My Farmer

To Us!

In less than 2 weeks Allen and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary. And, seriously, what I busy seven years we've had. Quick recap.... we bought a house that needed MAJOR repairs and required we live in the driveway in an RV from months. Literally. While Allen worked on renovating the house, I graduated from Francis Marion University and became a short term (gag) substitute teacher. Fast forward two years and a much better job and, of course, pregnant with Emma, we bought the farm situated literally a couple miles from our house. In an area called Friendship. That was a big seller for Allen. One baby led to two more. Allen became a stay at home dad/farmer about 2 years ago. And here we are. I'm blessed to have been through all this with Allen. Of course without him, I cannot say there was a high probability of me ending up a farmer's wife. I think my parents are only now, five years post-farm-purchase, getting over the shock of me as farmer. So here's to my husband, the Man with the Homesteading Plan. I love you.

I think this is my third attempt to start a new post. But I get stuck. Title? Nope. Topic to write about? Nothing. I doubt you want to hear about my job (hectic) or the weather (dreary), so here is quite simply my attempt not to wait too long to between posts. Tah-dah.

Charleston

So I have approximately 300 pictures from the beach, but that would just take much too long to upload. Instead, here's a quick glimpse into our last day - the only day we actually made it to the beach. The rest of our weekend there was a bit too chilly for beach-going.

Emma is definitely a beach girl. She went straight to the water and was soaked head to toe in no time. She loved every second of it.

Mary Claire was a bit hesitant of the water, but definitely came around.

Olivia is my no-fear girl. She wanted to simply walk straight into the waves, preferably on her own.

Her daddy did a great job of keeping her upright. Me.... not so much. But I did get the picture of her falling face-forward into the water. That's what all good mothers would have done, right?

Goodbye, September

Is September really ending?! Life is flying by... I am looking forward to October though. Halloween, of course, should be quite fun with two trick-or-treaters this year. And we get to celebrate my niece's first birthday! And of course you have Mary Claire's birthday, both Papa's birthdays, and Allen and my 7th anniversary (could it really be that long?). Oh, and my first ever 5k! I will be jogging on Oct 9 (with good friend, Allison - her first 5k as well) in Fort Mill to support the Childrens' Attention Home. Great cause, free t-shirt - win/win situation.

On a side note, we are trying to refinance the farm, so everyone cross your fingers and say a little prayer for us! It's not exactly what one considers to be a conventional property, but boy would a slightly lower payment be nice so close to Christmas!

The girls

Just a random picture I snapped while the girls and I were enjoying this beautiful weather the other evening.

Fall? Is that you?

Has fall arrived in September? Or are the gods just pleased with us right now? Maybe this is my present for being a good girl and sticking with my decision to take up jogging? Either way, I am in love with the crisp, cool mornings and the warm, but not overly hot mid-days. It's been cool enough to allow me to drink my first (two) Pumpkin Spice Lattes of the season without feeling too silly for drinking a hot, fall-tasting latte while summer is still blaring upon us.

This blog entry brought to you by my love/hate relationship with Starbucks. Starbucks, if you are reading this, please consider helping a poor girl out and dropping the price of your overly addictive overly priced PSL to less than the cost of feeding my entire family a meal. Thank you.