Give it water and watch it grow!

                                                                    Tomatillo's!

                 Peppermint will need to be planted elsewhere(growing better then a weed)!

              Perennial Herbs, Rosemary, Oregano, Basil, Lavender, Chamomile, Chives, Peppermint.

                                                         5 Grow boxes down, 4 more to go!

                       Our first few picks from the garden and eggs from our hen that lays green eggs!

                                    Zach and Ayden pulling weeds from the 8 rows of Corn!

                                            Watermelons, Cantaloupe and Giant Pumpkins!

                             Cucumbers, Eggplant, Tabasco Peppers and Hot Banana Peppers!

                                                                   Radish Sprouts!

                                                                           Pea Sprouts!

                                                          

                                                   Putting in my hand made tomato cages!

  We have been having a drought here in Texas!  It has been hard on other parts (mostly east Tx) of Texas because they have been experiencing a lot of wild fires.  I am so thankful we have a lot of tree's which are considered evergreen's, which means that our tree's stay green throughout  the year.
   I wanted it to rain so bad and the other night we got a major thunder storm with some much needed rain. We need a lot more rain here but I was so happy to wake up to all of my corn, pea's, spinach, onions and lettuce sprouts. Some of the seeds had only been in the ground for four days!!!!  I love watering the garden and watching it grow.  I water all the plants by hand and it is a lot of work. I eventually will have a water system but for now it is all me(and of course I put the boys to work and they love helping me).

 We have picked a few tomatoes and also some zucchini and squash. It is so nice to have veggies right at our back door.  I'm planning on building a green house this summer so I can still enjoy all these fresh veggies in the winter.  Texas has such a long grow season that we will be eating fresh stuff at least until September! 

This past weekend we got some grape vines, blackberries and a lemon tree planted!
 
 

Meow and cheek, cheeck chicks!

Uncle Eric has hatched us a bunch of chicks!! The kids absolutely love playing with them. I love watching them. This past weekend we set up our coop to have the chicks in it, instead of in the house. It was becoming very tiring for me to have 10 cats inside plus 15 baby chicks. Now that the chicks are outside we have lost a few but we still have 13 and the first batch have doubled in size since these pics. We are having a blast with all these new critters!






You will notice in some pics my boys are shirtless.. They all like their shirts off. Sometimes I don't even fight it and they run around shirtless.



My niece Riley is currently hatching 48 chicks on her own she plans on selling them. She has taught me more about the chickens then most books! I love this sweet face of hers, she is a doll!
These are Poker # 1 baby chicks so we are hoping one is a rooster!

Mama cat Nibbles had 5 Kitties on May 1st! There is a girl kitty that is all white and we possibly think she is an Albino kitty. Yesterday Ayden named her Lily. I asked him why Lily and he said, "I just think it's a pretty name". I thought it was neat because Lillie's(flower) are white :)
Mama cat Twix had 4 babies and one that we named Stripes didn't make it. Twix is Nibbles Mom and these are the two of the cats that have survived after we brought home 4 cats originally. Twix had Nibbles, Thunder and Freckles. After letting Thunder and Freckles outside Nibbles is the only kitten that survived from Twix's first litter.

RIp Poker, Stripes, Thunder, Freckles ect.

It is always hard to deal with the loss of things which bring us joy in this life. As much work goes into our recent animals we have lost a few and I know we will continue to lose more. It is the circle of life and it is teaching us alot of new feelings and ways to handle those emotions.

I never thought chickens could bring so much fun and joy but they have! I have always been a cat lover and now currently we have 2 Mama cats and 8 babies. The pics of the boys here were taken right after we found our rooster dead. I feel it is important to let the boys get sad and cry and deal with the loss in their own way. Thayne is very sensitive and cried most of the day. We comforted him and said it is ok to be sad. After he let all his emotions out he went back to playing. I also tell the kids the animals are in a safe place where their is no pain. Where they can never experience death again and hopefully we will see them again someday. I also tell them to not dwell on the pain of the loss but to put that energy into the animals we still have. It has been hard at times and even I have to cry to let the emotions heal. We miss our animals but we are still currently joyful of the animals we still have :)