Big storm and big game

 Two years in a row Ryan, and the kids have camped in the backyard only to be chased inside by tornado-like wind speeds. Here is what happened this year.

 Our kids are getting a little superstitious about camping in the backyard. Carl, who wants the final limbs of the poor ash tree to fall down, keeps asking to camp in the backyard again.

 I try not to encourage him since this storm cost us a new roof. 

This summer Ryan led soccer club for the kids. They met in the yard every morning at 6:30 and did drills and other "soccer things" until breakfast. As a final show of how much they learned, they challenged the Finch cousins to a soccer match. 

The Finch's not only outnumber the Hackett's, they also outweigh them. Everyone had a great time regardless. And I'm pretty sure that Carl spent the whole time practicing his somersaults. He's the one in the Argentina jersey close to the ground. I'm sure that one day he will be our secret weapon.

Piano Room

I have to apologize because these pictures were taken last winter when we normally do our wallpaper projects. The problem with getting these pictures is you do all the grunt work and then it takes a month to get all the new paper up and all you want to do is sit in the new room and enjoy it. 

Here is our piano room with it's new dogwood blossom green wallpaper. We love it!

Master Bedroom

I think that our master bedroom might be my new favorite room now. Here is the old room in a strong 90's style motif. This was not the only layer of wallpaper we had to pry off, but it was the darkest.

Luckily the kids love, love, love scraping wallpaper off. Is it the party music we listen to? Is it the good company? Is it the promise of frozen yogurt when we're done? It's hard to know.

If you will see Jane's technique below, that is why Ryan dremmeled off the corners of everyone's putty knives. He was sick of patching walls.

Here is the completed room. I made the curtains and they were being trained to hang right in this picture. I would take another picture now, but the room is full of baby stuff that are not so cute.

Cousins and new tricks

Celeste and the kids came out for a great visit. Everyone had a great time riding bikes, playing in the yard and learning sign language. There was even a soccer game where everyone got to use their new skills from this summer's early morning Soccer Camp.










And then there were the new tricks... Carl learned how to climb the door frames and my life hasn't been the same since. I walk a lot more stooped now, especially between rooms.

I love this picture of Alice and Grant. He had just given a heroic burp, and luckily I got this picture of them.

The kids and Ryan pulled up the last of the  dreaded landscaping rock and "black plastic of death", and they put down mulch. I hope that it was in time to save our redbud tree, but I have my doubts. We don't take pictures of that tree anymore.

Happy 4th of July

The hottest day of the year found us on the Best Hike of Our Lives! This hike is spoken of with a kind of reverence in our home, which is ironic since it's called Devil's Bathtub. There were 14 stream crossings, and we initially thought we were going to stay mostly dry. But come the 5th or 6th crossing, caution was tossed to the wind along with the ideas of dry clothing. 

 At our picnic spot, all the cousins decided it was time to make a dam. Hoover would be proud.

 Those were some cold wet kids by the end of our hike.

The kids and their moms successfully made it through another summer of swimming lessons. Tears were shed, feet were stomped, bribes were issued, but everyone learned a lot and no one drowned. 

Happy Spring Birthdays!

This spring Jane turned 8 years old and got baptized! 

 She was so happy!

 She really loved snuggling Grant.

 This is what happens when Carl finds my old sword and the kids commandeer the tissue paper from baby shower gifts. Fierce baby protection mode.

 Now that school has started again, I think it's fitting to include our end of the last school year party - inspired, decorated, and enjoyed by the kids most of all.

 Helen decorated her own birthday cake! Amber provided the cake and frosting; Helen provided the garden theme idea and enthusiasm.

Welcome Baby Grant!

We adopted a baby boy in April, but we wanted to wait until it was finalized before posting pictures on line. And also, life with a newborn is a little hairy.

 Here we are in the step-down NICU where we spent a few days as he got stronger.

 We were super happy to have him in our family!

 Thanks to Grandma Bee who came out and helped watch the kids while we were in Kansas picking up Grant. Carl is so happy to have someone else in the "boy room."

Camping in Florida

For spring break, our goal is to find the warmest place to camp in under a day's drive.  Northern Florida fit the bill again this year, so we headed down to Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, along the Suwannee River.  Stephen Foster, from Pittsburgh, PA, never saw the Suwannee River, but his catchy song "Old Folks at Home" became so famous that Florida adopted it as its State Song and created this cool State Park to commemorate his music.  Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were good sports and joined us for the adventure.  Our trip was full of the required camping elements - tents, dirt, long hikes, rain, an unexpected cold front, ticks,1 snake and 1 toad.  Here's a slide show if you want to re-live it with us.

Visit from Grandma Bee

While I was in Argentina, Grandma Bee came to play with Ryan and the kids. They had a wonderful time making these fruit parfaits.

If that weren't fun enough, they also got to make these wonderful fairy houses. I'm pretty sure that we grow flowers for the butterflies, birds and children, although not necessarily in that order.

They got to go to Bays Mountain and enjoy a pontoon boat ride. I'm happy to report that no one fell in the drink, and they saw multiple fine beaver lodges.

Happy Birthday Carl!

 Carl turned 4 and thankfully Grandma Bee had sent these fine machines to top his birthday cake. Ryan's creative genius really came through in the digging, pushing and scooping of this creation.

It is really fun to bike ride with a four year old on the back. It is a little humiliating when everyone on the trail is faster than you are, but no one else has such great conversations.

Here we are supporting the marching bands in Bristol, TN. It was the snack that got us through the tough times.

 We have friends in our ward that let us come out a pick pumpkins for Halloween. Then kids loved it and took as many as they could hold. 

For Halloween we had a pirate, bunny, leopard and cat - all purchased at the dollar store and enhanced by day-to-day outfits from Wal-mart.  I love holidays for a fraction of the cost.

Carl and I spend a lot of time together with the girls at school, and he can make a mean batch of muffins.

Garden project

We have a large patio/garedn on the side of our house that was covered in black plastic and rocks. The rocks spent most of the time being hauled around by creative kids and the black plastic had a tendency to flap in the wind. We decided to haul out all the rocks with help from the Finches and then redo the patio into a more plant friendly environment (mulch). 

Why not wear hot pink protective eye wear you've stolen from your sister?

 Lucky Carl got to drive a skid steer at the local landscape supplier. I'm pretty sure that we will never be able to provide him with a more exciting experience.

 That is a lot of compost to move around.

And here's the pile of mulch that came on the very same day. Nothing like hard labor.

Here's the finished rock patio/path with mulch. Now I can plant flowers without moving around rocks and cutting up nasty black plastic. Our patio is going to be significantly cooler now. Not really necessary during winter, but we'll look forward to it this spring.