August

Wow. It has been quite a month!! Our biggest project, by far, started on my Mom and Dad's anniversary- Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!! Tim's dream is finally becoming a reality as the finishing touches are just waiting to be done on the garage (barn) he's always wanted.

Here are the stages... We had a local Amish family do the work- and they did an incredible job. They started in the afternoon on the 12th and got all the beams set...

Tim was able to use his Dad's post hole digger- good thing- this is some of the rockiest soil we've ever seen!

Day 2- They got the side pieces all set and ready for the roofing to go up. The 2 gentlemen in charge brought their 6 and 5 year old sons- and boy did Eli have a blast playing with them on his playset!
Day 3- they got everything ready to put the metal on :) Bruce Welsh came and he and Tim helped with the rafters and by the end of the day the building was ready for the metal to be put on :) The boys came back, and Cheyenne and Wesley came over and the kids all played and had a great time together!


Day 4- They got the roof almost done and metal up on the sides. This was such a fun day. The whole family came, and I got to meet Elizabeth- the mom. We had a great time- for lunch I took down some food and they had some food and we all were going to eat together. Just as we started, the heavens opened and it poured for a little over an hour- almost an inch!! It was such a great time of fellowship and getting to know this neat family even more.

Of course, Eli has to prove he is a normal little boy- as the rain started to die down a little, he takes off across the yard.... and starts pulling his pants down to pee on the rocks. Fortunately, I caught him before he had exposed himself to any of the ladies. I was afraid Cheyenne would die on me from mortification.... :) Ah, little boys :)
Tim had to leave for work just before 6 (he had taken the first 12 hours off so he could be there for the rafters). I was chatting with Elizabeth when we saw Roman pulling the buggy down, with a big grin on his face. We both went over to see what he was up to. He said, with a huge smile, that I could tell Tim that he was the first one to park in our garage.... :)

The Amish are uncomfortable with pictures being taken of them, but they let Eli sit up in the buggy so I could get a shot of our first "car" parked in the garage. Eli liked the "motor" a lot!

Day 5- Putting in the door and finishing up on some of the trim. You can see on the left side we have quite a bit of fill to put in- about 3 feet :) One of the disadvantages to living on a hillside :)


Day 6- They are all done- the wood is wrapped, the metal all on. Now comes our part (well, Tim's part :)) We have some log siding left over from the house, so he is going to put log siding on the front part, so from the road, the barn will match the house in looking like it is a log barn, also. This is actually a few days after they left- if you look closely- you can see Tim in the building, riding on the backhoe moving dirt and starting on trenches to put in gas, electric and water.

Here he is discussing "stuff" with Uncle Scott and Papaw, while standing next to the "digger." As you can imagine, Eli has been in Seventh Heaven with all this stuff going on- first the horses,, then all the heavy equipment.
Here is the yard with the trench from the house to the new barn...

So, this is what the yard looked like yesterday when I left for work. Pipes are all in, trenches filled back in- now just need to level it all out, dump in screenings and then Papa will have a nice new barn with a great concrete floor. Yeah!! Isn't it neat to watch as dreams for some really do come true?

Well, this has also been a busy month for us in many other ways. I have been working twice as much as I was before, so it seems I've lost a lot of time I used to have around the house.

And the harvest is coming in. I have put up a lot of corn and green beans, some pickles, and, possibly, hopefully, I'll be able to do some tomatoes soon.

Here are some pics from the last month of Eli enjoying the summer months....

Here he is showing us he can eat cherries and spit out the pits, just like a big boy!

He had Tim and me laughing so hard, we couldn't eat our own cherries...

Soooo very serious, making sure that pit doesn't go down his throat....

Ahh, success!!

Now, where is that dental floss?
Then he discovered, on a very hot day, that playing in the water bucket next to the house yard hydrant is a cool way to have fun....


(What a great look- kinda 70's, don't you think?)
As is rinsing his feet off, shoes and all!


Great big splashes are the best- we had to jump back, he was getting us all wet- we had to see through our tears as we were laughing so hard.

Ahh- our cool, sweet boy :)


Here you can see my bowls in the background on the table. As I was snapping green beans and preparing them for canning, I had him set up with watercolors on his little table next to me.

But, it was a really hot day, so he soon tired of painting and we got his pool set up so he could splash and play while I was there with him :) Ah- the wonderful days of summer!

Then, on day 4 of our barn being built, Eli and I left really early for Eli's first cleaning at the dentist office. We had checked out a great book at the library a few weeks ago, all about firsts- this one was my first trip to the dentist office. It was his favorite for several weeks. We practiced, and he went with me to my cleaning and sat on my lap and watched as they cleaned my teeth. Here he is laying back watching Diego.

He got a little squirmy, but soon was connected again. Here is Dr Wells letting him feel the "tickle brush" that was going to shine his teeth.

He sat soo still while she was cleaning his teeth. She was so impressed. She didn't think he'd make it through his first cleaning- most kids his age don't. But he did fine!! He loved the water straw and even knew how to "spit" into the suction tube. I was so proud of him!

Here he is with Dr Wells, Ms Wendy showing off his new toothbrush, toothpaste and sticker for being such a good patient. Good Job, Eli!!

We also had our family production at church of KIDSTUF. Pretty cool stuff!! Here is Gordo, dressed as a French Gardener. He was learning about forgiveness and that his mom loves him even when he messes up.

Eli calls him Papa Gordo, and was seen here helping him remove his costume, as he was laughing.... :)

Last night, I worked kinda late, so I met up with my boys and we all went out for a date to Tom's Ice Cream Bowl. Yummy!! Here is Eli and Papa as we waited for our food. What a nice time to be out.

Wow!! August was a full month, wonder what September will hold?