Chickens in the Snow and more!

Yes, our chickens get special treatment... they don't have to walk in the snow because Ethan uses the Tonka dump truck AKA "Jack" to drive them around! Look closely and you will see Golden Feather or "Goldie" for short calmly taking a ride.

Then not so calmly trying to fly away!

Next it was Rosies turn! You can see it was starting to get dark at this point but we had a roaring bon fire going, the first of many to try and rid our yard of too many trees. We are hoping to expand the garden this coming spring among other projects!

Since it has been snowing like crazy this past week I have been shoveling like crazy too! This is the first winter with chickens and so our path to the coop must be kept open. Also kept open is a path to the shed doors and to the greenhouse. We are using the greenhouse as storage for the winter and are trying to keep it free of snow so that it does not end up with holes come spring.

Quiz: Who do these little footprints belong too???

Our furry foe the red squirrel who seems to have found a nice little nesting spot in the eaves upstairs in Mollies room!! James and Pat have both been aiming to take this one out but so far have not succeeded!! He is super cute when not tearing thing up in our house though!

Our chickens seem to be happy in their coop. Pat built a roof frame and covered it with plastic for the winter to keep the snow out of the run. So far so good! I throw in bunches of hay here and there for them to peck in and it keeps the busy.

Since we have gone from NO snow on Christmas to LOTS of snow now (and it is snowing again today!!) we have been playing a lot in the snow! We have had a couple of nice adventures with our new snowshoes given to us for Christmas. No pics of course because I forgot the camera again!!
The boys and Emmy had there first day of skiing (no camera again) at King Pine. It went well and Emmy even got to ride up on the chairlift! We borrowed a great harness for little ones that is a huge help in teaching them to ski. I am going to try and reproduce one with webbing from Mom and Dad's shop.

We also had fun making this recipe for Snow Muffins! Thanks Elizabeth for sharing the link.

A winter fun game called Fox and Geese was found in our book "A Pioneer Sampler"(thanks to Selena). It seems this used to be a popular winter game for children long ago. Since we are studying the pioneers we thought it would be a fun one to try. I found the directions online if you don't have access to the book, check it out:
Fox and Geese Winter Game

Other Snowy Games (from Family Fun) that we are excited to try:

JUMP SNOW HURDLES

Lightly pack a bunch of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of follow the leader.

FLAG IN A SNOW STACK

Tie a white cloth to the end of a short stick or around the bowl of a wooden spoon. Then, give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within a predetermined set of boundaries. Keep track of how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag that takes the longest time to spot wins the game.

STRIKE OUT

For this pitching contest, first mound up snow to create three bases and a pitcher's mound. They should each be about 2 feet high and 20 feet apart. Next, build a tin can pyramid on each base. The challenge is to knock down the stacks in order from first to third base by throwing snowballs from the pitcher's mound. The child who succeeds with the fewest pitches wins.

HAT TRICK

Once you've built a plump, frosty snowman to stand sentry in your front yard, make a game of topping him off in style. Take turns trying to land a hat on his head by throwing it Frisbee style from 10 or so feet away.

GET ON A ROLL

Pair up for a contest in which the object is to finish with the biggest snowball. The contest ends when the teams can no longer roll their entries or when you run out of snow.

Have fun!