Feels like Fall...

This picture is of a tree that sits inside my horseshoe shaped driveway. It was taken a year or two ago, but it looks like that every year. Fall is, hands down, my favorite time of the year. The gorgeous vibrant colors, the apple dumplings and simmering soup on a crisp evening and of course, the fair.

In our area the Canfield Fair is an annual tradition. To some it signifies the "end of summer", but I look at it as a welcome friend. The fair still has all of the days gone by displays, like the steam engines, animals, craft barns and of course the food judging. There are canned foods, baked goods, quilts, scrapbooks, miniature horses, draft horses, chickens and soooo much more. And they manage to combine that perfectly with "modern" joys such as rides that scare the bajeebers (sp?) out of the kids and all of the food vendors that charge way to much, but you have to buy it because it wouldn't be the same without those fair fries!

I hope you have an event like this in your area and are able to take the time to visit and take in all of the sights and sounds. So often we focus on where we need to be next instead of soaking in where we are right now. Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Back to school...

I must admit I have mixed feeling about my kids going back to school. I enjoy watching them grow, learn new "stuff" and see their friends again. But, I miss them when their gone. The first day they're always out of bed on their own and ready way ahead of schedule. They played some frisbee in the driveway to kill time until it was time to go. Morgan got her license last year so she drives everyday and Jon, of course, gets to hitch a ride. I hope this is a stellar year for them.

My kids...

Here's a picture Morgan, Josie and Jonathan. Three of the loves of my life. My children drive me crazy some days but are my buddies too. They are growing into fabulous people who I enjoy spending time with very much. Josie has been part of our family since before Jon was born. She used to sleep in his nursery before we brought him home. She is a constant companion and doesn't care my mood. Morgan and Josie share the same birthday, which is very cool. I'm truly blessed with an amazing husband, family and friends.

Tickle, Tickle....

My kiddos sure are ready to go back to school. We did our weekly luncheon at the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe. We LOVE their hot dogs and their fries w/ cheese are to die for! When the kids got home they decided on a tickle fest, initiated by Jonathan but enjoyed by both. They start school on Monday. Between homework, dinner and earlier bedtimes, I'm sure going to miss our down time together.

Summer goes tooo fast...

Friends of ours, who dragrace motorcycles, invited us for a summer picnic. The kids had a great time.

Jonathan loves to fish and our host has a well stocked pond. Granted we threw (or rather, gently placed) all of the fish back in the lake. You see, these are our hosts pets. He feeds them everyday and cuts the barbs off the hooks. So catching them was very easy.


Morgan enjoyed herself because she's been "seeing" their youngest son. He is a very nice young man and can actually carry on a conversation with me, and believe me that's refreshing.
Before we went to this picnic we headed for our annual family reunion. We didn't get to stay long this year but did get to see everyone and gets hugs and kisses. I have to say it was a wonderful day, very relaxing. I Love Summer!

From a time gone by...

My Mom always says I was born with an old soul. And I think she's right! My favorite show EVER is The Walton's. I would've loved to live back then. Maybe it comes from growing up with my Grandparents on the same property. I watched them can vegetables from the garden, keep the woods/pasture as clean as the house and keep the house warm (toasty warm) with coal and wood. I enjoy all of those things today. OK, maybe not getting the wood ready for the woodburner :) I really enjoy canning. Crazy, huh?! It's very rewarding. I planted one 79¢ bean packet, grew 3 healthy rows of beans and got 15 pints plus a few side dishes made straight from the garden. As an added bonus, my kids love to snack on raw beans, much healthier than chips.

Card #2

This was so easy! Why does it seem soooo simple sometimes and other times I stare at the blank card wondering where to begin. I put this one together while the potatoes were cooking for dinner. Maybe it helps that it's been an amazing day. I worked from home so I was able to spend extra time with my precious son. It was very breazy today which afforded me the opportunity to dry most of my clothes on the line....how I love to do that. And I ended the evening canning 15 pints of yellow string beans. What a GREAT DAY!!!!

Feathered Friends...

I had a beautiful flock of around 40 chickens of all kinds/colors. I had chickens that laid brown, white and green eggs. (yes, I said green). They lived in a large fenced area we called the "compound", if you've seen Chicken Run that will make sense. Unfortunately, we didn't have a covering over the top and the raccoons little by little had my entire flock for dinner. Yes, very sad.

My kids and I really wanted more chickens so Hubby helped us build a new Poultry Palace and fenced (top and sides) run yard. This project took several months because we could only work on it in the evenings and we wanted to make absolutely certain it was raccoon proof. The Palace is finished (except the paint) and the chickens really like their home. We headed to the local auction and were lucky enough to purchase 7 chickens total, 4 are arachaunas (the ones that lay green eggs). They should be laying soon and I will post pics.

The kids wanted ducks! At the auction a gentleman brought in two ducks after the auction started. I had a bidding war with another lady and came away with two call ducks, much to my kiddos delight. They are very fun to watch and cute to listen to. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Bella in Boots...

Here's my first uploaded card to my gallery at Splitcoaststampers.com. The first time I saw these Bella stamps I fell in love with them. There are Bellas for every walk of life...even men.

I used waxed paper resist for the green triangles and just colored the Bella and matted her in black.

It's very hot and humid here today I guess that's why I wanted to think about the coolness of winter.

Jr. Mom...

It's currently racing season. To explain in more detail, my husband drag races and so do my two children (ages 16 and almost 11). I know, you're asking how can an 11 year old drag race. Well, it's called a junior dragster. They are mini versions of the big dragsters you see on tv and at the strip. They are all running in the points system this season and so far hubby is running 8th, daughter (16) running 3rd and just this last saturday my son took over the points lead in his class. Very exciting for our first year running points. And what do I do during racing? The juniors are not allowed to run anywhere but on the track so I have to tow them everywhere, start them when their ready, keep track of all their time slips and figure out their dial in, pack all of the "stuff" we need for a day at the track and when the kids are done running it's hubby's turn...

This is a picture of my sons junior dragster when we first bought it. My daughters is white and a little bigger.