Lately

Been a bit since I checked in.

We’ve had birthday season:

11

19

5?

17

15

Visited Gabby’s Stars & Stripes Project:

Took them some donated books

The bookmobile

All decked out

Nate went to the CMA Festival, curtesy of the place where he takes piano lessons

We hosted an open house—a year after moving in

Lucy finally got a fence

We visited the ‘liquid zoo’ (the aquarium in Chattanooga)

These guys went to Holiday World for Nate’s 8th grade trip, with one of his friends from before our move.  It was good for those guys to hang out.  We did find that Ellie is NOT a roller coaster fan!

Ellie joined a co-op

We collected eggs (though they have slowed some now)

We found the Oscar Mayer Weenier-mobile parked in our little town one Sunday afternoon.

Tried to convince these two that the other one is okay

Nate moved up to Adventurers (high school in Trail Life)

Visited the Frist Art Museum with my sister

The primary exhibit that day was a fashion

More practice for our furry friends

Sunset gelato (from Gabby’s work)

Senior Pictures

See You at the Pole with Trail Life

Friends visited

We’ve been rehabbing a church building for our congregation’s new home—so much dust!

Seriously….

So much dust

And paint…I think every inch of wall, baseboard, window sill, door, and frame have been painted or stained.

Sanctuary

Fellowship Hall

Kitchen

Justin took Nate to a Stryper concert—Nate loves Stryper!

These guys went camping

Carved pumpkins

We’re down to our last Trick-or-Treater

Attended a gymnastics showcase

We’ve hiked

And hiked

And hiked some more

His culminating goal is a 20 mile hike

This 13 miler will likely be my longest though

Our Trail Life Guys made a soapbox derby car—ended up winning over all too!

Visited my Mama for her birthday

And have a newly permitted driver

He’s even practiced a bit

Whew!  It’s been busy here!

Good Night Chickies

Our coop door didn’t open this morning, for reasons unknown (battery was good, sensor had the correct numbers for light and dark), so tonight Katie and I went to check to see that it had closed (it had), and we peeked in the side door.  

We’d never looked in at night before.  All on one bar, so I guess there’s room for more—on the longer one across the other side of the coop! 😉

Summer

 I blinked and our summer break is over!

Our chickens keep growing

The cat seems to have moved in

Movies were watched (Pride & Prejudice)

Gelato was enjoyed

Or inhaled!

New skills were learned

Crafts created

Service rendered

A Switch earned—for all his work on the coop and fencing

A trip the the CMA Festival

Hiking

Taking a book donation to Book’em

Seeing the completed bus

Filled with books

And Gabby and her friends’ handiwork

Not all of our garden was stolen by local wildlife

Dresses made

A visit to Kentucky

Rejoicing in the ground breaking for our former church

A long promised swing was hung

Vacation Bible School

A new building for our new church

Urgent care

An open house

Fence building

Aquarium visit

In Chattanooga 

And Holiday World too

Sent our Gabby off on a grand adventure with Kevin

We got our very first eggs from our flock 

The crew went to an antique engine show outside the professor’s old growing up town

Someone tried to cute her way into staying up late every night

These two coexisted, with mixed results

And then it was over!