Calhouns Produce

We tricked the kids by telling them that we were going to spend our Saturday running errands and doing chores around the house, but instead we surprised them with a trip to Calhouns Produce, a pick your own strawberry farm.

Maddox's 9th Birthday

For Maddox's birthday we rented a large inflatable water slide. My dad and Mitch put together the kids' zipline, and we celebrated with friends and family.

Maddox's early birthday present, Bella

Happy birthday Maddox!

Easter 2015

After church we celebrated Easter at my parents, with lunch, an Easter egg hunt, and swimming!

Washington D.C.

My mom and I took a road trip with the kids to visit my sister and her family in Fredricksburg VA. Since she was only a short drive from DC we spent our Saturday sight seeing! I wish we had more time, there was so much to see and do. This trip really did come at a perfect time for our homeschool, as we are just wrapping up American history. This was such a special and fun trip spending time with my mom and my sister.

Road trip!

Jessica, Gage, and baby Ashlynne

Apparently its really hard to take a picture of 6 kids in front of the White House. We couldn't even get any of the babies to look at the camera, and Mason is missing a shoe.

A butterfly landed on her head in the butterfly pavilion!

Our First Meat Chickens

Our mission when we first moved to the country was to start a small hobby farm, where we could raise our own meat, fruits, and vegetables. We are starting slow, and we started with chickens! Skylar and Maddox have taken on the chore of feeding them every morning. We have all waited patiently for the chickens to be big enough to eat, and that day has finally come.

I was able to pardon one of our roosters, just so we would be able to have the sound of a cock a doodle doo on the farm. I'm also hoping for our rooster to mate with our laying hens, that we may have baby chicks of our own without buying them from a local hatchery. I named our pardon rooster Lucky.

Butcher day was a family event with my dad and my uncle helping us out! My dad ingeniously and generously put together a homemade chicken plucker for us, and this worked perfectly! Our freezer is now stocked full of chicken and we're so happy to have this experience. 

**Update** July 9th 2015

Our laying hens have been doing a great job laying eggs! And Lucky is even playing his part and has become a daddy! The little chicks are so cute in the yard following their momma around. We are truly bless!