Summer the 1/2 way point ...

The kids have been out of school now for about 6 weeks . The boredom has set in . We joined a gym with a great childcare benefit [ which I love] and a great play space for the kids , plus a pool [ which Zach loves ]. That seems to have helped in alleviating the "mom , I am bored and don't know what to do "... for now .
In other news the chickens are getting huge ! We now have 12 chickens ! Lonnie has built them a HUGE coop , I joke that their living room is bigger than mine . Allow me to introduce you to them , Paprika is a red star [ or red sex link] she is very social , then we have Reba [ another red star .. she looks so much like Paprika it is hard to tell them apart good thing Paprika answers to her name with a cute twist of her head and a cluck ... then we have Big Red .. a fairly un-creative name since she is a Big red star . Then we have 3 Rhode Island reds .. Margelo , Patty [ which we generally call Margelo2 ] and then Rhoda [the baby of the flock] , Pepper is a black star sex link and quite the character ,Dee Dee is our Delaware she is a talker being hand raised and hatched she thinks she is human , Barbara is a Plymouth Barred Rock she is black and white striped .. she will be my first to lay .. she is the biggest and has already shown signs of laying . The Next ones are Sid 1 and 2 they are called a Red Leg breed .. which I have found is a mystery breed they are white and very soft , then we have Buffy , she is our Buff Orpington she is a apricot color very sweet .. but tiny I have had her for about 10 weeks and she is smaller than any 10 weeker I have had so far + she was around 6-8 weeks old when I got her . Buffy was free because she was not thriving at the big chicken farm she came from , they felt like her chances were better in a smaller flock . I have never heard of a Bantam Buff Orpington , not to mention the farm she came from never orders Bantams ... but hey maybe ? I doubt she will ever lay an egg but she sure is cute and sweet .
The Garden is coming in nicely , the sunflowers are at 5-6 feet tall , the watermelons have been going cray we have ping pong ball sized melons so far . The ear wig levels are at critical mass ... they are eating the blossoms on my Zucchini I have 10 plants , I should be over run with Zucchini .. but no! I have only had one small one so far . It has been a very wet and cooler than usual July , so no tomato's yet ,we are due for a heat wave this week maybe some of the fruit will have a chance to ripen before the rains come again.
Zach has been doing very well, he is talking SOOO much . He has learned to pronounce the letter "S" .. when saying SSSSSucker [ although he does not actually say the "CK" sound in the middle ] . He ate ground turkey and mushrooms .. it was hidden in spaghetti sauce . But he actually made a deliberate effort to put them on his fork . He would usually eat the noodles and avoid the chunks and sauce .. if it happened to stick to the noodle it was allowed to pass .So progress none the less .On the downside, his sensory issues have been front and center . He was outside a few days ago , when he started screaming and puking . When I got close to him he was shivering and saying "cold" , keep in mind it was only 75 degrees outside .. but certainly not cold . So he came in the house in a panic , found a sweatshirt , cried some more until I put it on him and zipped it all the way up , put the hood on ...then he was comfortable enough to go back outside . I was then on high allert , watching for heat stroke .
In other news I have 3 very short lessons to complete before I am certified as a Occupational Therapy Aide ... a 1 year course completed in about half the time . Lonnie is still working at Burton, and was able to get his crew a nice bonus .. despite his boss not wanting to give it to them . He faught the good fight and won ! A rare occasion in the construction industry these days .