What You Missed in May

In order to get caught up on blogging, I'm going to post several days' worth of pictures at once. Here are things that happened at the end of May. The crabapple tree on the edge of our front lawn bloomed like crazy -- it was very pretty.

When I went out to pick the first rhubarb

of the season, I found a hen's nest full of eggs.

Bryan volunteered to return cans that Carter's class collected to raise money for their trip to Park Safari. It's a good thing we have a big van -- it was packed full!

I continued on my mission to go green. We have not used paper towels, paper napkins, or paper plates all summer. Combined with my homemade laundry soap, fabric softener, stain remover, household cleaners, dishwasher soap, and toothpaste, we have saved a ton of money and a ton of waste.

Another thing that we've saved money on is feminine hygiene supplies. This may be TMI for some of you, but to me it's a logical decision. You can check out http://www.gladrags.com/ if you want more information on how you can save money and make a huge decrease in your contribution to landfills.

Onto a more fun subject: boys and mud!The end of May brought warm weather and rain, which provided Carter and Myles with the perfect opportunity to get dirty and have fun.

I made a pretty cool discovery while brushhogging the field near our outdoor furnace. I got glose enough to the base of that huge old split tree to see that the bottom has been eroded by the water. Every spring the stream floods and looks more like a pond than a swampy stream. The years of flooding have taken their toll on the tree -- it's amazing that it's still standing.

I could actually see stains showing where the water had risen to -- almost four feet up the tree. The pictures don't show it too well, but it was pretty impressive.

That catches you up from May 22nd-31st. Coming soon: pictures from June...

Our New Porches

Here's a tour of our brand new wraparound porch:

First you walk up the stairs along the side of the driveway, going towards the road. It was my dad's idea to put the stairs at the end of the porch instead of sticking out towards the driveway, and they really look good there. The picture on the right is the same section of porch, but from the other end looking toward the playyard and barn.

Then you turn the corner onto the front of the house. The porch here is 88 feet long!

This picture is from the other end, looking back toward the driveway. You can see where the porch goes from six feet wide to twelve feet wide at the corner of the house. It makes for a great place to grill, eat, and of course relax.

If you're looking at the house from the front, it looks like the porch wraps around the house on the left side, too. Actually the floor ends four feet along the side, and there's a railing and stairs (with a handy matching gate) down into a carport. Right now it's more like a workshop for Bryan, who is putting the finishing touches on the stairs and railings, and making me another gate for the front porch stairs. He did leave me room for my lawn mower in the carport, but I still need to fit my brushhog and the 4wheeler in there!

Then and Now

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I've posted! The summer has flown by, and we've been very busy working on the house. I also finally got licensed as a Group Family Daycare, so I've been working on parent handbooks, contracts, policies, releases, etc. when I do get a chance to get on the computer. I apologize for the long interval since my last post. Here's what our house looked like then:

Here's what our house looks like now:

New wraparound porch, new carport, new enclosed back porch, and new beautiful green shingled roof. More details to follow...

Our New Playground

Last fall I got a great deal on two playground kits on clearance on the internet. This spring we finally got around to putting them up. I changed the designs around a little bit, and connected the two playsets with a bridge. Some of my daycare familes came to help out the Saturday of spring break, so we got a lot done that day. Then Bryan and I worked on it as much as we could. Now it's done for now. I'm hoping to get another online deal and add a big covered twisty slide this fall.


The top picture is the view from the house. There's the 5' platform on the left, then the bridge to the smaller platorm, then monkey bars to a tiny platform (designed by me and built by Bryan).
Off the tiny platform towards the house is a Bryan-designed balance beam (Merlyn wants to add an "up and down fing like Grandpapa's", which is teeter-totter that we'll hopefully put on the end of the balance beam). Opposite the monkey bars is a cargo net, which Berkleigh can climb all the way up and then over the beam of the platform to the other side.

Attached to the side of the tiny platform facing the barn is a swing beam with a baby swing (donated by Faye and Jerry) for Alison, two regular swings, and a trapeze. Off the big platform is a swing beam attached to another little platform with a ladder and green slide. That swing beam has two regular swings. I am also working on finding a deal on climbing rocks to build a rock wall onto the other side of the big platform.

In June we are planning on putting porches, siding, and a new roof on the house. We'll put roofs on the playset to match the house at that time. The kids love the playground. It's wonderful to watch them all swarm all over it when the big kids get home from school. All eleven kids (mine and daycare) can play on it easily. Now the yard looks like a real daycare play yard.

Bits and Pieces (Still Catching Up)

Myles, Merlyn, and Berkleigh wanted to do the dishes by themselves a few weeks ago. I thought they looked so cute standing on chairs in a row at the sink. Carter was working diligently on his homework.

The bridge downtown on the way to the school was under construction for a few weeks. The kids got a kick out of the tunnel that covered one half of the bridge at a time.

We went to the school in the beginning of April to watch Myles receive his student of the month award for Teamwork and Cooperation. Berkleigh kept herself quiet by putting her visitor's pass sticker over her mouth.

We were very proud that Myles is so cooperative and helpful to the other kids in school. Myles was pretty proud himself, as you can tell from his smile. He's on the bottom right in the picture below.


In the middle of April my parents brought Elizabeth and Isaac to visit for an afternoon and evening. Of course we waited until too late to get a group picture. Isaac smiled such a nice fake smile for the camera through the whole ordeal.

Berkleigh refused to cooperate at all and sulked on the other couch.

The Saturday that we started our playset project, some of my daycare families came to help. The kids found a little bird that wouldn't fly away. They were all captivated, but Merlyn and CJ especially couldn't tear themselves away from it.

I love watching the fog settle in over the beaver ponds and the fields down the hill. One morning I managed to get a picture of the sunrise before the fog dissipated.

Now here's the picture some of you have been eagerly awaiting: Merlyn and Berkleigh with their ears pierced. Bryan reluctantly gave in to Merlyn's pleas for earrings, but said no to Berkleigh. Well, Merlyn got hers pierced and didn't even whimper (although she jumped about three feet when they did it). Berkleigh watched her, then turned to Bryan and said, "Now it's my turn!" Who could resist?! Berkleigh didn't cry either, although she looked like she wanted to. When the girl held a mirror up for Berkleigh to see herself, the way her face lit up made even Bryan glad he'd given in.

In just a couple of weeks the earrings can come out. Berkleigh wants purple ones to replace her white ones, and Merlyn wants orange ones instead of pink. Pink and orange are her favorite colors, but I think I'll have a hard time finding orange earrings for a little girl.

Now I'm pretty much caught up for pictures, except for the playground and some random pictures. Not bad, considering how far behind I was!

Goodbyes and Hellos

We've seen a lot of changes at our house in the past couple of months.
The boys got new mattresses a few weeks ago, so we said goodbye to old beds and hello to all double beds. Myles' old mattress went to Berkleigh, who got Kelley's old antique bed (she looks like the princess and the pea with her high headboard). Carter got Aunt Claire's old brass headboard and a new sheet set. Merlyn got a new sheet set since she didn't get a new bed or mattress, and Berkleigh got Merlyn's old sheet set.

We said goodbye to the old playsets and swingset and hello to a big wooden playset (pictures of the new one will be coming soon).


We said goodbye to Bryan's lacrosse paycheck so I could say hello to my new brush hog that pulls behind the 4wheeler. Then we said goodbye to the overgrown fields (in the foreground) and hello to brush hogged fields (in the background). Soon we'll say goodbye to all those old stumps.

We said goodbye to store-bought milk in plastic jugs and said hello to milk fresh from a friend's cow in reusable glass jars. We also said hello to cream, buttermilk, and homemade butter. This is my first batch of butter -- isn't it pretty? It's delicious, too!

We reached the limit of miles on the truck lease at the end of March, even though the lease wasn't up until December, so it's been costing more than $300 a month in mileage just for Bryan to drive back and forth to work and lacrosse. Chevy was offering a two month lease payment waiver, so it was actually more cost-efficient to get out of the lease early. This past Friday morning, we said goodbye to the truck.

Then we said hello to our new Chevy van. We all love it!

This weekend I was very excited to say goodbye to all the chemical cleaners in our house.

We said hello to all-natural homemade laundry soap, dishwashing soap, window cleaner, fabric softener, household cleaner, toilet cleaner, and stain removers.

Here's the soap flakes melting for the laundry detergent. Myles (our resident chef) got a big kick out of making soap. Soon to come will be our own hand soap and bath soap. I'll be giving more details and recipes of all our cleaners soon.