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I have figured out the secrets to adding video to my blog! I think. I told you about a funny home video I had of Matt and Josh. Here it is. We had a fun time playing that night. It is amazing to me how badly we can all sing and still get a "good" rating on that game! The lighting was terrible, so we will just call that "ambience."
Matt went fishing with Roberta and her family today. (She is Gramma Berta to the kids.) Gramma Berta let him use her camera to take pictures and make videos. Here is his first production. I think he might need a crash course in which way is up for the lens... hahah.
We had a full weekend! Friday was Kyle's fieldtrip day. They orginally planned on going to a state park, but with the extreme flooding we have had this last week they couldn't do that. Plan B... the teachers took all the kids to the park to play all morning, and then they went back to class and paid more games. I stopped by the park on the way to get the mail and took some pictures of Kyle playing with his friends.
Chet and his BoyScouts group did some clean-up work on the town square yesterday.
I am molting. This sunburn is taking forever to heal, and the second degree burns around my neck are still tender. You can see the molting skin on my arm here, but I will spare you the view of my back. It isn't pretty.
Beth woke up the other morning, came downstairs, and fell back to sleep on the couch. Polly took advantage of the warm lap, and climbed up for an extended nap.
Yesterday morning we took the younger kids to the Farmer's Market for the "First Ever Flower & Garden Show." It only took about 30 minutes to go through everything, but it was still a nice way to spend the morning. We got to talk to farmers who gave me some good advice on my garden, and I will be going back this weekend to buy some plants. Apparently, if you plant cilantro next to your tomatoes it will keep the aphids away. I don't know if it will stop the dogs from digging beds under my tomato plants, but at least the bugs won't be there!
The kids loved all the puppies that were being sold and given away. They begged me to let them get a chihuahua. Are they kidding me? We can't have a dog that tiny! He would get trampled!
There was a lady running a booth that let all of the kids at the show have a plant. The kids brought home watermelon and sunflower plants. The lady guaranteed they really are watermelons and not pumpkins, but I am skeptical.I KNOW I planted two packs of watermelon seeds last year, and nothing but pumpkins came of it!
The baby ducks, baby turkeys, and baby chickens were a hit with the kids too. This box has a mix of turkeys and chickens. The girl said the yellow ones are the turkeys, but I couldn't tell them apart at all at. We didn't get any because I knew I would end up with a chicken house full of turkeys. Things just work that way for me. We are getting a chicken coop put together in the next couple of weeks, though. Have you seen the price of eggs lately?
For some reason, this booth just cracked me up. I have never seen compost packaged up so prettily before! Each bag had raffia and hand-punched title cards. I never knew rotting organic products could be such a work of art!
This was my favorite booth... cakes of homemade soap that look good enough to eat.
There were tons and tons of plants to choose from as well. I discovered chocolate mint plants. The farmer let me pinch off a leaf and taste it. It was good. He told me if I planted a pot by my door it would keep away mosquitos. I am thinking about bordering the property with it if that is the case.
Somebody ran over a big turtle on our dirt road Friday. By the time I came home from work, it had been discovered by this vulture. When I stopped the car he circled above me while I took his picture, waiting rather impatiently for me to get on my way so he could return to his meal.
I also wanted to share this recipe with you. I saw Giada cooking it the other day, and it sounded so good. Then artichokes went on sale for $1 a piece, so I decided to try the recipe out. Faith loooooves artichokes, and she was really excited for dinner last night. These were very good. I added some green onions to the cheese filling, and I didn't have parsley so I used basil with the breadcrumbs, but it was still yummy. I am going to make them again and add some chicken to the filling, which would make it a whole meal. 
Anyway... I need to go get tonight's dinner going. We are having deersteak and roasted taters tonight..... mmmmmm. Then we won't have anymore deermeat left. Is it hunting season yet?We have had a busy week. This is the last week of the highschool baseball season, and Matt's team was supposed to play their last homegame on Tuesday. Mother Nature wasn't in a cooperative mood, though, and sent some severe thunderstorms this way instead. After waiting a while to see if it would clear out, the other team forfeited. Team pictures were being taken afterwards, and since Matt was in his uniform I took some shots of him too.
Here he is with a couple of his teammates and coaches after they left the dugout. All those spots are rain. 
While they waited to get their pictures taken, I sat in the truck. Matt and his friends started waving, so I took some more pictures while I waited. Their last game is tomorrow night. Good luck guys!
Here is Matt's big news, and we are really proud of him! His art teacher nominated him to be in the US Achievement Acadamy's Who's Who in Art yearbook, and he has been accepted! This makes him eligible for some big scholarships towards art school! We are sending in his bio form tomorrow, and looking forward to seeing it all in print in the yearbook!
This weeks' Walk for Sidewalks event was a longer walk. Jack and I went with the kids and walked from the trucking company near our house all the way to the school. You can't see Todd in this shot since he is right behind Faith, but he was there too!
I had to take a shot of the cloud formations the other day. I thought it looked so cool the way the cloud seemed to be melting across the sky and erasing the blue areas.
This is a mud fountain that Beth, Kyle and Todd made yesterday. They wanted to make sure I put it up here for Gramma and Uncle to see it!
Matt isn't the only aspiring artist in our house. Faith drew this picture of me last week. It makes me laugh.
My sunburn has finally faded to a dull roar. There are still blisters I am waiting on to heal. With all the rain this week the grass I mowed to get this burn is already tall again. Sigh.Chet has been wanting another beagle. This little girl needed a new home, so my friend Brenda gave her to Chet. Her name is actually Beagle,and if we say her name several times in a row she starts to sing. She is two years old (which is how old Barkley was when we got him) and she is a sweetheart. I simply adore the fact that she is already house-trained.
Beth adores her too, and loves taking her for walks around the yard.
I walked down to the pond today, and suddenly this frog hopped up next to me and sat there for a spell. I tried taking pictures of the dragonflies that he was watching, but they didn't turn out.
The bees and butterflies are returning too. The monarch wouldn't sit still for me, but this little bee cooperated.
Today was yard beautification day after church. We got most of the property mowed and cleaned up, and now I am bright, bright, BRIGHT red. I used the pushmower for a while and my legs got a really good workout. It was using the riding lawnmower that left me a toasty shade of lobster. At least I was wearing a tanktop. Maybe this year I won't end up a weird shade of neopolitan ice cream from different tan and burn marks! Tomorrow when I get home from work I need to get some serious work done in my garden. I am determined to have a great garden this year. I pledge to leave the corn in its rows and only yank the grass out. I will keep my green beans and my peas away from each other since they can't play nice together. And if the Great Pumpkin appears and attempts another garden coup, I will literally nip it in the bud.
I have to go to bed now so I can get up for work in the morning. Good night!
I thought I would officially start blogging again with some recent photos. I haven't really put these in order, so prepare yourselves for a bit of rambling!
As we were watching Kyle's practice the other day, Beth asked me to take her picture. Then she struck this pose. The horns were funny enough.... the lizard tongue had me dying laughing.
Here is a more angelic version.
Kyle is very quickly getting back into the swing of baseball. He is so good, and I love watching him! He had just hit the ball in this shot. One of these days I will actually get a shot of the bat in contact with the ball!
The intermediate school had its annual chess tournament a couple of weeks ago, and Chet and Faith did very well. Faith won first place for the 4th grade, and Chet won 2nd for the fifth grade. They will both be competing in the five-school tournament for a regional championship. Faith is the only girl from Green Forest!
We put on a Walk Through Jerusalem event at church on Easter Sunday, and despite the planning time I lost being in the hospital with Chet it came together very well. Jack and Kyle were carpenters, and Matt was a Roman soldier. Beth and Faith were bakers and Todd was a potter. I was... well... a photographer from the Holyland Tribune... lol.
After everyone had gone through the marketplace, Matt arrested Kyle and then compelled him to carry his cross to the hill. Here is Kyle trying to be serious.
I just liked this shot of Chet practicing chess the night before. He likes to play himself, going back and forth across the table as he plays both sides of the board.
Here is Todd hanging out with Jack at the ballfield last week.
The guineas have come out of hibernation and are clucking around the property again. Sadly, the snakes are out of hibernation too. Ick.
And here is Kyle's very first practice drill of the season.
After a month of the strangest weather... tornadoes, floods, snow, and heat all within days of each other... our grass has suddenly shot up very tall and green. It was time to dust off the mower, gas it up, and start the ghastly battle of keeping it short. The kids were thrilled! They get to ride along in the cart, and if Jack needs something picked up they can jump out and grab it.
And here is Todd hanging out on the monkey bars.
This week we walked with the State Representative. Chet's bestfriend Tyler came along for this walk.
And here is Faith introducing herself to the Representative King.
I have a really funny video of Matt I want to put up here. Josh and Mystery brought a karaoke game over last week, and it was an absolute blast to play. As soon as I can figure out how to add video again, I will get Matt and Josh singing "Superman" up here.
I need to create an updated banner for this blog...in fact it really needs a whole new facelift. Maybe tomorrow I can give a fresh new look. Until then, I need to get some sleep. Talk at you later!
It has been a fairly quiet new year so far. The most significant thing so far is that Kyle turned 8 on Tuesday. Happy Birthday, Happy Boy!
Josh and Mystery were over on Saturday to celebrate his birthday. He got some pretty cool toys. This just shows his Spiderman walkie talkies and his cap gun set, but they got him a remote control robot that actually flies. We had tornado-type weather today, so he hasn't had a chance to play with it now that it is charged. Maybe tomorrow we can get it outside and take some pictures.
I have been working more with Photoshop everyday. This was a picture I took of myself the other day and then played with some filters to see what would happen. I thought this one was kind of fun .
Seriously, the kids must think this is what I really look like sometimes... lol
The other fun news from this week is that Faith has started singing in the praise band at church. She is really good at it too. I am really looking forward to seeing what some training does for her voice! Matt has started learning to play guitar too, and is going to praise band practice as well as his lesson each week. One of the girls in the band who plays guitar is going to college this summer, and he might be taking her place if he can get lessons in during all of his sports.
The break from sports is over. Baseball practice has begun, so Matt has been there each afternoon. Kyle will be playing baseball again this year too, but we are going to skip softball and t-ball. LOL... Faith hated softball, and while T-ball was funny to watch the kids get bored so quickly, and trying to get 5 kids to 3 different games in different towns was a bit too much last year!
Matt is turning 16 tomorrow. Can you believe it? I can't. I am just not ready for it. Sigh. He is having his party this weekend. Sniff. Sniff sniff.
I mentioned the tornado-ish weather, and it is still going on. In fact, there have been a couple in Missouri already tonight. We are under a tornado watch right now, but we really don't have the weather and worries that other areas do. The temperature has been really nice the last couple of days, though. In fact, Beth wanted me to let her fill her pool with water (from the hose that is iced over... lol) and let her swim yesterday.... lol.. I told her no.
