Another year...

There is something about this time of year that gets me thinking about blogging...maybe it's all the holiday and family stuff going on or the new year and new resolutions rattling around in my brain.  Either way, I finally logged on to my blog after...YES...over A YEAR! and, what do you know, it's still here :)  At any rate, I feel like I need to "relearn" anything I thought I might have already known about blogger.  Gotta love technology!  I have so much a want to share about my kids, the funny things they say and do and so many other random thoughts that I'd like to log somewhere.  In addition, my brother Freeman has again sparked my interest in photography and has become my "go to" guy for all things camera related.  I just wish I had more money!  On the upside, I have found a pretty user friendly spot on the world wide web that I can rent lenses from.  Check out www.rentglass.com if you are interested.  I did some research, and their rates, return policy, etc. are all reasonable.  I just rented my first lens and hope to use it to shoot some indoor sports shots.  I've also added several lenses to my Christmas list, if anyone is looking to get me something! 

Fall at heart

 Home Made Simple

     So many fantastically simple ideas to liven up the holidays!  I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and can't wait to try out some of these recipes and decorating ideas.  I get to bring dessert for Thanksgiving dinner and I'm still mulling over my options.  I know pumpkin pie is essential and I've had a request for my apple-cider pie.  I'm sure Raymond would love a chocolate cream pie (and I'm planning on that, too), but I'm still looking for that one, something-extra-special kind of dessert!  Any suggestions?  I spend a little bit of time each day bouncing around various cooking and recipe websites and have recently subscribed to daily emails from Home Made Simple as well as Better Homes and Gardens (more on that later!)  In fact, I'm gonna try out some of those recipes on some friends this weekend!  Wish me luck :) 

The Swing of things

Coming up on the end of our 5th week of school and I finally feel like I've gotten my "school life" organized and under control...grade book partitioned, lesson plans done and classroom sufficiently decorated.  Unfortunately, I can not say the same for my "home life"!  The start of school is busy, in and of itself, but it seems that the past few weeks have had a variety of additional activities that have all but consumed my evenings and weekends!  You know, fun opportunities like the FAIR that I just can't pass up!  Laundry alone accounts for half of my "to do" list...I have a pile of laundry that is washed and folded, but needs to be put away, another pile that still needs to be folded, a pile of uniforms to iron and then there are those piles that still need to be washed.  Thankfully, I have a husband that is willing to put up with a bit of a mess and equally willing to help when I do finally decide to tackle it. 

I have taken an "it can wait" attitude, if in fact, it CAN wait.  Life is comprised of many choices and recently I have opted to spend time with my family and friends and do the "fun stuff" and let some of the work wait.  My husband and children are clean, well fed and hopefully happy so the fact that I have piles of laundry in various stages is not going to cause me more anxiety.  Look at the bright side...I have a washer and a dryer; I don't have to hand wash or wring out my clothes and I don't have to line dry them (if I don't want to!)   I know it's there and needs to be done, but why fret about it until I have time to take care of it? 

A verse keeps rattling around in my head:

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

                                                                          Matthew 6:34

God may not have intended the "evil" to be a housework, but the bottom line is... it will all get done and if I can't do it today, there is no point in mounding it all up until my "tomorrow" seems futile. Carpe Diem, right?

Fair Day!

If there is one thing I REALLY look forward to in the Fall, it's "Doin the Puyallup".  I absolutely love the fair and although my husband is a transplant here, he loves it too. (Just not as much as I do :)  We have begun the indocrination process of molding our children into fair-lovers, as well.  If you know me, you know I have a calendar and love to make plans.  The fair runs 17 days each year; opening on a Friday and running three full weekends with the two weeks in between.  So, each year we block out a few days because we know we are going to go to the fair more than once!

Our first trip was last Monday...I like to think of this as our "family barn time" because we have a "NO RIDES" rule when we go for this purpose.  We go to eat and looked through animal barns, nothing more, nothing less.  This year, there was a liter of piglets that had just been born that morning, which is a first for me at the fair!  It was amazing to look a few feet over at the 10-day-old piglets and see what a difference in size a little over a week could make. I love all the questions that kids can come up with when they are looking at animals.  Raymond's comment/question about the mother pig only being 2 years old was tabled for later discussion. And of course we ATE: corn dogs, curly fries, cotton candy, an elephant ear and more.

Our school always takes a fair day on a day that the Dizzy Pass (unlimited ride bracelet) is available and yesterday was that day.  We typically open and close the fair on Fair Day so last year I proposed that we give the students (and their families!) a break and have an hour late-start at school the morning after.  What do you know...my wish was granted!  We were running a little late yesterday and didn't get to the fair until about 10:30 (it opens at 10am) so we only had a short wait before the kids could start their rides.  And RIDE THEY DID!  We bought them each a ride bracelet and they were off!  For almost 12 hours, our kids rode the rides...they met up with various friends to go on rides and Kevin and I tag-teamed between Raymond (who goes on the really big, midway rides) and Zachary and Addison (who still prefer the tameness of Sillyville).  My legs and back can attest to the near-constant standing and walking.

Raymond on the Skydiver with his friend Jeremy...I wish you could see their expressions better!



Addison and Zachary have fun on the Sillyville Rides

I'm REALLY looknig forward to our next trip to the fair because it'll be my BIRTHDAY!  I'm planning to take the day off of work so  Kevin adn I can spend the WHOLE day at the fair...no kids :)



Accident Prone

"FOUR THINGS, Mom...can you believe it?  Four things this week" was the comment Zachary made to me yesterday.  What four things, you might ask?  I know I did...to which he replied with a little hand outstretched to count

1. I got bit a bunch of times by hornets

2. I got stung by two bees at school

3. Then there was my elbow and knee that I scraped when I fell down

4. and now THIS (and he holds up his emergency room, bandaged, hand that had been slammed in the door the night before by his little sister.  Luckily, it probably isn't broken (whole other story!)

"Four things happened to me mom...I must be getting tough!"

Awwww...my sweet, little Zach Attack... always finding some kind of mischief!   "Buddy," I said with a smile, "You forgot that you lost your tooth this week, too!"

So, I guess that makes 5 things, Zachary!

Counted blessings

"In every thing, give thanks"
1 Thessalonians  5:18

It's been a rough week and today is the last day of my summer vacation.  I was feeling a bit bummed, so I decided to head outside with a cup of coffee and my laptop and enjoy the quiet of the morning on the patio swing while I try and get things into perspective.  As I closed my eyes to the sun shining in my face, I could hear the goats head butting each other as they play, a cow mooing for grain, a variety of birds chirping and the rooster crowing from the front yard.  Mixed in was an occasional tingle of wind chimes as the breeze picks up...I absolutely love these sounds!  Each one reminds me that I am HOME.  It's still quiet in the house and I know my three precious children are still asleep, snuggled together in the living room after a night of movies and popcorn.  The house is a wreck after many busy days and little motivation to clean, but we are blessed to have it, mess and all.  There is laundry to be done and dishes to wash, but that means we have clothes to wear and food to eat.  Tomorrow I go back to work. I will miss all the free time with my kids that I enjoy over the summer, but at least I'm going back to a job I love...one where I get to see my kids throughout the day while I am doing God's work.  My life IS good...God is good.  When things seem a bit dismal and I feel myself struggling hard to gain positive ground, it really does help to stop and count my blessings.  There are, after all, so many!

So long, Max

Max died today and I cried.  Seems as if I've been doing a lot of crying over animals of late. The price of living on a farm, I guess. I looked for quite awhile to find pictures of him and much to my dismay, I didn't have many. Why do we take so many pictures of pets when they are small and cute and not so many as they get older? I do have some "puppy" pictures of Max, but it was so long ago that they aren't digital! He would have been 14 years old in October...a long life for a lab-mix. Kevin got max from the Clarksville, TN Humane Society when he was just 6 weeks old. He was part of our lives before we got married, before we had children...he has been our sole obsession as well as one pet among dozens. We have had many, many pets over the years but Max has always been a constant. An obedient companion and a fierce protector. The UPS guy has been known to just drop the package over the gate because Max looked so ferocious. We never believed he could be so intimidating until we pulled up one day in a car he didn't recognize...WOW!

At any rate, Kevin and Raymond dug a hole tonight after church and we unceremoniously buried him. It's the first pet I can remember burying. Our kids took it pretty hard, especially Zachary...lots of tears. Funny how attached we can become to an animal, especially one that has truly become part of our family. We have promised them new animals, perhaps someday in the future; but for now, I'm not really up for it. Max was such a good dog, there will not be another like him and he will be mourned and missed.