Week of fun

 When I say fun, I use the term loosely!  We ran like crazy people, held a last fundraiser for the girl's CWF trip (last because all their money has to be in on Tuesday), started more projects than I can even count, and did it all with smiles on our faces....well except for when Aunt Amy tried to hold Saige!

 Harper got new glasses this week, grandma took this very cute photo - I had to post it because I think it is funny. 

 Saige has yet another cold.  She hasn't let it stop her from getting teeth, learning to blow spit bubbles, and learning some other new looks!

 The last fundraiser was a softball tournament.  I am very proud of our family taking on this project alone, and having it be very successful.  Mallory, Cam, Colin and Jim did some umpiring, Madison and I ran the concession stand, Madison at one point played as a sub on one of the teams, Colin helped drag fields, and retrieve home run balls from over the fence, Cam helped with the little ones, and Preston ran the score board.  I was extremely pleased with how it worked out!

 Which gives me great hope for the future....because Colin is submitting an application to go on the 2014 CWF trip, so knowing the finer art of fundraising is going to be an ongoing theme of our lives!!

Harper's new glasses came on Thursday.  We picked them up and came home, she had them for 2 whole hours before she had them this smudged up!  At least smudges wipe off, her old pair was scratched beyond belief!

The countdown  is officially on.....12 more days of school (10 for Colin).  The kids are excited about summer activities and although it sounds weird, I am too!  Life is easier without a morning routine (at least thats how I remember it!).

Got pigs?

 We do!

Grandpa was a little worried about Preston's small baby not making weight, and then he would have nothing to sell at the auction in August....so he picked up a crossbred black and white hog.  I thought it would be fun to not tell the kids, and then see their faces when they went to do chores and there was a new hog in the pen!  My mom hid in the shed and snapped their photo....somehow it was not the puppy at Christmas photo I was hoping for!!  Preston is very excited about his new hog, and Quincy is excited because she thinks Collin Swine is now hers!  I think the only one who was not excited was Oprah Pigfrey, because now he has to share more of his food!  :)

what weekend?

 We had a wonderfully wild weekend!  Today, we spent the afternoon with my cousins and a few aunts and uncles at a picnic at the lake.  The kids had a great time roasting marshmallows, playing kickball and gorging on oreos!

 Preston may have roasted his marshmallow just a little too much!

 It might be because he was enjoying playing in the fire just a little too much!

 Quincy and Harper were the kick ball team cheerleaders!

 Kick ball is a rough game....we did laugh about how when we were growing up, our grandma always said you don't get to win just because you are a little kid, you have to earn it!  She never "let us" win - ever!  I think my cousins may have picked up on this behavior, especially after I watched them throw the little kids out just like they do the big ones!  :)  Nobody was bleeding, therefore you are having fun!

 Colin and Cameron named their hogs.  Colin's hog (above) is named Preston.  He says if Preston named his hog Collin, then all is fair!  Preston was honored!

Cameron's pig (the one with the big spot on his rear end) is named 2012 Toyota Hamry.  They all have names now!

 Saturday, in addition to our normal ball practice schedule, we attended 2 baby showers.  There are actually 5 babies due in our family (and none of them are me)!  I had to include this photo, because cousin Melissa has been trying to become friends with Harper for 2 years now!  We see her all the time because she lives just down the street, but Harper does not really want to be friends!  She actually crawled up on Melissa yesterday and was very happy to sit with her!  It was a good moment in their history!

Harper and Quincy were also excited to be a product of the clearance queen's latest shopping excursion!  They got all sorts of new clothes and shoes and were so thrilled!  Thank you aunt Jeanne and Grandma Nellie!  They looked very pretty this weekend!!

It was the one of the quickest weekends on record!  We accomplished a lot, ran a lot, and saw a lot of people.  It was fun, but I am ready to go back to work so I can rest!

 Mallory had a game in Holton last night.  Madison took these photos with her cell phone.  I am interested in cell phone photos, did you know there is a button that asks if you want a low, medium or high quality photo?  Still trying to figure out at what point you would want a low quality photo?  Anyhow I know the top photo is hard to see that Mallory is batting, but I like the sun beams in it!  Mallory had a tough night batting,

but an awesome night at 2nd base!  She had a lot of put outs and played really well!  Unfortunately, by the end of the game, we had to move the van over and sit in it because the wind was so cold!  Luckily, where she played you could sit in your car and still see pretty well!

We are off and running for a wild and crazy weekend. 

one of those weeks

This has been one of those weeks. The ones where you don't dare look at tomorrow, for fear of a total overload. One day at a time is all I can do! It is hard for me because I have a little OCD when it comes to planning out everything! I am trying to focus on today, and not get to obsessed with what I have to do later! Colin, Cameron, Preston and Quincy have all started summer ball practices. There are only about 18 days of school left, so there is a ton of year end stuff going on, with field trips, and field days, and last concerts and year end projects. Not that my kids would ever put off a year end project until the end of the year mind you!
Saige has taken it all in stride, and seems to even enjoy the running around!

Colin had his 8th grade spring concert tonight. He says this is the last band concert he will ever be in. We won't sell his trumpet in case he ever changes his mind! He seems to be a pretty good trumpet player (one of my requirements for dropping out is to prove to me that he actually knows how to play the darn thing, and he does!). He just really doesn't like it all that much! Mallory tried to tell him high school band is a lot of fun, but Colin just isn't buying it!

The gang's all here now. We finally got all the hogs purchased for this year.

Colin and Cam got blue butt hogs. This makes quite a few different classes they can be in at the fair, which makes me very happy - showing is hard enough without having to compete against your siblings!

Now if we can get them all to grow to 230+ pounds and stay alive, we will be in business!

We did find us a good pig helper! My nephew loves these guys almost as much as Quincy does!

I will have to wait to announce Colin and Cameron's pig names, they aren't finalized yet!

A rainbow of pig flavors

Tonight we made a very strange journey to Vinland to purchase a couple of 4-H hogs. Preston got a very small Hampshire (black and white), and is so excited about his first pig! He named the hog Collin Swine (after KSU's Quarterback, C0llin Klein, not after his brother!). I am just a little nervous that this little piggy will not make weight, but Preston told me if he doesn't, it will be ok for us to eat him - Preston LOVES bacon and ham! At least he has a realistic grasp on the idea of a market hog!
We bought a Duroc (red with floppy ears) for Madison. Opposite of the problem with Preston's hog being too small, I see a diet in this guy's future! Madison says she is naming him Oprah Pigfrey. I don't really know who has been working with him, but he is super friendly and pretty cute. Swinederella didn't seem to mind having company, and they all seemed to be settling in together ok this evening.

I had to put this photo on here, not because it is a wonderful pose by Quincy, but because it illustrates her silver sparkly flats that she was wearing to go buy hogs! You can never look too pretty, especially when going to a big old pig farm! She loves hogs. I can't tell you how excited she was about the little baby pigs that the guy tried to sell her. He tried to sell her one that would need to be bottle fed! She was all about it. I said NO WAY! We sure would NEVER be able to put a thing that she bottle fed into our freezer!

Saige is getting to a place where she is very unhappy with the bouncy seat - she wants to be upright. I got out the exercise seat for her and she spent a good hour standing in it. She spent a good amount of that time licking it. Wonder what Harper left on there that tasted so good?

We also let her try her first graham cracker. She was most impressed with this! Girlie likes to eat!

Our sweet 5 month old

Saige Grace is 5 months old today! I took these photos of her over the past 2 days. She is such a happy little girl! She is starting to get a touch of stranger anxiety though!

I did snip her bangs a little bit because they were hanging in her eyes! She didn't seem to mind! She has added ballpark field lining and concession stand work to her very long list of job skills!

She seems to be cutting teeth, but it doesn't seem to be really bothering her any! We can see them just below the gums, but they haven't broken through yet.

She can roll over, and scoots all over the floor, but it is not crawling, just more pushing forward with her toes and face planting into the carpet! I am amazed by how far she can get with this method! Its not pretty, but it is useful!

And more stuff

Cameron had a spring band concert this week. The 6th grade band sounded really good, and they sure have come a long way in the past almost 2 years! I am, as always, impressed with the band director! Cam loves playing trombone too, so that is a real bonus!
Cam has been busy feeding his new bees. They eat sugar water at an amazing rate! Luckily, I have saved up my reward points at the grocery store and sugar is free!! :)

Grandma got some baby chickens. Harper likes them, but Quincy is enamored. She keeps asking when we are going to move to the country so she can have chickens! I wonder if she will still think they are awesome when they are bigger? She wants to be a farm girl!!

The realtor does seem to be promoting our house pretty well, and we have another showing on Monday. I am keeping my fingers crossed! I don't know about full blown farming, but I would like to have some farm fresh eggs!

We are on the brink of a fairly relaxed weekend. I always get paranoid when I don't see much on the calendar -- what did I forget to write down? I am sure that something will come up!

just stuff

Saige is the happiest thing! She just rolls with the punches and for that I am so thankful!

Felt that I needed to put these photos on here - I am totally amazed by the new bees. When Cam went to release the queen, they had made comb.....lots of comb. It was hanging from the lid of the hive and they were busy, busy. They were very protective of the hive and somewhat aggressive in protecting it. Luckily he was wearing a bee suit and thought it was a good sign that they are happy with their new home!

Cam took these photos with his cell phone. Not too shabby!