FIRE

We are fortunate to have a house today.  On Wednesday while we were at school, our backyard shed caught fire.  We have no clue how, the firemen couldn't determine a cause, but we do know that we were so lucky!  The neighbors behind us just happened to have a man working on a deck behind their house and he saw the fire catch.  Once the shed caught fire it pretty much exploded.  If the Isle of Hope Fire Department hadn't have acted quickly, we'd surely have lost our house.  We lost the shed and all of its contents, Cade's tree fort, five trees, and the swing set.  It could have been so much worse.  We're so thankful that we're safe, and all our animals are safe.  Poor Leia dog was a backyard eyewitness.  The firemen said she was pretty much freaking out!  I have a new appreciation for the power of fire.

Our Little Tikes Bounce House

The Former site of Cade's tree fort

no more zipline riding for awhile

Pile o' bikes

gardening anyone?

Clara's swing

Wormsloe

75 degree weather in January was just the thing to encourage us to visit our neighborhood historic site, Wormsloe Plantation.

Christmas 2012

Some of our 2012 Christmas Highlights...

Christmas Eve service in precious matching outfits!

I was very firmly informed that this will be the LAST time that Cora Garola will ever be caught dead in something smocked! :(

Yummy Oysters for our Christmas Eve Oyster Roast

A cute minnie dress and shoes for our little Minnie lover! Thanks, Gran!

On Cora's wish list was an elf suit??? Who knows where that came from, but Gran made it happen!

OH Look!  All the way from Chicago, it's Uncle Russ!

Yummy Roasted Oysters were enjoyed by all!

Matching PJS and a wiggly baby!

Family came all the way from Argentina to be a part of the festivities!  So fun to have you with us, Monona!

Christmas morning surprises!  This is Cade about to open his #1 wish...a bow and arrow!

Great cooks, yummy food!

 

                                                               MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Sloanie is 1!

Our little Sloanie girl turned one in November and somehow we didn't share these precious party pics

!

Chicken Love

OK so chicken world is going well.  We weren't sure for awhile.  We had lots of escapees, a casualty, only one egg layer, then no egg layers, then time change drama, but I by-golly, I think we've got it now!

Hello from Dixie, our Buff Orpington and #1 egg layer.  She rocks! Only problem is she refuses to lay her eggs in the nesting box.  She lays them in the bottom of the coop! Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, right Dix?

Hi there, Minnie!  Minnie has perfect chicken manners. She like people, always goes in the coop when asked, and never jumps the fence!  She's the leader of the pack! 

Chicken sisters!

I'm not sure how people had chickens before the Internet. It's our best troubleshooting tool.  Our first egg laying girl stopped laying when the time changed.  Weeks went buy without even one egg.  Finally I got online and discovered that chickens need 12-13 hours of light per day to lay.  It also suggested enhancing their diet with special egg laying feed.

So we pulled out Rob's huge old hooded light from the shed and a giant extension cord.  Our backyard looks fairly redneckish with the extension cord permanently draped across it, but WE HAVE EGGS!  And lots of them.  We turn the light on when it's dark outside and it gives the girls heat and light.  They're all 3 laying now and we get three eggs every single day.  Finally, they're worth the work!

A tip from Clara...Change out of your church dress before you play with chickens or this may happen!

These things are so furry, it's hard to tell top from bottom!

CURE Childhood Cancer Christmas Party

 We are so thrilled that CURE Childhood Cancer is now serving Savannah!  It's been a long time coming!  We LOVED the Christmas party today! Thanks to all of you who had a part in making it happen!

A LEGO table where you create your own mini figures! BIG hit!

Face paining! Cade chose a mustache and red reindeer nose!

sweet painted girls!

Yay! Mostly smiles for Santa.  If you saw our Santa photo from last year, you'd see this is a tremendous improvement!

Cora and friends covering journals in fun duct tape!

We even recruited our cute friend, Lizzie, to help out!

So thankful for our little survivor!

The Girls Room!

This room has been in the renovation process for an entire year!  We do improvements VERY slowly around here.  My fabulous quilting friend, Connie http://fiddlercreekquilts.weebly.com/ , just finished Clara's baby clothes quilt, and now the room is COMPLETE!  They love it!

Clara's pillow sham

My mom found these cute wicker headboards at a yard sale and repainted them!  They're perfect! And Clara's bed is of course donned with her Minnies and a cheap chicken throw pillow that she won at Morey's Pier last summer!

The Osh Kosh overall pockets are my favorite on this quilt!  Perfect for lost teeth or little treasures!

We're a little into monograms!

Our Pintrest inspired hand print tutu art

In this shot you can see the awesome storage in the closet and under their custom built beds!  Thanks Pop! You're the best!

I found this fun green coat rack at my favorite ever Savannah store, Two Women and A Warehouse! Perfect for our HUGE purse collection!

Ignore the child throwing a fit on the bed, and turn your attention to the upper right corner to catch a glimpse of my fabric scrap curtains that turned out oh so cute! Thanks again, Pintrest!

Cora's spot! She's all about the ruffles and sequins so we threw those in on some throw pillows!

    TADA! Done! It only took a year, and Cora's already sick of sharing a room with Clara!