109 Things

     Kaleb and I, while we were tearing out juniper bushes in the front yard, 4 hours into the project, were thinking up 109 things you should know when you buy a 109 year old house.

 It was easy to see,

 you find gaping holes in plaster behind wall paper, 

raw plaster with no paint to seal it,

 50 year old juniper bushes completely over running the yard, 

plaster textured over wall paper,

 linoleum over wood floors, 

windows that have been painted shut,

weird configurations in the layout of the house

a yucky stainless steel sink in the kitchen while an awesome porcelain sink is in the shed,

the list goes on and on.

 I am sure we could come up with 109 things.

     Now that we have been here over two months, there is a certain charm to moving into this old house. I can see that the previous owners who lived a good life here really liked their house and updated things. Which is why there is plaster textured over wall paper. They cared enough to add on a garage, extend the kitchen, put an automatic fan in the attic so when it got to hot up there it would turn on. We found out that the old guy loved golf and made golf holes in the back yard. It took us days to clean out the out building of the junk and debris that had gathered over the years including a few tree limbs and an abundance of saw dust. We could see that the fellow tinkered and maintained his household from here with the jars of rusted screws, old hardware and lots of stuff we didn't even know what it was.

     Living in a 109 year old house has its quirks. I love living in a place that has been here so long that the trees are established and have seen out houses, dirt roads, wood stoves and long dresses. I love that our closet is so small that we have to switch out our winter clothes for summer. Of course they would only have hooks in the closet....in 1906 you only had a few clothes. It reminds me that our lifestyle of today is all about abundance and that living simpler is a good thing.

     This house has watched horse drawn buggies and Model T Fords pass by its front walk.

How cool is that?

     Really, we should be thinking up 109 ways that God has blessed us with this move. We see God's hand in our every move from the apple tree in the back yard, to the healing from losing our house in Arizona after the economy crash. We keep finding more and more of God's blessings. It brings tears to my eyes when I walk out back and hear the breeze whisper through the pine trees. From the time the kids were babies, I would find peace and serenity while we were camping listening to the wind whistle through the pine trees. I never imagined that I would find that on our own property. 

     Actually, we all know that we won't be able to count the blessings. That is how God works. He overflows us with all his grace and love. How lucky I feel that we are his children.

Surprises

 Every day is a surprise of God's many blessings.

I love lilac and look what we have growing in our yard

 The girls are growing like weeds and settling in to their new hen house.
Jared and Kaleb did an awesome job of building our coop. Kirk and I barely helped. I was so impressed, watching them work together. Kaleb cutting wood and handing it over to his brother who would nail it into place. They were like a well oiled machine, just the two of them.

A picture of that is coming soon,

 I love that all of these chicks have different personalities. The Plymouth Rock chick we call Gertrude always runs up to us thinking that she is going to come out the door. So I always pick her up and hold her. The white Leghorn Henrietta, thinks she is the boss. Martha, the Australand, is very proper and stands up straight with her tail at its fullest height. Augustine, the buff orpington is super soft and does not want you to pet her at all cost, even if she has to run over her sister chick to get out of the way. 

We love all 7 of them. They are neat birds.

 Jared, testing out the rope swing.
He has an awesome smile...and dimples too.

 My goof ball son.
Kaleb should be in drama. He is so funny...like every day!
Though I do hate it when he answers my phone.....
Hello, This is Social Services, How may I help you?...

Things usually get way out of control after dark, so this is happening a little early.

He must be hungry ...

Everything Green

I love this yard!

Even though it took Kaleb and I 6 hours to mow this grass!

YES, 6 hours.

We kept trading off on pushing the mower.

I think we need a ride-on mower.

The Barn

Kirk has said for years that he needs a barn to paint all the back drops that he does every year.

He was exhausting me over the years because I didn't see how it would ever happen.

Well, he got a "barn".

Now he doesn't have to empty the garage in order to set up a place to paint.

He put up his foam walls and attached the paper and wa- la.

Easy Peasy!

 Now he does still paint the back drop side ways. He paints three panels per show. This particular one is for Mary Poppins....a spoonful of sugar..... 

Kaleb, acting like a goof ball as usual.

New Friends!

We are super excited about summer approaching.
Victoria has met some new girls in the neighborhood. She finally got up enough nerve to approach them while they were playing in the canal behind our property. She quickly discovered that all of the 5 girls that were playing were all 10-11 year old. Another answered prayer!
They built a fort in the back under some awesome trees.

I think summer is going to be fun with new friends.

4H Dog Agility

Victoria has always loved dogs and we have always known that Henry needed to do dog agility. After seeing him climb fences and knowing how high he can jump, we just knew he would be good at it.

With ALOT of training. He ALWAYS thinks he knows better!

 I love watching all the kids getting control of their dogs and encouraging them to do things on the agility course. Some of the dogs personalities are so funny. There is one golden lab that rolls in the tunnel, every single time.

 This Golden Retriever will do anything for her toy! And her owner is the most polite boy I have ever met. Really neat kid.

 Henry isn't afraid to do anything. Some dogs get nervous on the see-saw. Henry doesn't seem to care that it moves. As long as he gets his treat at the end.

By the end of the hour Henry was staying focused and actually doing everything that was requested of him. He loves the tunnel so everytime Victoria was wanting him to go up and over the A frame he would get super excited and run through the tunnel in stead. It was kind of funny but frustrating to Victoria. He would come out the other side super happy like he had accomplished what you had asked him to do. Not quite. I guess he needs more work on that.

 These horses were watching the dogs while they were practicing. They also liked having their picture taken. They were quite comical to watch and interact with.This one especially liked his muzzle scratched.

 This guy wanted in on the attention as well.

Our Carpenter

 Jared and the team of other students in the carpentry program have completed the house they have been building right on schedule. It is amazing to see the whole process and hear the numerous stories that Jared now has from being in this program.

Jared has spilled his blood in this very house and has fallen off the roof too.

At one stage of the house you could follow the drips of blood from Jared where he was nailed with a nail gun or smashed his thumb among other accidents.

Every day I would hug him good bye and rather than telling him to do good work and pay attention (that's what my mom always said), I would tell him no bleeding and come home with all his fingers.

 Here is the closet that he and another guy built. He is very proud of this closet. I think it will inspire him to figure out what to do with his and Kaleb's closet in their new room.

Not only did they frame the house but they did finishing work as well. Like all the molding, the stairs and even tile the kitchen and bathrooms. He loved coming home dirty after a long days work.

We are really proud of him. 

Next step....getting a job.