Grass, Grass Everywhere and it doesn't stop growing

In case you were wondering, yes we do have a lot of grass and no we do not have a riding lawn mower.  That is until Papa Ted showed up with an everysogenerous housewarming/birthdays/everything for a while gift.

After unloading our new workhorse, we got a lesson, and then set off to start mowing.  The first time we mowed, it took us about 5 hours.  Daddy did most of it but let Mommy try it out a little, Abram and Katie even jumped on for short rides making the 5 hours a little more enjoyable.  Lucky for us our new workhorse come with service calls...which we have already had to put to use.  Good thing we know a great mechanic.

Papa Ted also fixed our blower and brought it back to us with the lawn mower.  Before anybody else to get there hands on it to clean up after the mower, look who got a hold of it.

While it makes me sad that he is growing up so fast, I was also very proud that he wanted to help and be a part of the action (a major change for him).  He is also really good at it, after he figured out that the blower continued to put out air even when the trigger wasn't pulled.

 

 He has become the official blower at our house, now to get brave enough to start up the weed eater!

Morning Hawks

It didn't take us long to realize we weren't in the city anymore (not that we moved from the city but we are much farther out in the country than we were before).  Little clue started us off like the lack of every hearing any cars, the sounds of chickens clucking in the distance, and the total silence at night.  We signed the papers, had new mattresses delivered, and slept in the living room for our first night. When we woke up the next morning, we noticed large birds in the back pasture.  The more we looked the more we realized they weren't just another big bird visiting us.  We watched them fly around chasing mice and snakes and listened to their very distinctive call and knew that we had a family of hawks living nearby.  Of course, we were super excited and tried to be quiet not to scare them off.  We watched them that morning and every morning for the next 2 weeks.  Every morning when we would wake up they would be out there either sitting on the fence post or flying around chasing their own breakfast and hence they became known around here as the Morning Hawks.

They hung around for about 2 weeks and then they just disappeared.  We really don't know why but their disappearance did come about the same time as we started getting lots of rain.  We continue to glance out the window toward the fence post every morning waiting for the day they will return.

Daddy's First Home Repair

When we bought the house, we knew there were some immediate things that had to be done.  Close to the top of the list was take care of the roof, so before anything was moved into the house, Daddy climbed up there to start his list...

 

Yeah, flip flops maybe not the best option but when that is all you have because everything else you own is in storage...you make do!  He did a great job and got what he could without falling off the roof in flip flops and in case you were wondering he did put on tennis shoes and go back up later to finish what he started.

Some More Befores

 

The Kitchen

 Abram's bedroom

 Katie's bedroom

 Sunroom

 Front of house

 Tool shed with pole barn in the background

So this is where we are starting!

A Few Befores...A little taste.

If you read yesterdays post, you know we are all getting used to lots of new things this summer in the Fletcher house.  Tonight has been a much better night and all are sleeping soundly (literally I hear snores coming from every room in the house!).
I wanted to go back to the beginning of this latest adventure and give you a little taste of what it looked like around here.

 

The lovely wallpaper in the living room.

The den, notice the lovely carpet.

So this is where we started about a month and a half ago.  It's funny because we keep getting overwhelmed but then I look at these pictures and think about how far we have come, it is kind of amazing.  We also have to keep reminding ourselves everything doesn't have to be done today so take our time and do it right from the beginning. 

Wishful Thinking...

So, I really wanted to put up a new post with lots of great pictures and information showing all the things going on around here....but if you will notice the time on this post, it is 1:00am and I am just settling down because someone (cough, cough, Buttercup) just can't seem to get settled for the evening.  Yes, imagine Mommy outside in the rain in her pajamas trying to figure out what this animal needs so we can all get some sleep...not a pretty picture.  So, please check back tomorrow and hope for a settling of the canine members of the family!

New Family Member

Today was another big day in the Fletcher family.  We added a family member, now before you get any ideas...we are out of the gene pool when it comes to children but we can add animals.  So today we returned to the Humane Society to pick up our newest member Buttercup.


She is a 5 month old hound/retriever/boxer/who knows what else mix.

 

So far, so good.  The kids are beside themselves with excitement, she is beside herself with excitement!

 

The first time we met her, the kids decided we should name her Hyper because she had so much energy.  Daddy decided that might not be the best name for her, so today while Mommy did paperwork everyone else decided that maybe Buttercup was a better name.

When we got home this afternoon, Abram looked at Mommy and said, "Mommy, our house is kind of like a zoo now!"  "Yeap, 2 cats, 1 dog, 1 fish, 2 kids, a Daddy and a Mommy...it sure does feel like a zoo!"

As just a little background, this all came about because Mommy and Daddy decided that when we had more room and space for animals Mommy could have chickens in return Daddy could get a dog, soooo we now have more room and space for animals to run around.  Daddy got his dog...stayed tuned for Mommy's big day.  Oh and did I mention, Katie has been asking for a dog from Santa for at least 2 years now (that and a horse...hhhmmm).  Abram on the other hand wants a turtle, still working on that one.

 

Welcome to the family, Buttercup, we think you are going to fit right in!

As a side note, we have to give major props to the Blue Ridge Humane Society.  Their animals are so well taken care of, the people who work their truly know each animal and really want to match the right animal to its right person.

 

And we are back...

Okay, so we kind of disappeared for a while but hopefully we are back.  Things got a little crazy at our house (and still are) but I think we are getting it back under control and want to share with all our friends and family how we are all growing and changing.
Since last we posted, lots of things have happened.  The kids have grown up so much.  Abram is now 7 and getting ready for second grade, Katie is 6 and getting ready for first grade.  Daddy is teaching special needs high school kids and Mommy has moved out of the regular classroom and is teaching reading.  The biggest change for all of us has taken a year of hard work...after spending 35 years in our house it was time for a change.  We decided as a family that we needed something different, so we started packing and sold our house.  There were lots of stumbles along the way but a year, lots of camping out, help and encouragement from lots of loving friends and family, 3 PODS, 3 storage buildings and several relatives' garages later...we are in our new house.
On April 26, with mixed feelings, we said good-bye to an old friend that we had cussed and yelled at but that served us very well.



Since things don't ever work out for us like they are supposed to, we spent the next month with our wonderful and ever so gracious cousins...who might I add thought we were only going to be there a couple of days!
Fast forward to the first week of June and we finally closed on our new house...same town, same basic area, new house for the Fletchers.

 

And so, this is where we start our new adventures.  I hope to keep you all up to date on the goings on at our new abode (did I mention it is a fixer-upper), as well as with our wonderful family, sometimes known around here at Team Fletcher because we all work so much better when we work together like a team.  Go TEAM FLETCHER!