Things have been a little summer time busy around here lately. (Who ever said summer time was for relaxing on the porch with sweet tea must have been retired!) Here’s 10 random farm and home updates that I’ve been meaning to share for a while and it’s just been too busy…

1. Ms. Maya {our summer babysitter} came back from vacation. Woo-hoo! Thank the Lord from whom all blessings flow…I was running out of towels! First thing Monday morning she and the kids headed out as usual to gather eggs–and discovered that our chicken house had been invaded!

2. She didn’t quit! Not only did she not quit then and there, she actually took a picture! And gathered up the rest of the eggs when it was gone. For someone not raised on a farm, the girl’s got nerves of steel!

3. I think I might have IDed the mystery freebie chick! I think we have a Silver Spangled Hamburg on our hands. Not being familiar at all with this breed, I’m not completely sure. What do you think? I wish the catalog had a picture of real one instead of that fancy illustration.

The catalog description says “These are one of the snappiest, most alert breeds on the poultry list. Of rather small size, with light but sweeping, graceful outlines, they are elegant and beautiful. They have a kind of bright cheerfulness about them when foraging over open range and they love this kind of situation.”

I thought that sounded just like her!

Mr. Fix-It thought it sounded like a bunch of salesman hog-wash from someone trying to sell a chicken.

4. I love that chicken. Really, I do. I’m a little annoyed that she seems to be so darn smart. Being smart will only get you so far in the world as a chicken–then it lands you in the crock-pot out of sheer annoyance. But right now I just love to sit and watch her pecking and scratching around the yard–since she keeps busting out of the pen. She’s so lively!

5. We don’t do water balloons. Why? Because we have chickens and water balloons burst into a million pieces of bright-colored rubber that escapee chickens eat and die. Theoretically. We’ve never actually had this happen because we insist on the kids spending hours picking up every.single.piece. afterwards–which seems to negate the 10 minutes of fun.

6. I think I found an alternative to water balloons! Thanks to Erin over at Home with the Boys I’ve got a reusable, no rubber bits, still full of water, fun idea to try instead. Water sponges! I’m thinking waaay more fun, waaay less mess–but just as much H2O! (Water Day for the kiddos is Thursday, so I’ll let you know how it goes!)

7. We had VBS last week. Wow–thank you to everyone that works so hard on these programs! The whole week was amazing fun for our crew and it only comes together with lots of hard work and dedication. I wasn’t a teacher (although I did help serve 80-some ice cream floats on Thursday! {grin})–I was just a mom helping here and there and watching how utterly selflessly the VBS team at our church was for the whole week.

Wanna share a little love with them? Why don’t you pop on over to our church’s brand new Facebook page and hit LIKE–just as a little pat on the back for them! Only takes a second…

8. It’s been 100 degrees around here. Except when it was 101. Oh yeah, and when it was 102. I really liked the day when it was only 92, but felt like 103 with the humidity. That was the day our upstairs a/c broke, of course. Mr. Fix-It to the rescue.

9. And we had a hail storm. Yep, thunder, lightening, rain…and hail bouncing off the porch rail. Didn’t expect that! But no real damage. Except my poor butterfly bush. The wind rips it out of the ground every time we have a storm. It doesn’t even surprise me anymore.

10. This past Saturday would have been my momma’s 54th birthday. These days, how many of us really don’t think we’ll see 50? Every day is a gift. We’re promised nothing. Make the most of it.

I’m linking up with Top 10 Tuesday and The Barn Hop today.

What’s been going on around your place?