Having to eat green beans

As I was preparing lunch I was also preparing for a big fight. I had fixed green beans as our veggie at lunch. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was going to be a huge fight to make RaeLynn try these green bean. We also had chicken and pears with lunch I knew once she tried the pears she would like them and she gotten where if I tell her it's chicken she will eat it (I don't have to tell her it like chicken nuggets anymore). We sit down and pray. 

I start holding my breath I know it's coming... She starts whining "green beans are not my favorite" "my tummy don't like them" my husband says " RaeLynn try them that is all we ask. But if you won't to whine you can go to bed til your ready to eat." She's immediately says " no I don't want to go to bed" "then try them" I put a pear in her fork and put it in her mouth."yum" as she whiles her tears away. Now it's time for the green beans. She chews up her pear and opens her mouth slowly dreading the bite of green beans. She starts chewing then acts like she gonna throw up (both me and my husband tell her no in unison) she stops and chews it up and says " that was good" self say "WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY" I told self " oh yes she did" and I watch my almost four year old eat two more bits of green beans by herself!!! 

I'm was so proud of her she then portioned out her meal where she ate a little chicken a some pears and then says I'm full. I was so impressed. Now me I don't like green beans much less know how to fix good green beans. I ate mine my way ( on my plate I eat from my least favorite to my favorite). I was so proud of my family we are slowly starting to eat better and I couldn't be happier. 

My conclusion stick to eating better. Make the family at least try it. As the parent set the example eat all or as much of your that you can and every time say "yum that is so good". It will start to work and eventually you will see your child eat more nd more of tht food you use to have to fight to make them eat. 

Just as a side note. One rule we have now established is try it. Rule two is if you want more of anything you have to eat everything on the first plate. And the last rule we set up is if they won't eat any of it it gets saved for later and when everyone lose gets one thing else you still have to eat what was left. ( this works relly well for supper and breakfast) my kids love eggs and can't stand to not eat eggs with everyone else. 

Eggs!!

I'm excited to say that we have eggs! Our chickens that we got back in march are now starting to lay eggs! We have only gotten to small eggs but this is just the beginning. My daughter is ecstatic about our chickens laying eggs. She wants to go out there and check every five minutes. I tried explaining the they will not lay but one egg a day and they will not lay them that fast but she's only three so she doesn't understand.
She loves helping feed the chickens and she wants to pet them and do whatever for them she can which is so darn cute! We have we have 8 hens,1 bantam rooster, and a female duck. We wanted enough chickens to try to get 5-7 eggs a day. However I didn't want to overwhelm myself with chickens so we just thought we get 6. We got 6 barred rock hens they are beautiful let me just say. When we where at the store my daughter decided she needed a duck well state law says we had to buy 2 so I did. I gave one to my cousin for her sons birthday. Them my nephew came over and he wanted some chickens to call his own. So we when to another store and got 6 more. However out of all the chicken we got we now only have 10. Which is perfect for me because I didn't want too many to begin with. The other kind we have are like Rhode Island Red even if that's not exactly what they are. I got 2 bantam Americaunas which is what my rooster is. One bantam died and we had another bantam that has feathers on its legs which was as cute as could be. However it died after I put it outside not really sure what happened.
Our chicken journey is fun and do not regret it at all. I do know now I needed to build our cage a little different than I did. We have a detachable run fom the coop and the coop is o heavy it takes a tractor to move it. However most of the chicken coop and run were free and scraps we had around our yard. So that is the plus. If I had to do it again I would have a all in one chicken run and coop with wheels that I could just roll anywhere in the yard.
I wanted to have free range chickens. We don't live in town bout we aren't so far in the country that we don't have neighbors. My parents have about 3 acres and we live on the back side of the 3 acres. We have dogs and there are stray dogs and cats and nt to mention the occasional raccoon possom or other critters. We also have hawks as I found out by almost loosing a chicken to one. So I don't let them be free range. I do like to move the run around so they can have grass and bugs. I truly believe natural is best and if I want to eat the eggs or chickens I don't want them chemically altered if you know what I mean.
No I do not view my chickens as pets even though I thought I would. I'm a very tender hearted animal loving person. However I do plan on killing my chiefs at some point. My duck I do view as a pet. Not sure why yet. No none of my chickens have names I do talk to them nd pet them. They are not what I would consider tame pets. They don't attach my children but they will run away from them. I can not just walk in there and pick them up but if I try hard enough I can grab one hold its feet together and pet it. She ill not try to bite me but it sure does make for a pissed off rooster. The duck is extremely hard to catch but when you do catch her. She will try everything but bite to get away. Eventually she will call down enough to let you pet her but its a long fight. My rooster if he feels just slightly threaten will try to show you who is boss so I try to stay away. My main hen IS also very protective but she is the one that gets petted the most so she's not an attacher.
All in all I love having chickens and as long as I can probably always will. I prefer ducks to chickens still but my husband refuses to eat duck egg. (We will see what he thinks when I scramble up a duck egg or two for him).
This is always been a dream of mine to have a farm and go get your own eggs, (my husband) kills he chickens, have a cow(no I don't have one yet), and horses, and maybe a pig, and a lamb. I love the old way of living I like living simple. I know that I have some of the latest gadgets (iPhone,iPad,laptop) however I also believe I can and will eventually live a simple life!