Here we go again....

Just when I thought it was safe to relax, Brock decides to try out for the junior high basketball team. EEK! Tryouts begin this afternoon and run through Wednesday.

Brock's grade is known for having stellar athletes who also happen to be stellar jerks. In fact, it's a serious enough issue that it's often brought up at school district meetings. Teachers ask, "What's with the class of 2016?"

I actually discouraged him from trying out. If he ended up making the team, why would he want to hang out with a group of bullies? His response was that if he makes the team, he will be proud of himself. I told him I have never been more proud of him than when he was "demoted" in soccer, but continued to hold his head up high and practice extra hard. He showed great character. The way he handled himself was amazing, and something I don't know if I could have done. That my son, is something to be proud of and is a skill that will serve you well in life.

I think during tryouts, the junior high basketball coaches should give the kids a manners and personality test along with their skills. That would be a sure-fire way to weed out the bad seeds. Shouldn't your personality and sportsmanship play a part of whether make the team?

Stay tuned for the try-out saga. And I'm 99% sure it will be a saga.

Where have I been?

Life has been extra hectic. I apologize to my loyal reader(s).

My days have been filled with home schooling my eldest, nursing a sick chicken back to health and entertaining.

Eldest is back in school full-time, the chicken is better and in-laws are gone (sniff).

Hopefully I can reacquaint you with the comings and goings of our household. The important things like: who used the toilet brush as a plunger again, Brock's latest schemes and Kate's professional banking abilities.

For now here's a picture of the on-the-mend chicken.

Cross that off my list.

For the first time ever, I have completed all my Christmas shopping early. I hate to give away the surprise, but family and friends can expect one of these under the tree this year. Merry Merry!

A bit slow on the up-take.

Note: I'm blaming this on lack of coffee. When this flyer fell out of the newspaper this morning, and I read "Fresh Blackberry Pie", my first thought was: "Gross! What type promotion is this? How did they make pie out of a Blackberry?" (Yes, I was thinking Blackberry, as in cell phone.)

So imagine my surprise when I saw in the Safeway circular that Apples were $1.29/lb. That would mean an Ipod Nano would be just pennies!

One bloom.

Makes me smile. I could stare at it all day.

It's just a regular old farm here....

The chickens are doing their job and producing lots of yummy eggs for us. The eggs are much smaller than store-bought eggs. I've heard as the chickens get older, their eggs might get bigger. The yolk color is scrumptious. It's a dark yellow-gold. And the taste....yummmm.

We had a mishap with one of the original chickens, so we've added three more to our flock. Say hello to Daisy, Lola and Maria.

A flower is the Earth's way of saying "I love you".

Like I've mentioned before, we live deep in the woods. Our back deck gets about three hours of sunshine. As much as I wish I could, I can't grow bright and beautiful flowers.

Thankfully, just up the street is a flower farm. For $5 you can pick one dozen flowers. Kate and I love walking up to the farm and purposefully walking down each row, searching for the perfect flower. Kate claims that she wants these same flowers for her wedding bouquet. I'd have to agree. They are show-stopping.

From now until they are gone, we are planning on picking flowers from the farm until the end of the season. We are thinking that next week we will do a mono-tone bouquet. Stay tuned.

Sweeter than sweet.

So yesterday was a beautiful day....highs in the 70s and bright blue skies. We took a jeep ride to get ice cream. All was well until we began driving down the road and Kate hadn't finished her cone. Her hair was whipping around and kept getting into her ice cream. Without being asked, Brock reached over and held her hair for her until she finished her treat. Unbelievably sweet. Truly. Yes, Brock can bug the crap out of her and purposefully drive her crazy, but he really loves her.

I tried to sneak a photo of him holding her hair, but I wasn't sneaky enough. Instead, I have a picture of the two of them being disgusted with me.

Home is where you lay your head.

I keep experiencing the erie feeling of not knowing where I am when I awake. I'm pretty certain it is due to the fact that since July 1st, I've been in six different cities and now am finally home. Last night I was so disoriented that I got up to use the bathroom and it wasn't until I was washing my hands, that I figured out I was home. I knew those towels looked familiar!

What I can't figure out is, why this is happening to me now that I'm home? I would of guessed it would have happened to me on the road. My guess is that I must have not been able to get in a deep sleep when I was a house guest.

Our trip to Colorado, New Hampshire, St. Louis, Kansas City and my parent's lake house in Kansas was a lot of fun. Due to a phone mishap, I lost half of the pictures. I'll try and post some later.

Down and out.

June hasn't been a very hot month (both figuratively and literally). For the past week I've been down and out with some sort of virus.

Whenever I am sick, a side effect for me is that I want others around me. No need to talk. No need to touch. Just to be present with me in my sickness. Honestly, that's one of the first signs I know that I am sick and not just tired. The kids were at school and Brian was at work, so these two stepped in and kept me company.

Here's to sweet animals. They somehow always know....maybe it's because I was warm and since I'm refusing to turn on the heat in June, they had no choice but to cuddle up with me.