Life with the Hinds'

We went to watch the balloon launch in Lincoln Saturday night. Not many balloons actually went off, but we did see a few. I think the kids liked the Nemo Balloon...4 from the right in the picture below. They also had fun playing in the field. Kalee and Ava were yelling Giddy up!! Peyton and Adam are pretty good at Cart Wheels these days! Guess Peyton is ready for gymnastics to start in two weeks! I love this picture of Kalee!  She's so happy!

Lily had so much fun the other morning playing in the dirt! Kate did her best to keep her happy with her toes in the dirt, but she really wanted to sit and dig her fingers in!

It's been a week since we went, but we went to the fair before it closed for the year. It was a hot day!  Yuck!  I  can't live without prefer air conditioning! The girls rode some rides.  Their favorite was the helicopters. We also went to the petting zoo. Kalee told me her favorite animals are goats! Matt says Great!  He will get her some goats so he doesn't have to mow 5 acres!! We missed the horse races this year. Darn...They are kind of the end of the summer celebration for me. Maybe we will make it to them next year when we don't have to move in 3 days!

Yesterday was a VERY busy day at the Homestead! We had the Well Driller come out to drill the well! On Tuesday, Mark came out and he, Pop, Stacey, Kate and I all tried our hands at witching. Mark is good at it.  So is Pop. Kate could do it too! (I told her she could have a new profession!) Stacey and I...not so much! The Well Guy came and we confirmed the drilling spot...He, Mark, Pop and Kate all agreed it needed to be in the Northwest corner of the property. He got set up and started digging right away. They drilled a little, dumped the bucket, then went back for more. I wish Adam could have been there to see it!  He would have LOVED IT!! They hit rock at 32' and couldn't go any further. Thankfully...They hit water around 17'!! The center picture here shows the water and the well!! He was shining a mirror to reflect off the water. I could also see the water pouring in from the 17' depth. It was pretty neat to watch. We also got our first round of Driveway Rock yester...

We had another first today... Peyton and Adam rode the bus! They were SO EXCITED!! They got out of school at 2:00 and I expected them to be the first ones off the bus. Not so. I waited outside for 50 minutes. 2:50 rolled around, and finally the bus came from the opposite direction. What a crock! If they were to ride (which they will sometime), they would be the first to be picked up. Then when it drops them off, they are last! Good thing they like it and think its an adventure! I gave the bus driver treats. Maybe he will remember that we are nice and take extra special care of them! At least that's my hope! She had another great day at school. She got to take the class lunch money to Nan's office.  Guess she went in and Mom was talking to someone, so she put the envelope on her desk and said "Here Grandma!" then turned and walked away with her classmate.  She got to have Mrs. Clarke for PE!!  Yay!  She said she also went to Music class.  They had recess (one of ...

They are putting in our culvert this morning!!  YAY!! I know, it's hard to contain your excitement!

Kari asked if I could explain Witching to the city folk!  I call it Witching, which is probably not very PC.  Oh well.  It is really called Dowsing.  Here is a definition off the Internet. Dowsing is the action of a person--called the dowser--using a rod, stick or other device--called a dowsing rod, dowsing stick, doodlebug (when used to locate oil), or divining rod--to locate such things as underground water, hidden metal, buried treasure, oil, lost persons or golf balls, etc. Since dowsing is not based upon any known scientific or empirical laws or forces of nature, it should be considered a type of divination and an example of magical thinking. The dowser tries to locate objects by occult means. Our well guy came out.  He had two copper rods shaped like "L's".  He walked around the property with his arms out holding the rods.  When he walks over an underground water source, the rods crossed in front of him.  They were both pointing out and ...

I have a Kindergartner! It makes me horribly sad and excited at the same time. She is "definitely really excited!" Which is a good thing based on her past school experiences! She had a great first day.  They went for 2 hours.  We got up and got ready.  Peyton kept asking can we go yet?  Can we go yet?  I finally told her we would just leave at 7:30...go to meet Adam and Mandy.  School starts at 8:15.  So we went there and took some pictures, then walked to school.  They meet in the gym and sit with their class, then are walked to their classrooms when it's time.  She went right in and told a lady who her teacher was and went and sat down.  I barely got a kiss!  I'm very proud of her.  Mandy, Kalee and I went to have coffee and breakfast with the PTO and waited for them to get out.  She came running out all smiles and said she had a great time! SUCCESS!!! Being silly getting ready I tried to get her to sit on the front st...

Our well guy came this morning and witched for water! He said if he knew I was going to take pictures, he would have come here first!  HA! It was pretty neat to see. Should be drilling for water end of next week!

In other exciting news... I am getting this... A Canon 50D! I am pumped! Matt ordered it for me two nights ago. I will be here in a week. I am anxiously awaiting it!! YAY!!! So let me take your pictures!

We are moving dirt! I think that means the house is officially started! August 19, 2010 The Hinds Homestead is underway! Matt marking the driveway. Starting up the digger. (I don't know the appropriate name for it, and Adam isn't here to tell me!) Ready... Set... DIG!!! (who knew I would be this excited about moving some dirt around?) The girls by our dirt pile... Yes, we own that! On a completely unrelated note... Notice their new shoes? They are both super pumped about their new school shoes. Kalee puts hers on as soon as she gets up in the morning. School starts tomorrow. Peyton in Kindergarten! **Tear** She is pretty excited. We go to Meet the Teacher Night this evening.  Will go to her room and take all her supplies. I just can't really believe she is old enough. **Tear...Sob...Tear**

We closed on our land yesterday afternoon! We are now the proud owners of 5 acres of land!! I can't put into words how excited I am. Matt says he's tired already! It's busy times for us from here on out! Thanks Tom and Bonnie for making this possible for us! We love you!! So here we are... Peyton, 5, Shelly, 30, Harley, 8, Matt, 30, and Kalee, 3 On the Hinds Homestead

Well, we did it. We moved in 3 days. House sold...Thursday. First loads of stuff taken to Pawnee...Friday. Shelly packed an entire house...Saturday. We moved an entire house...Sunday. Time for resting?...maybe in a week or two. I am back in the Burg today to do some cleaning and let in a Pest Inspection Guy. There are still a few odds and ends here. Matt is living here until we close Friday. If living means sleeping in Kalee's twin bed and only having a recliner as furniture. I brought him some silverware today. He called last night and said he didn't even have a knife to spread peanut butter on his sandwich for lunch. Oops... It feels so good to be moving on. I am so happy to be in Pawnee. Coming home has a whole new meaning for me! Signing Peyton up for school (again) in Pawnee tonight! We went school supply shopping yesterday...I promised her we would. She's excited! We know who her teacher will be. I'm excited! Mom and Dad's Internet is...

Some of the highlights from our trip to Oklahoma... We went bowling. Katie and Jeromy are in a league every Thursday. So the girls and I bowled while they did their thing with that. Peyton almost beat me. I am apparently a pathetic bowler. Or maybe she is a prodigy...I will go with that one!! They were so cute in their bowling shoes! We went swimming a lot in Katie and Jeromy's pool. They gave the girls tents for their birthdays. They are tents in backpacks. Very fun. We set them up in the shade and they had a fun time playing Polly Pocket in and outside of them. I admit that I sat in the hammock while they did this...it was a great vacation! And in my attempt to take more pictures of me with the girls...here are some from this trip. They don't care that I have on no makeup. They don't care that I look tired. They love me and will be happy to have pictures of me as life goes on. (said aloud and repeated...) At least I did my hair...

I have been up since 4:50. I really don't think I slept at all. I am too excited. My mind is racing with all we have to get done in the next week. We signed a contract on the house last night! That's right...SOLD!! I go to the Title Company today and get a closing date. They want to be in by next Friday. Yes, a WEEK. A week to... Pack the house up. Move everything we own an hour away. Get Peyton signed up for school in Pawnee. Get our money back from signing her up in Warrensburg. Figure out if Kalee can get into Preschool a few days a week. Close on the land in Pawnee. Get with Ryan to finalize house plans. Clean. Inspections. Termites. Did I mention we plan on being out in a week? Guess I should get off the computer and find some boxes... I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Our visit to Kansas was a lot of fun. I got to visit with Emmy. The kids all got to play together. They went fishing one night. I risked my life (or maybe just a major panic attack) by going out to the pond. Snakes are not my friend. Luckily for me, none were seen! What a difference a year makes... 2010 2009 2010 2009