Decorating the Tree

Coordinating everyone's schedules is proving to be quite the challenge these days. So planning any family activity requires everything to line up just right. So, picking out a Christmas tree is no longer a day long event to the tree farm, with plenty of time to search for just the right tree, cutting it ourselves, snowball fights and wrestling in the snow. This year we stopped on our way through at our local Agway store, walked around for a few minutes and settled on a nice tree. The ambiance isn't quite the same, but it gets the job done.

Things weren't quite the same this year without Bess. We put a few of her ornaments on and had her in our hearts as we decorated.

Tree all set up and ready to go.

Brian and I set up the lights.

Nice job, Brian.

I didn't get any shots of the us decorating, but Rachel put on the star.

And here it is all decorated. Our tree is so different each year...some short and fat, some taller and skinny, but I love everyone. The tree holds so many memories within the ornaments that hang there. Through in all the fresh fallen snow and it is a picture perfect tree.

Me and my love in front of our tree.

A Day at the Fair

In our family, Labor Day Weekend means the local county fair. If Brian is home and not on a trip, he takes the Friday before the weekend off and this is our fair day.

It was very hot and humid, but thankfully a few clouds rolled in and made it a bit more tolerable.

We like to watch the tractor pulls to start off our day. The children aren't huge pull fans, so we only catch part of it, enough to satisfy all, but not cause too many "can we go do something else" remarks.

I never tire of watching these huge, powerful machines do their best against the pull machine...this year named "The Humiliator".

They are very loud, so we make sure and bring ear protection for everyone.

The poultry barn is a favorite. There are so many strange and interesting types of poultry. Dan wanted to know, "Where are his eyes?". Under there somewhere, Dan.

Dan looks a bit concerned about this whether this big turnkey wants his balloon.

We all enjoyed the fried dough. The local high school booster club has the best booth and their fried dough takes up two plates...yummy!

Dan and Hannah await the woodworker who is making them each a "magic wand". It is amazing to watch this men work on the lathes.

I love the baby goats. This little Nubian was so cute.

Dan wanted me to take his picture through the tractor wheel. The poor guy has a nasty cold and was sort of droopy all day. He did pretty good and did not complain too much.

Even though we do not do the midway portion of the fair, I love to walk around and see all the pretty lights and hear the booth tenders hawking for their games. It must be quite the life living traveling from small town to small town.

Check out these huge engines. I can't imagine the amount of time, effort and money it takes to keep these big tractors working.

A great day at the fair.

A Trip to the Tree Farm

We finally had a few hours to go to the tree farm and pick out our Christmas tree. It was very cold, but the wind had died down and there was a bit of sunshine.

We all bundled up and packed into our truck. We call it our "clown car" when all seven of us get in.


The farm was quite crowded, but there were so many wonderful trees, plenty for all. You really can't go wrong. You pick your size and shape and you're good to go.

It had started to snow a bit by the time we got there.  A perfect setting for hunting up the perfect Christmas tree.

Bess is wondering about this one.


Gabe thinks this little one would be good. We would never fit all our ornaments on that one, Gabe!


After walking around for awhile, we finally found one we all could agree on. We tend to go for the ones that are a bit chubbier.


A meeting of the minds on the best way to cut down the tree. Gabe and Dan both had a turn at the saw and Hannah offered advice.


That tree was a bit heavy. We should have found one closer to the truck.


Into the netting cone it goes.


We set it up and will let it rest overnight. After being in the netting, the branches need to relax a bit. Tomorrow we will decorate it.

Annual Memorial Day Swim

Those of you that know us or have been following our blog over the years, know that we have had a family tradition of being in our pool by Memorial Day each year. This has been a standing tradition for the 13 summers we have been in this home.

Last year we thought we would have to break this because we had a pool failure over the winter and the pool was only half full...and very green...and full of frogs and other creatures that swim and crawl. Our valiant children forged ahead and took the swim anyway.

This year there were also some extenuating circumstances...Gabe is recovering from a broken arm, Brian is deployed, the weather has been very cold and wet. I figured we would just let the day come and go and not worry about a swim. Bess and Gabe were determined to carry on the tradition, so they donned their swimsuits and we pulled back the cover. The water wasn't too green, but it was only 64 degrees with an air temperature of 63 degrees on Memorial Day this year.

Bess takes a few tentative steps...brrrr that looks cold.

A few deep breaths and in she goes!

Gabe is able to take off his latest cast, but you can see he is still holding his arm gingerly. He tried going down the steps...too tough that way. Dan joined in the fun too.

The jumping method works much better for him.

Total submersion is the rule. All the children ended up taking a dip, except for Rachel. It was way too cold for her. Gracie the dog also took a short swim.

Thanks, Bess for keeping this family tradition alive. You are always willing to "take the plunge". I love your adventurous spirit and can do attitude. Dad will be so proud!

Picking Out the Christmas Tree

Today was the day...we needed to get our Christmas tree. We have had many delays, Brian's extended trip and terrible weather. We were determined that today would be the day. A major snowstorm did not deter us. The roads were pretty good and thankfully, there was no ice this time.

We always go to the same tree farm in a nearby town. They have wonderful trees with very few "Charlie Brown trees" on the lot.

Hmmm, this could be interesting trying to decide...they are all looking pretty much the same. They do look so pretty all frosted.

Down the main path we head, in search of the perfect tree. For us, that means walking to the end of the farm, meandering around for a while, lots of snow being thrown around, children getting tossed and then just picking one. The walk and enjoying the outdoors is much of the enjoyment.

Hannah enjoys a little snow snack. Isn't she just so cute in her puffy hat?

Time out for a quick group photo.

This tree has potential. Lots of milling around, looking at it from all directions, shaking off some of the snow. Not too tall, not to fat. There seems to be plenty of good branches for hanging the ornaments. What does everyone think?

We have a consensus. Brian starts digging out some of the snow to get a good cut on the base of the tree. Always lots of little helpers.

The men take turns manning the saw. A job well done, gentlemen.

They do have carts you can use, but we always seem to haul it up to the truck ourselves. Makes it seem a bit more challenging. We get lots of help from willing hands.

We did bring the truck today. We do not have a rack to tie the tree to the roof of the van yet, so we had to use our "clown car". We call the truck that because all seven of us have to fit in it. What a sight we are as we all pile out of cab of the truck one by one like clowns at the circus. Brian even made it legal by installing extra seatbelts. The younger set it a bit cramped in the extended seat, but we manage.

On the way home, we came across a mini-van stuck in the snow in a pull off. The pull off hadn't been plowed yet and the two young women were running low on gas and were trying to turn around to go back to a gas station. It was nice to end our trip by being able to help them out of the snow. We are always so thankful that God often puts us in the right place to be of help to others.

The tree is now set up in the middle of the front room. The snow is melting and hopefully it will be dry enough to decorate tomorrow.

Lions and Tigers and Cows, Oh, My!?

We recently attended our county fair. This has become a annual outing that our family looks forward to. We didn't make it last year as Brian was away, so it was great to get back to the fair this year.

By standards of large state fairs, this is probably pretty small, but it is more than enough for us to have a great day out.

We like to go on the Friday of fair week as this is the day they hold the tractor pulls. Now, if you have never watched a tractor pull, you don't know what you are missing. We are not talking your run of the mill tractors here, but supped up, high powered, multi-engine tractors. What noise and action. I just love the tractor pulls. The kids tolerate mom loving the tractor pulls. I told Brian I wanted him to build me one so I could drive it. What a rush that would be.

Earplugs worn by all...very loud

We hit all the animal barns. All the barns have little areas where the 4-H families hang out. The kids each keeping their animals clean and the barn smelling sweet. No stinky barns here.

Or course there are the produce sheds. I think this pumpkin weighted a lot more than Dan.

We had fried dough for a snack and later dinner at the international building. Yum!

Brian always enjoys the old engine displays.

There were a lot of new things at the fair this year, including a lion and tiger show. The animals where beautiful and the trainer/owners were funny and very entertaining.

At the conservation shed, they had a wonderful birds of prey show this year. The handler had some magnificent owls, hawks and falcons.

One of the last shows we watched was an alligator show. The man and woman team were very fun, almost slapstick, but you could tell that their main focus was on educating people about alligators.

The motorcycle trick riders were also new this year. They were very fun to watch. Bessie asked if she could try this. I'm thinking probably not, Bess.


One last shot as we headed out the gate. What a fun day.