2012 in Review, Part the First

Let’s take a look back at our year, shall we?

We shall.

Last year started off with a horrible accident.  Well, technically, it happened on December 31st, but we are ok with lumping it into January.

Handsome Dude’s leg became trapped under a huge log.  (You can read more about it here)His leg was cut open very badly in the back and we had to take him to the Emergency Room for surgery.

Thankfully, his injuries were not even close to what they could have been and his leg is now completely fine, with the exception of a gnarly scar.

Towards the end of January, I threw what became known as:

The Great Homeschooling Fit of 2012, part 1.

I added the part 1 because I would have another Great Homeschooling Fit of 2012 come September.

As an attempt to redeem homeschooling, we created a homeschool room inside the house.

My husband, sensing my loss of sanity, even installed a ginormous whiteboard for me.  It was all very exciting.

The girls had been begging to get a dog or some time and in February, we brought home not one, but two dogs.

Tank

and Miley

They are brother/sister and were almost four years old when we got them.  The biggest perk to Tank and Miley was the fact that they were lazier than our own children.

The night we brought them home, they ran off.  David chased them down and almost got shot in the process.  But what can you do?

In early March, we started to prepare our land for our first garden and chicken coop.  David got right to work on clearing brush and trimming trees.

I am thinking a helmet would be an ideal accessory, don’t you?

Crazy boy.

He started building the chicken coop.

And Handsome Dude was on the clean up crew.

Handsome Dude and Daisy Mae each had a birthday.  Their birthdays are one day apart.

Handsome Dude turned 5 and Daisy Mae turned 8.

Sweet Pea was baptized in March at our church.

In April, the chicken coop was finished.

It still needed to be painted and a fence needed to be built around it. We had been discussing buying about 10 baby chicks from the farm and ranch store to get started.

But, alas.

David was perusing The Craigslist and found a deal for free chickens and scurried off.

He came home with 23 hens, 1 rooster, 1 Tom Turkey, and 2 hen turkeys.

So, we closed up our new flock in the coop, turned on the truck headlights, and worked until dark fencing the coop so our feathered friends could roam safely in their yard.

Mr. Tom Turkey terrified us.  He was a wretched creature who would gobble murderous threats.

Unfortunately for Tom, his legs broke under the weight of his massive girth, so, David had to *ahem*, take care of him.

Bummer.

We also got a kitten!  Because we are lacking in animals.  Clearly.

Handsome Dude was ecstatic and immediately declared his name to be Peter.

We went camping in April with my parents for my dad’s birthday.

We started receiving many, lovely eggs from our feathered friends.

And David started a sneaky habit of bringing hens home without my knowledge.

The boys became fascinated with the chickens and started visiting them often.  The biggest problem with this was the fact that they would leave the gate open.

This is unfortunate when you have approximately 60 chickens.

Oh, yes.  I said sixty.

We started the great task of fencing our 100 foot by 40 foot garden.  Because we have so many deer around, we needed to put up an 8 ft high fence.

It was quite the task, but we were able to finish it in one weekend.

In early May, David planted the entire garden while I was in town.

Also in May, we went on a big family bike ride.

Inspired by the aforementioned bike ride, I decided to take the children on a bike ride all by myself.

It was an extremely foolish idea.

Also in May, David had to have an emergency appendectomy. 

The doctor told him he had to take it easy, so you can imagine my despair when he tried to start building a rabbit fence less than 24 hours after surgery.

I used my quick-like thinking skills and got him loaded up to go on a car ride to get a huckleberry ice cream cone.

Doesn’t he look pleased?

Yes.  I am brilliant.

He was obviously feeling a bit better, seeing as how he managed to stop and buy some chickens that two ladies were selling by the roadside.

His belt hurt his stitches, so he started wearing suspenders.

It was a fashion win.

Speaking of fashion wins, Handsome Dude got his new Space Man glasses in May.

 

And to this day, they have yet to break.

Alright.  This post has gone on long enough.  We will continue this year in review at a later time.

Farewell!