Really?

There are many times that I ask myself..."is this for real? Do I really live here?"

For years, Scott and I would take the back roads in Indiana to drive by all of those adorable country farmhouses out in amish country. We would dream of one day owning one. This is our first spring in our farmhouse and I am still in awe and denial that it is ours! I took pictures of what I'm talking about. These are the everyday scenes that I get to enjoy. God is so good!

Beautiful sunset and sky out our bedroom french door.

View from our front porch.

Backyard with huge oak trees and even a tire swing

Having fun with flowers and containers

I give God all the glory for what he has given us as a family. Everyday I try to thank him for his unfailing love and mercy. Many days I mess up... big time!

Annual Track and Field Day

This week was our home school group's annual Track and Field Day. We look forward to this every year. Davis has talked about it for months! This year was a big group, all ages

and sizes. A former home school mom leads it every year at a local college and does such a great job. She starts by talking to the kids about how God gives us our

strength, at different times in different measures.

The kids pick their events ahead of time.
Here is Chapman on lap 2 of the 1600 meter.

All 3 boys did the long jump.

It was fun day releasing energy and seeing old friends.

Kittens

If you would have told me that I'd be the owner of 14 cats...I would have laughed and said you were crazy. Well...last August we picked up 2 kittens to have as barn cats. They did their job, we never did see a single mouse in or near our house all winter. They ended up being great cats. Very friendly and low maintenance. We noticed about 3 weeks ago, them waddling as they walk and feeling a little bit heavier than usual. You guessed it, they were both pregnant. The boys were so excited and I was looking forward to the experience with them. This will be their ONLY litter as we will have them fixed ASAP;)

Granger (above) came to our front porch Monday morning...NOT pregnant. After calling friends for advice, we went out looking for the kittens. We searched high and low in the barn. Finally one of the boys went out behind the barn and under an old plastic pond form were 6 tiny kittens. All different colors. Today we moved them all to the barn and they are doing great.
Meanwhile, Boots delivered 6 kittens as well today. I will post more pics to come. She is also out behind the barn and we plan to move her tomorrow. What a fun little day care they will be running out there. Im told they need about 6 weeks to wein off their momma. So let me know if you'd like a FREE kitten!
What a day!

MY Day

Today, Mother's Day, might have seemed pretty ordinary to some. In fact I got some funny looks this morning at church when I answered the question, "so... do you have something special planned for today?". Scott and the boys asked me what I wanted and I had 3 simple requests.

1. A picture BEFORE church with my boys

2. Home cooked meal with my favorite food on the grill

3. Everyone's help getting a couple flower beds ready ?!?

Above is what the side of the barn looked like when we moved in. I started working on it last fall. (This is a picture of the un-done side, I didn't take a before picture of the side we finished.)

Below is the finished product! The boys worked hard finding the perfect rocks for the border and loading and unloading the pea-gravel. I have some plants in but need to get more. I hope to find some great climbing plants to grow on my fence gate (we found in the barn).

We got so much done! My body hurts we worked so hard.

It was a perfect day for me!

Chapman's Documentary

(you'll want to pause the music at the bottom of the blog page)

This is a crazy video so beware! Chapman has hours of video of the most random-est things. Here is the latest. We had an exciting week this week with buying a new (to us) van! Ours has been inching along and it was time! We found a great deal and am so happy with our purchase. Tonight Scott spontaneously gathered all of us to take the ole' Astro van for one last family drive for 2 reasons. 1. Because we plan to stick a For Sale sign on it and park it to sell 2. because it was 7 miles from crossing the 200,000 mile mark. We celebrated that its been such a great vehicle for us. We are praying our new van is just as good to us!

The Proof!

The "happy family"

Reis wanted to look thrilled.

April Showers

Bring May Flowers!

Its been fun to see little surprises pop up in our yard. Being the first spring at the farm, we weren't quite sure what was planted here. We have lots of hopes and dreams for this place as far as landscaping. It's going to take time that's for sure. I thought I'd bring in some beauty by cutting some and putting them in vases. Its smelling up my kitchen!