We're all Growing Around Our Neck of the Woods

I know, it's been two weeks since my last post. My life seems to be revolved around playing catch up these days. A lot has happened in these two weeks so this is going to be scattered so bear with me.

Lately I've had to truly focus on the necessaries in life and let go of the not so necessaries (at least for awhile). With the little bits of energy I'm given throughout the day, they must be focused on schooling and housework. The rest is all rest from there. If you could peak inside our house you'd see us spending a few hours each day in the school room doing our work and lots of time spent reading a good book like Farmer Boy or Strawberry Girl while lying under a shade tree or snuggling in bed. And the kids (well I should specify, Colton and Gracie) have been really helpful with the daily household chores to keep our house from looking like a bomb went off(although many, many times it certainly does resemble that). And yes Fletcher continues to undo any cleanliness that may occur around here. Gotta love the terrific two's!

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To be completely honest, some days in these past few months were very, very hard. I just didn't know how I was going to meet all the demands that life called me to when I was feeling the way I was. So worn out, tired, sluggish and not to mention very nauseous. But then I would always think of the many women who feel much worse than I do during their pregnancies. And to think of the ones who have to get up early for work each day followed by coming home to a house to clean, mouths to feed and a husband and children demanding her attention. I then would realize I have nothing to complain about. Nothing at all. After all, if I was having a really rough day and just didn't feel like getting out of my jammies all day, then guess what? I didn't. I know, how gross. Don't feel bad I thought the same thing. But hey, I was just in survival mode so in the end, I just really didn't care if I smelt bad or not.

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But thankfully now that I am past 14 weeks things are looking up. And out. This baby bump is out of control!

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Other than watching the belly grow in amazement of its rapid expansion, we've been busy watching our 17 adorable chicks grow. Make that 16 now. Most of you probably heard about the bobcat that snuck up to our back porch area one morning and took one of our babies. It was a creepy couple of days but we are hoping those days are over since it's been six days since he's shown his presence. The kids have gotten so comfortable with going out back and picking up a chicken to play with and have really bonded with these guys.

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We have been spending an extra amount of time playing with them today since tomorrow we are planning on bringing the majority of them to a farm. A nice lady in Palm City was willing to take them off of our hands for us and let them come join her farm. No surprise at all, but this saddens me. I truly wish we could keep all 16 of them.

So last week I made my first official baby purchase. A whole stock pile of cloth diapers for this little wee ones bum! I haven't quite figured out why yet, but I am so excited about this. It is something I wanted to do with baby number 3 but never got my act together in time. I think my life at the time was wrapped up with beginning my adventure with homeschooling so I made a compromise and thought "let's tackle one big journey at a time". So now that we are settled into homeschooling along with the fact that I figured I've made enough waste in the landfill for one family, I'm going to do my part by putting in the extra effort to cloth diaper this baby. Don't worry grandparents, aunts and babysitters, I'll have a stash of disposables just for you : )

Besides being lazy allowing myself to get the proper rest I need to grow this special gift of mine, we have been keeping busy with other stuff too.

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Like celebrating Earth Day...

While we were painting our earths, look who came up to our back porch to say hello...

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Visiting the Nina and The Pinta...

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Exploring the Savanna marsh with our friend Mr. Henry and a few other homeschool friends...

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And of course beach days...

We love to get our feathers wet and swim in God's perfect pool...

And of course spending lots of time lovin' on our chicks. We have fully enjoyed our time with our 17 16 chicks and this process has been so heartfelt yet educational. Definitely something we will always remember. We've enjoyed making the memories while we had them.



And have I ever mentioned that we spend a lot of time playing in the mud around here? Well if not, we do that quite a bit too.

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Stay tuned for more updated pictures of our chicks and also some cute pictures of the most adorable visitor we've ever had at our house. Well, depending upon who you're asking I guess. We were able to babysit a teeny baby pig for a few days and have fallen in love. Again. I'm starting to think that happens quite easily around our neck of the woods.

Oh yea, and we even get to bottle feed him! As soon as I can get my act together I'll get those pictures off my camera so stay tuned!

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In fact he's at my feet right now nudging me so it must be feeding time. Gotta go!

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Until we meet again... Fletcher says, muah to all of his fans!