Callan's Ordination to the Office of a Deacon

I wish we had more pictures from this special weekend!  I think with the chaos of living our 'double life' I some how managed to forget to take pictures of Callan's special day.  I suppose that means that this is one of the extra special time where the images will sweeten through the ages in our memories! 

Papa Jim was able to make it out for the weekend!  It was such a treat to have that time with him!  But like all wonderful things, they soon have to end.  This weekend was one of the shortest weekends of the year!

You know Papa is here when things like this show up in the house!

We took Papa up the road to our favorite IA state park!  He and Callan are looking for Hickory nuts!

I really love the photograph of Tim with his Dad.  It is obvious that they are enjoying the perfectly beautiful day and great conversation!

Probably one of the last times in the water before summer comes  next year.

She loves playing in the sand.

Bedtime and scripture study!  It was fun to have Papa be a part of it all!

I think Gracie Anne enjoyed it most!  She started all cozied up under Papa's arm and before we knew it she managed to wrap herself around his neck!

I'm guessing Papa doesn't really mind at all!

Callan was set apart on the morning of the 9th of Oct.  President Meals had some very nice things to say about him and the choice he has made and the duties he has accepted as a Deacon.  I think Callan was aware of how much his Mom and Dad love him, too!

Dinner At Our House

In case you wondered what its like these days.

The Making of the Walls

Insulating the exterior walls to keep the NE winter out and the hot air in!

New electrical wires to replace the old knob and tube (look close and you can see the black knob and tube wiring in the middle section of that wall)!

Antique wallpaper removal.

One exterior wall in sheet rock... YAY!

More antique wallpaper to remove from the old plaster walls that we left intact.

A Very Elaborate Dishwasher!

Let There Be Light Already!

Bald is beautiful!!

Especially when you are in the attic and its dark!

Its awful hard to make out what is going on!  But when he finishes with all of those wires he stuck up there in the attic we will all be able to see much better in the dark!

When You Can't Reach It...

Looks innocent enough, right?

Wrong!

No one was harmed in the patching of this roof.  The soon to be fourteen year old had the time of his life under the watchful eye and hand of his father.  His mother lost a few years off her life as she stood by to watch!

The Art Lesson

Among all of the comings and goings and bustings and buildings, we still manage to have school.

This year I've decided to make art more of a priority.  All of the boys have great potential, however, art is one thing that has always ended up on the bottom of the list and isn't usually practiced because of that!

This particular day was absolutely beautiful.  I taught my kids how to do 'blind countour drawings.'  We practiced several times on this day and even little Grace got in on the fun!

She is drawing all of the leaves she sees.  Note that these are not leaves of three, just leaves of one!



Mass Destruction

Yup!  I've managed to find something else to destroy at our old house on the hill in NE! 

This is BW.  He and Ruth Ann, our wonderful neighbors, came up on this particular afternoon to help me clean up the after math!

BW has a really cool tractor, my favorite actually.  John Deere 4020.  Don't ask me why, cause I really couldn't tell you!  A tractor is a tractor.  That is what I think, however, the 4020 sure has my attention!

Sometimes there is a lull in the progression of things in the house.  I can't do anything until the man with the brains and the muscles gets back from his trips and gets things moving for us again!  I get a feeling of satisfication, too, when I can go outside, work on something AND finish it and feel like we are actually making some progress!



This area that I cleared out has poison ivy growing in it.  It was teasing me.  Since I don't even have to touch the stuff to get it, while it thrives, it is a constant threat to me!  I react in the worst way!  This spring and summer has been the the spring and summer of the itch (and blisters and secondary infection... etc.).  I decided that if I was careful I could get rid of some of the threat around the house and if I got a little bit, at least it would be more likely that I wouldn't end up getting another awful reaction.  

Well, we got the stuff all right.  There is still quite a bit more to remove.  I reacted.  Horribly!  But I'm doing much better now.  We removed several trees that were getting rather established, still have some more to remove that are a little more than I can handle (plus there is still a bit of IVY left that I'm not feeling much like messing with right now)!

Meet Ruth Ann!



I know it is hard to see the flower bed with all of the debris laying around.  My plans are for roses right here.  This bed faces south and is offered quite a bit of protection from the cold north wind! 

I love roses!

Its Raining, Its Pouring...

You better not be snoring or ya might get hit on the head!  We are still slowly but surely busting out the last of the plaster and lath!  On this day, however, we figured out we could pile up the lath much faster outside if we opened up the window and threw it all out!

We are so Blessed!

With a little bit of time on my hands I've decided to sit down and play catch up!  It has been a very busy few months!  Time sure does fly!  We have been able to make more progress on our old house on the hill in Nebraska!  We are in contract with 100 acres of the farm in MO and have the 40 acres with the Orchard and business listed for sale.  We've been back and forth between both places, cleaning and packing in one and destroying and rebuilding in the other!  What more can I say, but that we have been blessed, and I'm always thankful to have a pillow to lay down my weary head at the end of the day!

I'm also thankful for my incredible better half,  big helpers, all four of them, and cherry red mustaches!