Fair is over!!!

I promise to post photos tomorrow - I just wanted to post a quick update to say that the fair is over, the hogs are sold, and Quincy keeps telling everyone who will listen that the pigs went to Heaven (sad). Mallory, Madison and Cameron all got blue ribbons on their pigs, Colin had the champion cross-bred hog. Cameron won 2nd place in the rate of gain contest - with his pig gaining 2.66 pounds per day - he lost first place by a 10th of a pound per day. The foods, posters, and flowers did well also, and Mallory and Colin both baked cookies which qualify to go to the state fair.

We spent yesterday trying to catch up on laundry, and house cleaning - my house was a total disaster after running in and out for the week...the laundry was not so easy to catch up on since it has been raining and our dryer broke. We have been drying things on makeshift clotheslines and on the backs of chairs. We have the local repair guy coming tomorrow...he and his wife were running the concession stand at the fair, so he had no time last week!

We spent today with Jim's sister who has been visiting from Virgina. We attempted to go to the KU Natural History Museum, only to find that because of the economy, they have started being closed on Mondays. We then trecked across Lawrence to go to the Prairie Park Nature Preserve only to find that they are also closed on Monday. The kids had a fun time playing at the park and going to Wells Overlook Tower. Photos to come!

a busy but fun weekend

We started out our Saturday bright and early at the fairground clean up. I think the fair grounds are officially ready for the fair to begin on Wednesday evening now! The kids worked really hard and we got a lot accomplished in a pretty short amount of time. Cameron saved the day by rescuing the ladies cleaning the concession stand from a killer tree frog.

After cleaning the fairgrounds, and Colin getting home from his first football practice, Jim and the boys were off to help Jim's parents unpack a van of office equipment, while the girls and I put 26 quarts of zucchini in the freezer.

My uncle recently got re-married, and he and his new wife hosted a nice family party today. Quincy and Preston had fun playing with their cousins!

Madison with "Sarah Piglin"

Mallory shaving "Katy Piggy"

Cam learning to clip up "Dr. Pigram"

Colin watching as "Jenius" let Brian fix up his ears

We spent our evening with our friend Brian helping the kids shave their pigs. They all look much younger and their muscle tone looks much more distinguished now! The kids did a pretty good job of trimming their own hogs this year...with very little help other than on the ears- we had to noose their noses to accomplish this task other than on the very friendly Jenius, who laid very still and let us trim all around his face and ears! Thank you to our friends Brain and Julie, who took this evening to help us out even though they are going to the hospital to have a baby tomorrow (I am sure you probably had other things to do tonight -so we really appreciate your help!)

Thursday

Because I wanted to teach our children about 'real' farm animals, we went to the Douglas County fair this week to watch my nephew show his Holstein heifers. We had a lot of fun, and enjoyed seeing a lot of people from when I was a kid showing in Douglas County!

A friend of ours gave us a bag of hand-me-down clothes this week. Preston was very excited with this Power Ranger costume that was in there. He has been wearing it for 3 days now - I did make him briefly take it off so we could wash it. I am not sure it got dry before he had it back on again!

Madison purchased herself a pair of sunglasses from walmart online. Once they were delivered she decided that they made her look too much like a giant fly, so they quickly became Quincy's newest fashion accessory.

This is Jenius, Colin's hilarious pig. He is not too proud to follow a bucket of feed anywhere you want to take him with it. He probably needs to go pick up some dignity! The pigs are getting close to that show/sale time. We have mixed feelings....on one hand we will be sad to see them go, they are feeling like old friends by now, on the other hand, the bigger they get the more they poo!

week in review

I didn't get any posting done this week, so now I think I will have to review the week and post the photos in one big post. The weather has been pretty cool, and Colin couldn't swim because of the stitches, so we spent some time at the city park. We also spent some time walking the very grumpy pigs. Colin's pig seems to suffer the most from the diet he is on, and now will pathetically follow a feed bucket anywhere you want to lead him with it. I will try to get pictures of this because it is pretty funny.

Highlights of the week:

*Colin got his stitches out on Friday.

*Quincy had a little bout of the flu on Saturday, but seems much better today.

*We managed to pick up Colin's new glasses, and they seem to be holding up so far!

*I got all the enrollment papers for Preston and Quincy's preschool, and for Mallory, Madison and Colin's school and am chin deep in getting them all filled out. We have enrollment for the older 3 kids on Tuesday.

*Colin started his "free" trumpet lessons that came with the trumpet we purchased earlier this summer.

*Jim lived through cooking hotdogs for every kid in Overbrook who played ball, or was on the swim team. (He really did enjoy this).

*I lived through another board meeting at work - and even managed to not die or boredom!

*Jim took Colin and Cameron fishing. They caught a ton of fish, but didn't bring any home (which is fine because nobody here eats fish). They did manage to catch a snake, and they did indeed bring it home to show us. (Scared the heck out of Quincy). Jim swears that he was reeling in a fish and this snake struck at the fish and tried to eat it...he says it was just like something off the National Geographic channel. I have no idea how the snake ended up with a hook stuck in its side...some things I just don't ask!

*I was a Eucharistic minister at church this morning, when I got to church I realized that because of the little fishing trip, the steering wheel in my van had made my hands smell like fish bait and fish. Luckily I noticed before mass started so I was able to wash up before worship! Next time I must remember to Lysol wipe down the van when they get home!!

*We are getting ready for the fair next week. (Starts on the 12th). We are knee deep in posters, recipes, and other fair stuff. I am excited about the county fair, I love this time of the year!

Yet another wild weekend

Cameron had fun dancing with Quincy at my cousin's wedding reception. I thought it was very sweet. Notice, this little girl does not enjoy wearing shoes! Despite getting lost on the way to the reception, we had a good time when we got there! We are very happy for my cousin Wes and his new wife, Jessica, and we wish them many years of happiness!
Since all the kids were somewhat cleaned up, I decided to take a photo op...none of the photos turned out very well...someone always had their hands in their faces. I guess we will have to call up my friend Melissa to get our Christmas photo again this year!!

We ended up our weekend in the E.R. with Colin. He decided that he could do some trick riding on his new bike, but it didn't turn out too well! He got 7 stitches in the chin. He always manages to do these injury things on Sunday evening when our doctor's office is closed, and after the Express care places close for the evening. E.R. is always a bit of a freakshow, and we got our money's worth this evening! Colin is a little sad because he can't swim for a few days, but I figure that considering the injury he could have gotten, he is pretty lucky! They asked him at the E.R. if he was wearing a helmet, and he said "yeah but it didn't really protect my chin too well!" :)

Other than the obvious running in circles, and one small injury, we are doing pretty well I think!

Overdue post

This post is long past due since Colin's team had their final game on Wednesday night. They lost to North Lyon County to be out of tournament play. It was a tough game, and the boys from N. Lyon are definitely bigger, stronger and faster than Colin's team is! They had a great season though, with great coaches, and tons of fun! These photos are from the game the night before against Eskridge (who they beat) - I don't have any photos of the N. Lyon game because it started late and it was dark. The photos from then didn't turn out. Colin played some 2nd base, shortstop, and center field in both games. N. Lyon had a monster pitcher, he pitched about as hard as any kid we have ever seen, Colin managed to get a very nice hit off of him though!

With ball season now over, we are filling our days with swimming and training some (hungry) pigs. I say hungry because our friend brought over his hog scales and they are all pretty large - Mallory and Cameron's weighed 275, Madison's was 245, and Colin's was right at 300 pounds. They are now all on diets because the optimum weight for pig showing is 230-250, and we don't want them to get much bigger. We still have 3 weeks to go before fair! It should be a challenge! They are eating, just not on full feed like they have been all summer!

Other things that seem to be sucking dry our time, doctor appointments, this week my doctor found that everything seems to be progressing normally with #7. Mallory's eye exam found that she has great vision, and Colin needed a new prescription with his glasses, his left eye got a little worse. Personally, I was somewhat happy with that diagnosis because I was very frustrated with his old glasses, as they kept breaking all the time. I am hoping that the new pair is stronger and wear a little bit better! (Not that I want the kids eyes to get progressively worse though!) I also had to get some continuing education hours for the position on the library board. I got my hours in for the next 2 years - and I must say I am happy to have that done because those classes are BORING!! This weekend, we are headed to Emporia for my cousin's wedding. It seems that they have all decided that they should be married all the sudden! Should be good, and it is always nice to have a night off from cooking!

weather

This weather is really messing with my plans of being finished with baseball...Colin's tournament game was cancelled tonight. We can't exactly finish a tournament that we haven't started!

The pool pass money is starting to feel like a waste too, since it is hard to convince the kids they want to swim when the air is 75 degrees!

It is also really impairing my work, as I have several contractors lined up for jobs, and they can't get into the places I need them due to the wet conditions. I am starting to worry that the summer is never going to dry up so we can finish these things, and I really hate having to go to dam sites in the winter! Of course, I suppose I should be thankful for the nice green shades that usually are a little browner this time of the year, and for the beautiful weather that has allowed my kids to be outside playing!

Jim has been called for Jury duty tomorrow. Last time he got called, he ended up serving on the jury. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he won't be so 'lucky' this time! I have a doctor appointment tomorrow as well, and have to follow it with a trip to wal-mart (which I despise) because we are out of everything...no deodorant or toilet paper is a very bad thing!