County Fair!

Welcome to the County Fair!

What's a small Midwestern town without a County Fair?

A place to meet with friends....

...try new things...

 ...moo around....?

(couldn't come up with anything clever for this one!)

...and of course,

Grease the pig!

 

 Basically the goal is to grab your designated pig and get it in the blue bucket in 40 seconds.  In muddy water (and some pig pee...ewwww).

Gabe and Jaden got to be a part of a team!

Here they are, waiting for their turn.

This was our first year attending "Grease the Pig."  Next year we'll know to get there earlier.  We sat in the only seats left...the one with the hot sun beating down on our faces.  And it was HOT.  Svanna was not impressed.  And honestly, neither were we!

And they're off!

They didn't get their pig in time, but they had fun!  And hosing off wasn't too bad either.  They both said they'd like to try again next year.

If you're wondering if we live in redneck country?  Hmmm...sometimes I wonder.  LOL

 

Budding Entrepreneur

Gabe and his customers....

 

Cheap Labor

We did some tough work today!  Landscaping.  Whew!

Gabe and Svanna taking out a bush.  Actually, they already had it out.  

Gabe is posing for a picture for me. ha!

The edging I wanted out was screwed to the fence, so Tye got to use his new drill. Suh-weet.

Yes, my boy saved his own money to buy a drill.

Popsicle break!

It was very hard work, and the temps were a bit hot!  Svanna says to me, "Mom, when we're all grown up you're gonna have to do this stuff by yourself!"

Seriously I am very proud of the kids.  Most worked hard with few complaints.  Ripping out old landscaping paper with 2 inches of dirt on top of it isn't fun (hmmmm....maybe that's why we get lots of weeds?).  I thought about paying them for their above and beyond efforts, but sometimes you just have to feel good about a job well done.

I have some pretty terrific kids!

 

Live Christian Music Festival

Saturday we went to a Christian Music Festival as a family.  What fun!!

Well, actually Shianne went with her church youth group, but she did bump into us and claim us once in a while. *smile*

In their usual teen and preteen fashion, Svanna and Sierra said they wanted to stay home, but ended up very glad they went!!

We saw Mark Schultz, Matt Maher (Sierra loves!), Natalie Grant (Svanna loves!), and Shianne and Brandy got to see Tenth Avenue North--I took the other ones home since they didn't start until 9:15 pm. 

Inflatables!  

Yeah...and not yeah.  

Why?  Cuz the same as last year we got there as they were shutting down.  

SOMEONE remind me next year that the kids' stuff is done at 5.

Jaden and Summer were quite sad.  Gabe was quite ticked off!

Sierra got Matt Maher's autograph on her hand!  

Ooooooh la la, she was (is) so excited!!

Hanging out and fooling around between concerts...

and sometimes during the concerts!

Goin up front to get a little closer to the action.  Oh, and I made sure to dance

a bit to embarrass my kids.  *smile*

What a fun uplifting time together!

 

Strawberry Picking!

What a fun...beautiful...gorgeous day!

 and...YUM!!!

 Riding the gator back after picking...and then enjoying yummy strawberry shakes, pies, muffins and sundaes!

Yep, still good on the way home...

And now we get to enjoy fresh strawberries, frozen for smoothies, homemade strawberry jam, and Svanna treated us to chocolate covered strawberries.  Ah, the tastes of Summertime!

 

Mid-March?

This picture was taken just a minute ago...in my yard...in Iowa...on March 16.

Kinda a crazy idea. Even if it is 81 degrees. But once in a while Momma's have to say "yes" to crazy ideas.

Me? I'm sporting a pony-tail, shorts and a t-shirt, and pretending it's Summer (well, at least spring!).  Being lazy and playing on my iPad. It's even Friday!

Enjoy the day!

Branson Vacation

Ok, I am still here!!  No falling off a cliff, really. *smile*

Seriously, summer is getting in the way of blogging.  But better that than vice versa, right?

We were actually on vacation this past 7 days.  Woot!  What fun we had.  What an amazing time together.  We went to Branson/Table Rock Lake with Brandy's family.  We left last Wednesday and got home yesterday.  The rest of the family left Sunday, but we decided to make it a longer family vacation with just us.  So glad we did.  I had forgotten how wonderful it was just to spend time together, without the responsibilities and duties of being home.  The kids took the looooong drive wonderfully, only a couple little meltdowns.  And everyone got along 99% of the time.  Balm to my soul.

I hope to post more details later.  But truthfully, I might not.  Thankfully, a picture says a thousand words.  So here's about 27,000 words.

In front of the theatre where we saw "Noah's Ark, the musical."  Wow, the musical was breathtaking.  A don't-miss if you get there. 

Brandy's wonderful parents...

Pool times...

Sisters are awesome...

All because two people fell in love...

Our niece and nephew-in-law, Cari and Adam, expecting their first.  So exciting!  Love this picture...

Fun times on the lake, the water was gorgeous...

 

 

 Our girls with future niece-in-law, Martha...

No, we didn't actually pull them on the tube.  But aren't they cute playing on it??

Hanging out with Brandy's cousin, Stacy.  So cool they were at Table Rock at the same time we were!

Boating can be exhausting...

Look out, Daisy!

A different kinds of boating...

Watch out world, Jaden's on the move!

Beautiful ending to a beautiful vacation...