I hope all the mothers out there have a blessed Mother's day!

Well, I'm pretty late with these, but I wanted to share our Halloween pictures from this year.  I bought Hunter's costume a couple years ago on clearance, and it fit him perfectly this year.


Mitchell made up his costume out of things he already had.  He was our bodyguard, lol!


Barb and I made our costumes ourselves.  We did it at the last minute and really could have used more tulle for our skirts.    She's a Woodland Fairy and I'm a Pink fairy. 


Barb made her own wings, but I bought mine at Dollar Tree.  Hers are bigger and look better than my tiny ones.


Did you dress up this year?  I love hearing about costumes!
 

Mitchell holding Hunter as an infant

Earlier this month we celebrated Hunter's birthday with a little party with friends and family.  He turned 5, I can't believe my baby is 5 now!   Where does the time go?  Both of my boys are so big now!



He had a monster themed party and Barb made this cute cake for him.  She does such a great job making cakes.  You should visit her blog and see the cool one she made for her son's birthday last week.


Hunter has always been into tractors so he was very happy to get some new ones for his birthday.  He also got a monster truck, some books, a bow and arrow, a bubble blower, and a gun from his big brother.

Last week we had some really bad weather near our home. We had a lot of thunder, lightning, hail, and some extreme winds!  The picture above is what is left of one of our neighbor's buildings.  It tore almost half of that building down.


He also lost half of another barn he had. 


The crazy thing is, the tin and wood from the buildings made it across the street and 3 houses down from where he lives!  If it hadn't been for trees the debris would have hit Barb's home.  If you look closely in the picture above you can see the debris strewn all the way down the field and across the road to the trees on the right.


We were very lucky compared to our neighbor, the only thing the wind messed up that day at our house was our trampoline.  It was blown into the woods, which messed up the legs on it and put some holes in the safety pads that I replaced last year.  However, after Ronnie put it back together it looks like it will be okay.


A few days later another storm tore off part of our siding.  Luckily my hubby was able to put it back on the same day.  Have y'all had any storms lately? 

I am so excited! It's only 10 days until the 2:1 Conference!  It's basically a conference for homeschoolers with a heart for God.  Today everyone who is going is doing a getting to know you post and linking up at Bowmania.

Here are 10 things you should know about me:

1. My name is Nancy and I've been married for 19 years.
2. I started homeschooling about 5 years ago after numerous problems with my oldest in public school.
3. I have two boys.  Mitchell will turn 15 next week and Hunter is 4.
4. My husband and kids will be coming with me to the conference.  If you hear extremely loud kids, they will be mine!  Sorry in advance!
5. I am from rural South Carolina.  I love living in the country!
6. I have lots of chickens and they all have names and are like my babies.
7. I am unorganized and a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl.  Although the older I get, the more I try to be more organized.
8. My favorite color is pink, I love chocolate and Disney World.
9. I don't know anyone who is coming to the conference very well and I'm scared I will feel all alone.
10. I believe that I will be blessed by attending 2:1 and will learn a lot from everyone there.

If you've been around here lately, you may have seen some strange looking things on my blog.  I've been playing with the design and the buttons and such.  I like my design, but I just wanted to change a few things.

I wanted to ask your opinions on the header.  I made it a little smaller, and also changed the bar up that links to different pages on here.  I put chickens on either end and between links I put hearts.  Also changed are the icons that link to my Facebook, Twitter, and the  like.

What do y'all think of the smaller header and the bar?  One person said they didn't think the hearts really fit with my blog.  I just thought it was a cute way to break up the links.  But, it can be changed.

And how about my networking icons?  Before they were more square and I think more severe looking.  Do you like the new ones or the old?

Thanks for any opinions!

 

Bringing in Barb's home last April

You may remember that last year around this time,  Barb received a used mobile home.  After we finally got it over here (on land beside ours) we realized it needed a little lot more work than we originally thought. A septic tank and water lines had to be put in since there had never been a home there.  But that was only the beginning!

Putting the septic tank in

For the past year we have been working on it along with some volunteers.  Most of the flooring had to be replaced.  Sometimes it was a little discouraging when they would fix one thing and then something else would break.  It could only be worked on mostly on the weekends or whenever someone had money to buy the supplies needed to fix it up.

A bedroom being fixed up

Since Barb didn't even have a part time job until last summer, we relied on help from friends and church family.  Someone donated flooring for the bedrooms, someone else donated flooring for the bathrooms, another person gave a new toilet and hot water heater.  It all started coming together a little at a time.

Almost done

After Barb had been working awhile she was able to buy new flooring for the kitchen and living room, another toilet for her bathroom, and some things for the other bathroom as well.  The last things she had to buy were cabinets and paneling for the kitchen. 

A desk with the boys treasures on it in their room

Luckily Barb got another part time job just in time.  A few weeks ago Barb and her sons were able to move in to their new home!  The boys were really excited to have their own home again and so was she!  We are all happy not to be living together anymore.  We love each other, but boy was living together for a year and a half hard on all of us!  We are happy to be next door neighbors now!

Buck and Elaine

I want to thank everyone who donated supplies or their time to work on Barb's home!  We could not have done it without each and every one of you!  Special thanks go out to Buck and Elaine who went above and beyond buying supplies and working tirelessly to help fix up "The Manor"

A few weeks ago we took Barb's niece up to the NC mountains.  She's going to job training up there.  Since she had to be up there on a Tuesday, we just made a day trip of it. 


We left after taking Barb's son to school and the trip took a little over 4 hours each way.  It was the first time Alli had ever been to the mountains, I think.  She thought it was beautiful.


Luckily it was a nice day in the 50's.  At least until we got to the top of the mountain.  Up there it was only 37 degrees.  It felt pretty good, though to me.


I love the creeks up in the mountains.  They are so beautiful!  The geese and the ducks thought so too.  They were enjoying the chilly water.


The views from the top of the mountain were gorgeous. 


It had been quite a while since I'd been up there.  We saw a little snow and icicles on the sides of the mountain.  So pretty!


We had a really fun girl's day trip!

Hunter's present on Christmas Eve

I hope y'all had a good Christmas!  We did!  On Christmas Eve we went to one of my cousin's house and ate.  Afterwards we did a "Chinese Christmas", where you draw numbers, then the first person gets to pick first, and so on.  But, the catch is, the next person, or any person after you, can choose to steal your gift instead of opening a new one.  My hubby tried to hide his gift so no one would steal it!  He ended up getting to keep it, it was a heavy duty flashlight, that bends.  I also ended up with a three set of flashlights.  Mitchell decided to steal a present, so he got a red and black checkered blanket.

Christmas Day with Ronnie's family

On Christmas Day we got up and went to church and in the afternoon we went to my mother-in-law's house.  The kids had a great time with their cousins.  Then we went to see their horses.  My husband loves horses!  He had them growing up and misses them so.  Turns out, Hunter loves horses too!  He kept hugging them, it was so cute!

Hunter loving on one of the horses

Mitchell's favorite gifts were his new gun, his Clemson T-shirt, and his camo backpack.

Mitchell trying out his new gun

Mitchell in his Clemson tee and his new backpack

Hunter got a really cool set of John Deere tractors that he likes, a fire engine, and a racetrack.

Hunter opening his racetrack

My husband and I decided to get ourselves the gift of a new fuel pump.  Our car had been broken for several months.  So, as a family, we couldn't go anywhere, because our other vehicle is a truck with only three seats.  It's nice being able to go places with both the kids again!

Ronnie and Mitchell working on our car

And we celebrated the birth of Jesus with a birthday cake and by singing "Happy Birthday" to Him!

Hunter blowing out the candle

Hunter filling in a hole while his daddy digs one

It's been forever since I gave y'all an update on Barb.  You may remember she got a job in July.  Recently they made her permanent part time which means she will get benefits now.  So awesome!

The front porch in the middle of renovation

I also posted that Barb received a used mobile home in the spring.  Well, it turned out it needed more work than we first anticipated.  A lot of the floors needed to be either partially or completely re-done.

They boys bedroom under construction

It also needed painting, a new water heater, new flooring, and new porches.  And the plumbing had to be re-done with new toilets, sinks, etc, etc.  As you can see, the work kept adding up!

The most helpful men ever!

Luckily, we have had a lot of help from our church family.  Which included some cousins of mine, our preacher and a few other men of the church.  They were only able to work on it every so often whenever money was available.  Our "men" included a plumber/electrician, a natural gas installer, an equipment operator, and a jack of all trades.

The septic tank being installed

We They also put in a septic tank and water lines to the home.  I mostly supervised, lol!  Actually Hunter did way more work than me.  He pulled up flooring, and filled in holes.

Mitchell and Adam pulling up the old flooring

We were hoping Barb would be able to move in by Christmas, but unfortunately she still needs new flooring for 3 more rooms, some furniture, and we're hoping the heating system will still work that came with it.

Hunter and the preacher's son watching the preacher put in water lines

I think everything has been done to get it inspected now and as soon as it passes they will turn the power on.  That will make it so much easier to finish the little inside things that are hard to work on now that it gets dark so early.

The main bathroom after being painted

Pray that everything will keep going well, so Barb and her family will be able to move in soon!