Bird Brain Fun

 Life has been soaring pretty high around here lately. And we have had a lot of fun--much has revolved around our chickens.  

I got to have a girls night out the other day.  We painted.  Here's a picture of my painting.  It was a lot of fun to paint.  I am addicted.

 We finally cleaned out the tower, and we climbed it for the first time.  

Here's a bird's eye view from the top!!!  

It's a nice view of the Smokey Mountains from there!

Clark LOVES it up there.

 Here's our little Chicken Run.  The boys love to push each other in the wagon while holding a hen!!!  The hens don't seem to mind.  :-)

 We're having a little ducky fun in the yard after a big rain.  We made little boats with recycling materials and watched as they trickled down the water ways.

 One of Clark's jobs each day is collecting the eggs.  It's kind of like a treasure hunt each day.  We get 8 a day!

 Then this weekend, we had an awesome time.  For starters, we got some chicks!!  Five Americana (Easter Eggers) and 6 Barred Rocks (1 is a rooster).  Michael built a hutch, and the boys love playing with the chicks!!  Joel had his last soccer game.  He had a great season.  We went to an awesome church on Sunday and served in the nursery.  Then we saw Grandpa and Grandma at the hospital.  We went to a hilarious Upward Soccer Family Celebration.  And after that we went to Grace Point's Fall Festival. 

 Clark meet the real Darth Vader (or at least it felt like it).  We all were very nervous to come close to him.  He was gigantic and sounded like the real deal.

We petted farm animals, played games, bounced in bounce houses, roasted marshmallows, trunk-or-treated, and meet some really nice people.

Life is good.  And we have discovered life is funner with chickens!!!

Mom's Turn

 There is a beautiful path that leads into the woods by our chicken coop.  I had a feeling it would make great pictures.  So we tried it out yesterday.  I like how it turned out!

 Michael took these for us.  I had to pull him away from working on the chicken coop. :-)

 Joel, who is five, took this one.  He did good.  :-)

Fall is HERE!!

 Hooray...fall is here.  It's so pretty here with the colors, trees, grass, everything.  I am pretty excited about taking pictures this year.  So friends, come out for a visit.  And I might try to take your pictures too.

We are enjoying the weather with bonfires, shooting, hikes, and staying outside all the time!

 Boys are learning how to shoot their BB gun.  Joel is ready to go hunting!!

 Grandpa's wagon makes a great prop.

9 Chickens and Counting...

 Lucky, Allie, Lilly, Burgundy, Fern, and the rest of the girls are seeming to enjoy their new home.  We drove way out in the country (and if you think we live out, you ain't seen nothing) to pick them up on Thursday.   They are sweet and tame and love corn.  Elmo our gentle lab plumb came unglued when he saw the birds and attacked the one we named Lucky.  Lucky for Lucky, Grandma was there to save her.  They are about five months old, and they should start laying one egg a day soon. 

The boys LOVE their hens.  They love petting and holding them...ALL DAY LONG.  :-)

The End of Summer

 Summer is almost over, and I find myself lamenting the passing of this season's highlights like lightning bugs and the beautiful green hue of life that surrounds me.  Despite all the challenges and stress of the move, our first summer has been very special in Serenity Valley.  Everything is new and exciting around here.

 

Karis has enjoyed water more than any other baby I have had.  

She has no fear of it and wants to put her head under.  She recently started walking in August. 

Clark learned to swim a few days ago.  He asked to take of his life jacket, and he jumped in.  He has my curse of sinking, but he is confident and can swim underwater.  He was doing flips under the water and jumping off the sides within minutes. 

 

 The love gardening, and this year I started a butterfly garden.  We have a variety of butterflies that float around.

Muddy Buddies

  This mud puddle has been at the center of hours of enjoyment this summer.
 It's been a prehistoric lake, a monster truck mud pit, and many more things.
This one little puddle has made my little heart so happy.  Who would have thought?

One of my favorite things here is summer is the dragonflies.  They gracefully dance and soar all around us.  When I am stressed and wonder what in the world we are doing here, I go sit by the pond and watch these little amazing creatures dance in the wind.  I am reminded there are many reasons we are here, but the fact IS I AM HERE.   And it's up to me to make the best of every situation I am in. 
     

 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

A view from my window

Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for the day I took a look out my window to see my boys running and romping in the yard.  It made all the WORK of packing, moving, and unpacking worth it. 

There is nothing like seeing your kids in their element cutting loose and being 100% wild and free!

I praise God for the view from my window that morning.  It did my soul good.

Now I need to start moving in dirt and grass seed to fix all those bare spots.  :-)

First Day of School 2014-2015

 August 4th was our first day of school.  Joel is now officially a kindergartener!  He is very excited about his new books and learning!

 Clark is now in 2nd grade which is my favorite grade to teach.  He's pretty excited to get back into school.  He wrote three stories and read all day.  I think he missed the routine!

Levi is doing preschool.  And he has the best teachers!  Clark, Joel, and I will take turns helping Levi with his materials.

 

 

We have been here in Serenity Valley  three weeks.  One of my top priorities was getting the classroom ready for school.  It had a lovely purple and pink wallpaper and dark trim when we moved in. 

 

Clark and I worked to get it ready.  After stripping the room, we pulled off the first layer of wallpaper, wet scrapped the second, mudded the messed up sheet rock, sanded the walls, and painted twice.  Then we sanded the trim boards and painted them white to lighten the room. 

First Birthday and First Fish

 Grandma and PawPaw moved in this past weekend!  So now we are a family of EIGHT!

And we all went fishing in the backyard this week.  Joel got a big one on his first try! 

 I think he's a fisherman for life!  He asked all day if we can go fishing again!

Karis turned one on July 18th. She is 19 pounds (30%) and 31 inches (90%).  She loves to sing.  If she hears the humming of a motor or a dog howling, she joins right in!  She is so sweet.  She loves playing with her brothers.  And she loves putting little things in her mouth.   And she just started cruising.  I am so thankful for my pretty little girl!

Ain't Gonna Lie

This house is gorgeous and more than I could ever hope for. 
The mist rising off the pond in the mornings and the views of God's creation all around are absolutely beautiful.  The picture above was the sunset on our first night.  It was incredible with the sunbeams spreading out like God's fingers over our new home.

This is everything I have ever wanted....yet I'm heart broken.

I am mourning the loss of things of the past.  I am resisting change.  I am not ready to move on.  I can't let go...... yet. 

Hang in there with me.  I know I'll get there eventually.   Just know, my heart is broken even though you might see a smile on my face.

Boys and Their Toys.....Our Little Tractor

With all the grass and acres, we need something big to cut the grass.  The formers homeowners happily cut us a good deal and left their tractor!  (pun intended)
The boys enjoyed riding around the yard with dad!

Home Sweet Home???

Our house sold, and we think we found our next destination!!!

We should be moving here next month if everything works out.

 And boy do we have SPACE to roam!!!

5.6 acres, almost 4000 square feet, pool, pond, unclaimed land all around.

It's going to be an adventure for sure.

Front porch charm...It has a huge wrap around porch with lots of space to sit, relax, and play! 

   

The magical forest in the front of the yard.  You can see the house in the distant background.

 

 The pool and back porch are nice.

 My favorite tree and the rock wall and tower in the background

 The chicken coop that needs some work.  So exciting.

 The stocked pond with catfish, bass, and perch.  The boys just love throwing rocks in the water.

It is our dream come true.  I've always wanted to give my kids my childhood, and it looks like the kids are going to get it and then some. 

Change....a sign of life

 One thing for sure about life is that it changes.   And one thing about me is I really deep down inside don't like change.  

 I am in the middle of great change in my life.

I'm not handling it so well. 

We have lived in our house 7 years.  It's been the best seven years of my life in many ways.   Each room is filled with countless beautiful memories.  Our blood, sweat, and tears have been poured into this house.

Our house sold, and we will be moving in 23 days.    

We don't know where we are headed.  The house hunting hasn't been productive.  So when the stress mounts I have to remind myself that this is what I wanted.  We will find the right house if we are patient. 

On top of the stress of moving, packing, house shopping....our first furry child Katie is sick.  We got her when we were first married living in Plano, TX.  She has been the perfect dog for 13 years.  She's been having seizures.  This weekend she had a bad one that left her blind, deaf, unable to control her bowels, and unable to walk.  She's recovered some, but she's not the same.   She wants to be left alone.   I'm not ready to say good-bye to her, but I know the day will come sooner than later.  No dog will ever replace her in my heart. 

 This week Karis learned to crawl.  More change...time to babyproof and time for boo boos. I'm not ready for my baby to be mobile. 

 

Change is hard.  You have to let go of things that you love, cherish, want, know.  You have to let go of what feels safe and sure to see what's next on life's adventure.  

Otherwise you'll miss out on all the surprises that await.

 

It's never easy, but always worth it.

Or at least, that is what I'm telling myself!  :-)

  

Wrapping up the school year--2014

We have had a busy May so far!!!  With only 12 days completed, I can't imagine what the rest of this month will hold! 

We started out the month at Grandma and PawPaw's house.  We stayed there while Michael was in Boston.  We had so much fun.  The boys love playing with their cousin Hannah!!

 

Here's "Michael Jr." mixing up the past with the future.  He's playing his daddy's phone while wearing his daddy's childhood Mickey cap!

Here's my oldest and youngest sweeties during  a break from all our homeschooling.  We work hard and play hard around here!!  Clark has done great with first grade.  He's doing a fantastic job reading and writing.  Math is going great too.  But writing is by far is favorite thing to do.  He saves writing for last thing every day for his educational "dessert".  Joel has done great too.  He's reading phonetically and learning right along side Clark.

 One day we went to the aquarium to see the otters, and we played in the water.

Then we went on a homeschooling field trip to Johnson Family Farms and toured a dairy farm, took a hayride, saw a bunch of animals, and played with our homeschooling friends!!

We have our last week of soccer and a baseball game on the schedule this week.

And oh...we had an offer on the house, so it looks like we will be getting ready to move too!

Busy but blessed.....