Our Life On The Hill

I'm back and have first day of school pictures

 

I have kind of been avoiding starting back to blogging because I'm so behind and thought I would have to catch everyone up.  I realized I can't do that and to just jump back in with where we are now.  I'll probably post some important to me photos and stories and also post current happenings in our life.  So just bear with me.  

We've been busy since I last posted. The kids are older and we've done more on the house.   

I'll start with sharing some back to school photos.  

 

Here they are at a park the day before school started.  

Playing at the river's edge

 

I love this photo of the rusty train bridge and the pretty flowers underneath it. 

Looking for shells

Eating ice cream and checking out the dam

 

Alright, the first day of school...2011

 

Hadleigh...ready for 4th grade

 

Sawyer...ready for 2nd grade

 

Ashton...ready for 7th grade

 

 

This year's backpacks

 

Ashton at the middle school  (I have to take him VERY early to get this photo so nobody is there watching lol)

 

I take this same picture of the kids next to this brick wall every single year at the elementary school.  

 

Heading into school

 

Coming home

 

The second day of school, I usually send them on the bus.  My friend and I usually meet the first day to take pictures of our kids together, but she was babysitting the first day and couldn't meet me at school.  So, I drove them again on the second day.  She has 3 boys, the oldest and Ashton are in the same grade and the youngest and Sawyer are in the same grade.  Her middle boy is a year ahead of Hadleigh. 

Ashton and his buddy at the middle school.  Again, we get there crazy early so nobody sees us taking our babies pictures.  lol

Sawyer and his buddy

Hadleigh and my friend's middle son

Finally, the third day of school but the first morning taking the bus

 

Just for fun, I have to share photos of the animals from that morning.  They were curious about the kids getting on the bus. 

One of our chickens

Shane with Soleil and Isabelle in the background

 

Shane, Millie, Soleil, Isabelle and Cade checking on things

Nevada

Labor Day

We had a busy Labor Day weekend.  We had a soccer game and two parties.  I didn't take many pictures, but I captured a few moments.  

Hadleigh was asked to play on the travel boys team because they were going to be missing a few kids.  We stopped at Dunkin Donuts before the game.  It was early and the weather was cool and very Fall-ish.  

Later that day, we went to our first of two parties.  It was at our friend's cabin about 50 minutes from here.  It's so peaceful at their cabin.  It's tucked in the woods with a little creek running through it and the river behind it.  The kids run in the woods and play and they have volleyball and bean bags for the adults.  We can also sit around the fire and the food and drinks are out all day and night.  It's become a very nice tradition. 

Hadleigh and her friend stopped to take a food break. 

These are the only pictures I took over Labor Day weekend.  The next day we had the second party in the evening.  It was fun also.  It's at a farm and the kids spend all night getting rides on the Gators and golf carts.  They look forward to that every year!  Again, there is more than enough food and I always eat way too much.  It was a good weekend.  We managed to get a few things done at home also.  

Butterfly Love

My mom gives us butterfly chrysalises each summer and the kids just love it.  She works for a dentist and they have a patient that raises butterflies.  It's amazing to watch this process.    We had two batches this summer.  

Here is the first batch.

I caught this one as it was hatching. (Is hatching the correct word for a butterfly?  I have no idea, but I'm using it.  lol )

The second batch

I love how you can see the one on the far right hatched first and looks normal, the middle one hatched second and is thinning out, and the one on the far left just hatched and is still swollen.

After they dried for a few hours and started to fly, we let them go.  They flew to the trees.

ice cream

We have an adorable ice cream shop in my hometown.  It's in a historic building downtown that used to be a men's clothing store when I was little.  They serve Ashby's ice cream and it comes in so many wonderful and fun flavors.  The kids beg to go there in the summer.  

Here the boys are with their large waffle cones with Superman ice cream.  

    

Hadleigh had her favorite ice cream...Blue Moon, with Cookie Dough in her large waffle cone. 

Sawyer and Hadleigh enjoyed a game of checkers

   When we were getting out of the car at home, we noticed this beautiful swallowtail butterfly.  It was so pretty and just enjoying the hosta flowers. 

    

The best smell in the world....

is freshly cut hay!  There really is nothing better.  I could just close my eyes and stand there and take it all in.  It's relaxing and makes me happy.  

For the first time since we've owned this land, we didn't have crops this year.  We decided to go with hay.  We planted the back in alfalfa and oats and the front in grass hay.  Our alfalfa came in so nicely.  The oats were blown down from a really bad wind, so we couldn't harvest those, but that's okay.  The alfalfa was awesome!  We had our first cutting on August 7th.   Sawyer rode with me as I drove the farm truck out back and watched the guy we hired bale the hay.  We were surrounded by the sweet smell and I wished I could have bottled it up somehow.  I told Sawyer that this is a smell he'll always remember and love and it will always bring him back to his childhood.  

We hired a guy because we had this hay done in round bales.  This man has a baler that makes them very tight and compact.  We can do the square bales and the larger, looser round bales ourselves.  

We sold the hay to a local man and he came and picked it up as soon as we were done baling it. 

Here are the beautiful photos from that day.  I just wish you could smell this most wonderful smell via photos. 

The grass hay field

 

Hadleigh and Sawyer picked Queen Anne's Lace and we stuck it in bottles with colored water.  The flower takes on the color of the water.  They had fun with it.

August horse show

Hadleigh had her August horse show on Sunday.  She had to ride Joey, because Skeeter had colic and had to be rushed to Purdue University for surgery a couple of weeks ago.  He had impaction colic and if they would have waited an hour, he would have died.  He's such a sweet pony and we are so glad that he's doing well.  He's home now but won't be able to be ridden until December.  

Joey is a good boy, but he has a crabby streak.  He always has his ears back which makes him look mad.  We all say that he's just mad at the world for some reason.  He's a really beautiful pony and he's funny. He's just not Skeeter though.  

 They did very well and won a 3rd place and a 5th place.  The classes were huge, so it's great that she even placed.  They place the top 6.  

 

After she was done with her division, we stopped by to say hello to Skeeter. 

     
 

trophy day

On July 31st, our Little League held it's trophy day.  Each coach comes up and gives a little talk about the season.  Then, each child gets presented with their trophy.  It's always exciting and the kids look forward to it.  

Here is Sawyer getting his trophy. 

Hadleigh's turn

 

It was starting to rain, so we were scrambling to cover things and get the trophies presented. 

Here's Ashton's team

  

Sawyer and his buddy keeping dry

 

First day of school

We started school on Monday, the 23rd.  It feels like they just got out of school for the summer.  I don't know what happened to summer, but it really came and went so quickly...too quickly.  It will be nice to get back into a routine, although I will miss the lazy days and nights that summer brings.    

They were all excited and I'm sure a little nervous on Monday morning.  We had to take pictures next to the tree we use as a backdrop every year.  

Ashton~ 6th grade

Hadleigh~ 3rd grade

Sawyer~ 1st grade

      We went to the middle school first, because they start a few minutes earlier than the elementary school.  It was so strange taking him to a different building.  He won't be in the same building with Hadleigh again until he's a senior and she's a freshman.  He'll never be in the same building again with Sawyer. It was nice having all 3 in the elementary school last year. 

We were the first ones there so I was able to take his picture in front of the school like I have done every since he started school. 

My friend and I have taken a picture of these two together since Kindergarten.  They were the second ones there so we were able to take this photo. (the sun was in their eyes)

 
 

We were off to the elementary school after leaving Ashton. 

Sawyer with his buddy 

  

I had to run to work after I dropped them off to help the Dr. with a blood draw on a cat and when I parked in her driveway I saw this cutie.

 They had 11:30 early dismissal for the first day. 

  

They're home!

We went to eat at Buddy's like we do every year.  There were quite a few other families there from our town, so the kids enjoyed playing together. 

  

 

Yesterday was their first full day of school and they rode the bus.  

 

   

16 years of waiting for me....

and the day finally arrived!  I couldn't wait to see a horse trailer pulling into my driveway carrying my very own horse.  The time had finally come!

Nevada arrived on Friday, July 30th

Hadleigh was so excited and I think you can see it from this photo.  We actually were in the middle of a coed softball game when we got the text that she was near our house.  We quickly raced home.  Hadleigh's friend came with.  Jerry was in the shirt, that was too small, that our "coach" gave us before the game. 

Here is Nevada being unloaded  

here he is enjoying his new home

The kids had to sit on him for a few minutes

Here he is all settled in.  We had to leave and get back to our games.  

Hadleigh loved riding him with just a halter and a lead rope.  We didn't have his bridle yet at the time.  Nevada was happy to walk around with her. 

  

I love watching him graze in the pasture

Millie and Nevada grazing together

 This girl loves her horse

 

The two of them trotting together

Nevada is so funny and he loves to gallop from his dry lot out to the pasture every morning.  We have to make sure everyone is out of the way, including the goats and chickens.  One rooster got a little too close the other day as Nevada was galloping out and he stepped on the chicken's foot.  The rooster is okay though. 

 

I so wish this one wasn't blurry  :(  I'll try again sometime.

   

Washing off her boots and the hoof pick

   

We were able to get his old bridle from the riding stable at Hadleigh's lesson the following Wednesday.  The first thing she did when we got home later than night, was tacked him up for a ride.  

    

Nevada is a Mustang.  He was captured by the Bureau of Land Management when he was 6 years old.  He was caught in the state of Nevada.  He went to an owner that didn't know anything about horses and put him into a machine shed.  He had injured himself really bad and was emaciated.  Karen, Hadleigh's riding instructor and stable owner, acquired him and nursed him back to health and then trained him.  He's now 24 and so sweet!  We just love him and we couldn't have asked for a better horse for our kids.  

wicked clouds

On August 4th around 6am, Jerry called from work to tell me about a storm that was blowing in.  He said the clouds were crazy.  So I got up to look and he was right.  It didn't really storm and just blew over, but the clouds had me a little nervous.  

   

     Hadleigh waited for the storm to pass while sporting her "100th day of school" crown that she made in school on the 100th day.