In the Jonas house, the youngest person able to do any given job is generally responsible for that job.

In regards to the chickens, that generally means that Greyden gathers the eggs from our chickens everyday. It was Emery’s job, but I’m switching it over to Greyden’s. Every once in a while, Greyden won’t close the door to the coop properly. The chickens are then able to escape into the people yard as opposed to the livestock yard. I am informed of this scenario when I hears cries of, “the chickens are OOOOUUUUUUUTTTTTT!”

What follows is a routine of all the children rushing out the back door to round up chickens. We currently have about 50 chickens, so depending on how many escaped, it can take a while.

I saw a tv show once where Shaquille O’Neal was trying to help overweight children lose weight. He actually brought in a couple of chickens and had the overweight children chase them. I thought that was hilarious as my children get quite a bit of exercise chasing loose chickens, and loose rabbits, and loose goats, and even loose pigs (which are by far the hardest to catch – just ask Jim!). But, I digress…

So, Greyden gathers the eggs, and Hewitt puts the eggs away. The day before this photo, Greyden had forgotten (and Mommy had forgotten to remind him) to gather the eggs. So when he did, there were about 60 eggs to gather and put away.

But Hewitt wasn’t daunted! He spent at least 30 minutes, quite contentedly playing and arranging his eggs. It is one of his favorite tasks and he won’t allow anyone to help him. We get both brown and white eggs, and he usually arranges them according to color or size. I figure all the sorting is a great addition to his math education!