Chicken Love/Hate

 Grace begged Papa all afternoon to catch a chicken so she could hold one. He finally obliged and somehow, the chicken ended up in my lap!! Grace sat next to me and pet her for a while.

 Then she insisted that PAPA hold the chicken so she could "hold" her.

And then...the chicken wasn't so trusting of this wild child's handling.....

(is the video working? I can't get it to play when I bring it up...???)

Oh Grace. You certainly keep us on our toes and keep us laughing!!

Flooding at Ponderosa Trails

 We have been getting so much rain the last few weeks. My garden is at my parents' (Ponderosa Trails) and it's been under water for over 2 weeks now! And still more rain to come next week. Thankfully no damage to their house or Grandma Mary's house, or really any of the other buildings. But Dad hasn't been able to get to work a few times because of flooded roads! The water over their road and driveway usually recedes fairly quickly, but a lot of the other roads around them remain flooded for days (or weeks in some cases!).

My poor fruit trees! We planted 6 of them this spring and they are definitely getting plenty of water!! I just hope they can survive until things dry out...if they ever do!

Dad went canoeing in their yard!! To the left of that tree row is where the driveway should be!

The pond is overflowing and almost to the bottom of the bridge. We're realizing that it's possible the entire area where we planted my garden,the pumpkin patch, and fruit trees might have been an extension of the pond originally! They've only lived there for 2 years, and we had been in a drought for a couple years before that so the pond was very low when they moved in! We never imagined it would reach this far!

My garden is to the left, behind the chicken wire fence. My compost pile is about to float away!

The dock is almost under water.

This little pergola used to be quite a few feet from the pond...actually, before the drought ended we were able to mow between it and the pond! now it's about 2 feet under water.

The tin fish is about to become a real fish!

My poor garden. This is my peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes (and volunteer onions from last year!). It's all about 2 feet under water and has been for 2+ weeks!! To the right of this pic is the pumpkin patch, which now has fish in it!

More rain tonight, tomorrow, and Tuesday at least...we might float away!

8th Grade Promotion?!

Welcome back! I've missed blogging. Unfortunately, social media and cell phones made sharing so much easier but as I found when I tried to print off some pictures of Anna for her 8th grade promotion...social media is a bear to track memories and photos!!! Now that we have a desktop again, I'm hoping I'll be able to get back to a little blogging. But don't hold your breath...

How is it even possible that we will soon have a child in high school?! That makes me feel very, very old. We celebrated Anna's 8th grade promotion with a ceremony with our homeschool group, then had a party at Ponderosa Trails (that's what we've named my parents' place). If you couldn't tell, Anna's favorite color is yellow! ;-)

 My sweet, beautiful Anna Rose. How is she ready for high school?!

Grandpa & Grandma came to celebrate with us.

I never did get a picture with all the food out and her "cake"...she said she didn't want an actual cake (she tries not to eat too much sugar because it makes her feel bad and usually she ends up sick after eating it!), so I cut the rind off a watermelon and used other fruit to "decorate" it. Then we had a spread of yummy fruits and veggies and nuts! 

Sisters...one of the greatest blessings of homeschooling has been the relationships my kids have had the opportunity to build with each other. Anna has always been like a second mother to Grace. But if she wasn't home with us every day, Grace would honestly barely know her, given their age gap! Such a blessing.

Thank you to Krystal Images for the family shots at the promotion ceremony!

The RCHE 8th graders

I cannot count the number of times I have thanked the Lord that Grandma Mary is now so close to us! My kids all love to go over to her house and play or visit. Such a blessing!

And needless to say, we LOVE having Papa & Binga so close!!

Anna was so nervous about walking in and being on stage! I told her she looked like someone was holding a gun to her back the entire time! LOL!!

Now, to finish out the school year this summer and get ready for high school. I'll admit I'm nervous!!! Ha! It's going to be a bit different...with transcripts and thinking about college/career in just four short years. The days are long but the years are short.