On to Regionals!

Here are my two inventors!!

Carter and Emily both made inventions for our school's Invention Convention this year and they both made it on to the Regional Level!! Woo Hoo!
Carter's Invention is called The Cushy Kayak Cushion and is a waterproof cushion that straps onto the kayak seat beause he thought the seat was uncomfortable when he had to paddle. (I agree!)
Emily's Invention is call the Lunch "N" Go and is a tray that straps in with a seatbelt to the buddy seat in the combine and big tractor so that Dad and Grandpa can eat on the go. It has sides to catch things and is metal so the cupholder can magnet to it.

Fun ideas and fun times! They are way excited. When they go to Regionals they get to miss a day of school and go out to eat after they compete. Fun! Emily wants to make it on to state this year. We'll see what happens next month....

Randomness

I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures lately. I kind of miss it. But what with the weather and being busy and all I haven't taken the time. I'm not as excited about my indoor pictures which means I should take more instead of avoid it, but there's that too.

Anyway, this morning I walked out to the porch to tell Al good bye as he headed to work and I saw a sunrise. Wow. I was up in time to see a sunrise. I've never taken pictures of a sunrise before. So I went back inside to get my camera. I wanted a sunrise and I wanted to show beauty even if you live in town. This one isn't as vibrant as the others, but I wanted to include my house.

It was really pretty and stripey.
I was gone for a couple of days this weekend and the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and a bonus of the cousins coming up was thrown in there, too. Due to all of the rain, we haven't had lots of chances to play in the leaves this fall. This weekend we were blessed with some nice weather again and the kids got to playing!
Driving Grandma's lawn mower and pulling the wagon is almost as much fun as riding in it!! I wonder if any work ever gets done ?



Oh Carter!


Do you notice a pattern?

Now I just need to get busy on my Christmas card!! I traditionally have handed them out at Thanksgiving and I'm afraid if I don't get them done by then, I just won't do them!! I have a basis of an idea, but....it's not totally formed and Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks!!! UGH!! Hopefully, I can work well under pressure!!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Halloween from...

SUPER SCOOBY-DOOBY DOOBY DOO!

THE HAPPY MAD SCIENTIST!
THE SCARY JACOLANTERN SCARECROW! (I obviously can't spell)


And I was BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!!!

We took a friend of Emily's door to door trick or treating on Halloween. She was a magician. It was fun! There was a mini haunted house at a neighbor's, we stopped by the fire station for complimentary hot dogs, we trick or treated the combine, and ended the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house to count our stash!!

What a great Halloween! Hope yours was too!

Faith

I was driving home from work the other day and saw this sight. I try to have my camera with me most days and this day I was lucky enough to have it with me.

It's been raining here A LOT!! Farming this fall is having a hard time getting going. It's been frustrating. So when I saw the sun breaking through the clouds I smiled and took a picture.

All you need is a little faith. The rain will stop and things will get done.

Faith.

Sleepovers

Emily wanted to have a sleepover with her new friend on Friday. She made a list of all the "slumber party" things she wanted to do, like eating popcorn and watching movies, pillow fights, and makeovers to name a few.
I had to work Friday and Saturday, but I stopped and got pizza and breaksticks for supper and some other favorite snacks for later. They all played outside with the neighbors until it got dark and then we headed in.

Carter and Al did legos while we watched some movies...

The girls played Webkinz and did makeovers....
He makes a pretty girl don't you think?? Ha! I wonder if this pic will make it out at graduation? I'm sure his sister will remember and use it someday. That's what sisters do isn't it?
While I worked and Al farmed on Saturday, the kids got to play at grandma's house. All in all I think our slumber party was a success. Do you have memories of sleepovers in your childhood?

Beans

We've FINALLY started to make a dent in the bean harvest!! All the rain hasn't really been helping much, I must say...

For whatever reason, I haven't felt much like taking pictures....I think the rain has had an affect on that too...Anyway, with harvest getting going more now, the kids and I went to the field to take Daddy some supper and visit. Of course, I took my camera.
The sun setting was just making everything glow an nice golden color and it sparked my photography.(It doesn't hurt that next year's theme for the Iowa State Fair is The Iowa Family Farm...)

This picture is the start of practice for a picture Al would like to see me take...



This one's because the two times I visited the field this weekend something went wrong and Al told me I jinxed him!! Ha! Really it was a minor fix...

Favorites

I read a blog the other day (I do take time to read blogs just not right mine, sorry) anyway, Pioneer Woman, who challenged us all to upload our favorite portraits to her flickr group. I am not a member of flickr, but the idea appealed to me. I haven't taken much time to browse my pictures lately...I make calendars every year and don't have the faintest idea where to start this year.

I just took a moment to look for a few pictures and some of these I was trying out black and white so there's that. But here are some of my favorites from this last year...portraits only not landscapes. I noticed that there isn't much of me. Maybe I should make that a goal, to figure out how to take a good portrait of myself. I've been thinking I need to set some goals for my photography to push myself. I feel in a rut with most everything these days. Just keeping my head above water you know? Do you have anything new you'd like to learn?

Oh, the pics of Emily and Casey in the cowboy hats are from a year ago when he broke his leg, but they have always been favs of mine and I'd been thinking about that time a lot lately as we are at the 1 year mark right now.







So anyway, if you like my pictures or are inspired to put some of your own up, leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from you and see your favs.