Beginning of January

Rett getting ready for his first karate class in his gee. So stinkin' cute!

He loves getting to spar with the black belts. He couldn't believe it when they said he could hit them, they would act like it really hurt them and he loved it!

James's cub scout den had their 1 mile hike on his den leader's hunting land. They identified plants and found lots of animal tracks and animal signs.

Then we got to fish from his fresh water pond and eat lunch.

James caught the biggest one of the day. It was huge!!!

I was holding one of the boy's fishing rods while they went to do something and ended up catching one myself!

Anthony got to work early and caught a picture of the view of the sunrise from his office window. Amazing.

We've been trying to take more bike rides as a family, so we've been exploring the bike paths near us.

We found a little path into the woods, so of course the boys wanted to check it out. I didn't want to trespass on someone else's property! We walked back through the woods and came across what looked like some kind of grave. After looking around some more we saw a house and realized that we were probably in the back of someone's yard! I knew it was a bad idea to snoop :)

Rett loves to get way ahead of us, but we hate being behind him because he will stop suddenly right in front of you.

The new playground at the school was finally ready for the kids to play on. They have been watching it being built all year and have asked all the time when they can go on it. The day finally came!

I had to send my brother picture evidence that both of the boys eat kale:

On another bike ride, we discovered a bunch of helicopter seeds and the boys had so much fun dropping them and watching them spin.

Love these cuties!

We found a wild orange tree! We were able to pick a few of them so we could take them home and try them. They ended up being really sour.

Helping me use the big manure shovel in the horses pasture:

Our neighbors offered to let us put the horses and goats into the pasture behind us, so we took them up on it. They have so much more grass for them to graze on! We opened up the fence between their pasture and ours, so the animals can go back and forth whenever they want. So now they have 8 total acres to roam instead of 1.

We have two turkeys sitting on eggs right now and they decided to put their nests right next to each other. Sharing the workload I guess!

April

We caught another bee swarm! It was amazing to such a big cloud of bees in our yard while they moved.

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I gave Rett a lego challenge to do for his STEM activity and he wanted me to take a picture of it:

One of James's favorite turkeys, Lucky, got sick and died so we decided to have a funeral for him. James played a song on his recorder.

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After it rains the boys love to go ride their bikes in the puddles. Of course that means lots of mud on their legs and backside!

I had a strange day of sickness where my joints ached, I had a fever, and my stomach was upset. It seemed to come out of nowhere especially since we have been staying home and away from everyone! I tried googling my symptoms to figure out what it might be and the VERY FIRST suggestion was Dengue Fever. Seriously google??!! My fever broke overnight and I was fine the next day. It really was the strangest thing.

One of our friends had a drive by birthday party for their 8 year old. The boys rode in the back of the truck down the street and popped confetti poppers at him as we drove by. It was so much fun!

Helping me move feed bags:

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Rett has had a hard time emotionally with being away from school and his friends and stuck at home with us. He has started throwing so many tantrums over the smallest thing, and when he does he throws himself on the ground. I started taking pictures every time he did it.

A lot of times he makes sure to have a pillow first before he throws himself on the ground. LOL!

James wanted to learn how to clean a fish, so I showed him on a nice trout Anthony caught.

Fishing sunrises:

A bass from the big pond on the property across from our house:

The trout:

We've been letting the tortoises out of their pen so that they can eat grass from the yard. The only problem is that they won't. leave. each. other. alone. We always have to keep our eye on them and separate them if they start to fight. Just like a few brothers we know...

Our baby tortoises are growing well now that they are in a pen outside. This is our redfoot:

This is our baby sulcata we got when James was in kindergarten. Look at how big he/she is now!! (Also these pictures want to make me cry because the dang chickens and turkeys have killed all of our grass in our backyard. It looks like a desert wasteland out there.)

James wanted to write a note to the fairies that use his fairy house in his room. He wanted to know if they still used that door, so he wrote a note and put it right next to it. The fairies kept forgetting to read and answer his note, so he put a chocolate kiss with the note to entice them. This was his note: "Hey fairies, do you go into the house at my bed?"

This was the response note: "James, we use this door sometimes. Not every day. Thanks for the candy we like chocolate. -Fairies"

We got an inflatable pool for the boys to play in. It lasted a few days before it got dirty and got a hole popped in it.

I saw this wild tom turkey in a field while on a morning run. It was my first time seeing a boy turkey in the wild!

Family bike ride on the bike trail:

Always have to look for gopher tortoises:

Bike ride on a different day:

The teenager turkeys are growing! One of the boys even puffed up for a little bit:

We drove around the mosquito lagoon and saw this big gator on the bank. We love gator spotting!

Evening at the beach:

Anthony finally finished the new chicken coop that he and his Dad spent so much time and energy on. It turned out so awesome! They used hurricane panels given to us from Ant's uncle for the roof and the sides and Anthony made a section on the inside for the younger turkey chicks so we don't have to keep them in the shed anymore.

Rett holding our people-loving turkey Hedwig. She loves being petted and held.

One of our newest turkey chicks has the cutest color pattern. It makes them look like a penguin!