My sweet kids!

This is the bike track. You start at the road, 34 Road to be exact. Then it is all downhill from there. You can get going really fast! (Travis is wearing the t-shirt that says he does all his own stunts.)

"The Fantastic Meleah. It is fun riding my bike." according to Meleah.

Right behind Meleah it drops off very quickly. The kids also used the dam side of the pond to go sledding down when it snowed.

Those sleeveless Arizona dresses don't cut it here in Colorado. Thankfully, Sam's Club had some affordable dresses. Don't forget the boots or it wouldn't be Meleah.

What can I say?
Insert your own caption here.

Travis sure has an imagination.

Cody is studying Greek Myths. Here is Bionicle Atlas, holding the earth on his shoulders. I love it when they apply what they know. Five years after reading Greek Myths the first time to my kids and still I couldn't handle it. I was thankful Cody read them on his own, stressing that these were MYTHS. Then after studying Greece, we get to learn about the same myths with Roman names!

I don't have a picture of Cody to put in. I get a lot of text messages from him in the other room. Maybe if I had him send a picture from the phone, then I might have one to share.

Home Sweet Home

Why is it that the house even looks crooked in pictures. Probably because it is! I had to hang our Christmas wreath, it looks so much better. We spent the last week, the kids and I, working on the house so that it would be ready for drywall this week. It kept us pretty busy. We all learned some new things. I think I have carpel tunnel, my fingertips are going numb, especially in the morning. Using too many heavy power tools can be bad.

This is being called the mud room. It will hold the washer, dryer, freezer and all the coats, jackets, snow boots, etc. It isn't the front door entrance but will be the most used. That tiny little metal looking rectangle in the corner was my breaking point. After a week of working, not sleeping at night because my brain was going through all that needed to be done, that crazy rectangle wasn't going to fit. I ran back to the metal supply place and got back and it still didn't work. I broke down and cried. It is a silly heat vent but I had reached meltdown. I felt much better after taking the afternoon off, while Bob continued to get things ready.

This is my lovely kitchen. It looks, smells and even feels so much more open. I was trying to find the original picture but I think it is on the other computer. I will post it with the picture after drywall. You can see a small line down the floor, that actually is like the peak and it slopes down to the front door and down to the mud room door. The hope is to plane down(shave off) the high spot so our floor is more level. We will see how that will go.

Here is my air duct baby. I put most of it together myself. That was after taking apart some of the old nasty ones. It is like a whole new craft material! Laura called it 'folk art'. I am proud of it. This baby goes to heat the main bathroom.

Now here is the biggest pain. We could see daylight coming through the outside wall. Not a good sign. We tore up the floor, Uncle Johnny and I, Travis and Meleah helped pull nails. We also discovered a dry, 10 foot deep cistern. After sealing out the daylight and insulating it well we needed to make a air duct to fit under these floor joists. A two inch space. The red tape and shiny silver stuff create an air duct that goes all the way to the wall, where it then uses the floor joist space as the air duct. That was a real creation, just especially for this house. Something I don't ever want to do again and I sure hope it works to heat Bob's office and the mud room. At the wall I am taking the picture, the duct goes into the mud room, that was the meltdown spot. This room is next to the kitchen.

Here is the small duct with the two that feed it. The one that is rectangular is made of a shiny, silver cardboard, lots of silicone caulking and tape. I am so glad that all of this is covered up with floor now.

Here is one of three loads of gravel for the new driveway. It is nice.

This is what you think it is. A fiberglass outhouse. It sure beats using the barn. Bob used Johnny Bell's tractor to move it, spread gravel and just play in general. I think he is hoping for a tractor someday.
One of the things we found in the walls was some insulation. It was newspaper. I tried to find a date but it must have been at least in the 1950's maybe 40's or earlier. It was back when they sold patterns instead of dresses. We know that part of the house was as early as the 1920's.

We will head back up today to finish up some of the things that still need to be done for drywall.

It is quite an adventure that I am hoping will be less exciting in the coming weeks. The furnace still isn't running so look for that story in the coming days. I am thinking warm, skunk smell...there is no place like home!

Dead deer and funerals

The kids and I were on our way to church-Bob was delayed at work and would meet us there- and saw a deer someone had hit and it sparked an interesting discussion, with topics ranging from human rigor mortis, caskets, funeral costs, cremation, the use of urns to hold a loved one's ashes. The discussion ended when I told the kids, "Just so you know, when I die when I am an old lady, I would prefer cremation. It's cheaper, I would be dead so what does it matter." I knew what their response would be but I do think it is important to know that we all die and it could be a decision they would have to make. I think it may have been a premature discussion. Travis plugged his ears, Meleah said, "I don't like you saying 'old lady'." The rest of the night Cody kept hugging me throughout the night-just because I may not always be there.
Would I have the discussion again? Yes. But I am the kind of mom that wants to discuss everything with my kids so that they aren't afraid to talk to me about things. It also started a little more appreciation for mom and thankfulness for her being there. That is something that my pre-teen boy hasn't been showing much of lately.

I love moments like this!

We were in the car driving, something we do a lot of now, and the kids were discussing the things that each other did better than they did. Travis thinks Cody can do so many mechanical things, he is like a whizz at computer stuff or tv stuff. Then Cody pointed out that Travis is so good at organizing that if it weren't for him their room would be a mess. He is also good at making games, he has a good imagination. Meleah is good at making jokes, even if they don't make sense. Meleah is also very good at keeping her room organized, at least she is good at getting Travis to help her.
I just really appreciate the times when they are so good to each other. I think this move has made them become better friends with each other.