After a last minute runaround involving a notary, we closed on our house! Now we can really get started on our house and land.

We decided to buy a "new to us" car. We needed something with better gas mileage for my drive to work, and with two cars Shane and the kids aren't bound by my work schedule. We spent the day driving to a bunch of places until we finally found a car lot with cars in our price range. We ended up buying a Hyundai Sonata. I didn't have strong feelings about it when we bought it, but since then I've come to really like it. It's a pretty nice car.

Our second big purchase was a tractor. We need it to mow down the forest that has grown, and will need it for lots of things around the farm. So far it's been giving plenty of rides to the kids. I even learned how to drive it. Shane has been working his butt off every day, mowing and clearing the land.

When we lived in our old house, we had a pretty great backyard setup, and Winter was super upset when we sold the play equipment. We'd promised her a new slide and swing, so we bought a swing set. It took all day to set up, but it's pretty cool and the kids are loving it.

We've been getting packages like crazy. Tractor parts, tools, etc have all all been coming through the mail. One day, we waited until 630 for a package to arrive. I had taken the kids down to the creek for baths before bed, and THAT'S when fedex came. Shane got stuck for twenty minutes listening to the guy chat, and we hid in the creek the entire time. I had sent Winter up with the only towel to get me some clothes when the guy finally left.

I recently collected elder flowers and made a strawberry elderflower probiotic drink. It's pretty good, and Shane and the kids love it which is nice because they don't usually love the fermented stuff I make, especially Shane.

It's been pretty hot, and hadn't rained in a while so our creek is drying up. It's been our main source of non potable water, so the drying up has been concerning. We bought twenty IBC totes for rain water collection for the house, and we've been taking them in batches to the car wash so we can wash them out. Shane spent the day yesterday taking one of the totes to a local spring fed cow tank and using a pump to full the tote with water so we won't be dependent on the creek anymore. He'd filled it up on the truck trailer, but when he got home he used the tractor to lift it off. It involved a tie down and some jimmy rigging, and not a small amount of concern from me that something was about to go horribly wrong. I videoed it, so hopefully Shane will be getting it up on the YouTube channel (fizzypickles) soon. Once the totes are all plumbed together, we're going to have a local company come fill them with water, but in the future will be collecting rainwater as our main source of water.

Today we're heading into Oklahoma City to pick out the shipping containers for the house. We're also picking up some supplies to start doing the foundation. It's pretty exciting to be making such big strides on the house finally. We're going to be moving in once all the dry wall is up, and we have high hopes that we'll be in in the next month. Cross your fingers for us!

Black eyed susans

this guy was directly outside my car door when I went to get out. It took ten years off my life, despite it turning out to be non venomous, and dead. We suspect it got run over when I left. 

Elder flowers

found this cool guy while gathering elder flowers

 

The roots from black eyed Susans can be used as a medicinal tea for things like colds and uti

That's where the house is going 

Measuring for the foundation

We had to order a huge generator, and Shane had to use the tractor to get it off the truck

I took this picture a while ago, during a day at the lake. I've been saving it because it reminded me so much of my childhood. It instantly told me of hot summer days at the beach, and my dad taking me out into the deep water. I remember being so cold in the water, but my dad was warm and safe.

 I am so lucky to have a husband who is such a fantastic dad. I think about it a lot, while he wrestles them, swings them too high, and the million other fun (dangerous) things he does with them. All that rough play is giving them an amazing awareness of their bodies that in turn becomes bravery (which both of my kids have in spades). 

So many kids grow up without a dad, and it's too bad that we live in a culture full of broken families. I don't mean that people should stay in unhappy marriages or anything (after all, step dads are excellent dads, just ask mine), just that I wish things were different. In a perfect world, every kid would have their dad around. 

Unfortunately it's not a perfect world, which is why I feel so lucky to have all the wonderful men in my life that I do. I love you for all that you do.

And a special thank you to my husband who is not only rocking fatherhood, but also husbandom(?). He agreed to change our entire life, and move so he's been an extra amazing man this year, with more yet to come.