PaD Jan 29

Two Hour Delay today - No school yesterday. The weather man was calling for much more than we actually got. We only got about 4 inches of snow and then some freezing rain on top of that. The driveway was OK going down but once again I didn't make it back up. That's nothing new here. Did I mention I hate winter??? Here's three photos from this morning. The picture of Mikey is processed really weird but I like how the emphasis is on his arm and hand. He was scraping the window for me and stopped to try and take the ice off with his hand.


This is a shot at the bottom of the driveway to the left. There is a stream that runs under the driveway and in the summer it floods. As you can see here it is frozen. I took this through the window of the car.


I tried to make it back up and couldn't so I parked the car and walked. This is the view from in front of my car. It's a good uphill walk.

Happy Winter Everyone - Not!!!!

Kelsey's song

Kelsey wrote her own little song the other day. I am so proud of her. She loves the piano and learning new music. She and Sara both are so good about practicing without me telling them to do so. We got a free piano out of the newspaper when Kelsey was a only about 4 years old. We thought that it would be nice to have a piano around and maybe if we were lucky one of the kids would want to play it. Well Kelsey was always playing on it. Alot of the times the kids that would come over would bang on the keys and make terrible sounds but not Kelsey. She always played such cute litle tunes even if they weren't really songs. Today that decision has payed off. We now have two girls who just love everything about playing a piano and a newer piano. Here's a little video of Kelsey playing the song she wrote.

PaD Jan 28

This picture was only taken a few hours later but it was after midnight so that counts as the next day. I looked out the door to see if I could see the cats and to check on how much snow we had gotten so far. The light on the old basketball net we have on the deck caught my eye and I thought about going out to get a picture but the warmth of the house won me over. No going outside after midnight in a snow storm for me. I'm not that dedicated to this picture a day thing. Instead I got out my point and shoot camera and put it against the glass and held it as still as I could and took the picture. Being that it was pretty dark out there of course the shutter was slow. I tried with about 7 pictures and this is the clearest one that I got. I liked the way it turned out. Something a little different for me but that's ok. Definitely a snap shot, but that's ok too. If I'm gonna try to keep up with this picture a day project I can't expect perfection (not that any of my pictures are perfect). Here's one of the only seven pictures I took yesterday.

PaD Jan 27

Got a call today from my friend Deb today asking if Sara wanted to earn some money by cleaning her house after school. I told her I'd call her when she got home and let her know. I figured Sara would want the extra money since in the last two weeks she has spent almost all her money on clothes. Well, she got home from school and I told her about it. She had other plans. She wanted me to pick Brooke up and take them to the basketball game. Ok, but what about making some money? She's never turned down money before. I wonder if she has a boyfriend, lol. I'll have to keep a closer eye on her. Ha - I know you're reading this Sara. I love you sweetie. You're a good girl and I weally do wuv you.
By the time I picked up Brooke and took the girls over to the school for the basketball game, the snow had really picked up. I was only gone for a half hour and by the time I got back home my driveway was completely covered in the stuff. I had to stop and take a picture of course. I thought it looked pretty cool.

PaD Jan 26

I am sad to say that I only took one photo today and it has absolutely nothing to do with me. I went to the grocery store today while at work to get something quick for lunch and I noticed this jeep sitting in the same row as me. It was a nice looking vehicle - nothing spectacular or anything. I was skimming the stickers on the side when I noticed something that was a little funny. I quick took out my point and shoot to remember the sticker so I could show my friend at work. I had forgot about the Jeep while I was sitting there eating my lunch until a girl came out and got in it and drove away. On the back was a sticker that said "Redneck and proud of it." That explained it all. Well, I'll just let you be the judge. Here's the jeep and then a close up of the sticker that I would be too embarrased to put on my side, ha, ha.

PaD Jan 25

It has been so long since I've seen my Mom and Dad. I didn't see them since about a month or two before Christmas. My sister had her baby in Indiana on December 11 and my mom was out there for a week or more before that. She got home right before Christmas and I wanted her to come to my place for the day on Christmas but she was just so tired from being gone that whole time and she didn't have her place decorated yet so she really just wanted to stay home. I understood completely. Since Christmas was on Thursday, we had it planned that her and Dad would come up the following Sunday but Mom got sick. The next Sunday I had plans already planned. Ok, then it was a go for the next weekend. Well, it snowed and they would have to travel over the mountain to get here and Mom's not comfortable with that. I don't blame her. I don't like driving in snow either. The next Sunday Mikey was sick with Tonsilitis. Well, it was a long wait but on the 25th of January I finally got to see my parents. I missed them alot. With all of our schedules and the weather it's hard to make things happen sometimes. Dad has to work on Saturday but has off on Thursdays. The girls have piano lessons on Thursdays. So the only day we could do it was on a Sunday and it just didn't work until now. I hope it doesn't take that long to see them the next time. Nah - Spring is coming and there will be no more snow or colds to deal with. Hurray for that!!!!
Here's a snapshot of the kids with their Mamaw and Papaw. I wanted to get a nice shot of Mom and Dad together but by the time I remembered the light was gone and it was dark out. Oh well, here's what I got:

PaD Jan 24

Had a weird conversation with Kelsey today. I was sitting at my desk in the office and she was in the kitchen eating her breakfast. She had been sitting out there for a good ten minutes. She should have been done with it by now. All she had was toast, scrambled eggs, a little sausage and some bacon. Here's what I heard coming from the other room.
"Eyes"

"Nose"

"Mouth"

"Eyebrows"

"Mom..."

"Mom!!!"

Me: "Hmmmm?"

"Mom, I ate his eyes. Then the back of his head!"

Me: "Oh no! What about his brain? (I knew she had been playing with her food)

"They were good."

This kid is such a silly girl. She is almost ten years old and still plays with her food. I don't like that she plays with her food. I do love that she still has so much little girl left in her though. She is my youngest and I don't want her growing up faster than she needs to. I hope she's still playing with her food when she's twelve. Not really but I just hope she still has the little girl in her. Kids today just grow up way too fast and I'm not comfortable with that. I've already seen that in my boys.

PaD Jan 23

Kelsey was home sick today (last Friday). She was so sick in the morning but was almost all the way better by lunch time. She must have eaten something that didn't agree with her. I was worried at first that maybe she had gotten sick from peanut butter. You never know what is safe to eat anymore with all the recalls going on. I was gonna take her in to school since she was feeling better and then go to work but then my in-laws called to let me know the beef that we ordered was ready and they were bringing it over. So she got to stay home the rest of the day and I never did make it to work. We got a 1/3 of a cow and let me tell you it's a lot of meat. I will surely have enough for a year. It filled the chest freezer. It must have been a huge cow.

Pad 12 - and catch up

PaD - Jan 12
This is me - nothing special, just a snapshot that I didn't mind.


PaD - Jan 13
Went to Wal-Mart today - oh the joy!!!!! About the only thing I like about Wal-Mart is that sometimes if you go there before a snow storm you get the pleasure of seeing a gazillion seagulls.

PaD - Jan 14 Today Kevin and I took Sara and her friend Brooke to the Harrisburg Farm Show. Now one of the best reasons to go to the farm show to us is to get some Potato Donuts. These donuts have been tempting us to travel the 45 minute drive year after year. They are just SO good. There are many attractions at the yearly event. One of the main attractions other than the great food offered in the food court is the farm animals. There are cows, horses, sheep, pigs, goats, a whole room full of chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc. We saw the antique tractors and there was also a tractor race for children that was cute as could be. This building is huge. There are so many animals and shows going on during the week that it is impossible to see it all. There is also an area where a lot of vendors set up to sell their goods. That is always fun to walk through and "window" shop. We rarely buy anything because we just don't feel like carrying it around with us and we really don't need any of that stuff anyway. Every year they have baking/cooking contests and always show such pretty displays of the various winners. And we can't forget the butter sculpture - even though we did this year. We forgot to go look at the butter sculpture. Each year they make a life size sculpture out of butter. It is pretty cool. Can you just imagine how many arteries that would clog?This year we saw a clown walking down the big hallway between two areas of the farm show and I stopped him to ask if I could take of picture of him with the girls. He did. After the picture was taken he said to me in a serious voice that he liked my make-up. I thought that was pretty funny. One more thing about the farm show that always seems to happen is SNOW. Every year you know it will snow the week of the farm show. Never seems to fail.

To park at the farm show is horrendous, so we usually park far away and take one of the shuttle buses over to the farm show building. It's much quicker and warmer that way. These to old friends sat in front of me on the ride over and I loved the way they were chatting the whole way there.

Part of the food court - Yum. I forgot to take a picture of the pototo donut stand. Duh!!



Here is a replica of the Star Barn. This was a great landmark to me when I was a child and is a landmark today for my children. When I was a little girl and we would travel to my grandparents house in Middletown, I always new we were close because Mom would always say "Look kids, there is the Star Barn" It was only a matter of minutes until we pulled into Grandma's lane for a long overdue visit. Now I say the same thing to my kids and then they know it's almost time to see Grandma. The Star Barn is a beautiful piece of history. Sad thing is though that they are moving it somewhere else. I will surely miss it. It just won't be the same when I take the hour drive to see Grandma. I plan on getting together with the photography club and trying to set up a field trip to get pictures of the barn before it's moved.



Kevin looking (drooling) over the new tractors.

Me drooling over the old tractors, lol. Did I tell you I love old antique things.

And the cows!!!! Lots of cows. I like how these two were so close together.

Her owner was shaving her and getting her ready to show.

I liked her. She was so clean.

Did I ever tell you I like cow butts? Ha, ha. No, just kidding. I just like the way these ladies look when they are all lined up from behind. I took a picture just like this last year too. I think they remind me of old woman lined up gossiping. No one in particular.

Alpaca - doesn't he have a cool looking eye?

Chicky's butts - I know I have a thing with butts!!!! I just thought it was so so so cute.

Speaking of cute. Look at this little cutie checking out the chicks. She was really watching the baby chickens and I just had to snap that with the camera.

I never realized turkeys could be so colorful.

Trying my hand at close up photography - looked much better on my lcd screen.

Brooke and Sara checking out the gingerbread houses.

My favorite house

All the jelly that was being judged made for a pretty display.

Sara and Brooke shopping. Brooke bought two really nice pocketbooks and a John Deere license plate for her sister.

Here's the clown that told me he liked my makeup. I think I like his better. I want a nose like that. Sara is holding his fish.

Nikon vs. Canon

Brooke and Sara after the farm show - on the way home.

PaD - Jan 14

I'll tell you something about myself. I collect chickens. I love them. When I lived in town and then moved to the country the first thing I wanted to get was some chickens. And chickens I got - along with ducks and geese and quail. I think I went about it all the wrong way. I got six chickens, six ducks, 2 geese (goosey and Lucy), and 24 quail. It was out of hand. Too many feathers flying. Too much poop. Too many eggs and two too many geese being mean to my babies. That was the last straw. I remember one day we were getting ready to go somewhere. Mikey was about 3 at the time. I told the kids to go out to the van and get in awhile. I'd be out in a couple seconds. When I went out, all that I saw was Mikey's feet. His body was flying into the van and the feet were hanging out in mid air. The geese were right behind him getting ready to chase the poor little guy into the van. That was it. Those birds were gone by the weekend. I gave them to Kev's uncle and he probably took them to the market. All that I know is that they no longer were biting and chasing my kids. But I still do love chickens. I have all kinds of chickens in the house. Just now they don't poop or lay eggs. Sara was a sweetie and suprised me with an awesome little wood chicken. This thing is about an inch and a half high and is carved out of a single twig. She got it yesterday when we took her to the farm show. I think it was her way of saying "thanks" for letting her hook school to go to the farm show. Thanks Sara - I love you!!!

PaD - Jan 16

Kelsey has finally took an interest in cooking. She breaded the chicken, made the rice and the vegetables. It was delicious. What I found unusual is that she didn't mind touching the chicken. When I was a kid, I told my mom I was gonna get a maid to make my chicken. I just don't like the way it feels. My mom doesn't either. Kelsey doesn't mind though. I guess from now on I will have my little "maid" make the chicken. Now if I could just get her to clean up like a maid would I would have it made. ha, ha. (pun intended)

PaD - Jan 17

It is quite scary driving with a kid who has their permit. I'm just not liking this. With it comes not only fear for my life but his also. Also the fear of him growing up and leaving us soon. It just seems like yesterday I brought him home from the hospital and I was a brand new mommy who didn't know a thing about raising a baby. I miss those days so much when the kids where babies. I miss the newness of it all. I guess you could call this new, but I'm not liking it near as much. I have to realize though that he is growing into a young man right before my eyes. Yesterday a baby, today a teen, tomorrow a man, the next day a father and so on and so forth. I am shocked at how fast time flies when you are a mom. I wish I could keep my kids young forever but that would prevent me from seeing what I have raised and loved from growing into their own people. Someday this boy will have a wife and beautiful children to bring home and I will love them just as much as I love him. I just hope and pray that he makes good decisions in his life and chooses wisely. As far as right now is concerned, please always wear your seatbelt and remember that driving is a privelege.

PaD - Jan 18

Kelsey was playing with my camera and was taking pictures of her feet while spinning around on my computer chair. Her's came out much better than mine. I was a copy cat and tried it myself. Can we say blurry? Oh well.

PaD - Jan 19

Mikey is so hard to take pictures of. Not because he's not cute, because he is. It's because he hates his picture taken. I had to beg and plead with him to let me take these. He said yes and I'm so glad these turned out so good. This is my Mikey. Such a cutie pie. He has the most amazing eyes. I didn't do anything to them believe it or not. Usually when I try to take pictures of him he either makes a crazy face or looks mad. (I wonder if he gets that from me?)

PaD - Jan 20 - Inauguration Day

Today was Inauguration Day. Today we have our first black president. I have to admit that I didn't think that would happen. I thought I would have been a grandparent by the time our nation would elect a black man as president. I didn't vote for Obama but as a good citizen of this great land I feel I need to give him the benefit of the doubt now that he is our president. With the state of our economy, I really hope and pray that he can bring change. We sure do need change to come in the area of our economy. I'm not so sure of all the other changes he talks about. That sort of scares me, but I won't get into that.
I read a story in Parade Magazine about him as a father and I have to say I was moved. Being a mother to four kids I can understand the love he must have for his girls. Here is the letter he wrote to his daughters:

Dear Malia and Sasha,

I know that you've both had a lot of fun these last two
years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs,
eating all sorts of junk food your mother and I probably shouldn't have let you
have. But I also know that it hasn't always been easy for you and Mom, and that
as excited as you both are about that new puppy, it doesn't make up for all the
time we've been apart. I know how much I've missed these past two years, and
today I want to tell you a little more about why I decided to take our family on
this journey.

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about
me—about how I'd make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things
I want. But then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and
mischief and those smiles that never fail to fill my heart and light up my day.
And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn't seem so important anymore. I
soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I
realized that my own life wouldn't count for much unless I was able to ensure
that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours. In the
end, girls, that's why I ran for President: because of what I want for you and
for every child in this nation.

I want all our children to go to schools
worthy of their potential—schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instill
in them a sense of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the
chance to go to college—even if their parents aren't rich. And I want them to
get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give them benefits like health care, jobs
that let them spend time with their own kids and retire with dignity.

I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you'll live to see new
technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner
and safer. And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the
divides of race and region, gender and religion that keep us from seeing the
best in each other.

Sometimes we have to send our young men and women
into war and other dangerous situations to protect our country—but when we do,

I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason, that we try our best
to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything
possible to keep our servicemen and women safe. And I want every child to
understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free—that
with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great
responsibility.

That was the lesson your grandmother tried to teach me
when I was your age, reading me the opening lines of the Declaration of
Independence and telling me about the men and women who marched for equality
because they believed those words put to paper two centuries ago should mean
something.

She helped me understand that America is great not because it
is perfect but because it can always be made better—and that the unfinished work
of perfecting our union falls to each of us. It's a charge we pass on to our
children, coming closer with each new generation to what we know America should
be.

I hope both of you will take up that work, righting the wrongs that
you see and working to give others the chances you've had. Not just because you
have an obligation to give something back to this country that has given our
family so much—although you do have that obligation. But because you have an
obligation to yourself. Because it is only when you hitch your wagon to
something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.

These are the things I want for you—to grow up in a world with no limits
on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into
compassionate, committed women who will help build that world. And I want every
child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you
girls have. That's why I've taken our family on this great adventure.

I am so proud of both of you. I love you more than you can ever know. And I am
grateful every day for your patience, poise, grace, and humor as we prepare to
start our new life together in the White House.

Love,
Dad

I hope by how sincere he sounds in his letter to them shows some of his character. We can all hope and pray that he will be good for our country and not be a failure. He has a lot against him in my book but I will pray for him to make the right decisions and choices. I hope you will too.

PaD - Jan 21
My friend Charlie has taken an interest in my kids. She loves the fact that the girls play piano and are taking lessons. So much so that she wanted to make sure that Sara had some current music to learn. She said it is very important for new beginners to play songs that they have heard and like. Bless her heart, she bought Sara three new music books. There is even a country book with Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood. Sara loves her new books. Thanks so much Charlie. You are such a sweetie and we love ya.

Charlie smiling and playing on her keyboard.

PaD - Jan 22

Today Kelsey finally had her Christmas Chorus Concert. This concert has been rescheduled three times because of bad weather. I really didn't think it was even gonna happen. Luckily it finally did. Here's the proof:


Here's Kelsey with two of her friends after the concert.