Yesterday Ryan and I gave farm tours to a preschool class of 17 and a kindergarten class of 9.
I'm not sure who has more fun, them or us!
Petting a calf,
feeding a horse,
(gosh. i wish the farmers wife would buy him some decent jeans)
holding the chickens,
looking at all the milk. And the main attraction?
Sitting the John Deere.
And we finish up the day with milk and cookies. of course.
no photo. my fingers were covered in chocolate.
Brown paper packages tied up with string!
My dear friend, Maryhelen who lives in Oklahoma sent me this:
How fabulous is that!
And since this is the one and only thing I've hung here in the new house:
Last week after recovering from strep, I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow. I stopped at madebyrae she is having a fun "Spring Top Week" and I love checking out all the great things people are making. She also sponsored "Celebrate the Boy" awhile back with great boy crafts.
But what caught my eye on this day, was these:
click here! to see Rae's.
I HAD to have some. I cruised on over to the Sarah & Abraham site . I was very disappointed to see that they only had cards for Mom's to one or two children. I quickly sent them a message, and said: "I love your "calling cards" but I am a mommy to four". "Do you think there would be any way you could change the view to landscape and have four kids on them?" xo, Sarah. word for word. Except for the xo. They don't know me that well. yet.
That was Thursday morning before 10 am. Within two hours, she (Sarah) emailed me back, saying, "absolutely, I've added them to our website, check it out". (not her own words, but close enough).
I made my selections on Friday, and they arrived Monday. Did you hear? paid for on Friday, arrived on Monday. That is service.
I heard they broke this swing once...
Winding up the last week without my little people, I had grand plans of not only finishing the projects I started, but starting more and finishing them as well. I guess someone else had a better plan. Not so sure how me being sick was a better plan, but I'm willing to roll with it. I am very thankful that the little people were being cared for by someone who didn't smell like puke and sweat.
As you may have noticed, there is a "Relay for Life" button on the left. I was asked to be part of a team walking Friday night. Yes, that is tomorrow. We were asked to raise $200. on our own.
Relay for life has luminaries you can purchase for a special lighting ceremony, my personal team is selling "prayers" to be attached to a helium balloon that will be released at midnight. My team also had some bake sales, t-shirt sales, food booths at local sporting events. I did not participate in any of the food events because I decided to make bags. MmmHmm. Make bags. That plan came to a screeching halt on Monday night.
I have two finished, and three in various steps.
That's ok. The Bunco group is participating in a different Relay for Life walk in June. Maybe I'll have them done by then.
In the meantime, if you are so inclined to donate to a wonderful cause in my name, I'd appreciate it. Just click on the link at the left. I'll blow ya'll kisses.
I spied this one on the web site, and really thought I should help out more, so I ordered it.
Not to worry my little pretties...I got something for you too!
If you would like to enter, leave a comment telling me your favorite way to give!
I'll randomly draw a winner next week.
I've visited couponmom.com, clipped my coupons, and made my list. And this is on it:
Tator Tot Casserole
1 pound ground beef
1 bag mixed frozen vegetables
1 cup Velveeta cheese
1 cup milk
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 small bag of tator tots
salt & pepper
Brown beef and drain if needed. Slowly melt cheese in milk on stove top. Mix soup, cheese mix, vegetables and beef, salt and pepper to taste. Spread in 9x13 pan, top with tator tots. Bake at 350 degrees until warm and bubbly, approximately 30-45 minutes. Freezes great.
Just like every other recipe I have posted, I change the directions because, well... I'm lazy. I never melt the cheese in the milk. I just dice it up and toss it in, omitting the milk. As for the vegetables, I use what I have. Sometimes it's canned, sometimes I use corn and green beans that I've preserved myself. It works for me. And I always use the low fat soup mix. I like my meals low fat. (a good belly laugh will not only burn calories, but it's good for your soul).
(insert BIG sigh)
I worked today. I hate working on Friday. I really think Friday should be used for getting ready for the weekend.
On my lunch I went to Dollar General and purchased junk food and hot dog buns for the school carnival. Having a difficult time purchasing food I don't want my kids to win, I picked out popcorn and iced graham crackers. Semi-healthy right? Not to worry. My kids picked out the Swiss Cake rolls and Pringles.
After work, school carnival. William got a black mustache!
Silent Auction Fund-raiser for a local senior center. I'm pretty sure I *won* an FABULOUS chair!
Drop the kids to Ryan, and off to Bunco! Chips & salsa, an ice cold Corona and my girls! I cannot tell you how happy I am to have these girls in my life. It is those moments that we spend together, that I can take off my other hats, (mom, wife, sister, daughter, co-worker, chef, maid... ) and just be me, Sarah. Friend.
I had a weird day.
After dropping the kids at school this morning, I ran in to my office to run a few copies and then had to stop back at home to grab some of my things before my appointment today.
In the twenty minute commute between the office and home, I started to feel strange. A little "off". Probably because I did have my coffee, I thought.
Still feeling "off" when I got home, I decided to rest for a few minutes before leaving to my (all day) appointment.
Ryan woke me up at 1pm. I slept for four hours. Completely out. pillow wet from drool. gone.
I guess at 11:30 am, my appointment decided I was not going to show up, so they called me, my office, and the kid's school to see if I had dropped off Elizabeth & William. My office staff called me, my friends, called the school, called my appointment, called the sheriff, and then my husband. Who found me, very confused, in my bed.
I have no idea what that was about. I felt strangely "off" for the rest of the day.
Hope tomorrow is better.
On to the next item:
He loves wagon rides. I love it when it's William pulling him around for hours.
Isabelle, signing "I Love You".
Jackson and I, playing with the camera on my phone...
Easter egg hunt. She was totally in to it, and found lots,
he had no idea what was going on, but found one and was delighted! You should have seen his face when he realized there was candy on the inside!!
Pushing his tractor on the porch.
Aunt Tracy gave us some chicks! (if he was on the counter a million times before, it was two million now)
Jackson go his first big boy haircut!
He didn't mind the clippers at all.
All done!
Family showers. He sits like a baby penguin for Ryan too.
As neglected as it is.
Last weekend when I went to Ohio for Miss Josie's baby shower, my parents took Elizabeth and William home to Arkansas with them for spring break. Ryan and I had a nice week bonding with our two little people. I'll share some photos later. Today, I drove to St. Louis, Missouri and swapped kids with Mom and Dad. I have a huge list of things to do while they are gone... and updating this blog was the first thing!
Not only am I hoping to blog more often, (I have lots of things to get out!) I have some meals I want to get in the freezer, a HUGE sewing list to accomplish (including our drapes-finally), get started on 4-H projects, dentist appointments, and running!
*phew* I need to get started!
Today Ryan and I went to a "viewing".
The wife of one of his co-workers died unexpectedly last weekend from a blood clot.
She was 33.
They have four children, the oldest is 8.
I could not hold the tears when I saw a grandma holding their youngest son, Noah. He'll be six months tomorrow.
I've never met her, did not know any of her family either.
As Ryan and I wove through the church, viewing photos of her with her family, I still did not recognize anyone.
Seeing photos of her, happy with her pregnant belly, her beautiful babies wrapped up in the hospital blankets, at the zoo, at a birthday party, snuggled up on the couch, engagement photos, wedding photos, stirred up so many emotions. I have the same photos. That could be me, in those pictures, with my kids. That could be my mother holding my baby. That could be my husband, standing there. Next to me, lying there.
That could be me.
(Ignore the sunshine coming through the window...it was glorious!)
crawls over,
Makes a cup of coffee, or tea, depends on his mood.
and then rinses his cup.
