Monday, August 1
The boys were home today because they're going to Ft. Worth on Tuesday. But more about that later. . . It was nice having them around and they worked on "mom's list" which made mom very happy. :)
Evening Ride - When it finally cooled off last night, Carolina talked Dad into saddling a couple of horses for her and Stockton to ride.. I can't believe they're big enough to do this on their own. When did this happen?
Tuesday, August 2
Atlanta, Cimarron and Laredo left early this morning on a quick road trip to Ft. Worth. They had been planning this outing for a while with the two young men who worked on this summer's mowing crew with them. (see New Workers, July 2011 News) The fun started at Cabela's, then they ate at Cracker Barrel, then they shopped at an army surplus store. The highlight of the trip was a night of swing dancing at a multi-use facility in downtown Ft. Worth. They spent the night in Bryson with Zeb's family and came in the next morning. They really had fun, but were very tired..
Isn't this a darling picture of Atlanta? It's part of a photo shoot we did this weekend for a blog post for her blog, Story of a Seamstress. She's having a give-a-way for a pair of shoes from a really neat shop in Scotland called, "NESS". She's posted pictures of their clothes and other items on her blog in the past and they got so much internet traffic coming from her site that they asked her to participate in their affiliate program. This means that they have an advertisement on her blog, and she gets 15percent commission on any item sold whose buyer came from her site. Please visit Atlanta's blog this week and then click on the NESS ad and check out their fine products. It will help her out to have lots of traffic going to the NESS website from her website. Click here to visit Atlanta's blog. -And don't forget to enter the give-a-way!
This pretty little colonial girl is actually Carolina (Atlanta's favorite model). This is a special order dress going to North Carolina for a birthday gift for some lucky girl. As usual, Atlanta did a very professional job.
Thursday, August 11
Hooray! It was only 96 degrees today. It's been almost 60 days since that's happened. All told, we've had near 80 days over 100 this summer. It will definitely be a summer to remember (or try to forget).
A bit of a "cold front" blew through this morning and it was actually only 75 degrees this morning with a nice easterly breeze. The girls kind of got carried away thinking it was "cold" and they found two of Carolina's winter robes and put them on. Here they are in Carolina's playhouse this morning.
Milo, Rusty and little Coconut in a three-way chew-a-thon !
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!
The three oldest Phipps boys from Turkey came over to film some army footage for a film Grant is putting together. They got really hot and took a break in Cim, Laredo and Stockton's room. That's when I snapped these never before seen shots.
Wednesday, August 24
Aspen baked this yummy pound cake for the boys to take with them next week. They've rented a trailer house in San Angelo to try and save money instead of staying in motels and eating out. We've been freezing meals for them to take and use for suppers. This whole wheat treat will be most welcome, I know.
Nathan working on bed orders for our Etsy shop. We've got a new look. Check it out here.
Sunday, August 21
Here's a scene repeated several times a day. Coconut gets dirty or gets into the chicken's water or a muddy spot and has to be washed off before she can go back into the house. This little dog really loves the water. Probably because she has a very healthy covering of long hair.
I cut it up and boiled it and Atlanta made him a pumpkin pie out of it. I was going to take pictures of it, but it went too quickly!
August 18
I haven't mentioned my garden this year...well, because there's not much to brag about. This was our pumpkin. Yep. Just one. I didn't even plant it. It came up from last year's seed. Stockton kind of claimed it and has been keeping an eye on it all summer. Today we decided we'd better pick it whether it was ready or not, since it's vine appeared to be in deep stress.
sometimes it's tricky getting fixed just right. . .
Rusty and Milo have their "man cave" under the trampoline.
Tuesday, August 16 - Beating the Heat
Here's a few shots I took of some of the animals trying to stay cool as well. . .
Sunday, August 14
Today we had some special guests for the day. Bryan Cole, who worked for us mowing this summer, was in the area working at his granddad's farm in Lockney and came for brunch. Later in the afternoon, the Roberts came to pick up Michelle and stayed for a cookout. The kids attached the volley ball net to the pool and had some cool fun.
Coconut was a bit spoiled this week by two little girls whose names I won't mention.
Here's a cute picture of Coconut. She's got quite a little personality.
Friday, August 12
Amazing Pictures - We noticed a week or so ago that this plastic globe (which has been in my family since I was a kid) was totally melted. It was sitting in a southwest window of our schoolroom. I wonder if this didn't happen on the day it was 117 degrees. (Now I don't want to hear anyone complain that their house is hot!)
Stockton's Creation - This week Stockton decided to make a video with some of his Starwars guys. He needed some kind of ship for them that was like the one they used in the movie. He didn't have one, so he proceeded to make one! He used only scissors, cardboard, hot glue and paint. Not even a ruler. The whole thing was done in a couple of hours. I thought it was quite incredible.
Coconut got to see what it was like to be on a real pony.
