Best of Show

This was Kellen's first year in 4-H. His projects were market rabbits and photography. We were all disappointed that our rabbits did not make it for fair time, but Kellen worked hard on his photography. Most of the time he had fun with the project too. He learned a lot about taking good pictures. I learned a lot too for that matter.

The week before and during the fair were crazy busy. We got the project put together, and dropped it off. We had intentions of going to the fair, but we never made it. We were out of town the night projects were supposed to be picked up, so our 4-H leader got it for us. With everything else going on, I'd kind of forgotten about it. That was the end of July.

This week she calls us, and guess what? Kellen's project took Best of Show! He got a nice blue ribbon and a small cash prize. We were so excited! He was playing it cool, but you could tell he was thrilled too, especially about the cash!

The Great Egg Hunt

I've mentioned Chatterbox, our crazy hen, a few times. She has always been different. She used to be very nervous, putting up a big ruckus for the slightest thing. She doesn't roost where she is supposed to. She doesn't lay where she is supposed to.

This spring when she started laying, it would take us days to figure out where she had made her nest. We did want to hatch out some chicks, but at the time we didn't have a rooster. When we got the rooster, she made a nice nest under some shelves in a storage area. She hatched out her chicks about two months ago.

A little over a week ago, I could tell she was getting ready to lay again. She started chasing the young ones off, clucking and exploring the storage area again. At this point in the summer, we really don't want her to hatch out another nest. We want the eggs.

She went back to the nest under the shelves. I collected eggs there for about four days, then apparently she got tired of me taking her eggs. The next day I found an egg near the ducks nest. The next day Chatterbox was making a new nest in some old screen on a shelf in the storage area. She let me collect a couple eggs there.

Then the kids went out to feed the animals and found this:


Actually what they found was Chatterbox inside the feed bag, but by the time I got there with the camera, all that was left was the egg. I haven't been able to find an egg since. I guess I am going to have to let her hatch out a nest again, or keep her in the coop if I want the eggs. What a crazy chicken!

Go Figure

Father

Mother

Baby?

Wordless Wednesday

Love in the Afternoon

Link love that is.

Make It From Scratch

Festival of Frugality

Carnival of Money Stories

Carnival of the Recipes - Anything Goes
next week- Anywhere but here. Recipes from somewhere you don't live.

Carnival of Homeschooling

Carnival of Family Life

Vegetarian Carnival

Roller Coasters, Water, Guests & Shooting Stars

Wow where has the time gone? Finally, it looks like we have a week that we will not be running crazy. In fact, there is not a single thing on the calendar for this week. So that means I will be busy catching up on the garden, the house, and anything else that didn't get accomplished in the last few weeks.

The three oldest had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa at Geauga Lake. Kellen was thrilled because he is finally tall enough to ride all the rides, and because Uncle Kent went to take him on those rides that Grandma and Grandpa aren't so thrilled with. Kellen wasn't brave enough to try some of the bigger coasters, and that is ok. He did promise Uncle Kent they would go on them next year. Lydia and Nolan were perfectly happy with the water park and the kiddie rides, and Nolan did fine with his stitches.

After coming home Tuesday afternoon, Kellen and Lydia spent the rest of the week with Ashely and Miles at a VBS day camp, put on by a friend's church. The camp was from 10-4 with lots of singing, fun lessons and swimming. They had a great time.

Saturday was busy too. The guys went to get hay. I went to a consignment sale. Saturday night Tim and I sat out on our deck to watch the meteor shower. It was so relaxing we grabbed a couple of blankets and pillows and slept out there. It went pretty well until the dog discovered us, at 4:00 AM and thought it was play time.

Sunday, we thought we would finally have a quiet, relaxing day. Wrong. Mamaw and Papaw got a call at 7:00 AM. Two of Papaw's sisters, a brother-in-law, and a niece were nearby and wanted to stop in. We all decided to skip church for the visit, and that we should all, as in 16 people all, eat lunch together. Why so many people? There are 6 in my family; Eric, his two kids, and his girlfriend who is staying for awhile; Mamaw and Papaw; Hazel and Terry who were staying in their camper this week; and the four guests. Tim and I spent most of the morning getting lunch
together. The afternoon was relaxing though. We sat around and chatted with the relatives.

I didn't actually hear this, but Tim said that my aunt, who is Amish, made a comment about wishing she were able to live the simple life like we do down here. After I got over the irony of that coming from someone who is Amish, I wondered if anyone who knew what the summer has been like around here would actually call this a simple life.

We slept on the deck again, this time with five kids; Vivian slept in her crib and we invited Eric's kids. We were all so tired, I'm not sure any of us made it past 10:30, let alone to 2:00 AM, the predicted peak of the meteor shower.

We are all exhausted. You know the fun I've had with Nolan and his naps. He hasn't fought his nap for days. Kellen and Lydia were both dragging today. I think Vivian may be the only one who is herself. And this is the simple life?

Isn't it my birthday?

Vivian and Gage

Wordless Wednesday

Quick Update Quick Links

How many days has it been since I posted here? Life has a been a whirlwind! Nolan is doing fine. You'd hardly know anything had happened to his leg. The only time he complained was when I changed the bandages.

We made a quick trip to Ohio over the weekend. We went up for our nephew Gage's first birthday party and to leave three of the four kids with Grandpa and Grandma for the annual trip to Geauga Lake. The kids were thrilled to be going. They are coming back this afternoon.

Now you might think with three of my kids gone, I'd have a nice relaxing and quiet week. Quieter? Yes, but relaxing? HA! It has been non stop on the go working on laundry, groceries, gardening, canning, and getting clothes ready for a consignment sale this weekend. I still don't feel caught up! It will get done, and I have all winter to relax right?!

More later. Here are the quick links for today.

Carnival of the Recipes - Crockpot recipes. Next week, anything goes.

Make it From Scratch

Carnival of Family Life


Festival of Frugality

Outdoor Odyssey

Did I say I was picking beans today?

After posting that, I was getting a few things finished up and heard the scream that every mother knows means someone is really hurt. It was Nolan. He and Lydia had been playing on a trailer and he fell, catching his inner thigh on the corner. When I saw all the blood on the ground, I was concerned. When I saw the fat bulging from the wound, I knew we were headed to the E.R.

Four hours later we left the ER with four stitches, and headed to the store for a prescription. Almost two hours later, we headed home where I now sit surrounded by laundry, garden produce and groceries piled around me, frozen by the enormity of my to do list. I thought that taking a small break to check email and blog would help, but I just looked into the kitchen and it still looks overwhelming. Ah, better get moving nothing is getting done with my rear in front of the computer!

The Final Touches

All the girls were primping before the wedding. I am not sure if Vivian was going for the Mountain Dew or was trying to get on the primping. Either way it was pretty cute!
Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Morning Links. . . On Wednesday

Um....... I forgot all about the links yesterday. Forgive me? Here they are a day late.

Make it From Scratch

Carnival of Family Life

Festival of Frugality
Frugal Babe did a great job hosting, giving you a quick summary of the submissions! Go check out the ones that catch your eye!

Money Stories
Personal stories about money in the context of a presidential debate.

Carnival of the Recipes - Just say no
Recipes for restricted diets. Next week - It's Too Hot to Cook - Slow Cooker Recipes

Vegetarian Carnival

Enjoy your Wednesday links. I'm off to pick beans!

My Head is Spinning

What a whirlwind the last few days have been. We traveled to Northeast Ohio for a long, incredibly busy weekend. We had a wedding, a new baby in the family and more family and friends to visit with.

We usually stay at Tim's parents, but with all the preparations and the bride and groom living there, we felt it would be best for us to stay elsewhere. We asked Heather and she graciously welcomed us. Don't let anyone tell you blogging isn't valuable. Tim and Heather were close in high school, but we kind of lost touch when we got married. I would never have asked to stay there a year ago. Since she started blogging though we've all gotten to know each other again. It was a wonderful time, and was very convenient as she lives in the middle of the places we needed to be. By the way, if you haven't seen or tried her recipe for Chicken Wraps, I can tell you first hand that they are excellent.

Tim and Lydia were in the wedding. All of Friday evening, and all day Saturday were committed to the wedding. Everything was beautiful and went smoothly. Tim sang. I haven't heard him really sing for a long time. It was nice and made me think of our early days of marriage when he was a music major and performed a lot.

Tim and Mitch (the middle brother) both got chocked up during the ceremony and reception. I guess it was hard to see their baby brother all grown up. Gail (Tim's mom) tells stories of how the older two would dote on Kent when he was little. Here he is all grown up with his lovely bride, Kerri.

Sunday we went to our old church. It is always so good to be there. It does make me slightly homesick though. We got to chat with several old friends, and found out that some of them read the blogs. I always find it interesting to find out when people are reading that I didn't realize did. I'm glad they do. Keeping up with friends is one of the reasons we started blogging, but I have to say I wish it were a bit more two sided. So those of you who are reading do me a favor leave a comment, shoot me an email or start a blog! I want to know what you are up to too!

After lunch with friends, we headed to the hospital to see our newest niece, Avery Skye. What a doll. New babies always amaze me. It is hard to believe my "big kids" actually started off that small. Jake posted more about Avery on his blog.

From there we headed home, rolling in about 10:30 PM. Since then it has been gardens, animals and laundry. We all were wiped out, even Nolan who did not put up any fight to his nap on Monday!

Ah, but the excitement doesn't stop there. Monday night Kellen had his Battle of the Books Competition. It was a repeat championship with the Milton Battle Wizards taking the trophy with a perfect score. The cousins weren't able to join this year, but Kellen still had a grand time. He was the spokesperson and couldn't have been more proud!

So after I catch up from all of that, it will be time to go again. Yes, we are headed to Ohio again this weekend. It is a first birthday party for Gage. Tim and I will only be staying Saturday night, but three oldest are staying to head to Geauga Lake Monday with Grandpa and Grandma, who will then bring them home on Tuesday. Ah, finally I will have a few days of peace and quiet. Well, peace and quiet in which to work on beans and other things!

Reflection Award

Heather recently awarded be the Reflection Award. This award is described by its creator as

The reason for the title is because this award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy... of knowing them and being blessed by them.

What an honor to receive this award. Now I get to pass it on to five bloggers I who encourage me and are a Godly example to me.

Meredith at Like Merchant Ships
She is such a wonderful example. She is kind and sweet and creates a beautiful and loving home for her family in a frugal manner. She calls it "cheerful frugality - discovering God's plenty secondhand."

Mary at Our Quiver is Full
Mary is a personal friend. She is the mother of four boys. I think that alone qualifies her for an award. :) She is a keeper of the home, and has started another blog dedicated to this art. I will let her tell you more about that.

Katie at Simple Katie
Katie is a gardener, nature lover, and crafter. Her posts are often reflective. She encourages me to live simply. She is not one to just talk about things, she gets out there and does something. Currently she is running for city council. She doesn't post a lot, but I love when she does.

Mary at Owlhaven
Mary is mom to many, 10 in fact. She exudes such patience and joy it amazes me. Their house is filled with love, and there is always something funny going on, but it isn't all fun and games. Mary also gives you a lot of food for thought on parenting, God, and life.

Heidi at Butterfly Mama
I recently gave Heidi a different award, but couldn't resist rewarding her with this one because it is a perfect fit for her blog. Her peace, kindness and love through all situations is truly inspirational.

So thank you ladies for providing such a good example to us. You are an encouragement! Feel free to pass along the award if you like.

As a side note: This award was created by a 16 year old! You should check out her blog. She is a homesteading, homeschooled girl. The second of eight children in her family. Amazing.

He Wanted Me to Throw Away His Toys

-Yet another story about the stubbornness of Nolan.

Yesterday the game du jour was pile the toys. I'm not sure the motivation this time, sometimes they are pretending they are moving, sometimes going on an adventure, and sometimes the room is an ocean and the bed is the boat. Regardless of the motivation, the result is a lot of toys taken from one place and piled up in another.

When the play was done I asked the kids to put the toys back where they belonged. Nolan flat out refused, claiming he needed help. My theory is generally, if you are old enough to make the mess, you are old enough to clean it up. The other kids were working on other messes, and I asked Nolan to start and I would help him in a few minutes. The response was not very receptive.

I finished up what I was working on and went to check on his progress. Not one single thing was put away. He was still pouting where I had left him. I asked him again to start. He refused. So I pulled out the threat that has worked with the older two every single time. "If you don't put away your toys, I will throw them all away." He did not budge. "Are you going to put them away or should I get the trash bag?" "Get the trash bag," he replied. I think my jaw hit the floor.

After picking my jaw back up, I went and got a trash bag, fully expecting the sight of it to motivate him to clean up his mess. I was wrong. I started putting his toys in the trash bag. No affect. I put his toys in the bag while mentioning the merits of each toy and asking him if he was sure he wanted it thrown away. He didn't care.

Now a bed full of toys sit in a trash bag in my bedroom. No, they are not waiting to be given back to Nolan. There is a consignment toy sale for a local church in the fall. Some of the toys will be going to that. Some, I will sneak back into the mix at a much later date because they are part of a set I want to keep. What is left will hit the trash can. I've been wanting to thin out their toys for awhile now, I guess Nolan gave me a good reason to start.

Our Star

Wordless Wednesday

Links for your Tuesday Morning

Good morning! Here are some links I think you will enjoy.

Make It From Scratch #23
Thanks to Bridget for a wonderful hosting job. Thanks to all who participate!

Carnival of The Recipes - Christmas in July
Next week the theme is Just Say No - recipes for restricted diets

Carnival of Homeschooling
Tim found this link for Free Homeschool Resources.
Of course these links would be useful for all teachers and parents.

Carnival of Debt Reduction
Articles about reducing spending, budgeting and other helpful tips to help you get out of debt.

Carnival of Family Life
A little bit of everything relating to the family.

Garden Fest
Brags, Woes and Memories about our gardens.

Happy Tuesday!

Belated Introduction

Another family member has joined the blogging world. Mementos of a Military Mom is a blog written by Tim's Aunt Cheryl. She is the mom of two children, one of whom is currently serving in Iraq. She started the blog about a week ago. She writes stories about her soldier and his sister, patriotic information and thoughts. I don't know Cheryl well, (She and Tim's Uncle married after Tim and I were already married.) but I am enjoying getting to know her better through her blog. Go stop by and say hi. I think you'll like what you find.

Happy Ninth Birthday Kellen

Today my oldest is half way to adulthood, typed with watery eyes! It is so hard to believe. What happened to my baby? He is now a young man. It seems like only yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. He spent his first night home sleeping in a clothes basket. We were getting ready to move and did not want to set up the crib. We didn't have the bassinet yet. I use the term sleeping loosely. It was a horrible night and Tim and I both wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.

We continued to wonder as we spent the next two months with a baby who wanted to nurse constantly, was crying when he wasn't nursing and would only sleep while you were holding him. It was a rude introduction to parenting, and we quickly realized our lives were changed forever. It wasn't all about us anymore.

After the first two months he did settle in. He never was, and still isn't a big sleeper, but at least he wasn't screaming anymore. We took Kellen everywhere with us. He went to the opera at about three months. We took him to movies, camping, concerts, on a cruise, and even to Alaska for the infamous backpacking trip. This picture is from that trip in 2001.

Kellen and Nolan 2004

Kellen talked early, and immediately started asking questions. He still asks me a million questions a day. He loves to learn. He loves to read. Some days I have to force him to go outside to play. Often he will take his book with him.

His hero is Homer Hickam, from October Sky fame. He wants to grow up and go to Virginia Tech just like Homer, and become an engineer.

Birthday 2005

Kellen is a big helper to me. He helps me with the garden, with his younger siblings and with the animals. Though he loves to fight with his siblings, he is also rather protective of them. He is a good kid who is on his way to becoming a good man. He will be there before his mom is ready!

Kellen & Blizzard June 2007

Rub A Dub Dub

Wordless Wednesday

For your Tuesday Morning Browsing Pleasure

We are off for an extremely busy day of fun with water, Legos and books. No not all at the same time! Here are the links this week.

Make it From Scratch at the Motherload today!

Carnival of the Recipes - Secrets in the Sauce. Next week Christmas in July

Carnival of Homeschooling- It is a teacher in service day!

Carnival of Family Life

Carnival of the Green



Enjoy your Tuesday!

Growing Bunnies

After several tries and many losses, finally on June 30th we had our first successful rabbit litter. At 28 days of gestation we put a nest box in Cream's pen. Almost immediately she began to pull fur for her nest. We thought she would have them any day. She didn't. She just kept pulling fur. After several days, she was almost bald and her box was full of fur. We thought she might never have them.


Then, as the kids were loading there stuff in the van to head to their grandparents for a few days, I had Kellen check one last time. Finally she had kindled. We thought there were eight, but in fact there were nine. One died later, so now we have eight. These are newborn kits from a different litter.





And by July 4th they looked like this.








July 10th. Some were just starting to open their eyes.








And here they are July 15th.
They are so cute and cuddly now. They peer over the edge of the nest box to see what is going on. We did find one out of the box, but I'm wondering if it came out by holding on to Cream or maybe by using a sibling as a step stool. The kids love playing with them. . . I hope they don't get to attached.