Can't believe he's 9!

Christmas, New Years....and BIRTHDAY! Seems like yesterday that Caden was a little four year old scoring touchdowns and playing in the dirt. He is still scoring touchdowns and playing in the dirt...just in a bigger sized body HA!:) We had friends over to play, family over to visit, plenty of presents and sweet treats AND homemade stuffed crust cheese pizza...all in celebration of a 9th Birthday! What a year it has been of watching him grow and change! Playing baseball, dirt bike riding, fishing, clay pigeon shooting, Star Wars action figures...have all been at the top of the list this year in his world.

Caden and his cute friend, Lane..(I love to squeeze his cheeks!)
And as you can see, NO SNOW!

First Egg!

Thanks to the 40 deg. temperatures we have had lately, our chickens are popping out eggs! This egg is even still warm! Josh was feeding the chickens when he heard a noise in the egg box--sure enough, there was an egg!

Christmas Vacation!

Lots of Fun! We had a weekend full of food, family, and presents in celebration of Christmas. With kids out of school this week, we have had lots of home/hanging out time together.

A Wii was this year's Christmas surprise. Caden gets pretty intense and has knocked his sisters in the head several times by doing his thing.

Lots of laying around, hanging upside down, and wallering going on!


Lots of smiles and laughing too! I am so excited about these pictures. My Christmas present was a new camera. I am so excited to have CLEAR pictures to post!

Macy, on the other hand, is not so dramatic in her Wii playing! She is very studious about her Dog Rescue game.

Mary Did you Know....(WOW!)

Worth It!

If you've read my previous post you will see by this picture that the tree came out of the van, lights got hung, kid decorations hung, and Macy reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to her siters in their PJ's....Ahhhhh....this picture is sooo worth the pine needles in the car and on the clean carpet. Mommy's heart took a picture!

Captain Clean!

The best phone call I've ever made! They showed up and cleaned my carpet while I was gone today. Love it! Love it! It is CLEAN! WooHoo! (It was really bad before, including blue marker, spilled food, and who knows what else!)
I don't even want to move my furniture back. As you see behind Noelle...this is our "war zone". Especially with the cold weather settling in, this is where the kids play all the time, they don't seem to want to go to their rooms or even the basement They want to play - usually extremely rough and loud- right where mom and dad can see them! This is our living room AND dining room space AND computer space. It will probably be full of toys by the end of the night if I don't reclaim the space with furniture!
I highly recommend Captain Clean!


What'd I tell ya......I look up from the computer and see forts--I guess they have officially taken over!

One more piece of information from our household....here's the Christmas tree! Yep, I managed to shove a 6' Christmas tree into the van today while my carpet was being cleaned. But now comes the dilemna of putting the tree on my clean carpet and cleaning pine needs out of the van (maybe I'll hire Captain Clean for that task)! OR maybe I'll just leave it in the van, who'd notice anyway, the kids can find seats somehow!

Hoping for some eggs!

We ended up with 30 chickens in the freezer to eat, 14 Hens left for eggs (hopefully in the next couple months!), and 1 Rooster (nothing better than hearing that Cock-A-Doodle-Dooooo in the mornings)! It has been a good experience and a pretty easy hobby. I think the hens are beautiful!

Noelle eating a fried chicken leg. She made buddies with some of the chickens, Caden and Macy were telling her, "You are eating your little buddy!" all through supper!

What are we up too?

We've been a little restless. Lots of wrestling matches going on during these cold nights at our house! This was actually at a Thanksgiving gathering last weekend. They put on quite the show! They had to show their stuff to a crowd!

Something to ponder....

From this book I'm reading titled, Radical by David Platt.

This is how God works. He puts his people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.

Girl Time!

Today Julia's Pre-school class had a Thanksgiving play and feast. The play was super cute, the feast was super yummy, I got Macy out of school to join us AND Grandma Karla (Josh's mom) joined us. It was such a fun PINK girl time!

Big and Little!

They are so cute!
Josh's birthday is in a few days, so I arranged a dirt bike for him. I thought Caden needed a riding buddy! A dear friend in Reinbeck, Julie Peterson, informed me awhile back of her husband's dirt bike being for sale. Hmmmm....so I've been schemeing! Julie and I arranged for Josh to meet her husband and swap the dirt bike! The plan worked out perfect and Josh says it is perfect! Whew! This will count for birthday, Christmas, Valentines Day....maybe even next birthday!!!

Good Stuff!

As I have my quiet time this morning, I am prompted to listen and re-listen to this song AND re-re-re listen! I love this song! I Love you girls out there reading my blog! We're all in this together--serving the Lord with our days!

A TRUE HILL BOY!

All TRUE-BLOOD Hill boys have dirt bikes! It is just the way it is....If you are of the Hill family and are reading this...you know what I'm talking about! Well, looks like it was time to dive into the hobby at our house! Oh Boy....Caden is one happy Hill boy! Really--a dream come true!
Look how big he is! I don't have a little boy anymore!!!


Of course, the BIG Hill boy also had to take a ride!

Macy-ism

We were ready to walk out the door early this morning.
Mom says: "Macy, can I comb your hair?"
Macy says: "No."
Mom says: "Can I take your picture?"
Macy says: "Sure."

Question of the day.....or month...or YEAR!

Macy: "Does each girl dog need their OWN boy dog in order to have babies?"

Mom: (thinking....so I need to explain to her the difference between God's design for dogs and people in terms of reproduction!)

Mom(what I actually said): "NOPE."

Macy: "Cool. One boy dog and the girl dogs can have tons and tons of puppies!"

Daddy's Girl!

Noelle usually takes her daily nap while on a delivery with Josh. Wasn't he sweet to give up his flannel on a chilly day!

Bob For Apples!

We opted out of the traditional "Halloween" activity of trick-or-treating this year. I offered the kids a "family Halloween" party instead. That was OK with them....so we spent an evening drinking little cans of pop, eating yummy food, carving pumpkins, and bobbing for apples then making them into carmel apples....I have to say this was really fun and I actually thought to myself, "Why haven't we done this sooner!" As you can see, Daddy got involved and there was lots of laughter! I got involved too...but no picture oh well! hehe! The little girls were not brave enough to try and resorted to tears when mommy's head went into the water!

Pumpkin Family and Noelle

Company Blog

I am so nervous! I dove into this blog business for our Lumberyard. We were needing an inexpensive way to do some advertising, and I thought since I'm an "expert" (HA!) and I have enjoyed to blog for our family that I could take a shot at it for the Lumberyard.
Check it out~this is the first week we have advertised it locally. I am nervous!!!!!!
Let me know if you have any suggestions!

pulaskilumber.blogspot.com

Hill Shoot

Today was the annual Hill Shoot-out/Fish Fry. We ate yummy fish and watched the men shoot clay pigeons. Caden even got to join in the fun with the gun he got last Christmas. I was so proud of him for following all the safety rules and hitting the clay pigeons. It was a great day of eating lots of yummy food and hanging out with family. Hope you are enjoying this awesome weather!!!!!!

ANOTHER Puppy!

A customer offered us a little Blue Heeler puppy. Why would we EVER say NO?!!
Her name is Lucy. Lucy joins 4 kids, 2 dogs, and a bunch of chickens!

Off School and Hanging Out!

Friday was a no School day. We all had lunch at the Lumberyard counter and considered it a blessing!

Julia's the VIP!

Julia is the Very Important Pre-Schooler this week in her class. I visited her today and ate lunch with her there. The kids sit around tables and eat lunch family style, where they pass the bowls of food around to each other (so cute!). It was such a blessing to spend the time with her! I don't get much one on one time with my 3rd child, so I really enjoyed being at her Pre-School. The kids swarmed me and wanted my attention. Dad gets to visit tomorrow!

This is Julia's cousin Reece. It is nice having her in class with a relative!

Go Panthers!

Josh and I are Panther fans, both being graduates from UNI and living several years of our married life in Cedar Falls. It is still "home" in many ways or at least an interest we can share and pass to our kids. We took our "Annual" family day to the Dome yesterday afternoon to cheer on the Panthers. It was a blast- including 5 bathroom trips for mom and 3 girls (that's waiting 20 minutes in line each time!) but hey-it was worth it just to be there. We went down onto the field afterwards. That was big stuff for an 8 year old boy! The girls just wanted to roll and roll on the turf...it was actually soft! We had a hotel room to stay overnight. A Single, King room was all I could get reserved on the drive up...we thought..oh well, the kids can just crash on the floor. Well, the lady at the front desk felt sorry for us having such a room full that we got upgraded to a "Romance Suite" for the same price $80.00!! Don't get any big idea...no romance going on but it made for a much roomy stay and less crabby parents!

#1 on the Top 20!

This song topped the Christian Music charts this week. Understandably--it is a fantastic song from the heart! Leading the home is a difficult job...I encourage you to encourage your husband! Tell him he is doing a good job and pray for him to follow the lead of Jesus. I actually made Josh dance with me in the kitchen to this song one night--OK- you don't have to be that cheesy!
You are your husbands greatest fan!

Future Mustangs!

Caden, Julia, and Josh headed out tonight for the Homecoming Football game.
Three are staying home due to the flu bug.
We decided the kids looked like "Future Mustangs"...
Caden-the future "so serious" football player!

Julia- the PINK Mustang cheerleader with a sign she made at Pre-School!


And we decided that Josh is the "OLD" Mustang, since he really was one about 15 years ago!

I want one!!

The girls set up a back rubbing station. I'm quite jealous, however, I think I would probably break the chair if I had a turn!