Spookies Galore

Halloween is coming and you can taste the excitement in the air.

To me, it tastes like a frozen Fun Size Snickers Bar...or two.

Spookies abound. 

Friendly Spookies.

Creepy Crawly Spookies.

Cast - a - Spell - Spookies.

Batty Spookies.

Spooky Bird Spookies.

A Mantle Full of Spookies.

A Piano topped with Spookies.

A Spooky Entry.

A Spooky Warning.

Spooky Love Birds.

Spooky Spookers.

A Not-so-Spooky-Puppy

And an Extremely Spooky Guard Tongue....err....Dog.

Topped off with a Spooky Black Cat with a Spooky Glowing Eye.

Dats a lot of Spookies.

Happy Halloween Eve!!!

Bryce's Big #5

My baby turned this many.

5 big ones. 

His requested breakfast in bed menu : Bacon, eggs, a biscuit, vanilla yogurt and bananas. 

He went large. I think he was trying to convince me that he is knocking on manhood's door.

Bradley took charge of decorating the tray. He chose a spooky Halloween plate, ghost cup, and Toy Story silverware.

Lucky for Bryce, we always break out "the spookies" around the 2nd week of September...so the house is fully decorated for Halloween by the time his birthday rolls around.

This boy loves the spookies.

Bradley is notorious for his homemade greeting cards. Bryce hung this one up on his tack board.

This particular morning, both Bradley AND Bryce were overdue for haircuts...so I can't tell which one is which in the drawing :) 

Apparently Bradley shared our disbelief that Bryce was another year older. 

It seems like yesterday that he had just become a big brother to his "mini-me".

Doing his "One-Leg Crawl".

Soaking with his friends...

Flirting with mama over a bowl of Cheerios.

Making crazy, spooky eyes for Halloween....my sweet, fluffy, little chick.

Teething and slobbering...

And setting the World Record for Youngest Mastery of the Stink Eye.

He's grown so much...but hasn't changed a bit. 

He's always been Bryce.

Same personality...silliness...and easy going temperament since the day we met.

His Birthday was full of happiness and surprises.

He loved his puppy dog cake.

He is known for his love of pups.

I bought his candles at the store...but the checker put them alone in a bag....so I thought the bag was empty and left it at the store.

Another great thing about Bryce is how adaptable he is. He didn't mind the five, mismatched votives at all. 

As it turns out, the wishes come true just the same.

One thing he BEGGED for, as Birthday gift, was none other than a bloody hand. 

Easy to please.

He favorite gift was his Flash Rider Rip Rider...that shoots sparks when he spins.

He went to the movies with his friends and saw Hotel Transylvania.

It was a wonderful birthday weekend.

Bryce was thrilled with an explorer vest that "Angel" made for him. 

He actually slept in it the first night.

I love him ...

He is my hero...and my friend.

Happy Birthday, Little Man Cub.

I love you more than you will EVER know.

Good News...Bad News

Well, sad news to report. After 6 months on Donkey Hill, our horse "Specks" figured out how to escape the electric fence.

Our daily To-Do list suddenly included driving up to the hill a couple times of day to find him. He was usually somewhere on the property or in a neighbors pasture.

 Tom raised the voltage on the fence, reinforced everything, and he was still figuring out how to bust out. The horse was a Houdini.

The other day, we found him over a mile away, not far from a major road. We were shocked that he had gone that far...but the farmer said, "He's a friendly horse. He's down here all the time."

Yikes.

We were so scared that he was going to cause an accident and cost someone(s) their life.

After much deliberation, we decided to sell him back to Amanda.

She texted later and told us that Specks had knocked HER fence down. He is now at her brother's house, trying to escape HIS pasture. Naughty horse is going to find himself at a Sale Barn.

So, that was sad to lose him. We will miss him. We just won't miss hunting him down.

Good news. We decided to get Cajun a companion or two...so we are awaiting the arrival of two Donkeys. Yes, Donkey Hill will finally be Donkey Hill. We can't wait to get them! Tom already has dreams of saddling one of them up with his tools....having her follow him around as he fixes stuff. I'm not sure if that dream will come to fruition...but it's funny to think about :)

I forgot to mention that one of my favorite things about Donkey Hill is the drive out there. It's not a long drive...but it's a beautiful one. The kids love to stop and get a drink on the way...windows down...music blaring.

My newest addition to the car collection is Blake Shelton's new Christmas album. Love it. Makes me feel like a legit Cowgirl. I'm such a poser.

Other good news. Our kids are learning to mow. Yes, we could just mow the property with our tractor alone...but one of the purposes of Donkey Hill is to teach our kids how to work hard. Plus, I think they're adorable pushing the mower :)

Just waiting for the day hey are old enough to Brush Hog. 

Donkey Hill Blog

I have been making reference to "Donkey Hill", for several months now. I thought I would create a separate blog to document the history and happenings of this special place.

Join me!

Click here: Donkey Hill

Welcome to Donkey Hill

There have been many nights that Tom and I would lay in bed and talk about our "somedays". One dream that we both shared was to have some acreage to build a home on. We dreamt of raising chickens, having some horses, and definitely a donkey. It would be a place where our pups could run free and our cats could roam and keep the mice away. Alpacas weren't even out of the question. We eventually wanted an in-ground pool.

In February of 2012, we started looking at property and found a beautiful lot...secluded...wooded...and a few acres. We contacted the agent and found out there were covenants in the subdivision and we would only be allowed to have 2 dogs, 1 cat, and absolutely no chickens would be allowed. They would also dictate how many square feet our home would be and the plans would have to be reviewed by "the board". No thanks.

I was so upset. I went straight to the computer and did a search for local acreage...NOT in a neighborhood.

I found a listing for 10 acres with a pool. No house. Odd.

We called the agent and found out that there had been a fire that destroyed the existing home. It had been cleared away, but there was an in-ground pool that went completely undamaged.

She told me the property was completely fenced for horses...there was a pole barn...and a chicken coop. 

My heart was pounding. I was beyond excited. I told Tom we had to see it right away. When we drove into the property, down the long drive, it was like the heavens opened and the angels were singing. It was like we were looking our "someday" we had always dreamt of. Even with everything dead from the winter, it was beautiful to us.

The property is located on top on a hill that is partially wooded. The view is beautiful..and unlikely to change due to the fact that it's a flood zone down in the valley and would not be "buildable". Yay for that!

We placed an offer the very next day and they accepted.

Since the first week of March, it has been a whole new world for us.

The kids loved exploring their little "kingdom"...especially when they 

would encounter animal poop. 

They would stop and examine it - while giving their best guess as to which animal it was.  

This time...it was deer poop. There is no shortage of deer.

The driveway is ideal for races.

There are also hills to run/roll down. 

We have our fingers crossed for some good sledding this Winter.

The kids were thrilled there was a tree house.

The pole barn looked so empty and sad...so we filled it with our two, sweet boys. Specks and Cajun. 

 We had to buy a tractor and quickly discovered it's much easier to let animals mow for you.

Not only are they cute, but they are excellent lawn mowers.

"Cajun"

"Specks"

The kids argument is that tractors don't leave poop behind.

We have met with a couple of builders, trying to get an idea of 

our options for home building. 

We have looked at thousands of plans and spent hours talking about the possibilities.

At this point, I would be content living in a TENT on Donkey Hill. 

We want to live there....yesterday...but we're learning that we need to be patient and trust Heavenly Father's timing and trust that 

we will know when it's time to sell our home. (ugly cry)

Trying to have patience and faith stinks, sometimes.

This builder looks like he could be Tom's big brother. 

The horse's last "mama", helped give the kids a riding lesson over the Summer.

We love Amanda.

This chicken house wasn't what we had in mind - 

so we traded it for a month of pool service from the pool guy. 

The thing we anticipated the most was taking the pool cover off 

and finding what lurked below.

It was pretty gross from sitting for a year...

but it was sparkling in no time!

Our best Summer memories have been here. With it being the hottest Summer ever...it was blessing to have a place to cool off and spend so much time together.

We got a trampoline for Donkey Hill, the day we closed on the property. 

The kids sure made good use of it...until it became 200 degrees outside and they risked third degree burns if they jumped on it.

We are so excited for our first Fall and Winter on Donkey Hill. 

Yesterday, I took some pics of the driveway because I was so excited to see leaves on the ground and the colors starting to change. It's my favorite time of year.

I still get butterflies when I come in the drive. I thank Heavenly Father that he led us here. It has been the best thing for our family...spending so much time here...teaching the kids the value of good, hard, make-ya-stinky work...and countless hours of family togetherness. 

We are thankful for God's blessings...and for his perfect timing in our lives. 

Join us on our journey at Donkey Hill...as we fill it with animals...a garden...

and eventually becomes our new home.

It's sure to be a wild ride!