We reserved two colonies of bees! In may we will pick up two starter colonies of bees for our beehives and officially become beekeepers! I've started stalking amazon for good deals on bee suits and bee equipment, since we need 4 sets so the boys can come out and help us with the hives. Rett was so excited when the suit I found for 8$ (!!) came in the mail that he wore it to pick up James from school.
Elephant has returned!! James' stuffed elephant that he used to carry around
everywhere but went missing almost two years ago was returned to us! It turns out that his old primary teacher found it after church and put it in her bag and then forgot about it. She is moving this weekend and was cleaning out her things and found them and brought them to us. James still talks about elephant every once in awhile saying things like, "I wish elephant could see this" or "I wish I still had elephant". Now he stays firmly put in James' bed. Probably for the rest of his life.
We put up a hammock that we calculated was big enough for all of us to be in, but we didn't remember to add this big baby in the calculations! He starts running from across the yard when he sees us in it and takes a leap right on top of everyone with his dirty paws and everything. I think having a puppy is 10 times more mess producing than having a baby!!
But, it is hard to be mad at that face...
Hanging in the hammock:
We went to the beach one evening and James played in the sand and water (even though it was cold!) while Anthony did some fishing. Rett ended up snuggling under blankets with me. Anthony did end up catching three fish that we got to eat that night, so it was a success!
All of the county libraries have a cowboy theme this year and our local branch had a "hoe down" for kids. The local 4-H club had animals outside to pet (and I got their contact info so James can join and start showing animals in the fair!), they had treats, panning for gold, games, and a fun green screen you could take pictures in front of. We chose the background we wanted and they emailed us the photo later that week.
James walked right up to this chicken and picked her up. One of the 4H kids said, "Oh, he must have chickens at home! He knows what he is doing!" Then James went around and would pick up different chickens to hand to the other kids that were more hesitant.
Rett sitting around the "campfire" for a story:
Anthony got our old super nintendo working and we ordered some classic Mario games to play, including Mario Kart! I played against Anthony and kept beating him until he wanted to quit because he said it "wasn't fun when you keep losing". That's what happens when you play the master! I can't wait until the next time my brothers come to visit, because we played this game all the time against each other as kids.
The horse from across the street got out
again. I don't know why it is always her and not the other horse, but since this has happened two or three times now we know exactly what to do. We got some apples to bribe her, a rope to put around her neck, led her to our neighbor's pasture and texted her so she could text the owners (they live 20 minutes away). It was fun to get to play with her for a little bit.
This picture looks like Anthony is pulling the rope tight, but he really wasn't she just turned her head to look at me since I was holding the apples. She was really cooperative and walked right with us like she knew the drill and knew where she was going.
This happy little guy was in my planter on the front porch one morning!
The chicks finally started hatching! Chicken eggs take longer than quail eggs, so it felt like forever to wait! Of course, I always get to the hatching date and get really discouraged and think that none of them are ever going to hatch. This was our first one to hatch out, I had no idea until I heard cheeping coming from the bathtub where we separated the silkie from the other chickens.
All fluffy now:
There were four eggs under the hen and two of them hatched. We had 10 eggs in the incubator and 6 of them hatched. As soon as the ones in the incubator came out, I scooped them up and put them right under the mother hen. She was happy to take care of any chicks I would give her! She does all the work, so I don't have to worry about checking bottoms or temperature or anything. This is definitely the way to have baby chicks!
We took the momma and her babies outside for a little fresh air. They liked it until Baymax came running out from the house. The mother hen flew right at him with her wings out and her claws towards him. She was not playing around! I was worried she would take the babies through the fence after that since she felt threatened so we scooped them up and brought them back inside. Soon we will put them outside by themselves in the second chicken coop so they can be outside all the time.
Rett had his last basketball game (YAY!) and awards afterwards. The coaches really tried to let each kid get the ball and get a basket (with assistance from them) since this was the last game. It was so much more fun for all the kids, I don't know why they didn't do that all season?? Usually we just watch the same two kids score goals while the other ones run around not really sure about what is going on :)
Rett was excited to get his award and he knew there were treats after awards, so after he got his he went to sit down and looked and me and said, "Where's the food??" That's Rett!
The Saturday before my birthday I was in charge of our Stake Blue and Gold Banquet so I spent most of the morning and afternoon at the church. Usually Anthony would come help me with it, but I told him to stay home because we really needed to get the temporary goat pen finished (we have plans to do a much bigger one over the summer). He worked all morning and got it almost completed. I was so proud of the boys being such good helpers too!
Helping put in fence posts:
My mom came out to help too and even held a chicken. The chickens are always underfoot when we are doing stuff outside because they love the bugs we turn up when we are digging or mowing.
That night my mom took us all out to dinner at the new restaurant around the corner from our house. Ever since they built it we've wanted to try it out, so it was a special treat! They had all kinds of cool taxidermy and fun decorations. They sang to me for my birthday and brought over this birthday saddle thing that I was supposed to get on...but that wasn't happening so I let the boys do it. They loooooved it. Rett would not give us a normal face to save his life, but I have no idea if he was doing it on purpose or if he really thought he was smiling :)
My actual birthday was on a Sunday and it was a busy one! I played my flute in sacrament meeting, and I taught Relief Society. Since the blue and gold was just the day before I had to squeeze in most of my preparation the night before. I was soooo glad when it was all over. Anthony's parents came over for dinner, which Anthony both grocery shopped for AND made. It was delicious! My mom gave me some new sewing supplies and some sparkly body spray. Anthony's parents gave me an orange tree to plant in our yard (YAY!!), and Anthony surprised me with a Harry Potter sorting candle that turns colors when you light it to tell you which house you are in. It was so exciting to light it and wait for it to change colors. It said I'm in Gryffindor, which is wrong because everyone knows I'm a Hufflepuff :) But it was still awesome and such a surprise because I was sure Anthony didn't get me anything. He is getting pretty sneaky with presents!
Making a wish:
The boys wanted turns blowing out my candles, so we relit them a couple times and let them blow it out. Then James wanted to light my sorting candle for me and wait for it to change color. We just finished reading the first Harry Potter book together for our night time chapter reading and it is sooooo much fun to read it with him. It makes me so happy when he randomly remembers a detail or brings up Harry Potter in regular conversation. I want all of us to go to Harry Potter world, but it is so dang expensive and crowded and hot. Maybe that can be my birthday present next year :)
