Plans that Change

When we moved to Monte Vista we really thought that we had arrived.  Here we are - in the neighborhood we have always loved, with a blank slate empty lot we can make exactly what we want and boy howdy did we work at it. 

We built this underground greenhouse after YEARS of planning, designing and research.  It was to be my jungle in winter - provide oodles of food for our family and more and be a creative outlet and learning opportunity for our children for years to come.  I had planned every detail of what I would plant and when and how our experimenting here would begin.  

For months Tyler and the kids and I took trips to the block yard to gather and stack all the cinderblock.  That was a lot of trips and those are heavy block.  Once it was stacked as close to perfectly as possible it was time for cement.  The concrete came not a minute too soon - the day before Tyler would fly North.  

Here is our cute little house and see those trees?  We watered them by hand for a year before we ever moved the house over.  They are finally growing and hopefully are as tall as me someday.  The grass was extra from a friend's basketball court project.  We watered it by hand. Before we moved we had to reset the porch so it was level.  

And so it begins.  Our familly - that had planned on staying right here in this spot for the rest of time - isnt.  I know that God has a better plan for me than I could ever make for myself and after Noah's arrival I'm more determined than ever to let Him set the course for my life.  The kids were a little (lot) shocked when we broke the news to them.  There was a little fear and a little crying but in the end we're a family and they decided to team up.  

 Of course - we made the most of our heaven-on-earth playhouse before we left.  Right up until the day we moved to Grandma's there were kids in, on, under and around the playhouse.  It's one of the things I know they'll miss the most.

We decided the best way to go would be to sell everything we didn't really have an attachment to so we purged our whole life and yard-saled like crazy.  The day of our big yard sale Grandma Horse got in a bad car accident.  We went to be with her at the hospital and Grandma and Grandpa Cox cleaned up our yard sale mess and took the leftovers to DI.  What a blessing to get home late and find our mess cleaned up.

 Here's the back of the chicken coop.  The kids and I added pretty toppers to the posts and painted them.  Daddy built the shelves in the feed shed and leveled the ground in there as well.

Here is the hole before the roof went on.

Yard sale fun.  Seriously - how did we end up with so much stuff?  I've always loved the feeling I get when I can purge the unnecessary.

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Here we are on the maiden voyage of the playhouse - first sleepover.  They were so excited!  I was half tempted to sleep out there with them.

We got the green monster installed and the slide and ladder fixed.  It's a kids heaven.

The boys were helping with the yard sale (which mostly  means playing with all the stuff)

Sandbox fun.

Grandpa had to come check out the playhouse after the carpet and paneling was put up.

The back of the playground and bike garage.  

One tired daddy with all the work.  He literally burned his candle at both ends right up until the day that he left - I think he could probably have slept for a week after all the work we got done.

The shed finished up beautifully.  We partitioned it to leave our storage and the front half is for the new tenant to have a little storage space.  I miss my chickens already.

 The week after Daddy left Grandpa organized the roofing project to get the greenhouse dried in before winter.  It was a beautiful day and it turned out so nice!  There is quite a glare off the siding, but it will give a lot of heat for my strawberries and rasperries.

Hoome sweet home - and now for a change.  Seems strange to be leaving this place but also exciting to look at what started as a completely empty lot and realize all that we accomplished there.  

Look!  My fruit trees look awesome and the strawberries do too.  Please don't die little plants.  My bees are pretty happy back here too.

Noah helped a lot with the yard sale.

More roofing.

After Tyler left the kids and I moved to Grandma Cox's for a few weeks while I got the house ready to rent.  There were just a few more things that needed to be done and it was easier without people in it.  Every day when I walked to get the kids off the bus I would look at what started as nothing and feel thankful for every minute of working together.  We never know how long the phase we're in will last and we never really appreciate it until it's over.  How I have loved this property, all the working and growing and planning and hoping we did here.

Ksenya capitalized on the yard sale to do a little bake sale and was the cutest baker ever.

THank heavens it was a beautiful sunny day.

See?  The girls loved playing with all of the costume stuff we've gathered over the years.  

And now?  On to Alaska and life's next big adventure!