Downright Silliness and Nose Pickin'

My 9 year old at Granny Sue's house in August.  Striking a pose in her new dress.

My 12 year old trying out his mouth guard for football.

The drive to the airport was just long enough to give Uncle B a "spa treatment." 

Lucky guy!

Picking a winner! 

Chillin' at the fun house

We had a great time at Granny Sue and Papa T's house in August.  My sister and her husband were visiting from China for a couple weeks.  We ate, played with Lego's, and ate some more!

Story time with dad.

 

Pictured above: my sister, me, and my mom.

Visitors from the Great Lakes

My husband's sister, 2nd person from left (above) surprised us with a visit in August.  We were happy to see her and her family while she was in the area.  When she pulled into our driveway, I yelled to my husband, "what the heck is your sister doing in our driveway?"  I assumed he knew she was coming to visit and forgot to tell me.  I stress about people popping in and seeing my messy house.  He really had no idea she was coming.  We had a nice visit and enjoyed desert together, messy house and all! 

Cousins ages 2 to 18!

Visitors from the Orient in July 2010

All the kids (and a couple of chickens) with Uncle Brian, Aunt Annie, and Granny Sue.

Aunt Annie and Uncle Brian brought some really interesting and fun gifts from China!  Two of the girls decided to perform an impromptu dance performance.

Two yummy gifts below, Yak Jerky and Chrysanthemum Tea.

Granny Sue received a beautiful shawl and red bracelet.  Papa T received a Nink hat (Chinese spelling error, supposed to be Nike) and a cleaver hotel sign that says, "Live life to drugs." 

Some of the other gifts we received were pop rocks, Chinese cookies, Chinese candy (we got to taste corn candy, a hard candy shaped like a cob of corn that tastes exactly like corn, very strange), books, some beautiful stone carvings of a tiger and Chinese dragon, a Chinese Coca-Cola T-Shirt, Chinese coins, and a crazy hotel sign that says "Pornography, Gambling is Strictly Prohibited."  A big thank you to Aunt A. & Uncle B. for all the cool, interesting, and funny gifts!

Birthday Girl Turns 11!

Her birthday was at the end of July.  She is growing up too fast.  For her birthday this year she asked for money and a shopping trip to the mall.  She bought clothes and jewelry. 

I am so blessed to be her mother. She is a sweet girl, an awesome big sister, and a big help to me!

Above, posing with Granny Sue.  She received a new watch set with interchangeable bands, among other gifts.

Have you ever seen such a thing?????????

The House of Mud and Straw

A family that we go to church with are building this "Cob House."  It is made of  a mixture of clay, sand, water, and straw that will harden.  It is similar to adobe.

 Pictured above is the main floor, the front door is to the far right.  The main floor features a kitchen, living room, bathroom and utility room.  Below is the upper floor that will have 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.  There will be a chimney in the center of the house that will help heat the second story.

This house was built entirely by this family with help from a few friends.  It is definitely the coolest house I've ever been in!

 

The second story will have a deck that wraps entirely around the house.  The deck doesn't have a railing yet.  The kids climb up to the second story on a ladder outside, then jump down to the trampoline below.  You can see the ladder leaning against the house in the first picture, on the left side of the photo.  The trampoline is behind the ladder.  A little scary for the parents, but the kids love it!

The Main Course

It was sad to part with her 3 roosters, but since we live in the city limits we had to get rid of them before they began to crow and become a nuisance.  We still have the 6 hens, and eagerly await our first farm fresh brown egg.  My husband had the perfect solution, serve them up for dinner at Boy Scout Camp.

 

The roosters were loaded up in their cage and hauled off to scout camp.  My husband had a hard time doing the "deed."  He was to attached to them.  At least he knows how to butcher a chicken, which is a good survival skill.  For his sake, I hope we can just enjoy the eggs from now on.

13 Years After College Graduation, But We're Still Fabulous!

June 15-18, I had the opportunity to reunite with some good friends from college. We're all grown up and responsible now, but we haven't forgotten how to have fun!

Brin impressed us with her tricked out car!

The fine print under the sigh that says "New," says,"This season's hottest releases." But, no, we didn't stand there on purpose. This photo was taken at Borders Book Store. I asked the teenage, heavily pierced clerk, to take a photo for me. He asked, "of what?" I said, my friends and I. What did he think I wanted a photo of??? Glad I didn't ask.

The most interesting water towers I've ever seen! We had a fun time in St.Louis. We ate, talked, and shopped til we dropped! Can't wait for our next reunion!

The Scariest Day... Beware of the Toddler Eating Mini-van!!!

A scary accident occurred in May, and I want to tell the story as part of my journal and to warn others.  It was about 8:00 pm one May evening when I arrived home from the grocery store.  Four of my children were with me and we were exhausted after a long day.  The sun had set and it was dark outside as I took the first load of groceries into the house.  As I was putting the milk in the fridge, I heard a loud cry outside, I asked my oldest daughter to go and see why my 2 year old was crying.  (Minutes earlier I had asked the kids to unstrap her from her car seat and bring her inside, but she wasn't inside yet.)

My oldest daughter came running into the house in a panic, crying and trying to speak. I just said, "run, show me, I'm right behind you, run!" She led me outside to the minivan in the driveway. All the doors were closed and my 2 year old was screaming bloody murder inside. At first I just thought she locked herself in, so I tried the side sliding door, it wouldn't budge. I quickly noticed that my daughters arm was trapped in the automatic sliding door on the passenger side. I couldn't see anything below her elbow. Her arm, from her fingertips to her elbow, was trapped in the door and the door was closed completely. I feared that her arm was severed.

I yelled' "get the phone, call 911!" My daughter obeyed. I repeatedly unlocked the door, and pulled with all my strength to push it open, with no luck. It was jammed shut. I spoke to the 911 operator and yelled for my oldest daughter to run next door and get the neighbor! Our neighbor, a large man at least 6'3" tall and an elementary teacher, came running. He pulled with all his strength for a few minutes. I begged him to do anything, break the door, I didn't care! He had to be very careful as he pulled, not to injure her further. As the police arrived, followed by an ambulance, my neighbor was able to force the door open. My toddler's arm was swollen and bruised, but amazingly not broken. The door was slightly bent and had to be forced closed.

The next day I took my toddler to her pediatrician to make sure her arm was alright. She checked out just fine. My next stop was the Chevy dealership. They told me that the thick rubber weather stripping around the door had cushioned her arm. The door has a sensor to stop it from closing on an object, but when the door is less than 1 inch from closing, if it meets resistance, it torks down even harder to force itself shut. This feature is to overcome dirt or ice build up.

I asked about a safety device and if any recalls existed.  There are no recalls.  I asked how I could report the problem and was told there wasn't a way to report it. 

 WARNING: Pictured above is the 2002 Chevrolet Venture appendage death trap!!!

Back at it...............

I can't believe my last post with pictures was on June 10th (3 months ago)!  I've been a real blog slacker!  Brace yourself for an onslaught of photos from our summer of fun.  I am at least 16 posts behind.  Now that you're on the edge of your seat, I'll give you the quick summary of what is to come, just in case I slack off again and fail to finish my 2010 summer updates. 

This summer was spent watching baseball, sending off the roosters to scout camp as the main course, visiting a cool cob (mud) house, 11 yr. old b-day, Aunt E. visited, Aunt & Uncle Smith visited, trip to Omaha, Grandma P. b-day & Uncle B visited, found stray dog, birth of 5 hamsters, 1st day of school, seminar at the lake, and son's football season off to a good start!

Oh, where did the time go?  Summer came and went much too quickly!  Looks like fall will be just as busy and fun!

Just doing our part.........

  

Over the past year, I've had a strong feeling that I should get involved in local government.  After declaring our candidacy in March, my husband and I had the opportunity last night to wait in our local courthouse for the results to pour in from the polls. 

We were both on the ballot for Republican Committeeman & Committeewoman for our township.  We both ran against an incumbent.  My husband won with 61% of the votes, and I won with 57% of the votes.  This committeeman/woman position is not a paid position.  We decided to run for the position because we felt we owed it to our community, as conservative republicans, to stand up for the values we hold dear.  They are the family values that brought us back to our hometown to raise our children.  Five days before the election, my husband, kids, and I went door to door, on the hottest day temperatures reached 106 degrees.  I loved knocking on doors and meeting new people.  I am so blessed to live in this community!  I love being surrounded by wonderful friends and neighbors who support the values that we are trying to preserve for our children. 

I would encourage all who read this to get involved in your community!  You can make a difference!  We all are, or should be, looking for those with values, character, and integrity, to stand up!  I recently re-read Gordon B. Hinkley's book, "Standing for Something," and came to realize that we can influence our community for good by electing those who bring us together in a spirit of cooperation, encouragement, and courtesy. We need to bring civility to our local government, electing those who demonstrate basic human kindness, goodness, temperance, and display respect for others in every aspect of their daily lives.  In the book, he also shared, “When righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn,” Proverbs 29:2.  It was not an easy decision to declare our candidacy for these positions, but after much prayer and pondering, we knew it was time for us to serve. 

My husband was also on the ballot for county prosecutor.  He was unopposed and won the republican nomination!  He will be on the ballot again on November 2 for the general election.  Voter turn out for this election was an amazing 40%.  (Our state projected a 20% turn out.)  We are so grateful for all those who voted for us!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

June 2010 Youth Fair

Reserve Champion Poultry!

Visiting with the poultry judge.

Getting ready to show all 9 chickens.

Goofing off in the arena.

Powder Puff Pinewood Derby

The "Rainbow Porcupine Car" designed by our 10 year old.  It won the "Artistic Flair" Award.

This is what you get when girls design cars. Thank goodness there wasn't a weigh-in, these cars would have been too heavy for boy scout standards. At least they are darn cute!

The "Evil Slug-bug Car" designed by our 9 year old.   Her car was really fast and she was awarded "Best Original Design."

The Derby was held on June 9th.  Daddy was a huge help in building these cars with his girls.

Coach's Pitch Baseball

Flying past 2nd base and on to 3rd.

Big Brother did a good job as 3rd base coach and encouraged his little brother to run to home base.

Sneaking under the bleachers with a new friend.  The little boy had a bag of M&M's to share and my little girl was smitten!  She quickly abandoned him when the candy ran out.  Girls are so fickle.

Our boy hit a nice line drive past the coach's foot.