sniff...:(

Our hamster, Piett, died on Sunday. So the boys dug a grave for the poor little guy.
Our animal cemetery keeps getting bigger.
We are down to two cats and a woodchuck who lives under the barn.

work in progress, part 1

For the past several weekends Darrell and the boys have been working out in the woods. They are building a tree/zip line stand. It will be a 30' tower with a zip line attached to it. You will sit on a board and zip down the line approx. 200' :) sounds like fun to me! It started with cutting down some trees to make the path and then holes were dug for the poles and today they are working on the platform floor. Dad and Doug came last weekend and helped put in the poles for the stand.

cutting down trees

digging the holes for the posts
they also used Uncle Fred's post hole digger (much easier)

making the seat

ta-dah, the seat

boys vs. wild

This morning I looked out my window and saw Trevor holding a stick with a 2' snake wrapped around the end of it, it was dead, thank goodness. They had been out to the creek and came across this snake, so they took rocks and threw it at it and killed it. That's my boy's! They have learned from me that the only good snake is a dead snake! Can you tell I HATE snakes!! They were quite proud of their kill. They even buried it and gave it a head stone :) I did not take pix because that would just be wrong.

apples

After 6 years, we finally have apples on the tree! Well, we did have. We had to put a brace under the tree because it was about to break the limb. The boys and I picked them in about 15 min. it was a lot of fun. The boys especially liked climbing the ladder. The apples are beautiful, we only found one with a worm, yuck!

the tree

team work

the final count

Volleyball

Alysha has started volleyball again. She is a started for JV and a bench warmer for varsity.
They have only had 2 games and one tournament and so far the varsity is undefeated! This weekend they got first at the tournament in Pana. She got to play a little, and did very well. She has definitely made improvements from last year.

curtains

I am so excited! I finally got my curtain and new blinds put up.
I think it makes the living room feel so much warmer.
I nearly put my shoulder out trying to get them put up :( so Darrell
(my dear husband) came to the rescue and finished it for me.
I love it!

it makes me "shutter"

I got these shutters from my sister at her garage sale, didn't really like the color because they didn't match the trim and windows, so I thought.....spray paint - miracle in a can!

end result - love it!!
They are hanging in the bathroom