It's time for calves!

On Friday Taft noticed only 6 of the 7 cows were out front grazing. They are in a relatively small area right now, so this was surprising. We went for a walk along the perimeter and saw a white face! This was huge because we knew that the baby claves would be white baldies, which have white faces. We watched for a second and decided we should run and tell everyone. When we got back a few minutes later, there were 2 white faces! Momma 9 had twins! This is a first in the farm. 

Momma had a girl who Joel named Butterfly and a boy who we called Jack, Bruce, Blackie and finally Bruno. They are so soft and sweet. We have been working to make sure Momma 9 knows where they both are. She usually seems kind of content with just one though she has accepted both of them. There has been a lot of grain dumping, Gator riding, and calf lifting to get everyone together throughout the day to ensure both calves get 3 feedings. We finally have Momma and the calves in the pony pen, a smaller pasture righ by the driveway which gives us full view without too much walking or intrusion. 

I am thankful that everything is working out with the twins. I'm praying and divine intervention happens. Sometimes it is through the cows, sometimes it is through ideas. I knew moving here that I could not do this without God's help and I see that. Unfortunately our animals still die. We have lost a few chicks to predators. But we are learning so much and gaining experience.

The boys are riding their bikes more. We have a driveway that is about 1/3 of a mile so they ride up and down the driveway. Joel and Kent got new bikes for Christmas and haven't rode them much. It makes me happy to see them outside, sweating it out and getting a lot of good biking in!

We are enjoying a break from school right now. It gives us more time to read together because I'm not so caught up in doing the "school" stuff. It's a good reset. I am thankful for it!

Erik was deployed last week for 4 nights because of Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane to hit land in the US this season. Fortunately it was not a FEMA disaster, meaning most local organizations handled everything on their own. Houston still has a major power outage issue though. I was also a little bummed we didn't get the original 5 inches.of predicted rain in our area. 

We did get a beautiful Monday last week though. It was breezy and cloudy so we went fishing. The last 5 minutes and 4 hotdogs all the kids caught a fish! We're only getting catfish though. It's pretty exciting when you real one in! Evan was jumping up and down saying "I caught a fish, I caught a fish, I caught a fish!"

Oh man, I think I'm done and then I see some more gems of pictures.

Meet Philbert. He is the chicken coop toad.

And Kent...what a hick!

Also we saw our neighbor's field get hay baled. It was a big moment to see the machine suck up hay and poop out such beautiful, round hay bales. I think it is so beautiful to see them all rolled up out on the field!