We really had no idea just how many people have been following our blog. But lately, we've been hearing from a lot of you concerning our lack of posting. I'm sorry for that. Feel free to comment when you view a post. It's hard to know who all is out there reading! Not a terribly large amount has been done. Just some small stuff here and there. Southern Bancorp has been great. They seem to understand that we have full time jobs and other responsibilities as parents that sometimes delays our progress. Just like everyone else, when the holidays hit everything gets hectic. We always spend Thanksgiving on the farm. It's a nice long weekend that lets Deb catch up with her family. After this past year, she needed the getaway. Even with the needed getaway, I left the farm a day early to do some work on the house.
And then this sweet little addition to our family came.
Meet our sweet, perfect, beautiful niece Liam. Scott and Hannah's 6th child. Their first one without fur.
I stole these shots from Hannah's Facebook page, but I don't think she will mind. These are my three favorites so far.
Aren't they just a beautiful family?
Then Christmas came along and we all know how crazy busy that can be. The day we made the deal on the house Deb "called" Christmas at our house. Deb couldn't wait to put lights on the house. Now I can't wait to see it next Christmas after we have it painted.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.
Uggsy took up his usual Christmas spot. He's never been interested in climbing the Christmas tree but he sure loves laying under it on the tree skirt.
We got our new refrigerator to fill the vacant spot in the kitchen. And fill it up it did!
Deb had to go to the high school one day to order Cole's Senior Ring. I don't think she wants him to grow up yet.
Here is the ring he ordered. His tastes are kind of like mine. Blue on Black. It's a pretty sweet ring.
A lot of knitting went on while Deb's family was here.
Here's our first niece, the beautiful Quincy (or QLR as I call her), with her finished cap she knitted.
Our two nephews, Garrett and Gavin were unable to make it due to prior commitments but we hope to be able to get them to The Ranch ASAP.
It was such a dry summer and fall, when it finally started raining a leak sprung up in the new bedroom. We got that fixed and all's well.
Deb and Janis decided to knit (He got close. Crochet not knit!) afghans. Deb's is turning out really pretty. I think she would just about be done with hers but every time I look up she's ripping yarn out of it and doing it over.
This is the first load of yarn.
Here is the latest picture I could find on her phone.
Enough about our holidays. Back to the house. That's what you came here to see anyway.
Deb decided on one of her off days the week before last to start washing the house to prepare for paint. But the pressure washer wasn't having any of it.
Deb picked up a new pressure washer and we went to town on the front porch Saturday evening.
After finishing the concrete, I started doing the walls.
It got too dark to see what we were doing so we decided to do some front porch sitting. Cole was gone to a friend's house so Deb opened the front door, cranked up some tunes and we just sat and enjoyed the rest of the night.
My Valentine's day Fire table Deb bought me.
We had been looking for the right bar stools to fit our old house. Deb found these dirt cheap and ordered them in.
I knew Deb had been saving up for a new stove top for quite a while. We had picked out a 5 burner top that was a really good price, but I wasn't really impressed with the design of it. So for Valentine's Day, I told her I would pay for the rest of it. So, a call to Sears was made and Friday after work the installation was done.
This thing is a beast. 36" wide. It has a 16,000 BTU power burner, a 12,000 power burner, two 9,500 BTU regular burners, and a cute little 5,000 BTU simmerer.
We did get a bit done on the back side of the house this weekend.
We got the eave closed up where the chimney used to be.
And replaced some of the siding that had some rotten ends on it.
If the weather turns out as it is forecasted, I will be taking a three day weekend this weekend and hopefully will get to the house to where it is ready to paint.
Here is our color choices. The house will be a sage green and the trim will be cream.
In the past few years the under brush had grown up in the woods behind the house, so we called Nick Wade with Stumpco to come and use his tracked skid steer with mulcher attachment to go through and get rid of the under brush. Here are a couple of pictures of his work. It looks incredible now.
That's all I have for now. I will continue to try to keep the blog updated a little better than I have been. Thanks for reading!
