CCS Rolls Again

CCS played Firelands on Tuesday evening. It was a good game for them!

My DH took over as the back up scorekeeper.  The regular scorekeeper had to leave early to go to a funeral.

The boys were really excited to play after having the last three games cancelled!

It was new experience for our team.  They dominated the opposition!  The other team was young and had not played much basketball.  We ran out to a quick lead and then instituted rules for our own team.   The best players were only allowed to shoot outside the paint.  The starters sat down  and the fifth graders got playing time for the first time all year.

T-Bob had a good game.  He actually stole the ball and went and made the lay up.  That was the first time did it successfully in a game.  His dribbling is improving.  He played post for the first time.

Micah's broken little finger.  OUCH!

The bummer for this game was that Micah broke his pinky on his left hand.  It was in the fourth quarter.  He will be out for the rest of the season and they are still determining if it will need surgery.  Poor Micah.  He is one tough guy.  He didn't cry or fuss, he just took himself quietly out of the game.

The team worked on their plays and they were very kind to the other team.  Letting the younger kids take unobstructed shots.  They showed excellent sportsmanship and didn't run the score up.  The final score was 31-13.

Update of the Old House

My nieces and nephew say that they will always think of this as our 'home'.  We did live here for 18 years. We have done a lot of work here and it no longer looks the same.  It is a 108 year old farmhouse that has received a serious update.  Many of the things that I really wanted done while we lived there are now completed. It is now all emptied out except for my DH's office.  

Living room

The living room walls are all painted a light plum brown color.

The dining room walls are now a different shade of tan, more yellowish and all the trim is white instead of linen.

The kitchen is still a work in progress.  Everything has been ripped out.  The refrigerator is just sitting there to hold the workmen's lunches.  We have bought all new appliances and cupboards which should be installed in the next couple weeks.

This used to be our pantry.  I stole the one door and moved it to the new house as it had all the children's heights recorded on it through the years.  A piece of family memorabilia.

The railing is no longer all white with a natural wood handrail.  This is a little stark to me.  NOTE:  Our painter selected all the paint colors without any input from us.  He is a funny fellow!  It is a long story on how this ended up happening.  Fortunately I don't really care because I have moved on and love the farmhouse we live in now.

Here is the basement.  It looks really nice!  The paint color looks great with the wallpaper we had put up.

This is the one thing I strongly dislike in the house!  This was my office before and now it is painted a really funky green color.  It is way greener than it shows up in this picture.  I bet whoever buys it, has this room repainted first thing!   I would if I bought it.  Green is my favorite color, but this is an obnoxious shade!

This was our former library.  We took out all the bookshelves and now it looks almost like a master bedroom without a bath.  It is bright and airy.  Not sure what the new owner would use it for family room or bedroom.

This is what was the boy's room.  The girl's room was redone the same way. They have all new carpet, the wallpaper is gone and the walls are painted a light cream color.

This room has undergone some dramatic change!  This was the kid's bathroom.  Now it looks very nice and sophisticated.  The permanently mildewed tub surround is gone.  The cheesy linoleum has been torn out and there is a nice ceiling in place, instead of a missing suspended ceiling.  Now it has lovely tile on the floor and wall.  I like it.

The green is gone from our old bedroom.

Here is the other end of the bedroom.  Our master bath is pretty much unchanged.

Another area that finally got redone was the area outside the storage area.  The big wall mirror up above is gone as is the green carpeting off the ceiling angles (don't ask!).  The paneling is gone and it looks really nice!

The former guest room is now a pewter color instead of pink.  The book shelves were left here.  They look nice.

Here is the other side of the third floor.  All the storage area doorways are now sliding instead of lifting.  The cherry floors my DH installed a couple years ago look great.  We still have some work to do on the yard and the garages need cleaning out.  Things are moving along and hopefully it will be ready to sell in a month or two.

Paul Turns 21!!!!

Twenty-One years ago today our oldest son, Paul, was born.  Today he signed up for college courses!  He has attained the height of 6'2".  For so many years he was very small for his age and I would reassure him that someday he would be over 6 foot and he would eventually catch up to Michelle in height.  He is now a half inch taller.  Yeah!

He is loving the farm and has been having a great time pulling the sled for the kids with the ATV.

He was born under the Christmas tree, quite literally.  We had all our babies at home, and he was born in the living room where there was more space.  We have had a family tradition ever since to leave our Christmas tree up until his birthday every year.  I have always said that anybody born under a Christmas tree had to be happy!

He and JoAn were pals from the beginning.

Paul was blessed to have two great grandmas living close by.   They thought he was pretty special.

He was a real blondie as a little guy.  He was a hard worker from the time he was little.  He started going to work with my DH when he was only 2.5 years old.

Paul was a sweetheart as a little boy.

He loved outdoor activities.  He especially enjoyed our trips to Canada.

Here he is with his best pal Will.  They are still good friends!

Here is a picture from one of our last Canada trips.  We haven't been able to go back since Elizabeth was born.

   

Paul and Elizabeth are great buddies, and have been from the very beginning.  They are twelve years apart but they spend a lot of time teasing and playing together.  Paul is such a good big brother.

Paul has a good ear for music and played the violin for a number of years.  He still drags it out every once in awhile.

Paul's 18th birthday.  Note the adorable place mat that depicts a properly set table.  The kids made this for Elizabeth so she could take over their job of setting the table.

On one of our family breaks we went to Chatauqua Lake.  Paul took the pieces and parts and made and designed a hovercraft, while we were there.  It actually worked and was a lot of fun!

Paul loves to work at camp.  In this picture he was acting in a skit.  He spends a lot of time there, when he can.

Paul also has been an AWANA teacher for the last three years.  AWAANA is a christian kids club.

Here are Paul and Michelle ready to head out to a English Country dance.  They had a great time!

Paul enjoyed his years in speech and debate.  His last year he really enjoyed working with Caleb.

Here is Paul with his good friend Will taken this spring.  It is neat to see them grow up together!

This past summer, Paul spent 3 months in Canada working on an evangelistic team there.  It was a real time of maturing for him.

Paul and Elizabeth

Happy Birthday Paul!  It has been so exciting and fun to watch you grow up.  We are so pleased to see the work that God is doing in your life.  Keep working to serve Him.

Baby, It's Cold Inside!

The past day or so we have had record setting cold for our area.  The temperature has gotten down to -14F (-25.6 C) and there has been a stiff 25-30 mph wind.  That feels REALLY cold to me.  We have really enjoyed our free heat that we enjoy by virtue of possessing a gas well on our property. Everything was cancelled for today.  No schools open, governmental or courts are working.  People are staying home and hibernating in their warm homes.

Ice on the inside of the double paned window.

 Well we are still on a steep learning curve on the farm.  We keep finding things that nobody told us about.  We noticed yesterday that the furnace was not able to keep  up with the cold outside.  The thermostat was set at 70 degrees, but the temperature wasn't above 66.  We wondered about it, but didn't worry about it.

Elizabeth wore her robe to stay warm while eating breakfast

Last night, I stayed up late reading a mystery and watching the end of the National Championship football game. (Florida State beat Auburn in the last minute.  SEC lost)  As I got towards the end of the book (It was closing in on 2 AM) I realized that I was getting cold.  I put my feet over by the fireplace to warm them up, when all of a sudden, "Poof" the fireplace went out.  I looked over at the inside thermometer and it read 60 F.

'View' out the back door.  Ice covered!

 I wasn't sure what to do, so I woke up my DH.  He suggested I try turning on the stove to see if there really was no gas.  The flame only sputtered for a few seconds on the stove and then went out.  Snap!  What to do?  We pay a small monthly fee so that if our gas well ever falters we can use gas from the main in front of our house.  We called them at their emergency number and they said they would pass the message along.  What to do?  Crawl into bed where it was warm!

T-Bob dressed up warm to eat his breakfast.

By 7AM the house temp was down into the 40's. Brrrr!  My DH drove up to the old house to bring back our electrical heaters.  About the time he got back, the neighbors and the gas company stopped by.  They told us that because of the very low temperatures, the water vapor in the well froze and blocked the flow of gas.  We needed to turn a valve out on the tanks and switch over to the gas company.  The newer tanks do it automatically, but ours are elderly tanks and have to be done by hand.

The kids built a blanket tent over electric heater to warm up

 Nobody thought to mention that to us before this morning.  Oh well.  Now we know.  We are once more running on gas, but this gas we will have to pay for.  Hopefully, it will warm up enough tonight that we can go back to our own tank and free gas.

Gas tanks are located behind pines in the middle of the picture.

 The neighbor did invite us over to warm up if the house ever gets cold again.  He also told us that the previous owner would put hay over the gas lines to insulate them from the cold every autumn.  It is a little late now!  Apparently ours are not buried deep enough to protect them.  Live and learn.  The house is up to 60 degrees inside now.

Winter Beauty

It is beautiful outside in the sunshine.  The chickens have been doing well in their coop.  We didn't see any evidence of frostbite.  There were coyote prints around the run-in.  Good thing they are in a secure coop.  Some local farmers lost hens to the coyotes.

We are thinking that we will be able to go skating on the pond now.  With this cold, it should be frozen plenty thick!  We are still loving the farm life!