MEET CALICO!

I was thinking of having this post title be, "The newest member of our family" but thought that might be a mean trick to play. Anyway, Meet CALICO! our official pet who has helped bring the requests for a puppy to a halt for the time being.
Calico has taught us or should I say me so many new things and has been quite the learning experience.

Our amazing new friends have helped us feel right at home. I have to mention, their backyard contains several ducks, chickens, a goat, a miniature horse and who knows what else providing perfect adventures for the girls every time we are there. We've already enjoyed many adventures with them but one highlight was going out to the Merkley farm (a different couple in the ward) where we had a tour of the most immaculate stable I've ever seen and were blown away by gorgeous scenery, swimming, taking care of "Cookie" and collecting chick eggs. I had the fabulous idea of bringing some eggs home since we had already enjoyed the Sorensen's chicks. Wow this could be a great pet and learning experience for Ky and when they are too big we can just bring them to our friends backyard. Kylee jumped right on this idea (so did my supportive friend Tennille) and our adventure of raising eggs began.

Ky and I took this on as our little project which had some happy and sad moments along the way. It began with getting a Styrofoam cooler in the pouring rain and having the power go out in Target. We had such a good time together and I always love how Ky gets into everything we do whole heartedly. I was soon found turning these eggs 3x a day, constantly checking the temperature, making sure there was enough humidity, tucking them in and even spent a couple nights reading books on how to raise chickens.

*Anyone know what Candling is? or Piping? or how long they need to be incubated? which end they are supposed to come out of? Lastly, ever seen a twelve day old chick that you killed by smashing the end of their egg? ALL THINGS I CAN NOW CLAIM!
After 10 days we candled our eggs (shine light up through them looking for veins) to see if we had any fertilized eggs and to our surprise we had 2 of the 4. However, my quick little hands picked them both up to turn them while Ky was at school and my stomach flipped as I smashed the end of one. Kylee later, "Oh Mom, you know we are never supposed to hold 2 at the same time." A rule I taught apparently. She handled the situation really well as I explained..."you know how we all make mistakes and when you do I forgive you quickly or say its ok. Well, I need you to do that for me." We turned it into an amazing Science experiment with our friends as we cracked 1 unfertilized egg, our 12 day old egg, and there fully grown chick that never came out. I will spare you from those sad pictures. I never realized how much of a science there is to all of this. From that time forward we used their incubator and I stopped having to do any work until the day the piping began....silent prayers were offered for this little chick to make it after all the effort that had been put in so far. AS YOU SEE IT DID! and it made for one exciting Saturday last week.

GREAT QUOTES:

Kylee: "Those are some big feet for a tiny fella"
"Now I don't have to wait forever to be a Mom and you and Dad can be its grandparents"

"Can I take Calico for a walk in the stroller?"

(which she did)
Alexis: "Hey little birdie, hey little birdie, I hold it"

Most Frequently Heard Quotes:

"How many more days till it hatches"

"Lexi don't squeeze it!"

"Calico pooped again!"

Ky says good-bye to her chick every morning and comes right home to check on it. Lexi gives it attention during the day and loves telling it to stay on the towel when we take it out. Lastly, Sky developed quite a soft spot in his heart for Calico and came to its rescue its first night when it just wouldn't stop chirping unless snuggled by Sky!