Spelling Bee

As you know, the Savannah Thompsons (unlike their grandmother and grandfather Thompson) are great spellers and win state and regional championships in spelling bees. Grandma and Grandpa had to go check out the process ourselves. Here we are watching the 4th grade round with Blake. This was his first contest and he came in 5th out of 20 contestants for the area competing against 10 other schools. His words were: tomato, trigger, stipple, clapboard, preterite, and eponym. He missed the last of these words in the sixth round. We think he got the hardest of the words for his age group.

We celebrated his great first time performance with a special breakfast at a nearby restaurant.

Joseph won the 6th grade level in the third round. His words were: candidate, mercurial, and geisha.

We thought that two-week old Cooper's reaction was priceless.

Will it all fit?

Yesterday with Sage's help we emptied 5 storage units of our things as we moved into our cabin. We'll save $270 a month in storage fees but now we need to find a place for everything! Give us a day or two.

We still have to empty the 15 x 30 foot storage unit on our property so we can turn it into a workshop for me and a tack room and feed storage area for the animals.

Why is grandma so happy?

Why is grandma so happy? Is it because she gets to ride her wonderful new horse?

Is it because she got grandpa to ride the horse?

Is it because the grandkids came to ride the new horse?

Is it because year old Evie is learning how to drive her family around in the golf cart?

Is it because we had lots of grandkids over to roast hot dogs at our new place?

Is it because the sunsets are so spectacular at our place?

Is it because she could host her first grandkids sleep-over?

All of the above. It's so easy to make grandma happy in our new log cabin!

New Year Surprises

What are grandma and grandpa watching while drinking pink lemonade as they sit in the new porch rockers that they received from Chrissy and Randy for Christmas?

They are watching the new horse that Sage bought for the grandchildren to ride. It is the white one in the middle--white in the winter and palomino in the summer. Grandma decided to call her Amiga, recalling the favorite story of the palomino "Amigo" that she has told the children and grandchildren through the years. (You remember the refrain "Amigo, Amigo, you are my friend.")

Bye, bye Sabins!

Here we are gathered at Sage and Troy's to say goodbye to the Sabins.

It was -15º back home in Colorado the whole time they were enjoying Cinnamon Beach so Grandma knitted stocking hats for them for when they got home. Cassie objected to wearing it for the picture at the airport as it was too hot in Florida.

Grandma's Birthday TIme!

What a wonderful sunrise from the bedroom window on Sunday announcing Caroly's 72nd birthday.

The bed is made...

the livingroom is neatly arranged...

grandma's birthday cake is ready with 32 sourpatch kids on top representing all the grandchildren (we thought 72 candles would set off the smoke alarm)...

Carrie's family made it from the subzero weather in Colorado...

so it must be party time!! Caroly decided to follow the Filipino custom of having the birthday person provide the meal--Filipino pancit and adobo of course.

Merry Christmas from Florida

The leaves are beautiful colors in the trees and the oranges are ripe--so it must be Christmas time in Florida.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We finished!

Monday, no workers showed up. Tuesday, the plumber finished all the faucets, the bathrooms and the tankless waterheater, the air conditioner was activated, a golf cart was delivered. and the first three loads of dirt for around the foundation were dumped. It looked like we would be able to pass the inspection for the certificate of occupancy at Wednesday noon for sure.

Monday and Tuesday night we had a total of 3 inches of rain so there was standing water on the roads and the fields. The last three loads of dirt got stuck in the mud and were dumped away from the house and I got behind schedule in finishing up the bannisters for the stairs to the loft. I didn't have time to put up the lovely shelf the Kannas's gave us with horse carvings. (It is actually a fireplace mantle, but since we don't have a fireplace, we'll use it as a shelf in the kitchen.) However, the inspector could see the good work and gave us our certificate of occupancy so we could move in on Christmas Eve.

We moved some things in before dark, and after eating a celebration Christmas Eve dinner at Steak and Shake with Sage and family, we slept in our log home. Christmas morning we had our favorite breakfast, squash and eggs. I made the toast. We emptied one of our six storage units so we could host a Christmas party with Sage's family. You know our reputation as party animals. They came out for an afternoon of four-wheeling and trying out the golf cart with healthy nibbles of fruit and vegetables.

More worker bees

Here are the worker bees who helped grandma and grandpa lay 8 pallets of sod on Saturday. We had a great time and got it done in just a couple of hours. We now have a nice grassy hill for a septic drain field.

Grandpa also finished the bannister for the landing of the stairs to the loft.