Some yard work

So it's time to be out doing yard work again, and tomorrow was the latest in a series of days where I've been working in the yard. I've spent probably 15-20 hours sawing up and chopping the approximately 8 large trees (some larger than others) that the builders of our home bulldozed to the side when they cleared land for the house. I have a pretty good sized pile of split wood for next winter's heating season, and once I get done with the trees we dropped yesterday (10 on purpose, 11 if you count the one that came over with one of them!) It's sure a lot of work, but we believe we'll love the woodburning stove in the winter! Rhonda's dad Paul came over, as did her mom Sharon, and we worked hard all day taking out multiple trees to make the hard safer for the boys to play in. The yard will be in good shape in a couple of years, but until then we'll be slaving away in the good weather to get it there:)

Trip to the capitol

During my spring break from work we took the boys on a trip to Jefferson City, MO to see the capitol and get a tour. Our neighbors at the Lake of the Ozarks, Mike and Valeeta McGhee, have been asking us all to go since he became a State Representative several years to go. We headed down there with Rhonda's parents and Bruce and most of his kids and Aunt Heidi. It was a really fun trip, getting the best tour possible of the capitol from Valeeta, talking with our state representatives, and perhaps the highlight for some of the boys, swimming in the hotel pool that night!

Mike is the guy in the tan suit with the grey hair and big smile, and he loved having the boys there in his office, even though he was busy with meetings and phone calls. The whole experience was very interesting, and we'll probably go back one of these days... Enjoy the pictures!

Four Wheeler Fun - Part 2!

Here are some more videos of Solomon and Thad having a blast on the four wheeler for your enjoyment!

4 Wheeler fun!

So we told Sol and Thad back before Christmas that if they saved up $100 each, we'd buy them a kids-size four wheeler. We have about 3 acres of land at our new house, plenty of space to tear around on it! Plus, I always wanted to buy something like that when I was a kid, but never ended up doing it, so wanted my boys to have the chance!
Both boys really hooked onto the idea, (tho Sol was a little slow coming around to it) and so we found a good used model on Craigslist and bought it! Grandpa Bailey put in some money to help pay for it, and we got a great deal on it! Sol cleaned up our creekbed a bunch to earn the rest of the money, and we have ourselves a fun new toy! Enjoy the pics and videos!

Playing around...

So we've been having fun playing on our new zip line and doing stuff around the house, and I found a funny video of Sol playing with a piece of pizza at Pizza Street. So this video is for Uncle Jesse and Auntie Jenna, who visited and went there with us a couple times.
The next one is of Ezra, who found his own fun at the library today while we were getting books. He can't read yet, and picture books are great, but he's definitely all boy!

Zip Line!

Today was the day we finally had good enough weather to put up the zip line. It has been kinda cold for me to want to get out and do it (I know, I'm a wimp of a Canadian!) It was really nice today, about 50, so we got out the chain saw and loppers and started clearing enough area to put it in. In the yard picture it would be just to the right of the little clearing you can see in the woods. We got it all done, and have been able to play on it today. I've also had time to clean up some brush and burn it, always a fun time! The boys want their Canadian aunts and uncles to know how much they love their Christmas gift, especially now that it's out of the box and up in a tree!!

Thanks Uncle Braden and Auntie Carrie, Uncle Garrett and Auntie Laurel, Uncle Jesse, and Auntie Jenna! You'll have to come visit soon and try it with us!

We got about 5 inches of snow or so last night, so today after we got our driveway shoveled we went out back to play in the snow! It was a great time, more snow means you can go further so it's a good thing our creek is frozen solid, the boys landed in there a few times! We're going back out in an hour or so to try again! We'll have to look for bigger hills in our new locale when we get some time!