Preparing for Christmas, With a Twist....

The whole family spent much of the week recuperating from a horrible head cold.  Eric spent four days with fever, in bed, and off milk.  Ken and I are still battling the effects of it all.  Ella on the other hand, was glad to be back in school and choir. 

The Cherub Choir had one of their Christmas performances today, singing Twinkle, Twinkle and Away in a Manger.  Ella loves to sing and breaks out in song or will start humming a tune, whenever the mood strikes her.  Here's our "star" singing:

Make a Smilebox greeting

Well, as many of you know we have been talking about moving back to Colorado. We have had our house on the market for some time now and due to financial reasons have decided to make the move sooner, rather than later. Wanting to get the kids settled, we decided Xmas break would be a good time to get back out to Parker, CO for the holidays and to prepare our old house

(which was being rented, until recently) for us to move back in. We are all very excited about moving back, but know this will come as quite a change for our family. We are certainly going to miss the weather here, the only home our children have really known, and our beautiful and amazing Church, which has provided the foundation to help grow our faith in the Lord.

We are having the children baptized, before we leave to mark our committment to continue to grow and serve the Lord. We are very lucky that they were able to fit us into the busy holiday schedule to make it happen, before we have to leave.

A funny little story I have to share. I was talking to Ken today about how my memory just wasn't what it used to be and telling Ken the story of how I had forgotten our home phone number when I was in the hospital having Eric (I had to have the nurse look it up).  Well, Ella was listening to our conversation and quickly chimed in, "Mommy our phone number is 7714270."  I had never taught her our phone number, so I asked her where she learned it.  She said, "Mommy, you wrote it on my chalk board."  I had forgotten that a few days ago, Ella asked me what our phone number was and so I wrote it down for her on her chalkboard.  I wasn't expecting her to memorize it.  Well, to my surprise she did and now I know if I need to remember something just write it down on Ella's chalkboard.

Well, because we will not be spending Christmas here we decided to forgo cutting down a tree to an artificial tree we had from years ago.  Ella was amazed at how real the tree looked and was excited that it was already all lit up.  "Mommy, it's beautiful!"  I'm glad she liked it, but definitely missed taking the kids to the tree farm.  We broke out the Christmas decorations and Ella had a blast.  I could hear Ella whispering to herself, opening box after box, saying "ooooo, I wonder what's in this one" or "Wow, look at this."  I'm not sure how or why, but this year she is definitely more aware of the holiday season and is excited to see all the preparations. 

Eric was enthralled with all the lights on the tree. 

We took the kids to see a Living Christmas Story, put on by our Church and it was a wonderful experience for Ella.  The whole church grounds was transformed into the town of Bethlehem, a true Living Christmas Story like no other.  We were able to drive through the whole town beginning with the Register and ending with the tomb of Christ, seeing townspeople and King Herod, the stable and real animals (horses, sheep, goats, etc).  We all really enjoyed it.

We had made plans to see Santa on Saturday, but the kids were beat and ready to go home after all the shopping at the Outlet mall.  So, I decided to take our own pictures and we'll save our trip for Santa for next weekend.

We'll be back in Colorado for Christmas, so we're scrambling to get everything packed up and ready to go.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, that we find a new Church home, the move and transition goes smoothly for everyone, and our house sells fast.

Under the Weather Thanksgiving & Milestones

We had all been looking forward to Thanksgiving, as Ella has been learning all kinds of traditions, the history, and meaning of the day.  Unfortanatly, Ella was hit with a terrible bug and ended up sick the last week of school prior to Thanksgiving break.  

We had baked a pumpkin pie, hoping she would be ready for school/feast the next day.  However, she spiked a fever that night and although her fever broke in the morning I kept her home from school just in case.She really wanted to attend her Thanksgiving feast at school and since her fever was gone, we bundled her up and made a short prescence at the feast. She managed a smile and didn't visit much, but she was happy that she was able to go and share the pumpkin pie that we made. 

Hoping and thinking Ella was on the mend after her Thanksgiving feast, we decided to go ahead with our Thanksgiving plans and headed out to visit Ken's family in Florida.  Grandma and Granpa Swift were happy to see everyone, but we were all surprised when Ella's fever returned the same evening we arrived.  We decided a trip to the ER was in order Thanksgiving day, since her fever wasn't coming down.  Ella was diagnosed with a mild case of Pnemonia and it landed her in bed for the rest of our stay in Florida. 

While Ella spent Thanksgiving day in bed and recuperating (sleeping), we did enjoy a nice visit with Great Grandma & Grandpa Swift and Ken's parents.  Eric loved turkey dinner and thoroughly enjoyed all the undivided attention.  Eric downed the homemade applesauce and sweet potatoes! Grandma Swift outdid herself with a wonderful meal for everyone.  We only wish Ella could of enjoyed it as well, her prescence was definitely missed (as you can see, we set a place for her just in case she decided to join us).

Late in the evening, Ella finally left her room to open a couple birthday presents from Great Grandma Swift.  Check out Ella's new Electric guitar!

Grandma Swift even baked Ella's favorite cupcakes with sprinkles, since they will not be able to join us for Ella's birthday party back in South Carolina.

While Ella was celebrating another milestone birthday, Eric was marking a milestone as well.  He took his first steps on Friday, taking four monumental steps toward Mommy and Daddy!

Our baby is now a full fledged toddler!

Ella received this cute indian headband from school, when we visited for the Thanksgiving feast.  She decided to make one for Eric as well.  Here's our two little indians!

Since Ella didn't get to see Great Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving, we took a trip to see them on Friday.  Ella still wasn't in the best of spirits, but she was a real trooper. 

Ella was finally feeling a bit better on the way home, but the rest of us started to take a turn for the worse. We were glad to finally be heading home to spend a day to recuperate.  On the way, we stopped at the Ikea store in Orlando.  This was my first experience at an Ikea and it was a match made in heaven!  Great fun and inventive products at great prices!  Ella found a desk she liked, but decided we didn't have room for this one in the car, but what a steal at $50!

Not to mention, the most kid friendly store you'll ever experience.  Children's play areas, cafeteria with awesome food ($6.99 for a stuffed salmon, $1.99 breakfast and kids eat for $.99).  We didn't leave empty handed and were very pleased with the value of the products we purchased!  We can't wait to set it all up (see Swift Schoolhouse to see what we purchased).  We loved Ikea and can't wait for one to open up in Denver!

We are happy to be home and are slowly recuperating. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Swift for making our Thanksgiving as enjoyable as it could be, putting up with us while we were sick!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family!  We are thankful everyday for our children, our health, and the love we have in our lives.  Nothing matters more than family!

A New Look, the Budding Artist, and Relaxin'

Welcome to our new family blog!  We have decided to condense our three blogs (Ella, Eric, and Family), to one big family blog.  We hope you like this new setup and will continue to enjoy this sneek peek into our family's daily adventures and lives.

Ella has been quite the budding artist as of late.  She has been wanting to create and color all week.  If there is a picture, she wants to color it.  I have found the internet to be the best place to find coloring pages, as she can tell me what she wants to color and I can usually find it online.  Who needs coloring books anymore?!  Ella is doing really well staying in the lines now and is very creative.  She loves utizling all the colors of the rainbow, when she colors.  You may see a tree and she knows what color a tree should be, but she makes every picture her own with lots of fun colors.

Ella had lots of fun painting a picture of her bunny, after mixing paint colors.  Her proudest work of art yet, this still hangs in our playroom.

We wrapped up the fall season of soccer with jump castles.  Unfortanatly, we missed her soccer game as we were attending a baptism class at church.  She was so happy to receive her soccer trophy though and made such wonderful improvement over the season.  We look forward to next season.

Eric is on the brink of walking. Just yesterday, we noticed he took a solo step toward the piano from the bench.  A bit more confidence and he'll be off and running.  In the mean time, he's taking it easy in his lounge chair.  Usually, he's utilizing this chair as a climbing apparatus and see saw.  However, after playing hard you may find him just sitting quitely for a moment like this.

We're planning a quick trip to Florida for Thanksgiving and we're supposed to leave tomorrow.  However, as I write this email Ella is sick with fever.  We're all crossing our fingers that she is well enough to travel tomorrow. Hopefully, next week I will be posting pictures from Florida.

Growing up & out!

We had a beautiful 4th of July holiday! We decided to take in the Summerville Symphony and fireworks, just a few minutes from our home. The kids loved watching the fireworks and we left wondering why we never took Ella to live fireworks before. Eric was squeeling in delight and asking for more, Ella was thrilled to see all the colors and lights! What a great way to spend the evening!

Ella has been requesting a new playroom, since her last one was converted to Eric's bedroom over a year ago now. Since, Eric is now mobile we thought it was also the right time to convert our downstairs guest room into a full fledged playroom for the kids. Ella even helped prepare the room and the kids love having a place all to themselves! The best part, the room is downstairs and convenient to the kitchen (the place we spend most of our time).

We've been hard at work lately, Ella has been asking for some time and so decided to take the kids to the beach. Eric hadn't been to the beach since he started sitting up and crawling, so we thought it was time. The kids loved the water, the weather was perfect, and we all enjoyed some R&R! We found the perfect spot, away from all the crowds with lots of tidal pools for the kids to splash around in. I was a little nervous about the kids being in the waves, as someone on the beach mentioned there had been sharks in the water and near the beach, just the day before. So, the tidal pools were perfect. We didn't stay too long, but decided we definitely need to hit the beach more often.

The kids are growing up so fast, we can't believe our eyes! Ella and Eric are really taking on a relationship of their very own. Eric loves his big sister! Ella enjoys the role and carries it well.

Speaking of growing up, our baby chicks aren't baby's anymore! No longer chicks, these girls are almost full size birds now. We now have 2 Ameraucana's, 2 French Marans, 2 Silkies, and 4 Light Sussex. We're slowly downsizing and placing all the roosters (as we find out they are roosters). We've had to give away 1 Silkie (the runt of the hatch) and 1 Cochin (our first hatchling), just due to the special needs of these little ones. We've also lost one to...well, we're not sure.

I had someone purchase a Light Sussex rooster from me and came to pick him up. During the time I picked him up out of the coop, opened the door, and placed him in his travel carrier one of the Silkies disappeared. Did I mention, Julie squeezed her way into the kennel and had one Silkie by the throat? Well, I caught her in time...I think, but now we have no idea where the Silkie ended up? We're thinking Julie may have finally caught one and made her own night time snack or she escaped through a small hole we found in the coop. Either way, we have now lost two Silkies. Here's hoping one of the Silkies we have left is a girl and lesson learned about letting the dogs out in the yard, when the chickens are out.

Meet Dora, our Light Sussex pullet (young hen). She will be a very large bird, having already outgrown Chickadee in weight and height. She is 8 weeks old and just a big girl. A very docile breed of bird, she gets along well with all the new chicks that arrive and keeps to herself in the coop. She will lay some nice tan/brown Grade A eggs when she gets older.

Chickadee rules the roost! She is always the first to check out the new arrivals in the chicken coop. She makes sure she lets all the newbies know who's boss and enjoys looking over all the others.


Hattie is still the smaller of the two Ameraucana's. She continues to be the sweetest bird we have. She'll let us pick her up and will always come up to us, when we enter the coop. A beautiful little hen she will be. We can't wait for the girls to start laying some beautiful blue eggs.

Our first eggs might be layed in Colorado, if all goes as we hope. It turns out we may be moving to Colorado after all. A recent turn of events with our house in Parker, Colorado (which we rented out) has led us to make some tough decisions over the last couple weeks. We have decided to try and make the move back to Colorado and sell our home in South Carolina. Ken will remain at Blackbaud, but will be commuting from Colorado. A bit more travel for Ken, but Maria and the kids will have the support of family when he travels. We're looking forward to a better school system and educational opportunities for the kids, being closer to our family, and decreasing our financial burdens. We have a long way to go, before this move becomes a reality. In the mean time, we're waiting on pins and needles for an offer to come in on our home here.

Almost Home & A Solo Arrival

We had been making great progress on the coop. The roof finally showed up and Ken quickly put it together, to try and keep the main coop dry. Maria managed to get most of the exterior wood stained, while Ken closed up the majority of the coop. The stain wasn't even dry before the rain started coming......and coming...and

It rained for a solid two weeks! It was difficult to try and find a break in the weather to paint and stain. Uggh!! This truly became a weekend project.

In the mean time, we scaled back our Ameraucana chicks. We sold 3 chicks to a gentleman with 25 chickens. He was soo happy to have them, but Ella was pretty sad to let them go. She was rather disappointed, but I did let her pick which ones she wanted to keep. We're only holding on to two for now, so the other wouldn't get too lonely. So now, we have "Chickadee" and "Hattie." Here they are, growing up fast and making their first trip to the big wide world.

Chickadee is the larger of the two, as she is 4 days older. They were so scared to be outside the first time. They would follow Ella around everywhere and try to hide wherever they could. Chickadee and Hattie making a run for it....

Meet Hattie @ 3 weeks. She will be a Wheaten Ameraucana, laying blue eggs. She has the sweetest temperment and loves attention. She's so gentle when taking food out of your hand and doesn't mind being petted.

Here you can see the size difference. Chickadee is the bigger of the two @ 4 weeks (4 days apart). Chickadee is a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana, you see the difference in their feather coloring. She is definitely the Alpha, perching up high and really creating a pecking order. Chickadee is a bit rougher to handle and is a bit more assertive.

The chicks have grown exponentially, so we have definitely been feeling the pressure to get the coop done. Any good weather, we've been out working on the coop night and day to get it done. Here's the latest.....

The coop moved to the backyard (behind the pool), where it will remain. The roof is complete, stain is complete (inside and out). The main body has been painted, and even the roost is in.

The chicken wire is completely installed (minus the picture window), doors are on, locks are on.

Still to come, electrical for lighting, the ladder for the chickens to get to the main coop and final painting (white trim & remaining interior stain). We're hoping the coop will be complete and ready for move-in by Monday June 8th!


Our 7 Cochin eggs were to hatch on May 23rd, but only one made an appearance a day early. Turns out all the others were just scrambled eggs by the time they reached us from the post office. Here's our lonely little Buff Cochin Chick waiting it out in the incubator.

She looked so lonely, Ella decided to share one of her stuffed little Chickes with "Goldie."

Don't they look cute together......

Ella, finally getting to say "hello" to Goldie.


We have Buff Silkie chicks hatching this week, so we're hoping for a few new faces soon. Just in time, as the older ones move out to their new "digs" outside.

Welcome Home Chickadees!

We're making steady progress on the Chicken Coop, now called "Casa De Huevos". The weather hasn't been cooperating much, so we've had to put off the staining/painting. We are also still waiting on the roofing material from Home Depot (this was supposed to be in last Friday).

Interior

Exterior

Ken has added the egg door on the side, where we will be collecting the eggs. Also, a nice large window in the back. The window will be fully operational for cross ventilation on the hot summer days and able to seal it for rainy or winter weather.

We were able to find someone in South Carolina to obtain some Standard Ameraucana chicks (Blue/Green Egg Layers), so we drove out to Columbia to pick them up. Actually, Ken picked them up and Maria and the kids headed for the zoo with Aunt Melissa. We were told these are all girls, but we'll find out in a few more weeks for sure. Here they are:

These chicks turned out to be fairly expensive, as Ken received his first ever speeding ticket on his way back. The officer was nice enough to reduce the fine, but wasn't much consolation. Apparently, the speed limit sign was hard to see (per the officer's own comments). At least, Ken can't give anyone a hard time any more about traffic tickets. He's joined the club!

First Came The Eggs!

Our Buff Cochin eggs arrived last Friday and we were surprised to find 10 beautiful eggs waiting to be incubated. We had only purchased 6, but the breeder was very nice and included a few extra in case of damage in transit or eggs that don't hatch. So, here they are..... all 10 of our future chicks (hopefully).

I purchased two mini digital incubators, thinking this would be all we would need to hatch these. However, the second one malfunctioned and has to go back to the manufacturer. I was only able to incubate three eggs on Saturday. The mini incubator is really nice, as it maintains a constant 99.5 degree temperature. It also counts down the days, until hatch (21 Days) and lets me know when I need to add water. It even beeps, to let me know it's time to turn the eggs (it has an auto turner). I just wish it could hold a few more eggs.

Well, we still had seven eggs to hatch. So, we searched around locally for an incubator and found one at a local feed store. However, it's having trouble holding the correct temperature & humidity levels. This will suffice, until my replacement incubator comes in.

As our eggs are in the "oven," Ken and I have been hard at work on our chicken coop. It's coming along nicely and we have the main framing for the coop set up now. It's really starting to take shape. This is an 8x8 coop, which could hold up to 10 chickens (No, we're not planning on that many). Some of our chickens are going to be fairly big, so we wanted to make sure we had enough room. Plus, we wanted our chickens to have a nice house to lay all those eggs.

Spring has Sprung & Chicken Run!

We're diving head first into Spring and our vegetable garden is in full swing. We have planted tomatoes, green beans, snap peas, corn, cucumber, sweet potatoes, onions, cantelope, and tomatoes in the garden now.

We're still awaiting our strawberry plants and are getting ready to plant potatoes. We're really trying to go green this year. So, we'll be adding a real composter (contrary to Ken's belief, the ever growing heap in the backyard is not a compost pile). After months of consideration, we've also decided to add chickens.

We'll be adding four or five laying hens, so we can have fresh homegrown eggs for the family. I never realized there were so many different breeds of chickens, so I did my research and found which ones were best with children. We've settled on five different varieties.

We're starting off with a 1/2 a dozen Buff Cochin hatching eggs, which should arrive this week. I thought it would be educational for Ella to see the chickens hatch. We have an incubator and even have a candler to view inside the egg and watch as development takes place.

This is the Buff Cochin:

May 19th, our order of six day old Light Sussex chicks are being shipped to us from Florida. The Light Sussex; which is the #1 Chicken in England, due to egg production & versatility (plus, they have a great temperment). Below is a Light Sussex Hen and her chicks:

The Ameraucana lays blue/green eggs. The kids are going to love picking up eggs from this beautiful bird. It will be Easter every morning.

and lastly a couple bantam hens for the kids (Small sized chicken, lays 1/2 the size of a standard egg). A Bantam Blue Wheaten Ameracauna, also lays blue & green eggs:

and this Sesame Street or Dr. Seuss looking bantam, the Buff Silkie

It seems like a lot of chicks will be around, but in actuality I've already placed half the Cochin chicks that will hatch and expect to do the same for the Sussex. Once we figure out the hens from the roosters, we will be parting with all but one of each variety. I'll order the remaining Easter Eggers & Ameracaunas, once the other chicks have been placed.

Of course, the chickens will not be living in our house. We're in the process of building a chicken coop for our backyard. We've purchased some plans and have already layed the framework this past weekend. Stay tuned as our eggs are arriving any day now and we continue to build the chicken coop.