A Good Milker

Last Saturday we bought chocolate milk from Hatcher's Dairy at the Farmer's Market. When we got home Brooke wanted a cup so I poured her some. She took once sip and said, "That sure is a good milker! I hope she won a prize!" I have to agree, the cow was a good milker but I'm thinking she probably hasn't won any prizes.

A Whole Lot Of Mischief...

Is what two little boys get into when their mommy (that would be me) is not paying attention. We'll start with what happened today. Now, in my defense, I've got some kind of stomach bug and I've been on the couch pretty much since noon today. Connor came in this afternoon to tell me he needed to show me an "accident" but I was too sick to get up and I promptly forgot about the "accident" until Dale walked into the kitchen a little while ago and let out a loud shout. (I beg you - please pay no attention to how dirty it is!) Apprently the boys had been jumping up and down on the door! So I believe we will be purchasing a new dishwasher. Oh well, we haven't liked this on since we moved into the house.

Now, as far as the other mischief goes, I have to confess that a few days ago I was sitting here in this very spot updating my blog or some such thing. Connor walked in to tell me that Liam had cut his hair and sure enough when I took a close look there was quite a chunk missing. It took me a couple minutes to realize that Connor had also taken the scissors to his own hair. As is usual, the punishment was that they had to sit still and let me take some pictures. Of course I threatened them that there would be a harsher punishment if there was ever a next time. Here's the evidence.

Yes, I know, the spit bubble just finished this whole look off!

I asked Connor how much he had cut his hair and this was the answer.

And here is Liam's new do.

And he's demonstrating how he cut his hair.

Has there ever been more mischievous brothers? I think not!
Oh well, it is good fodder for my photography habit!

Three things I never thought I'd do...

1) Add butternut squash to french toast
2) Add butternut squash to grilled cheese sandwiches
3) Add chickpeas to chocolate chip cookies

Now, before you gag let me say that it was all very yummy! I just bought the book Deceptively Delicious and the basis of the book is to get your children to eat their fruits and veggies even if you have to deceive them to do it. Now, being the good Christian girl that I am I don't particularly like the term deceive; however, I figure what they don't know won't hurt them :) So, the next time you come eat at my house you might just find a veggie surprise in your food!

Kids say the darndest things...

Tuesday night Dale had board meeting and so I spent the afternoon/evening running errands for the kids. We wound up at the mall because Brooke needed a couple things including new panties. Well, Connor didn't want to be left out so I bought him some new underwear too (it was a very exciting shopping trip!). I bought him some "big boy" boxer/briefs and he has loved wearing them because they come down to his knees - well, they do after he stretches them all the way down there.

Anyway, today he was prancing around in just his underwear and t-shirt and as I was making his lunch he exclaimed, "Hey mom, I like these new underwear! They have a pocket." And he proceeded to shove his hand into the pocket. The conversation continued to disintigrate from there and I pretty much had to explain to him that the "pocket" was not the new home for his hand! Ahhh, the joy of having boys!

Baby Lily

I REALLY need to be working on my Scrapbooking class - the one I'm teaching at church - but first I wanted to share some pics with you very quickly. My girlfriend, Michelle, just had adorable baby Lily a few weeks ago. She asked me to come snap a few pics for the birth announcement the other day. I won't share those pics with you but I did want to share a few other pics that I thought were really sweet.

This is how the photo session started out. Not a really good way to
start things I'd say. Apparently we are all born with a carnal nature :) It's a good
thing Lily goes to Sunday School!

There really is nothing sweeter in this whole world than brand new baby parts!

Mommy and baby...I remember this sweet time from my
own babies and I MISS IT!! But, not enough to go for #4! I
guess I'll have to get my fill from Lily and all the other gadzillion
babies at church.

We had to take pictures with Snow White first
before we could convince big sister, Jenna, to have
pictures taken with Lily.

Two sweet little girls.

And of course Brooke needed her turn with Lily.

Summer Break has ended....

And school officially began today! In some ways I was ready for Brooke to get back to school so that I could get back into the routine of things. Summer break was so fun and relaxing and my house has been screaming for somebody to take care of it. But, we've just been too busy relaxing and having fun to pay much attention to this dirty house.

The summer was quite eventful for us. Brooke and Connor both learned how to ride their bikes without their training wheels. We started off the summer with Brooke riding her scooter all the time because her bike was so slow with the training wheels. Connor zoomed around on his bike and Brooke could only keep up on her scooter. So, I decided that it was time for Brooke to learn to ride her"big girl" bike. Well, when Dale took her training wheels off Connor declared that he also wanted his off. I really discouraged this thinking that he was much too young but Dale went ahead and removed Connor's as well.

Brooke immediately did a great job and her confidence grew quickly. Connor also did very well as long as he didn't stop once he got going. He pretty much couldn't start himself or turn around. So, if he could just ride straight for forever he would have just been peachy. We quickly realized that he needed a shorter bike so that he could get his feet firmly on the ground. We went and bought a 12" bike and he literally zoomed around the neighborhood on the "ROCKET".

Well, I was out the other night and Dale sent me a text letting me know that Liam was now riding the Rocket (with training wheels of course) and Connor was back on his taller Diego bike. He simply need a week or two of getting really confident on the short bike and now he's back to the "big" bike.

Connor also learned to swim really well while we were in the Keys. Once again, it was just a matter of him needing to build up confidence. It took him about a day on vacation and ever since he has been jumping, diving and swimming all over the pool!

Brooke and I read two of the Little House on the Prairie books along with quite a few princess and fairy books. We finished, "Little House in the Big Woods" and "Farmer Boy". We are now reading "Little House on the Prairie". This has been a special time for us and it has really helped Brooke with her reading. One of the goals for this summer for Brooke was to really improve her reading and she is doing a wonderful job.

So, we dropped her off at 1st grade this morning with a very pregnant teacher. We are hoping that Mrs. MacDonald wants to come back after her maternity leave (that's the plan) but those sweet babies sure can change your mind! But for now, we've heard that Mrs. MacDonald is an awesome teacher and we hope her substitute is just as good. I'll be helping in the class every week so I'll have to let you know what I think. Maybe I should put my name in for substituting...okay, just kidding! I'm not that crazy! Besides, what would I do with my two darling boys?

Williamson County Fair

Last night we took the kids and Aunt Judy to the Williamson County Fair. We had such a nice time together. The kids adored the animals in the petting zoo and they got a big kick out of the pig races. After we had seen all the animals we headed outside to all the rides. We found the kiddie roller coasters and the kids had a complete blast. When we were finally out of tickets we stopped to get some snacks. There's nothing as good as fair popcorn, cotton candy and fresh squeezed lemonade!

Here are some pics from the night...

Liam fed the baby goats. He was a little unsure
at first but then he really started liking it!

Look at this guy! I couldn't get a smile out
of him. I think he's the serious type.

Not exactly sure what this is but he needs
a bang trim.

There's Mr. Unfriendly again - I guess I should
have offered him some carrot before trying
to take his picture.

Look at these two babies! Aren't they cute?

A Scottish Highlander...whatever that is...

And the pig race...poor pigs were racing
for one little cheeto...I think we need to get
some kind of pig union going here so they
at least get fair wages!

These newborn piglets were just so adorable!
They were walking all over their mama to
find the milk.

After a little while Mama had had enough! She
rolled over on her stomach so the milk wouldn't
be accessible. All the others gave up but this one
wasn't done! He came back and nosed around
till he finally found what he was looking for!!

My two little buddies!

Bedhead

I just had to share this adorable picture I took of Liam this morning. He was playing on my bed and he has the most adorable bedhead! Isn't he just too cute! Can you see what a stinker he is in those big, mischievous eyes?

Crawford Wedding

Several weeks back I had the privilege of taking wedding pictures for the very first time! My good friend, Denise, needed a photographer and asked me if I would take pictures of her very small wedding. Because she is my good friend I couldn't say no, but I did warn her that I had absolutely NO experience with weddings. Well, thankfully my brother-in-law has an amazing telephoto and all purpose lens (we both have a Canon 30D) and so I was set. I called my niece, Megan, who is a real photographer to get some ideas from her and then I arrived at the church. I was a little nervous but once I started snapping away it turned out to be alot of fun. Denise was a gorgeous bride so all the pictures were great. The telephoto lens provided really great depth of field (blur) so I used it even for some of her bridal "portraits". Now that I look back at her pictures I already have a slew of things I would do differently, but since I plan on leaving wedding photography to the professionals I guess I don't really need to worry about it.

Here is a wedding album I put together as a sample for photographers to look at. I'm looking for busy photographers who need a wedding album designer. If you know of any send them my way.

By the way, some of the pictures on the slide look blurry because instead of the page being 12x12 it is 12x24 so the slideshow is squashing it. There's nothing to do about it until I spend a couple hundred dollars on a real slide program. So, we'll all just have to bear with it!

Franklin Farmers Market

For the past couple months I've been going to the Franklin Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. I usually get ready to go as soon as Liam wakes up. It's been our little outing and he frequently says to me, "Go to Fomors Moket."It has grown this year and there are so many farmers and crafters there. I love getting the fresh veggies, berries, bread, eggs, honey and meat from local farmers. I go by the same booth every Saturday and get some kind of fresh muffin and then by the dairy for fresh from the cow (well, almost) milk. I then go by the Delvin Farms booth and old Mr. Delvin (I'm assuming that's who it is) helps me pick out a good melon. He looks like he just walked in from the garden! He reminds me alot of my Grandpa Brown.

I'll have to say that my interest in cooking has soared in the last few weeks. I was in such a rut and just didn't ever want to cook but now I really enjoy cooking with all my fresh ingredients. I even planted some herbs to cook with. So far the only one I've used is the basil and it was so yummy. Since I've been getting such delicious tomatoes and bread (the parmesan herb bread is to die for) I've been making tomato and onion sandwiches. I added a little of my fresh basil the other day and it was to die for! Am I country or what!?! My grandma used to eat this kind of stuff. I feel like I'm turning into a little old country woman! Oh well, I'm fine with that!

It has been almost two months since I scrapbooked for myself! I have been so busy doing projects for other people and trying to get some sample albums done for a business venture I have in mind that my personal scrapping time has been absolutely ZERO! Well, this past Thursday a few of us girls got together and I finally got my feet wet again. I almost didn't know where to start. It took quite a while to get the juices flowing but what I started Thursday night I finally had time to finish today. Hopefully my pictures won't be neglected like this again but with a Digital Scrapbooking Class to prepare for and another project to work on I'm really going to have to make an effort to get my own stuff done.

Credits.
Journaling: July 2008. You have come such a long way in your swimming this year, Connor. At this time last year you were pretty afraid of the water. This year you took 2 weeks of swim lessons and your confidence really grew. Once you learned a little technique you were off and swimming. One day you were afraid to jump to Daddy and the next you were jumping in and swimming to him. It has been so rewarding for me to watch your confidence and your skill grow in the pool. Way to go, Connor! I am so proud of you!