It's all ours….now what do we do?

Finally….we closed on our farm today.  And it was the longest process EVER.

I'll be honest.  I thought it would be easier than this.

We gave them ninety days to move out and still they were working yesterday morning (throwing away items) when I went over there to do our "final walk through".  We tried to be very respectful of this woman's emotions.  We realized that this was going to be very hard for her to do.  She had a TREMENDOUS amount of stuff in every house, outbuilding, barn and scattered throughout the farm.  We gave her ninety days (when most people give only 30) and only asked in return that she get rid of EVERYTHING that was hers.  And to continue to mow the property until the end.

Yesterday, they did not want to leave and we also saw that they had not mowed the property in probably a couple of months.  The weeds/grass are knee-high in some places.  Thankfully, things were in our favor.  She had already signed the papers so they had to leave but it made for a very difficult situation, during our final walk through.  I thought it was done.

Not quite yet….

After getting the keys, I went out this morning to the farm only to find the dumpster still on the property and the gate chain (the chain that goes across the driveway to secure the property) had been cut and removed.

So here's what I've decided.  There are some "not so nice people" still in this world.  Those people are the way that they are and are never going to change.  If we had given them 120 days, they would have taken 121.  They will never be anything different.  Even though we had been nothing but very kind to them.  They took out their frustrations on us.

However, I'm not going to let them steal my joyful heart over this moment.  I have wanted a farm for so very long and now it's ours.  I can't wait to get my hands on those apple trees and pull the weeds out from around the grapes.  The barn is a mess….I know.  But now it's MY mess and I can't wait to see what I can do with it.  I see it in my head.  It's just time to make it all happen.

Here's a few pictures from this morning's adventure.  I only had the two little ones with me and by the time we left we were soaking wet from the knees down.  But oh my goodness, it was fun!

These apple trees are screaming my name for pruning and care.

I don't even try to explain some things.

I know you can't see it now, but this will be my chicken coop.  I'll keep you posted on it's transformation.

For this….I have three words for ya.  You won't believe what I'm gonna do.  Okay, technically that's seven but you get my drift.

Oh yeah we did….buy a run down ol' farmhouse with no heat, no air and no dishwasher.    We are that crazy

Grapes from our farm.  It's what I could get to at this time. The weeds are as tall as me right now.

I'm trying to figure out what we should name our farm.  Don't ask one of the kids though, you'll get things like "fluffy farm" or "happy farm" or my favorite (from my oldest) "mosquito farm".  So I'm gonna have to think about that one for a while.  Patience is the word right now…..just don't think it goes with the word farm, though.

The Invasion

These things people…..

Physically chased us back into our house last night when we tried to cook s'mores and hot dogs on the fire pit.  They are by far, the orneriest, meanest, tiniest, little pistol pete's on the planet.

And they win…..ugh!

What was Noah thinking?

15 years….the surprise of a lifetime

My oldest girl turned 15.  What happened?  Just yesterday she was this size...

…and now, she is all grown up and still just as cute as can be.  But 15….wahhh!!!!!  Somebody make it stop.  This momma wants to get off this ride.

Out of all our children I can honestly say at this point she is the most driven, most disciplined, and most self motivated child.  She is a bit obsessive when it comes to swimming but who wouldn't be when you look like this in the water.

She loves, loves, loves animals.  Has begged, pleaded and even offered to pay for so many animals on the new farm I believe she is beginning to wear me down (NOT her father yet….but me, well I can be a pushover for a beautiful horse).

She is the kindest child and has a heart of gold for the Lord above.  So I wasn't at all surprised when this friend texted me to ask if we could give her a surprise birthday party.

So with a little bit of help we got her out of the house and she was completely surprised when she came through the door.

And she loved it.  Complete with confetti, balloons and a crazy amount of silly string.  Seriously people, that stuff sticks to EVERYTHING.  Her friends stayed for a long time, ate dinner, opened presents and did all kinds of screaming girl games in the basement.  And we stayed upstairs and cleaned silly string off of….did I mention EVERYTHING.  It was a great time had by all.

It's just that silly string is now banned from my house for-evah.

I….AM…..NOT…..KIDDING

Happy Birthday my 15 year old. I'll love you forever my sweet girl….

….I just couldn't breathe

Today I watched my oldest get in a car, pull away, and drive himself to school for the first time.

And I just couldn't breathe.

I hope that you weren't in need of any extra angels today, because I asked God to send a mountain of them to go with him.

And I just couldn't breathe.

Letting go is hard.  I realize that every age has it's difficulties.  But this….this is down right you ought to get a medal in heaven for this kind of hard.  You can't bypass this.  There is no passing go or get out of jail free card.  This is….teenagers.

And I just couldn't breathe.

Good news….We bought a farm!

Yes it's true.  You read that right.

A farm.

I know, I know.  It's crazy.  We know nothing about farming.  Okay, I take that back.  My husband's parents had a "weekend farm" when he was little and they now own a large farm where they retired….so he's had some experience with some farming.  But the reality of it is….we are jumping into the deep end of the farm pool and hope we don't drown.

Okay…so let's talk about the farm.  

Yeah!!!!

It's almost 6 acres of the most beautiful land you've ever seen.  Okay, I might be partial to this just a wee-bit.  

There is a 1920's farmhouse located in the center of farm.  You can see it in the picture above.  In the lower right hand corner is a well established apple orchard and a very hidden patch of grapes.  On the bottom left is an old 3 story barn and an established asparagus patch.  At the top portion of the picture is a huge area in which the previous owners had two LARGE gardens.  Just below that is a row of black walnut trees so tall and so beautiful.  There are several outbuilding in and among the trees (which you can't see from this picture).  Oak, pine and mulberry trees are abundant everywhere you look.

The old 1920's farmhouse

The apple orchard

The old barn

Large garden area

The entire property is surround by oak, pine and mulberry trees

The farm has been unkept for several years.  There was a widow who has lived there for the past 50 years.  I like that.  History….our farm is deep-rooted.  I like the fact that even though many things are unkept and overgrown I see what it was and what it could be for us.  Our forever homestead….

At this moment, we know that the house is too small for us.  And to top it all off, it has no heat, no air and no dishwasher…just shoot me now.  From a financial standpoint it makes no sense to try and add on and bring everything up to code.  So I think we are going to tear it down and build us our dream home with a wrap around porch (I'm from the South and you gotta have that one).

We still have a month before it's ours, but believe me there is still so much work to be done.   Did you know that there are like a bazillion house plans to choose from.  Oh sure, I can go out and pick a farm in just a couple of days but ask me to choose a house plan….well, that's another story.  

The kids are so very excited and have grand ideas of all of the animals that will be joining our family.  We'll have to see about that one.  They also want secret passageways in the new house and a water slide in the basement.  Might have to go with the animals, if they keep this up….

 For now, we will slowly begin this new phase of our lives….farming.  I'm sure you'll have yourself a good ol' laugh as we figure out how to raise chickens, work with the land organically and by golly restore that old barn (I guess I need to find it first).  Oh, and come up with a bazillion different ways to use apples….and mulberries…..and black walnuts….and….

Oh, just stay tuned.  You won't want to miss this one.  

Turning 10….

Our smallest girl had a birthday and turned 10.  And. It. Was. Fun.

For her party she wanted to have a "Frozen" birthday party theme.  Why am I not surprised….our entire house is obsessed with that movie right now.

What 10 year old girl isn't, right?

However, in our state and probably in the entire world….no Frozen birthday party decorations were to be found.  Okay, not entirely true.  We did find a balloon.  The only thing in the entire city…not kidding.

So with one balloon, we planned our party.  Creativity at it's best, people.

So with snow on the ground outside, we made it look like snow on the ground inside.  We hung snowflakes from the ceiling, put out a blue tablecloth and scattered to the wind, silver snowflake confetti EVERYWHERE (in hindsight….wasn't the best move on my part.  We're still finding that confetti in things).  Balloons, streamers, the works.  She loved it!

Cupcakes were her cake of choice….blue and white, of course.  She even wanted to decorate each and every top a certain way.  Trust me, that girl knows what she wants.

But before this crazy girl had her dinner of choice (pasta Alfredo), she just couldn't wait to open her presents.  A. Moment. Longer.

Of course for a Frozen party, you gotta get the movie…just so glad her birthday fell after the movie was release in the stores.  It would have been a sad day for this little one.

And this little girl of mine is my hugger.  She loves, loves, loves to hug you.  Sometimes it's more like a lean if she's tired.  But always she needs this affection.

Well, except maybe from her brother here….then it's more "pestery" than affectionate.  Figures...

And this man, I'm so thankful he gave me all of them.  Even the affectionate, leaning, pestery ones.  Love them all so very much.

Happy 10th birthday, my little noodle.  

State and Regionals…..

…..in less than two weeks, whew I'm tired.  

Of course, I'd be worse if I had swum in the meets.  Probably dead, really.  Well...at least it would have given those lifeguards there something to do.

Okay, digressing I see…

Well, we are done.  Well done.  Our swim season was a huge success.  The girls came away from both  swim meets with fantastic times (and one or two 10th place finishes…in the state.  That's my girls).  I cannot say this enough, my girls love, love, love to swim.  They have to swim.  They live and breathe it.  I'm so very happy that with that passion there still is the joy behind it all.  

We're taking a couple of weeks off for a rest, but the reality is that the girls started bugging us the day after the meet to take them to the pool.  So I'm not sure how long our break will be.  My fishes need water….

For now, we'll leave you with a some pictures from the swim meets. 

 (this one's my favorite…we were beyond bored at this point and were texting "selfies" to my son back at home with Grandmom.  He DID NOT think it was a funny as we did.)