Braaten has some really great friends. She has beautiful friends in England (Amy, Megan, Sophie, Zoe, Ellie, & Emelia). And Amy & Megan, who are sisters, are even coming to visit us this summer for 2 weeks. How awesome is that!

She has beautiful friendships here, too. When we moved back, she met Renae and their friendship began quickly. Now everyone thinks they look like twins. They have so much in common except for a quirky nickname. Pickle. Yep, that's what everyone calls Renae. hehe 

What a blessing to have friends of all kinds. Braaten has the privilege of having many (Claire M., Claire B., Hannah F., Hannah W., Nicole, Ellie, Sydney, Megan F., Megan H., and the list goes on and on.) 

Thank you girls for loving my girl.  

Five Question Friday!

I tried to post this on Friday, but it didn't work for some reason. I thought I would put it up today anyway. :-)

Mama M from "My Little Life" started this blog carnival and it's easy peasy to put a post up so I love it. And you can get to know a little more about me. 

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky to appear on Friday morning and LINK UP! Oh, andhaving fun is a MUST!

Questions for Friday, May 19th: (Special thanks to @joleneslavik, @ThisDaddys_Blog,@deannajw, Christine, and Sandy for their question suggestions! I would love to link YOU in a future 5QF, so just c'mon over to my community to offer up your best question suggestions, or just watch for my Twitter shout out for questions and@5crookedhalos me using hashtag #5QF!)

1. Do you and your spouse go to bed at the same time?

We've always gone to bed together until recently. We used to and now I am tired sooner and my man likes a little veg time in front of the t.v. We don't watch the same things always so I retreat to our bedroom and read and sometimes even pull out my dvd player and watch a chick flick. 

2. A question for the ladies...What kind of facial hair do you like on your man?

I love Shawn's mustache and goatee. He wears it very well! When he shaves it he looks a lot younger, but I still prefer him with it. 

3. What's the worst vacation you've ever taken?
This question is stumping me. I'm not sure I have ever had a bad vacation. OK, I got it! I just thought of something. When we first moved to England, we drove, yes drove, all the way to Italy. Believe me, our English friends still think we're nuts for driving and not flying. We wanted to see France and Switzerland on the way, so what can we say? Anyway... on the way back from Italy we stopped in France just outside of Paris to stay in a camper that was ferrr-reezing! It was so chilly, the propane tank was empty, and we had no heat. We couldn't wait to get out of that place! Overall, though, it was a fabulous vacation.

4. What's the first-ever blog you followed?

The blog I followed first was the blogger that encouraged me to blog in the first place. Her name is Pam, she graduated high school with my husband and her blog is:  You're Gonna Miss This. I am really thankful that she talked me into it. 

5. Do you enjoy amusement parks?

I most certainly do. I used to love roller coasters, but I think I'm a little chicken now. As I've aged, it just feels scarier to be so out of control.

Here kitty, kitty...

Our cat, Ying, had kittens on May 2nd. I mentioned in my last post that she would have them any day and I think it happened the very next day.

Since we school at home, this was a great experience for the kids. 

I wasn't sure whether Ying would hide to have her kittens or if she would have them in the separate garage that she and our other 2 cats stay in. 

On that Monday morning she was wanting to find a place in the house since we let all 3 of our cats come in here and there so we can spend a little time with them. She was upstairs in the girls' room and went and laid down in one of Braaten's drawers that are underneath her bed. I was tempted to let her have them there because I wanted them to be safe and warm. I thought about that for a moment or two longer and realized that wasn't a good plan at all. Eww. 

I picked her up out of there and went downstairs with her to the laundry room. I emptied a basket, put a blanket down, and set her in there. She jumped right out, followed me back into the kitchen, and then made a beeline to Braaten's cozy little clothes drawer beneath her bed. 

We all knew then that IT WAS TIME. 

I scrambled downstairs back into the laundry room. Before we went in there, I handed her over to Melanie. Just as Melanie was making her comfortable in her arms, Ying's water broke. Mel was grossed out, and I quickly escorted her to the garage where I put a blanket down. I hoped she would have her babies there. 

An hour passed and we checked in on her. There was no sign of new kitties, but she found the blanket. It didn't take long and by 9:40 am she had 4 kittens. The kids were able to witness the 5th being born and I didn't see any of it. I was treating a patient down in my office. Bummer!

Here is our happy little mommy. My guess was that she would have 3 kittens because she was carrying so small and some of the others guessed 4. she fooled us all and had 5. Bless her little self. 

We have another cat named Lily that is expecting and due to have her first litter at the end of this month. So far we have homes for 3 of Ying's babes and will have to find more for Lily's in the summer. We would like to keep a kitten from each litter, but obviously we'll have to take our 3 adult cats to the vet so that the kitty population is maintained around here.

Did I mention that we also hatched 2 baby chicks and have 13 more eggs in our incubator?

It sure has been exciting around here! 

Five Minute Friday

I've decided to participate in this "5 Minute Friday" where you take 5 minutes and write your heart out. Here goes...

It's Mother's Day weekend and I thought about what I would like to do to celebrate it. My hubby usually has a plan- he and the kids make me breakfast in bed and then we spend the day together gardening and taking it easy.

I'd like to stretch it to a weekend celebration. I asked my hubs if we could get some unfinished projects done around the house, if I could do some painting projects, and also get caught up on any grading we need to do on the kids' school work. 

Sounds like a lot of work, but when things get done I feel a sense of accomplishment. And if the 7 of us work at it together, it'll take the pressure that I put on myself to try and get it all done. 

What will you be doing this Mother's Day?

busy birthing

We've got baby chicks as of Saturday! 

It was our first time incubating eggs. We did 12 eggs and have only gotten 2 chicks, but it's exciting for all of us nonetheless.

Melanie named this one Yoko Ono. :)

And this little guy is Lennon, of course! Grant named that one. 

And today's big news:

Our kitty kat, Ying, is probably going to have her kittens. 

She has been laying around a lot for the past 2 days resting and taking it easy. We were expecting kittens between last Friday and Tuesday. Today seems like the perfect day!

I'll post pictures soon of their progress.