Five Minute Friday: Full

I've been thinking about this little neglected blog and how there are things I'd like to do with it and things to share, but life has been full "to the max" and left little time for lingering here.

This past week (month!) life was full with 4-H and the county fair. Since we returned to the midwest and live near my parents' beef farm, the children have been able to experience a bit of my childhood, especially showing cattle. We have traveled to several shows with my dad since we moved back, and just culminated the summer show circuit (for us - taking a pass on the state fair this year) with the county fair. It happened to be one of the hottest ever. Lucky us! But the new beef barn was bearable with all the fans running. It was a bit sad that they didn't get to be in the same barns I stalled in as a child, but I think with the heat, it was a good thing.

I was proud of all three of them. Little G just returned from two weeks of back-to-back camps, and managed to control his attitude and still function (though his brain is pretty much gone at this point).

Glueing up his heifer's leg hair before the show

B fractured her arm 5 days before the cow show part started (fortunately she was done with her other projects), and still managed to lead her calves around, show, them, and pretty much everything except carry the pitchfork with manure (it's heavy!).

Styling her heifer's tail before the show, with help from L

It was a draining 4 days or so, but feels good to have accomplished it and done well!

I hope to post more on the fair later!

A sad day

We knew that B's favorite guinea pig was nearing the end of her life. She held her one last time before she went to bed and cried for a while. The next morning, she was still alive when we got up, but later in the day when we returned from an outing, she was gone. B grieved for 2-3 days but has gotten a little better each day. It has helped that we've had a lot going on to distract her.
Goodbye, sweet Rose! You were a great pet!

Will it ever end??? (a post on snow soccer)

I sometimes have a warped sense of humor, but this snow business has gotten to the point where it is just silly and all one can do is laugh!Today we had soccer after church. The 12:30 games started and a storm swept in with blowing snow and the games were stopped after about 20 minutes or so. (I had gone to the grocery store - where it was sunny and fine - and received a call from Geoff to come back and get them.) We returned at 2:15 and it was sunny at the fields, but Geoff turned around and said "Here it comes again." You could see another storm wave coming around the mountains and across town, and after about 5 minutes it arrived and was like a blizzard. B's team still played in it for about half an hour before they stopped the game. I was impressed - she played well in spite of cold wind and blowing snow and her hair in her face the whole time. I could finally feel my fingers again when we got home. By the time we drove home and unloaded the car, it was sunny again.

Grateful Day 14: N

Aren't these two "nibblers" cute? Yes, I'm scraping for something that I'm thankful for that starts with N!
Partly due to growing sleep deficiency and extreme brain overload! Hoping I can hold it all together till Christmas break!!!!

Grateful Day 9: I

Ice cream and 7yo "I" - two sweet things!

Summer sewing

B really liked this skirt from last summer but has become a little too snug. Grandma had these matching fabrics at her house, which I used it to make a new one. It was made from the free pattern/instructions found here (with measurements changed to fit a 7yo) from Tanya of Grand Revival Design. Sometime I'm going to have to splurge and order and use some of her fabrics to make one. They're beautiful!

Locks of Love

Add to all my other excuses for not posting more regularly: fried computer RAM. Hopefully it will be up and running again before too long, but for now, I've confiscated Geoff's laptop to stay connected to the world.

Anyway...

Our eldest daughter has been growing her hair out for about 2 years. At some point the idea of donating to Locks of Love came into play, and the past 6 months or so have been a waiting game to get it long enough that it wouldn't be too short after having cut. We came up with a date of April as the time we would do it, and it arrived this week!

Here she is before we left:We had violin lessons beforehand, and a recital that evening afterward. I was a little concerned that she would be distracted by the change for the recital, but she still did great! She was a bit apprehensive, though really excited to have it done with!Finally the moment has arrived.Bye, bye hair!

Ready to go to the recital later.

Hoping to get back to this later tonight with our weekend adventures.

Another finished project

Didn't get the best shot of it, but here is the more "wintry" skirt requested by dd. It has a nice twirl factor, which is what she is working on this picture. It was fairly quick and easy, in spite of all the gathering and over 3 yds around of hem on the bottom. Think we'll make one in the summery version (which was how the pattern was presented) when it warms up a bit around here.

On an almost totally unrelated note, my cameral lens is dirty. Anyone have any suggestions or insights for cleaning it? (It's just a little point and shoot.)

Why I still pick out my daughter's attire (most days)

We're not leaving the house today...
This is also good motivation for me to finish making the brown corduroy skirt she is waiting on.