Once Upon a Farm

No stone Unturned

2009-11-08T10:02:00.010-06:00

Christian is my child that experiences everything. He loves new things, is not easily intimidated, and is always 'up' for anything. When he was a toddler I had a HUGE learning curve with him. I could not reason with him like I easily did with Savannah.

Christian often learned things the hard way. After months and months of trying to convince him that he was going to hurt himself climbing on the back of the couch... he had to learn by falling off... taking a lamp, answering machine, phone, and side table down with him in a mess of brokenness. Then, and only then, would he point to the back of the couch and simply say, "ouch".

Another example was how he would run full speed across the yard and plunge into his little blownup swimming pool. He would come up choking and sputtering. I tried to tell him to plug his nose before leaping in... but NO!! How could he get the needed 'lift off' to create the maximum splash in the pool if he had to have one hand plugging his nose! And so he continued to half drown himself that whole summer. That ever present dilemma of motherhood of knowing when to step in and prevent... vs. get out of the way and allow your child to experience. It never ends with this son.

But I have learned that the flip side to this is that he enjoys things to the fullest! The most mundane things are a thrill for him. He finds the interesting aspect to anything. He looks at things and sees a creative spin, or a new approach, a joy in the process.

I can honestly say that the day I had Christian... I was transformed into a better mother. I get him. Seriously. I love to watch him be. Christian formally tests in the genius levels, but he is an 'outside the box' thinker and I can't wait to see what he attempts with his future.

My heart flips when I see Christian. He makes me laugh more than any one thing can in my life. He challenges me to enjoy things and not simply react... does that make sense? I love this boy to the point that it takes my breath away.

This week Christian needed to learn all aspects of laundry care for a Boy Scout requirement.

Simple... right?

Not.

Cause he's got to truly understand all the ins and outs. Look at the ingredients of the Spray and Wash bottle and try to formulate, in his mind, why its able to accomplish its goal of stain removal.

Don't laugh!

Seriously, this is how Christian absorbs any speck of knowledge in his life.

So, imagine my exhaustion when we finally arrived at the end of this Laundry 101 Lesson.
Seeing him ironing his clothes, knowing that another life experience is now filed away in that brilliant mind of his. Knowing that as he uses this skill in the future, time and time again... that it will never be mundane, cause nothing in Christian's life is mundane.

And I don't even mind that he had a chance to turn the tables and laugh at me for once... as I quietly started humming... "I hope they call me on a mission"... moms gotta plant those little seeds whenever they can, Right?

A Barn Raising

2009-11-06T21:57:00.010-06:00

The day has finally arrived. We've wanted a barn in our back pasture and its now being built.
It will be a little barn with two stalls and a tack room, just perfect for what we need.

The first post went in and Savannah and I were down right giddy!

All the posts were in and they started to 'skin' the barn, woo-hoo.

The treatment on the outside of the barn will be Board and Batten, just like on the house porches, love it!

This is Savannah with our favorite 'Farm Guy'

His name is Jeff McDonald (appropriate last name for a farm guy, huh?). Jeff can do it all, seriously. He builds our farm fences, repairs our old barn, clears trees, etc. We really appreciate him and his crew. He was extra generous to let me snap his photo... generous but NONE too thrilled. Guess farm guys aren't keen on smiling for the camera, snicker!

Hooray for Art Projects

2009-11-05T19:12:00.006-06:00

Ty's Art Lesson for today was on Mosaics.
He was to search the house for mosaic materials and create two different creations.

He raided my kitchen canisters and craft supplies... then got to work.

Ty said this one was the wind.

And he has been studying the Galaxy in Science... so he said this is a mosaic of space.
I think I am officially OUT of all blue buttons now ;)

Can I just take an itsy bitsy moment to clarify that Ty gets his creative gene from Me... humble little me, snicker, snort.

SnuggleSpot & SlingShot

2009-11-04T20:21:00.008-06:00

Savannah is a reader, takes after her mom. She has wanted a chair in her room so she could go cuddle up with a book but not have to use her bed.

I found this oversized chair, it is a complete circle and so very comfy. It arrived today and it fit perfectly in her room. The body of the chair is classic linen and then we are going to recover all the pillow in some yummy fabrics.

I took the shipping material off the chair and asked Christian to dispose of it.
When I came back downstairs I heard hysterical laughter on the back porch. I looked out to see the boys with my camera taking photos of their newest adventure.

This HUGE band was wrapped around the bottom ruffle on Savannah's chair. Not surprised in the least that Christian saw this and quickly found a way to put it to good use.

A massive slingshot!

The perfect slingshot projectile? A rubber dinosaur, of course.

The guys got some serious distance with this thing!

Only one backfire! Christian laughed, Ty did NOT... but in the end, Ty didn't stay down for long. Afterall, there was a very close competition going on, a distance competition... very serious stuff these brotherly matchups.

In the end, Christian was victorious. He got both distance AND height when he cleared the chicken coop. I personally thought the dino was the actual victor because it landed on its feet! Bravo!

dayBREak

2009-11-03T08:28:00.008-06:00

I promised forthcoming pictures of Savannah's new mare, Bre. We are having a barn built to the back of our pasture and adding farm fencing. Until that is done, our neighbors have allowed Savannah to board her horse in their pasture, so thankful!

Here's the posse that is boarded next door. On the left is the only fella in the herd, Buddy. The black and white paint is Bre. On the right is the ever beautiful Cherokee. And striking a relaxing pose... so nonchalant... is Chelly, the donkey.

Ummmm, seems Buddy is not the least bit camera shy.

Although I know absolutely nothing about horses, I must declare that I think Bre is gawgeous...

and a tad camera shy to boot.

NOTE: Savannah scared the bujeebers out of last week. Bre has not been ridden in over a year (she just had a little filly 6 months ago) and is a tad 'rusty'. Savannah has a friend working with Bre and things have been going fairly well. Savannah, fearless cowgirl, decided to give Bre a go on her own. Let's just say, Savannah had a rough ride AND landing and is nursing a very sore shoulder blade. AND, Savannah was not wearing her riding helmet! I fully own that I was extremely mad at her... maybe, just maybe... screamed and scolded for an unnecessarily long amount of time, but I don't think Savannah will dare do that again. I am not naive in thinking she will never fall off a horse... but I find it reckless to not protect herself as much as possible. So the first big fall is done, I'm sure there are many more to come... but my daughter better have her helmet on from now on...and I'm secretly hoping this incident put at least a little fear in my fearless daughter, hope, hope, hope!

sPookiTy... spOOk... sPoOk...

2009-10-30T14:48:00.012-05:00

Woke up to a foggy, overcast, rainy day on the Thursday before Halloween. I actually love foggy, overcast, rainy days and it lent a perfect atmosphere to my plans for later in the evening.

A treasure hunt was on the schedule. This was a new little diddy that I wanted to do with the kids. They were willing participants, which isn't always the case with my many brilliant (or so to my way of thinking) schemes.

They gathered flashlights and waited patiently as I bundled the loot and hid it around the farm. I took photos and took my time waiting for it to become really... REALLY dark for their hunt. Ty is looking a tad apprehensive in the above photo... it sure was dark out there...

I attached clues to each of the bags of candy, leading them to the next stash of goodness.

{Clue #1}
Find a seat in the middle of a cement circle...

{Answer}
Our bench in the middle of our circular driveway.

{Clue #2}
Rhymes with high... low

{Answer}
Silo

{Clue #3}
Has anyone seen a skunk?

{Answer}
This was a trick question because we have many skunk sitings on the farm... but most recently we found a baby skunk eating eggs in our chicken coop (someone, aka Christian, forgot to close up the coop the night before)

{Clue #4}
Where can you float on your back?

{Answer}
Hammock

{Clue #5}
Give said the little stream

{Answer}
Our little stream that runs off the mountain

{Clue #6}
Feeling Chilling? Throw a log on the fire!

{Answer}
The wood pile by our Fire Ring

The note found under a log read:

You are Victorious!
Now run home and share your treasure with your
awesome Mom and Dad.
We have hot chocolate ready to
warm your bones!

Very fun activity.
I think we will make this an annual hunt.
Now that they have shown me their excellent skills, next year's clues will be doozies, mwaaaaahhahahahaha.

Guys Night Out

2009-10-29T16:23:00.002-05:00

Last night was Trunk or Treat at church. As usual, Christian put tons of thought into his getup... remember last year's costume of choice? Enough to make this mom scratch her noggin!

Christian can find inspiration literally anywhere. This year, a trashcan, yep, a TrAsHcAn. He vandalized a perfectly functional trashcan for this project, but it was a huge success!

Ty is on a StarWars obsession... so for the second year in a row he was a SW character, a StormTrooper. The guys had a blast and came home on the appropriate sugar high.

FHE

2009-10-28T09:09:00.016-05:00

For our Family Home Evening, we decided to make Mummy pizzas. Can I just take a moment to say how fun it is for me, when everyone makes their own creations for dinner... total bliss!

We made our Mummies using bagels, added our favorite toppings, and then mozzarella string cheese.

Then comes the real purpose for the whole evening... let the carving begin.

Ty's classic vampire jack 'o lantern

Savannah's meow

Shawn's skull

And Christian's creation... he always picks a toughy to carve, whew!

And me? What did I contribute to the process? Well, I kindly reminded everyone to keep the pumpkin guts neatly ON the newspaper cover. Then there is the ever important roasting of the pumpkin seeds, yum.

I had previously carved these two cuties. Not sure what has gotten in to me but I have been all about the faux pumpkins this year. No slimy guts... can't beat that.

These are a few of my favorite real pumpkins and gourds.

We finished off the night watching 'America's funniest videos'. I fear this show is becoming quite the addiction with our family. Seriously... we are a loud bunch while watching this show. My tummy usually hurts after the show, and I have found that several of my children actually snort when they laugh hysterically... new discovery :)

Finding Balance

2009-10-25T21:40:00.007-05:00

My girl has been an absolute joy since day one. Truly. She is so like me, so unlike me, a blend of everything beautiful, tough as nails.

I love quiet, I invite silence, I love to be still, I can say no, and though life can sometimes demand it... I do not like every minute of each day to be scheduled. Being Home is my favorite place to be.

Savannah is a go-getter! She dreams big, she is a goal setter, hard worker, believes resolution can be found in most situations, does not mind extending herself to gain a wanted outcome.

Learning early on that Savannah would handle most situations in her life much differently than I would... I have made a concerted effort, in raising her, to allow her lots of wiggle room... she has earned it.

The past few years have been a very strict focus for Savannah. She has an intense love for animals. Me? Did not grow up having pets, considered myself a non-animal person. I made it clear to her that her desires would need to be proven to me through incredible diligence.

I then got out of her way!!

Her biggest dream has been to own a horse. Horses are very expensive. I told her this financial obligation would be hers.

And so the past 3 years have involved work, work, and more work. No task was too small or too big... each task equaled one step closer.

Meanwhile, as her mom... I watched her intense focus. Managing school, church, seminary, weekly youth activities, youth conferences, Young Women's camps, sewing lessons, 2 jobs at the neighbors stables, 1 job in town, also working at her dad's office.

The question in the back of this mom's mind was... when do I blow the whistle? Do I step in and say when enough is enough? That incredible parenting balance of stepping back to let your child grow... stepping in when necessary... loving the many ways she is braver than me. Thankfully my faith in her and her decisions is yet again, not wasted!

In comes my daughter... 'mom? Can I talk something through with you?' She then begins to tell me that she has decided to re-evaluate the way she spends her time. With her goal of buying her own horse met, she has prayed about her many extra curricular activities and wants to omit.

Savannah has decided herself to stop her work at the stables. She is not needed at her dad's office now. She wants quite time on the farm to read, wants to focus more on school, and wants time to convince these 2 new horses of hers that they can fall completely in love with her.

Relief!

I can not express the feelings I had as I listened to Savannah analyzing her time, and asking herself whether that time was well spent. After all, are we not counseled to Be Still?! And here is my daughter finding that balance, finding that maturity that is such a joy for me to witness.

My hardest parenting moments are those when I must bite my lips. But my reward comes when my children prove they are capable of balancing all the good and needful things in their lives. We have been told often in the gospel, that the choice is not always between Good and BAD... but yet the choice is often between Good, Better, Best! Savannah has wisely chosen the Best.

A visit to our neck of the woods

2009-10-24T20:46:00.006-05:00

Shawn's best friend came to visit us from Utah. Kevin's wife, Cate, gave him this trip for his birthday... in essence she gave us a huge gift too. We seriously have been looking forward to his arrival since finding out months ago that he would be coming!

His visit included visiting Shawn's office, seeing a little of H'ville, going to TN to pick up Savannah's horses, a 4wheeler trip back to the river in which Shawn and Kevin returned muddy messes, and just a lot of hanging out.

While Kevin was here last weekend, he and Shawn went to the Alabama Homecoming game.

Kevin will surely love me for including this pic, snicker.

Check out the trunk on the fellow in the background! Its hilarious to me what my husband captures when I beg him to take the camera and bring me home some bloggable photos ;)

And this photo... no surprise at all! Even I know who Erin Andrews is from ESPN... gawgeous!!

We were sad to see Kevin go back home. We hope he can bring Cate and his 4 kiddos on his next visit.

Proven Fact

2009-10-20T10:11:00.006-05:00

Nothing restores my sanity as quickly as: sunshine, a parkbench, good book, bright yellow slides and monkeybars!

Hiccups... caused by extreme laughter!

2009-10-18T22:05:00.010-05:00

Saturday was quite cold and rainy. I was not looking forward to a whole day inside with very active little boys. Christian was quite cooperative to watch football games in the TV room. Shawn and his friend Kevin headed out to Tuscaloosa for the UofAlabama Homecoming Game... but I was left with these energizer bunnies! Don't let their cuteness fool you... nonstop, these two!

Turns out I had nothing to fear! Ty and Nate kept themselves entertained quite well.

The funnest activity by far was 'stair sledding'.

The giggles, snorts, and laughter that came out of these hooligans was hilarious. They got me laughing so hard, it was hard to see clear enough to snap these photos.

Ty and Nate were laughing so hard by one point that they both got these huge belching hiccups. Of course the hiccups were so loud and gross, it only added to the delirium ;)

My only question... why ohhhhh why when little boys need pillows and blankets, do they grab the GOOD stuff? Boys have quite a talent of grabbing the precise items you would never want them to use for stair sledding. Like...

my new y.u.m.m.y pillow/beanbag I got for very quiet, sedated, leisure, lounging in the TV room. It is a delicious creamy chenille bundle of fabulousness, and this is what they first grabbed for their escapade. Notice this chenille pillow made a brief appearance in the above pictures and then it is noticeable missing... that would be when mean ole mom (me) hid the poof pillow... cruel chuckle!

Later in the day, they reused their sledding equipment to use on much smoother terrain. Ty explained that lots of stair sledding 'made his bum pretty sore'. Note taken.

2 for 1 dream

2009-10-17T11:35:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, was the day Savannah's biggest dream came true!

Prepared with horse treats, halters, her dad and his best friend Kevin, and a borrowed horse trailer... she set out to Culleoka, TN to pick up her new horse.

This dream has been 7+ years in the making, Savannah started going to a summer camp back then and got to ride horses daily... in fact, any extra time at camp she spent in the stables.

When we bought our land, she started saving money, buying horse books, and studying... all in hopes of convincing us that this was something she truly wanted.

She has more than proved herself! In fact she currently has TWO jobs at the stables several properties down from us. She has looked at many horses and been very picky... and she finally found a beautiful 3yr old paint mare. But...

This is where the 2 for 1 dream came into play. The Mare had just had this little filly 6 months ago. The owner had hoped to keep the mommy and baby together. With a little negotiating, Savannah got them both!

Savannah named the filly Mississippi... Missi for short. We lived in MS for several years and have wonderful memories of it so I thought Savannah was so very clever for coming up with that name.

In the process of loading and such, they didn't get any good pictures of the Mare but I'm sure there will be no shortage of future photos of her. Savannah named the Mare DayBreak, Bre for short.

Bre is in the back and she is a black and white paint. Missi is in the front and is a brown and white paint. Missi will need lots of training and handling but Bre will be a great trail horse for Savannah pretty soon. Bre has not been ridden since she had Missi, so Savannah will take things slow and should be on the trails with her quickly.

As if picking up 2 horses was not enough excitement for one day... the borrowed trailer had a massive blown tire on the interstate on the way home. Through no small effort, they were able to find another tire and finally made it home several hours late. Safe and sound, thankfully.

We will start building our own stables at the end of this month and add some more pasture fencing. Until that is complete, our incredible neighbors have agreed to let us board her Mare on their land, and the filly will stay in the fencing where we have our goats and female donkey.

This is Kevin, Shawn's best friend since elementary school. Kevin's wife Cate gave him, for his birthday, airplane tickets to come see us. Shawn has been b.e.s.i.d.e. himself looking forward to this visit. How much more can a Utah boy ask for then to come down south, help pick up some horses, help fix a flat tire, ride along the TN river on the 4wheeler... becoming a muddy mess, and today they are off to the Alabama/S.Carolina homecoming game?

I had to include the above photo because this is the stray beagle, Shiloh, that hangs around our house. Shiloh always keeps a safe distance and won't let us touch her. Kevin is here a matter of HOURS and has Shiloh eating out of his hand... oh the injustice of it all!!! Yes, yes indeed... pea green with envy!

Whatever Spray 'N Wash can't fix, gets tossed in the burn pile!

2009-10-14T18:34:00.012-05:00

I love to see little shoes at my backdoor, because that means we must have another little visitor at the farm.

This is Nathan, and his mom is my sil Alisha and she is visiting her sister and newest nephew in California for the next week. Nathan was not homeless but mommyless so he gets to hang with us for a week, yippee!

Nathan can not get enough of his cousin Christian. Seriously, we are talking massive groupie, constant shadow, just can't get enough, nor close enough to Christian. Me? I'm chopped liver when it comes to Nathan. I tell myself that it is because he is so very close to his mommy.

But I find great solace in the fact that Nathan finds me quite funny. No booboo, no fit, not tears, NOTHING Nathan tries can stump Aunt Dawn. Nope, I'm a real goof... Nathan would agree ;)

Each of my kids were going about their tasks this morning.

I guess Nathan was feeling left out... he sat on the back steps sulking.

I asked what was wrong... it took some charades, and multiple guessing (cause I can't quite understand everything out of this cutie's mouth), and I finally understood that Nathan wanted a task to do too.

He was put on 'feed the chickens' duty.

He's great at it! What objects he can't smoosh through the chicken wire, he lobs over the top of the fence. Task done!

Nathan crashes h.a.r.d. at bedtime when he comes to the farm.

The boy is nonstop. He blew bubbles, chased a goat, jumped on the neighbors trampoline, carried tons of gourds/pumpkins to different locations around the farm, played in the rain, and taught Aunt Dawn to never leave him unsupervised with a KitKat candy bar!?! (note to Alisha... his clothes are now soaking in Spray 'n Wash... I do not hold much hope for their recovery however).

And that is all in the first 24hrs.

Guess what...

Aunt Dawn crashes h.a.r.d. at bedtime when Nathan is on the farm too.

Gotta love a WallFlower

2009-10-13T20:01:00.007-05:00

Have you seen this cuteness?

I had seen these in a catalog but didn't wrap my brain around their genius. But then I saw them in Bed, Bath, and Beyond and instantly knew where I could use these.

To install them you simply press a tack into the wall and then the flower clips onto the head of the tack.
Savannah has this weird nook in her bathroom that had us both stumped. We knew she needed a laundry hamper there but what to put on the wall?! She has a huge framed mirror so a framed photo would be quite redundant. I have a ladder she loves and it would look nice here, but still quite blah!!

So when I saw these wallflowers, and the fact that they are made of plastic and perfect for a bathroom... a perfect match!

Savannah went about placing the tacks. I urged her to do random... so I could hear her repeat to herself over and over again.. random, random, random. So funny. I think she did a beautiful job.

Can't quite tell in these photos but her walls are soft blue and these white flowers are such a whimsical touch. So fun!

boy + cheese = lots of furry friends

2009-10-11T19:59:00.006-05:00

Nothing makes a Saturday better than having the pleasure of additional cutey patoots hanging out at the farm.

Yesterday, the cuties that came to visit were Noah and Eden. Suffice it to say that Aunt Dawn was VERY happy!

Noah asked to have some cheese. I was able to oblige. Noah LIVES outside, so when he got his cheese and promptly went on the back porch... I feared there may be trouble.

Daring to walk out on our back porch with any kind of food assures you adoring animals a plenty!

Noah laughed and laughed and laughed. Complete joy at all the attention he received from the critters.

He was able to sneak a little cheese for himself too. Survival of the fittest out in these parts... glad to see Noah is a multi-tasker... he fed 6 little tummies all at the same time: his, 3 kittens, and 2 beagles!

It didn't take long for his polka dot piggy tails baby sister to come check out what was causing her big brother so much fun.

She couldn't get the the kittens to come close enough, but Bella (our beagle) was happy to give Eden lots of kisses.

Photos of all the fun we had ended abruptly after this shot, due to dead camera batteries... and an unfortunate event where Noah (I'm sure concerned for his sister's safety, giggle) shut the back door on Eden and she was VERY offended!!

The rest of our day included feeding chickens, gathering eggs, blowing bubbles, a road trip to TN where Savannah bought a horse, repeated singings of 'Popcorn Popping', and lunch at McDonalds.

And I MUST document the reason I was able to have these two sweeties for the day. Cari and Chris went to the Birmingham temple so Chris could do the Baptism for his father, Phil, whom we tragically lost last year! If you weren't blessed enough to have known Phil... just look at Eden, she resembles him ;)

i am a PUREST, ummm, usually

2009-10-09T09:19:00.005-05:00

When it comes to decorating for the Fall with pumpkins, gourds, and squash... it has to be real. Has to be. Has to be. HAS to be! I've never deviated...

until now.

This amount of cuteness could NOT be denied.

Please ignore the upc sticker still on my real pumpkin. It is NOT the cuteness of which I am referring.

I was innocently roaming Hobby Lobby yesterday when this precious narly thing reached out and grabbed my ooooooohhs and ahhhhhhhhhhhs!

It makes me happy. It is fake, but I can't deny that it makes me smile. So much so that the incredible restraint that I showed yesterday in buying only ONE... has now dissolved to complete and under nothingness! I will return and get more, hopefully ONE more... but I will not fault my weak self if I grab more.

Speaking of fake, but at least natural (it is made of grapevine, snicker)... I found this giant yumminess at PotteryBarn. I later found this tutorial and may attempt to make one too.

So blog readers, can I retain my purest label? With just a few amendments listed in itty bitty print in the description label?!

I'm gonna give myself the OK on this one.

Yep, no remorse here. I love delightful NONjudgement ;)

Listen

2009-10-07T11:56:00.003-05:00

Somehow, I must sit to listen.
Standing implies the readiness for action,
for the executing of the will.
To hear You, I must sit down and calm down.

The magpie mind chatters.
It doesn't know about stopping.
How helpless I feel in its automatic firing,
its busy babbling.
It is impossible to hear You
as long as I am full of sound.

I turn this helpless prayer toward You.
Help me to be quiet, to sit here
...slowly unknowing everything,
becoming dark, becoming yielding...
just sitting.

Here, without will, let me becoming willing.
Here, without concepts, help me to know.
Here, without doing, turn me toward usefulness.

Let my heart find its ears in You.
Let the countless cells of my body open in order to listen,
Let my being come into Your presence
and experience the sound of Your light.

- Gunilla Norris

Vintage Jars

2009-10-03T20:24:00.007-05:00

I adore vintage jars and use them for storage all through my home. In my laundry room I have several of these jars filled with buttons, twine, and ribbon.

I had a problem with my ribbon storage. I rarely buy actual spools of ribbon... I tend to buy yardage instead to use for gift wrappings. So storage of loose ribbon has always taunted my OCD, never nice and neat. UNTIL... I saw the following suggestion here. Brilliant!

I have some mismatched, fabulous antique clothes pins that worked perfectly. My OCD is very happy now. I have a jar with my neutral ribbons, my cutey bright ribbons... for baby gifts, and my twill tapes.

I never let myself run out of twine. Twine for me is like duck tape to most men, giggle. I use if for everything. This old canning jar had the rim but not the lid, actually perfect to just plop in my twine and let the end hang out to grab, pull, cut.

Joy can really be found in the simple things, huh?!!!

Deadline met, WHEW!!

2009-09-30T20:10:00.010-05:00

Today was the last day the kids had to finish their assignment of painting the front farm fence.

At 3:15pm the task was complete, and they were very relieved. The past two weeks of rain sure put a crunch on their completion plans, so it was sweet success.

But I sure will miss seeing them coming home after a long day of painting looking like this...

It IS funny TY!! Seriously, mommy wouldn't laugh so hard if it weren't! Honest!!

Poor guy, doesn't appreciate his mom laughing at him. But he refuses to go look in the mirror! Then he could laugh with me.

Christian is a little better at keeping the head area free of paint....

Not so particular about the neck down though, and these are his pants. I'm surprised they don't stand on their own.

My ever smiling gal, exhausted, sweaty, covered in paint... and still happy, gotta love a happy gal!

Now they can throw their paint clothes on the burn pile. I've told them to enjoy the painting hiatus until next spring... our back pasture fence will be ready to paint by then (cruel chuckle!)

Practicing Contentment

2009-09-27T20:59:00.002-05:00

Contentment
is not the fulfillment
of what you want,
but the realization
of how much
you already have.

Anonymous

So I have had to give myself a reality check. This November will be the two year anniversary of moving into our new home. While knocking out several projects the past 2 years, we have mostly tried to 'sit tight' and just let some dust settle and contemplate our next major project(s).

Several months ago I called a Landscape Designer and had him formalize my landscaping dreams on paper. Very exciting to work with someone that can visualize what it is you hope to create and then also add to it things you would never even know were possible. I really want a natural look to our property. If anything, I tend to simplify others' suggestions concerning our land, etc. After weeks of tweaking and getting everything just so, so... we tried to move forward with some financing for the project.

Screeeeeeeeeech!!!!

Halt! STOP EVERYTHING....

Seems we would have to be crazy to try and finance such a project, which also included finishing and opening the B&B, at this time. I tried to convince Shawn that we WERE a tad looney, maybe an itsy bit wacky... but in the end, he was right! We aren't THAT crazy, darn. Since my husband was able to remind me kindly that we were not reckless, I shed a few tears, then told myself to be a big girl, and come up with a Plan B.

So 2009 nor 2010 will be the year of the Callahan B&B and fabulous landscaping, no time for tears... we will just cinch our budget and get other, SMALLER, projects knocked out in the meantime.

Hang in there with me as I document our smaller scale projects. Actually the Carriage House Loft will be structurally completed, but the B&B will probably not come to fruition till 2011. Lots of fun things to keep us busy until then. We should probably start with furnishing some of those still empty rooms in our house, grin.

And in the end, I can honestly say that I am enjoying the whole process of slowly conquering our acreage and decorating our dream home. Not too shabby, even if Plan A was a total bust, not shabby at all!!

09-10 School Year

2009-09-23T17:05:00.008-05:00

Last week was our first full week back to homeschooling. It went smoothly, no grumbling yet... typical of the first week giddiness, yep ;)

Savannah and Christian do their school work mostly on the computer and in our future classroom. Our classroom has no furniture yet, whimper... all in due time.

Savannah set herself up an efficient work space; with table, book/supplies storage, cardboard box trashcan, and a padded chair. Bravo.

Christian's workspace? Well, ummmm, very Christian! He sprawls out in the floor with blankets and pillows. Seems when we finally get this room furnished a rug would be very appreciated by our oldest son.

Ty and I do school at the kitchen table. We can be giggly and disruptive... or so the formally filed complaints from Savannah and Christian state!

Ty's favorite class is science and art.

Last week Ty was studying the Solar System. When we finished on Tuesday, I asked him to draw some pictures for Art of space and the planets, etc. He quickly asked if they had to be serious drawings?! Nope, no need to be to scale, just be creative.

So here we have the classics... Sun, Milky Way, stars, planets....

I just KNEW a blackhole was going to be somewhere in this project....

Seems this is where reality completely leaves the project. It appears that aliens have conquered Mars.

Ummmm, bad news... now they are envading Earth. Just trying to give all earthlings the heads up!

House rules

2009-09-20T18:49:00.004-05:00

We have a house rule that there is to be no food taken outside of the kitchen. So when I saw Ty standing in this rather odd location... seemingly just paused there for no reason...

It took but a mommy moment to realize that Ty had figured out a way to technically not break the house rules but still get a glance at a favorite show playing in the TV room.

And to be fair, he is, afterall, still IN the kitchen... the little booger!!

From joy to splat!

2009-09-19T06:30:00.002-05:00

I was beginning to think I had managed to buy a whole batch of sterile hens... But we are finally getting eggs. So far just a few a day, but we are thrilled.

And here is a snapshot of a lonely egg, because my oldest son promptly dropped the other egg immediately after the above photo! At least we know where to get more, whimper.

Destin 2009

2009-09-15T16:02:00.018-05:00

I love toesies in the sand...

We just spent the last week in Destin, FL. We rented an adorable beach cottage and enjoyed tons of family time at the beach, water park, and golfing. I repeatedly forgot the camera, so the photos are sparse, but the week was an absolute joy.

There were sand artists next to us on the beach. This octopus made us all smile.

Ty, Christian, and Savannah did the usual treasure collecting.

Savannah will only collect shells in absolute pristine condition... takes a lot to make it inside her bucket.

Christian loves to collect anything unusual. If it is a tad gross... all the better.

Ty collects a little bit of everything. Bits and pieces, no rhyme or reason... just lots and lots of stuff cause his object is to have a fuller bucket than his older siblings :)

On prior vacations to the beach, Shawn and the two older kids have gone on Deep Sea Fishing Excursions.

This year was Ty's turn. Thankfully, Shawn remembered the camera and captured this wonderful memory!

The boat ride was very rough. Didn't phase Ty in the least... he loved every second of it.

When Shawn and Ty returned home, Shawn let me in on a little secret.

Seems halfway into their little voyage... Ty stated that he missed me. Ahhhhhh! This kid knows how to melt his mom's heart!

Destin 2009 was a huge success. Can't wait til next year.

Can't deny the wonderful thing it was to pull back into the gravel drive of the farm though!