The Bunch Are Back to the Daily Grind

Our crazy anti social cow dog! (She really is a cattle dog X)

The weather has been fairly mild for January, but until the past few days everyone has been taking turns being ill. D was the first one to bring this lovely illness into our home. He was so ill that he actually willingly called into work for 2 days! That itself says how bad he felt. He usually likes to spread the wealth and go to work (suffering is apparently a manly thing to do...I guess), but he was pretty much useless so I am glad given his profession that he realized work was a no go while he recuperated and started on antibiotics. T was the next to fall and as with all kids ANY illness they fall to is manifested in the reproducing of whatever meal they ate last. It was fun. The girls and I were lucky. We just felt super tired and listless for a couple of days with no serious implications. Unfortunately, T fell ill the day before his basketball game so he had to miss it. His team did manage to win though. He has another double header coming up so hopefully he is now well rested and two back to back games won't be too much for him.

I am not sure how the cot became the official illness bed, but it has been for years. The only time we use it is when the kids are sick.

The past few days we have all felt better and have been out enjoying the milder weather. The kids have been practicing with their new arrows and D has been busy building an over hang on the chicken coop. We are hoping this helps divert the run off away from the inside of the coop.

What a shot!

Glad he feels better.

D has mastered the pork chop!

That little over hang had only 11 pieces, but took TWO full days to build.

Ms. Speckles is finally accepted. Unfortunately, this means Lucy is back to being on bottom of the pecking order and is ruthlessly pecked on.

Ethel was really interested in the camera. The black and white one (Flora) is poor Lucy's tormentor. She really is a mean one, but she is a good layer so she is safe for now.

Poor Lucy looks horrible! Flora keeps pulling out her feathers.

We did survive our sugar detox and have been very careful to not fall back into old habits. It is shocking how much sugar is in EVERYTHING. A thinks we should do this once a month for a week. It might be a good idea. I guess it depends on how quickly everyone falls back into their bad habits. The kids and I have been doing pretty good. T keeps asking for sugary stuff, but doesn't really react like he cares when he is told no. D has a harder time with self control, just how he grew up I guess. He does really well when he is at home, but left alone to his own devices he doesn't necessarily make good choices, but he is doing better. I guess we all have to start somewhere. I was really proud of him for making it the entire week without cheating. He had two of those days at work(aka outside of my grasp), but he stuck with it. I wasn't worried about the kids cheating because they are with me all the time and I refuse to give in to anything. I am like Trump. I am in it until the end and will not give an inch. I wouldn't even use a cough drop.

We finally took our tree down. The water in the base was starting to smell, but the tree still looked great. It is in the backyard drying out so we can use it for a craft, though with the rain coming it might not dry too quickly.