I'm Not Going To Lie

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

Prior to meeting Erik, I had no interest in trucks, tractors, trailers, livestock let alone farming.  GASP!

I know, I have probably bowled you over.  Grandpa is rolling over in his grave!  Well, push your jaw back up and let me explain.

This is kind of  funny, because of the two of us, and despite the fact he spent many years in 4H raising and showing rabbits, I am the one with a more agricultural background.  Sure, I went to the County Fair as a kid, but only because it was just seven miles away AND, primarily because it was the only thing to do.

I could have never imagined that my life would to some extent revolve around farm shows, county fairs and tractor pulls.  That's not even to mention what is going to happen once our kids are old enough to show goats in goat shows.

We are about to embark on our annual trip to the PA State Farm Show.  I have to admit, I've come to look forward to it as a little mini vacation.  No cooking or cleaning for a few days, a HUGE facility to explore.  Free Turkey Hill ice cream samples!  Fried Mozzarella cubes, milkshakes, 

an afternoon trip to Hershey World!  What more can a girl ask for?

More importantly, this trip has become a tradition.  We have developed the same system for booking a hotel room and the last 3 years, have stayed at the same hotel.  We have developed a system for eating on a budget, keeping the kids entertained, etc.  Already the kids are able to say, "Remember when we did  . . .?"  It's exciting to me that they will have these memories of their early childhood.  

So maybe we won't make it to Disney World anytime soon.  It's kind of refreshing that our kids find the world of agriculture just as exciting.  What other "amusement" could educate them on the people who grow the products that feed, clothe and shelter us?  Pretty amazing.

The photos were taken a few years ago, but you'll see the kids having a great time!

Walker learning how much "boy power" it takes to actually produce enough electricity to power a lightbulb.

Walker in front of a sow with 10 baby piglets.

Maggie tries her hand at "milking a cow"

Walker tells the exhibitor "this is hard!"

You also get to sit in some great machinery!

It may be simple, but this little trip makes us all happy.  

Just ask Walker

Here are some links to various PA newspapers with articles about the show.  And if you have a chance, take the time to go.  Admission is free, and Hotwire can find you a hotel room for under $75 a night!

Altoona Mirror

Lancaster Online

Centre Daily Times

PA State Farm Show Website

Engaging An Imagination

Some of my most favorite moments of motherhood are engaging my kids imaginations.  I had the rare chance to capture some video of Maggie using her imagination the other day.  Unfortunately, it also highlighted some of the things she sees/hears around here regularly!

Enjoy!

Parenting: Sometimes It Ain't Pretty!

After what seems like a month of party food, big meals, cookies and cake and candy between each meal, I finally needed to get to the grocery store and buy some "real" food.

I loaded up this morning, headed to the Y for my class with the little boys and the day was off to a good start despite the fact I got to class late.  (Can someone please tell me how to get my husband to factor in travel time when he is considering my schedule.  I think the man thinks I can teleport because when I tell him class is at 9:30, he assumes I am leaving at 9:30!)

Class was great, as always, I got to shower semi-alone (why is it I consider showering in a room with up to 8 strangers "alone"?) and got the kids out of play place and to the car.  Our first stop was Target because I wanted to browse the Christmas clearance and get Pull-Ups that were on sale.  We managed to avoid a crisis in the kids clothing department when Will suddenly shouts, "I has to pee!  NOW!"  We ran to the family bathroom and crisis was averted.  We returned to the clothing, searched through the sales - nothing I wanted was under $10 - the number one criteria for me when purchasing the clearance rack - and headed to Christmas clearance.  We got to the measly clearance section and first thing I see is a blue tinsel Christmas Tree.  At 75% off, it was a pretty good buy so I asked Will if he wanted it for his room.  He loved the idea and we put it in his cart.  A few steps down the aisle, I found the tubes of non-breakable ornaments I like for our trees.  There were a lot of them so I really had to do some sorting to find the tubes with the colors I wanted.  There were also bins with assorted ornaments in them and I spent some time sorting through them trying to find specific types of ornaments for the kids.  I started a collection for each of them - Walker is Santa's, Maggie:  Angels, Will:  Reindeer and Whitaker:  Snowmen.  I looked for ornaments for each of them to add to their collection for next year.

During this searching and sorting, Will, who at the time was just being great -

started playing that 3 year old boredom game of telling me he didn't want the tree anymore.  So I put it back on the shelf.  Three steps down the aisle, he wanted the tree again. I warned him that I wasn't going to play that game and if he did it again, it was going on the shelf and staying there.  Well, true to three year old spirit, he did it again and I put it back on the shelf and zoomed out of the clearance aisle.  

All through electronics he cried, "I want my Christmas tree!"  (Repeat continuously!)

At the baby aisle, I stopped for the Pull-Ups and the baby wipes.  At this point, we're in a rip-roaring, screaming, spitting, veins popping, flipping and flailing-throwing himself out of the cart fit. (Insert image of Linda Blair in The Exorcist here!)


 A guy I had seen walking around the store with a clip-board (I'm assuming he was a survey taker - I've seen them in the Target stores before) says to me, "Don't give in, Mom.  If you give in now, he'll know all he has to do is do this again and he'll get his way."  


Now, I know he meant well.  But for some reason it really irritated me.  As if I needed parenting advice at that moment.  I really want to know what made him think I was going to give in?  As out of control I felt, I really wasn't.  I was calmly using my phone to see if the Pull-Up sale was really a bargain compared to the UP and UP brand (it was) and I was calmly (and repeatedly) telling Will, "I'm sorry, but I warned you what would happen if you said you didn't want the tree, so this is the consequence of your choice."  


I put the Pull-Ups and wipes in the cart, and headed for the check-out.  You should have seen the people staring at me.  As I walked past the aisles, people looked at me and then quickly averted their eyes - as if it was shameful to look at me.  Did I mention that at this point, Will had decided to throw himself out of the cart and turn his legs to jelly.  He wouldn't not stand on his legs for anything, so I had hiked him under my armpit sideways, squeezed him to my side, and continued to push the cart to the check-out.  Two ladies in the pharmacy aisles looked like I was actively beating him.  (Judging by his wails, I'd bet people thought he was being beat) and the guy in the mens department stared at me as if I was walking naked through the store.


Guess what folks?  This is what parenting looks like.  It's nasty, it's ugly and sometimes it's dirty!  It's sticking to your guns, biting the bullet and being a little embarrassed.  Sure, it would have been much easier to abandon my cart, pick everyone up and walk out the door.  But it was my job to teach Will a lesson.  Did he get the lesson?  I don't really know. But it's not always about the individual lesson.  I know that it may take a dozen more fits in the store before my Will finally realizes what I say is truth and I will always do what I say.  He will test me to the limits each and every day.  And it's my job to stand my ground, bite the bullet and be a little embarrassed.  Because in the end, I'm not just parenting - I'm raising a child to be an adult.  I'd much rather deal with a tantruming three year old, than a tantruming 15 year old!  Society is already full of those beasts.


So, the next time you are in public, and you see a woman walking through the aisles, dealing with a tantruming child, don't look at her like she's crazy.  Give her a sympathetic look and tell her "Thank You!" 


In the meantime, this story gets saved for the baby book.  And someday I'll dig this story out to show him when he calls me to tell me about the rip-roaring, screaming, spitting, veins popping, flipping and flailing-throwing himself out of the cart fit he just experienced with his child.


And I'll LAUGH AND LAUGH!

Best NYE Ever!

I had very young parents and grandparents growing up, so on NewYears Eve, I was often left in the hands of my maternal great-grandmother.  My parents often hosted a party at the"camp" which my Papa had built just a few hundred yards from our houses and my grandparents always did something fancy.  At least it always seemed that way to me.

As I (and she) got up there in age, Grammie Foster was there more for the token adult presence than to actually do any of the babysitting chores.  I remember my mom would make us special food so we could have a party ourselves.  We'd get to have Doritos, sparkling grape juice and use special "wine" glasses - which my mom gave to me (because they are red and match my decor) and I keep in the china cabinet in my house.  I imagine that at one time there must have been more than five of them, but since there were only four of us girls, any more than that didn't register with me.  

One of our most favorite things to do was to take all of the cushions off the couches, chairs, etc., and play "Queen."  Which meant we would stack up all of those cushions into "thrones" and sit on them.  

And Grammie Foster always drank coffee.  Taster's Choice instant coffee.  Probably a half dozen cups a day.  I remember her having the tiniest stove/oven combo I had ever seen.  It couldn't have been more than 24" wide - maybe even smaller.  I don't know how she cooked anything in that oven.  And she had the best refrigerator.  It was a really OLD one - the kind that had a latch handle that you pulled open and the freezer had a small metal box for the metal ice trays - which were stuck in the ice compartment because it wasn't a frost free model.  I don't know if she ever defrosted it while I was alive.  She didn't do much cooking for herself.  I know my Grammie would bring her "leftover"meals and Grammie Foster's favorite thing to do was to go to the Super Duper grocery store and buy friend chicken or other prepared items from the deli for her supper.  

Funny how once you start thinking about something, the memories just pop up!

Anyway, to my recollection, I never remember spending New Years Eve with my parents.  That was the one night a year they really went all out.  When I was very young, they often went to a local bar to celebrate.  There used to be a place in my hometown called the "SQ" or "The Susquehanna House." It burned down when I was in Junior High, but I know my parents and their friends spent many a New Years celebrating there.  That was back when people were allowed to smoke anywhere and many of their friends smoked too, so I remember them coming in to kiss us and tell us "Happy New Year" smelling like the bar.  It's funny how smells can envoke memories too because I remember after turning 21 going out for the first time with my college friends - how when I got back to my apartment, I could smell that combination of smoke and alcohol on my clothes and in my hair and thinking, "I smell like my parents on New Years Eve!"  Can I tell you how jealous I am that "kids" these days don't have to experience that unpleasantness.  I am not and have never been much of a drinker, so I hated the fact that I smelled like the bar even though I was just an observer.  I never understood how my sorority sisters just came home from the bar and fell asleep.  I always had to shower that smell off me.  

Erik and I really aren't the partying type.  I think the only year we actually went "out" for New Years Eve was the year we got married.  We flew to Punta Cana on December 31 and the resort where we stayed had a huge NYE celebration.  Since then we've either stayed home or gone to a friends house - oh and six years ago, we went to  NYE wedding.  That was pretty cool.  (Erik and I actually wanted to have our wedding NYE but were talked out of it by our parents.)   This year we decided to host a little get together and we had the best time.  We invited over a few couples and their children and laughed and talked and watched the kids play.  It was great.  We ate way too much food (or at least I did) and the kids had the best time playing.  Such an imaginitive group we had.  They hunted, played baby dolls, and ended the night playing "Harry Potter."  I'm not really sure what that game entailed, but I heard some British accents and saw a lot of wand waving.  There was also a lot of trying to explain the "ball drop."  We basically got to the point where the kids didn't really get it so we played the "Nevermind, just forget about it" parenting card.

After a minimal amount of clean up, I was lying in bed reflecting on the the previous year and the blessings in my life.  Our precious Whitaker was born.

These three continue to grow and show their unique and wonderful personalities.

We have our health and we're happy.  What more could we ask for?

A friend posted on her blog, "Life Under a Blue Roof" that she doesn't really like making resolutions so instead, she was going to "envision" things she wanted to accomplish in the New Year.  I really like that idea because resolutions are well, kind of resolute.  I prefer to go for a more casual approach - that way if I don't achieve my resolution, I don't feel so bad.

My vision for 2011:

1)  I will make and stick to a daily meal plan.  I did that last year and it was wonderful.  You can read about it here:  Creating a Meal Calendar.

2)  I will organize my photos into files and save those files on my new external hard drive!  My mac is awesome and you can barely tell I have over 5000 photos stored on my hard-drive, but I need to get the photos organized, and stored.  I'll also load those files to a web-based site like flickr  (snapfish, shutterfly, or other photo sharing site will work too) so that if my hard drives ever crash, I can access those photos again.

3) I will commit to getting to the Y five days a week.  Even if this means going on Saturday mornings by myself!  

4) We will carve out time to do even more fun things as a family that don't involve farm related activities.   My children find that stuff fun but it's time to expose them to a few novelties - going to the movies, maybe roller skating or ice skating  . . . bowling.  We just never did those things before because our kids weren't at the age to enjoy them.  Now they are and I think it will be so much fun to expose them to those activities!

5)  Plan and actually go on some some sort of family vacation!  

6)  Realize that these things are all just a small part of life.  It would be great to achieve them, but if they don't get done, that's OK too.  My kids are not going to be scarred for life if I don't get them to a movie theater.  We don't have to go on vacation to have quality family time together and create memories.

Each day is a gift and my biggest goal will be to remember that and appreciate it.  

And to thank God each day for it.  

Happy Anniversary

Today is my Ninth anniversary.

I have a poor memory.  I cannot recall memories the way others can.  I remember things through pictures and I remember feelings, but I don't remember events well.  I think it is strange because my mom has amazing recall on so many things.  I wish I had her talent because I remember very little from my youth -even the last nine years, with so many things I want t remember, I don't.

I remember only one thing vividly about our wedding day.  Well, I guess not just one thing, but this memory has come to be significant.

A little back story first:

When Erik and I were dating, it was such a whirlwind romance that we would often just stop and say to each other, "What were you doing last year at this time?"  We met November 17, 2000, were "pre-engaged" in February 2001,(you can read the story of our pre-engagement here) engaged June 2001 and married December 29, 2001.

Earlier in the day, I had given a grooms gift to my soon to be brother in law to give to Erik.  It was a pocket watch and I included a card saying, "What were you doing last year at this time?"

We had an early evening wedding - 4:00 p.m.  I really don't remember much about the day other than my girlfriend and sorority sister, Irene, had to wake me up on my wedding day.  I remember her shaking me, "Wake up!  You're getting married!"  Irene was my Matron of Honor.

I remember just before walking down the aisle, I was left all alone in the hallway adjacent to the church entrance.  It was the first time in days I had been completely alone.  I hadn't been emotional at all - I was too happy to cry!  But as I stood there alone and waited, I started to get a little overwhelmed, and just as the tears started to come, my dad peeked around the corner and put his left arm up as if checking his watch and then tapped it as if to say, "Come on! You're going to be late."  That made me laugh and he extended his arm and we headed to the doors of the church for him to walk me down the aisle.

I remember that Erik managed to put my ring on the correct hand.  And I put mine on his RIGHT hand.  Then throughout the unity candle lighting and song, we laughed and laughed because we couldn't get the ring off his right hand and on his left hand.  We joked that we weren't officially married because of that!

I remember being moved by the message Erik's mentor, Jim Cossin, gave.  I remember him saying something along the lines of us being a good match - you could see that I was calm and collected and that Erik couldn't stand still.  Which he couldn't - he was a nervous nellie standing up there shifting back and forth and twitching.  It was so beautiful to have someone who knew Erik so well from his youth speak about his growth into a man.  It was such a great honor to have Jim part of our ceremony.  

 I don't remember this moment, but I LOVE the way the photo shows off the detail of my wedding gown!

Our wedding party

My Maid of Honor and childhood best friend, Keely.  

We're wed!  Leaving the church.  Everyone was supposed to light their sparklers but I think they were so short, they burned too fast!

Entering our reception.

Cutting the cake.  

As much of an eyesore as it is, I'm so grateful this clock was in the picture.  I now know forever that at 8:27 on Saturday, December 29, 2001, we were cutting our cake and feeding each other.

The groomsmen dressed up for YMCA.

The last photo we would have with my Grammie.

 Our "goodbye" shot.

Almost all of our guests!

My first boys giving a kiss to their old, "Miss Jen."  The boy on the left is a sophomore at CMU.  The boy on the right is a senior in High School.  I met them when they were about 2 and 4 years old.

Anyway, the whole point of this story is that I vividly remember being pronounced man and wife and walking out of the church.  As we did, I happened to look up at the clock in the church and the clock said 4:34.  After so many months of planning, and so much time waiting, our actual marriage ceremony only took 34 minutes!  It didn't feel like it had happened so fast, but there it was, proof that it only took 34 minutes to make it official.

I think of that often as the days, weeks, months and years pass.  I look at my little family and reminisce about how fast these past nine years have gone - and get scared about how fast the next nine years are going to go.  I wonder if Erik and I will be sitting in rocking chairs in our front porch (in my future, I imagine we have actually completed the exterior of our house and we do finally put on a front porch) and saying, "What were we doing 20, 30, 50 years ago at this time?"  And we'll remember how we were afraid Walker would have malformed feet because he would kick his heels on the floor so hard anytime he laid on his back.  We'll remember how Maggie bossed her brothers around from the minute she could speak.  How we thought Will was going to get us arrested for child abuse because every time we turned around he was running into chairs, doors, walls, trees - and we'll remember how pleasant Whit was as a baby.  How the only time he ever cried was when he was tired or hungry.  

And we'll remember the love.   We have all of these memories and so many more to come, all because two people fell in love.  

A Baby Changes Everything

It about an hour, I will officially be 35.  My mom told me yesterday on the phone that she would talk to me at my birth time as she has done for as long as I have been old enough to be awake at 1:11 am.  When I lived with her, she would wake me up and say, "It's your birthday!" or in recent years she calls or texts me.  As old as I am, I still love hearing my birth story.  How my parents had gone to a high school basketball game and my grandparents were away for the night.  My mom realized her water broke and they waited at my grandparent's house for them to get home.  Then she will tell me about the drive to the hospital - how my Papa had a new Lincoln with power windows - a very new technology in 1975 - and my dad got pulled over for speeding and couldn't figure out which button to push to get the drivers window down and my Grammie hollered at the police officer and they ended up with a police escort.  I was born a tiny little thing, 5 lbs 14 oz. and the nurses brought me to my mom for the first time in a stocking.

Then she tells me about Christmas and how my Grammie brought all of her presents to the hospital and she got a gorgeous white coat.  And she still isn't sure which was the better present, me or the white coat.  As silly as that tradition seems at my age, it connects me to my mom in a special way.  At 1:11 am on December 24, the years melt away and we reconnect at the heart.  

I hope in the last 35 years, I've been able to prove to be a little bit better than the coat.  Seeings how I'm still around and the coat is long gone I guess I can make the assumption I won out as the better gift.

As you head into Christmas Eve and your celebrations, I urge you to give thanks for the babies that have changed your lives and to take time to honor the baby that changed the world.


Luke 2:1-7
^2:1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to his own town to register.
⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.


MERRY CHRISTMAS  May you rejoice on the blessings of the past year and may the new year be doubly blessed!

For Proprietary Reasons

For Proprietary reasons, I cannot go into detail about what we did today but it involved this:

 And this:

These two hoodlums came along for the ride.  They only had to pee once the entire 5 hours we were outside.  Not too shabby.

There were a lot of people standing around.  (Seemed like an awful lot of people doing nothing if you ask me).

And these hoodlums found joy in rolling down the hill.  By hill, I mean slight grade to the park road.  I'd be lying if the crew didn't find those kids entertaining.  And I got the best birthday present ever when several of the crew told me that I had the most well behaved children.  I did have to look around a few times to see if the person was addressing me.  No, I did not drug them or bribe them either.  I may have threatened to phone Santa and tell him to give their presents to some other little kids if they didn't put forth their best behavior, but I didn't drug or bribe them.  Psychological intimidation is a lost art.

One of the girls that paid me that compliment talked to me for a while about what we did on the farm, our animals, etc.  Then she asked if we farmed exclusively and I told her that we had a landscaping business as well.  She then asked what I did so I said, "I'm a stay at home mom," and I don't know if it was based on the conversation we had and the impression she got from it or if it has just become so popular, it was just a natural question, but she then asks, "Oh, do you homeschool then?"  I told her that I envy folks who can, but I don't feel called to or equipped to home school so Walker goes to public school which we took him out of for the day to have this unique experience.

The guy in the black coat is a big -time director.  At least to us.   He was super nice and talked to Erik the whole day.  I kind of got the feeling that all the while he was asking us about the farm and what we do, he was kind of panicking in the back of his mind that we were crazy FARM people and he wondered what we were truly capable of.  The guy in the tan coat - owned the production company, I think.  He's totally bald under that hat.  I don't know why I pictured him as having a head of dark brown, curly hair that has been cut so that it doesn't look curly, but you can tell by the texture it's curly.  Totally surprised when we got to lunch and saw him take off his hat.  He has four kids too and is expecting a grandchild in January.  His youngest is 21.  I swear the guy didn't look old enough to have kids much older than ours.  He was super nice and so pleasant about us hanging around and the hoodlums rolling all over the place.

These hoodlums continue to goof off . . .

 While their big brother (kid in the orange hat in the middle) works.  He didn't have to work, no one told him to work, his parents didn't even say, "Go to work!"  He just CHOSE to work.   When he left the set today, he got a standing ovation from the cast and crew.  The AD (assistant director - yeah, I know the lingo now) said she'd hire him now.  I hope he didn't overhear her because my argument of "You have to go to school or else you won't be able to grow up and get a job" will be completely shot.

 So the hoodlum in pink finally realized her working brother was getting a little more attention, so she decided to help out.

 Standing behind her is the AD's PA (Production Assistant), Maggie.  Talk about confusing to my Maggie.  I finally told her that she should just assume that NO ONE on set was talking to her.  Two seconds later, the AD addressed her.  Then she looked like an idiot child because an adult was speaking to her directly and she was ignoring her.  

"Maggie."  (she looks up in the sky)  "Maggie May" (she looks across the lawn at the playground) . . . .  "MARGARET MAY!  THEY ARE TALKING TO YOU!"  (Turns and looks at me with a DUH face)

"What Momma?"

Another fine parenting moment.

 Eventually even the little one got in on the action.  Notice both boys sitting next to one of the space heaters.  Smart boys - it was only 19 degrees today.

When I can, I'll release all of the proprietary details of what all happened today and hopefully we'll be able to share the final product with all of you.  It was such a fun day and I hope the kids will remember it forever.  It will be our one claim to fame.

 In the meantime, my disclaimer:  No children or animals were harmed in the writing of this blog post . . .  Yet.

Making A List, Checking It Twice . . .

No, I'm not talking about Santa.

I'm talking about me.  Yes, I confess, (because you probably hadn't already guessed) I am a list maker.  My lists even have lists.  Seriously, I have lists with sublists.  My lists look more like the outline to a doctoral thesis with all the bullets, Roman numerals and footnotes!

I've been spending a lot of my time at my computer making lists to prepare for a Christmas Open House.  I've got my household to do lists, food lists, and my to do "wish" items - those things I really want to have done, but probably won't because other items on my lists are a priority.

Another list that is in constant progress is my "gift" list - where I'm tracking items I've thought of buying for people as gifts, crossing off items I've purchased, and the homemade gift list which includes the directions for making the homemade items, the materials list, and to whom the item will be given!

Are you as crazy as me yet??

Tonight, one of the homemade gifts I'm working on is my annual year in review photo slideshow DVD.  Not only am I sorting photos (so thankful for the digital age and the ease of sorting through photos in my folders on the computer) and then searching my itunes database for songs to go with the slideshow.  My song choices usually include songs the children have loved from the radio or church and songs I think will evoke emotion from the viewers.  For instance, I spent a few minutes tonight searching for this song which the kids are singing with the choir at church Sunday.  They had their first practice with the grown up choir today and it really stirred me so this will be the song that ends the slideshow.

The year in review slideshow is one of my favorite projects to do.  I love going back through my photo files to see how much the children have changed and grown.  I also hate seeing how much the children have changed and grown.

This week has been filled with a lot of nostalgia for me.  Remembering what we did last year at this time.  It really is amazing how fast this year went.  

So, a few pics of where we were last year at this time.

Maggie

 Will

 Me and my babies.

 Walker, Taylor, Chet, Maggie, Will

Now back to my lists.

Insert gratuitous, too cute for words, baby in a Santa hat picture here!