Bravery and Fear

Last night we met up with our good friends, the Nichols, to ride the carnival rides at the Big Butler Fair.  The Nichols twins LOVED to ride everything!  They went high in the sky on this ride.Walker did enjoy riding this "roller coaster" with them but . . .

The Schwalm's are not really ride kind of people.  I hate that feeling of my stomach dropping and I get severe motion sickness - defeating just about every rides purpose.  Erik hates waiting in lines in big crowds.  When we hit the fairs and festivals, we usually stick to the animals, free side shows and the food.  It's just more simple that way. 

Will and his girl friend, Ella, were not big enough to ride the rides.  They were both a little miffed that they didn't get free reign of the midway.  Will wandered off once and was then locked into his stroller.  We gave them both a bottle of tea and they were happy.

But, the Nichols had special passes which allowed us to get ride passes for free for Maggie & Walker and since we didn't have to pay, we hit the midway for the rides.  Let me start off by saying that for a traveling carnival - these rides seemed well built and maintained.  I saw none of the built up grease, rusty parts, etc., that I remember seeing in the days of my youth.  

So, last night, our children, given the opportunity to ride all the rides, explored.  Walker remembers doing some of the rides before.  He is not fond of any rides involving heights and dropping.  This includes the long slides.  .  He has not been on a "big" slide since.  And when given the opportunity to do the slides last night, he declined.  This photo is from two years ago.  You can see from his face  how much he liked the slide.  (On a side note, doesn't he look like a chubby little fellow?  And back then we thought he was stick skinny.  Who knew he'd get even skinnier?!)

Maggie did not and she soon learned she does not like the big slides either.

She starts off Ok . . .

But half way through, she realizes she does not like going this fast.  She then gets to the bottom and is not exactly thrilled with the ride.  

She is determined not to cry, but you can see in her face that she wants to.  

"Maggie?  Do you want to do this ride again?

"NO!  I neber want to do dat ride again!  Neber eber!  Can we pwease go wide the horsies?"

Maggie & Walker enjoyed these nice, easy circle rides.  Here they are on the "speed boats." Check out that crazy "fun house" mural.  Not sure who exactly they are trying to attract to this fun house, but I think the murals are crazy, not attractive!  

Noah on the speed boats.

I'm sorry, Will, but you just can't be trusted.  And you don't meet the height requirements for any of the rides.  Next year you can ride.  And next year you will understand what I mean.  I do have a feeling that Will is going to be the Schwalm that will ride the rides!  He is our resident daredevil.  Don't even get me started on him.  I'm seriously considering making him wear a helmet daily.  He considers himself a big kid in a little boy body.  It can be quite scary.

Maggie & Grace on the speedboats.  Grace is practicing her "princess" wave for when they go visit the princesses in Disney World.

Walker enjoys the speed boats too.   Again, see that crazy lady on the fun house mural?  She looks scary to me - not like she's having any fun.  I certainly hope that's not what we look like when we are at the carnival!  

My non-biological first born children

This tall boy in the yellow shirt is my non-biological first born. 

 I met Alex when he was about the size of Maggie, seen to the right of Alex.  He was a beautiful and active preschool fellow.  He was/is smart and knows it.  This led to the occasional confrontation, but, being the wise, practically- perfect- in -every -Mary Poppins -way nanny, I was always able to give him a logical and stimulating reason for why we were doing things : 

 "BECAUSE I SAID SO!"  

I promise his parents were aware that I used that line.  In fact, if I remember correctly, they endorsed it.  

Alex is now a man.  I recently drove my three biological children across the state of Ohio to visit my non-biological first born on the occasion of his graduation party.  Here I am in my early 30s and my non-biological firstborn had the audacity to grow up and graduate high school.  He'll be returning "home" to Pittsburgh at CMU.  I am way too young of a mom to have a child in college.  The sad part of this story is that my parents were not much older than I am now when they took me, their firstborn, to college.  As someone in my early to mid thirties - I can't imagine being my age and taking my child to college.  Some days it seems as if I just finished college myself!  That is ridiculous! 

This taller boy in the white shirt is my non-biological second born, Drew.
Drew was the size of my third born biological child (seen below in a series of shots of Will attempting to slide down the bridge on the min-golf course) when I first met him.  I met Alex and Drew at the daycare Center I had just been hired at my sophomore year of college.  I had originally signed on to this agency to do nanny jobs, but they had asked if I would be interested in keeping some hours at the daycare, and since I wanted extra money, I said "Sure!"  I remember seeing Drew in Miss Jackie's toddler room the first day.  Something about him just drew (no pun intended) me to him.  He was so very shy - really didn't want to have anything to do with me.  I wheedled, cajoled and bribed him with endless rounds of "The Wheels on the Bus" and the "Barney" theme song to like me.  He was just so adorable that I had to be around him.  It probably sounds weird, but looking back now, I know that God's hand was in this attraction to him.  God had a plan for these magnificent boys to be in my life and He led me right to them.

My life was changed entirely by my fondness of this boy - and by his family which unofficially welcomed me into their family - much to the dismay of the father : ) 

I cannot begin to explain the difference these boys made in my life and how much I grew to love them and their family.   I am so privileged to have been a part of their lives.


Now my children have been blessed with getting to know them a bit by our visits with them.  I know I have grown apart from Drew & Alex.  I'm not a part of their every day life anymore like I once was - which is to be expected.  I at least know that they still think of me fondly - andthat my love for them is reciprocated - at least that's my interpretation based on the extra tight squeezes I get when I hug these boys - I mean men - goodbye.  

Parades and Candy. . .

My children love parades.  Not because they are community events in which all ages participate.  Not because you can see the talents and efforts of community groups showcased in one place.  Not even to see the shiny red firetrucks or for the old men in silly hats careening down the street in miniature cars.

My kids love parades for one reason.

Candy.

A few weeks ago, our local town held its annual Firemans Carnival.  One highlight of the week was the Fireman's Parade.  Years ago, this parade boasted that it was the largest fireman's parade in the state.  Having grown up in a similar rural town in the central part of the state, I beg to differ, but I digress . . .

The day of the parade was a dreary one.  It rained off and on all day and it was kind of humid.  About an hour before the parade was to begin, I had doubts about our attendance this year because we had a down pour.  It soon was over and the place started to dry (and heat) up considerably.  As a precaution, I made Erik pack up and haul our Eazy Up tent with us so that if it did rain, we could quickly set up a shelter.  Erik did this for me without any hassle.  I am so grateful for the fact that he rarely hassles me about anything.  

We parked the car in a lot as close to the parade route as we could get and walked our way to the spot our friends had saved.  We spread out our blankets, got out our chairs, snacks and drinks and waited for the local high school marching band to make its way down the street to kick off the parade.  

My children waited in eager anticipation for the firetrucks.  For they know it is the firemen that throw the candy.

Never mind that I have packed them a snack of "trail mix" and some popcorn.  "We want CANDY!"
We will endure watching these silly men dodge in and out in figure eights down the street with bravado so we do not lose our spot to get some candy!
"Go ahead, Mister!  See how close you can get to us.  We're not moving unless you throw us some candy!"
Will sits patiently.  His brother and sister have wisely advised him that people in the parade will throw him candy - for no particular reason - if he sits carefully on the blanket and waits.Soon the children realize that sitting patiently isn't going to cut it.  They see kids across the street getting candy and understand that in order to compete, they are going to have to pull out all the stops.  In a valiant effort to distract the candy throwing firemen from the candy hoarding hoodlums from the opposite side of the street, my children start politely waving and hollering out, "Hi Mr. Fireman!"  DRATS!  it still isn't working.  It is time to get some attention!  As the next fire truck approaches, they stand up and start jumping and waving.  "Hello, Mr. Fireman!  Hello!  Thank you for trying to protect us from fires!"  
"Just let  us dash out onto the street here in front of you, big green fire truck, so we can pick up these fruit flavored tootsie rolls."  

Will collapses in relief!  "SCORE!  The guys in the green fire truck threw us CANDY!!"

and GUM!!!  

The queen of candy takes a moment to enjoy her hard earned lollipop.
Thank heavens for parades.  Where else would I get my stash of bribery candy?  

What kind of Guard Dog is that anyway???

This is our Livestock Guard Dog (LGD) Rocco.  He is a beautiful and grand Great Pyrenese.

"The Great Pyrenees excels at protecting livestock, especially sheep (goats in our case) that are grazing or hanging out in the pasture. It tends to sit around in a comfortable spot and then jump and let out a steady succession of loud, deep, bellowing barks to alert the shepherd to the threat. The dog will then dart to the threatened area and defend its livestock and territorial hegemony. Hesitant to attack and quick to intimidate, this dog is a safe bet when protecting your livestock. Intruders will probably not be maimed or assaulted by this dog.  They're 27 to 32 inches at the withers in males, and they're 25 to 29 inches at the withers for females. Some can reach 40 inches. The tallest dog ever is 42 inches, and so Great Pyrenees is huge! They can weigh up to 100 pounds, the males that is. Females are lightweights at 85 pounds or more. The Great Pyrenees is courageous, cautious, and devoted. It's reserved around visitors, whether they're human or animal visitors. It's wary of new things because it's a guard dog by nature."

I explain all of this because this beautiful, LARGE, supposedly intimidating GUARD dog is afraid of thunderstorms!

In an older post, I displayed pictures of the time Rocco got stuck under my mini van.  We never really understood why he crawled under there but in recent weeks, we have come to realize this big, giant, scary dog hid himself under my mini van in an attempt to hide from the thunder! And it is only getting worse as evidenced by his most recent attempts to find shelter from the thunder.

That's right.  This giant actually clawed his way through the screen door to get into the house. Unfortunately, we were gone the night that this happened or perhaps we would have been able to prevent it.  Now, I have to figure out how to re-screen my french door!

We had on and off storms today and usually I enjoy having the doors and windows open to hear and smell the storms.  It also helps cool the house down.  I no longer can do this as Rocco has busted through and ruined all of the screen doors and Erik showed me the evidence of attempts to claw through the windows in the sunroom.  

He sneaked in twice today and I had to practically drag him out of the house by his fur.  It's not that I don't appreciate house dogs - I just have vivid recall of the time one of our pets brought fleas into the house and how I had horrible bites on my ankles for weeks and all of the cleaning I did and bug bombs we had to set off in the house in order to get rid of them.  It is not fun - and that is why we do not allow the dogs in the house even for a short stint.

I'm just grateful the children are not afraid of the storms.  I told them that my Grammie used to tell me that thunder is just the angels bowling.  They get a kick of of hearing that and never seem to mind the noise.  I wish I just could get Rocco to understand that the thunder won't hurt him because it is just the angels bowling!

The three little snackers

Once upon a time there were three little snackers.  One rainy day, after naptime, their Momma decided to give them a snack.  She got out three little bowls, filled them with nutritious fruit and, as a treat, some organic Bunny Grahams.  

 The first little snacker was the oldest and specially requested blueberries.  His bowl was filled just right.

This little snacker then decided blueberries and Bunny Grahams were not what he wanted and he decided instead to get out crackers.
This little snacker promised his Momma he would eat his blueberries and bunny grahams.  This little snacker lied.

The second little snacker is a sneaky little snacker.  Again, Momma diligently prepared a bowl of fruit and bunny grahams.  As you can see by this bowl, this second little snacker prefers chocolately treats to her yummy nutritious grapes.  Her Momma had to beg, plead and cajole her to eat her yummy, nutritious grapes.

This is the face you get from the second little snacker when you beg, plead and cajole.  The second little snacker also hurridly turned over her bowl to hide the fact that she managed to give the baby snacker all of the grapes she was supposed to eat.The third little snacker is a good little snacker.  He obediently started to eat his nutritious and yummy fruit before he started eating his bunny grahams.  Unfortunately, being an obedient little snacker, he was overwhelmed by the amount of yummy and nutritious fruit his sister was pawning off on him and he never got around to eating his bunny grahams.  This picture is evidence of the third helping of fruit he ate.  First, he ate a bowl of grapes, but he was still hungry, so his Momma asked him if he wanted to eat the blueberries the first little snacker was not eating.  Our good little baby snacker replied, "Uh huh," and shook his head yes.  After eating the blueberries, he found himself left with a bowl full of grapes, which he diligently and obediently ate before eating the chocolately treat.  
What are you eating, third little snacker?  

Another grape.  It's just my size.  

And Momma lived happily ever after because the three little snackers each got the snack they wanted and left the table with their bellies full.  

For now at least.  Momma could swear she just heard one of the little snackers say "I'm hungry." 

The End. 

VFD Water battle

Tonight, the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Department sponsored a water battle.  For those of you not familiar, this is basically tug of war - except instead of rope, the fireman use the water in their hoses - and instead of tugging, they push.  The object they push is a large red keg suspended in the sky on heavy duty wire.  

The children (and adults) lined the streets to watch the local fire departments battle it out.  It was a gorgeous evening for it and I was so glad I brought my camera to take pictures of the event.  

Here is just a few of my favorite pictures.  If you'd like to see more, check them out at www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferschwalm

How cute are these brothers?  They were so excited to watch - and were hoping to get a little wetter than they did.

I thought this was a cool one of the firemen and the rainbow.
This fireman is charging ahead - he had gotten a good start on pushing that keg to the opposing side.
What is cuter than little girls splashing in the puddles?
Shaking hands after a match.
This guy was ready.  He knew how to handle his hose.  
More kids frolicking in the water.

This guy is in charge of moving the keg into place before each battle.






I love living in a rural area.  Especially this little Saxonburg community.  I wish that we truly had a Saxonburg address so we could officially be affiliated with this fun little community.  There's really nothing better than small town America.  Everyone cheered for their local fire department, there was laughter and a sense of comradarie - these guys not only have to trust their own co-workers, but they know that they can call any one of the seven fire departments there to compete to help them battle a blaze.  People underestimate how much work and sacrifice goes into manning and keeping a volunteer fire department.  In communities such as ours, where you have so much rural land and countryside to deal with, knowing how to fight a fire properly is so important.  And in our little neck of the woods, we rely soley on volunteers to fight those fires.  Kudos to all the volunteer fireman and firewomen out there.  I am very grateful for these rural departments and for their equipment.  And I had a great time watching them battle it out where it didn't really matter.  It was a lot of fun!

Pet Parade 2009

One of the greatest things about living in (or near) a small town is that there are wonderful local carnivals to attend.   The town we are closest to, Saxonburg, is hosting its Volunteer Firemans Carnival this week.  It is tradition to kick off the week with a pet parade.  Erik participated in the pet parades when he was a young boy and I'm carrying on the tradition with my kiddos.  I guess in years past, there were themes for the parade for you to dress up for  - like one year the theme was "great duos" and Erik & his dog dressed up as superheros.  Fun.  There don't seem to be many rules to the parade these days but many folks do still try to come up with fun themes.  

Here is the local High School Marching Band getting ready to lead the parade.  The poor kids are still in school because of the teachers strike from earlier this school year.  They look kind of miserable that they have to participate in an event that is typically the KICK OFF for summer vacation.

Here are a bunch of folks getting their pets pampered and prepped to step out onto Main Street and the awaiting crowds.

More folks lining their pets up.

Here is Miss Maggie May.  She is posing as the Queen of England with her Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  Hank did a great job of staying in the wagon with the Queen.  I even brought the ipod with a trumpet voluntary to enhance the effect, but you couldn't really hear it with my wimpy little TJ Maxx speakers.
Here are the boys.  I had wanted to dress them as the British Royal Guard - I even found Walker a red blazer to wear - but when I showed him the photo, he balked telling me he did not like the hat and he wasn't dressing as one of "those."  Knowing Will undoubtedly would not wear the costume if Walker wasn't (and let's face it, where was I going to find a red 18 month blazer in June?) so I scrapped the Royal Guard idea and had an epiphany in church.  I decided to dress Walker as a chef and we would bring some chickens in a wagon.  Erik thought of the cleaver - I got together the materials to make it and Erik took over - hence the blood on it.  You can't believe the chuckles we got from Walker's "menu" sign.  Walker's dinner specials were:  Roasted Chicken, Chicken Cordon Bleu and Chicken Noodle Soup.  

Willie James was dressed as a hobo.  I thought he would jump at the chance to walk with Chloe but he jumped right into the wagon Walker was pulling and wouldn't get out for anything.  

We had a lot of fun - the kids were so good and so cute, but unfortunately, we didn't win a thing.  I think there should be some rules about winning - for the last few years, the winners were the same people and they don't seem to actually have any children attached to their entries.  

And that folks, is the sad commentary of my life.  I'm actually picking apart the judging of a local pet parade.  It did break my heart a bit when Walker asked, "Momma, did I win anything?"  How long will the, "No, but it was so much fun to dress up and participate" line work?  I think that must be how Oscar nominees feel when they say, "It's a privilege to be nominated." 

I saw some old dance or baton twirling trophies at the thrift store last week when I went looking for Walker's royal guard costume - maybe I'll go buy those up and make my own trophies for my kids.  

But right now, I've got to go drafting plans for next years parade costumes . . .