The house is coming along and even has a roof now (although not the final metal one :). The exterior doors are in, but we are still waiting on the arrival of the windows. Hopefully we will have a plumber on site tomorrow to start the rough-in process. Things are moving along quite nicely and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. We can't wait to be at the farm permanently...we have even come up with a name, which will be a surprise at a later date. This past weekend, we went to Tennessee to visit Mamaw for her birthday...everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed each other's company. On Sunday, we went to Dollywood...we have definitely gotten our money's worth of season pass usage this year. There was hardly anyone there, and the weather was perfect! Josh even got Wyleigh on a ride that I don't think she was quite tall enough for...of course she was grinning from ear to ear. Have a great week...I'll keep you posted on the farmhouse progress.

The heat is on

We officially started framing last Wednesday, boy have they made progress. Mr. Jem is our lead framer and he makes everything look so easy....although I know how hard it is...especially in this heat. He made a joke and said, "You couldn't have framed this house in July...when it was cool?!?!!". Of course, I got a good laugh out of that one. Sunday, me and Mr. Jem went out and chalked all of the walls...that alone was hard work. Yesterday the crew started putting up exterior walls, and today they have put up some of the interior walls. In the midst of all the construction, yesterday I heard the faintest "meow"...needless to say, we have a new kitten. She is black with green eyes and we named her Dowda. The baby thinks she is a baby doll, and the boys love her. If she can tolerate this crew...she is a keeper. I will try to upload a video of the baby "holding" Dowda. It's pretty funny, but I promise Dowda wasn't hurt (that's my disclaimer :) ) Have a great day!

I know, I know....I'm terrible...being gone away for so long. But, I am ready to start visiting on my blog and seeing everyone on a more regular schedule again. School is only a few days away, the baby is becoming more independent, construction on the farm house is about to resume again (thank goodness), and things are as hectic as ever. Summer has been good...a a few road trips here and there, lots of visiting with family, making the most of garden harvests (the best salsa ever), and spending time with my wonderful brood. We have to head to town within the next few days to buy shoes for school. The kids will be going to a much smaller school this year, which makes me happy. I hope everyone has had a nice summer...I have been following every one's blog, even though I haven't been as diligent about keeping up with my own. I love every one's pictures and stories and daily lives...thank you for sharing. Bye for now, Billie Jane

Long time no see

My oldest son racing at his school's Olympic day.

My youngest son's class. He's the little boy on the left end.

My little miss. She was hamming it up for the camera.

This is what the house site looked like after they took down the BIG white pine.

These little cuties were born Friday. I think they are baby mockingbirds.

Hi again! Whew, boy do we have some catching up to do. For starters, this is the last week of school and we know how crazy that can be. Things around the farm have been progressing...a little. Two weeks ago, the house came down. It took a total of 20 roll off dumpsters, and that was after we stripped the house and it was just a shell. Last Friday, the 15th, I was finally able to get our building permit. So, the batter boards and string went up. Today they are grading for the crawlspace walls. Tomorrow we should start digging for the footers. All the while, I have been working on getting prices for the framing package. Set building aside, the farm is alive!!!! The pasture is lush and green, we have caught lots of fish, birds are everywhere, Lilly and Jose (the miniature goats) are settling in nicely and we even have a horse (Gracie) boarded. Hopefully I will be able to document our progress now that the ball is rolling. Have a great day!!!

Slow moving...

Things around the farmhouse have been slow moving lately. I have been busy trying to get permits to start everything and quotes to find out just how much it's all going to cost. I have definitely learned A LOT over the past month about building, HVAC, windows, doors, plumbing, electrical, lumber, roof pitch, building codes, and the likes. I like knowing a little bit about lots of things...so, this will be a great opportunity for some hands on learning. Monday and Tuesday of next week are the days set to take the house down, then Wednesday will be site prep for the new house. Thursday will be a just in case things run over day, and Friday will be the start of pouring the concrete walls for the crawlspace. It seems like once the ball gets rolling, it really gets moving. But, I'm sure there will be some stalls somewhere along the journey. It is all so exciting and we can't wait to live at the farm permanently. Have a wonderful spring day!!!!!

Springtime Fishing

It's been a few days, I'm happy to be able to get back to posting. Spring break was great. We took a short road trip, spent lots of time with family, and had one...or two....or three...good meals :) Back to the routine this week though. We are making progress at the house...albeit slow. We now have the final demo permit, we just have to finish salvaging everything we can. It seems like everything is waiting on the septic approval...something I had heard about, but didn't fully understand how difficult it is to get a septic permit on a property like this. Yesterday we went fishing in the creek with my brother and his two boys. We caught 4 crappie, 2 red eye bass, and 1 fish that we named the camouflage fish because we didn't know what it was. The kids all had a blast (me included). Little Miss had her first canned drink, a sierra mist, thanks to Uncle Nick . She wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, but once she had a taste, she kept running away like she thought someone was going to take it from her. It was pretty funny. We love going to the Georgia Farmhouse which we have also started calling the creek house. We are just sooooo ready to be there permanently. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve...only we have about 5 more months to go...I hope those creeks have plenty of fish in them :)

Spring Break

There wasn't much going on around the farm this past weekend. We made a last minute trip to Pigeon Forge for the start of Spring Break. The kids were ecstatic with the surprise. We drove up Friday night, checked into our hotel, and went to bed. We woke up early Saturday morning, had breakfast and headed to Dollywood. We spent the entire day walking, riding, eating, walking some more, eating some more, and riding some more. All of the kids (and mom and dad) had a blast. Little Miss loved riding all of the kiddie rides. We were exhausted at the end of the day, but promised the kids we would take them to the indoor water park at our hotel. They swam and rode the water slides over and over :) Finally we cleaned up and went to bed....YAY!!!!! Sunday morning we had a lovely breakfast, did some gem mining, played laser tag and began our JOURNEY home. We went through the Nantahala National Forest and stopped numerous times to investigate scenery, old grist mills, old homesteads and the like. We knew we were heading home to some bad weather in North Georgia. Monday morning we awoke to SNOW and it was steady coming down. Did I mention it was 73 degrees in Tennessee. Don't you love spring weather?!?!?!