Animals

I thought that it would be a lot of fun to take neat pictures of different kinds of animals at our fair. My whole goal was to get a really close up picture of a pigs snout. I just think they are funny and I just laugh looking at their funny noses. The pigs did not want to work with me. As you can see, this guy thought he had a good side that needed to be photographed. He sure would pose this way but would not give me a good snout shot.

The sheep also thought he had a good side. Maybe he is a girl but she sure did not get her ear rings matching. I tried to take a close up picture of a goat but the little guys just wanted to eat my camera. I guess they do not like the close up shots.

Here are cow eye lashes. She would not turn her head and was a little scared of my camera being so close to her face. I really wanted to get a close up picture of the gal next to her but she was shy and kept putting her face down. People started to look at me a little strange because I was holding my camera so close to these animals. It is so fun to try to get really good shots of the animals God created for us.

What did it win?

That cute little frog picture that I put up yesterday won Best In Class. You know what the funny thing is about it? I did not even know that it had won during the fair. Every time that I had look at the photos at the fair I had only noticed the blue ribbon. I never really gave it my full attention because I was always busy keeping track of the little chicks. Someone came up and congratulated me on winning such a good award in the photo division and I had brushed it off. "Oh", I said, "I only got a blue, I did not win any purples." It turned out that the purple ribbon was hanging so low I probably thought it was for the picture under it. When I brought all of our stuff home I finally saw the ribbon and was a little excited. I thought that the picture was really good and I guess a few other people thought so too.

Guessing

Who wants to guess what this picture won at the county fair? I will post the answer tomorrow. To those that may know the answer please do not say anything.

As luck would have it

My third child is really something else. You never know what she is going to do, where she is going to be, or what she is going to say. She disappears often and I am always checking up on her and looking out for this little girl. She is independent and can do many things with out any help. These gifts often get her in trouble too. While we were at the fair this past week I had noticed that she had gone missing. We were in the open class building where the air conditioning was so we were in no hurry to leave. The whole family was walking through, munching on candy and stopping to visit with friends we know. I was doing a head count of the little chicks and sure enough Chick #3 was AWOL. I quickly found her and she had acquired a balloon and had some teenage boys smiling at her. Chick #3 always needs to stay close under my wing. After the fair, I had the kids help with the fair grounds clean up. It was a hot day and they whined but it is good for them to learn about helping out in their community. Plus after you collect a bag of trash you can put your name in a box for a bike drawing. Chick #3 did not understand what we were talking about and she was worried that she would have to draw a picture of a bike. I explained to her what would be happening and she was a little relived. The little chicks did their part and put their names in for the bikes. The kids and I were a very hot and we did not want to stick around until the drew the names for the bikes. We headed home and all of the chicks had high hopes of winning a bike. After we were home I started do things in the kitchen and the phone rang. The Rooster answered the phone and the person asked for Chick #3. He handed her the phone and she got a huge smile on her face. Yep! She had won a bike. And not only that but the bike is green and purple, her absolute most favorite colors. Also there is a butterfly on it, her favorite insect. Now she just has to learn to ride a two wheeler so she can go out crusin' to the end of the block.

Our last fair day

Our last day at the fair involved the chicks riding fair rides. It was really, I mean really sweltering hot. I believe that the heat index was around 115 degrees. I packed plenty of water and made sure everyone was drinking enough.


Chick #3 on the merry-go-round. She mostly stayed on the little kid rides but did end up over on the bumper cars with chick #1 and #2.

Mister cool guy on a ride. He finally decided that this was where we were going to he and did not have one break down at the fair. I thought for sure he would have a melt down but the little guy toughed it out.

The youngest chicks crusin' in the beeping cars. The kids just love to push those buzzing horn buttons.

Bumper cars rule for the older chicks. I can not even say how many times they rode them. Here is Chick #1 with her older cousin.

And of course Chicks #2 and #3 were testing out their driving skills. There was much more crashing then driving going on.

Another day at the fair

One of our good friends were kind enough to let Chick #2 show one of their goats. We had to be at the fair grounds around 12:30 to practice for the upcoming music contest. It was a really hot day and everyone was sweaty. Chick#2 was hoping the 4-H Mom's would let him stay and help with their goats. They said it would be fine for him to stay and Chick #2 was over joyed. He could run around the animal barn all day and wear cowboy boots just like real farm kids.

Here he is in the show ring trying to get Miss Penny to hold her feet just right. He was pretty proud to be in the ring with one of his good friends.

I think that he is holding his lips in to keep for smiling so much. This is, after all, very serious work and an ear to ear smile just would not be acceptable. All of his hard work paid off and he won a purple ribbon. Both of the boys did. For all of his hard work he won $6. Now he has enough to go buy a potato chip cowboy hat.

Chick #3 and #4 were running around and getting very sweaty. Chick #4 does not like being at the fair at all. He has to hold my hand and not run all over and wait and stand. He does not like being hot, He usually ends up crying after only being there for 30 min. This little two year old does not have much patience.

Here is the sweaty little guy again. He was squatted down listening to Chick #3 and her friend talk about where to go. There is dirt under his nails, neck, running down his face and smeared on his leg. But you know what? I would still pick him up and kiss his sweaty little head.

lost blog?

It seems that My Favorite Apron blog has gone missing. I will miss reading about her daily adventures in her rural life. Maybe she will come back some day under a new identity. Will her dairy cow have another baby this spring? How will their beehive do? What interesting things will they knit this winter? I guess I will not know.

We have a champion

Chick #1 seems to have done it again. Last night she won reserve champion for junior level sewing. Her work paid off and she learned how much work it takes to win a trophy. We had a few battles trying to finish up projects and she is learning that her perseverance pays off. She had won her first 4-H trophy earlier this year during the speech contest. In that contest she also learned that only she can do the work and it takes a lot of practice to do well.

Yesterday she made a red velvet cake to auction off during the 4-H cake auction. It took us all afternoon to get the baking done. Hopefully next year she will be able to do all of the steps a little quicker since I will be having more than one baker.
Chick #1 is on the stage during the bidding for her cake. It ended up being sold for $40 and she will get to keep half of the money. The other half goes to the local 4-H council. Some of the children's baked goods went for $100. I believe there were a few family members out in audience will to fork over the money so they could satisfy their sweet tooth. Chick #1 was over joyed with it going for $40. The average price that items were sold for was right around $50. I think some businesses also came and buy things so they could use it as a tax right off.

Here she is strutting her stuff during the fashion show. She really carries her self well and that probably come from taking dance lessons. Next year we will have to have a whole ensemble going on for the modeling. They do not judge on the way you model but on the overall outfit and accessories. Shees! Who would've know that they wanted her to have a matching purse and everything.
Can you tell that she is just a little excited here! I do not think that she could smile much bigger. We were both surprised by her winning reserve champion. Her blue top she is wearing won a blue ribbon but her skirt won a purple and will be going to the state fair. The granola bars that she baked will also be going to state. She wanted to have at least one thing picked for the state fair so she was able to accomplish that goal too.

Here is the little thing when she won her first trophy. I even think that chick #2, standing next to her, was proud of her after the speech contest. This was a bitter sweet night for her because the boy she likes only won a blue ribbon. She was very excited for herself but she felt very bad for her friend. I wonder how it will go with the two aways compete with each other during these contests. Our next big fair adventure will be the music contest on Saturday night. Our group usually does really well. I think the weather will be about 100 degrees that day. Can you say sweating, stinky boys?

100 posts and a celebration

Our nephew opening up one of his gifts. He thought it was funny that I had wrapped it in two layers of paper. And below is the yummy desert that we celebrated with.

This is my 100th post onto my blog! You know what this calls for, a celebration. And what a better way to celebrate than with a birthday. Yesterday was my nephews 14th birthday. He is down here visiting us and his Grandmother and it just so happened that he would be here on his birthday. I can not let a birthday go buy with out baking a cake. But he, being 14 and all, said he did not want any fuss. I know from my own life that when a 14 yr. old says that, they usually do not mean it, they are trying to be cool. I then suggested that I could make brownies and layer them with frosting. What teenage boy could turn that down! His eyes brightened and he said "That sounds really good." I must admit that it tasted really good. We did sing to him while I carried the cake into the dinning room but we did not make him blow out candles. I think that he enjoyed his little celebration.

Fair Time

We have our fair going on this week and almost everything is entered. Chick #1 has high hopes of having something picked to go to the state fair again. Last year was her first year in 4-H and she had 2 items go to the state fair. I think that she has set up a level of achievement to live up to. Tomorrow we will need to enter in their potted plants and I might enter some whole wheat bread. It all depends on how well it turns out. Chick #1 will also be backing a cake for the 4-H cake auction and she will get to keep half of the money it earns. After the cake auction is the 4-H fashion show. I will try to post a few update during the week to let you know how everything is going. Since we are town folk we do not show any animals to show so I do not have that stress. Next year Chick #1 would like to show the Ugly Duckling for the 4-H dog show. He is a few weeks to young this year and still needs some more training. She will have to work with him a lot next spring and summer.

Motherhood

Recently at our church I over heard a new mother speak some words which made my mind spin. I was not a part of this conversation but simply one of the women standing by a group talking. This comment was made by a new mother. Well, not really a brand new mother, she had just had her second baby in the last four weeks. Her words were spoken, after the baptism, of her second child. After the service many people were gathered around to see this new little babe and to congratulate the parents. Her older son is about 3 years old and was acting out a little. It can only be expected because he is not getting the attention plus he just had to sit for an whole hour. The mother than said, "You know, he is really bad. I had know idea what he was like but now that I have been home for a few weeks with him, I have realized how bad he is. "
This mother does not even know her child. She works and probably carts him off to day care every day and then picks him up a few hours before his bed time. How utterly sad I found her statement to be. To not even know your own child that had been given to you by God. Our Heavenly Father has given us these children to raise for Him, and some of us do not know our children. We only have 18 years to make an impression on these little people. We only have a few short years where we can hold and kiss them. We can not cuddle an 8 yr. old like we can a wee baby. When our children our 30, we can go back and relive those precious years of their childhood. We only get the chance to see it once. We only get a chance to kiss a scraped knee so many times before they are big enough to handle the pain. We only have one shot at being a parent. We only have one lifetime to know our children.
I am brave enough to to stay home with my children. I am brave enough to have them not like me when they must be punished. I am brave enough to love them until my heart breaks. God also loves us so much that his heart was broken once. He sacrificed His own Son to pay for all of our sins. His Son Jesus paid for all of the times that we do not love our children, for the times when we do not want to know them, for all of the times that we do not want to do our jobs. All of these sins were paid for with Jesus blood on the cross. Not only the sins I mentioned but every sin ever committed upon this earth that God made. Deo Gratias Thanks Be To God.

LCMS homeschooling Moms

Yesterday we had such a wonderful gathering of friends. A group of Martin Loopers were able to get together for some much needed mommy time. Martin Loopers is a group of Homeschooling LCMS families joined together through an email loop. We talked and had a snack of what else but chocolate. There were also many children present and playing in the hudge yard. Thank you Diane for doing such a good job being our hostess.

The hen (me), Jacki (not on loopers but a LCMS homeschooler), Andrea , ~Diane , and Julee >):o)
Here are all of the children that were present. They ran, laughed, talked, played with kittens, did skits, and everything else that children are supposed to do. It was great to watch them make new friends.

Good or Bad

Oh! These tomatoes look oh so yummy. I have been waiting for our tomatoes to turn ripe because they are my absolutely most favorite thing to eat fresh out of the garden. They are just beautiful from the top. But they are hiding deep dark secret. Once you flip these scrumptious little guys over then turn on you.

Yuck! They still taste wonderful after you cut the awful bottoms off. I guess none of these guys will be going to our county fair.

I feel betrayed by my little tomatoes.

Sewing is done

Chick #1 has finished her sewing level 1 projects for 4-H. She will be modeling them on Thursday so she should have plenty of time to practice walking around with them on and smiling. She dyed the top after she sewed it so it would be about the same shade as the skirt. Plus it was fun for her to use the dye. The skirt was dyed first and she added this heart design to the fabric. After it was dyed she sewed the simple skirt. Chick #1 was surprised that she finished it in one afternoon. I think that she learned a lot and had fun with these two projects.

This is a close up of the hearts that she put on the shirt with a freezer paper dying technique.

A high school friend

Here is a friend that I knew in High School. We had a special bond back then because we were both LCMS and we were both from Nebraska. Her parents are now going to be moving back to NE so I had the chance to get together with an old buddy from the past. Our lives are so much different now that we are real grown ups. It was wonderful to see her and visit with her again.

4-H projects

Here Chick #1 is finishing up one of her sewing projects for 4-H. She still has two more that she wants to finish before next Thursday so we will see how much gets done tomorrow. I wanted to get a few good pictures of her sewing while she is 9 because before I know it she will be taller then me. As you can see my sewing area is small and just takes up a little bit of room in my bedroom.
I also have a very simple sewing machine 2 stitches. One 4-H girl in our group laughed at it. You know, that is just fine because I have made some really cute things with this little machine. Even this cute little flower girl dress two years ago. This was when little chick #3 was only three years old and was the flower girl for one of my close friends wedding.

Here are Chick #1 hands while she is sewing on her strap to her tote bag. Already her hands are about as big as mine.

Jumping

My children are not jumpers. They are not leaper. They do not like to fall off of things either. When it comes to diving boards, lets just say there is some hesitation. We are in the mist of swimming lessons. Daily we are driving to local pool. Note (it is a 20 min. drive) At the end of their lessons there is a free time where the children may jump off of the diving board if they want or play in the shallow water. For some reason my children always want to jump off of the board. But they can't always do it. Chick #1 was the best at this phenomenon. She would have grand ideas at home about jumping off the board. Then when push came to shove, she would stand at the edge of the board. Gaze into the water below and never jump. It was as thou a supper sticky glue was holding her feet to the board and she would not walk off or jump. Finally she would give up and leave. Chick #3 seems to be coming down with this same type of habit. Chick #2 just never wanted to try. "Nope", he would say. "Why wait in line and jump in the deep water when I can play all I want in the shallow water." This past week there has been an adventurous growth with in chicks #1 and #2. During lessons Chick #2 jump off the board and figured out that it was fun. Chick #1 was sad and stressed by the board. She would not even walk up to it. On Sunday, the whole family went to the pool to cool off from the heat. The little Chicks think that it is so much fun to swim with the Rooster. I suggest to him the we should jump off of the board because I did not think that Chick #1 had ever seen us do that. We have always been to busy trying to keep out wee little chick floating. So the Rooster jumped off a few times. Then I jumped off of the board a few times. Then Chick #1 seemed to become a little braver. The Rooster was able to get her to get on the board but she would not jump. He got her to jump into the pool next to the board and just a few moment later she was jumping off of the board. She had been smiles ever since. The photos are ones that I took today during lessons and while I swimming with little chicks after our picnic.




Chick # 1 making a leap into the pool from the board.

Chick #2 is getting reading to jump in. I could not get my timing down to get a good photo of him. Either he runs in our he swaggers up to the end then leaps in a way only a boy could. Cannon ball style
Chick #4 just because he looks so darn cute with these little goggles on. He hardly puts his head under but he loves to wear the goggles.

This photo was taken on Saturday, the Rooster birthday. He had to work over time so we meet him in town and went out to lunch. After we enjoyed some wonderful pizza we headed over to the zoo. Don't you think that it is fitting that the little chicks are "hatching" out of an egg.

Lutheran Carnival LIV

Please visit the Lutheran Carnival LIV and see what fellow Lutheran's are blogging about. I seem to have been noticed this time. Thanks to Pastor Synder for hosting this time.

A July 7th photo

Every year, but one, we have taken a family picture of us on our front porch on the fourth of July. This year we were just a few days late. Our fourth of July day was very busy. We were a little sleepy because of the party that we have gone to the night before. Chick #2 was in the local 4th of July parade for his baseball team. I did not get pictures of that because my batteries died in camera. You have got to hate that when that happens. Then the afternoon was filled with cooking, lighting fireworks and swimming. This photo was taken on the 7th before we went to yet another party at one of our friends houses.

NOW

Then 2002

Sunset

On the 3rd of July we went to one our friends house for a July 4th party. There is always a lot of food, fun and fireworks at this party. Usually we spend most of the time in there front yard which faces the east. That is where their driveway is and most of the kid fireworks are lit there. This year the kids packed their swimming suits because I knew that there might be swimming. I was able to see this amazing sunset because the pool was in the backyard. While the girls were splashing away I was snapping away at God's own fireworks.

Pretty Feet

I have pretty feet today! The Rooster had bought me a gift certificate to have a pedicure and manicure done for Valentine's Day, but who wears sandals in February. So I had saved it for July. We have a parade to go to and a 4th of July party so I want my feet to be beautiful. I had never had a pedicure done before and it was something else. I got to sit in a massaging chair and soak my feet in a built-in jets tub. I did giggle when she scrubbed the bottom of my feet but I tried to control myself. The little painting on my big toes were $5 extra but I could not resist. Hopefully it will last for a while.

VBS done!

I am done planning and living through an other VBS week. This was the first year that I ever served as VBS director. It takes so much planning and typing and calling people to prepare for the week. I was a little over whelmed but it always turns out fine. We had enough teachers and helpers. The kids all had fun and I think that we were able to teach them a few things. Chick #3 is sitting just behind the juice pitcher. She was hoping VBS would never end.

As you can see I had decorated the snack area to look like a market place. We used a VBS program that Pam Neilson had written a few years back. Her programs are very no frill and full of good theology and liturgy. The one that we did this year was call "Here I Stand". It was all about the creed, Martin Luther, and the time of the reformation.

June flies

Our month of June just flew by so fast. I can not believe it. It is like I blinked and it was gone.
One of reasons for this happening was because of softball and baseball. We were running to games about three to four times a week. We had to many suckers and a lot of sunflower seed but it was fun.

Chick #1 got the chance to be pitcher. She was hoping all season that the coach would give her a chance and he finally did in the last season game. Then she got a chance to try again during their tournament and she ended up striking someone out.

Here is chick # 1 and 2 in their ball uniforms.

Chick #2 caught a toad I found in our garden. The kids had a lot fun playing with it and watching it hop.

Here is chick #4 at our last ball game. His big brother is on third base and is getting ready to try to run to home.
It was also the rooster and my anniversary. He always buys me roses on our anniversary, so far we have 12 years down hopefully many more to go.