Big dog in a little bed

Oh poor, sweet Buddy...why do you choose to lay in the small dog bed?!

This bed is the perfect size for petite little Dixie, but Buddy, as you can see, is a bit large for it. However, he curls up in this bed more often than not and he looks so adorable all squeezed into it. We have a huge bed in the garage, but Buddy sometimes wants to be near us, I guess, so he crams his body into this bed on the back porch. What a cute doggie!! :)

how clever is this guy??!!

Trent, you are soooooooo clever! After getting a new kite for his birthday from his sweet sister, Trent tried flying it the traditional way...but hey, that's too much work! So, our clever boy decided to tie his kite to the back of his "jeep" and let the jeep do all the work. It was pretty comical to see him driving thru the yard with his kite attached to the back. But, it was also a great idea and it worked beautifully!

Blue skies...

I was struck today by how beautiful the sky looked!! It rained tons last night and I guess all these clouds were the remains. Just thought it was mighty pretty looking at God's handiwork!

"I can see clearly now, the rails are gone...

...I can see all obstacles in my way."

I am so excited that for the first time in 10 years, we can see off our front porch with an unobstructed view. The rails were/are needed to meet code when building a home. And, I enjoyed having them when the kids were small because I didn't want them to fall off the porch. Now, I feel quite confident in their ability to avoid the edge or jump off carefully. (If/when we ever try to sell our home, we will probably have to put up some sort of rail to meet the requirements, but for now, we are going to enjoy not having them. And, if we do put rails back on, they will be shorter, which will still meet code, but will not impede the view quite as much.) This is the first step in our front porch overhaul. We were talking about how awful the rails looked and how they needed to be repainted along with the columns and the porch itself. Then we started talking about taking off the rails and seeing if we liked the look. Well, we do like the look. In fact, we LOVE it! I couldn't stop singing that song in my head the whole time I sat on our comfortable swing and looked at everything in the yard: I can see clearly now, the rails are gone (sung to the tune of: I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.) :) We have a lot of puttying and sanding and painting to do, but I am excited about our new look and our unimpeded view!! And, I am so thankful to have a handy husband who can tackle any project we want to do around the house!

Our "Laborious" Day

before: Eww! A dirty deck that needs an overhaul!!

before: Eww!

 

Next: Clean and ready for a new look!

 

after: a nice new look for our back deck

 

 

after: The finished product...we are very pleased!

 

 

Our Labor Day was definitely full of labor...but we wanted it that way. Our back deck has been an eye sore for quite some time...dirty, dog-haired, half-stained with wood stain and half with grease and mud. Anyway, we spent the day cleaning and then staining the deck. It was a family affair...even the kids helped stain it! I have to say it was back-breaking and hard work, but it was a great feeling to be (almost) done with it in one day! All that's left is to touch up some spots that we missed or didn't quite get to. Next project: our front porch!! :) Happy Labor Day!!

We've got spring fever!

Nick and Trent stop to tinker with their temperamental machines.

Like father, like son. Hard working Milligans.

We're officiall ready for spring! We wish we had gotten some snow, but oh well. Now we're over it! Bring on the spring temps and let's plant our garden. Nick and Trent have already been working on the garden. And, Nick and both boys built the boxes for the garden. We thought we would try raised beds for tomatoes and several kinds of peppers. Can't wait for that garden goodness...now to just learn how to can and freeze everything so we can enjoy it all year long!