Our Life On The Hill

11

My firstborn is 11!  I just can't believe he was born 11 years ago. It's so weird that he's closer to 21 than he is to me giving birth to him.  I remember thinking how far away the double digits were when he was a baby, yet here we are already.  It went way faster than I ever could have imagined and way faster than I wanted it to go.  Why is that?  

He's such a good kid.  He's smart, sensitive, compassionate, creative, and I'm so glad I'm his mom.  

To celebrate on his 11th birthday, July 23rd, he picked what we would do.  We picked up my dad, he's still off of work from his cervical discectomy and fusion surgery, and we went to see Despicable Me.  It was really cute.  Later than night, we went to Monical's Pizza for dinner. 

Of course, Hadleigh and Sawyer had to get in on the action.

  

Hadleigh's newest Lil Webkinz, Taylor, had to have her picture taken as well. 

Ashton with my parents

Jerry with the other two kiddos

Sawyer with his new Ben 10 toy, Rath.

     

 The birthday boy and I

Hadleigh wanted in on it too

 

After dinner, we ran to Kroger to get some last minute things for Ashton's party.  When we came out of the store, we saw a beautiful double rainbow. 

On Saturday we had his soccer themed birthday party. 

I ordered his cake this year because I didn't have time to make one.

I did make cupcakes for him though.  He loves my frosting. 

    

cake time

Ashton's favorite part...presents!

        

On Monday, he had 2 friends over to celebrate.  We picked them up and went to see The Karate Kid movie.  My dad, Sawyer and I also went.  Hadleigh was at horse camp.  The movie was really cute.  We had pizza for dinner and they stayed the night.  

 I bought them each a Mexican pop for a treat.  

 

 

These two had to be part of the fun

     

  One last photo before I headed to bed

 

Snow Fun

We had more snow last week and Jerry made a snow hill for the kids.  We were supposed to get a blizzard, but that didn't happen.  We did get a couple of inches, but nothing major. At least it was enough to make a hill.

You can't see the hill because it blends in with the background, but Marty was so excited to play in the snow and I had to take his picture.  

   

The kids definitely enjoyed it!

A couple of days later it had melted a little bit.  We did get a dusting again.    

I took this one morning after the wind was brutal all night.  I loved how the snow kind of looked like waves.  I took this out of my bathroom window, so it's not the best picture.  If you look closely, you can see the wind blowing the snow across the road.  

  

  The trees look so pretty

       

barn clean up progress

Jerry has been hard at work on cleaning up after the barn tear down.  He also had to take out the foundations that the barn and corn crib sat on.  

It makes me so sad to see those buildings gone.  I can't believe it's been almost a year now since the tornado hit and took the corn crib out.  Even though the barn was ruined in March, we didn't get the structure down until December, so we could still look at it. It looks so weird to me to see that empty space now.  The silo looks so sad standing all alone.   We'll get used to it I suppose.  

   

Tearing out the corn crib foundation

 

.......to be continued
   

California trip ~~ Part 8 (Final)~~ Friday July 3

This was our last day.  We were sad to leave, but ready to get home.  We started getting everything together when we got up.  

This is where we stayed for a week

Wow, we sure had a ton of luggage!

On the plane

the limo ride home 

              

bye bye barn

Jerry was working hard trying to get the barn down before his knee surgery.  It's such a huge job and he's doing it all alone.  Here are a few pictures of it when it still somewhat looked like a barn.  

 

He finished the rest of this on Dec. 19th.  He had his knee surgery on Dec. 21st and still can't put any weight on his knee, so the clean up will just have to wait until he heals.  It's so strange looking without the barn.  I really miss it.   

             

Taking the barn down

As you know, we were hit by an EF1 tornado last March.  It took down our corn crib and ruined our barn.  I'm so sad about it and it's going to look so weird without it.  Jerry is taking it down himself and he is keeping most of the wood.  We plan on building a garage and he wants to use a lot of the wood for that.  We sold the siding, which was in really bad shape, to a couple that put it in their new bar.  I'm glad it was able to be used.  We need to go to that bar sometime to see what it looks like.  

This barn was built in 1920.  We always loved it, and it was one of the draws to our place when we were looking at this house.  We both wanted a farm with an old barn.  Now, we don't have one.  Jerry would like to tear one down and then put it back up here someday.  We have many other projects to finish before we do that, but at least we are thinking about it.  

You can see before pictures of the barn by going to the barn or tornado categories.  

Here is how it's looked lately with Jerry working on it. 

 

 

All the way at the top of the barn (this gives me the chills)

Jerry was ready to take down the east wall of the barn.  He had the kids pulling a rope that was hooked to the barn. 

 

My cousin's daughter, Paige, was at our house, so she was able to help and watch this part of the barn come down. 

So, the kids weren't bringing it down, so we brought the truck in. Jerry pulled it down. 

Here it goes...

House Restoration progress

Jerry spent October working on this section of the house.  This will be above the porch that we will hopefully rebuild next year.  We planned on doing it this year, but the tornado damage really set us back a few months.  I am crossing my fingers that we actually get it done next year, but who really knows.  We have so many projects with this farm, and they all take time.  

The original wood is in such good shape once it's sanded.  It looks horrible before it's touched and I'm sure many people would have ripped it off and put vinyl siding up.  That would have been a shame, because it's really beautiful once it's worked on.  Everyone thinks that we have put siding up and they are so shocked to find out that it's the original clapboards.  

Jerry really does an amazing job.  He really takes his time and does the job right.  As much as I wish we could hire someone just so the entire job would be done in a few months, I'm really glad that we are doing it ourselves.  We would never find someone that would take their time and do the type of job he is doing.  It takes close to 100 hours to do each section.  That's hard with a full time job, spending time with family, going to the kids' baseball/soccer games, and whatever else happens to pop up.  We are plugging along though, and it will be done someday. 

It looks so good finished!  I can't wait until the entire house is done.  It's amazing how bad it looks before and how beautiful it looks after.

Anniversaries

On October 6th, it was 20 years since Jerry gave me his class ring.  We started dating in the summer of 1989.  That was definitely my favorite summer.  

Jerry was friends with my cousin Clint.  I met him in April at Clint's 16th birthday party.  We would see each other a few more times that spring if he was with Clint.  Clint brought him with to my 14th birthday party.  It was a family party and sometimes my cousins would bring friends to hang with.  We started dating that summer by going on double dates with Clint and his girlfriend.  My aunt and uncle, Clint's parents, talked to my mom and dad and to Jerry's mom and dad.  I was so young, it was the summer before my freshman year, but after talking with the other parents they decided to let me go.  We dated with other couples for awhile and then started going places with just the two of us.  

That October he gave me his class ring.  This picture is from October 1989.  It was taken at my grandma and grandpa's 40th wedding anniversary celebration.  I was wearing a dress that my grandma wore when they were dating.  (sorry about the quality, my scanner broke so I had to take a picture of the picture) I was 14 and he had just turned 17 the month before. 

We've been through a lot of things together, like the death of his mother in 1992.  She was only 43. (She had JUST turned 43)  I can't believe 20 years goes so fast!  

We were married on October 7th, 1995 and just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary.  It was a Wednesday, and Hadleigh had riding lessons and then all star soccer practice, and Ashton had soccer practice in another town.  My parents picked the kids up from their practices and took them to our little town restaurant for dinner.  Jerry and I went out for dinner to celebrate.  It was nice to get out to eat a meal alone and talk, especially on a hectic weeknight.  We ate at The Lighthouse in Cedar Lake, IN. It was really good.  

Since I shared photos of us from 20 years ago, I thought I would share some photos of us today.  These are the photos that Tonya took of us in California in July of this year. 

 

I am the luckiest woman there is.  Jerry and I have such a great bond and we are best friends.  He is the one who I want to talk to and hang out with.  He is an AMAZING husband and an INCREDIBLE father.  My kids are so lucky!  I'm so glad that we did meet when we were young, because we have had 20 great years together and I hope we have many more!   He is who I want to grow old with.  

20 years from that first photo of two teens in love.....

this is the result!

37

The greatest husband and father I know turned 37 on September 19th.  We were dating when he turned 17 and I still remember the Guess sweatshirt I bought him.  He had some of his senior pictures taken in it.  I can't believe we are both creeping towards 40, when it seems like we were just two teenagers.  

He's the most thoughtful, generous and loving person I know.  I'm so lucky to be married to him and to have him as my best friend.  My kids are so incredibly lucky to have him for a father.

  

We went to dinner at Northwoods the night before his birthday.  My parents took us along with my brother.  We had not eaten there in a long time, so it was nice.  It's in a log cabin and the kids thought it was so cool.  

 

Jerry looks crazy in this photo, but it's good of my mom and Hadleigh. 

I made him his favorite lasagna and a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday.  It was delicious! 

Happy Birthday Jer!  I love you very much! 

California trip ~~ Part 6 ~~ Wednesday July 1

 This day was awesome!  We spent it at Disneyland.  It was amazing how close Disneyland was to our hotel.  It was only about 20-25 minutes away.  We got up early to get in line so we could get in when the gates opened at 8am.  They actually let us in about 10 minutes early. 

On the tram heading to the gate from the parking lot.

inside the gates

We headed to the Plaza Inn for our Breakfast in the Park with Minnie and Friends.  We had a reservation for 8:10.  My aunt, uncle, cousin, her husband, another cousin and her son met us at the restaurant.

Having fun with the characters

Ride Time

Ashton, Sawyer and Max on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride

I love the colors

My mom and dad

The kids were shooting the targets trying to increase their scores

Innoventions

 

 We had an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  It was fun and they enjoyed it.  The next time we go to Disney, they'll be too old , so this was fun. 

Sawyer's turn

 

They painted Mickey's head on the back of his head

They are adding the Disney themed confetti to his hair

He was presented with a sword and a dragon pin as part of the Knight's package.

Sir Sawyer getting to see himself for the first time in the magic mirror

 

 

Ashton's turn

Getting the confetti added to his hair

Ashton being presented with his sword and pin

Seeing himself in the mirror for the first time

I LOVE his expression

Hadleigh the pop princess

Seeing herself for the first time

The "knights" having a sword fight

My kids with their crazy hair

"It's a Small World"

look at that wild hair

Welcome to Toon Town

meeting Mickey Mouse

Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

The Jungle Cruise ride

Tarzan's Tree House

We took an ice cream break after riding rides and we decided to get a spot to watch the parade.

Ashton was able to participate in the parade

This little sleepyhead slept during the entire parade

After the parade, we rode the Disneyland Railroad ride.  It was so relaxing.  Sawyer slept through that entire ride as well.

After the train ride, we said goodbye to my Aunt Anne, Uncle Roger, cousin Jenni, her husband Antonino, my cousin Becky and her son Max.  They were tired and ready to go back to Jenni's house.  Jenni is lucky and lives nearby, so they will all be able to visit again soon when Becky is there visiting.  We had a great time with them.

We walked back to the castle and got our seats so we would have a good view of the fireworks show.

I always thought that the castle at Disney World and the castle at Disneyland were the same.  I was shocked to see how different this castle at Disneyland was.  This is Sleeping Beauty's castle and the castle at Disney World is Cinderella's.  They are both beautiful.

My mom, my dad, the kids and I went shopping on Main Street while waiting for the fireworks to start.  Jerry saved our spot for us.  Hadleigh had to have a baby Pluto, and here she is posing with it next to a Pluto statue.

The fireworks show begins with Tinker Bell flying by the castle

The crowd for the fireworks was unbelievable!  There was a sea of people.  This is just one direction and was behind us down Main Street.

After the crowds thinned out, we decided to ride more rides.  We were only there for that day and who knows when we will get back.  The kids were getting tired and the last attraction we walked through was the Pixie Hollow attraction.  We were the only ones in it, but the fairies weren't there.  It was still neat to see the flowers and details put into this place.

Ashton turned out fuzzy, but I loved the mushrooms

After being at the park for 15 1/2 hours, we decided to head back to the hotel.  We were all beat, but we all had a great and memorable time.  My dad was there in 1966, so it was neat that he was able to see it again and with his grandchildren.

I loved the street lamps along Main Street.  They were just beautiful.

I love this saying and had to take a photo of it.  It was on the Kodak shop.  I truly believe it. 

On the way back to the tram, we passed the entrance to California Adventure Park.  I loved the big C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A letters.