Family Time at the Ag Center

This weekend I took the kiddos to a really fantastic family-oriented event at the Agricultural Center.  A group of homeschool families hosted this event to raise money for a local teen who has cancer and constantly multiplying medical bills. The event had a cow and "patty" theme and included all sorts of activities such as facepainting

A cow patty walk (sort of like a cake walk or musical chairs, cute Katelyn placed fourth!)

A cow patty walk for bigger people

There was some other entertainment and talking which Natalie and Katelyn enjoyed while practicing their farm girl perch.  Thankfully the photo is a little blurry so you can't tell that my poor girl's pants are drooping...again...

A cow look alike contest (cute Katelyn entered herself in this one before I even knew what was going on!)

Sadly, I have no picture of the Chick-fil-A cow.  Chick-fil-A in Hendersonville was a huge sponsor of the event.  As usual, they put their chicken where their "moo" is.

And finally, the grand finale!  A calf from Tap Roots Dairy was released in the ring to well, create a patty.  The ring represented a giant bingo grid.  Each square "sold" for $10.  If the accommodating calf plopped on your square, you won $500.  The gracious winners contributed their winnings back to the fund to raise over $10,000 for the cause--Naomi's Blessings.  Sorry for the lack of photography skills...still trying to figure out how to work my camera phone.  :)

The kiddos and I had a great time.  I'm now trying to talk their dad into taking us to the rodeo for some good family fun.  Wonder what we'll wear...

Sleep

It's Friday morning and I really just want to go lay in my little bed, covers over my head.  Who knew living life could take so much energy?  However, deep down I know I LOVE my life and would not trade any part of it, except maybe the cooking, cleaning, laundry and other not so fun work things...

So, here's to a weekend of sleeping--some of my favorite photos of the younger kiddos grabbing a couple of winks, or in my Swedish Grandpa's terms, "resting their eyes".

Cute Katelyn ALWAYS seems to have crumbs on her face.  She's a little like the dusty kid in Charlie Brown, poor thing.

One tired chickie.  So glad you can't see the staph infection she had that summer, poor thing...

Please do me a favor and do NOT mention to my handsome husband that his picture is here...  But I love this image.   Daddy and his Boy.

Sweet beginnings.  My children hold my heart in their teeny tiny hands--especially when they're sleeping...

Clear and Present Danger

That is so how homeschooling feels this morning.  My firstborn and I started on time, 9am on the dot.  But at 9:03, my handsome husband asked me to look at something for him.  At 9:35, my cute Katelyn decided to play piano.  At 9:15-10:05, my brawny Brady yelled (this happens to be his favorite new activity).  My family is really cutting into my blogging time about my family...

So the danger is that I may stab a pencil in my eye.  Not on purpose of course, but because I'm wildly flailing. 

Let me explain...  As you can tell, I love running my mouth, whether through the written or the spoken word.  This love does not go away when I get overwhelmed or grumpy.  Nope, the desire to run my mouth becomes stronger than ever.  And my sarcastic abilities can reach new levels...  As nutty as it sounds, it seems the harder I try to control my mouth, the harder it is to control other parts of my body.  Thus my tendency to flail...and why it is better for me to type than to use pencils.

In an effort to get back on schedule and bring my blood pressure down to normal, low levels, I leave you with a few calming photos as I pray "Please, God, make me a normal person..."

 

 

the Library

The library and I have a very complicated relationship.  I honestly love reading and read so fast that  if I bought every book I ever read, it would cost a billion dollars and my handsome husband would have an excuse to add on another room so the children would have place to lay their heads.  Borrowing books from the library is truly a necessity, not a luxury, for our budget and home.

And yes, our car DID look just like this!

As a child, I was an exemplary library patron, thanks in large part to my model mother.  Yes, she was beautiful, but the "model" term refers more to her citizenry, housewifery, volunteerism, homeschool teaching skills, and well, I think I've made my point.  In any case, her method of keeping up with the library books we borrowed once a week and hauled from town to our home in the middle of the mountains (a good forty-five minute drive) involved a library bag and a number system.  Obviously, the number system was a bit of a challenge for me, being a numbers challenged individual, but model mother kept it simple.  Each of her children were allowed to borrow equal number books to years lived.  This worked fairly well for me, especially if I stocked up on classics. 
You know, the kind that has 450 pages, plus a prologue. 
Thankfully mom made the library trip weekly...


As an adult and mom myself, I would love to pattern our lives after my model mother's marvelous common sense efforts.  Unfortunately, several things stand in my way:

• I can't seem to make it to the library once a week during working hours.  And I'm not about to drop due books off when the library is closed because I would not be able to refill my library bag.

• I can't find my library bag.

• I feel badly about only allowing my oldest child six short books.  The second born would only get four short books.  How would they possibly have enough to read for the next week.  Never mind that even the six year old is barely able to read at all...

• Thirty-two books is a little much for me to carry home for myself, even if it is equal to my age, so I always end up with some other number of books I can't remember.

• The library gives receipts now for books, but I lose them, immediately, on the way out the library door.

 Maybe if I could find my library bag, I could keep the receipts in there...


Thus begins my very complicated relationship with the librarians.  Sadly, I must avoid the kind volunteer folks whenever possible.  They do not have a firm grasp on my issues.  The veteran library employees understand things such as the Annie DVD is never, ever, ever coming back, no matter that a well-meaning volunteer marked it "lost".  Nope, my second child did a marvelous science experiment with that one.  She discovered that three pieces are not better than one.

Reading with Gigi

The regular librarians understand that I cannot pay all my fines at once.  They realize that this is not particularly a financial issue for me.  Rather, it is part of how I claim ownership in my local library.  By paying in installments, I am investing in my librarians' salaries and ensuring the purchase of future titles.  In fact, I would say that I am a very important entity when it comes to ensuring the longevity of lending libraries in our nation.

A fun retro poster from Phil Bradley, British supporter of libraries.  Click on the photo for some more fun images.

I know many would be tempted to encourage me to move to an electronic reader such as an ipad or kindle as a means of simplifying life.  I am pleased to report that I actually have the kindle app on my ipad.  However, I miss the feel of books when I read on the ipad.  I miss knowing how far into a book I am.  I miss the ease of going back a page or two to find an important point.  It's just not the same thing...  Plus, an ipad requires a charger which would require finding mine...

Constant Renovations

My Handsome Husband loves new projects--especially the part where he gets to knock down walls.  My master bedroom became a dining room over the weekend while I was at a conference.  Photos and story another day.  However, I really want to ask your opinion on this picture...  Do you think my house would look lovely in these colors?  I love their quiet excellence.  Oh, and I shamelessly borrowed the photo from www.thepioneerwoman.com.

A few other images I love that incorporate some of my "calming" colors.  Really, would they look good in a house?

the Swedes

The Swedes are an amazing group of people.  They seem to be a quiet, nice, reserved, able to deal with extreme and harsh conditions kind of group.  Or rather, a group of individuals, because the ones I know seem just as happy on their own as they are in a crowd.

This is my favorite Swede...

Yes, that is my dear dad.  My mother has a coffee mug that says something about marriage to a Swede being bliss or a slice of heaven, or some such sappy thing.  I think it's a physical reminder of a happy marriage because unlike me who loves to remind my husband how fortunate he is to be married to me, dear dad just kind of goes with the flow.

And of course there is my sweet southern friend who moved with her Swedish husband back to Sweden.  Her biggest struggle was that no one wanted to shoot the breeze in the grocery store, on the street, or at the public park.  I'm with her, if you can't talk to strangers, what are you supposed to do with your time?

Strangers we met standing in a line in Vegas.

All that being said, I visited IKEA over the weekend.  And was astonished as usual.   First of all, it is just so ginormous.  It makes me dizzy and I spend too much money because when you buy 50 cheap things, it is still expensive.  Go figure.  Second of all, they sell Pepsi products.  Did Coke not make it that far North?  I can just imagine some sales rep with poor blood circulation saying "there is no way on earth that I am going to sell to any country past the Mason Dixon line, no matter which continent I'm on."

My child as a Diet Coke rep to the frozen tundra.

The third thing that astonishes me is that the biggest store on earth (seriously, it is bigger than a super Walmart) only has one up escalator and one down escalator!

That has to be Swedish design.  What other people on earth would expect such good behavior from mobs of people shopping?  I'm sure no self-respecting Italian would ever expect hundreds of people to line up for an escalator in a nice, orderly fashion.  No, the Italians would have built several at various speeds so that people could go at their own pace, enjoying a snack, each other and life in general.

On the other hand, Americans would also build several escalators for completely different reasons.  Americans need to compensate for their constant hurry and fear of fire.  We simply must get in and out of a place with no waiting, ever.  Things to do and people to see and all that mess.  Our multiple escalators would go super-fast.  Hmmm, as the mother of three children, I kind of like that idea...as long as dramamine is available and there's someone to catch the kids at the top before their shoe laces get stuck and I lose them forever.

In any case, I did manage to find lighting for my children's rooms at IKEA.  Pink reading lamps and blue stars.  I will leave it to you to guess which ones go to which room.

Have a great Tuesday!

Spring Snow

We woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground.  What crazy weather we "enjoy" here in the mountains.  Here are some of my favorite photos from a spring snow last year.

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  See you Monday!