beehive

Cameron's mentor came by tonight to begin the process of getting the beehive together. Cam said that once he saw the process, it wasn't hard at all. He has a couple more boxes to put together on it. He was very excited!

I am very glad that the mentor knew what he was doing, because to me it looked like a box of sticks! Cam will have to paint the outside of the hive and place it before the bees arrive around the middle of April.

Solo!

Stacy perfecting her 'play dead' look!

We got a lot accomplished today, which is good! All 4 girls needed shots, so we had a notsomuch fun trip to the doctor's office. Quincy got her kindergarten shots, she laughed through all 4 shots! The nurse said they had never seen that before! Madison was not laughing - she has a fear of needles and she whimpered and cried like a baby! Harper had to have blood drawn, she did not cry with that, but was very unamused with the shot nurse!

My cousin, sister, neighbor and I have started a walking group. We are the "fair weather walkers." The first week was a giant flop, as it either rained or we had junk going on that interfered with our time. So we walked tonight. It is so much more fun to walk with people you can visit with! We walked a while and then I had to quit to go to Library board. It felt good to be out there!

Actually, the walking was much better than the library board meeting. It was a work session. It was planning for the future. To me this is very hard....to try to project what we will be needing space wise, book wise, technology wise 10 and 20 years down the road...I am sure my mind is not large enough to grasp what is coming! I am convinced that DVDs, CDs, Books on tape, and most paper books will probably be a thing of the past. I see the way my kids just download the stuff they want off the computer - they do NOT even own any CD's - and I have to believe that there will be an improvement to the DVD - those things scratch/get ruined so easily! To me, it is just hard to predict, and with a huge donation to the library, a lot is riding on making the right choices.

Which is why I am so looking forward to getting away for a few days! Tomorrow is my 'Friday"!! :)

Spring Break

Yesterday did not feel much like a 'break' with all the running everywhere. So I decided today was the first official day of the kids spring break! Of course, if you are on spring break, it is mandatory that you go fishing. Colin and Quincy headed right over to the city lake after church this morning. They did not catch any fish, but Quincy did bring home a bucket full of crawdads and snails. Colin thinks he is going to use them for bait tomorrow. Quincy thinks that Aunt Amy is going to baby sit for her new pets while we are on vacation later this week! Not sure who I think will win this little disagreement! The crawdads were evicted from my living room into a nice home in the garage! Quincy walked them all over the yard and fed them some cat food. I am not sure that crawdads eat cat food, but since cats are the only pets we have we went with that!

Harper "escaped" during mass this morning. She ran right up to the altar. I don't know if she would have done that, had the church been full? Our mass time was moved to the 8:00 am early spot today. That meant nobody was in front of me to stop her or slow her down, so right up she went! Luckily, our priest likes her!

I am so excited about taking a vacation! We haven't left the state for a long time! We are very excited for Jay and Angela (who are giving us a great reason to go on vacation)! Their wedding is going to be the highlight of our trip....unless we actually see the ghost of the Gray Lady at the Evansville Library of course! A two day work week - life is good!

Saturday with the most 'stuff''

We started out our Saturday bright at early at Regional 4-H club day. Mallory, Madison and Cameron danced. Colin had district wrestling, so he did not dance this time. They did a really, really great job! I am telling you that the dance they did this time had a lot to it, and they did amazing! I do not know how they placed though, because we had to 'dance and run.'

My mom's parents celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary today! My mom took all 4 girls plus Preston to El Dorado for the party. I wish I could have been there, but we had other obligations today. The girls told me all about it, and Madison took a bunch of great photos! They also told me that despite a little fit throwing by Quincy in the car on the way down, it was a very nice day!

Colin had a pretty good day on the mats. He went 2-2 and got 5th place, which is awesome for District wrestling. Unfortunately, they only take the top 4 to state next weekend, so he is the first alternate. I drove over and got to see one of his matches, but forgot my camera in the car, so I had to use his cell phone and it is not the greatest piece of photography equipment! I am so proud of Colin. I have watched him grow so much, have so much determination and learn a tremendous amount about the sport. He really is a great wrestler! I know he is disappointed in not making state, but the upside is that we are planning to go on vacation next week - so now he doesn't have to make a choice between wrestling state or going on vacation! The one match that I saw was so stinking exciting...I yelled and yelled like a freak (like one of those wrestling moms). He did win when I was watching!

I did not stay for much of Colin's tournament because Cameron had a Beginning Beekeeper's meeting. Luckily, his meeting was in Overland Park and Colin was wrestling in Olathe, so I was able to go to both! I did enjoy the beekeeper's meeting. It was really interesting. I have no idea what we have gotten into with this 4-H project, but I am very proud of Cam for being brave enough to try something new! He got his hive, gloves, smoker, and met his mentor today. (We do know his mentor - he lives right outside of town here). He was told his bees would arrive around April 15, so we have to assemble his hive, paint it and place it before then. He learned a ton about bee care, honey extraction, smoking bees, cleaning hives and more! I also have to say that there were 5 kids given this opportunity from across the state. They pulled the scholarship recipients up in front of the group - which was about 200 people I would guess. They were supposed to say their name, where they were from, and who their mentor is. Cam was the ONLY one who spoke up and was clear! They then had the scholarship kids pass out the door prizes. Cam had a little too much fun doing that - he had everyone laughing. I am not sure that a career in theater is not in his future?

We were supposed to attend a Bingo night for the 4-H livestock auction tonight, but we just didn't get home in time. I am going to say that this was an extreme case of having too many things on the calendar!

When Daddy's Away...

We Play and Play all Day!

(thank you God for the beautiful weather)

Madison made sure that NOBODY got pinched on St. Patrick's Day!

Quincy got to go with cousin Melissa and the boys to the St. Patrick's Parade in Topeka today. She LOVED it! She did get sunburned a little though - who knew a parade could last for over and hour and a half?

Quincy got a clown nose at the parade - so of course she then had to wear the clown wig, except that Harper decided that the wig was HERS!!

And the car is HERS!

And sand tastes GOOD - no matter what mom says about putting it down!

I am now breaking the cardinal rule of parenting and letting the big kids stay up late (on a school night -shreek) to watch KSU. One more day until spring break - I seriously doubt that they will be doing anything too productive at school tomorrow anyhow! Madison spent the evening baking so that they could have 'food day' in one of her classes! As I said - real productive stuff tomorrow!

Colin got knocked in the nose at wrestling practice tonight. He is ok, but I am not making any promises about the white shirt he had on!

We are all looking forward to Jim coming home. Quincy got so sad when I tucked her in tonight- she misses her daddy. Me too!

bad can be good

I am home today with Preston who has a bad headache and a fever. I really hate when my babies are sick, but it so happens that since Jim is spending the rest of the week in Wichita, and has no clean clothes to take with him, the timing is good. We just got Harper feeling better after a month of illness, so I was less than excited when the school called yesterday! Here's hoping that the Lysol does as it claims and kills all the germs!

So far, it has been a very strange day. I got a call from my long lost maintenance man, who has been on work comp leave for almost a year. I had not heard anything from him since way back last summer. I also have had multiple work related phone calls, so I guess my cell phone number has made its way around and I can no longer hide out!

Sunday Funday

You know you have exhausted your kid when she falls asleep mid-cookie!

We had a good Sunday. It was the annual St. Patrick's dinner after mass. Jim, the girls and I all had jobs to do. There was an excellent turn out and I did not think the line would ever end! We had plenty of food, and it was pretty good eats t0o! While I was working, Mallory fed the little ones and the boys, and then they wanted to know if they could walk over to the park. That sounded like a wonderful plan to me, and so I sent them off. When they got back, I felt a little bit guilty however, since the temperature had apparently dropped and it had gotten very cold! Harper's little hands were frozen, and Quincy had worn a light jacket! One more example of kids not noticing that it is cold/hot outside! Quincy even told me that she 'was not that cold!'
After the dinner, my new nephew came visiting! He is such a doll and the girls were very happy that they were home when he was here this time! We all got a bunch of baby snuggle time! Harper was still not nice to him, and I joked with Sam that when he goes off to kindergarten and sees her in the halls he will probably start to cry! At least this time she didn't bite him!

And I have to take a moment to brag on my girls. I had to go into work today to finish stuff. I left a roast in the oven, but had not even thought about what to put with it. When I got home, the laundry was done and folded, there were vegetables and warm banana muffins to go with dinner, and the house cleaning that we had started, was finished. I really appreciate them!

Jim and Colin were out burning more this afternoon. They met our closest future new neighbor and I think that the neighbor is going to help with some of the burning....which is good, that way he is involved if we burn too close to his house! I am also glad that Jim chose to take Colin today, as my legs still feel 'sunburned' from yesterday's fire adventure!
It is now snowing - which to me is totally depressing - I saw the tulip and daffodils poking out of the ground - it is spring darn it!
Dear Winter - please pack your stuff and go back to the North Pole where you belong....we are done with you for the season.

And lastly, I can't help but say a couple of extra prayers tonight - one for my grandma who I am told is deteriorating rapidly. I don't like the idea of facing life without her, but I don't want her to be in pain.
The other is for the people of Japan...and I keep wondering about Shiori (our Japanese exchange student from a couple of years ago), and hoping that she and her family are doing ok. The devastation is overwhelming.

Devine Swine!

Preston and Quincy were most impressed that Willy Wildcat is a swine producer!

I took the kids (except for Colin) to Manhattan to KSU Swine Producer's day. Preston did a great job of filling in for Colin!
They had free donuts, so Quincy was most happy with them...but then they did not bring her out any baby piggies to pet, or any big pigs to play with, so she became unhappy!

I think that we all learned a lot! The one thing that perked up my ears was when the main speaker said when feeding show pigs, feed cost is no object - you simply feed them the best no matter what the cost. I understand what he was saying , but I guess there is still a part of me that screams "these are PIGS - for crying out loud!" Of course, he also went on to say that they should - if they are show pigs - ALWAYS be kept on cement floors with 6-8 inches of cedar shavings under them that is kept dry so they don't tear up their feet....and that for 30-45 minutes a day they should be walked in sand pits to develop their leg muscles, but the walking should be done in the early morning or the late evening because pigs should always be kept out of direct sunlight - especially the white ones. WOW! I was not sure if he was still talking about pigs at this point!!

Preston, Quincy and Harper got a little wiggly during the speaker's talk, so we had to go on a little walk around campus and then out for a little lunch - since I just could not see any of them eating pulled pork in Weber arena without it being a disaster!

The highlight of the trip was of course, a stop at Call Hall for ice cream! I always forget how good that dang ice cream is! I am glad I don't live closer! I also bought farm fresh eggs and cheese curds - love cheese curds - and so do my kiddos and husband!

We finished out our trip to Manhattan with a stop at the Konza Prairie overlook area. It is a really pretty view, but I couldn't help thinking it would be prettier in a few weeks when the grass is greener and the wild flowers are blooming!

While we were off living it up in Manhattan, Jim took Colin to sub-district wrestling. Colin placed 3rd. We have reached that time of the season where you have to place in the top 4 to continue wrestling, so he does qualify to move on to districts next weekend. He tried a couple of new moves today, and they did not work out so well! Jim and I are very proud of him for trying so hard to perfect all these moves and counter moves!

When we got home, the girls watched the little ones so that Jim and I could have what they called "date night" - I gotta work on Jim's idea of dating I guess...we went out to our land and burned the waterway and the ditch next to the road. We probably should have had better fire fighting equipment - as the fire got a little further out than we planned and we ended up having to stomp it out. I think I will be needing new chore shoes! The good news is that I won't be needing to shave my legs for quite some time!

Preston reported to me that Quincy and Harper do NOT know the proper use of a dump truck! Putting people in the back is dangerous! So true!