Fair

Our county fair was this week. This is Emily's first year in 4-H and she is a Little Clover. She took 3 projects to fair this time: a hanger for her backpacks, bags, etc., she made brownies, and a packet of things one should take hiking!! Little clovers all receive a green Participation ribbon for their projects until they are in 4th grade and then they can go for blue, red or white. Emily and her Dad worked on this hanger and she decorated it with butterflies because that is a theme in her room already.
I think she had fun, but one thing Al and I aren't teaching very well is to not put things off until the last minute!! She does come by this trait honestly, but it's hard on her and makes her upset about working on things so next year we are going to be prepared ahead of time. Besides, that's what it's all about anyway. Learning how to set goals and accomplish them!
BTW - Her club won 3rd place overall for their booth decorations!!!

SEP

I've been horrible at keeping up with my blog and I do realize that if I don't post you won't read....I am sorry!

A week ago, Emily attended SEP which is Summer Enrichment Program in a neighboring larger town. SEP is kind of like summer school, well it is summer school, but all really fun classes! Emily had a CSI class, an Enter the world of the private eye class, Challenged by Change class and finally Origami. They learned how to solve a crime scene, discover things through magnifying glasses, make homemade ice cream and create origami art!!! When she found out that I had signed her up for origami, her response was, "oh. Why did you pick that?" In the end, it was her favorite one and she continues to make Origami bunnies today having the design memorized. She made a huge one, pictured here and the middle picture is of one that is barely 1/8" folded and finally the whole row of folded bunnies she helped Carter make!!!

We carpooled with a girl that is on her softball team and another one from town here. What a great way to get to know some new people and make the whole experience more fun!!! Carter hopes that he can join next year too!

Look What Carter Did!!!

Here's Carter's new haircut!!!!

His Daddy was a bit surprised, I think, but hey, hair grows.

BTW - I showered in my house shower this a.m. and flushed my own toilet!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!

Just thought you'd all like to know...

Thoughts this Morning

My mind is quite scattered today...

Our town celebration is cancelled this year due to the flooding. Boo Hoo! It was the only time I really let go and not worry about too much and have fun!

I still can't flush my toilet or use water and my camper is getting full, full! But on the other hand, thank goodness for my camper! I even am able to shower.

Al worked all night in the nearby town where we work checking pumps and picking up everything people are throwing away that was damaged in the flood.

The river is expected to crest again Friday or Saturday.

My cousin Wendi at Everyday Miracles has lost her baby and had other challenges with her previous children. You can read about them HERE.
A good friend of hers has started a donation for her through a cause Wendi believes strongly in, March of Dimes. Anyone wishing to support their family and March of Dimes can do so HERE.

It's devasting to see all of the loss a flood can cause. My daughter had asked me which was worse, a tornado or a flood, Moma? I still think it is a tornado because tornadoes more often take lives along with everything else, but a flood leaves a huge mess behind and sometimes isn't covered with insurance. So you have to clean up everything and then start from scratch with nothing.

I want to do something fun with my children but am feeling "tired."

My children think I work too much. They always know which buttons to push!

My children are beautiful and full of love and hugs.

It is a nice morning, sunny and not too cold, not too hot!

I miss my husband.

I enjoyed time at the computer this a.m./I love to write and blogging gives me a chance to do more.

I wonder what the rest of the day will bring....

Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome

Al took a Farm Operators program in college and their motto was "Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome." I think this is true in much of life. I wanted to do some Dutch Oven cooking and it was the middle of the week so we weren't camping with a campfire and we don't have a firepit in our yard so what was I to do? Adapt, Improvise and Overcome, of course. Al bought some charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid. We have a less than grassy spot next to our driveway so we improvised a "campfire" like area there with our briquettes and voila! I was able to do Dutch oven cooking!! Yummy! One of my favorite things!

I was able to use my new Dutch oven and stack them, something I had never tried before. Then simply because I could, I made a dessert too! I forgot to take an end result picture because everything got late and hectic, but suffice it to say it was delicious!

I made Hidden Valley Ranch Chicken, Party Potatoes and Rhubarb Dessert!!

Camping here we come!!

Sense of Humor

I couldn't resist taking these pictures! A sense of humor amidst all the chaos and disaster!

Summer Fun

Before all of the flooding, the kids decided to have some summer fun. They created this homemade slip and slide. Note the little slide for Casey. This was an old tarp in the garage that gave Emily the idea. There she is waving.
Don't they look sweet?
Later, the boys raced down the sidewalk to check out the progress of their river. Shhh! Don't tell Daddy we used all of that water!
Emily joins the fun and Casey splashes back through!
The baby pool then became home to water balloons that were being saved. Saved???!!! At least they weren't being thrown at me!
The kids were actually playing "house" and the balloons were a family. We play house with any inantimate??? objects we can find all the time. It's a definite favorite.
Carter with his...
Emily showing off the "belly button" on her balloon. Aparently the baby sitter can make these on purpose and the kids thought they were cool!
Unfortunately, in all the splashing and fun, Casey slipped and scraped his knees! In true, child fashion, though, I must say, he got back up and jumped back in to all the fun!

You know the water is receding when...

You know the water is receding when you can see the roof of a car you didn't even know was there in the first place!!! (The first picture and the second picture are of the same stop sign, I should have got the house in the first pic too, I know. But, anyway, can you see the top of the car in the second picture just behind the stop sign? And if you look carefully, on the white house is a little darker line about the halfway to the top of those smaller windows. Anyway, that was how high the water got before it broke the tracks.)

Wow! Now we are on to lakes in yards and lots and lots of clean up in our small town. And the water is on to other towns below us and they are in for it!
By the way, for those of you who don't know, NO the water did not make it to my house. Thank goodness. 3 blocks away is scary enough. But, more rain is on the way today, tomorrow and the next.

Will June please stand up?? We can't find you!

White Caps are not supposed to be in fields...

Whitecaps are not supposed to be in a field that should be rich with corn...
I took this picture Sunday, June 8th, after church just north of the small town we live in.
Water is not supposed to buckle and go under railroad tracks in town!...
This happened this morning in our small town about 3 blocks from my house...
Water is not supposed to be waist deep in the middle of an intersection in town...This is Al's cousin's house. They got everything out of the basement in time, but didn't realize it would reach their first floor...
Stop signs are not supposed to look like they are floating. How deep is that?? 6 ft?? This is 3 blocks from my house...
Toys are not supposed to be floating away....

It's been a long day of "not supposed tos" in our small town. Bless all of those poor people who woke up and stepped out of their houses this morning into knee and waist deep water! We are not in a flood plain and this has NEVER happened in this small town before.

My husband is right now still working hard to help keep the people of a nearby town where we work safe from all of the water that is headed their way...

On a lighter note: I will say, thank goodness for campers with toilets that still have water left in them from the last time we went camping because the ones in the house are off limits as many people in town have found that sewer water is "not supposed to" come up into their basements!!!

It's a Party!

Last night we went to a small town north of us for Emily's 3rd and 4th grade softball team to play a double header game. Each game is 1 hour and they don't really keep score at this stage in the game. She's improving each time we watch her and having a lot of fun. Carter begs to go to the "Confession" stand and buy something (candy!). I told him this time if he bought me a popcorn, he could have the change. He came back with 2 ring pops and my popcorn.
So here's my "baby" boys sucking on their ring pops that look like pacifiers! Here they are playing in the rocks under the bleachers...

And here's Carter when his ice cream was "melting". I told him I'd take a picture if his ice cream melted and he said look it's melting when it had a little drip down the side. Then, I said, I meant when it was dripping all over. So he promptly took his dilly bar and wiped it all over his face so that I would take the picture!!!

Dainty Emily!
Here's our party! Grandpa and Grandma came along to the game and we had supper at the DQ and Grandma told Emily it was a party! Casey was asleep in the van so he missed the whole thing.

Softball, ice cream, family, and nice summer evenings....What could be better?

Why is it that....?

Why is it that when a sink full of these is staring at me
and this needs to be done because I left the freezer open last night
that I want to run screaming in the other direction?

Kindergarten Tee Ball

This is Carter turning around as I am taking his picture. He is waiting for his turn to bat.
This is Carter when he noticed (hence the nice pose) I was taking pictures while he is waiting for his turn to bat...

Here's Carter batting. He even hit the ball and got to run to 1st base!


And here is Carter in the outfied....Notice his glove....

Kindergarten Tee Ball....

Carter and Casey seranade me

Music has always been a big thing in our house. Al picks the music and we all dance. We've done this since Emily was little. When Carter was a baby, he had colic and the song "Life by the drop," by Stevie Ray Vaughn was the only thing that ever calmed him down in a vehicle. I remember one 2 hour long trip that we played that song over and over and over so he wouldn't cry. When they are little, the kids love to be dance with and swung around! It's great exercise and fun! The other night, Al started playing some music and Carter went and found a play microphone and proceeded to sing to me walking along the top of the couch. My first thought was get down or you'll fall down and then I had to get my camera because it was soo darn cute!! Casey started to copy Carter and before I knew it, I was being seranaded!! Oh how I love those boys!

Emily's first ever softball game

Emily decided that this year she wanted to try and play softball with her friends. We've had a few practices and then last week we had our first ever softball game. Since Ems had never played before, it's all been a series of little accomplishments. Her coach was so excited for her when she got up to bat because she hit the ball!!! It ended up fouling, but she hit it!!! She's doing better at catching and fielding too!! Most importantly, she's having fun with her friends and learning a new sport!!!

I remember playing softball when I was in elementary school, too. We lived out in the country and my dad would drive me to practice on his motorcycle. I also played catch with my grandpa (my dad's dad) and he used to say, "If you can touch it, you can catch it!" It's so neat to see Emily and Carter and Casey (soon) play and enjoy things that I did as a kid...

Remember These?

Emily field day

During the last week of school, the third and fourth graders got to have a field day. They divided up into teams and competed in fun track and field events. Then, the winners of each event went on to the finals. Parents were invited to watch and help out where needed. They jumped rope, did the barrel race, an obstacle course, gunny sack race, etc. you get the idea. It ended up being postponed because of rain and then landed on kind of a cold day, but all in all I think the kids had a great time. In the last picture, the gal Emily got partnered with was a bit bigger than she is. It was hilarious watching Emily try to pick up her legs and race across the field. Emily didn't get any ribbons, but she has goals for next year and had a fun time playing this year.

By the way,....

Hip, hip hooray for the last day of school!!! We were soo glad to see it end in our house!! Summer Vacation here we come!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!