Around the house in July

This is the view from the property where Emily had her hypnosis class. Not too shabby!

Somebody is fat and slow these days. I think we might have some new pups soon!

 

Matt and Tiff come to visit

Matt and Tiff Reyburn came to visit us this year. We haven't seen them since these two boys were both just sitting up. They instantly hit it off and had a great visit. We are the God parents to Matt and Tiff's three little guys and Benjamin loves telling people that he has God brothers. Poor child only has sisters so a chance at not one, but three brothers is a dream come true. We did some family pictures for the Reyburn Clan, so of course, if Rohan had his kilt on, I had Benjamin wear his and snapped these adorable pictures of these two best buds. They are already planning their next get together and how much fun they are going to have.

Rohan and Benjamin both age 5.

 

Hoogie vs the copperhead

Poor Hoogie. That stupid snake was just lying there ready to mess up someone's world. Thankfully Hoogie was right in front of Emily, or this could have been much worse. I loathe copperheads.

Abby saved the day with her herbal skills. She made a compress with activated charcoal, bentonite clay and echinacea. She also gave him echinacea internally to neutralize the toxins. He made it through with flying colors, but man was he pitiful for a couple of days!

 

Around the house in June

Getting ready for camper company. Perry ran power and water to a camp spot that anyone with a camper that wants to come stay can hook up and be ready to go. I think our first visitors to the spot will be Papaw and D.

Cardboard, robot girl. She's so creative and silly!

 

Around the farm

Baby goats on the farm again! We've got three wee ones this year. Two boys and a girl.

I love these pups so much. They are so gentle around the kids. Good boy Hoogie.

 

Emily's Sweet 16

Another year has somehow flown by and little turnip head, pigtail baby girl is now 16. It's so cliche, but the days really are long, and the years really are short. Ugh. Emily is still the bubbly, talkative, sweet, helpful, smart and funny little thing she's always been. With this being her sweet 16, we decided to do something big for her this year. We surprised her with a 7-day (over two months) hypnosis training course where when she finishes, she will be a certified hypnotist. The course was in Asheville, NC. Perry drove her there half the time and waited around. The other half of the course, Emily and I stayed there on the campus and enjoyed getting a little break. It didn't take her long to finish her required session hours and I'm proud to say she is officially a certified hypnotist! She has already had some wonderful success stories and I can't wait to see where this journey takes her. 

Happy Sweet 16 pretty Emily!

 

New balance bikes

Balance bikes. Before the outfitter I had never even heard of such things or seen one. Once I did see one, I thought they were surely ridiculous. Well, actually I was proven way wrong. This is THE way to learn how to ride a bike. Within 3 days of having these balance bikes, both Ella Claire and Benjamin were balancing and scooting around everywhere. They were able to figure out the ebbs and flows of how a bike works and how it feels, without the challenge of pedals or stupid training wheels. They rode these things everywhere and were pros in no time. Of course, now they want to try their hand at a bike with pedals, but for now they are going to continue practicing with these guys. I'm not sure how many times Benajmin told Carolyn thank you and this is the best present ever. I'm pretty sure it's well over 100 by now. Abby and Emily assembled said bikes for these two rug rats and did a great job.

As the bikes were being assembled, I looked over to see these two cooling off and very much so enjoying the creek. Scully would never do such a thing. LOL

The bikes came with stickers to name your bike with.

He named his bike Speedy.

And she named hers Sweetie!

 

Blairsville Highland Games

They've cancelled the Blairsville games for at least possibly three years in a row now. When we heard they were bringing it back this year, of course we had to go for at least one day. We decided to go on parade day and make Clan Hay look good. We got so many compliments on how together we looked as a family. It was a beautiful weekend for the games, and we all had a great time. The littles go to participate in the youth games and the big girls got to go look around and shop a little. Lovely games!

 

Moving dirt

Every time we get a good rain, the basement starts to leak. The girls make a mad dash for the bathroom towels and start running the shop vac all over the basement from the pantry to their room. It's truly an awful situation. So Perry decided we could solve this problem, but it would take a good bit of back breaking work. If it could keep the girls from having to stay up all night vacuuming water, they were totally in! The dug out cubic tons of dirt and moved it to the side of the house that needed the dirt thanks to some erosion that's been going on. It took them 3 full days of digging and they all came in red from head to toe every day. We have since had a significant amount of rain and guess what! No leaking!! They all worked their tails off and it paid off beautifully! Of course, the littles had a blast just playing in all the mud and chaos. 

 

Around the house in May

Eek, another driver in the house. She's a natural!

Benajmin and his machine. He requested a machine last time I went on a shopping. This was all I could find. Thankfully he thought it was awesome. He and Dada put it together, together.

Off on another adventure up the mountain, in the rain no less. The dogs have been the best! They are game for whatever adventure you want to have. And they love the whole family, but especially the littles.

It's time to get the sprinkler out again!!

Total fun kid-dum happening here!