What a month (and a half)!!!!

Hey you guys!  I am just going to jump right in to my post, photos and all that goes with the two...  

You are all so sweet to be checking up on us since I haven't posted in soooo long.  I did not intend to go this long and have mentally planned several blog posts but, honestly, was too exhausted to write them!  We have had a whirlwind last six weeks.  It's been amazing, eventful, GORGEOUS, exciting, heart-warming and with some bumps, as usual.  We have gotten to experience some firsts, so much love, beautiful weather, exciting plans, so much family time and extended family time, school and new schedules with school and so much more.  

Stay tuned to see and hear it ALL!  

School- 

School has been amazing and we are seriously loving this year.  I am so happy we settled on The Good and the Beautiful curriculum.  It has been life changing for us.  I am not exaggerating.  Last year was such a struggle and I was so confused and floundering.  This year is so much better and I can actually see the kids' improvements.  Eric decided to change up his schedule a bit and he's actually teaching two days now instead of one.  It is fantastic because we each teach every-other-day.  He is breaking his days up into History and Math on Tuesdays and Science and Math on Thursdays.  I teach Language Arts (and all related subjects), Health (I am starting with a Safety unit then Maturation & Reproduction), Math and we still have a really strong focus on Reading on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Wednesday being our "field trip" and "extras" day if needed.  We just finished "Fall Break" with which we did a modified schedule because we had family here.  We did a lot of field trips but it was really nice because there were a lot of educational opportunities, hands-on activities and LOTS of nature.  

Kids- 

The kids have all been fantastic but Lily has been through some crazy things over the past five weeks.  She has been hit in the mouth with a baseball (she thought it would be a good idea to hold the baseball bucket next to her face and have Nico throw the balls inside).  She is lucky he didn't knock her teeth out.  Not to mention, the injury happened less than a week before she was scheduled to be a flower girl in Ivann and Andrea's wedding.  The following morning she was sprayed by a skunk (Eric and I told her to stay away from the trap but she just HAD to go see this skunk for whatever reason).  Then three days ago, she was kicked by a horse.  The girl has got to start paying attention and protecting herself.  

Everyone else is pretty good.  The twins had some minor little cavities that we had filled to prevent further decay.  The dentist was able to do it without numbing and they are all set.  Harlan actually has to have a case study done on him; however, because his lymph nodes or salivary glands swell to the size of a golf ball each time he has nitrous oxide.  There's only one other documented case of this happening so the dentist has to document it.  Nolan has his eye follow up and we are trying the dilation drops each night to encourage him to wear his glasses.  We are trying to avoid surgery.  We follow up again in six months.  He is such a sweet boy.  With that being said, he also threw a full, metal water bottle at Nico, it ricochet off of Nico's head and smacked into our big (70 something inch) TV in our TV room and shattered it.  Nico was hysterical (and had a lump on his head) and Nolan was pretty upset too.  The excitement never ends for us.  

Tristan is growing too quickly and will be 13 on December 25th.  He is definitely showing us some pre-teen/teenage behaviors but overall is still such a good kid.  He needs a friend.  Nico is his usual, unique self.  He may possibly get his spacer out in December and it may have done the trick completely so he won't need braces.  My fingers are crossed.  

Nolan fell asleep in Eric's shop and used a roll of painters tape as a pillow! 

Black Friday, here we come!  UGH.  

Lily has been taking crochet classes on YouTube and has started to (kind of) get the hang of it.  We are hoping she picks it up and can do some crochet with my sister on zoom or FaceTime or something.  

While Leslie and Brian were here (more on that in a bit), we had a few super windy days so I pulled some kites out of the closet and let the kids fly them.  They LOVED it and we have been around town collecting kites from Walmart, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and anywhere else we can find them, ever since.  Lily and Tristan still have the nicer kites made of nylon that my mom bought for them back in CA but Nico does not, nor do the twins so they are using the little plastic ones.  They work great though and they do such a good job sticking with it! 

Wedding Bells- 

Ivann and Andrea tied the knot on October 2nd and it was such a gorgeous wedding that we were honored to be a part of and attend.  Congratulations, you guys!  We wish them a lifetime of happiness and love.  They are so great together and we love them so much.  The ceremony was in a beautiful Catholic Church and the reception was at a nearby reception center.  It was all so lovely and so enjoyable.  Andrea looked STUNNING and the wedding was just perfect.  She invited Lily to be a flower girl and the twins to carry signs in both Spanish and English saying "Here Comes The Bride".  I made the signs as a small gift to her.  It went very well and the kids all did great.  It was fun to dress up and get the kids all dressed up...  Notice Gramps is in his best jeans and has his shirt mostly buttoned 🙄

Woodworking- 

Eric built a gorgeous table for my dad (Gramps).  When he cooks supper for us all, we can now enjoy with him out in the barn.  He also built Nico a lego desk organizer.  

Animals-  

Missy got sprayed by the skunk at the same time Lily did and needed a bath.  Prior to bathing her, she rubbed all over Bear and Nico.  Bear had a fit because he had to get a bath too.  Callie is aging a lot.  It's breaking my heart because she is my bestie and I don't like to see her slow down so much.  But she seems happy and is still such a lovey.  

We are building a new chicken coop (just the yard) to move our teenager and chicks into.  We have so many now and they were all hatched in the barn which is basically on the other side of the property from where we want them all to be.  So, we want to coop them up for a few weeks to get used to where they need to sleep, lay eggs, roost and eat.  Then we'll let them free-roam again.  We had an extra carport frame and a brand new cover for it and decided to use it.  We will fence it in and they should be pretty secure.  Eric poured concrete footings and we will anchor it down to those with some redheads.  

Lily was struggling to "remember" to work with Harrison on a daily basis which was hindering their bonding.  She really want to work with Patch but he's so much less experienced and has the blind eye and we know so much less about his past.  Plus, Harrison is so gentle and well trained and Eric and I both feel he is the better option for her.  However; we decided to let her come up with a plan that she felt would assist her in remembering to work with Harrison and maybe excite her about it a bit.  She wanted to try working with each horse on different days.  We agreed with the stipulation that she work with Harrison the majority of the time.  Since I am such a visual person, as she also seems to be, I created her a little schedule board to assist her.  

Look at all that love.  Callie 💜  Do you see the creep in between us?  Lol.  Missy 💛

Eric built this door and we fenced in the front of the chicken house with some no-climb wire fencing.  We have these old Edison bulbs hanging for evening light and extra security.  We also added concrete and old rolls of sod around the perimeter of the house to help deter predators (which were an issue from time-to-time).  We will connect the new carport (yard) to the house and they'll be able to go in each morning and back up each evening. 

After baths.  It really takes it out of them.  Poor pups.  

Besties. 

Mine and Lily's new horse schedule...  

Projects-  

While Leslie and Brian were here, she helped me start a project that I have been dying to get finished.  Today, I finished the project.  This is a little table that was my Great Aunt Lindy's that she gave to me several years ago.  It was red and had some earth toned, striped cushions on the seats.  Shortly after moving here, I went to pick out the fabric for my grandma's couch to be recovered and saw this other material that I loved and knew I wanted to use it for the chairs (for this table set) and two other chairs I have.  I bought the rest of the bolt which was like 2.5 yards and have had it here waiting.  The table and chairs are metal and were easy to paint.  I painted the table and chairs black with the intention of covering the black with a light layer of antique white and then scuffing it up so the black would be visible through parts of the white.  After I got three coats of black on each piece, I liked it so much and both Leslie and I thought the cushions would pop so much more if I left it so I did.  I can still paint it the other way if I decide to in the future but for now, I am loving it.   

Dinner Menu- 

We should have like 6 or so menus to post but I have fallen off of the wagon with photographing them (and while both sets of family were here, we were very casual about planning dinners).  I only have two here to post.  We are super excited to be making some cooler weather meals now that it has cooled off so much.  

Random-  

Lily asked if she could decorate the dining room table for Fall, so I got the stuff out and let her go for it.  

Eric made several batches of hot sauce (or is in the process of making them) from the peppers in our garden. 

The twins' favorite song is "Ring of Fire" by Alan Jackson (sorry Cash fans - we are too but we like that version a lot too).  Anyway, they sing it at every opportunity and it is one of the first songs we heard Harlan singing nearly all the way through several months ago.  They also love "Mayday" by Cam or the one by Home Free.  Eric sings them both with all of the kids a lot and I got two okay videos of them.  

We have had some beautiful skies this Fall and the sunsets are incredible.  I was out feeding the horses and managed to grab my phone barely in time to snap a couple of photos of our sunset from a few nights ago.  If I had managed to get my phone maybe 10 minutes earlier, it was so much more vivid and gorgeous.  I just ran out and snapped a couple pictures of tonights sunset too and it is beautiful.  I love all of there colors.  

Lily got a birthday gift from the Flannery Family in the mail and loved it.  You guys really are the sweetest.  **Thank you so much to everyone who called, texted, video chatted, sent cards, gifts and came to her little party.  You all are so special to her and we love and appreciate you all so much.**. 

So, Gramps went out to run errands one day, about a month ago and saw a snake in the road.  Well, he stops to save every critter he sees.  This snake was kind of testy, though and started climbing it's body after my Dad picked it up to move it.  We are still kind of unfamiliar with the snakes here so we are over cautious.  He dropped the snake and went to get something to help him move the snake and when he came back to it he saw the thing crawl up inside his wheel-well.  At least he was pretty sure it did.  Well, he came back home and we investigated.  The cat is who pretty much "told" us that there was a snake and Missy was pretty interested in the undercarriage of the car.  I started looking very closely and did in fact see the glimmer of the scales all the way up past the springs in the wheel well.  I flipped out.  It was actually kind of funny but I was scared to death and could NOT believe a snake could survive that.   Anyway, about 6 hours later, with the help of ammonia and bug spray, the snake dropped a coil down enough to wrap a copper wire around and start to pull it out.  My dad had gloves on so he after Tristan hooked it with the copper wire, Gramps pulled it out the rest of the way.  Its was a long, HUGE king snake.  We like king snakes (from afar) so Gramps put it in a bucket and drove it to the lake and released it near the shoreline (near where he was driving when he saw it in the road).  

I bought 4 bags of Apples and peeled and cored them.  We made a crispy apple bake and then the kids snacked on the apples for days.  It was fantastic.  The horses got one bowl that didn't last.  

We got a hilarious letter from t-mobile about a data breach and I had to share it.  The reason I think it is hilarious is because of the sentence that states "t-mobile learned that a bad actor illegally accessed personal information" and my only thought was "wonder which bad actor?  Maybe Brad Pitt or Rene Zellweger?"  Not sure still and we are not even with t-mobile any longer but we appreciate the notice anyway.  

Our Magnolia Tree is in full bloom and we are loving it.  

The kids are loving eating their lunch on the back patio when the weather is nice enough to do so.  It's an almost daily occurrence.  

Farm Life and Gardening- 

We butchered two of our young roosters and ate them.  I never thought I'd be able to do that but we're really trying to embrace the true farm life and raise our own food as much as possible.  Tristan helped with one rooster and Nico helped with the other.  Both boys were NOT a fan of the process and did not like the way Gramps did it.  Tristan accused him of murdering them but we explained that was not the case.  🙈

We also (finally) laid all of the sod we pulled from the spot where the pool went in and added grass seed near the shop.  Nolan was such a helper as his face clearly shows.  He is a true hard worker and sticks with every project.  It blows our minds.  

The kids and I also weeded every single flower bed and tossed all of the weeds from the beds and old pots into the burn pile.  It was two days of hard work and Tristan was a huge help to me.  They looked amazing.  I think we took over 20 wheelbarrows of weeds to the burn pile.  It was long overdue but looks amazing.  

Visitors- 

Last, but certainly not least, we had the best visit from Leslie and Brian (their first to Tennessee) and then immediately after their departure, the Casner Family came for a short visit!  

Leslie and Brian came for two weeks and we made the most of our time together.  We were beyond thrilled to have them here with us and loved every single second.  They are the most incredible, loving and open people we could be lucky enough to call family.  The kids call them Aunt Leslie and Uncle Brian but they are my Mom's cousins.  It doesn't matter though because we are so close and love them dearly.  

We did all of the things with them, including staying home and relaxing and bonding.  We went to the zoo, we took several drives to see the surrounding areas, we drove the Cherohola Skyway, we visited Bald River Falls and ate a picnic lunch at the river, we went to the Tellico Trout Hatchery, we explored off the beaten path and looked for Green Cove Lake (it turns out to be a pond and it was closed for ADA repairs), we drove to Cades Cove and then up through the Smoky Mountains through Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and back down through Knoxville to Lenoir City where we ate dinner, we flew kites, we baked, we crafted, we read a ton of books, we chatted, we played, we fed the critters, we showed them all of our favorite summer spots, we avoided crowds (especially Gatlinburg where thousands were on the sidewalks), we swam in the pool (not me, too cold), we introduced them to Ivann and Andrea, we did an awesome fireworks show, we grilled, we smoked a bunch of meat, we sang, we sat around the fire pit, we fished in the creek, we hiked the woods, we watched a LOT of Spidey and his Amazing Friends, we bought Halloween costumes, we painted pumpkins, we played games, we caught a baby snapping turtle, we took bets on a "Tristan Hot Dog Eating Contest", we did not take enough pictures, we went to the park, we reminisced, we decorated for Fall, we had our first fire of the season, we did school, we looked at some properties that could be possible future Air BnB's for Eric and me or other family members, we launched rockets, we loved very deeply and we miss them beyond measure.  The best part is that when we did go out, it was on weekdays so there were very few people around and very low traffic.  

Tristan bet Brian that he could eat 13 hot dogs WITH buns because he claims to have done it at a baseball event back a few years ago when he was playing little league.  The bet was made back when we were in Santa Barbara in August and we ran out of time to allow him to prove himself.  He was able to eat 11 hot dogs which I think is waaaaaaayyyyy too many but he really wanted to prove he could do it.  

Nico didn't have a kite to fly so Uncle Brian (and Aunt Leslie) helped him build one.  It lasted a few minutes-- it needed some reinforcements around the edges.  

Lily started a tumbling class for the twins and does such a good job teaching them.  It is cute to watch and it warmed Leslie's heart to watch so we did at every opportunity.   

Les is "driving" the twins to tumbling class.  

Les, Lily and Nico made cake pops.  She has the patience of a saint.  I could NEVER do that with the kids.   

We really loved our time with Les and Brian and already can't wait until next time.  Thank you both so much for making the trip and for all of the love you show us all.  You are so very special to us and we love you dearly.  

Les and Brian left Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning, Scott, Sierra, Emery and Ivy arrived to look for jobs, check out the surrounding areas and see if our little area of East Tennessee is a good fit for them.  Of course, we love it and expect everyone else to as well but we also understand if it is not a good fit for them.  They will do what is best for their family when they are ready.  BUT, we had a great time with them too and really had some good bonding time with the girls while Scott and Sierra went exploring.  They left in the wee hours of the morning this morning and we will be back to our regular schedule tomorrow.  We love those girls so dang much and would love to see the kids grow up together, should it work out that way.  I introduced both Scott and Sierra to a drink that my other cousin, Terra introduced me to while she was here visiting and they both loved it, the kids went swimming in the freezing cold water of the pool (they lasted almost 15 minutes which I could not do anymore), we baked banana bread, we bounced on the trampoline, played in the dirt pile, dug for fossils in a huge Dino egg, worked in the shop, played, ran up and down the front hillside,  and the older girls did a bunch of crafting and giggling.  It was a great but very quick trip.  

We really appreciate so many of you all checking in on us and making sure we are still thriving and surviving and we are!  We have just been so busy and my nightly exhaustion is taking over my ability to type a post!!  Lol.  

Happiest of birthdays to our nephew, Kaden!  We love you and hope your day was the best!!  

Happy birthday to my sweet, dear friend, Terri!!!!  I love you and cannot wait till we can reunite!  I hope your day is as beautiful as you are!!  

Happy birthday to Grandma Tilford, Eric's mom and my mother-in-law.  We love you so much and hope you have a very special day.  We hope you are spoiled and get everything you wish for.  

So, last thing...  My mom is a very private person but I wanted to ask everyone to keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she faces another cancer surgery tomorrow for her squamous cell carcinoma.  It has returned and they are surgically removing it this time.  

We have a lot of people in our thoughts and prayers, as usual, but specifically both of our sisters, Papa Tilford and Granda Webb at the moment.  We love you all and wish you all of the healing thoughts, wishes and prayers.  

Thank you for sticking with us!  Notice I am not even apologizing for the long post this time but I just had to get it all in here or I wouldn't have done it at all!  

Love you all!