Piled up/Stacked up

Stacked up-The amount of hours Wade and the kids spent splitting wood this weekend.
Piled up - A new seat for Bret!
Stacked up - Garret's confidence in the amount of work he can do! Not everything has to be done by big brother anymore!

Piled up -All the wood split this weekend.
Stacked up - all the other wood Wade and the kids have chopped and stacked this summer!
Piled up- Half of our almonds!
Piled up - More corn from the neighbors
Stacked up - Ready for the freezer

What else?

Piled up

Books and papers left out in the school room!

The gararge, still/yet (we're waiting for the weather to cool off!)

Weeds in the flower beds (It was a busy month!)

Lilly's dresses - handme downs for a special cousin!

Stacked up

5 Loads of laundry folded and put away!

Boy's closet - nice and clean again!

The dollars it took to buy our new computer! (more on that later)

Entertainment center - cleaned and organized!

I'm looking forward to another day off tomorrow! Not that I won't be busy! There will be more stacking and piling to do! The weeds are calling my name, and the kitchen is begging for some freezer meals to be cooked and put away for a busy day!

Have a nice Labor Day!

Dad and the boys splitting wood!

Two Holes in One

We're letting you see a little more of the nature that we are privileged to enjoy around here. Last night Wade started cutting dead limbs and branches out of the tree on the front drive. Tonight we discovered why these branches died. It had become home to some woodpeckers!
Here is one nest that is still fairly intact, even after the chainsaw ripped through it!
Wade has been doing all this hard work in 100+ degree weather! Take a shower before you come to bed honey;)! Oh, and thanks to the woodpeckers we'll have a warm day or two in January!

Home Meet and More Wood!

Let's begin with Saturday morning 5:00 a.m. - beep, beep... Melissa was off to a swim meet with the kids. Wade, take a guess...he has more wood to cut. (A friend has generously allowed Wade to cut several down trees in his orchard and take the wood for free!) At 6:00 a.m. Wade arrived at the orchard, and I was still getting kids out of bed and breakfast down them. Threats of - you can't make your brother and sister late for warm ups, and why didn't you look for that last night -filled the air! We were finally packed and ready to go sweat in the heat, only two of us got to swim! We arrived in plenty of time to find the nice spot Wade picked out for us just an hour before. The meet progressed like all others. Wade arrived shortly after it began. All the wood cleared out of the orchard and the truck! We cheered and cheered as Rachel won her heat in the 100 yard Medley. She magnificently swam 25 meters of - breast, fly, back and free! Adding to the excitement of the heat winning ribbon was the fact that she also took 8.37 seconds off her best time! Bret also gave us cause to cheer as he took 3.30 seconds off his breast stroke and wound up placing fourth in his event. At 12:00 noon, I dutifully took my place as a timer. Wade, Bret and Garret left a short time after to attend a birthday party. Sometime in the afternoon the other timers and I took note of gray clouds overhead, and just as Rachel began her last swim of the day - thunder boomed in the sky! The coach always tells the kids they can swim in the rain, because they're going to be wet anyway, but we never swim in electrical storms. So we took a break, and about 10 minutes later the meet was called for the day. A little sprinkle came down, but it was still sticky hot, we were glad to be done. A friend and I loaded up our truck - and we went off to get Icee's! Yum! I really needed a treat!

Arriving home, we took cold showers and headed off to Wade's sisters house. We met Wade and the boys there, ate a yummy dinner, visited with a nephew and his wife, and then back home.

Sunday morning, beep, beep ..it's 6:00 (we slept in!) Wade is ..you guessed it. One of our own trees fell down, and we wanted it out before the irrigation water arrived. I got everything ready for the day, snacks for the deacon meeting, paperwork for the deacon meeting, Sunday school books (read the lesson one more time!), and all the kids clothes ready for Grandma's house and a cousin's birthday party. So this was to be another busy day. At church I taught the children that nothing is impossible for God, and that He loves us very much. We talked about Moses and the Red Sea. We poured water in a 9x13 dish and tried to part the water ourselves. One cutie told me she knew she couldn't do it because she didn't have a staff like Moses did! The rest of us tried and failed. Matthew 19:26 (King James Version)
26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

This wasn't our verse, but I've been reminded of it several times today. We faced things that are discouraging and seem impossible to remedy. But we know that just as God saved the Israelites from returning to slavery, He will also care for us and the needs we see around us.

After church we had a birthday party for a sweet niece, then Wade helped my mom spend $$$ on a digital camera. We hope she'll be joining us on this blog ring soon!

Another day full of lessons and blessings from our Heavenly Father.

Wade using fulcrum and lever to pry a stump up so he can cut it. Bret has the dangerous job of rolling the log under the stump after it's lifted up. (He still has 10 fingers!)

Frisbee eating almonds!

Frisbee when Wade starts the chainsaw. He's so excited, but you see that it's doesn't last for long!

Here's my man, cutting up a stump!

New Chain saw

Friday night - the start of a new and very busy weekend. Foremost on Wade's mind was using a power tool to cut some wood! He went to Home Depot to purchase a new chain saw. Our old one is no longer useful. It originally belonged to Jerry Crew (Dad, Grandpa). I'm sure it cut down many a tree, but alas no more. It will find it's place on a shelf somewhere just for the memories! Lilly gets a ride from Dad! We used this to haul the brush, though not too much at a time. Didn't want to overload it!
Wade begins!
Wade worked until dark Friday, then asked the boys to wake him up at 6:30 in the morning Saturday so they could finish. Excitedly, they bounded up the stairs - woke me up and asked me to wake up Daddy! Do your kids do that? They never mind waking mom, but are afraid to disturb dad! Truly, we were both awake, it just feels so good to stay in bed on Saturday and pretend that you're asleep! Well, they were soon fed and out the door. They thought the experience was great fun, and manly as well! Rachel and Lilly helped too. I stayed behind to get ready for our next event. Which you probably already read about since this is reverse chronological!!