Sunday morning haircuts

Yes, we probably should have been in church. But Bill has been bugging me for a haircut for weeks, and complaining that the boys looked either Amish or like the Bad New Bears (the original). Personally, I love Jon's hair. I'm going for the look of Jayson's hair from a picture at the St. Boniface Easter egg hunt in about 1973. Dad, email me that picture, please! Anyway, Bill sits still, but his hair is awful to cut. Jack kind of sits still, and his hair is even worse to cut than Bill's. And last of all, well, these pictures say it all.

At one point, Jon screamed, "Oh no! Now there's snot coming out of my nose!"

Much better! Jon can still twirly-whirl his hair before sleeping and Jack's hair won't flip out from under his baseball cap. The jury is still out on Bill's cut.

Elsie Dinsmore

Hi, this is Madeline.
I just wanted to know if anyone has ever heard of the Elsie Dinsmore books. They're about this little Southern girl who is growing up in the late 1800's. I'm pretty sure the author's name is Martha Finnley. They are written from a Christian perspective, just so you know.
The books were revised about 5 or 6 years ago, but you can still get the originals. I think the the originals are something that even an adult would enjoy. The revised one are good too. You can get them through this link: http://www.lifeoffaith.com/shop/catalog/category_160_Elsie_Dinsmore_Books.html
Anything from a Life of Faith is pretty good. That's the company that did the revised books.
There are two other series that you can read that go with the Elsie books. There's Millie Keith and Violet Travilla. Violet is Elsie's daughter and Millie is a cousin of Elsie's. Go to alifeoffaith.com to buy them all.
These have to be some of the best books ever written. I'd really suggest them.

Busy day

No pictures to share, but close your eyes and I'll lead you on a journey through our day. You can imagine being with us on our adventure in Henderson NC. Okay, go ahead and open them--it's really not that great of a story. And most of you haven't even been to Henderson NC, so you couldn't imagine what it's even like.

We finally got a bit of rain. I believe it's the last remnants of Fay. With the rain, the humidity has returned. Just lovely.

Jack had an ortho. appt. in Henderson, which by the way, is about 30 min. south of our house. After consulting with the ortho. regarding Jack's congenital dental defects (that certainly do not originate in MY chromosomal contribution), we determined that braces will be necessary, though not for a few years. At the cost of $5000, I think I'd better start saving now. I told Jack that none of the cars I've ever owned have been worth that much money. Actually, if you added up all of their value together, I still doubt it'd reach $5000!

Of course, no trip to Henderson is complete without lunch at Chick-fil-a. You west-coasters just don't know what you're missing. Chick-fil-a is always clean, they always refill your drinks (they even come to your table!), they give you samples of dessert, and they have a cool playground that doesn't smell like dirty socks or poop. We love Chick-fil-a!

A quick peek into the teacher's supply store was our last stop. Due to a change in ownership, everything was on sale at least 25% off. We bought a few pencils, erasers, posters, and one of those geometric rubber band things. Oh, and we had a calendar laminated so Jon can learn days of the week, names of months, etc.

Here's a little fact to share with you: It takes approximately 24 hours for my children to devour 4 dozen (that's 48, people!) chocolate chip cookies. I ate 4, Bill ate 6. Do the math. Yikes!

Now that I have totally overused the exclamation point (I'm always a bit nervous if my brother reads this, as I'm sure my grammar, spelling, and punctuation will have mistakes that are blindingly obvious to his journalistic eye), I must be on my way. Have a lovely evening.

The Last Game

Last night we headed to Danville, VA to watch the last game of the season for the Danville Braves. You can check them out here:http://www.dbraves.com/

We stopped by Hobby Lobby and Target before the game. Now that's a treat! Just bought a little fabric and a few bits of craft stuff.

The evening was perfect for a ballgame: about 75, with a nice breeze. Since it was the final game, we were treated to a great fireworks show after the finish.

This is Blooper, the mascot. Jon shook his hand.

Jack's "foul" ball. It was given to him by an usher. Notice the weird man sitting below us. He kept asking Jack to go and buy him a beer. Also notice Bill drinking Budweiser, the King of Beers.

Jon and I. That is NOT a cigarette in my hand. It's a knitting needle. Just to clarify.A picture of the field taken by Madeline.
Next weekend, we'll be heading to Zebulon, NC to see the season finale of the Mudcats.

Easy Homemade Playdough

Whipped up a batch of this yesterday evening. It has a nice, smooth texture and it smells yummy. It's not quite as stiff as real play-do, but we sort of like the soft feeling.

Sift together:

1C. flour

1/2 C. salt

1 pkg. kool-aid

Stir in:

3 Tbsp. oil

1 C. boiling water

Stir, and keep adding flour until a dough forms. Knead (adding flour as necessary) until smooth. Keep in a baggie or airtight container.

Jon made an entire row of little balls, the proceeded to tell me it was goat poop. Or elk poop.

Still grieving...

but I think we're getting better. I do believe Billy the Goat has decided he is now a dog. And with no mother to set him straight, I think we might be in trouble. Currently, Billy and Daisy are sitting on the back deck (!) with Madeline.

Not a great picture (oh, and I see the sicky cat is present as well), but I didn't want to disturb the party. I wonder if Madeline will try to sneak Billy inside?!

Notice the "Keep Oregon Green" sign in the background, above the dried out, dying flowers. And my dinner bell (thanks, Mom) above sick cat's head.

R.I.P. Trixie

What a traumatic day we've had. This morning, our mama goat, Trixie, died. We're not exactly sure what happened, but it appears that she either strangled herself or choked. Poor thing. Her baby (though not really a baby anymore) has been bleating all day long, looking for his mama. Poor Madeline is just devastated.

As much as I love living in the country, I am absolutely not cut out for farm living (cue the "Green Acres" music). Oh, and my wild cat is sick too. Where can that lead????

Fun For Madeline

Madeline just received a new crafty toy from Grandma Pennick. It's a yo-yo maker.

Just add some fabric, a little thread, and a lot of imagination. I can only imagine all of the things in our house that will shortly be yo-yo'd. Stay tuned.....

Fondue!

I found this RED fondue pot at a little junk (or shall I say Junque?) store next to our library. It was marked $12 and I just couldn't pay that much. Yesterday, however, it had a gold star on its' pricetag.

Thank goodness Walmart carries Old English cheese year round. I think Southerners use it in pimento cheese--certainly not in something like fondue!

Knitting project

This is Madeline. I finished my knitting project. I don't have a picture right now but, I'll get on later. It's a glasses case for my dad. It's his birthday present.

I love Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products.

I found these products about 6 months ago and am hooked. They are biodegradable, not harmful to my septic system, non-toxic, and made from vegetable-based soaps. No petroleum products at all. Even the packaging is recycled. But best of all, is the smell. All of these sprays and cleaners smell so good. My favorite is the lemon verbena scent. There's also a gingerbread scent that is available in the fall. After I've cleaned with them, the scent remains for days. Or maybe just hours if it's the kids' bathroom. I can buy mine at Ukrops, but that won't do any Oregonians any good. Here's a link to find them elsewhere:

http://www.drugstore.com/search/search_results.asp?N=0&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&Ntk=All&srchtree=1&Ntt=mrs.+meyers

Playing at the park

With the weather in the upper 70's, we decided that today was a good day for playing at the park. Well, maybe just the boys and I thought it was a good day. Madeline doesn't really do parks anymore. She just reads or writes.

Jack likes to build little farm scenes. Little houses, buildings, and fences. Complete with green clover crops on the ground.

Jon just likes to hang around. Today he was Liberty Valance. Oh, and completely off the subject (but according to Jon), Princess Leia should not wear a rakini while she lives with Jabba. Anyway.....

Madeline's New Skirt

This is Madeline's skirt that we made yesterday afternoon. The material is brown miniwale cordouroy. Just a simple, straight skirt.

We used this book to make the skirt. It shows how to draft your own patterns for many different types of skirts. We've used it so often (with really great results) that we can put together a skirt, from drafting the pattern to finish, in about 45 minutes. Including putting in a zipper! We scour the $1/yd. fabric table at WalMart (always) for most of our fabric.

The Zoo

This is Madeline, once again.
These are just a few of the animals that we saw at the Mill Mountain Zoo. The bird is a red parrot and the cat is a snow leopard.
We also saw a red panda (so cute!), a few monkeys, a couple of red wolves, two huge snakes, and a cougar. There were too many to name here!
They had a train that took you around the zoo two times. We did that. It was pretty funny. There was one part were the tracks must have been really bad or something, because the train made this horrible sound like someone screaming! Jack and I called the train "The Ear Executor"!
They had small gift shop and a playground. There was also a giant statue of a tiger that was a memorial of a tiger that they had had there for eighteen years!
Altogether, it was really neat!

Home, Sweet Home.

The Floyd country store (obviously)Not sure about this one
Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Riding the train at the zoo
The bridge over Jack Creek

Our provisionsThis name says it all
The Roanoke Market
Blueberry-eating boys
Old fashioned ice cream

As we pulled into the driveway, Jon said, "I think I'm going to kiss our house." That pretty much says it all. After driving for almost 7 hours, we finally made it back home. Interestingly, this was only a 180 mile trip that realistically should have only taken 3 hours. We like to stop. A lot.

Our weather was absolutely gorgeous. In the 80's, a slight breeze. No humidity. You couldn't ask for nicer August weather. Our hosts, Sam and Sara, were gracious enough to let us stay in their beautiful home. This house is so nice! Lots of room (an entire basement, actually) for the kids to not feel confined, walking distance to all the quaint amenities in their neighborhood, and just a nice time visiting with interesting people. We did some shopping, some sight-seeing, and some tv-watching. Bill drank plenty of coffee. Roanoke has a real West coast feeling to it. With the mountains surrounding the city, it almost feels like home!

It's good to be home, though.

Getting Ready to Head Out

We're heading out for the weekend. Looking forward to a fun weekend in Roanoke, VA at the home of our friend's parents. Roanoke has a great farmer's market every Saturday morning that we'll be investigating. Also, a zoo, a knitting store, a book store, and lots of coffee (so says Bill). Should be a fun adventure.

Here's a link for the town.

http://www.roanokeva.gov/85256A8D0062AF37/CurrentBaseLink/EB31E19836470317852574340066883C/$File/RoanokevaHomePage.html

This picture is of the Mill Mountain Star. It's the second largest man-made star in the U.S!

Goats

This is Madeline, once again.

Here are the goats. The big one is Trixie and the little one is her baby, Billy. Bill follows me around and jumps up onto our huge rock that we have in our backyard. We call them the 100 dollar lawnmower. They're very fun to play with. It's funny to watch when they head-butt eachother.

Knitting Project

This is Madeline, just so everyone knows.

This is a cute knitting project that I'm working on. It's a glasses case made from wool yarn. This is the second one that I've made. The directions are really easy. It's from a book called Kid's Knitting. Here's a link for finding it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Knitting-Projects-all-Ages/dp/1579652417/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218142097&sr=8-1

Jon's New Shoes

These are Jon's new shoes. Can't quite appreciate the colors of them in this picture. Let me tell you, they are bright! And white. Really white. He thinks he's cool. Never mind the fact that his shorts are on backwards. And his socks don't match. And he's holding a marker that's actually a lightsaber.

Grandma Barb's Banana Bread

Grandma Barb's Banana Bread

This is one of my favorite recipes, straight from Grandma Barb. It's kind of like a cake and kind of like a bread. Either way, it's good!

Cream together:

1 Cube butter

2 C. sugar

4 eggs

Add to that:

1 C. sour cream or plain yogurt

3 mashed bananas

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

Stir in:

2 1/2 C. flour

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Pour in greased pan (1 Bundt or 2 loaves) and bake at 325 for 45-60 min.