Back to the routine

We are back to the school routine!  Kids are all doing well.  Hayden is surviving HS just fine.  He is enjoying his social life again and managing to keep up with his homework.  Brittan is enjoying 7th grade.  She tried out for the school musical this morning so keep your fingers crossed!!  Olivia is doing an amazing job at keeping up with her homework and responsibilities.  She is insistent that she stay ahead of her homework!  She has a fabulous teacher that is doing a nice job at keeping her motivated!  Isabelle has informed everyone that she knows that she has the nicest teacher in the whole world.  I think it may be true!  Every time I have ever seen her she has a huge smile on her face.  Olivia and Isabelle are both playing soccer- the girls all dance and they all play the piano!  Not a dull moment in our day what so ever.  Michael and I are both toiling away.  I am only working until 4pm this year (T & TH).  My body is officially falling apart- enough about me.    Hope you are all enjoying your new routine!

First day of School!

Brittan's first day of 7th grade, Isabelle 2nd grade and Olivia 5th grade!

                                    Hayden's first day of High School!  

                 All the kids danced at the end of the Talent show-  Very cute!

            Isabelle, Delaney and Maison dancing to "Under the Sea" at the family talent show!

                                                 Emily with baby Shea (15 months)

We spent labor Day weekend with Michael's siblings (minus Tim) at our cabin for a very fun, relaxing and loud weekend!  Between the 7 siblings that were there- we had 21 kids, and 13 adults.  The plan was to spend the bulk of the time boating on both the Morgan's and our boat.  Unfortunately we ran into a few hiccups-  namely the weather but also some boat trouble.  We instead hung out at the cabin and played games, road bikes, got the 4 wheeler running (thanks Paul) and ate well.  Thanks to all you Neal's for reserving your holiday to spend with us.  Love to you all!

We're Famous!

Our family got a mention in a New York Times Article this weekend! See below for the link:

For those of you who have been to our cabin - you know that we're living "off-grid". This means that we're not connected to city water, power or sewage. We have to produce all our own power which we do using solar panels with a back-up generator (although Michael claims he's going to install a wind turbine as well). The house is wired like a normal home with normal appliances but we have to be careful to manage the power to ensure we don't run out.

Water has been a bit tricky. For the first year or so our water was delivered by truck into a large cistern (1550 gallon tank) and then pumped to the house. This made for some very careful water management lessons. The first time the tank ran down and we didn't know - we burned out a pump and melted all the plastic piping. Today we have a well which regularly fills the cistern so while we are still careful about our water usage - we don't have to panic if someone leaves the water running while brushing their teeth.

Overall living here has been a really cool opportunity to teach our kids about conservation and make them aware of the excessive consumption that might occur back home.

If you want to view this article go to the NY times-  Aug 29th Escapes section- and the article is call Powering Up.  I was not able to get the link to work.

Birthday Girls

Today marks a special day. My brother Kyle was born, I was born and my youngest daughter was born. I have shared my birthday my whole life which makes my day extra special. We spent the day lounging at the cabin, going for a nice morning walk with my mom, and spending the day in town with the girls. The highlight for Isabelle was getting her ears pierced!

Happy Birthday Isabelle!