit questionable. One chick pipped through, but there has been no movement in a day and a half. The other three eggs appear to not even have a pip in them. We shall see what happens. My sister in-law read that it could take up to 25-26 days for some to hatch. I'm hoping this is the case.

First batch out of the incubator

And into the brooder box.

We opted for a simple, see through brooder box so the kiddos could view them. We must have it up high on a counter top to keep our dog from getting too curious! The heat lamp is clamped to cabinets above the counter in our laundry/mudroom. The chicks seem to like their new home, but man they are messy buggers. I need to change the paper towels 4 times a day. Otherwise their feet and not to mention their fluffy down feathers would become encased in their excrement. Yucko!

Chick Number 6

Right after number six was hatched, the oldest chick kept kicking him. It was as if he was saying, "Get up man! Stop being a wimp!"

And look what's on my window sill

Yes, that would be a robin's nest. Now I need to research a robin's hatching process.

What we woke up to this morning!

4 More Chicks Hatched Overnight!!!

First Chick is Out!

What the kids were doing all day

Birds chirping

Listen closely, the birds are peeping.

Hatching Baby Chicks Unit Study

There's much excitement going on in our household today. Not only are we in full swing of celebrating Easter, but our guests are starting to arrive. What guests are you wondering? Our chicks of course. Back during Ee week while reading about eggs, I signed us up for an embryology class to hatch our own little chicks. For the last 21 days we've taken care to rotate the eggs 3 times a day and make sure all the chicks were comfy and cozy. Here's a few of the happenings...

Our Book Basket

Our Sensory Bin
The kids enjoyed this thoroughly. And it's yet another use for those plastic Easter eggs. Inside some of the eggs were painted wooden eggs the kids place in the nest. Others contained fuzzy chicks. We even included some yummy yellow peeps (A huge favorite). And big boy thought it a good idea to put the toob animals that were oviparous inside some eggs. He even sequenced them in size order and made other various patterns.

Our Chick Countdown Calendar
For Big Boy it was a true test in patience. When we first picked up the eggs, he thought they would hatch immediately. To bypass the disappointment, we created a chick countdown calendar. Here and here are "egg"cellent sources for all kinds of printables.

21 Days ago

We placed the eggs in the incubator...

Welcome Sign

Princess' Welcome to the world sign for the chicks. Can you see how excited she looks?

Today...

The start of our chicks hatching!

More updates to follow...stay tuned!!!