Blueberries

This morning I went blueberry picking with my friend Meg in Tally. You can visit her blog by clicking on the link. You can even read about me on her blog. Oh, I feel so honored to be mentioned in cyberspace. :)

But anyway, near her house is a blueberry patch that is unkempt and the owners of that particular property let people come and pick blueberries for free. Anything for free is wonderful. It only costs gas, which is outrageous and with the gas hogs we drive and how far away from everything we live, it is still quite costly. But that's life in the year 2008.

These blueberries were huge and very sweet. Much sweeter than the ones we picked the other day and had to pay for at a U-Pick Blueberry Farm. It was an enjoyable morning. Meg in Tally made me meet her at 8:00 am! Uhh! ;) She really didn't make me, but suggested that the earlier the better to try and beat the heat. Which I thanked her for because it was much more pleasant to pick in the cool of the morning rather than the heat of high noon, which is when we picked at the U-Pick Farm. But meeting her that early made me get out of bed at 6:00 am in order to shower and get the kids up and going and be out of the house by 7:15. Which really turned into 7:30 before I was out the door, but yet, I still made it in time. Woo Hoo! (You see, I am a little spoiled with homeschooling my children. I don't have to get up super early to get everyone out the door to meet the bus. Which is really how I prefer it!)

I only had Ethan and Anna today since Alex and Quinn went to work with Dom to do their lemonade stand.

Here is a picture of them from yesterday in the stand Dom built (I am so blessed to have such a handy husband!). They grossed about $55 Friday. Dom and his co-workers joked with Alex and Quinn and asked if they were hiring since they are making a decent amount of money, more than some adults make a day.

Here you can see their location, tucked in the corner by Publix, yet still in front of Colortyme. They are enjoying themselves and wanted to do the lemonade stand again today, rather than go blueberry picking. I can't blame them.

I'm still waiting for more comment entries from yesterday's Flowers post before I reveal the winner. Oh, I know you can't wait to find out who that will be!! But I'll give it another day or two before I spill the beans on that story.

Flowers

Have you ever wondered where I got my flower picture in my blog title. Oh, I'm sure you have. ;) Well take a look at this picture, notice the flowers at the bottom. I cropped one of my wedding day pictures for my blog title. My MIL planted those flowers for our wedding day that took place on my in-laws property in Burdett, NY on September 16, 1995. And I am sure you can figure out who those people are in the background without me telling you. Right?

Why am I blogging about this? I'm trying not to let a week go by before I blog again! But really, I set up my blog so that I can email a post directly to my blog. I was running a test to see how all this would work and I chose a picture to attach to make sure that would come through. This is the picture I chose and it was such a nice picture, I had to share it with you all and not just delete my test post. And a few of my readers were at my wedding and might enjoy a little trip down memory lane. Actually, almost all my readers were at my wedding; Mom, Dad, brother, sister, BFF in OH and good friend in FL. Hi everyone!!!

Now for those who were there, do you remember anything about that swing? Leave me a comment and tell me. I'll update everyone else what I am talking about in a later post. And the lucky winner will get mentioned by me in that post. Now aren't you enticed to comment and win! I know you are! ;)

One More Thing!

Oh, I forgot to add this to my last blog! Thursday before we went to Boston, Ga, I ran out of water. My well stopped working. I called Dom at work to tell him we “had a problem.” He said he would come back home to take a look at it. In the mean time, I wanted to take a shower to get ready to go to Boston to see the magician at the library. What was I to do? I had no water. Or did I? Yes, I had a pool full of water (not the turtle pool!). I went outside in my bathing suit with my shampoo and soap and bathed with the chlorinated pool water!!! I’m glad my neighbors can’t see me! Dom came home, after I was all “cleaned” up and went to work on the well. He had it working again in a matter of minutes. Yea, Dom saved the day! Although I kind of wished he did that before my pool bath, but that’s OK, we still made it to see that magician and I only smelled a little like chlorine.

The cool thing about this (besides my husband being incredibly handy!!) is he already had the part to fix the well. He told me that about a month or so ago, he was at Lowe’s and he felt the “urge” to buy a pressure switch for the well. He started to resist this “urge” because he didn’t need a pressure switch. But he decided to listen to this “urge” and he bought the switch and just tossed it into the well house once he was home with it. He even thought about returning the switch, but did not and it turned out that this is exactly what he needed to fix the well. Isn’t God awesome when he “urges” us and we listen!

Week In A "Long" Glance

Well, I need to fill you in a whole week’s worth of my life. I know you can’t wait to find you what we’ve been up too. All week I thought I would get some free time to blog, but I don’t think free time exists when there are four children in the house. So now I am forcing myself to sit and write between loads of laundry. Where are the kids you ask? Kids? What kids?

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, as I am sure you are well aware. The day was going well. I was in the middle of cooking Dom some crab legs for his special dinner and then it happened, the power went out. If you have been keeping up on my blog, you know that I wrote about another time when the power went out. And I said that I sometimes enjoy it, as long as it comes at the “right” time. Well, during dinnertime, is not the right time. But thankfully, we have a gas cook top that the power does not effect (except the electronic ignition, that a lighter takes care of for me during power outages). So dinner continued to cook by candle light, except that I had planned on using the oven to broil a steak because we are out of gas on our grill. My oven is not gas, it is an electric wall oven, separate from my gas cook top, in case you were wondering. So I could not broil the steak, and had to pan fry it instead. Steak is not so good pan fried, which I thought, but had no choice. It was tough. But Dom and I enjoyed the crab legs and just the kids were forced to eat the tough steak, except Ethan and Anna who like crab legs. The evening continued for three hours without power. The utility trucks ended up right in front of our house cutting down branches away from power lines. Dom and the kids were on the front porch playing a game of UNO, since it was cooler on the porch than in the house, and there was more light outside than in the house. So the kids got to see the exciting trimming of tree branches by the utility company. Soon the power came back on after that.

Which brings me to Monday with more tree trimming from the utility company. Several months ago, Dom called the utility company and wanted them to cut down a dead tree that we thought might hit our power lines if we were to cut it down. Well they showed up Monday to do that and to trim branches on our property away from the power lines. Here they are:
And I have to ask the question, “How many people does it take to cut down a tree?” “One to cut and three to watch.” It was kind of funny to see them all staring up while watching one guy do all the work. The three on the ground did get to work picking up the branches and feeding them into the chipper once the guy in the cherry picker was done doing his job.

Tuesday was spent doing tons of laundry and cleaning the boys room. My children know how to horde trash. I spent the whole day throwing 5-6 trash bags full (the big black trash bags, not the kitchen size) of junk, mostly paper wrappers and such. I really don’t know, but it wasn’t all toys that I tossed. I don’t know how they manage to do this. I send them to their room to clean, and everything goes under their beds and in their closet. With three boys in one room, it gets messy.

Wednesday, we went to Panama City to pick up a couple apartments. For those who don’t know, we have a business where we lease furniture to corporate apartments. We have several in Panama City. While we are there, if we have enough time before we head back home, we take a swim in the ocean. It is fun, and I enjoy the Gulf so much more than I ever did the Atlantic when we lived in Melbourne. Panama City beaches have nice white sand and the water is so much clearer than the Atlantic. It also is not as wavy, which I like. I was always fighting to stand up in the Atlantic without getting knocked over and carried to shore by waves. The gulf is better for kids in that respect too.

Thursday, took us to the big town of Boston, GA. The Thomasville Library had a magician on Wednesday for their summer reading program. Alex really wanted to go and see him, but we had to be in Panama City on Wednesday. So I found out what other libraries he would be at and Boston it was to be. Boston is a little closer to us than Thomasville. It took us about 30 minutes to get there. And I was being sarcastic when I called it big, it is a tiny, little town, but hey, they have a library! The Magic show was great and Alex even got picked out of the audience to help with a magic trick. He enjoyed that and poor Quinn was so disappointed that he wasn’t picked. I tried to tell him that we needed to be happy for Alex, but I’m not sure that I got through to him.

Friday, took Quinn and Alex to Thomasville with Daddy to run their Lemonade Stand. They have been wanting to do a lemonade stand for quite some time now, even trying to build one out by the road in front of our house. I told them, they would probably only sell two cups of lemonade in front of our house, one to the mailman, and one to Daddy. Not many people travel our road! So, Dom said that they could do it in front of “his” store. Dom works at Colortyme, right by Publix, so he gets a fair amount of “traffic.” So Alex and Quinn got their shot to do a lemonade stand. They did very well. Dom was surprised at how much business they got. They made about $60 selling lemonade at $1 a cup. Of course they spent that much in start up costs, because we didn’t have a big cooler for them to dispense the lemonade, but Dom donated our money for their start-up expense. We plan on taking them to the bank to open up their own accounts to save the money they make.

While Alex and Quinn were in Thomasville, I was outside feeding the critters. I went to look at the turtles. Yes we have turtles, that I have not blogged about yet!! Dom travels the back way to Thomasville on dirt roads and he sees lots of turtles crossing those roads. He stops to pick them up and bring them home to Quinn who is just “critter crazy.” He loves all critter life and it really makes me wonder what his vocation in life might be when he gets older. But anyway, he had five turtles in a baby pool outside. Dom wanted them to dig a hole to sink the pool into the ground so they would be ground level and could get out of the pool if they wanted to. He planned on fencing off a little area around the pool to keep them from wondering off. Alex and Quinn were having a little trouble in digging that hole, so I decided to help out. I dug the hole, sunk in the pool, added more water and then “IT” happened. “IT” is Ethan had Alex’s PSP (a hand-held game, kind of like a Game Boy for those of us who are from the Game Boy generation. LOL) and he dropped it into the pool of water. I didn’t even know that he had it outside, so I was quite upset. These things are expensive and Alex just spent over $100 to get this one repaired, because the LCD screen was broken. It took a long time for him to save up enough money to get this repaired, so I was upset even more about Ethan dropping it in the water. So I stopped what I was doing and ran inside to take apart the PSP and try and dry it out. I had a blow drying on it and I managed to get it working again. But I still have an extra screw that I do not know where it goes after I put it back together. But it works, which is what matters, right? It didn’t seem like I spent that much time in the house, maybe 30-45 minutes before I went back outside to finish the turtle sanctuary. I went out and was trying to see the turtles in the water, which is muddy, because I made a dirt embankment for them to crawl up on and out of the pool. But, I only saw one! I couldn’t believe it, four turtles escaped while I was in the house. Oh, how was I going to tell Quinn?! I finished fencing off the turtle area, so the one that was left wouldn’t escape, and I broke the news later in the day to Quinn. He wasn’t happy, but he took it quite well. Dom will now be on the look out for more turtles!

Saturday, took us to Monticello for the Watermelon Festival. We got there before 10:00 am to watch the parade. The kids enjoy it, but I really don’t get why people flock to parades. I think they are a little boring, and if I didn’t have kids to take, I wouldn’t be there. But, I do it for the kids. After the parade we went to see a play at the Monticello Opera House, an old historic building. My friend Tammy (Hi Tammy!), had three of her children in the play. It was nice to watch a show where you know some of the “stars.” The show was nice and everyone enjoyed it, except I was constantly trying to keep Anna in check. The musical numbers held her attention, but in between those numbers she was bored and bouncing all over the place. I wish I had the energy of a two year old!

Sunday, yesterday, we rested! It was quite a lazy day for us, which is quite unusual. Dom and I were both tired, and we kept dozing off while watching TV with the kids. It was good for us though, especially Dom who doesn’t have too many lazy days.

That wraps up my week. Hopefully it won’t be a whole other week before I blog again. I know this entry is rather long, and I like to keep them a little shorter so I don’t consume so much of your time in reading them. But until next time…

Touch-A-Truck

This blog would have been loaded today with pictures of the kids and trucks, if I had remembered to bring my camera with me today. But since I didn't, you'll just have to visualize the kids inside a fire truck or a police car. Today we went to the Thomasville (Georgia) Library for their Touch-A-Truck day. It is part of their Summer Reading Program where they have special shows and such to get you in the library and reading their books. It's a homeschoolers dream to have FREE teachable moments such as these.

We barely got there in time, because I was thinking we didn't have to rush out the door today, since we could view the trucks anytime between 10:00 and 12:00. We didn't get in the car until about 11:00 and since we live in the middle of nowhere, it takes a good 40 minutes to get anywhere near civilization (except Monticello that is 20 minutes away, but who's counting). So we got there just in time to see a fire truck leave with siren blaring, maybe to a call, but who knows. There still was a fire truck there that the kids were allowed to climb up in. Oh, how I wish I had a camera on my cell phone for these moments. Quinn even sat in a police car, and they all climb up into a bull dozer. Exciting, isn't it? The crowning moment, free popsicles from Blue Bell Ice Cream. Yea!! Anna was wearing hers all over me and herself. She was savoring it instead of eating it. Would have been another cute picture. But here is one of her with a Blue Bell hat on from when we went to a Blue Bell function when they were touring the U.S. celebrating their 100th year in making Ice Cream. We got free ice cream that day too. Yum!

I'm not sure who that is behind her, but its not me, I am the one with the camera.

Here is one with Quinn and Alex at the same Blue Bell function.

And here is one that I took with Dom and the kids when Dom rented a 'dozer to use around our house. This should help you visualize what today's pictures could have looked like.

I'm happy now. I still got to share pictures of my kids even though they weren't from today.

Almost Big Bed

Anna's growing up. Sniff, Sniff!! I haven't wanted to see this day come and I've tried to prolong the inevitable. But she is ready for a big bed, almost. She has started to climb out of her crib, so yesterday, Dom took off the front rail, so she can get in and out of bed easier. I put the boy's old bed rail under her mattress, so that she won't roll out of bed. It adjusts so you can fold it down and out of the way. Putting sheets on the crib is now easier, since safety standards prevent any space to be between the mattress and the railings, it's almost impossible to get sheets between those places. I understand the safety issue, but come on!!

The boys were all in big boy beds by the time they were two because I needed the crib for the next baby. Anna turned two in April, but I didn't want to graduate her just yet and I don't need it for another baby. So I'm trying to keep her a baby. How am I doing?

So far she is doing pretty well with staying in bed. The boys were a "um" nightmare (can I say that and still get Mother of the Year Award) to keep in bed. I have had to go and put her back in several times, but I think she gets the picture. Or I'm just experiencing "beginner's luck" and she will turn into that "nightmare" to keep in bed. No, not my little girl. ;)

Here is the whole gang enjoying Anna's bed. This is really a cute picture, but when I upload onto my blog, pictures get all fuzzy. I don't know why.

Lately, Anna has this "thing" with putting on socks. She goes and gets socks out of her own drawers or her brother's drawers and puts them on both her feet and her hands. She also likes to wear shoes, anyone's, her brothers included. Here is a picture where you can see she has two mismatched socks on, her brother's socks that is. She is showing you her pretty ball too.

She put on this head band herself, as you can tell. She can make funny faces, just like her brothers. They've taught her well.

Springtime Babies

And from that title I know what you might be thinking and the answer is no, I'm not. I have many baby critters. I haven't had the time to blog recently, so here we go. I've discovered that blogging is time consuming. I’ve had things to write about, but not the time. Oh, I could ignore the housework and the kids to write something, but that’s not fair to them or our house. I could write at night after kids are in bed and the house is “sleeping” and doesn’t need my attention, but I’m tired after taking care of those other things. So what am I to do? I haven’t figured that out yet. But here is a nice long blog for those who have been anxiously waiting for my next exciting entry. Yea, right!

After I blogged in "Meet Our Critters" and showed a picture of our "raccoon" I kept referring to the raccoon as a HIM. A few days after that I realized that HE was in fact a SHE by evidence of her nursing teats. Well today she brought her two babies to our back porch! There she is with the two little ones cautiously coming up the steps. I had to take the picture through the glass door, so the quality is not so great.
In the picture below you can see where we, "um," scared 'em up a tree. They are cuties!

A few days ago, Quinn came running into the house to tell me he saw four baby armadillos. I ran out to see them and didn't get a picture captured. But a few days later I accomplished just that and here is one up close. Don't tell this little armadillo, but the raccoons were cuter!

The baby armadillos went into this hole in our "ditch." I never saw a Mama armadillo, so don't know if they are raised by their mother or not. I should probably look into that since I am a homeschooling Mama myself. But like I mentioned before about the time issue....

Here is the foot bridge that goes over our "ditch." We like to think of it as a dry stream! Quinn and Anna are going over the bridge.

Here is a sweet picture of Tiger and Princess taking a snugly catnap on our couch. More cute babies!
The other day, Quinn came in with this funny looking "bug." For the life of me, I had never see something so strange. It had such a large body and these tiny little wings. Well after a few minutes, Alex said, "Mom, its wings grew!"

As you can see in this picture below, it's not a funny looking "bug" anymore. It's a butterfly and it must have just emerged from its cocoon and therefore its wings were still wet. Once they dried, its wings "grew" and were in the correct proportion to its body and didn't look like a funny little bug anymore. We saw many more of its kind flying around that same day. It must have been "emerging day" for them. I did try to identify this butterfly in my "Florida's Fabulous Butterflies" book, but it wasn't in there. So I always jokingly say then, that it must be a Georgia butterfly since we live so close to the Georgia border.

Here are my baby critters enjoying themselves in the pool on Memorial Day.

A little closer view of Quinn, Ethan, and Alex. Anna did join them during the day with Dom and I. We have water babies!