Road Trip

Well...the time finally came - our family vacation that also involved a pig sale. In Oklahoma. Which we took pigs to. Let's get started. After loading up 2 kids, 4 pigs, and a ton of stuff, we were on our way!

The pigs

Kenzie all ready to go!

Lillia all set to go!

We left our house Wednesday afternoon about 2 pm, and drove and drove and drove. Shortly after we got thru St. Louis, it started to rain. Not a hard driving rain, but a steady steady rain. Most other times I would have been glad for the rain, except the part that somewhere between St Louis and Sullivan, MO, I took over the driving. By this time, it was about 10 pm, and this was also the first time I drove this truck. We borrowed a friend's quad cab pickup with a topper so we wouldn't have to pull a trailer for the pigs and still fit everything in it. Anyway, here I am driving an unfamiliar truck, in the rain, at night, on unfamiliar roads. Roads which are not straight and flat, but roads that are hilly, curvy, and downright unnerving! I'm also the only one awake, so while I'm trying to stay on the road and not get run over by semis that seem to appear out of nowhere, I read billboards to keep myself occupied. Let me just tell you that Missouri is a pretty interesting place. This is what I saw:

* Just outside St. Louis, there are a couple of Indian teepes along the road. I tried to get Kenzie to look at them, until I realized it was a bar. A bar in a teepe.

* Billboard for Bamboo Gardens - Chinesse, Seafood, Sushi Buffet. Drive thru. How can it be a buffet AND a Drive thru?

* A sign says "Last Missouri Welcome Center before State Line" - I was pretty sure I was in the middle of the state of Missouri - why is there a welcome center in the middle of the state? Wouldn't it make more sense to put it near a state line? Or at least just call it a Visitor's Center.

*Vacuum Cleaner Outlet Mall & Museum

*World's Largest Gift Shop - We're Famous for our Clean Restrooms!

*World's Largest Rocking Chair

Oh, and why we are on the topic of crazy road signs, here is one from Oklahoma:

* Hitchhikers may be escaped inmates (Don't you feel really safe now? This one was in Lawton, where we stayed. Also the home of Fort Sill, where they were shooting off artilery to impress some visiting members of the Singapore Military.)

There are no billboards in Oklahoma. It's pretty flat and all you see are cows, and the occasional oil pumper randomly placed in fields.

Overall, though, the trip went well. We sold the pigs, the girls had a blast - even Lillia was petting pigs by the end of the trip. She had a breakdown when we unloaded the pigs on Thursday Morning. Screamed her little heart out, but by Saturday, she was walking up to the pens, petting and talking to the pigs. Kenzie did a great job selling one of the pigs in the auction, and she looked adorable doing it too!

Kenzie and her new show stick. She HAD to have pink.

Love this pic of the girls walking thru the barn!

Lillia watching "nemo" - which actually means any movie. By this point (somewhere in Illinois on the way home), she was ready to get out of the car seat!!

It was a long drive, but we all had a good time. Don't know if I'd do it again next year. We'll have to see!

Not So Fun Country Life

Last night, I went out to feed the dogs & cats before Doug & the girls got home from picking up pig feed. Should be easy enough, I thought. Well, I wasn't counting on a little critter that had taken up residence in the big barn. Since we feed the cats in the barn, Tippy, the dog, isn't allowed in there. She really loves cat food, well, she loves any and all food, and she's getting to be a bit on the tubby side. Anyway...I call for the cats and head into the barn. They know what to expect, so they jump up on the big table where the food is kept, and as I'm about to stick my hand into the bag of food, one of the cats falls off the table. That in itself makes me laugh, then I hear a hiss that didn't come from either of the cats. I cautiously look into cat food bag. I see enough white to know that something is in the bag that doesn't belong! After screaming & jumping back, I take another peek into the bag and realize its a huge opossum! At this point, I let Tippy into the barn and call Doug (from outside the barn). Thankfully, Tippy kept the opossum in the bag of food until Doug got home and was able to take care of it. After laughing at me, of course.

I don't think I'll be feeding the cats for a while. At least not at night.

Playing Catch Up

Since I haven't updated the blog in a while, ok, a long while...here is what's been happening in our lives!

At the end of September, the girls went to spend a week with Nana & Papa, so I got busy tearing the house apart! Things needed to be done that were pretty much impossible with kids around. First thing to go was the tractor-themed playroom. I didn't repaint it when we moved in 2 years ago, and I was ready for it to be gone!

It is now a pretty girlie pink, green, and white. I painted the walls, bookshelves, put up chair rail, put up new shelves in the closet, and got rid of some toys!

Since I wasn't busy enough, I decided to paint the living room too. I tried my hand at "rag rolling." Let me tell you, it's not as easy as it looks! We don't have a lot of wall space in the living room to start with, so what took me about an hour to paint the base coat, took from about noon until 10:30pm (with an hour taken out for supper & a trip to the store to get more glaze). I was exhausted when I got done. My legs hurt from numerous trips up and down the ladder. But, I have to say, it looks pretty good. Its hard to tell in pictures, since its a very subtle color and effect, but here's the finished product.

Doug & I headed up to Illinois to pick up the girls very very early Friday morning, and made it there in time to take a trip the apple orchard that afternoon. It's been a tradition since before I was born, and I think that there has only been one year that I haven't gone to Edwards' Orchard at least once a season. The girls love the orchard and Kenzie talks about picking apples and riding the ponies all year round!

Lillia getting her first apple of the season! She loves apples - every fruit is an apple to her!

Kenzie and her first apple!This is one of my favorite pictures of Lillia - shows her fun, playful personality perfectly!

The last two years, Kenzie has ridden a pony named Riley - and we heard about Riley ALL the time, but this year, Riley was back at the barn, so she rode Timmy. One of these days, I wouldn't be surprised if she talks her dad into buying her a horse!

I have to include the story of Tiger, the miracle cat. Doug & I still cannot believe that this cat is still alive. In August, we got 2 kittens, Tiger & Patches. They are definately very playful kittens, and they are very brave. We knew from the beginning that we'd have to watch for them when we started the cars and left. But that wasn't the beginning of Tiger's escapades. Less than a month after getting the cats, Tiger snuck into the husky pen when the girls and I were in the barn feeding them. Unfortuntaly, Bo spotted the kitten and cornered her against the barn wall. I'm not exactly sure of what all happened, aside from Kenzie screaming that Bo had her kitten and Lillia crying because Kenzie was screaming and I was yelling at the dogs. He at some point had Tiger in his mouth, I don't think he intentionally was trying to hurt her, he just likes to play, and pretty roughly, I might add. It was pretty touchy that evening, not knowing if Tiger was going to be ok. I moved her into the other barn, where the cats are fed, and hoped that she would survive. Slowly, over the next week, Tiger was getting back to her old self - following us around and up to the house. Fast forward a couple weeks - Tiger decides to hitch a ride under a friends car as she was leaving our house one night. We discovered she was missing when we went out to feed the cats later that evening. Doug had seen a cat down the road when he came home, so he went to make sure it wasn't her. It wasn't Tiger, because she ran out in front of him, and would have gotten hit, had he not been on the look out for a cat and driving slowly. So now, Tiger has nine lives minus three. But she's not done yet. Just a couple weeks ago, Doug calls me from work and asks if the kids had been outside yet and played with the cats. It was a little chilly that morning, so we hadn't been out. When I ask why, he informs me that Tiger was at work with him - about 5 1/2 miles away from home. He had been in the office and happened to look out the window and see a black calico cat out in the barn lot - where a couple of the guys were talking. Doug went to see if it was one of our cats and sure enough, it was Tiger. And just last night, Tiger had her greatest trip of all. I had a few things to pick up at the store, so we decided to just eat out before we to the store. Fifteen miles and 45 minutes later, we finish up at Wendy's. As I was fastening Lillia into her carseat, I hear a meow (not a common sound when we are in town right at the busy street). I look down, and who else is at my feet but Tiger. At first we thought she had been inside the car, but we soon realize that as wet as she was, and we hadn't heard anything the entire trip to town that she had to have been under the car. Unbelievable. So the count is now - Tiger - 9 lives minus 5. The question is now, how far will she ride the next time?

The last couple pictures are from out trip to the pumpkin patch Sunday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast! And, isn't Indiana beautiful in the fall! I am so blessed to call this my home, and God reminds me everyday with the beauty of his creation in the changing seasons.

Returning to Normal

We made it thru the fair. Finally. I survived the Pre-Fair activities and the Fair. It was fun, I'll admit, and the girls LOVED it, especially the Children's Barnyard. Even Lillia was brave enough to stick out a hand and pat a baby chick. Her favorite night was the night they had the baby kittens. She wouldn't let them go. Kenzie, of course, jumped right in, trying to pick up the baby pigs, get in with the newborn calf, and hop away with the little bunnies. I don't think we'll have to convince her to be a 4-H'er when she gets older. She was quite upset when we told her that we couldn't take Belle, her pig, to the fair for her to show, since she isn't old enough yet. "Can I show Belle when I'm 5?" she asked. "No, sweetie, you'll have to be almost 10 to show a pig." That didn't go over very well. I have a feeling we'll be having this discussion every year between now and 2016 when she finally is old enough to show animals at the 4-H Fair. And yes, Kenzie has a pig, actually, sometimes she even claims the other 2 pigs as hers, sometimes though, they belong to me & Doug. Aren't we lucky? As I slowly get back into a normal routine, maybe I'll post a few pictures of the girls at the fair.



Well, I promised myself that when the fair was over, I'd get back to going to Zumba class every week. And I did it! I'm so proud of myself. I went two times last week and two times this week! It feels really good to get back to exercising - to be completely honest, it has been over 5 years (gasp!) since I have actually dedicated a whole hour to exercise - not just walking the dogs or riding the bikes, just exercising. My abs are sore, my legs muscles are sore, but I feel really good. I guess that's a good sign, especially after tonight and I showed, once again, how completely uncoordinated I am. I had been getting better, learning the moves and routines, but tonight, there were several times I just had to stop and try to figure out what I was doing! Even though some of the routines remind me of high school and the Homecoming or Senior Night cheerleading routines, it has been quite fun. I think it makes me feel better that there are several older ladies whose kids are either in high school or college and some with kids my age that are trying this out. We have done everything from Latin music, country music, rap, Britney Spears and N'Sync, to music that make feel like I'm doing a hula girl dance. If you can find a class near you, try it. You sweat alot, laugh alot and hopefully burn 1000 calories in an hour (at least that's what we've been told).

Bathroom & Landscaping Pics

Since I've been asked for pics of the new bathroom, I thought I'd share a few before it's completely finished. Going by a comment Doug made when we realized the first counter top wouldn't fit on the vanity, I thought it might be awhile before he got to the shelf and pictures. He said, "It really won't bother me that there isn't a sink in the bathroom for three more weeks. I can just wash my hands somewhere else." Obviously, he's only home for about 5 waking hours while I'm home all day with kids that need their hands washed constantly. There is still a shelf and a few pictures to put up. As well as curtains, but it really doesn't seem to matter since its just acres and acres of farmland behind us. So, I guess I might be lucky if the shelf gets put up by Christmas.

Old Bathroom

(Its the only picture I had from when we first bought the house, the bathroom isn't really something you take lots of pictures of when you buy a house! lol!)

The New Bathroom

The empty wall will someday have a glass shelf & a couple of pictures!

Lillia was "helping" and calling for the dogs. She loves to climb up there and watch the dogs in the back yard.

The Front of the House Before we started redoing the landscape

(This was also in early spring before all the shrubs and perennials were coming up)

"During" the Re-landscaping

The Whole Front

The South Side

The North Side - with my new weeping Cherry Tree

The new lamp post and flowerbed

Let the Fun Begin

Tonight was the second time I was up at the 4-H fairgrounds this week, and it won't be my last. This week is all the Pre-fair activities. Even though we don't have kids in 4-H yet, we are leaders of our township's club, therefore we are asked to help with all the fun goings-ons before & after the fair. Doug & I were just going over our schedule for the next week and a half, and I don't think I'll have time to sit down at all until next Friday.

So far, I've helped with the Expo Hall set up, Non-Animal Project check in, and I was suppose to help with Foods Judging (I had a horrible headache Monday night and had to call in). All of this from a girl who had never been to an actual 4-H Fair until 5 years ago when I got married, and really had no clue about what 4-H is all about until 3 years ago when Doug & I became leaders. This is really Doug's doing, since he was a 10 year member, won Senior Showmanship, and had helped with another club before we got married. I, however, am the organization behind the club. This year has felt very disorganized, and I cannot wait until its over. We have a good little club, but there has just been so much else going on that I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off the day of meetings and trying to get things turned in at the last minute. Tomorrow I have a day of no 4-H!! Then it's on to the heart of fair on Friday - livestock check-in, parade on Saturday, helping the kids run the dunk tank both Sunday & Monday nights, livestock shows starting Sunday, and eating fair food all week. Oh, and our niece and nephews all show animals, so we make sure we get to watch them.

It should be interesting this next week. Lillia isn't too sure about the bigger animals - pigs and cows. Last night while she was at my brother in law & sister in law's house had an experience with one of the kids' pigs. She was all excited about the trampoline and made a beeline for it as soon as she was outside. Gary, my bro-in-law, was helping the older kids get their pigs out and washed and walked, and the biggest pig got away from him. It took off at a dead run (and pigs actually can move pretty fast) towards the trampoline. Lillia froze, and when the pig got close to her, screamed, dropped to her knees and wailed. Luckily, Gary was right behind the pig and turned it before it got to her. But she would not let go of her Aunt Staci when they were outside. She even refused to be put down - after all the animals were put safely back in their pens. Its also a good thing that I wasn't there, because I would have freaked out, and that pig would not have been alive to see livestock check in on Friday. With a 260+ pound pig running in the direction of your child - what would you do? I rest my case. Since we will spend a considerable amount of time in the barns, I really hope this incident hasn't scarred her for life. Oh, and also because we have 3 pigs out in our barn with baby pigs due in August. I don't think it'll be too easy to keep her away from pigs.

The fair is always a good spot for fun pictures, so be on the lookout for my adorable kiddos enjoying all the fair activities and food (mostly thanks to the numerous uncles and aunts that love to buy them elephant ears or ice cream cones at 9 pm).

Kenzie's Recital & Zoo Pics

Ok, so it took a little bit to get the pictures up, but here are pictures from Kenzie's recital and our trip to the zoo.

Kenzie took a tumbling class this year. She had a blast! Class was only once a week for half hour at a time. But she used up alot of energy - especially during the winter when she was cooped up inside all day! There were only 5 kids in her class, and they did such a cute job little show at the recital. Overall, the dance school had 15 classes last year, with everything from tumbling, tap, ballet, to jazz and hip hop. The recital was fun to watch - both for Kenzie to see all the different types of dance - she was in awe of the ballet classes - and for us to see. And of course, she was a little ham - all the way thru the finale she had a huge grin on her face and was dancing away! Sign up for next year is this Saturday, so we have to decide if she'll take tumbling again or go on to Pre-Tap/Ballet.

We had a rare couple of days where it was just me & the girls. So, we took advantage of it and took off for the zoo with some friends. Last fall we had bought a zoo membership, so I decided it was a good time to put it to some use again! Ft. Wayne has an amazing children's zoo, and they just reopened the African part of it, complete with 2 new baby giraffes! Since we went on a weekday, they had stations set up throughout the zoo for kids to learn a little more about the zoo animals. At this station, they had cones set up to show how far a kangaroo could jump in a single leap.

Kenzie showing us her imitation of a kangaroo hop!

Lillia loved the drums in the African Journey

It was a hot day, and the girls got tired by early afternoon, so we didn't get to see everything, but that's what the pass is for - we can go back anytime! They really enjoyed it though!