For the past 2 days, we've travelled into town to attend the CC Parent Practicum. During the day, the little kids are in play camp and the big kids are in logic camp. Every day, C has cried that he is NOT going to his class; this is NOT CC and he doesn't want to go. Yesterday when I picked him up, a little girl, who was as cute as a bug's ear, walked over to him, put her hands on either side of his face, and gave him a smack him soundly on the lips. She readjusted her aim and gave him another smooch on the lips. They're 3!
On the way home, we were talking about it and discussing whether or not he had a girlfriend, which he insisted she was. "She kissed me and I love her. That means I liked it." Oh, my.

In the midst of one of their races... Everyone ready to go! Hannah actually ran, but on the grass.

We like our little shaded area. School on the deck. We really like the horses. They like the carrots and apples. The owners moved them to a different pasture, so we have to take a 1/2 mile hilly hike to see them. Great exercise, and great times together.

This weekend we had so much fun! The best part was that Buddy joined us. We spent a very leisurely day on Saturday, except for a trip to Wally World. While we were there, we saw the cutest little puppies that were being given away. The Sammy issue has been a challenge for us, especially while we're going back and forth. We didn't want to get him fixed because he's full blooded, but I can't chase him multiple times a day when he gets out. The other option wa a companion. So, we got this cute this puppy-11 weeks old. She's a blue heeler, australian shepherd, chow mix, and so far it's been great for the kids and for Sammy. He seems much more content. Of course, we just got home, so we'll see, but so far, very good.

This traveling back and forth has been really interesting. In our little slice of heaven, we have no internet, but we do have a printer. Down home, we have no printer, but we do have internet. This past week, I managed to leave the phone at home, so we had no communication until my dad played delivery boy on his way to their property Friday night. Very odd, very quiet, not practical, but kind of nice.

Saturday, we went to visit dad and help him get some projects done. I drove his little tractor and mowed for several hours. I'm sure it was pretty comical. I forgot my tennis shoes at home and had run out of clean shorts. I was wearing his straw hat, a t-shirt dress, and flip flops. I sadly missed part of my shoulders with the sun screen and am just now getting over the painful stage! Fortunately, the kids faired much better. We hlad little chairs under the awning of their 5th wheel for the 2 littles. Catherine alternated driving the 4-wheeler by herself and giving the littles rides, one at a time. It was so fun watching their faces. At one point, Caleb wanted to ride with me, so he sat on my lap and snuggled in, holding on tight and patting my back. Samuel helped Grandpa use an auger, a post hole digger, and shovel for the pole barn they're building. By the time we were ready to go, everyone was bushed, but had had a great time. Needless to say, bedtime was pretty easy.

Sitting up on that tractor made me think of my Grandpa. He was such a neat guy. I still remember him riding the tractor, with his straw hat, chewing on a weed. My Grandma was an amazing gardener, my mom is an amazing cook, but I can drive a tractor like my dad and grandpa!

Buddy wasn't able to come for the weekend, so we left earlier than planned to spend most of Father's Day with him. Right out to the tramp they went to play with Daddy!I was thankful we still had blueberries left from our picking! I made a blueberry pie that was soooo good! That finished up the berries, so we had to go out yesterday morning. I'm not sure if we were any faster, but we did get a good amount, and decided that we were going to keep them all, and not do any on shares! A lady asked about strawberries, but the guys told her it wasn't the right season. S&C had gone off to find blackberries, which they couldn't, and came back with a bucket half full of strawberries!

I wanted to take a picture of our stained fingers. However, by the time we got home, I got things into the house, and was ready to take the pictures, the little munchkins had used hand sanitizer to clean their fingers off! Mine are the only really dirty ones. But it was worth it!This I didn't realize until AFTER the picture was taken. Little stinkers! Blueberry cobbler was our dessert last night. I made some strawberry and some blueberry jam, and froze a bunch of blueberries. The cobbler was good, but Buddy wanted that pie crust again. Guess I'll just have to oblige him!

We're getting ready to head out again this afternoon. Buddy IS coming at some point, and I believe he's bringing a washer and dryer! How nice not to have to bring laundry home, or run out of clean essentials! I think we're getting better each time. Figuring out how to pack and grocery shop is getting easier. The Lord is helping us.

Off to finish up laundry and clean up the house. Have a great week!

What do you know? We left the camera in Branson. We have no internet there yet, and so I'm posting here without pictures. Our move was so smooth and easy, good help on both ends, plus the Lord doing the biggest share in giving us strength and wisdom. By Saturday, we had all but a few boxes of toys/school things for while we're there put away. It was amazing to have things all put away, the weather be beautiful for being outdoors, (we're very shaded and have an almost constant breeze since we're up on a hill) and a good book for reading. We went for walks, played in the pool we set up, fed the horses all sorts of lovely veggies someone had so kindly given us when we moved in. I'm not sure that was the intended use of organic celery and tomatoes, but the horses didn't seem to mind. (We had to have a little talk about asking me first before the horses were fed.) The kids did a great job keeping things clean and neat, so when it was time to come home, pick up was pretty fast.
I have to share a cute thing Hannah said one of the first days we were there. She is having to learn to navigate around a different environment, which is not always fun for her. Not that she can't do it, but since it's a new thing, it's challenging for her to figure out she can do it. She was crying one day while I was bringing her outside and showing her how to get down the steps. I tried to distract her, which doesn't alway work, but talking about the horses. "Hannah, look at the horses! What do they say?" "Quack, quack." "No, Hannah. Horses say neigh." We walked over to where they were eating grass. "Neigh eat ground!" "Yes, Hannah, the horses are eating grass."
The marraige meetings were great. I was so glad I got to go to 3 of the 4 nights I could have attended. Buddy came for the men's night, but had to go right back for work. It's a good thing he did, because our ac leaked and caused the ceiling above our fridge to fall in. (I had taken the only key to the car that was parked in the garage, where our attic access is, so we cut our time short by a day to bring it home.) When the repair guy got here, they found between 30 and 40 gallons of water in the piping, just waiting to fall. However, I believe God had His hand on us preventing the damage from being worse. Needless to say, coming back to that from our peaceful paradise was not as exciting as going. However, we needed to do laundry, pick up Samuel from his week at scout camp, clean up the aftermath of the the ac mess, do thereapy, and spend some time with friends.
We found a place not too far from my parents where we can pick blueberries. It sounds like so much fun, so we're going to head out tomorrow morning and fill up some buckets of goodness. I'm not sure if we're going to pick for them and us, or if we'll just take all the fruits fo our labors home with us. I'm sure looking forward to eating a bunch and freezing some, if there's any left. Oh, the possibilities!
We'll head back to Branson in a few days for a few days, which will be Samuel's first time seeing it with all our stuff in place. He was so disappointed to not be heading immediately there after he got home from camping!
Off to make lunch and finish up laundry.
P.S. Catherine is having so much fun, she stopped chewing her nails. We got some press on nails with pretty stickers. You should see them. Well, you could if I kept my stuff together!