Winter Break

Our mother turkey sitting on eggs hatched 7 adorable babies! She didn't like us getting near her to check on them, so Anthony had to make sure to wear leather gloves so he wouldn't get pecked.

Little puff balls!!

She took them for a walk the next day. They were so cute following her around!! We caught them all and put them in our extra chicken coop with a heat lamp. Unfortunately, a few of them wandered from the mom in the night and froze to death :( So, we collected them and brought them inside with the other turkey chicks.

A coast guard buoy washed up on New Smyrna Beach and it was. a. big. deal. Seriously, the newspaper did at least 3 articles on it throughout the week and everyone locally was talking about it on Facebook. I'm not sure why it was so exciting, but the boys wanted to check it out, so we took a walk down the beach to find it. They had fun climbing on it and exploring it for a few minutes. Life in a small town!

Since the turkey has taken over the nest most of the chickens use to lay their eggs, the chickens have resorted to slipping underneath the turkey's wing and laying their eggs anyway. It is so funny to see!

James with his favorite turkey chick, Lucky. He was pretty weak after hatching and we weren't sure he was going to make it. Now he is super tame and comes running up to people when you go near the chicks. All the other chicks run away!

On New Year's Day we decided to do a little dock fishing. Rett complained the entire time and then he ended up being the only one to catch anything! It was small, but we decided to keep it and eat it anyway.

That evening our friends hosted their annual new year's bonfire where we all get together and burn our Christmas trees. The kids had a blast running around their yard and playing in the dark. Before we knew it, it was midnight! I couldn't believe we stayed all the way to the new year!

We played a game called "Left, Right, Center" where everyone puts in a few dollars and as you play the game eventually one person ends up with all the money and wins it all. Rett was so close to winning, he was soooo excited! He ended up being the third person standing at the end. So close!

Our friend put a hoppy ball in a tree so that we could recreate the "ball dropping" at midnight. It was so funny!

Anthony got to help his dad do some repairs to the RV. Dang that man loves a project!

The boys and I played while they worked.

James found a frog and declared him his new best friend. The frog was happy to stay on James for over an hour.

Rett has been dying to start taking karate. He isn't really into any other sports and every time we pass this local dojo, he says, "I choose karate as my sport!!". So I took him to try it out and he was sold! Now he goes to karate two days a week after school...on the same days James has basketball after school. It is a little crazy, but we are getting used to it.

I took the boys to visit Anthony at his new job. They had never seen his new workplace and they were impressed. Especially with the cafeteria and the free ice cream!

Christmas 2019

Christmas morning the boys were up just a little bit earlier than normal and were ready to open some presents!

I don't know why Rett was making this face, he loved his huge dinosaur! The music teacher at the school got an extra one when she bought a few for her grandsons so I traded her a few months worth of eggs for it. It was worth it because it turned out to be his favorite present!

Rett had his heart set on minecraft legos. He made sure to ask Santa and the elf for some.

James got some new discs for disc golf:

My mom killed it in the present department! She wrapped presents that represented activities they get to do with her during the year (visiting the zoo, baking cookies, taking a trip to the beach, etc...). The boys loved it!

In the afternoon Mimi and Papa came over as well as Aunt Eileen and Uncle David. The boys got all new dishes from Mimi and Papa and some cash from Aunt Eileen and Uncle David (always a hit!).

We ended the day with trying out the sparklers they got in their stockings. What an awesome day!

Beginning of December

This was our first year with a real Christmas tree and it was so beautiful! James was still sick while we decorated it, but Rett was able to help put ornaments on.

A photo from last month when the boys were helping load mulch:

A couple from church hatched some chickens with their children and loved having them as pets...until their neighbors complained and reported them to their HOA. So they gave them to us! They are the friendliest chickens, completely unafraid of people and will climb all over you and let you pick them up.

Rett enjoyed being an only kid for the week it was just him and me going to school every day. One morning we were rushing around and I forgot to give him breakfast, so he begged me for school breakfast. I have cafeteria duty in the mornings so he is always asking me for school breakfast while I am in there :) He was extra excited this particular morning because it was chicken and waffles for breakfast. I mean who doesn't want chicken nuggets for breakfast??

Kindergarten had different community helpers visit and the firefighter was everyone's favorite. They loved watching him gear up and explain what every part does.

I thought I avoided it, but unfortunately I caught the sickness the boys had :( One morning I woke up with a fever and felt really terrible, but I went to work anyway because I was scheduled to substitute for the music teacher in the morning. It was the last practice before the Christmas performance that evening. I had three music classes, two of them just watched movies but one of them was 3rd grade practicing their recorders. Imagine you have the flu and a 102 degree fever and then you do 45 minutes of practicing recorders with 8 year olds. It was a struggle! I debated going home early after lunch, but I powered through and went straight to bed after we got home from school. Anthony took James and Rett later that night for the Christmas concert (it was K-2nd grade so only Rett was singing). Rett had a blast, but Anthony said it was really hard to hear and it was so dang crowded. The school really needs larger facilities!

I stayed home from work and slept in bed all day the next day. I was well enough to go back the next day, but wasn't feeling totally better for another week. When we all were finally healthy again after so much sickness, we decided to celebrate with a trip to Texas Roadhouse!

We had to ban Rett from putting his peanut shells on the floor because he kept flinging them at people walking by. Little stinker!

We decided to watch the Christmas parade this year instead of walking in it like last year. Rett was very concerned about when the firetrucks and sirens would be coming by. He had his fingers in his ears for 15 minutes, just waiting!

When James's cub scout float came by, he wanted to join them and walk the rest of the parade. One of the other parents said he could hang with him, so we let him go. It was perfect, we didn't have to get there early, we got to enjoy the parade, and he got to walk in it like he wanted to!

This was the school's float. The theme this year was "Gingerbread Christmas", so in order to get the float decorated the principal created a contest between all the teams of teachers. Each team got a plain wooden house to decorate as a gingerbread house and on the last day of school all the students voted for their favorite. The team that won is getting a long lunch at a restaurant away from school while the office staff watches their classes. It was definitely a good motivator!

The last week of the school, the entire school staff participates in secret Santa. Everyone draws a name and then gives their person secret gifts each day for the last three days of school and then one large gift at the staff Christmas party on the teacher work day before the break. This was my very first secret Santa gift I received. When I walked in, I was shocked at how big it was! They are supposed to be small, $5ish gifts.

I opened it up and discovered a bale of hay!!! Someone knows me well enough to know I have animals that would eat this. I was dying to know who it was!!

The next day I got a feed scoop with an animal brush and some candy for me inside of it. The next day I got a candle and some more animal grooming tools. I must have talked to at least 5 different teachers about my gifts, trying to figure out who had me!

At our staff breakfast/Christmas party on our teacher work day, I got my final gift: A feed pail full of animal treats, a salt lick, and a tractor supply gift card. It turns out my secret Santa was the head of the aftercare program at the school. She also has tons of animals and she had been talking to James after school and getting information from him about all the animals we have :)

We decided to take a night and go bowling together. It was so much fun!! Having bumpers up helped :)

Coming home one night we spotted an owl hanging out on a low tree branch in our yard. It let us get so close to him!

Our first turkey egg hatched!! Anthony has been very nervous about these eggs and has done all of the effort in taking care of them while they were in the incubator. I was happy for him that a good amount hatched. Now we have turkey and chicken chicks back in the house :/