Horseback riding in Ohio

Jack took a brief break from house-building for our family to visit his family in Ohio last weekend. We hadn't seen them all summer, so it was nice to be together even if it was only for a short time. Riding the horses is always one of the highlights at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

Corban rode by himself for the first time .


Jakin has been riding by himself for a few years now and he does really well.


At first, Lauren was scared of the horses, but she surprised me by riding with Daddy. After that, I think she decided she like riding. She even sat with Annie.


The first trip with Daddy...


Annie rode for a while and then said in her best spoiled little girl voice, "Daddy, I want a pony". But it was more like, "Daaaaaaaddy, I want a pooooooooony", with her head cocked to one side. Where on earth did she learn to do that? Seriously, we're in trouble.

Random house pictures

We are now in the stage of house-building when Jack takes his meals al fresco on paper plates with dirty hands. His business has been busy - that's a good thing - and the deadlines on the house are aggressive. Even though he is working A LOT, Jack is supremely happy. He's a man working on building his own house. It's good work - especially when his sons are working (or throwing dirt or building jumps for their bikes) with him.



The man in his castle


In digging for the septic system, we found a huge rock. Most of the rocks were cleaned up, but we had to keep this one.


Climbing rock

The house update

I know it's been a long time since I've posted any pictures of the house. Here's the update: we feel very fortunate to have renters coming into our current house on November 1. We would have preferred to sell the house, of course, but having renters in this housing market is a blessing. Anyway, having renters move in on Nov 1 gave us a deadline and things are really moving now on the house. The exterior is almost done. Electric is almost done. Plumbing is done. The spray foam insulation went in the ceiling last week; the cellulose insulation in the walls starts tomorrow. Sheet rock next week. Septic is in and the property is graded. Jack has been spending this Labor Day weekend preparing the yard for planting grass seed. It's starting to feel like this thing is really going to happen!

The picture below isn't the best. I've had a hard time getting to the house in the right lighting for picture taking. It's either been too bright or too late at night. I'll work on getting a better one, but you get the idea for now.


Our now relatively small pile of rocks


Back yard grading


Front yard grading. The yard seems a lot bigger now that it's all cleaned up.


And....... Jack put in a toilet (temporarily in the basement) but that means the pink porta-potty is gone! One of Annie's friends recently asked her mother why they don't have a porta-potty at their house. "Annie has one, and it's pink!" Oh well, now ours in gone, too.

First Day of School

With my sister's wedding in May and our move to the new house in October, I thought we should get started on school a bit earlier this year. We started Tuesday and now have a good, solid week under our belt. It's challenging to plan school and activities for four different age levels and to do so in a way that complements the "rhythm of our house", but I'm very pleased about how last week went. Here we go!

The kids were dressed up because we started the year by going to daily Mass. Then, on to our typical First Day things: donuts, self-portraits and a note for each kid from Dad.


Even Lauren got in on the coloring this year


Annie is still in pre-school, but she is very pleased to have her own math book this year. "Can we please do another page?"


Our 2nd grader


Jakin is beginning 4th grade, which means I am beginning my fifth (!) year of home schooling!

Store

As I was planning and preparing for school, I noticed an idea suggesting kids make a "store" for their siblings, "selling" things they had around the house. Mentioning it my kids was all they needed to get to work. Corban had, as he always does, his own very specific ideas about the making of a cash register - a plan which he executed before breakfast one morning. By the time Annie and Jakin woke up, Corban was neatly already stacking (fake) money into the cash box. Then Corban and Jakin secretly gathered and priced treasures from around the house.



Corban's face makes it look like this was an assignment that he was being forced to do. That wasn't the case at all. He was very excited, I think he just wasn't excited about having his picture taken.


In Corban's store, the pricest items included the gun at 100$ and 10 cents and the two rings in the box for 300$ and 21 cents - Annie had to shell out major money for those rings. (I chose not to correct the labeling for the money.... :)


Annie and Jakin stop in Corban's store