Photo Shoot With My Nephews and the Chickens

My sister found some eggs for her broody hen, and she got to watch them hatch. I saw a perfect opportunity to practice taking pictures. Of course when I got there the kids were much cuter than the chicks.

So first, here are a couple pictures of the chicks, and their Mama.

And my nephew. He did such a good job modeling. I tried to do most settings manually, and I am having trouble getting the settings right with the light. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Again, sorry about the lighting.

And for these last few, I had the camera set to auto. It is hard to mess up with such a cute model.

And here is nephew #2. He is so fast, I switched the camera to auto, and just tried to focus, and get his cute personality. I didn't realize until I got home, and I actually saw the full sized versions of these pictures that he is filthy! He loves playing outside, and for him, life is a sensory experience that is meant to be fully enjoyed. Sorry he is so dirty Nae, but I still think he is adorable!

Hydroseeding

This was the view from my bedroom window a week ago. I love the contrast. My neighbors yard is beautiful, green and in full bloom. My yard was brown, dead, and even the little plants I have in are struggling. (Those are my sad little pumpking hills against the fence.) This view inspired me every morning. These are the pictures of my yard a few hours before we hydroseeded. It looks so much better than it has in the past. It is finally dry, and weed free. The ground has been composted, fluffed, sprinkler system installed, ground leveled, and raked. The sidewalk is installed, and the porch has been cleared off, and all tools are back in the shed. We also have planted the garden, and installed the drip system. (And if you look carefully in the bottom left hand corner of the first picture, you can see the blooms on my lilac bush.) We also got the dog run ready, and while our dog, Max, is banned from the backyard, we are teaching him to use the dog run for his bathroom needs. (Hopefully we can help it stick when he is allowed back in the back yard.) We have come so far, but clearly we still have a long way to go.

Last Friday, we hydroseeded.

Two days ago, I looked really carefully, and I could see very tiny blades of grass beginning to come up. They were about the width of a hair. It has been raining for two days, and when the sun came out tonight just before it set, we realized that our grass is popping up everywhere.

There are a few different types of grass in our mix. I believe this is ryegrass, which comes up first. The Kentucky Bluegrass should take another two weeks before it begins to germinate, and then it should come up and fill in between the ryegrass.

We have started having issues with the birds coming and eating our grass seed. Hopefully it won't affect our grass too much. It is so exciting to see everything finally coming together!