Out on Wacahoota Road

Save the Date for Will's First Steer Show

2011-10-18T14:43:00.002-04:00

Check out that smile! Will's getting ready for his first steer show. Be on the lookout for one of these in the mail.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Life of a Farm Girl

2011-10-04T12:28:00.000-04:00

Kaitlyn's been a farm girl most of her life. We moved out to the farm permanently when she was 2 and she has enjoyed every minute of it. Her personality doesn't always lend itself well to farm life (she only comes with two volumes - LOUD and asleep), but she makes life much more interesting for us and all the animals. She was recently described as being like a flying squirrel which aptly describes her since she never sits still, is always climbing on something, and seems to constantly be off the ground (on a table, hanging off someone, in a tree, etc.) At school, they call her Fingers because she can't keep her fingers to herself.

Kaity is one to always volunteer to do something especially if it's outside. She is destined to work out here at some point in her life. Here's a rundown of a few of her activities that happen on a fairly daily/weekly basis.

She's not old enough to show cattle yet, but don't tell her that! She spends as much time as Will with them. She's not always aware of how big they are or where she's at around them, but that will come with age. And, notice what she's wearing. Every cowgirl's got to look good.

Sometimes she goes with Daddy to feed cows. She loves "looking at cows" as she puts it. We don't let her ride in the back typically because she often forgets to hold on.

She takes horse lessons once a week or so with Ms. Lisa and Jill. She loves this activity and will grow into it. Currently, she's Ms. Lisa's youngest student and she has a hard time getting Jill to do what she wants. But, look where her feet are...they only touch the saddle pad and not the horse!

She loves gardening and can't wait to start planting the fall garden with Daddy. The sunflower was one that Daddy grew this year. In her words, "it's bigger than my head!"

She loves her animals. Oreo isn't always thrilled with her attention, but she loves all of them. She says she wants to be a cowgirl animal vet when she grows up. I believe she'll do it.

And, apparently she's willing to explore ALL animals. This is her first snake bite from a garden snake. She wanted to hold it.

And, she still has her very girly side. She takes ballet, jazz, and tap each once a week. And, I'm hoping that dance influences her Flying Squirrel personality and helps mature her a little bit. I see it working, but it's definitely a slow process.

But, at the end of the day, this is what usually happens.

I can't wait to see how she's going to grow and what she decides to do. Whatever it is, she'll do it with a "full speed ahead" attitude. :-)

Snapshot of Our Day

2011-09-29T20:34:00.000-04:00

Sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging and you get out of the habit. I'm going to try to get re inspired to blog some more. Especially about our farm and agriculture in general since John's now working full-time out here.
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To start us off, I thought I'd start with a cool project called "Day in Agriculture." On September 29, Farm Journal is asking agriculturists to blog, tweet, update their Facebook status, take pictures/video all about their day and what happens. So, I thought I'd give a rundown from my perspective as farm wife, mom, and off-farm income. Here's how Thursday, September 29 went for me.

Got up a little bit earlier than normal (lots to do before school). Will gets in the shower as I'm getting out. I fix my tea and breakfast and read my online stuff and Kaity sits with daddy in his chair. Fight with both over getting dressed and breakfast decisions. As Will's eating, John heads out to feed his steer and heifer for him. We get backpacks and lunches ready and check to make sure homework is finished and paperwork signed. I get dressed for work and pack up my stuff. Our family farm chores have to be done before we can leave - Bluebell and Oreo get fed in the house, Will unties the steer and heifer and checks their water, Kaity helps me feed the ponies and bunnies and checks their water, and Will feeds his hamsters. John's weaning calves this week so he leaves for work without Bluebell. Normally, she goes with him several times a day, but not when calves are in the pens. Today is actually a special day for Bluebell and Oreo. They're both getting fixed! Which means we have to leave for school 30 minutes early so I can drop kids off in Micanopy and then head to Williston to drop the puppy and kitten off for their vet appointments before finally heading back to Gainesville for work. But, before we can leave, I throw a roast, potatoes, and carrots in the crockpot for dinner. Finally, we're ready to head out the door. It takes Will 10 minutes to put his shoes on and tie his laces. I get out to the car with everyone, realize that Will didn't take his medicine, go back in (turning off and on the alarm) to get his medicine and head back to the car. Will runs to the gate to shut it and we're finally off.

So, we've left the house and gone the 7 miles to school. I usually walk at least Kaity to her class, but today we're early. I drop them off and they head to the cafeteria to wait for school to start. Back in the car and another 7 miles to Williston to the vet. We have vets that are closer, but this is our farm vet's office and we really like him. Normally, he comes to us, but these are surgeries so I have to go out of my way to take them in. But, we have enough animals that we don't need any unexpected surprises. After dropping them off, it's another 15 miles back to work for the day.

I check in with John on the way and they've fed all the barn animals, bulls, and cows and now they're working on getting calves in the pen. They'll be at this all day - probably without a lunch break.

Finally, I make it to work (albeit a little late due to the vet dropoff). I work on our Master Gardener e-newsletter, some video ideas, and other stuff before lunch. In the haste this morning, I forgot to make my lunch so I head to Jimmy John's for a sandwich. I work on some Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher stuff while eating my sandwich. After lunch, I finish up a report for my professional development group and get ready for travelling next week. I'm headed to K-State for a board meeting and will be out of the office all week so I need to have my ducks in a row for work.

I check in with John at lunch and all I got from him was cows in the pen and lots of mooing.

Head home a little early so I can pick up kids. John had to go to the vet's to pick up cow medicine so he also got to pick up the puppy and kitten.

Get home and John's still working cows. We all work on getting Bluebell and Oreo comfortable from their day at the vet. We check over homework. Kaity has a book to read and spelling practice. Will has math, spelling, and reading to do. We get those done. Kaity's got tap and jazz class tonight so I send Will over to the barn to hang out until John's done working. Kaity and I head to dance (which is luckily next to the grocery store). We get home about 7:15 and dinner's ready (yeah for crockpots!)John and Will had fed and worked the steer and heifer while we're gone so everyone's ready to come in. We eat about 8, which is normal for us, and then kids have to finish their reading. Tonight, they're not that smelly so they don't need baths. They go to bed about 9 and John and I watch TV. I head to bed at 10 and he'll head to bed about 11:30. It's a long day, but a good day.

Couple things missing from my day: meetings and housework. Normally, we have several evening meetings a week (farm bureau, cattlemens, 4-H, fair board, school board, etc). And, no (which really means absolutely none) housework got done. We've got 3-4 dirty loads of laundry sitting there, 2 loads of dishes, sweeping, filthy bathrooms, etc. I do a lot of this in the morning before school and John helps a lot with it. But, it's weaning season, so he's not able to help. But, weaning season creates a TON more laundry and dirt in the house and it quickly builds up. When I get home next weekend after being out of town for a week, we're going to be knee deep around here. Oh, well. It's how life rolls on the farm.

Currently, this is how our days begin and end. But it's good farm chores for the kids and is teaching them pretty big responsibility skills.

Birthday Extravanganzas!

2011-02-22T13:58:00.003-05:00

I know I've been a terrible blogger lately. Here's a recap of February, or as we like to call it "the birthday party month."

Kaity turned 6 (wow!) two weeks ago. We made a big deal out of it for her because you know she likes being the center of attention. She got cupcakes at school, a special birthday supper of spaghetti and meatballs, and presents on her actual birthday.

I made this cake which was decorated just for her, but it was nasty. It was strawberry flavored and kind of gross. She liked it.

And, the big birthday present - a new bicycle! She had long ago outgrown hers and still doesn't know how to ride, so we got her a new one. I don't have a great picture of it yet. Will's going to get a new one also, but we'll let him pick out his own since he'll be more likely to ride it then.

Then, we had a sock hop party for her. I made her a poodle skirt and she had a couple friends over for dancing. It was the first sunny day we'd had in about three weeks so they spent a lot of the party outside. I LOVE this picture.

And, this one too.

For Will's birthday, we did a party at the bowling alley. It was so awesome and the best 8 year old party ever! They did all the setup, cleanup, and the kids got to bowl a lot.

He had a lot of friends come. He's pretty popular. It helps that he's such a sweet, nice guy. :-)

We had a family party at Nana and Papa's house last night for him. He wanted sausage gravy and biscuits for dinner.

He read each and every card this year. And, he loved the money he got in them. He counted and I think he's got almost $70. He says he's going to buy daddy a tommy gun. (He watched a documentary on tommy guns the other day. I think he's a little short of cash for that.)

And, the musical instruments they got. This is the "Funky Carrot" band.

Happy 6th Birthday to Kaity and Happy 8th Birthday to Will!

Light Up Micanopy 2010

2010-12-23T08:40:00.000-05:00

Light Up Micanopy was great again this year. The kids sang in their school performance and entered their cookies in the cookie bake-off. Kaity did red velvet whoopie pies. They looked very pretty but the cookies weren't the right proportion to the filling.

Will entered pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. It was his cookie idea and he did most of the mixing and dolloping although I had to frost them all. He ended up winning overall cookie and won $8. He was very excited.

The kids also met the "real" Santa. It's the grandpa of one of our 4-Hers and he really looks like the real Santa. He's got a fantastic costume and great beard. Both the kids are really into Santa this year. I think it will be the last year for Santa for Will but this year he REALLY believes. When he wrote his letter, he said he wanted "elf shoos." When I asked him why, he said "because no one else will think to ask for that, so I'll probably get it." Which means this Santa had to think fast and come up with elf shoes. They should be delivered today. He also has repeatedly asked Santa for a Wii to replace the one that was stolen. He also helped Kaity write her letter and sealed it before I had a chance to read it. Not sure what it said, but I know she asked for bouncy balls.

Gator Basketball

2010-12-22T10:15:00.004-05:00

We finally took the kids to a Gator basketball game the week of Thanksgiving. We've never been before and it was loads of fun. The best part (for me) is that it's inside and the chairs have backs. The only reason Kaity goes is to meet Albert. She about had a conniption fit because he was taking too long to get to us, but finally he made it over there.

Will absolutely loved going. He's recently really gotten into basketball and they play at school quite a bit so he actually understood most of the game. He spent the entire game yelling "shoot, shoot!" and "defense!" at the appropriate times. I thought he would get bored, but he was totally enthralled and wanted to stay till the very end.

The other thing that he really wanted was to get on the big screen. He did a lot of waving with the pom poms (we had to give him a two foot berth all the way around) and dancing. I guess those hip hop classes are paying off.

We're hoping to go to one more game this season (maybe tonight!) Tickets are about $10/each, but I guess that's the same as going to the movies.

Camp Cloverbud

2010-12-22T10:03:00.002-05:00

Also in November, the kids and I headed to Camp Cloverbud. Usually kids can't go to 4-H overnight camp until they're 8. And, it's for a week so it's really overwhelming for new campers and their parents. So I pitched an idea to our 4-H agent to do a parent/kid overnight camp to where they do summer camp. That way the 5-7 year olds could go and see what it's like, mom and dad can feel more comfortable with it, and hopefully we recruit more summer campers.

We went from Saturday noon to Sunday noon in November. It was COLD. Especially for our little ones. So, we ended up staying in the nice adult cabin rather than the unheated cabins the summer campers stay in. But, we had a great time and did all the normal camp stuff - crafts, campfire, food. We're already planning for next year and making it a two night event so we have all day Saturday at the camp. It was a hit and a lot of fun, but very exhausting!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

2010-12-22T09:59:00.000-05:00

Visiting Good Friends

2010-12-21T12:16:00.004-05:00

I haven't been very good at blogging the last two months, but we've been really busy. And, I haven't been very good at taking pictures either. So, I'm going to try to post a bunch of mini recaps in the next couple of days while I'm on vacation.

In early November, we headed to Athens, Georgia to visit John's college roommate, Ryan and his girlfriend Ashley. We spent a couple days with them and were able to hike in some of the local state parks. Here's a family photo of my kids with them and their sweet dogs.

Doesn't she look old here? I look at pictures from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2010 and she's really grown up. I can't believe she's almost 6.

Will amazingly kept up with Ryan on the hiking. Ryan does many mile treks and walks really fast, but Will did pretty good for our short jaunt.

Family photo.

Typical pose for Kaity - telling everyone how it really is

We also hit the beautiful town of Madison. It was windy and cold, but we all had a great time walking around it.

They found these big leaves in Madison and we carried them around for two weeks.

We've been to visit Ryan twice now in October/November. Next time I'd really like to go in the spring or summer so I don't freeze my you-know-what off!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T19:49:00.007-04:00

Halloween 2010 was a blast this year. Not sure when Halloween turned into a three day event, but that's exactly what it is. It started off Friday morning with the costume parade at school. Then, both kids had parties in their classes. I'm room mom for Will's classroom so I had a little more to do there. Here's Will's class in front of the big pumpkin.

And, Kaity's class.

And, Kaity with some of her girlfriends.

After school it was time for Cloverbuds (which happens the last Friday of every month.) And, of course, the kids were all sugared up from their parties. They were a good group and were pretty well-behaved for as much candy as they had eaten. That night, we headed to Hawthorne for a party for one of Kaity's friends. It was fun, but exhausting.

Saturday, we mostly stuck around the house (although the kids did both get new boots). Larry came over and carved pumpkins with us. Kaity had one the pumpkin from her classroom, Larry had bought two pumpkins, I had bought one big pumpkin and a couple small ones so we ended up with several jack-o-lanterns.

Will is actually flinging seeds here - not stabbing the pumpkin.

And, the finished products all lit up.

And, our fall display during the day. It's been so warm that they probably have a day or two left before the compost pile gets them.

Kaity dressed as a can can dancer this year. We ordered costumes online and this one was surprisingly well made and cute.

Demonstrating the can can dance.

Will was Jenga Fett (the bounty hunter) from Star Wars.

And, I was a candy corn witch (ordered from the pre-teen section so it's not too risque).

This year, the Harvest Festival fell on Halloween weekend, so the kids and I worked the 4-H booth that morning. That afternoon, we headed to Evinston to trick-or-treat and party with the United Methodist Church. It was super fun. We knew a lot of the kids and families from school, 4-H, t-ball and soccer. Evinston is a really tiny community just south of Micanopy. They actually call all the local neighbors ahead of time to see if they want trick-or-treaters and then plan a route. We had hot dogs and smores first and then walked the route. Kaity ended up onliy being carried the last couple houses. And, the houses are pretty far apart. We also got started at 4 with the party and were finished by 7:15 so this was great for a school night. Definitely lots of fun.

All in all a good, but exhausting, weekend. I'm so glad halloween only comes once a year.

Fall Gardening

2010-10-30T16:28:00.006-04:00

John's been busy gardening this fall and has go the kids helping him. Here Will is collecting rabbit poop for the compost pile. Thumper can't figure out what he's doing.

Both are collecting poop now.

Will shoveling some more.

Kaity talking to Thumper.

Dumping into the compost pile.

And stirring.

Kaity, my farm girl, planting some annuals around the baby dogwood.

My fall garden project - a pretty Earthbox container! And, that's my new begonia from Tallahassee Nursery on the left. Definitely worth another field trip to that place.

And, John's major project is his garden. So far, he's tilled up 30 feet by 120 feet, but only planted a quarter of that. He's really excited about the strawberries pictured below.

And, the seedlings in the garden.

Big Gators in a Little Pond

2010-10-17T15:13:00.000-04:00

When Alli and Dad were here last weekend, we decided to head down to the pond and check out the fishing. We'd been told earlier in the week that the fishing was really good. So some of us were going to fish in the boat and some were going to plink with the BB gun. But, when we got to the pond, here's what we saw...

On first count, we saw 8.

They're lined up like stepping stones, but I don't think I would try it with these guys!

Dad, Alli, and Will all saying "I don't think I'm getting in that boat!"

They kept moving around and our count kept going up.

Look how big they are! We figured they were an average of 6-8 feet.

Final count: 13 big ole gators!

Pure Joy

2010-10-17T09:11:00.001-04:00

This was taken at Coon Hollo Corn Maze when we were there last weekend. It's a look of pure joy and silliness.

My Favorite Chore

2010-10-16T15:05:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite chores as a kid was cleaning tack. It smells good and it's kind of soothing. I cleaned Annie's harness this morning and Kaity got in on the action. She helped for quite awhile and then said "this is fun!" I agree. And, it can be her new personal chore.

PS - Cleaning Annie's tack didn't take any time at all. When I was a kid, it always seemed to take all day. I guess that's the difference between two ponies and one and having a smaller pony.

Self-Portraits

2010-10-16T14:51:00.003-04:00

Kaity always likes to take pictures of herself. Usually they are pretty funny with a kind of "up-the-nose" look to them. When Allli was here last weekend, they both got some self-portraits in.

This one is from earlier in the week, but a good self-portrait of Kaity.

Disney 2010: Day #2 - Magic Kingdom!

2010-09-19T14:30:00.004-04:00

Day #2 started off with us getting up and heading downstairs to eat in the "restuarant" which is Disney style with various stations. We, of course, got too much stuff and spent too much just on breakfast. I packed up the uneaten fruit and off we went. I had carried one of my bigger purses since they let you take snacks and water in now. I packed it with 4 waters, some goldfish, and fruit gummies. It was HEAVY. But, I'm glad we had all that water. We got over to the park about 8:30. John and I couldn't redeem our vouchers except at call waiting, so we wanted to have plenty of time to ride the tram and monorail over from parking and get our tickets. We got into the park about 8:50 - 10 minutes before the gates opened!

We started off riding some of the kid rides like Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and Snow White. I know those can get busy and we wanted to get it done before the crowd really got there. Kaity finished each one with a "That was FANTASTIC!" Next, we headed over to Mickey's Toontown where Kaity and I stood in line for the princesses and fairies. At this point, Will and John went and rode something else and bought a small monorail toy with his tooth money. Next, we stood in line for whoever was at Mickey's house (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, etc.) Kaity had been asking to see Minnie since we told her we were going. She was excited to see Mickey, but when she realized that he was the only there, she threw a fit. All day long, she kept asking if we could go back and see if Minnie was there. We made Will get in the picture with Mickey even though he really didn't want to.

Next we headed to Tomorrowland which has a bunch of new rides. We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride which was totally awesome and definitely Will and John's favorite. Next we saw the Monsters, Inc show. It's an animated interactive comedy show. They were picking on people in the audience. About halfway through, the monster wanted to talk to the "two-headed human" - me with Kaity in my lap. I was "big head" and she was "little head". This embarrassed her greatly and she wouldn't answer any of the monster's questions. As soon as the spotlight was off us, she hopped off my lap. :-) Then, we headed over to ride Stitch's Great Escape. We love the movie Lilo and Stitch and it's a fun, light hearted movie so I thought the ride would be in the same vein. Kaity asked me if it would be scary and I said no. Boy, was I wrong. It was pretty scary especially for her since she couldn't sit in my lap. She blamed me for it the rest of the day.

We headed over to the other end of the park after lunch and rode Pirates (still one of my favorites) and stood in line for more princesses. We tried to get Will to ride Thunder Mountain with John but he wouldn't and John didn't want to go by himself. Kaity probably would have enjoyed it, but we'll save it for the next trip. After lunch, it got pretty hot and all Will was worried with was ice cream. He asked me about every 5 minutes. We finally got ice cream and sat down to watch the parade. Kaity LOVED the parade and at least she got to see Minnie. Finally, we rode the train all the way around the park and headed home.

It was a great trip and it's a good thing we only do it once every couple years. We were exhausted and got home just in time for me to have an allergic reaction to something and miss two days of work.

Disney 2010: Day #1

2010-09-16T14:33:00.004-04:00

Disney was awesome! We headed down Saturday morning and got to the Port Orleans French Quarter resort about 1. After getting checked in, we quickly headed out to the pool. It's a Mardi Gras theme throughout the resort and the pool had a big serpent slide. This was Will's favorite part of the whole trip - the slide. The pool was huge and no more than 4.5 feet all the way around. It was great. John watched the Gator game from the pool bar and we swam for several hours.

That morning Will had lost a tooth. I had heard that all you needed to do at a Disney resort was ask for something, so I went to the concierge to see if they could help a tooth fairy out. They couldn't do much, but I did exchange cash for Disney dollars and he got $3 Disney money. That's more than the tooth fairy would normally bring, but you can't get much at Disney for less than that.

After swimming, we headed to Downtown Disney. We were near there anyways and rode the free river boat down to it. Each of the kids had $50 to spend and money was burning a hole in Will's pocket. He had heard about the Lego store. We stopped altogether at the World of Disney store, but quickly figured out we needed to separate. Will was anxious to get to the Lego store and it was going to take Kaity forever to figure out what she wanted from the Disney store...so much princess stuff to choose from. She finally ended up with a Marie kitty (from Aristocats), a Minnie doll, a snow globe, and a cute pen. Will spent all of his money on two Lego things.

Then we ate at the T-Rex restaurant. It was kind of fun, considering the complete chaos of the place. The food was okay, but the coolest part was the meteor shower. Every 20 minutes the place would go dark and there would be a "meteor shower" with lights and so on. All of the dinosaurs would come to life. We sat at a table with dinosaurs at it and people kept stopping to take pictures of them. Definitely a little weird.

After dinner, we headed back to the boat, but it was closed due to lightning. We rode the bus back to the hotel and this was definitely the worst part of the whole trip.

I've put all the pictures here Google Picasa of putting them on here. Just click the picture below. If you look at just the pictures, you might think we only took Kaity on this trip. Will was really NOT into getting his picture taken.

Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom!

Disney World Here We Come!

2010-09-10T13:28:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow, we're surprising the kids with a trip to Disney! Kaity's never been and Will was 18 months old the last time he went, so this is basically the first trip for both of them. They don't know anything about it or even that we're going anywhere.

The plan is to drive down Saturday. We're staying in the Port Orleans French Quarter resort hotel (great rates for FL residents right now) and swimming in the cool pool when we get there. Then, we'll head to Downtown Disney, do our souvenir shopping, and eat at the T-Rex Restaurant. Sunday will be all day at the Magic Kingdom before we come home.

The kids are going to super excited and they're still young enough to really enjoy the magic of it all. They'll be lots more pictures to come once we get back Sunday. Wish us patience, small crowds, and no rain!

First Day of School!

2010-08-25T13:23:00.003-04:00

Monday was the first day of school! Yeah! I don't know who was more excited - me or the kids. They were both ready for their friends and even to get back to a routine. And, luckily, they both really like school.

Will's starting 2nd grade.

Kaity's starting kindergarten. And, she's still dragging the blankie around. But, at least it's not going to school with her. She just has to have it IMMEDIATELY when she gets home.

This is Will's don't mess with me face, I think.

Kaity getting tired of posing.

Obligatory picture in front of the manatee.

Already busy at work at her desk.

Smile!

Will's got a desk and not a table this year.

2010-08-21T13:06:00.001-04:00

New floors!

Where has the summer gone?

2010-08-01T15:16:00.007-04:00

School starts 3 weeks from tomorrow!! Where have we been? Well, not updating this blog. But, we have been busy with summer stuff (and work).

We went to the Young Farmer & Rancher conference in Jacksonville in early July and the night out was a dinner cruise on a river boat. The kids went with us to the conference and had a great time on the boat. Watching the launch out the back.

Pretty girl on the boat.

There were two dance floors and the kids (and their friends) made good use of one.

This is Karly Ann. She's the daughter of one of my good college friends. Her and Kaity are almost the same age and size. They look a LOT alike. It's kind of freaky. But, really, really cute also.

Will's gotten to hang out with his best friend, Dalton, quite a bit this summer. He got to go scalloping with them and had a great time.

The kids have been to lots of day camps and hanging out with babysitters. This is one of their babysitters, Tori, who was helping at the butterfly day camp also. She's Kaity's teen bestie for the summer.

Fourth of July was also very busy for us. We were in the Micanopy parade in the morning, then headed to the Melrose lakehouse to sleepover, and watched the fireworks in Keystone Heights. Saw lots of Alachua County that day. Here's Pales at the parade. Mom said she didn't get a good picture of her dressed up, but apparently I did.

Kaity on the parade float.

Grandpa and Will watching the fireworks. It was really, really loud.

The kids also went to dance camp one week. They learned hip hop, a lyrical number, and a tap number. Will was the only little boy, but seemed to have a great time. The tap number was built around him and he was pretty good at hip hop. Kaity did a great job and has been talking dance ever since. She had some listening issues there (nothing unusual) and at one point stuck a pebble in her nose. This was the last day at the mini-performance. The girls all got their hair done and make up put on. They were actually being very sweet to each other.

They are also taking swim lessons. Will loves them and is the most uncoordinated, but highest level kid they have out there. He's doing great. Kaity is finally getting the hang of it and is old enough to get it. She's taken lessons for three summers, but this is the first summer we've made any progress. We've got one more week of lessons and then Will may take some more in the fall.

For some reason after lessons, Will feels the need to strip on the way home. Notice the strategically placed pentagon.

Besides all that, John's been busy building fence, Will's still seeing his tutor, and I'm rewriting the county fair livestock record books. Plus, we're remodeling Will's room (pictures to come). It's looking great, but we have to have it done very soon since school starts in THREE WEEKS! Kaity will be a kindergardener and Will's going into 2nd grade. Luckily, we've already finished all the school shopping and now I just need to put the house back together (because of Will's remodel) before school starts and get us back onto a normal schedule.

Saying Goodbye is a Hard Lesson

2010-06-28T20:06:00.003-04:00

This is Kaity's BFF, Hannasha. Hannasha and Kaity have been in class together since they were 6 months old. They've been through two schools and lots of teachers. Most of the time they act more like sisters than friends - constantly fighting, tattling, and then playing exclusively together. You can always tell when one of them was out of town. The other would mope around and be very grouchy. Well, the time has come for the two girls to say goodbye to each other. Hannasha's dad got a great new job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison so they're leaving today. Saturday, we went to a going away party for them. Kaity had a great time playing with Hannasha and some of her other friends, but mostly they just stuck together the whole time. I don't think either of them really understood that this was the last time seeing each other or playing together. When we left, they hugged and hugged and Kaity sobbed all the way home. She knew she was upset, but didn't really understand. She kept asking for her blankie over and over again (which I had left at home) which is a sure sign of Kaity being upset. She's talked about Hannasha some since then and drawn her pictures like she always does. I don't think it will hit her until she gets to her kindergarten class this fall and Hannasha isn't there. We're going to try to keep the girls in touch through Skype and pen pals, but it won't be the same. I hope Kaity remembers and values this friendship always. Prayers are needed for my little girl as she struggles with the hard lesson of saying goodbye.

Best Picture of All Time

2010-06-08T14:18:00.004-04:00

Check out Will right in the middle showing off for the camera and Kaity right beneath him devastated because I hadn't come to the stage to pick her up yet. (Click on the picture to make it bigger and really see Kaity's expression.)

Call Me Crazy...

2010-06-08T14:14:00.004-04:00

but here's the newest addition to the menagerie.

This is Thumper, Kaity's first 4-H project. He's an 8 week old Dutch bunny. She loves him.

So, that makes 1 pony, 2 dogs that don't live at our house because they like Larry better, 1 cat, 3 bunnies, 9 hens, 1 rooster, 4 ducks, and 3 hermit crabs.

Baby Mine

2010-06-08T11:23:00.002-04:00

And, Kaity's first ballet recital! She's the only brunette - second from the left.

Happy Feet

2010-06-08T11:04:00.003-04:00

Will's first tap dance. Excuse the terrible video skills - I took this with my little tiny point and shoot camera.

John's Corn

2010-06-04T07:39:00.001-04:00

John's really, really into growing corn this year. I'm not sure why. but, he does make a pretty good farmer.

This is the corn on May 22.

And, this is the corn on June 1.

Next, he wants to try growing Indian corn for the fall and plant our whole garden as corn so we can do a mini corn maze for the kids. Any suggestions on varieties to plant? He's looking at Fiesta.

Florida Caverns

2010-05-25T11:16:00.004-04:00

We recently headed out to the Florida Panhandle for a wedding. Along the way, we stopped at the Florida Caverns. Here are a few of the pictures (mostly taken by Kaity).

Picnic lunch

Kaity in the cavern

Making faces

Hiking

Kaity taking pictures of herself

That Means Donkey, Mom.

2010-05-18T09:21:00.003-04:00

Will has finally caught on to reading and is able to sound most words out. Yesterday, as he's reading his book for school, he came over to tell me that it had a bad word in it so he wasn't going to read it. I was thinking there's no way it has a bad word. It's a first grade level book. I get over there to see and sure enough, the way he was reading it would have been a bad word. He was reading it as ass-is-tant. He told me it was a bad word and it meant donkey. I corrected him to say it's assistant, but a few thoughts went through my head.

1. What the heck are they talking about on the playground?
2. Wow, he's becoming a pretty good reader.
3. He knows the correct meaning of the word.

Rachel took this picture of Will at the beach this weekend.

Cowgirl and Baby Bow

2010-05-10T10:41:00.002-04:00

We had a busy, but really good, weekend. We started off Friday night with the school spaghetti dinner and silent auction. John and Larry had made 35 lbs of meat balls earlier in the week for it. Both were very successful and we think the PTO made some really good money. Saturday was great - the kids and I started off by driving Annie 2 miles back on the farm to visit daddy where he was building fence. I took the camera, but didn't take any pictures (of course!) It was a lot of fun and Annie did pretty good. As soon as we got back and unhitched her, John came running over from the barn to get us. One of the cows was about to calve and he thought the kids would like to see it. Off we went. We waited around for awhile, but she wasn't making any progress. Finally, John and Kathleen had to pull the calf. While Will was off saying "disgusting", Kaity stayed and watched the whole thing. She was fascinated. Here she is with the seconds old baby calf. She's not standing very close because momma is just out of the picture and you never know what a new momma cow will do.

Another picture of the baby. Kaity got to name it since she was the brave one. It's a girl and she named it Bow - like hair bow which makes perfect, logical sense in a 5 year olds mind. kaity stuck around for awhile longer and Nana told her to come back in a couple hours to check on Baby Bow.

Amazingly, Kaity remembered what Nana said and as soon as daddy got home that afternoon off they went to check Baby Bow who was up and nursing. Sunday morning, the first thing Kaity said was that she needed to check Baby Bow so off her and daddy went. Baby Bow was fine and we left for church. Getting back from church we again went to check Baby Bow who was nowhere to be seen! Chip had let her and momma out since they were doing so well. To calm Kaity down, Nana took her on the 4-wheeler to find Baby Bow and momma, cow #8. They're both fine. Again, this morning (Monday), Kaity called Nana to tell her she had to go to school, but Nana needed to check Baby Bow. Cowgirl's making daddy proud.

Continuing on with our weekend, Saturday night we took Granny and Grandad out to a Chinese buffet for mother's day along with Larry, Kathleen and Scot. Got up Sunday morning and John and the kids actually got me a dress for mother's day which fit! I never get mother's day presents so this was exciting. I wore it to church that morning in our brand new church building! First service in the building and it was awesome. That evening, John and I went to see Iron Man 2 for our anniversary (which is Wednesday). I really enjoyed the movie and may take Will back to see it in the theater. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

Toothless Wonder

2010-04-11T09:05:00.000-04:00

With a Duck, Duck Here and a...

2010-04-10T20:01:00.003-04:00

Duck, Duck There.

Here a Duck,

There a Duck

Everywhere a Duck, Duck!

These are our four "duckalings" as Will calls them. No idea what breed or sex they are. Hopefully, we get a couple girls. The kids have named them Duckalina, Mr. Duck, Duck Star (I think this is a take off of Death Star in Star Wars), Agent Duck (as in FBI special agent). This was their first trip outside the brooder and they had a great time eating weeds and playing in the water.

We made it through March!

2010-04-01T19:41:00.003-04:00

We survived the fair. Will did great at it. He ended up with 12 or so ribbons. It was kind of like the Olympic medal count with him. Kaity even got a couple for some on-site stuff. We've got our fair debrief meeting this morning and livestock record book judging and then we're done till next year.

This was Will's prize for being a Cloverbud poultry exhibitor. He had been eating blue candy. But, doesn't he look nice in his fair official dress?

Hanging out with Papa during the award ceremony.

And Rachel and Scot.

Menu planning went great and really helped with our groceries and our evenings. Now that it's nice outside we all want to spend more time outside rather than coming in to make dinner. We're still working on finishing up some of the recipes from March that we didn't use, but I shopped for. So, here's the beginning of April:

1 (Thursday) - pork chops

2 (Friday) - A1 Steak in the crockpot

3 (Saturday) - going to Erin's house, probably have Little Ceasers pizza when we get back

4 (Sunday) - Easter! pot roast

5 (Monday) - Spring break! We're going to Silver Springs with Rachel. Fried Orange Shrimp

6 (Tuesday) - I have to work. Papa's keeping the kids. Cuban pork roast

7 (Wednesday) - working, not sure what to do with kids/dinner yet. probably hot dogs.

8 (Thursday) - headed to Tampa, Busch Gardens, and Grandma and Grandpa's house!

9 (Friday) - Tampa, beach

10 (Saturday) - head back home

So, we're set for the first 10 days of April and don't have to do much grocery shopping! We will be eating out much more than usual since it's spring break. But, that only happens once a year, so it's special.

2010 Youth Fair - Days 1 and 2

2010-03-27T19:37:00.004-04:00

On our way to the youth fair. Kaity and I trying out the new camera.

Rabbit show.

Creative cash keepers contest. Spongebob piggy bank made out of an OJ carton.

Candy Creations contest. Kaity got to participate in this one and got her first fair ribbon.

Small pet show contest. Kaity helping Will keep April on the table.

2010-03-17T14:00:00.003-04:00

I've done pretty good with staying on track with our menu this last week with a few hiccups.

Tuesday night, we didn't eat pork chops because of the amount of leftovers we had. Which is actually a good excuse for not making it. Plus, pork chops freeze great.
Wednesday night I had already planned to rearrange for. We were supposed to go to the UF Baseball game for dollar night and have hot dogs, so I had already moved chicken & dumplings to Thursday. (Who wants pigs in a blanket really? Well, besides the kiddos.) John, unfortantely, was sick so we didn't make the game and didn't have dinner ready - cereals and hot dogs instead.
Saturday - I honestly can't remember what we did for dinner, but it wasn't hamburgers as planned.
Sunday we ended up having the hamburgers. But since Sunday was supposed to be stuffed shells and that's perishable, pot roast is getting kicked off this week so I can make the perishable dish.
Yesterday was the county cattlemen's quarterly meeting which is a free meal so that was an easy decision. We had that instead of cooking. And, apparently the chicken picata I made Monday was amazing because I cooked it in butter instead of olive oil like a normally do.

Here's a picture of Luna kitty. We're finally letting her go outside some, which she thinks is fantastic. I keep a pretty close eye on her since she doesn't have her rabies shot yet.

Will worked on his 4-H poster projects for the fair this past week. Saturday, he went up to the extension office to present his stuff. One of his posters is on arrowheads which he's been doing a lot of hunting for with Nana. And, he learned to drive the 4-wheeler (with his helmet, of course!) so that he could go out back with her.

As of the last post, I still had five chicks. Not so much the case anymore. We lost one of natural causes and then two become coon hors devours. So, we were down to two. John and I finished the outdoor brooder finally. So, I've ended up getting ten more little chickies. They are very cute and so far not "coonified." Hopefully, I'll get some pictures of them this week.

Mini Menu Update

2010-03-05T19:36:00.002-05:00

Many people know that I'm terrible housewife. I'm a great wife, mother, friend, and employee, but a terrible housewife. John probably does more of the cooking and cleaning than I do, but I do most of the kid stuff. But, this week since we've had the menu in place, I haven't had to think about what's for dinner (which typically happens when we get home at 5:30) or scrounge the cabinets to see what ingredients we have (since I did all the grocery shopping ahead of time.) Which means we've had more time to stay on track with laundry, dishes, and general clean up. Last Saturday, I think we did close to 15 loads of laundry, folded them and almost put them all away. Going in to this Saturday, I'm all caught up on laundry except for folding and putting away two loads.

So far this week, we've managed to really stay on track with our menu plans. Now, it's only the 5th and who knows how the rest of the month will go. We used the crockpot twice this week. And, even though I didn't feel like cooking on Thursday, I still did it. It wasn't one of our favorite meals (chicken pot pie) and we gave the leftovers to granny and grandaddy. It's a very pretty dish, but one that John and I both think is so-so and the kids wouldn't touch it. So, I'll probably cross that one off the regular list.

Other Updates

I got my first massage at the student clinic of the Florida School of Massage. It was great, but chaotic! There were people everywhere. I'll most likely go back since my shoulder, neck and back muscles constantly hurt. It's only $30/hour for the student clinic - definitely worth it!
Will signed up for tap classes this week. Most people who know him know how much he likes to dance. He wavered for awhile on this, but finally sat in on a class on Wednesday. And, once I explained that he would wear pants and a t-shirt (and not a leotard) then he was cool with it. The hardest part has been finding him inexpensive boys tap shoes. Apparently that's not something that's commonly carried. His dance instructor is going to order some wholesale for him and hopefully they are in before his first class next week. So, on Wednesdays now, Will has tap at 3:30 and Kaity has ballet at 4:30. I always have plenty of editing to do and I've got my blackberry so I'll just work from the dance studio on Wednesday afternoons. And, if they have wi-fi that would be even better!
Kaity and I worked cows this afternoon with John, Kathleen, and Denise. It was the first nice day we've had in awhile and Kaity did really well carrying syringes back and forth between Kathleen, who was sticking the cows, to me so that I could fill them up. Kathleen was going to pay her $1, but she didn't want that. Instead, she'd like to be paid in happy meals.
The youth fair is at the end of the month and we've got to finish Will's posters by next Friday since they're due on Saturday. This year he wanted to do posters on arrowheads and cow skulls. We've got lots of picture taking to do.
Tomorrow, we're going to help install landscaping at our new church building. Most of our friends know that we've been attending the same church since John and I started dating. Most people don't realize that we've been meeting in a high school auditorium all that time (11 years). We've been fundraising and building a church for the last several years and now we're in the final stages before we move in which will hopefully happen in the next two months!
The five chicks are still alive and they all have pin feathers. They've been living in the kids' bathroom at night and on the porch during the day. We're hoping to permanently move them outside Monday when the night time temperatures should start staying in the 40s.
While I'm writing this, John and Will are playing Star Wars Wii AGAIN! Thanks Aunt Alli...

March Menu

2010-02-28T17:18:00.005-05:00

This month I'm determined to do a better job with our eating habits. February was crazy for us with all the birthday parties and everything. I hate to admit it but we ate a lot of McD's and Little Ceasars pizza (Little Ceasars just opened in our Publix shopping center so it's still a novelty.) But, John and I are tired of eating kid food! Plus we're gearing up with kids activities this time of year. Kaity is currently taking ballet on Wednesday evenings. Will is thinking about tap dancing classes. He loves to dance and I think this would be a great outlet for him. And, he wants to do swimming which would be two days a week. We'll wait on swimming till after the youth fair is over, but that's the end of March! He's decided not to play t-ball or soccer this spring even though all of his classmates are playing. However, last Friday he told me he wanted to play soccer because Dalton was playing. I think this is probably a no for him only because John and I value our Saturdays in the spring. So, with all that in mind, I sat down last night and created a menu for the whole month of March. I've already grocery shopped for the first week so we're at least committed to that.

A couple things - Friday nights I've just declared breakfast night, so you'll see a theme. Whatever we're having on Monday, I'm going to try to prepare it (or some of it) on Sunday. More intensive meals are saved for the weekends. And, I'm trying to use my crockpot at least on Wednesdays.

*I marked which dishes are new for us.

**Added the sides in just for Erin.

Monday (4-H meeting) - bean soup (crockpot) and bread
Tuesday - tacos
Wednesday (ballet) - chili (crockpot)
Thursday - chicken pot pie*
Friday - pancakes and sausage links
Saturday - ham & macaroni and cheese and green beans
Sunday - stroganoff and salad
Monday (Kaity late dentist appt.) - sausage spinach casserole
Tuesday - pork chops, au gratin potatoes, green beans
Wednesday (ballet) - chicken & dumplings (crockpot)
Thursday - pigs in a blanket, chips
Friday - sausage gravy and biscuits
Saturday - hamburgers, chips, baked beans
Sunday - stuffed shells, salad, garlic bread
Monday - chicken picata
Tuesday - A1 and dijon steak* (crockpot), rice pilaf, broccoli
Wednesday (ballet) - broccoli and cheese soup* (crockpot) and bread
Thursday (fair board mtg) - pot roast (crockpot), carrots, potatoes
Friday - waffles, bacon, fruit
Saturday - BBQ pork, corn pudding, salad
Sunday - steak, squash, salad
Monday - Cuban pork roast*, plantains, rice, black beans
Tuesday - chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans
Wednesday - meatloaf (crockpot), mashed potatoes, green beans (sides leftover from Tuesday)
Thursday - corn chowder*, bread
Friday (youth fair) - no meals at home
Saturday (youth fair)
Sunday (youth fair)
Monday (youth fair, quick dinner) - BLTs, french fries
Tuesday - spaghetti, garlic bread, green beans
Wednesday (ballet) - fried orange shrimp*, rice, plantains

Please ask us how we're doing on this. We're going to try to stick to it this month, but something always comes up. Plus I'm sure I'm missing some calendar items that will interfere with the menu. Hopefully, it will force us to take our lunch more rather than eating hot dogs for dinner and then having nothing for lunch.

Chicks are Here!

2010-02-28T17:06:00.002-05:00

Chicks arrived Friday and we went and got 8. Unfortunately, we're down to 5 now. You can't always tell which ones are healthy when they're this big and some might have had a rougher time shipping from the hatchery. But, the 5 that are left are doing great. And, Kaity is in love with them.

This is a Buff Orpington. We only have one of these now. Kaity named her Sunny.

This is a Rhode Island Red. They seem to be the heartiest out of the bunch. We have two of them and Will named them both Lava.

And, this is a Barred Rock. We have two left after losing two. Kaity named one Blackie although I don't know which one that is.

We'll probably get a few more in the coming weeks. These were the breeds that the feed store got in first. We'll probably get a few light brahmans, aracunas, black austrolops, and maybe a banty or two. We're also planning to get some ducks. The old guy at the feed store hatches his own banty ducks. And, we'll probably get two turkey to try out this year (and probably dress the table with later on.)

And, this is what happens when you ask a brand-new 5 year old to sort dirty laundry for you.

Will's Birthday!

2010-02-28T16:47:00.002-05:00

Will turned 7 last Sunday. It's taken me a week to post on it since I had a terrible headache all week and lots of recovering to do from his party. He's such an amazing kid - thoughtful, sensitive, quiet, and spacey. He'll never be the coolest kid in class, or the most athletic, but he's always the one kids want to invite over for a play date or sit next to at lunch. He's almost at grade level with his reading skills and continues to amaze me with everything else that he does. Right now, he and John are obsessed with the Star Wars Wii game (thanks Aunt Alli...NOT - all those laser noises are driving me bonkers!) Now, if he could just learn to tie his shoes before he turns 8!

The weekend in between Kaity and Will's birthdays we usually do a family party. This year was no different. Everyone came and lots of good food was eaten.

This was the first year that I got to be at school for one of the kids' birthday celebrations. It was fun to see Will be the center of attention. Here he is making his birthday crown.

Ms. Cathy, his teacher, reading him a special book at circle time.

Cupcakes and chocolate milk just for the birthday boy!

This one's not birthday related, but I had to stick it in there. It's too cute. Will is feeding Annie sweet feed from John's hat. I tried to talk him into doing his 4-H fair poster on Annie, but he wants to do one on arrowheads and another on cow skulls. He could be an archeologist in the making.

Will invited four of his closest friends from school over for a sleepover. I was very brave on this one. This was the first time the boys had had a party sleepover. Will sleeps over regularly at Dalton or Chance's house and vice versa, but Joseph and Coy had never slept over anywhere before. I immediately lost control and they ran like banshees throughout the house while Kaity cried that no one was playing with her. John eventually got them to sleep by making them lay down and turning on the history channel.

They had a hard night of partying. It turned out to be a really good birthday for Will, but for the next year we'll stick to one kid at a time for sleepovers.

Five years ago today...

2010-02-08T11:13:00.001-05:00

we sent the following as an e-mail to family and friends.

Kaitlyn Ramsey Eubanks was born Tuesday, February 8, 2005. She's 6 pounds 4 ounces and 17 1/2 inches. Will's going to be a great big brother and a wonderful helper.

Birthday Girl

2010-02-07T08:13:00.006-05:00

What happened to this little girl (picture from her 1st birthday)?

And, when did she become this big girl (pictures from before her party yesterday)?

It's a Wild West Birthday

2010-02-07T07:59:00.003-05:00

Kaity's 5th birthday party was yesterday and it was a hit. I decided to go with a western theme for it mainly because we had this great picture of Kaity that I used for the invitation. (If you click on the invitation, you can see it bigger and read it.) I got lots of compliments on it and was really pleased with how it turned out. I printed it on some distressed paper and then rolled it up and tied it with hay string before Kaity gave it out.

I limited the number of kids she could invite this year. Not only was I being cheap, but I really wanted the friends there that she would have the most fun with. Unfortunately, her best friend from school and good friends from church couldn't come, but she still ended up with four of her favorite friends (all girls and one boy) from her class. And, we invited one of Will's friends (the one that plays best with Kaity) to keep Will company.

We rode Annie which the kids really enjoyed. Annie was very well-behaved and ate a LOT of carrots. Then, we played a shooting gallery game (which I forgot to take pictures of). I colored targets on paper plates, pinned them to the fence, and let them have it with water guns. And, finally we had a stick horse race. I found stick horses at the dollar store and had enough that everyone could take one home (and a cowboy hat and sheriff star). Overall, it was a blast. Here are some of the pictures from the party.

Hoggetown Medieval Faire

2010-02-07T07:50:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, the kids and I headed to the Hoggetown Medieval Faire. It doesn't really interest John, so the kids and I ventured out by ourselves. I think I was pretty brave to do that for several reasons. The first is that we expect a LOT of people there (and there were). The faire opened on Saturday, but it poured all day, so all the people who were supposed to Saturday went on Sunday (same as us.) Kaity is not known for holding hands or following directions. She tends to wander off. And, I was worried about whiny children who would want to be carried. They are both big enough now that I can't really carry them.

Luckily, it went well. Of course, it's a money sucker event, but we saw a lot of the shows and they really liked that. The falcons were fun, Will really enjoyed the comedy of the human chess match, and the jousting is always cool. I let them ride the elephant (which was cheaper than the pony rides!) and Will also rode one of the human powered barrel rides. I don't think he liked it that much.

I was a sucker and bought them both "birthday present" there. We'll be back next year hopefully. It only took me 10 years to get there, so hopefully it doesn't take that long to get back.

January Sewing Project - Done!

2010-01-25T15:24:00.002-05:00

One of my 2010 goals is to start and finish a sewing project each month. Well, here's January's! It's an a-line skirt. I used old material that Alli had left behind and added some rick rack. Kim came over on Saturday and helped me get it right. It's more fun to sew when you have company. By the way, Kim is in an online craft competition - So, You Think You're Crafty! It's anonymous crafts, so she can't tell us which one is hers. But it's still fun to go and vote for your favorites. Round Two, which Kim is in, starts next week, so check it out.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-01-18T10:11:00.004-05:00

Today's my 30th birthday. I think my 30s are going to be a very good decade. Not that my 20s weren't. I've been reflecting a lot on what I've done and what I would like to do. So, here's a couple lists (I love lists in case you haven't noticed), about my 20s, 30s, and 2010.

In my 20s, I:

got engaged and married
finished my BS and MS degrees
bought 3 houses and sold 2 of them
moved 9 times (9 times!!)
had 2 kids
several jobs that I hated and finally one that I love

My 20s were good to me, but very busy. I spent a lot of my 20s taking care of babies and small children. Since Will is almost 7 and in 1st grade and Kaity is almost 5 and starting kindergarten, they are finally almost self-sufficient. We're entering a new phase of our lives that I'm really looking forward to. I'm settled in a good job and we've moved for what is hopefully our last time for a very long time. My 20s felt like we were constantly in transition - moving, adjusting to a new member of the family, learning a new job, etc. I finally feel like we've hit a place in our lives that we can start looking forward rather than just treading water all the time.

So, in my 30s I have a couple big goals for myself.

I'd like to travel out of the country, but I'll start with visiting a bunch of the US.
Get my national accreditation in public relations
Maybe start on my PhD (that's a big maybe - I waffle on this one a lot)
Possibly start my own business. I love working at UF, but times change and I think it would be pretty cool to work for myself.
Finish Dave Ramsey's financial peace baby steps (meaning totally debt free and contributing to stuff that's important to us - church, retirement, education, etc)

I'm sure there are more, but this is good for now. It seems really crazy to think, but by the time I'm 40, John and I will have been married almost 20 years and have kids almost ready to graduate from high school. That seems so far off, but time seems to move so fast that it'll be here before I know it.

For now, I'll settle with sharing my 2010 goals.

Complete Dave Ramsey baby step #2 - get rid of debt except for car and house
Start attending our Bible study group more regularly.
Help John finish the 2+ miles of fence for the farm.
Get fit. Or at least more active.
Go on one family vacation this year.
Start (and finish!) one new sewing project a month
Try five new crochet patterns
Plant two new flower beds
Play with Annie, the pony, at least once a week
Restart my garden (This one could be hard. My garden needs a LOT of help and retrofitting.)
Build a chicken coop. I'm getting chicks in February so this one is especially important.
Replace the carpet with wood laminant (if we can get out of debt first).
Redo Will's room with something more appropriate for a 7-year-old (bunk bed and desk).

So, that's my life in lists. I'd love to hear your thoughts about them. Happy birthday to me!

Christmas Craftiness

2010-01-09T12:41:00.004-05:00

This December, I actually accomplished several crafting projects. Last Christmas, I promised everyone an apron...as of Christmas 2009 I had followed through with exactly one.

This Christmas I wanted to make all the teachers something. I found a pattern for a bed buddy and went to work. They were so easy and fun to make that I made one for everyone in the family also. I ended up making 25 of these guys. Here's a picture of a few of them. I think it's all the different material I used. One side had cotton and the other was flannel. And, I made them so that the outside was a pillowcase that you could take off and wash. I think they were a hit. I've heard lots of good things about them from the teachers.

I made myself a new crocheted hat and scarf.

And, another new scarf which I actually used a pattern for. It's a twirly scarf and very long. Next time, I won't make it as long but I really like how this one turned out. I might make a matching hat.

So, now we're gonna get into the projects that I've been working on but haven't finished. I cut this apron for myself last year, but then never sewed it together. I finished it this year around Thanksgiving finally.

I've been working on this red blanket for a LONG time. It's crocheted with two skeins of yarn at the same time, so it's very thick and very heavy. I think it turned out very pretty and Kaity obviously likes it.

This one is made with camo colored yarn. I finally got inspired enough to finish it. I gave it to Crowe for Christmas. I think it will work well in his house.

This is my first attempt at granny squares. The yarn is varying shades of a maroonish pink and I've had it for several years not knowing what to do with it. I decided to try granny squares earlier this year. The pattern is pretty and I put it together by slip stitching it. I think I'll try a different method next time. It'll be a while before I do another one like this. I HATE weaving in ends. Oh, and Kaity has laid claim to this one.

While I didn't finish any of the promised aprons before Christmas, I did finish one the week after. Here's mom's. John says this is the best one I've made so far. I really like how it turned out and the colors I used. It's very 50ish.

This project wasn't an unfinished one, but one that really needed to happen. If anyone's been over lately, they've been kind enough to not comment on how nasty the covers of the bar seats were (except for mom, thanks mom). This was an easy project, but improves the room SO much. And, the fabric kinda matches the counter tops.

I have one more crafty project that I did, but I don't have pictures of yet. I made Alli crocheted snowflake earrings in red and silvery white. I forgot to take pictures before I sent them, but she's supposed to get me some eventually.

Maybe I can keep up the craftiness in 2010. I really enjoy it and love giving away homemade stuff.

What is it about fireplaces...

2010-01-08T07:34:00.001-05:00

that makes people hang out in front of it?

Bang, Bang!

2010-01-07T18:01:00.002-05:00

We spent a lot of Christmas break doing this. Especially John. He went out every chance he got. Will also got a new BB gun. On this trip, John's best friend Ryan was with us.

Here Will's shooting one of John's pistols.

Kaity didn't want to shoot any this time. Her job was to put the spent shells back in the case nicely.

Will is shooting his BB gun on his belly. It's still a little big for him (it's actually almost too big for me.) He's shooting on John's new steady thing that he got for Christmas.

Ryan is helping Will figure out which eye is dominant. It's actually his left, but he wants to shoot right handed. We'll have to work on that.

Ryan let me shoot his new gun. It's a Smith and Wesson snubnose 38 special. It was really nice to shoot.

John's ready for us all to go again. Maybe soon we'll get to.

A Little Christmas Recap

2010-01-07T17:41:00.004-05:00

December was CUHRAZY this year! With John and Will going to Texas and then two weeks off with the kids not a lot got done. We stayed in Micanopy for Christmas and then headed down to Tampa for New Year's. And, John's, Drue's and Grandad's birthdays were in between those. We had a great break, but I was really ready to get everyone back to their schedules this week.

Christmas Eve, Kaity and Daddy put "magic reindeer food" on the roof. She made it at school and it had Cheerios, granola, and glitter in it.

Santa was very generous this year. He brought four hermit crabs, two fig trees, and a toy for Will and Kaity.

One of the hermit crabs.

Kaity really likes Barbies...especially since she has all the clothes that my Grandma made me when I was a little girl.

"You'll shoot your eye out!" Will and his new Red Ryder BB Gun.

We played a lot with Annie also. This is John "riding" her.

But, mostly Annie did this. This is her new cart and harness and she's so cute in it.

It was a great Christmas and now I'm ready to be back to normal, everyday activities.

Don't Mess with Texas

2010-01-04T12:19:00.002-05:00

Dora sent this shirt back with the boys for Kaity and the boys brought back a pink toy pistol for her. She got to unwrap both at Christmas and they go great with her pink cowboy hat and attitude.

New Year's Kid

2010-01-04T11:45:00.005-05:00

She finally had the baby goat! John predicted I'd play midwife while he was in Texas and then said Christmas day. Well, she waited another week and had the baby New Year's Day, of course when we're down in Tampa. It's her first and she just had one (goats are known to have twins and triplets). So, no more kiddin' around, here's the new kid!

Right now, we're calling him Buster. He probably weighs a little more than Luna. I picked them both up this morning so I'm guesstimating.

Colonel paid us no never mind. He was too busy letting the world know that it was FINALLY warm enough to crow. It was really, really cold here this morning. At 11 am, the water troughs were still frozen over.

Billy Goat and Annie can't figure out what all the fuss is about.

Girl Goat seems to be a very attentive momma. She calls for him and checks up on him and he stays really close to her.

The Nutcracker Ballet (it was definitely nuts!)

2009-12-22T16:55:00.006-05:00

Kaity and I headed to the Nutcracker ballet last Friday night in all of our "goin' out" finery. She had a new dress and was very excited to meet her best friend, Hannasha, her little sister, Pauline, and their mom at Chick-Fil-A before heading the performing arts center. We actually did get them to eat while playing on the jungle gym in their pretty dresses. We had seats in the balcony and luckily were the very last ones up there. (There weren't very many people in the balcony to begin with and they actually told us we could move up if we wanted to.) The girls were very, very rambunctious and didn't really understand the use of a whisper. Every time a new ballerina came on stage, they would both say "that's me!" and then begin dancing in the aisles. It was super fun but very exciting. I don't know how my mom ever did it with three little girls (although she says Kaity's not like any of us were!) Here are some of the pictures from the night. Kaity and I set on the camera on self-portrait to take most of these.

Girls Week, cont. (and an update on Boys Roadtrip 2009)

2009-12-17T14:28:00.002-05:00

Well, the "Girls Week" has commenced nicely. Here's a short recap of what we've done so far:

Sunday - Princess and the Frog movie, pizza for dinner (Kaity's choice)
Monday - playdate at Hannasha's house
Tuesday - Girls Dinner Out to Outback with Nana and Kaity's best gal, Ms. Brenda
Wednesday - first ballet lesson, McD's for dinner (Kaity's choice)
Thursday - hang out at home with Nana, play with the pony
Friday - Nutcracker ballet with Hannasha and her mom, Chick-Fil-A for dinner
Saturday - Holiday with Horses with Nana

Kaity and I are enjoying being home alone. All the girls (me, Kaity, and Luna) have been sleeping in my bed and we're doing lots of girl stuff. I'll have pictures from Nutcracker and Holiday with Horses coming up.

The boys are having a great time. They made it to Amarillo in one piece and totally surprised Dora with Will being there. Here's a recap (and hopefully they come back with pictures)

Sunday - leave for Amarillo, stop to see the USS Alabama battleship
Monday - more driving, stop at the super-duper Cabela's store in Ft. Worth
Tuesday - hang out with Dora, visit the Amarillo Discovery Center which has farting machines and a frozen duck pond (both cool in Will's book), and dinner at the Big Texan
Wednesday - John and Larry visit the feedyards (I know, I know. Most people wouldn't do that on their vacation, but not in a farm family. This is one of the highlights of the trip.) and Will hung out with Dora all day
Thursday - John's pheasant hunting with a friend, and Larry and Will are up to no good
Friday - start driving back
Saturday - possibly stop at Opryland
Sunday - back home

The kids are officially on winter break starting Monday, so I'll be home with them for the next two weeks. I'm looking forward to it, but not the mess that is sure to come.

Boys Roadtrip 2009: Day #1

2009-12-14T11:00:00.003-05:00

The Eubanks boys (Larry, John, and Will) are all on their way to Amarillo, Texas. It's a 24 hour drive and they've got an almost 7 year old, so they're having to make a few stops throughout the day. They left yesterday morning about 6:30 and made it almost to Shreveport last night. They stopped in Mobile on the way and saw the USS Alabama. Will thought it was really cool. He's really enjoying himself so far (at least that's what John told me last night). Will told me in great detail about how he's stinking up the car with all the gas he's got. And, I'm sure they're encouraging him. They're going to visit John's Nanny Dora. She knows that John and Larry are coming, but Will is surprise (just in case he didn't make it). I wish I could be there to see her reaction. She's going to spoil him greatly this week.

So, Kaity and I are having a "girls week" starting yesterday. We went to see the Princess and the Frog. It was an awesome movie with awesome music. She's headed to Hannasha's house today for a play date. And, we have more stuff planned for the rest of the week. While we miss the male half of the household, it's kinda nice to have one-on-one time with each child. Stay tuned for more adventures from the road!

Chicken News

2009-12-11T08:20:00.000-05:00

I just realized in one of my latest posts that I said all of my chickens were fine. Well, that's not entirely true anymore. The last chicken update had Sunny being attacked, but otherwise okay. So, let's continue the story from there.

The very next night after Sunny's attack, we put all of the chickens up in there chicken tractor. Headed out to feed the next morning, and something had gotten underneath the coop and killed Spike, my Rhode Island Rhode. It was really gross because whatever got it tried to pull it out and got the chicken stuck under the coop. It ate the parts it liked, but not the whole thing. Seriously gross. We think it was a fox. So, okay one down, but I still have three hens and a rooster.

The next day, Sunny started going down hill fast. She must have gotten more hurt in the attack than we realized. She wouldn't come out of the coop and wasn't eating and drinking. We had to put her down which was sad. So, okay two down, but I still have two hens and a rooster.

Two days later, the chickens are out during the day ranging and eating bugs. When I get home that afternoon, Speedy is gone. No sign of her. No feathers. No nothing. We're pretty sure a hawk or the young bald eagle that's been hanging around got her.

So, now I'm down to one hen, Big Foot, and Colonel, the rooster. Colonel is very sad that his harem is gone and he doesn't have anyone left to boss around. Big Foot sticks pretty close to Colonel, but isn't the most consistent layer. Hopefully I can get more chicks in the spring.

So, now I'm down to barely any chickens, but we still got a problem. John's been noticing a raccoon coming up on the porch and stealing our dog food. I think the coon has also been one of the chicken predators. My theory is when we're out of dog food in our free feeder, the coon was killing my chickens. The coon kept getting braver and braver. Just coming up and eating dog food fairly early in the evening even though it could see us sitting there watching tv. It took several tries, but we finally caught it. And, the thing was HUGE! My guess is that it weighed more than Kaity - probably close to 30 pounds. We thought about relocating it, but then decided we would humanely dispose (exact terminology from the extension document) of it. I haven't had anymore chicken problems!

Pretty Picture

2009-12-10T16:01:00.001-05:00

A Day in the Life of Tebow

2009-12-10T08:15:00.002-05:00

"Mom, quit taking my picture!"

"I have serious work to do"

"Please mom!"

"I got to pay attention! The cows might move and I might need to bark."

"Fine, I'll just ignore you."

Cookie Time

2009-12-09T12:33:00.004-05:00

Last year, we got together with our friend, Cathy, to bake and decorate cookies. It was so much fun that we decided to do it again this year. Both of our schedules are crazy busy, so we picked a time that we knew we wouldn't be doing anything else - the SEC game. The guys were able to watch the game and we could see it from the kitchen thanks to Chad's big screen TV. The game was some what a disappointment, but the cookies were not!

Kaity is the next Martha Stewart in training. She's got excellent cookie dough rolling out skills.

The boys watching the game and eating chili.

Her decorating skills might need some more work. She really liked sprinkles.

Will got busy creating frosting marshmallow decorations.

Some of our finished cookies. The were really, really sweet with an abundance of frosting and sprinkles.

We've got our annual 4-H cookie bake-off this weekend. It promises to be fun and sweet!

Very Late Thanksgiving Post

2009-12-09T11:48:00.007-05:00

I'm sorry for the absenteeism from the blog lately. As usual, it's been crazy around here. Thanksgiving came and went, holiday shopping started, more than usual deadlines at work, and kid stuff in between. Here's a quick recap of our Thanksgiving.

John's been doing a lot of hunting this year. He's had "bad juju" (his words, not mine) for the most part, but he did get a duck right before Thanksgiving. We thought about eating it, but then decided we needed several more to make a meal. He was really pretty.

We had three Thanksgivings this year, so I'll chronicle each.

Thanksgiving #1: Melrose

We headed out to Melrose the Saturday before Thanksgiving for the Eckhardt-Smolek celebration. But, first we hit Alachua for the kids' soccer tournament. We've had issues with the coach all year with not playing all the players. And, unfortunately, this day was no different. She kept the most athletic players in for the entire first game and Will and Kaity both played very little. The second game, we lost one of our better players and Will was put in for the second half. She kept saying how good he was doing, but he's been doing that good all year. He just never got to play. Kaity didn't get to play at all in the second game. I realized later that she was treating my two kids as one unit and only putting one Eubanks in at a time. It was a very frustrating season and we'll definitely reconsider soccer in the future if she's coaching. Will had a great time with the sport, but I don't think it's Kaity's calling. The practices were mostly in the evening and she slept through a LOT of them. I would have liked to have seen more encouragement with the younger kids, but maybe next year with a different coach, things will be better.

So, from there, we ended up at Melrose. Will and John spent quite a bit of time fishing unsuccessfully. Will is a pretty good fisherman. Very patient and got quite a good cast.

Luke was building some sort of catapult thing and Kaity "helped" with that some.

I didn't get any pictures of dinner, but it was good and plenty of food was eaten by all.

Thanksgiving #2: Micanopy

MACS does a founder's day lunch every year the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It's a big deal with a potluck and program. Will and Kaity had been talking about it for weeks. We made hams for both their classes and Will has declared it the best ham ever. The program was good, but long. Kaity and her class sang some Mayflower song. She's in the purple and pink striped shirt in the middle.

Will's class sang some stuff too, but mostly he just goofed off.

Thanksgiving #3: The Farm

I didn't take any pictures all day of the Thanksgiving at the farm. There were a lot of people there. I made deviled eggs with the last of my fresh eggs, corn pudding, and pumpkin pies. We did give away Dixie, the stray dog, to a nice family so she had a very good Thanksgiving.

The following weekend, mom came up to play with the pony with us. We had a great time doing that and, of course, I didn't take any pictures. Annie is super pretty in the cart. We're really enjoying having her.

Overall, a very nice Thanksgiving break. Now, I'm ready for Christmas break!

My Mom Officially Acquired "Coolest Grandma Ever" Status

2009-11-05T14:21:00.005-05:00

When kids (especially girls) are little, the only thing they want for birthdays or Christmas is a pony. Well Grandma Eckhardt has officially done it! She got the kids (and me and herself) a pony named Annie. Annie is a super gentle and sweet girl that rides and drives (that part is for mom and me). She arrived yesterday while the kids were at school. When we drove in the driveway, Kaity started yelling "I see her! I see her!" Good thing I had the child lock on the door or she would have opened while going down the driveway. Then, she couldn't get the door open once we stopped and she started yelling "I'm so excited! Hurry up!" Finally, we got the door open and they headed over.

Terrible picture of everyone, but here they are Annie, Will, and Kaity.

Kaity really liked combing her mane.

One of the first lessons, brushing in the right direction.

Will and the red-eyed pony.

Another first lesson - leading: which side to stand on and how to hold the rope.

She's very dainty and feminine, but a little on the rotund side. And, she has the cutest hooves. Mom is coming up this weekend to help me hook her up to the cart.

Other Animal News

I thought we had a chicken massacre at 4:30 this morning. They started raising a ruckus and I ran out there in my underwear, rubber boots and flash light. I was so tired the night before that I hadn't put them up. When I got out there, only Sunny and Big Foot were anywhere to be seen. And, Sunny had obviously had some kind of assault. She had feathers sticking out everywhere. There wasn't anything I could do, so I went back inside. I was pretty sad cause the girls had just started laying and Colonel has such an impressive personality. I was afraid they had become an opossum snack. About 5:15 I heard the squawking again and headed back out there. Speedy almost gave me a heart attack when I tripped over her (she's okay), but Sunny couldn't get up onto the fence. I think she hurt her foot. I lifted her over the fence and again went back inside - this time to take a shower since I knew I wasn't going back to sleep. Went back out at 6:45 (once it got light) and there were ALL of my chickens. So, when the opossum tried to grab Sunny, everyone must've scattered. They are all fine except Sunny maybe experiencing some shock. She may have some wounds also, but I couldn't catch her this morning to see. Hopefully, she's still alive when I get home and not died of PTSD (which is possible with a chicken).

Halloween!

2009-11-05T13:56:00.005-05:00

Halloween was a blast. The kids had multiple parties and candy-acquiring events. They kicked it off Thursday night with a Trunk-or-Treat event with Nana and Papa. Friday morning was the party at school. No scary costumes so Will's "true" costume was replaced with the karate kid getup. Here he is with two of his best friends, Spiderman (Chance) and Peter Parker (Dalton).

Kaity was a princess bride. We recycled the flower girl dress after I got the chocolate stains out (6 hours of oxyclean soaking!). I mean, what else do you do with a flower girl dress once the wedding is over?

Here's the pre-k class. They were so adorable. I helped with them most of the day since 1st grade had plenty of help. Amazingly enough, 1st grade was very, very well-behaved all day. They were awesome.

Friday night, we headed to Alachua for Main Street Trick-or-Treating and some Conestoga's with Dalton's family. This time, Will got to wear his skeleton costume. I had bought face paint for when he wasn't wearing his hood, but nosiree, he wanted nothing to do with it. Kaity however is dressed as a ghost princess bride. And, guess who got to haul his ax around most of the night? (Hint: not me!) It was fun, but was super duper crowded in Alachua. We could hardly move around and I was worried about losing kids. But, it was fun getting to go out with another family.

Oh, and I went as a fairy. I wore this to school that morning also.

Saturday, we headed over to Dalton's house first to watch the first half of the UF/UGA game. It was a venison BBQ event and the food was awesome! At half time, we left and went to a birthday party for Leigh. She's the sister of Will's good friend, Coy. They live in a pretty small house and there were probably 25 kids and 15 adults in it. Luckily, the game was on, so John got to finish watching it. From there, the party loaded up and went to Chance's house (another of Will's friends) which was the base for trick-or-treating in Micanopy. We started with probably 15 kids and several adults. Kaity made it to about 3 houses before she was done and we headed back to Chance's house to help hand out candy. It was a good thing to - they went up by the cemetery, over to Seminary, down Seminary and back up Cholokka. It would have been quite the walk for her.

I went as a "bad" fairy and Kaity changed costumes to a kitty ballerina.

They're already talking about what they are going to be next year, so I guess I better get started on those costumes!

I love fall.

2009-10-26T14:41:00.006-04:00

What more is there to say? I love fall and wish we had more of it here in Florida. Instead, we just pretend like we do and make up for it with decorations. This was a very fallish weekend for us. Here's a recap.

Pumpkin Party
Friday morning started off with a pumpkin party in Kaity's class. Next Friday we have a Halloween party, so this was just a warm-up for the pre-k kids. They were so cute. I got roped into carving a couple pumpkins for them. Here was the party table. One of the grandma's made a pumpkin cake and cookies. I made pumpkin pie (most of them only ate the cool whip - go figure!) And, we had pumpkin candy to give them also.

They had a couple snacks and crafts that were really cute.

Sadly, no one took any pictures of my awesomely carved pumpkin (not really - John had to come help me finish it after he finished reading in Will's class). The kids had an absolute blast and it was super fun to help in Kaity's class. This Friday, I'm taking off for the Halloween party/parade at school. It should be a lot of fun and I'll probably migrate between their classes.

Coon Hollo Corn Maze
That afternoon was Wii time. And, then that evening we headed back to Coon Hollo Corn Maze. John and Will hadn't been yet and we took my friend, Georgia, also.

The corn maze is actually made out of sorghum. It did really well for the maze. We went through it twice - once when it was still light out and again with flashlights. Will met up with his friend, Little Danny, who was there with his family and they led us through the maze. It's a little disconcerting to be led through a dark maze by two 6-year-olds with flash lights.

Coon Hollo has lots of great photo op spots. This was one of the better ones of the kids.

Georgia took this one of us. The kids wouldn't stop making faces, so it's a funny picture and not a good family one.

Georgia, the kids, and I all rode the train. It was bouncy.

They had water buckets filled with a little bit of corn. This was a big hit with the kids - both during the field trip and at night. They played in it for a LONG time.

Kaity posing on the hay fort.

On the hay ride.

Christ Community Fall Festival
Sunday evening was the church fall festival and chili cook-off. We didn't take very many pictures, but it was super fun! John won second in the chili cook-off. First place went to our friend, Brenda. We also had a pie-eating contest and John drove the tractor for the hayride. Lots of smores, face painting, etc.

I'm really looking forward to next weekend. We've got parties at school, the Micanopy Harvest Festival, the UF-Georgia game, and Halloween!! And, it should be beautiful weather-wise.

Wii are Family!

2009-10-26T13:58:00.003-04:00

(Disclaimer: Sorry for the blurriness! All the photos were taken with my phone!)

After 18 months (18 months is a really long time in "kid" time by the way), Will and Kaity FINALLY had enough money for their Wii. The deal was that they had to save half and we would pay for the other half. Roughly about $150. Here is Will with $110 in change.

$300 in cash.

And, the Wii!!

We played all weekend. He loves the bowling game. We also got Wii Play with the extra remote, a Disney princess game for Kaity (which is pretty fun), and a Rapala fishing game (which doesn't work so well so far). I think we'll have to set some limits with him for playing it. Maybe half an hour with a book for half an hour of Wii time. He doesn't readily pick up and look at books, so this might be a good bargain to get him a little more interested in them (and keep the game time down a little.)

So, the question is what do we save for next?

Playing Around with the Camera

2009-10-09T20:17:00.004-04:00

I was playing around with the camera tonight and took some good (at least I think they're good) pictures of the kids. I thought I'd share some with you. They need a little touching up, but they're kind of fun.

Kaity's First Field Trip

2009-10-09T19:44:00.003-04:00

Kaity had her very first field trip today. It was awesome, but really, really hot. Since it was her first one, I took the day off and chaperoned. Luckily, at this age, it's really cool to have mom come on field trips. Since we don't have school buses at Micanopy, parents drive for the field trips. I was in charge of three little girls - Kaity, her best friend Hannasha, and Samantha. Hannasha's mom met us there, but she had her baby and 3-year-old with her, so she couldn't officially be a chaperon.

We headed out about 10 to Coon Hollo Corn Maze. Coon Hollo is a new corn maze that's run by one of John's old friends from 4-H and college. It was totally awesome. They did an Ag in the Classroom pumpkin lesson, carved a pumpkin, and painted mini-pumpkins. There was also a cow milking station (with wooden cows), a hay bale fort, and a little bit of corn in big water troughs. And, then there was the corn maze. It was awesome and the kids loved it. Oh, and they had a tractor hay ride and a cute train ride.

Unfortunately, it was really hot - like heat index of 105 hot. Very unusual for October.

A group picture right after we got there.

Before the kids carved the pumpkin.

All of the kids got to pull the goo and seeds out. I got some really good pictures of kids' faces with the slimy pumpkin guts. Kaity's a pro at it since we carve pumpkins every year. I was surprised at how many kids had never carved a pumpkin before.

The mini-pumpkin craft - they glued stuff on them and painted faces. Very cute.

The "Coon Hollo Fort." This was also really difficult to get the kids to stand still for this.

At the start of the corn maze. Not a great picture, but it shows how big the corn really was.

It was one of the best field trips I've chaperoned even with the heat.

Soccer Pictures

2009-10-09T19:23:00.003-04:00

Last night was the team soccer pictures event. It was the most stressful and unorganized thing I've seen in awhile. Trying to line up 21 six and under kids by height AND having them stand in line (while not touching each other) is next to impossible. I had the photographer take pictures of the two of them together. Hopefully, they turned out okay.

But, Kaity looks really cute in her uniform. This is a very good example of how she plays soccer. Luckily, she does it while looking really good.

Here's Will and Coy. Coy's one of Will's best friends and Kaity thinks he's her boyfriend. Coy is the youngest of three kids and always includes Kaity when he's over playing. It's a super cute picture of the two of them.

The whole team trying to smile, working to not touch each other, and maintaining their poses. It was difficult.

Meet Luna

2009-10-04T11:08:00.002-04:00

Luna is the newest addition to our family. She's a very sweet kitty probably about 11 weeks old. Erin suggested Luna and I really like it, but her name may change still. Luna Lovegood is a crazy character from Harry Potter and it was a full moon yesterday. So far, she's adjusted really well to us. And, she seems to be really tolerant of the kids. Kaity's been carrying her around all day. I'm so excited to have a kitty back in the house.

What We've Been Up To

2009-09-30T10:34:00.005-04:00

September has been super crazy for us. I was gone a week for vacation, then John was gone for a few days to work in Plant City, we threw a big birthday party for Larry, then I was gone for a week for a business trip, then John worked a few more days in Plant City. So, it's been really, really crazy for us. In between all of that, life still goes on.

This is Drue and Lisa's new horse, Rain. I'm in love with her. She's about 14 hands tall and is super sweet. And, she supposedly drives a cart but we're not sure about that. We've been out to see her a couple times so far and I'd like to go ride her some more.

The kids are also playing soccer which means practice Tuesday and Thursday evenings and games on Saturdays. Luckily, they play on the same team - the Micanopy Six Shooters (6 and under team). Will is getting into it and is starting to understand the game. Kaity really doesn't get it yet, but likes the uniform.

My business trip was to the annual Garden Writers Association conference in Raleigh. It's a really nice conference and the bonus was that I got to have dinner with my cousin Sondra one night. GWA is great because of all the free plants you get. We drove a van up and brought back probably close to 100 plants (free and purchased) between the three of us. Here are some of the babies that I've repotted and am hoping to keep alive. I've got some crape myrtles, aloe, gardenia, and a crinum lily in the little pots. The Earth Box is probably ready to be redone, but I haven't gotten to that. Suggestions on what to put in it? Maybe some mums to greet me with fall color? Or veggies?

The kids and I made a bed while John was gone. I didn't take a before shot so you can't see the drastic difference it made. These were all free plants that we received from various vendors at GWA. I planted a bamboo muhly grass in front of the water softener. There's a lorapetalum, some nandina, a couple aloes, and a daylily. In the pot, is another lorapetalum that has white blooms. The kids helped spread the mulch also. The cooler temps in the evenings definitely made this activity more enjoyable.

Here's the bed John built me a couple weeks ago. It has knock out roses and confederate jasmine. Ignore the junk under the porch. The jasmine should fill in and we won't be able to see that.

The chickens absolutely love digging for bugs in this bed. They keep kicking the mulch out, so hopefully this heavier pine bark mulch will stay more in place.

In the midst of all this, it's been the first month of school and adjusting to a new schedule, Will has more schoolwork (and spelling words that he's doing GREAT at!), we have our normal meetings of cattlemen's, 4-H, Ag in the Classroom, etc, every Saturday is Gator Football, and the house is an absolute disaster! I guess that's what happens when one of us is always gone. I'm looking forward to October! Although it promises not to be any slower than September.

Kaity's Dance Moves

2009-09-18T20:46:00.004-04:00

Check out the quite talented little miss herself in action. She's got some moves. I think she's a cross between a cheerleader and a dancer.

Anyone Need a New Dog?

2009-09-14T14:11:00.000-04:00

"Dixie" showed up 6:30 Thursday morning. John opened the door and she came bounding in. She's wearing a gator collar and has a name tag on that says Dixie. She's young. Probably less than a year. I think she's a boxer/pit mix.

Kaity says since she's lost and we found her that she's ours now. I'm not so sure about that.

Trip to the District

2009-09-14T14:00:00.000-04:00

Over Labor Day, Dad and I went to DC to visit Alli. We did lots, walked lots, and saw lots.

Here's the rundown of what we did.

Wednesday evening - flew into DC
Thursday - Mount Vernon all day, Fireflies in Del Ray for dinner, FDR and Jefferson Memorials at night
Friday - National Mall, Memorials, American History Museum, Ben's Chili Bowl for lunch, National Archives, Jazz in the Garden (met Sarah there), dinner at a very nice Mediterranean restaurant whose name starts with a Z.
Saturday - Old Town Market, Eastern Market, lazy day in the afternoon for me, Dad weedeated Alli's yard, bought Alli a grill, Palace of Wonders to see the Skullduggery and Skins burlesque show
Sunday - Scottish Festival out in the Virginia countryside
Monday - Harper's Ferry and drive through the Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland countrysides with Sarah
Tuesday - Georgetown, flew out that night

So, rather than the whole story, I'll just show you a few of the better pictures.

Me at Mount Vernon. You can barely see the Potomac behind me.

The side of Washington's home that faces the Potomac.

I forgot to take a picture at the beginning of the trip. Alli and Dad are making fun of me for having to have a picture with the sign.

FDR Memorial at night. Ruby had a real problem with this fake dog.

At one of the Memorials. I think Lincoln. It was hot. We probably walked 12 miles that day.

WWI Memorial. I liked it. It was shady, quiet, and left alone off of the main track. It had more of a memorial feel than the other popular ones.

Alli's new grill.

At Harper's Ferry

Kaity's Version of the Pledge

2009-09-14T11:26:00.001-04:00

Kaity impressed us yesterday by showing us that she knows the whole pledge of allegiance. Her version is mostly correct. Here it is.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republix for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

She can even say indivisible! But, I guess living in the South with Publix as the main grocery store has some influence.

A Girl and Her Horse

2009-08-29T13:31:00.001-04:00

Well, not really her horse, but the farm's horse. But, Kaity doesn't know the difference. It's actually probably Chip's horse. He rides her during weaning season and can pop a cow whip from her back. It's pretty amazing. Anyways, back to Kaity.

All summer long, we've been riding the horse every Wednesday morning. We've been trading services with Will's speech therapist. Her daughter rides and Will gets speech therapy. This means that Kaity has only gotten to ride for about 5 minutes every Wednesday and has really, really been wanting to ride more. She's actually quite a natural on the horse and follows directions pretty well. She's currently really into horses and is having all kinds of dreams about pink, purple and yellow ones. So, this morning, we were laying in bed about 7:30 and I asked her if she wanted to ride the horse. Of course, she said yes. This was also really special for her because Will spent the night at a friend's house and she was getting one-on-one time with mom doing something really fun. She rides in the kid saddle that we've borrowed from my mom. Mom bought it almost 25 years ago to do pony parties. It has served us well over the years. I also adjusted the reins today so Kaity could actually hold them. She had a hard time with this, but we just need to practice. We're riding the mare, New Horse, and, yes, that's her name. She's never been named even though she's lived on the farm about five years. At the time she came, she was dubbed New Horse as in newest horse to live at the barn. I'm taking name suggestions for her. She's very sweet and a pretty red color. Maybe Sally? Or Sissy? I think she needs a girly name rather than something like Red. She's a very sweet horse and good with the kids.

Here I am leading New Horse and Kaity. I mostly walk and lead the horse while she rides. It was very, very wet this morning so we had to alter our normal path. New Horse has fairly bad feet, so she doesn't like to walk on the lime road or in the muck.

Kaity and her ride for the morning.

When we go ride, Max and Tebow like to tag along. Especially Tebow. He has a problem of stopping to smell something right where the horse is walking. He's good company. Max usually gets bored with us and finds a shady tree to watch us from.

It took several tries, but she finally was able to pick the flowers from horseback!

After we'd been out for awhile, Aunt Lisa called. Kaylie is at her house for the day and asked what we were doing. When she heard that we were riding the horse, she rushed right over. Kaylie's never been on a horse before, but she was a pro! Even without shoes on, she kept her feet in the stirrups.

After a little while, I put both Kaity and Kaylie on the horse together. New Horse didn't mind at all as long as she got to stop and eat grass every few steps. You know the old saying "the grass is always greener on the other side."

After they were done, I rode for a few minutes. I wasn't sure I could get on with that saddle (the stirrups are really high up for the little girls and it's not cinched very tight), so I mounted from a fence. I haven't done that in a very long time. After all that, Lisa worked on her feet some. She's an amateur blacksmith, so we got New Horse's feet trimmed and filed and looking much better. And, New Horse lifted every one of her feet in order without being asked! What a good horse she is.

We're going to try to ride every three weeks or so. That's probably as often as we can do it this fall. I'd like for Will to be riding by himself this time next year and Kaity at least able to keep her feet in her stirrups. Will didn't ride today, but he actually has a very nice seat on a horse. I think he could ride by himself in a small pen. I don't think I'd trust him just yet out in the pasture.

All in all it was a very good and active morning outside. Just the way Saturdays should be.

They're All Grown Up

2009-08-24T14:09:00.001-04:00

Not sure when it happened, but my babies have grown into kids. They both headed off to elementary school today - Will to 1st grade and Kaity to pre-K. The first day of school was always so much fun and exciting for me. And, luckily it's that way for my kids too. You've got new school supplies to show off, new clothes, new teachers, hopefully old friends, and so much more. Because we're in such a small school, we only have one class per grade. So most of Will's class is moving from kindergarten to first grade with him. We'll get a few new students and a few who don't come back, but mostly he knows everyone. And, his three best friends - Chance, Coy, and Dalton - will be there with him. Although, Ms. Cathy was smart and did NOT sit them at the same table together. They're going to be major trouble (and heartbreakers) in the years to come.

Kaity was super-excited to start as a "minitee." She can't say mini-manatee which is what the pre-k kids are called. She had outgrown her preschool awhile ago and was ready for a new challenge. Luckily for her, her best friend from daycare, Hannasha, also lives in Micanopy and is going to school there. Hannasha and Kaity have been in class together since they were 6 months old. They haven't seen each other in a month and greeted each other with a big hug this morning. The teachers may have more than they bargained for with the two of them. Hannasha switches between French and English (she's Belgian) and Kaity has diarrhea of the mouth. But, they are super, super cute together.

Here are a few pictures from the morning. Kaity insisted on this dress when school shopping. We had other cuter, better fitting choices, but I would only let her pick one dress and she had to have the all pink one.

Showing off her backpack. I didn't see any reason to get her a new backpack for pre-k so she's using the one that we used to use as a diaper bag. Still pink and has her initials. And, by the way, we've bought several of these LLBean back packs and they are great. This is a junior sized one and it's perfect for 4-7 year olds.

Will in his cool, new school clothes he picked out. The first grade teacher is not big on images of violence (including superheroes) so we'll have to check his shirt choices before school every morning since most of them contain spiderman, superman, iron man, or some version of --man.

He did get a new backpack this year. And, since he's almost 7, I let him pick one from the next size up. Again, it's an LLBean and he got the matching lunch box. It's got a spider on it which is intended to scare people because they'll think it's a real spider on his bag.

He didn't want to hold hands with her, but she insisted.

Micanopy Manatees!

Will is all excited about his new class. He was one of the first ones there and ready for me to leave immediately. This is his "please leave so I can talk to my friends" face.

BFFs - Kaity and Hannasha

I'm ready for a great year. I can feel that it's going to be awesome!

The End of an Era

2009-08-19T16:36:00.005-04:00

Today is the last day for Will and Kaity at La Petite. They've been there four years this month. We've had lots of good times, some bad times, and lots of caring people there. It's kind of sad. They've made lots of good friends over the years and the teachers know them really well. But, also really exciting. We're ready to start a new phase of life - one that includes one school drop off and a more challenging atmosphere. But, we're really going to miss Ms. Jackie, Ms. Carolyn, Ms. Jann, Mr. Matt, and all the other teachers.

How they looked when they started in August 2005 (taken some time in the fall.) Will is 2.5 in this picture and Kaity is about 6 months.

How they look now.

The Wedding Weekend

2009-08-13T14:58:00.009-04:00

Erin and Luke got hitched last weekend. Welcome to the family, Luke! The wedding was beautiful and we got to see lots of family and friends. I've got a few pics of Erin and Luke, but mostly pics of the kids to share. The kids story was pretty entertaining.

We started off the weekend tubing down the Itchetucknee. Alli and Mom talked us out of taking the kids. Probably a good idea. John and I shared a raft with a bottom and he spent most of it like this.

At wedding "practice," we decided Will and Kaity really couldn't walk down the aisle together. Will kept trying to give her directions and finally she stopped and said "STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" Pretty safe bet they should walk separately. She then continued to receive directions from mommy, grandma, erin and everyone in between. The last direction was from the officiant. He told her to throw the flowers in front of her instead of to the side. She gave the nastiest look I've ever seen her give an adult. This is a picture of the end of that practice walk down the aisle. You can see how happy she is.

Erin stayed at the Herlong Mansion in Micanopy. She got her hair done at my friend's house down the street and then had some of her bridal pictures taken there.

We all also got our hair done including Kaity. She actually had hers done three times. We were the first to Sonya's house and she started right away on Kaity. Of course, it didn't hold. We had to redo it and then she got to sit for awhile while everyone else got theirs done. And, she fell asleep on the couch. So after I rushed her down to get pictures. We came back and had her hair redone. This one held.

Earlier in the week, she had also told us that on Saturday no one was to call her Kaitlyn. Her name would be Sleeping Beauty all day because of her princess dress. She stuck to her guns on this one and we did call her that some of the day. Sonya also told her that it was her princess day as well as Erin's while she was getting her hair done. And, the photographer, Dawn, had her use princess smiles to get pictures. It worked.

Kanapaha has a pretty awesome maze that Will spent the better part of 30 minutes running around in. He looks pretty sharp in his outfit, but a little hot.

Will also loves to dance which he showed to everyone at the reception. He danced for about three hours straight. He told Alli and Scot that he thinks dancing might be "his thing." He learned all his moves by watching So You Think You Can Dance with me, or at least that's what he told people. After watching Grandpa do his fancy dancing, he tried to get Kaity to do all kinds of spins and stuff with him also. It was pretty funny.

Here he is doing his Egyptian move. That was his signature move of the night.

Kaity got into the strawberries and chocolate fountain about 10 pm. There was some definite double dipping go on and some wearage happening on the dress. Anyone got ideas on how to get chocolate out of a flower girl's dress?

John finally got me to dance with him.

Will danced with everyone including Grandma several times.

Dad and I watching the crazy people (Will and Grandma).

The bride and groom cutting the cake.

Congratulations Erin and Luke!

It's no mustang with flames, but I still like it

2009-07-23T19:38:00.002-04:00

Will is convinced that Uncle Scot needs a black mustang with flames on the sides to get a girlfriend. Will is wise beyond his years cause that just might work for Scot. But, we did get a new-to-us vehicle today - a 2005 Ford Escape! It drives really nice and has a great turning radius. We traded the Mercury in and got a total of $400 for it. I'm glad we didn't wait to much longer. We might not have driven the Mercury to be traded in then. We timed it just right for us also. Our first payment for this one is due in October and the truck is paid off in September.

New cars are so much fun!

What I Do at My Job

2009-07-18T07:30:00.002-04:00

Well, this isn't all I do, but during a shoot I do a lot of this. My job during a video shoot is to stay out of the way, not touch the equipment, make sure we have all the props we need, guest speakers understand what we're doing, and to keep everyone hydrated. So, basically I'm the water girl.

I do more than that, but not so much on the shoot. For several weeks before our week long shoots, I set up locations, guest speakers, props, and try to coordinate a multitude of people's schedules. There's been several times in the last year that I thought TV would be the death of me.

Walter Reeves, our host, and Steven Arthurs, UF entomologist, releasing lady beetles.

When we're not shooting, I'm dealing with stations, printed materials, web sites, etc. Oh, and I also handle a weekday radio show and lots of written material for our Web sites. So, I guess I'm more than water girl.

Gopher tortoises are protected in Florida. Charles Fedunak is showing Walter his tortoises that the Extension office keeps for educational purposes and discussing all the habitat benefits their burrows provide.

From day-to-day, I never know what my job will bring. But, I do love working at the university and interacting with Extension agents.

Kerry Herndon is one of the largest orchid growers in the world. He's showing Walter how orchid breeding happens. This was one of the prettiest locations we've ever shot at.

And, I learn a lot of plants. Not that I can implement ANYTHING that I learn. But, I could tell you what you need to do!

Jon's Nursery was HUGE! It has almost 200 acres in woody ornamental production. They showed Walter how camellias go from propagation to the market.

I love my job and the people I work with. It doesn't get better than that.

G-rated Fourth of July

2009-07-05T16:11:00.004-04:00

This year was a blur of activity for us for Independence Day. It was very kid-oriented and a whole lot of fun. We started the day off by getting the 4-H float ready for the Micanopy parade. We all rode the float (I ride because Kaity rides and I'm afraid she'll fall off.) The kids threw 30 lbs of candy out and rode the three blocks of the parade. We had some good friends from Gville come watch us and sit with John (he didn't want to ride the float).

Here are Will and Danny riding the float - the newest Micanopy 4-H members and possibly the only male members.

The tag-a-long member, Kaity, had a blast and mostly rode with Tiffany who will be a senior this year.

After the parade, we headed out to the 4-H leader's house for a potluck and swimming. Again, Will and Danny were the only boys. And, again, Kaity stuck with Tiffany. But, Tiffany did get her in the pool and swimming a little bit.

We headed home for a little bit in the middle of the afternoon and took naps and then headed out again about 6 pm. Will's best friend, Chance, lives in a grand old house in downtown Micanopy. We headed there with half the town and did more swimming, eating, and partying. About 8:30, we ALL headed out to the ball field to watch the fireworks. They were really good this year. And, really close. Gainesville cancelled theirs so I think we had a lot of people come out and enjoy our small town festivities. They had a free bounce house and hay ride for the kids, but of course, we got there too late for that. All total, I think we were keeping track of about 15-18 kids. It was chaos.

After the town fireworks, it was back to Chance's house for more fireworks of our own doing. One of Chance's uncles brought a whole trunk full of firecrackers/fireworks. We set them off in the middle of downtown Micanopy in the midst of all the antique shops. But, considering Chance's dad is mayor pro temp, it was probably okay. We finally ended up leaving about 11 pm and they weren't even halfway through all their fireworks yet. And, as far as I know, no one got hurt. Overall, it was a great Fourth. My new favorite non-wintery holiday.

RIP Smokey

2009-07-03T21:03:00.002-04:00

We keep hoping Smokey is going to come home, but it's been almost a month now with no sign of her. We're pretty sure a bobcat got her. My mother-in-law-'s 14 year old cat, my aunt-in-law's 9 year old cat, and 3 or 4 barn cats are also missing. And, we've seen a bobcat recently. Not sure what happened, but we really miss Smokey. This is the last picture I took of Smokey. Not a great one, but it is the most recent.

To make up for us missing Smokey, Tebow has taken up residence in John's chair. This is actually unusual, but John was shooting his gun this afternoon and scared Tebow into the house. This is where he ended up and where he's stayed with Will basically sitting on top of him. Tebow is enjoying himself immensely.

Cannon Ball!

2009-06-29T21:23:00.003-04:00

We spent the weekend in Riverview for Erin & Luke's shower. I have lots to share from it, and I'm too tired now to post it. So, here's a small clip of how Will spent most of his weekend to hold you over until the rest of the photos get posted.

Sisters, Sisters

2009-06-24T18:27:00.004-04:00

Sisters

There were never such devoted sisters

Never had to have a chaperone "No, sir"

I'm there to keep my eye on her

Caring

Sharing

Every little thing that we are wearing

When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome

She wore the dress and I stayed home

All kinds of weather

We stick together

The same in the rain or sun

Two diff'rent faces

But in tight places

We think and we act as one

Those who've

Seen us

Know that not a thing could come between us

Many men have tried to split us up but no one can

Lord help the mister

Who comes between me and my sister

And Lord help the sister

Who comes between me and my man

**From the movie White Christmas**

Last Week of Kindergarten!

2009-06-04T19:33:00.002-04:00

This has been two crazy weeks and I've got one more to go! Last week was a little vacation (Monday and Tuesday) and then lots of doctor appointments and so on which meant I was not at home or in the office much at all. This week, we're shooting for the 2010 season of Your Southern Garden. We've been in Gainesville most of the week, but it's been VERY long days. Saturday, I leave for a conference in Des Moines until Wednesday. This time of year is always really busy for me, but this year is especially busy!

Tomorrow is the last day of kindergarten for Will. He's had a great year and a great teacher. However, we've been discussing retaining him for another year of kindergarten since March or so. He's been with a tutor for the last two months and last week we were finally able to get him tested with an educational psychologist (thanks dad!). He came back as gifted dyslexic which means he's very, very smart, but also going to have to work hard. We met with the school today and he's made so much progress in the last six weeks that he's going to be promoted on to first grade! Over the summer, he's going to meet with a good friend of mine who is a speech and language therapist. Will has a few minor speech things that once he works through should help him with his reading. Tara has also worked with dyslexic children so she should be able to implement some good strategies with him. The psychologist also suspects that he has ADHD, but we'll need to talk with a pediatrician for a further diagnosis there. So, while everyone else is on break for the summer, Will is going to be in reading/speech therapy twice a week minimum and getting extra homework from his kindergarten teacher. He hopefully should be caught up with his reading skills by the time first grade starts. We're very excited to see him move on. He has three great friends (Chance, Dalton, and Coy) and, while they get in a lot of rascally trouble, they are also all wonderful little boys. We're very happy to see Will get to move with them.

Turtles and Local Food (but not turtles as food)

2009-05-30T20:06:00.006-04:00

On the way to the t-ball game this morning, I almost ran over a little turtle. John had me go back and get it and we brought it home. We realized it was bleeding a little from the bottom side of his shell. We think that a bird probably dropped it on the road trying to crack his shell. If he'd been hit by a car, he'd be smooshed by now. We warned the kids that he might not live, but as of this posting this 10 hours after rescuing, he's still alive. We put him in a cooler (don't worry, we'll sanitize before using it next) and left him under the tree. When we got home from t-ball, he had a few more battle scars from Smokey - a couple of scratches across his head. He's now inside so a raccoon (or Smokey) doesn't make a snack of him tonight. He may just live. We'll see. He's a little smaller than the palm of my hand. He's a size comparison.

He's fairly cute and looks like Sam, Alli's turtle at home. Possible names (if he lives) are Pants and Storm. The kids didn't seem disappointed by the prospect of a funeral either though. Kaity really likes him and keeps checking on him. Maybe he'll be alive in the morning.

For dinner tonight, I made something very different for us and with a lot of local ingredients. We had balsamic blueberry pork chops. The blueberries came fresh picked from the lakehouse. The thyme came from my garden. And, the pork chops came from the pig we fed out this spring. And, I actually had the ingredients for the rest of the sauce in my cabinet so I didn't have to make a trip to the store. Amazing. I liked the sauce okay, but would like to have it just a little sweeter. I might try a different recipe next time.

We also had fresh corn on the cob purchased from Brown's Produce Stand on the way to Melrose. We saw the guy delivering it straight from the field, so we know it's fresh.

Earlier in the day, I made zucchini nut bread with some of the zucchini from my garden (the huge, monster one!) I used a few of Henriettta's banty eggs in the mix (and had to borrow a few from Kathleen) and the pecans that Aunt Margaret gets for us from Altrusa. Along with a few recipe alterations from Kathleen and friends, it turned out great. They suggested adding a cup of apple sauce to keep it moist. Great suggestion. It worked like a charm. The bread is wonderful and the kids really like it. It's definitely a keeper recipe.

It was a great dinner and the kids ate most of it (no blueberry sauce for them, just ketchup).
PS - Mom, I'm almost out of pecans!

PPS - Georgia, don't you wish you'd come over now! Turtles and local food! It doesn't get better than this.

Turtle Update - it didn't make it through the night, so we had a funeral for it this afternoon. Kaity prayed that God would give her a pet turtle.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-29T20:56:00.015-04:00

Our 4th Annual Memorial Day Lake House Weekend was a blast. After almost two solid weeks of rain, we were hoping for a little sunshine and outside time. We did get quite a bit of rain, but also plenty of opportunity to play outside.

I took Friday off to help the school with their first field day. It poured, POURED, that morning. Coach is giving them a pep talk in the pouring down rain about what a glorious day it was and how much fun they were going to have.

Will was not great at hurdles, but then, neither were any of the other kindergardeners.

His team lost at tug-of-war, but had fun pulling each other around in the mud. No serious injuries for the day, the sun finally came out, and the kids had a great time. Overall, a great success.

We headed out to Melrose somewhat early Saturday morning. After unloading, we headed back into town for lunch at Bluewater Bay. If you've never been there, it's highly recommended. Instead of my usual fried shrimp, I ventured out on a limb and had a shrimp skewer with a chili sauce. It was amazing. John got crawfish and we discovered that the kids, especially Will, LOVE crawfish. After lunch, we headed back for a quick swim before the rain started.

Kaity loves taking pictures with my camera although she uses up all the batteries. This is a picture of Daddy that she took. This is what it must look like all the time in Kaity's world.

My friend Kim came out to practice crocheting on Sunday (and brought this great gumbo) and more friends, Nate and Becky came out later that afternoon. Nate and John smoked a Boston butt. It's a good thing Nate was there. Nate's a PA and John was starting to have kidney pains. Nate diagnosed him with kidney stones and saved us a trip to the ER. John's still in pain, but at least there was no hospital trip involved.

Kaity loves the lake, but as you'll see, hates the ocean.

Memorial Day Monday, we headed to Jacksonville to join Erin and Luke at the beach. We haven't been to the beach yet this year, so I was really excited to go. We had a picnic lunch and then later headed back to their apartment for dinner and some Wii. Will almost has enough change saved for his Wii so he was excited to play with Luke on it. (Will and I have a deal. If he saves $150, I'll pay for the other half of the Wii. So far, he has $100 in change and everything he finds, makes, or sometimes "borrows" goes to his Wii fund.)

My patriotic red, white, and blue swim suit.

Kaity was Terrified (with a capital T) of the ocean and the waves. It took us about four hours to coax her in. This is what happened when Daddy took her in to wash the sand off of her. And, yes, we were laughing at her.

Erin has more beach pictures posted on her blog.

Finally, we got Kaity into the tidal pool area. She didn't stay very long, but stood on the beach out of the reach of the waves as the rest of us played in the water.

Most of the time, Erin and Kaity built sand castles.

Will loved the waves and the ocean. He spent most of his time convincing either Daddy or Luke to take him out into the water. He also got to see a dolphin jump out of the water and a big crab chasing Daddy. The beach was definitely the highlight of the weekend for him.

We headed back Monday night. John and I had both taken off Tuesday also which turned out to be a great idea. We cleaned up in the morning, got a little swimming in, and headed back to Micanopy just in time for John to go to the doctor for his kidney stones. Hopefully, we'll get back out to the lake house again in a month or so.

PS - I forgot! We also picked the first blueberries. Many, many more should be ready this next week.

Rain, Rain ... PLEASE Go Away!!

2009-05-22T19:45:00.007-04:00

Since last Wednesday (today is Friday a week later), we've guesstimated that we've had 15 inches of rain. These pictures were taken yesterday afternoon and since then the water has come up even more.

This is our driveway. Today it was mid-calf high on me.

Will is standing in the water next to the house. It's coming up over his rubber boots.

My Easter lilies are finally starting to bloom.

Unfortunately, they are currently sitting in ankle deep water.

These are my new purplicious rain boots. I saw them last Sunday at Tractor Supply and we didn't buy them. It was only raining with no standing water then. By Wednesday, we had standing water everywhere and John had Larry pick them up. I wore them to work on Thursday and to the field day on Friday. I can't go anywhere in the yard without them.

My poor chickens and goats don't have a dry spot in the yard.

The rain has let up a little bit, but we still have a 60 percent chance through the weekend. As much as we need the rain, I'm ready for it to STOP!

Our First Float Ride

2009-05-22T19:39:00.002-04:00

With many years of 4-H to come, we'll have plenty of opportunity to ride floats. Our first experience happened last weekend during Doc Hollywood Days in Micanopy. We recruited a couple extra friends and rode the float throughout the town (and threw candy). It took about 2 hours to set the parade up and a total of 10 minutes to go through town. I was the adult on board the float mainly because Kaity was also riding the float. I got to be the candy nazi.

Flowers

2009-05-22T19:33:00.003-04:00

Before we had 15 inches of rain, we were getting some nice flowers out of the garden. The zinnias, sunflowers, and coreopsis have done especially well. I did my best with my very little flower arranging skills.

Holy Zukes!

2009-05-13T18:01:00.000-04:00

Look at the size of the zuke that just came out of my garden! It's bigger than my arm!

Here a Zuke, There a Zuke, Everywhere a Zuke Zuke

2009-05-11T19:37:00.003-04:00

Saturday, Kaity and I met my girlfriends, Kim and Georgia, at the Windsor Zucchini Festival. Every year, I say I'm going to go and, every year, we don't. Well, we finally made it this year and it was a blast! The zucchini festival is held in support of the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department. And, I don't think any zucchini is (or ever was) grown commercially in Windsor. Windsor is known for blueberries. But, it still makes for a fun festival. They had a great kids area, live band, arts and crafts, lots and lots of zucchini foods and even a beauty pageant.

We started off watching the pageant. It was pretty disorganized, but still fun. They crowned a Duke of Zuke and a Zuqueeni. Next year, I'm entering Kaity.

Since it was just Kaity and the girls, she got to do some fun stuff like ride the pony. Farm Girl wouldn't ride without me walking next to her. Some farm girl she is. I did buy her a pink cowgirl hat. She's always borrowing Will's so I figured it was time for her own.

Georgia and the Zuke Buggy.

Kim and Kaity dancing to the band.

I had Zucchini Honey ice cream. Kaity had strawberry (it's pink).

Kim, Kaity and I and the balloon Kaity HAD to have.

She loved the wind chimes.

One of the best parts of the Zuke Fest was the carvings and creations. Kaity and Georgia were both amazed by them. These zukes are tangoing.

The "AquaZuke"

Zucchini Island with an alligator, turtle and more!

It was a lot of fun and we might even go again next year. Next weekend is the Newberry Watermelon Festival (always a good time - watermelon eating contest, seed spitting, pageant, and rodeo) and the first Doc Hollywood Days in Micanopy. I think we'll be at the Doc Hollywood Days since Will wants to ride the 4-H float.

I love this time of year. There seems to be a food-related festival every weekend. It's great.

8 Years and Counting!

2009-05-11T18:31:00.011-04:00

Eight years ago tomorrow, John and I got married. We don't usually do much for our anniversary (and definitely not Mother's Day since it's the same weekend). But, this year we actually got to do a few things.

Last Thursday night, we went to a play at the Hippodrome. I got free tickets through work and Nana and Papa kept the kids. So, I got to wear this pretty dress that Sarah picked out for me last year in Michigan. I got a lot of compliments on the dress (it's a handmade vintage dress) and we got to eat out before seeing the play.

Friday, John had off so I went ahead and took off too. We dropped the kids off at school and headed out to Cedar Key for lunch. We hit the museum and Cedar Key scrub first. Neither of us had ever been there. I'm convinced that it's the quietest state park in Florida.

We also ate on the docks at Frog's Landing. John says we've eaten there before, but we figured it's been 7 years or so since we last ate there. Guess what I got? Fried shrimp.

I've never seen John have such a hard time making up his mind in a restaurant. He kept going back and forth, but finally ended up with crab florentine.

Cedar Key is a cute little town. Hopefully, we can make a weekend stay of it sometime. These are some of the condos and houses right on the water. The one thing about Cedar Key is that there are absolutely no beaches. It's marshy and shelly and the mosquitos are apparently horrible on the islands.

Pelicans are one of my favorite birds. They're so funny looking. They also know the best place to hang out if you're a lazy pelican - on the pier.

This is the pier and the island you can visit. Cedar Key has one of the oldest lighthouses in Florida, but you can't get to that island anymore. It's a bird and marine research center and sanctuary. This island is about a half-hour boat paddle from the many, many boat launches. We'd like to take the kids some time soon, but we've been warned that the mosquitoes are very, very bad.

On our actual anniversary tomorrow, my friend Georgia is coming to babysit. John and I are going to see the new Star Trek movie. John is about to pee in his pants from excitement.

UF Baseball Game

2009-05-02T08:13:00.002-04:00

All season, we've been talking about going to a UF baseball game. We finally made it. Dollar Night was great. It's on Wednesdays and everything (ticket, hot dog, coke, and popcorn) is $1. All four of us went (and John and the kids ate a LOT of hot dogs) for under $20. It was really relaxed with a lot of space between people. Much better than a football game (at least for me). I could see the field sitting down at least.

I thought the kids were going to have a conniption fit if they didn't get to see Albert. He finally showed up.

Kaity has been practicing her cheerleader smile and moves.

Stylin'

2009-04-28T12:00:00.002-04:00

Taken with my phone camera because my camera batteries are dead. We decided to cut her hair after having lots of trouble washing her hair. It'll be cooler for the summer. Plus, it's really cute!

Before

After