~Meet Hadley~

We have embarked on a new adventure:-)

We have a Chinese student living with us for two weeks. His English name is Hadley and please don't ask me to say or write his Chinese name! He is 13 and is here for about a month learning English and traveling the US. Twelve students are in the group and we gathered together with their teachers and host families for a picnic and baseball game tonight. It was super fun to meet the other families... what a neat group of people! It was also nice to see "our boy" so active. At our house he is very quiet... with his friends he is a real go getter!

The basic schedule is Mon-Friday he has "school" in the morning and a field trip in the afternoon... they have already gone to a lake to go boating and have visited a grocery store. The schedule looks fun and the group is very organized. He is with us for the evenings and weekends. Gregg is having fun using his Chinese too!

Poor guy slept with the light on all night last night because he couldn't find the switch:-) We will take him to the race track with us tomorrow... I hope he has fun!

~Bible School~

We are in the midst of Bible School this week! Nathan and Eric were especially excited:-) They love the prizes, the songs, the lessons, the crafts, the games, the puppets...... and the big bear hugs!

~One at a Time~

I did really well with gaining (or not gaining) weight with Kiersten. I have not done well with loosing the small amount of weight I did gain. I have been so snacky! I have finally been able to cut out the before bed snack, the mid afternoon snack, and the nobody is looking snack. It took a little longer to get into the work it off mode. There is always a sacrifice involved. I have been getting up at 5:30 this past week to walk in the morning before Gregg leaves for work. That is two hours earlier than my "normal" awake time. Once I'm up, I'm good to go but getting up takes a lot of determination. So, I walked five out of seven days last week. One pound is gone. I don't really have a number goal... just a feel better, fit into my clothes goal:-) That is a hard one too because I have skinny clothes, the next size, and the next size all in my closet! Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Heading to bed.... 5:30 comes early!

~More Checkers... and a Trophy~

The boys have been getting stickers each week they place in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They are getting points just like the real race car drivers and at the end of the season they tally the points and have an awards banquet. It is a good lesson in delayed gratification:0)

BUT... they got a glimpse of trophies this week!

Since this is our first year racing, we don't know all the ins and outs and how the schedules work. This Saturday was scheduled to be a Memorial Race in memory of the owner's father. When we got to the track we found out that the winners in each class were going to get a trophy! The boys were really excited!

Jordan did really well in his heat... he started 7th (last) and made it up to 3rd. He started 3rd in the race. He was able to hold his position, got bumped back and then returned to his spot with a really clean pass! Unfortunately, the two cars in front of him were really fast and he just couldn't catch up. I know he would rather win but I think a 3rd place spot is great too.

Jared was running well in his heat when his wheel bearings seized in his front right wheel. Gregg was able to get it fixed with some help before the race and Jared was able to race but had to start last because he wasn't able to finish his heat. He finished 8th (out of 10).

Aaron barely got started in his heat... his car just wouldn't go. He had to drop out of the heat. Gregg was able to look at his car and found dirt in the carburetor. He changed it, but the spare carburetor had a gas leak. He tried three times to get it on so it wouldn't leak. After a half hour of working on it, Gregg got the car put back together with 15 minutes to spare before Aaron had to be back on the track. He had to find his numbers and get into place... that isn't much time! Aaron started in the back (5th) because he didn't finish the heat but quickly took over first place. He finished the race in first and not only got a sticker but a trophy! This is the first week we've had multiple mechanical problems. Thankfully, the older drivers and other dads were helpful to Gregg. We also had a nice spot of open time between races that Gregg could work on the cars. I am also thankful our problems were not major... our spare parts were available:-)

Now for some photos...

Kiersten is so fun!

Eric and Nathan are either fighting or playing:0)


One of the older drivers is a big help to Gregg. They worked together to get the wheel changed.

Gregg working on Aaron's car

Scrapbook page for this week. The wording isn't right and I have typos but you get the idea!

~Fun Friday~

Gregg had the day off today because he missed a holiday from his last trip. He took the older three boys to continue disassembling the surprise and he manged to bring it home and assemble most of it. I'll give you a couple more days to make a guess;-)

I thought I'd try to make it a fun day for the little ones. I had four big bags to drop off at the thrift store so we did a little shopping too! We stopped at the bakery that happened to be on the way to the park. We each had a doughnut (chocolate filled eclair long john) and spent some time playing. It was too hot to be there but we enjoyed it anyway.Kiersten enjoyed watching all the kids run around. She was really wanting to get down and play now! I had a hard time holding her.

When we got home I got Kiersten down for her nap and let the boys play in the little pool. We didn't set up the big one this year because Gregg and I were both so busy we didn't think we would have time to take care of it. It is also getting harder for me to watch everyone while holding the baby. I found some holes in the little pool so just threw a tarp in it! The boys were all cooled off and ready for their nap by the end of their playtime!

A new pizza shop opened just down the road yesterday and Gregg thought he would treat us to pizza. It was very good! I also had to run and get some groceries so it turned out to be a very busy day.

Tomorrow we go back to the race track! Since I took today off... and tomorrow we will be gone... I think my house will be a disaster by the time we get to Monday!

Happy Weekend!

~Torture...err, um the Dentist~

My boys hate the dentist. They think it is torture :-) Believe me, they don't have anything to complain about. They just have the basic stuff done... x-rays & cleaning...We don't even do fluoride. The worst thing that happens is water sprayed in their face or the little sucker thing attaches to a cancer sore. I wouldn't know what to do if they did have a cavity... I've never had one either.
Today was Eric's first trip. He did great!

~Another Rain Day~

It has been very dry here the last few weeks. The farms are starting to water their fields and that just means higher prices at the grocery store. We were so thankful for the rain today!
We must have had 20 birds in the rose bushes by my front windows. There is a bit of an overhang so the birds could stay dry... sort of.

I even let the boys play outside:-)

~Rain Day~

Gregg arrived home from a 12 day trip to China on Thursday.

He had Friday (yesterday) off as a comp day and worked most of the day on the boys race cars for their Saturday race. We enjoyed Chick Fil A for supper since they were running their "dress up like me and get a free meal day." See yesterdays post to see me:0)

Today's race was rained out so I stayed home with four children while Gregg and two went to disassemble something he bought on Craig's List. He brought half of it home. He hopes to get the rest next week.

Any guesses on what we bought?

(I am hoping to spend some time with Gregg myself... someday ;0)

~Guess Where I Ate~

Our total bill was $37.95... we paid $3.50!!!

The boys wouldn't let me post a picture of them... but they make some cute cows!

~Pickles~

Mmmm, four pints!

~Christmas in July~

It is really hot outside this week so we are hanging out in the house! I got the blocks out for the little guys and the big boys assembled the slot car track. That noise just about drives me bonkers but the boys love it!

I listened to Christmas music all morning while we did our chores and played. We ate lunch in the living room and watched a Christmas movie. We were going to have candy cane milkshakes but attitudes were not the best and naps needed to be taken asap! I never got around to making them later.

Gregg returns tomorrow from a 12 day business trip!!!

~Todays Harvest~

It was too hot to do anything today! I waited until 8 pm to pick the beans and noticed there were several pickles ready too! I'm hoping there is enough to can one jar of pickles and one jar of banana peppers. I may end up freezing the beans because we have to many leftovers in the fridge right now to eat them tomorrow.

Tomorrow promises to be even hotter... No worries... I've got fun plans :0)

~Happy 4th (on the 5th)~

I was beginning to feel like I was missing out on all the fun. It seems like everyone was partying all weekend long and I was running behind on all my regular chores... forget about adding in some fun stuff. Today was finally my day of picnicking. Too bad it was WAY too hot to be outside. We had our picnic indoors with my parents and family.

Of course we enjoyed lots of food! My dad did the grilling and we did the eating. Way too much eating! I took this special jello, baked beans, coleslaw...and root beer floats! YUM! Everyone else brought every other side dish you could think of! Did I mention way too much food!?!?

A bunch went swimming but I elected to stay inside with my little ones:-) We enjoyed pictures of my brothers recent vacation. We talked and got caught up on all the stuff going on. The kids played Wii because it was too hot to be outside.
They also had some water balloons to battle with! How is it that it takes forever to fill them and they are all smashed in no time! Jared was trying to get Grandpa with the last one.

My niece was kind enough to pamper my feet:-) Not my normal style but it really makes me smile. She did a great job on the fireworks didn't she!?!?!?

Yawn, now I know why I didn't party all weekend, I'm beat!

~Helping with Haying~

Around here, the first gathering of hay and straw happens before the 4th of July. I was delighted that my boys were able to help the neighbors with that chore this year. The weather was delightful and the job was finished much quicker with many hands helping!
The boys enjoyed riding on the trailer and pulling the bales off the bailer. They had to get "sea legs" as the trailer tipped and bumped a bit. They also helped put the bales on the elevator that took it to the top of the barn. I didn't have my camera the whole time so I just got this shot of them way out in the field. And since our neighbors are so nice... they sent us home with a dozen ears of corn and the promise of taking the boys to a horse auction Saturday morning.

~The Garden~

Our garden is growing slowly. We haven't had much rain this year so all the plants are on the small side.
Left...mint and strawberries
Right... wax beans, green beans, chamomile
Left... tomatoes, peppers, beets
Right... pickles and onions




I have been using a lot of the mint and got my first picking of green beans!!! Everything else is still growing:-) I added a list in my side bar to try to keep track of how much we are actually getting. At this point I don't grow tomato, pepper and beans to freeze and can... just to eat. The pickles and beets will be canned.

I need to learn how to use my chamomile this year! Any tips!??!?!