4-H Judging Today

Here are the boys outfits. Dougie made the pants of his outfit. Jacob made his shirt. We have judging at 12:30 and 2:00 today. Tonight is the style review at 7:00. At the end they announce who won from each category. Wish us luck.

Wildlife outside the window...

We have tons of bees...see former posts...and now butterflies. At least I like butterflies...yeah...Just an update...the moths have seemed to have peeked and now are on the decline in the house...probably lived long enough to lay a million zillion moth eggs for next years epidemic. Now those pesky honey bees...you know the ones that moved into the house siding...are finding their way indoors. Well moth guts were bad but at least they don't sting you. So alas...be careful what you wish would go away ...you never know what it will be replaced with.

Camp Whitewood

Well, the boys are back from Camp Whitewood. They had a blast. It was a cowboy theme this year and this is Dougie's outfit...He had a great time. They are a bit sunburned and sleep deprived but made friends and liked everything. Jacob got to shoot a 22 rifle. They also did archery, swam, and did a water slide...also a hike up the creek and I am sure lots of other things I haven't heard about yet. It is the first time they have been away from me for a week without family...well they still had some cousins with them technically although they didn't really see or hang out with each other all week.

Sleep Over Night

Here are the kids when they decided to have a sleep over in Jacob's room. It didn't last long before they were fighting over bed space and being too hot. The older boys are at camp this week so it has been very quiet around here. They will be home tomorrow...

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!! I just love this picture. He just finished sweeping the walk by himself...and he is oh so proud. Can't wait until he finds that 'special" girl when he is older so I can share this picture! Have a great weekend everyone and God Bless America!

Brotherly and Sisterly Love Part II

Apparently they bow to each other before they kick the crap out of each other...who knew?

Brotherly and Sisterly Love

I saw them out in the side garden bowing to each other...I thought how nice. They play together so well. They even posed for a few pictures together and looked so sweet...like they loved each other... See next post for the finish...

Workin' at the Car Wash Yeah...

Here are the kids washing the van. I would like to report that it looked better when they were done...but...at least it wasn't dusty anymore. They had fun, and they decided to do it on their own. Maggie was there too but didn't get a good picture of her. We are trying to convince the car that we will take care of her if she will only live forever. Oh yeah maybe we should change the oil now that we have lived here for a year....hmmmmm.

More Pets? or Invasion of Mothra

Now let me tell you you might be thinking...that is only a few moths. What is she freaking out about? Let me just say this is a "sample" picture...last night upstairs I had to kill about 50 moths before Maggie would go to bed. They were that many in her room...the bathroom the same and a bunch in the boys room and our room. We nicknamed Douglas the "exterminator" ...he is good at getting them on the first whack. Just a few other moth "facts" you might not be aware of... if you try and drown a moth by filling the sink with water and watching it go down the drain...they just climb right back out. Amazing. You have to flush the suckers...the jury is still out if they can come back from that... Also "fact" number two...if you have nice white sheer curtains in all your rooms...moth guts make a HUGE mess. Hopefully moth guts don't stain. Oh and Steve is really glad we didn't get to paint the bathroom yet...because Moth guts on paint or walls has to be scrubbed off. Yuck! So Invasion of Mothra...or new pets? New pets we have had since moving to the "country" mice, bees, wasps, ticks, moths, ladybugs, peacocks, and oh yeah we actually did get a dog.

Love ya,

Julie

Primary Day

Here is pictures of Maggie at the church. We planted sunflower seeds and talked about our testimonies of Jesus Christ and how faith is like a seed. Hopefully the sunflower will grow. They are giant sunflower seeds given to the church by Aunt Margie.

More Bees

Here are some more honey bees that decided to hang out on our berry bush. They were there for about 3 hours and then they all flew away. It is an awesome sight to see a swarm of bees. You can hear them buzzing before you happen upon them.

Kennywood Adventures

Steve had his "company" hospital picnic at Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburg, Pa. We decided to go and have fun since the kids have only been to the county fair. They had a blast. I didn't take my camera since I didn't want to haul it everywhere and carry lots of stuff. These lame pictures were taken with my cell phone. Curtis does look very grumpy but he had a great time. He just didn't want his picture taken. We made it out of the park with only 2 very minor meltdowns...compared to some of the screaming fits we saw other kids doing...we were quite lucky.

Jacob and Steve went on the biggest rollercoasters. I think it goes 85 mph. Jacob smiled for 45 minutes after the ride. Dougie did one rollercoaster with Jacob and Steve...a big wooden rollercoaster. Steve said it banged him up alot and really shook little Dougie around quite a bit. He was done with rollercoasters after that. We all loved the raging rapids and the 6 of us fill the whole ride thingy...so it was just our family. We got very very very wet. It was fun...the boys and I went 3 times...Maggie and Steve were done after one turn...Maggie was the first one to get the huge waterfall...which she didn't think was all that fun.

Other highlights were the log ride...Scary for Mom and Maggie...but Curtis and Jacob loved it. Dougie and Steve opted out. We also all like Garfields Nightmare...which was a "tunnel of Love" ride type but it was about garfield and it was also 3D. The kids like the haunted house...which was not so scary...they got to shoot the goules? with lasers. Steve and I thought it was pretty lame for waiting in line all that time. Plus what is the fun of a haunted house if you are controlling the actions of the scary things? You hit the target with a laser and the skeleton moves...isn't the whole point of a haunted house is the fact that you don't know what will happen next?

It was very fun and the kids are already saying...the next time we come here....

Julie

Track Meet Pictures

Maggie competed in the 50 meter hurdles, 50 meter dash and the obstacle course.

Dougie did the 50 meter dash and the 100 meter dash. He took second place in the 100 meter dash.

It rained very very very hard. On friday when Maggie had her meet they delayed due to lightning...and then we got a huge thunderstorm. Scary huge.

Sat morning was Dougie's meet. No thunder and lightning but boy did it pour buckets. Steve had to work so he got out of the wonderful bonding experience that occured as we all huddled together under one umbrella. To say that we were soaked is an understatement. It was worth it to see Douglas on the stand getting a ribbon.

5th Grade Graduation

Here is Jacob at his 5th Grade graduation. Next year he will move to the middle school. He has done very well this year at school. He received all A's and B's on his report card...so did Dougie and Maggie got all S's...

Today was the last day of school here. They get out much earlier in Ohio. There is no winter break here...don't need one...and they start a week earlier.

Honey Bees for Pets?

Here are some pictures of our new pets? Douglas was the first to see the dark cloud of bees from the living room window. They quickly swarmed and probably moved in...I like animals and all but this move to the country has given us some real interesting animals to watch...mice in the kitchen...wasps in the eves and siding...ticks on the dog...peacocks roaming the yard...and now honey bees... Steve will be calling bee keeper today.

Jacob's First Band Concert

Here he is before the concert. I will see if I can download the video...you can't see him at all...because trumpets sit in the back...but you can hear the music...

Mother's Day

Here is the mother's day gift from church. It looks like a whole big loaf...but actually it was a mini loaf of yummy bread.

PEACOCKS!

Here are pictures of the peacocks that roam around our yard. Now they are getting brave enough to come up by the house.

D.A.R.E. Graduation

Here is the DARE Graduation. The kids earned DARE tee shirts and had a good time getting a certificate from the sheriff of Portage County.
I'm very proud of Jacob.

First Asparagus

YUMMY! Going to feed it to the kids for dinner...wish me luck!