Tragedy Has Struck Twelve Acres

In the late night hours of Christmas Eve, as our family was watching our annual traditional Christmas movies, a fire started in the attic next to the stove pipe. It quickly roared its way through the attics of all three floors, and virtually destroyed the 10 year olds bedroom, our "attic storage room" and many other areas. What wasn't destroyed by fire was destroyed by the water from the fire fighters. 

We are so thankful that we were still awake and were able to detect the fire shortly after it started. We got all the kids and most of the animals out safely. Unfortunately, our son's pet turtle was tragically lost in the fire, as well as our two goldfish. 

The thought of our home being so damaged and now unlivable is almost too much for me to bear. While the "bones" of the home are still good, the entire roof will need to be removed and a new roof put on. All of the electrical will have to be replaced, as well as any Sheetrock, carpet and paint as well. I know we can save our home, but we will have a very long and hard road ahead of us before we can come back home. It breaks my heart seeing all our hard work over the years go up in smoke. Literally. 

Here are some pictures of the devastation: 

If you are willing or able to help my family in even the smallest way, please consider donating to one of the fundraisers that have been set up on our behalf: 

GoFundMe

YouCaring

Baking

I've recently learned how to bake bread and it's been a lot of fun learning new ways to make delicious homemade goodies for my family! The kids seem to enjoy it too! 

Spa Room Transformation, Part 2: Our New Study

We've finished the room previously known as the "Spa Room". New sub-floor, insulation throughout, new electrical, sheetrock, lighting, paint, and carpet. For the first part of this room's makeover, click HERE. Take a look at some of the final steps in creating our new study/office/craft space!

The little guys helped me paint. They did a great job!

He had so much fun painting, he didn't want to quit!

I'm loving how this paint color looks, especially with the bright white trim!

We used plain boards for the mop-board and window trim, and also for the wall corner and ceiling trim. 

The new lights and ceiling fan are just right!

It's looking so good! 

We opted for an inexpensive variety of commercial carpet tiles and glued them down.

With the kids still being little and messy, we thought this would be the most economical, since the carpet would likely need to be replaced in a couple of years. 

I still need to make some curtains that fit these windows a little better, but I really like this room so far!

It's the most-completed room in our whole house! I love it! 

Spa Room Transformation, Part 1

I think the last time I really talked about the "Spa Room" is when we were planning on turning it into a baby room, when we were expecting Baby W.... which was all of five years ago. 

Obviously, time and life had other plans, and that spa room has sat there untouched these last few years. Finally this year, we hit it hard.... and finally got it DONE! 

I'll be posting this in two segments, one to show the work-in-progress, and one to show the finished project. These posts will be pretty picture-heavy. 

Beneath the old tile floor was the original wood floors,

but part of it was rotten from an old water leak under the whirlpool tub. 

Plywood was screwed down directly onto the original floor.

Little I loves to help!

The new wiring going in nicely. 

I'm pretty happy with my first time hanging insulation. It was much easier than I expected. 

Sheet-rock going up. This is always the part where we discover just how NOT square this old house is. 

We left this wall in the original siding. This was the outside of the house at one time. 

Mud is drying. 

Handy Husband took his time making sure the sheetrock looked really good.

Lots of mud, sanding, mud, sanding. 

Adding the window trim and sills.

Eventually we still plan on replacing these windows, but there's no hurry. 

Another look at the old siding on this wall. 

In PART 2, we'll see the new lighting, paint, and carpet go in. 

A Quick, Summertime Update

Fall is just around the corner.

We're now in our second (or is it the third?) week of school.

Our garden is, once again, a failure this year. Without the proper setup for watering, and a gate to easily get into the garden, and having the older boys leave for so many weeks in the middle of the season.... it just doesn't stand a chance of survival against the elements (weeds, draught, goat attacks). 

Here's a quick update in pictures of some of our activities the last month or two....

My first attempt at rabbit jerky turned out very good!

We "watched" the solar eclipse last month. 

Camping and swimming every other weekend is our new summer tradition. 

This young'un learned how to write his name in "school"!

Priscilla had our first babies of the year. There were eleven, but I think either the heat made it too hard on her, or maybe she just couldn't feed that many... eight babies have survived and are thriving. 

School is NOT the kids' favorite part of the day. 

This little guy is growing up way too fast! He'll turn three in just a few weeks!

Fun Fact: Amish-made apple pie is so much better than any store-bought, and even better than my own homemade pie. I'm so excited to have an Amish store moving in just down the road from us!