We Put Some Sticks on the Rocks

Cabin Progress!

The 20 beautiful rock columns were complete, so it was time to get going. I need a roof over my head people.

I have grown tired of camping out, even though I now have a small, and I mean small, camper to sleep in. I complained so much that my sweet husband bought a 1970 something trailer from our good friends, gutted it and made a queen size bed on one side and a twin on the other, that is all that fits in there. I told you it was small.

No more sleeping on an air mattress on the ground that inevitably will lose the majority of its air during the night. They really don't make those air mattresses tough enough for 2 little boys.


Big Buckaroo and his dad put the first board on and away we went. They even let me use the screw gun. Thankfully, the bits that go on those things are not that expensive because I kept stripping them.



By the end of three days (it drizzled rain the majority of the time) we had all the floor joists/girders complete and the two decks complete (this picture only shows one of the decks).


We are ready for sub-flooring which will be done this weekend by Big Buckaroo.

And, we have a barn raising, well cabin raising, planned for two weeks from now.

Everyone is invited, free food and campsite in the mountains. All you need is some muscle and cool power tools (generator provided, we are in the middle of nowhere without electricity).

Don't worry, we are not Amish so failure to attend the barn (well, cabin) raising without the best of reasons will not lead to censure within our community or my blog community since my readership dwindled dramatically when I stopped posting during the Summer, I need all three readers to stick around.

While there are some nice showering facilities, the toilet part is between you and mother nature......

Going out to buy mosquito spray,

The Park Wife

Too Many Eggs in One Basket

Little Buckaroo's Farm Fresh Egg business is booming! Well, actually the chickens are laying like crazy and now that the Farmer's Market is closed for the season, I have a ton of eggs. We have some regular customer's, but we are getting 20 eggs a day on average, yep, 20.


Anyone want to come over for some deviled eggs, scrambled eggs, omelet, poached eggs, eggs Benedict, fried eggs, oh, the list goes on and I have the eggs for them all.

Cluck, Cluck,
The Park Wife

First Day of School 2009 - Park Wife Style

Sticking with tradition, we waved to the school bus and headed to the lake for Little Buckaroo's first day of school. We have been schooling for a few weeks, I am just behind on posting, surprise, surprise.


Was he worried he left his backpack, lunch, or if he was ready for pre-Algebra? Oh no, not in our world. He was just working on patience, a character quality I need to work on also, as he waited for his dad to bring him a life jacket. Now, we are all about an adventurous boyhood, but we are safe (plus they required it and since we were at a state park, we thought it would be best if we followed the rules).

Cool Littlest Buckaroo, this kid has the best personality. He is the class clown of our school.

The boys are into pirates now, so we introduced them to Treasure Island. They are dressed up as different characters and acting it out all day long ~ Jim Hawkins, Billy Bones, Ben Gunn, Black Dog, and of course, Long John Silver complete with a crutch. While at the lake we had to stop at many of the islands to search for treasures, all we found were some aluminum cans. I guess we could have picked them up and sold them for some coins.

Little Buckaroo worked on his driving skills, real life stuff he is going to need. Forget all that sentence structure, math word problems, let's drive!!!!!

Littlest Buckaroo worked on his adventure skills, no problem there. He even talked mom into tubing with him. That was not hard, all he had to do was look at me with those big blue eyes and I was jumping in the water.

Little Buckaroo tubed with his dad......

.....before deciding he was big enough to be out there himself. Who says homeschooled kids are not independent?

Not to be outdone, our 3-year-old said he wanted to tube by himself, he is a brave warrior!

Since then we have actually been working on reading, math, history, outside play, cleaning bathrooms, building huge Lego projects, making lighthouses, going to the library, oh the list goes on.

Homeschooling is not right for everyone, it is right for our family. It is a way of life for us, not just a part of our day. I love how it gives us the freedom to teach to each child's level and interest, to be together and control our day, and that we can focus on their heart, which is most important to us.

Learning takes place all the time and everywhere for our boys ~ outside, at the grocery store, in our kitchen and even in the car, the world is our classroom.

Now, I am not going to gloss over and say that it is not hard and stressful at times. There are many days that Big Buckaroo walks in and I say, "I quit and am moving to Ireland, see ya". But, then I go somewhere by myself for a little while and come back ready for first grade fun.

I better go get the glue ready, I am sure that today we will make something worthy of the biggest art museum in our town, well if there was one in our town of 148 people.

The Park Wife

A Great New Mom Present

How many of you received those adorable baby books at a baby shower? Wow, me too. And, I must say even though my boys are still little (3 & 6), most of the pages are still empty.

Now, I had the best of intentions when I received the cute little book. I sat there with a big 'ole belly dreaming of being the perfect, organized mom. Alright, reality set in fast and most of the books pages are inkless.

Now, I do feel a little bad about it because as a teenager I remember finding my baby book with many empty pages. I proceeded to sit my mother down and ask her why that had happened and who my preschool friends were and all the cute things I did, this was my history people and I felt like it was just blank, no memories, oh, I would never do that to my kids.

Never say never.

HOWEVER, when I had Littlest Buckaroo, a friend gave me this little book. (It looks big, but that is my fantastic photography skills).



It fits in my purse, even gets lost in there sometimes amongst the gum, crayons, suckers, etc. My friend told me that since Little Buckaroo was 3 and I had a newborn, this was a convenient way of writing down some of the funny and profound things they say. I was skeptical because of course I thought this was baby book gift revisited.

This did work for me! Most of the cute things the boys say are while we are in the car and I just quickly write them down. Hey, at least I don't text and drive ~ that would be because I don't text and am not going to start, I have enough technology-related obsessions (Facebook crack, for instance).

Just a few of the cute Little and Littlest Buckaroo quips:

~On the way to a friends house for dinner one evening, Big Buckaroo told Little Buckaroo that they would be having red beans and rice. Little Buckaroo said, "daddy, I don't like beans". BB said, "oh, I like red beans, white beans, brown beans." LB said, "well I like jelly beans, I like white jelly beans, red jelly beans, purple jelly beans."

~Little Buckaroo - "mommy, your cheek is delicious"

~Looking at a Bible book for kids when he was young, Little Buckaroo asked "why does Jesus have blisters on his hands?" We explained why and then he said, "when I go to Heaven, I am going to take him some bandaids so he'll feel better."

~ "Mom, do bubble bees make bubbles?"

~ "If my Mr. Potatohead fell in the street and got run over, would he be mashed potatoes?"

~ Little Buckaroo had a scraped his knee and elbow, one of my friends was over and said, "LB, what happened to your knee?" he held up his elbow and said, "it came with this."

~Dad, since you are the boss, why don't you just fire yourself?

This is a great gift idea that we will cherish when our children are older, plus use as ammunition with their girlfriends.

The Park Wife

These are a Few of My Favorite Things/Happenings from the Past Month

We have had a busy month around here with school starting, family visits, birthday parties, working on our cabin (more photos coming soon on that), the list goes on.

In my completely overwhelmed state, I, at times, forget to stop and appreciate the simple pleasures of life. I am very blessed and I think at times I get so busy that I don't delight in my blessings. So, in an effort to change that, I compiled some things from the past few weeks (minus first day of school at the lake and cabin pictures which I will post soon) that made me smile.


Lucky, whose real name is Deuce, is still alive, yes, lucky to be alive after eating 3 of our chickens. But, he has been good for a few weeks so he gets a spot on my list of favorite things. Now, that could change quickly with this dog.

Meet Long John Silver, yes we are into pirates big time! Of course our boys do not do anything half-way, they have to dress up and act out their favorite pirate adventure which happens to be Treasure Island. I am alright with that, it is a classic, can I count that is homeschooling for the day?

Oh mercy, I love me some Zapp's chips, they are delicious. They are made in Louisiana, of course, there is some great food coming out of that state. I was fortunate to have someone give me this bag of chips, it reminds me of my times in New Orleans. If I would have had a Sundrop while eating them I am not sure I would not be packing my bags and moving further South where these products are easier to obtain.

Speaking of good food, Littlest Buckaroo is into cooking big time. Yes, his brother has him cooking pirate stew most the time, but he has other specialties too. This has been a wonderful way to teach him numbers and measuring, again, can I count this as homeschooling for the day?

Cousin Buckaroo had a birthday party a couple of weeks ago and all he wanted was a Larry Boy costume. Never fear, Aunt Park Wife is here. I am all about kids being creative and imagination. He has been wearing the hat everyday and everywhere they go.

And, my most favorite thing from the past few weeks???? Grandma came for a visit and we had a ton of fun (plus she helped me deep clean my kitchen, woo hoo). The Buckaroo's love when their Grandma comes from Mississippi, she plays with them and gives into their every whim. Big Buckaroo and I like it when she is here too, I wished she lived closer! hint, hint Grandma.

Everyone stop and appreciate your blessings today!
The Park Wife