Summertime

Happy Summer!  It's been a whirlwind so far, but here are some highlights.

Josiah was in swimming lessons for the months of April and May, and he is getting a lot better!  He is a lot more willing to put his head in the water, and is gaining confidence.  We took June off because we had too much going on, but will take him back for another month in July.

5/3 - Josiah's school silent auction and play - all of the preschoolers wore pajamas and sang "God is bigger than the boogie man".

 5/4 - snow in May!  This is one of our apple trees with beautiful snow-covered blooms.

 5/4 - our second baby calf named Bumblebee (from Transformers):

 5/11 - calf #3 named Black Widow (from the Avengers - can you tell who names our calves?):

5/15 - took 2 of our cows in to be butchered.  I followed Jason to the processing plant because the trailer he was pulling didn't have tail lights.  That meant that the cows were staring out the back of the trailer at me most of the 20 minute drive to drop them off.  And giving me sad eyes.  It was hard to drop those 2 off, they were the most like pets out of our herd.  But they didn't get pregnant, and we need to eat!

5/18 - went on a fun camping trip with friends from Josiah's preschool class at a Yogi bear campground:

 5/23 - three of our 4 calves - the fourth was born the day before this pic was taken.

 5/23 - took the boys to the Butterfly Palace in Branson.

 They have a mirror maze which is really disillusioning (is that a word?).

 5/23 - this is at Josiah's first t-ball game!  They had a couple weeks of practices leading up to this.

 5/26 - a fun pic of all 4 of the calves running.

 5/27 - Memorial Day - went to visit the grave of Jason's grandfather who fought in WWII.

5/30 - Levi as the Incredible Hulk.  His 2nd birthday is coming up - can you guess what the theme will be?

 5/30 - a gorgeous rainbow after weeks of rain.

5/31 - we picked up our meat and did some delivery!

6/1 - Josiah went to a day camp with our church. I was one of the helpers.  The kids were great and had a blast.  Josiah said he's ready for the week long version!

6/8 through 6/15 - took a vacation to Branson with my side of the family.

 Went to the aquarium and got to see sharks, spiders, snakes, alligators, wolves,

 pet sting rays,

 and even pet a sand shark!

 Out for yogurt.

 Went to the Table Rock Lake Dam - they had some fun things at the visitor's center.

Also on vacation we got to do some shopping, the girls got pedicures, the guys went fishing, we swam, played on the playground, and went to Silver Dollar City.  Unfortunately Levi got sick half way through the trip and I got sick on the last day - not a fun way to spend vacation.  But at least we had fun before the sickness hit.  Also while we were there, Jason and I celebrated our 9th anniversary by going out for ice cream.  He also bought me a beautiful ($2 costume jewelry) ring.  :)

6/20 - this is Josiah's team after their last t-ball game.

6/22 - we got 2 pigs.  They are still pretty shy.  Hopefully they will warm up to us soon.  The day we got them, they escaped.  Do you know how fast an 8 lb pig can run?  We had no idea.  They were not easy to catch, but we eventually got them both back in captivity.

6/23 - I accidentally dressed them in matching shirts for church.  They are too cute!

In addition to all of this stuff, I have been sick 3 or 4 different times (I have lost count).  I am ready to be healthy for a really long time!  Our garden is also keeping us busy - we now have planted: garlic, potatoes, eggplant, strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes.  We are getting 9 or 10 strawberries a day, and they are yummy!  We've also gotten a handful of potatoes so far, with a lot more on the way.  A quote I read recently said "growing your own food is like printing your own money".  In that case we are loaded!  :) 

We have one more pregnant heifer that could calve any day - praying for another safe delivery!