One Busy Day

School on Saturday? Could be a bummer, but none of our kids were complaining. A big thank you to the Humeston Fire Department for an educational and highly entertaining morning spent learning about fire safety. We crawled through a room filled with smoke, participated in activities, watched demonstrations, and climbed all over the fire trucks.







After the fire station, we headed across the street to the park, where we played for an hour or so before heading home for lunch. After some brief naps, it was time to head to the second school outing of the day- the Pioneer Festival at the museum in Corydon.

The kids painted pumpkins.
Matthew and Cora won the first two rounds of the cake walk, at which pointed we walked away, so that someone else could have a chance.
All three of the older kids got a chance to try their hand at weaving a rug. Cora could barely reach to push the shuttle through, but she got several rows done before she gave up. The kids also took turns at the spinning wheel.

Civil War re-enactors were on hand to shoot off the cannon every hour. Before each shot, they gave a brief history lesson.


We learned a great deal about how cannons were cleaned between each firing. We also got to ride in a horse-drawn wagon, and viewed many exhibits in between activities.
By the end of the day, more than a few of us were beat.

LeRoy Harvest Festival

Anna made it into the hula hoop championship, but lost to this boy.

It was boys against girls again for the "pass the hula hoop around the circle" race. The girls won.
Two more relay races:

Cora doing the chicken dance with Jade Brimm, and a girl I don't know.

Matthew and Gavin enjoyed these two prizes a lot.

Anna's New Puppy

Anna's new puppy is Sissy, an Anatolian/Border Collie mix she got from Mosers. Sissy is fitting in quite nicely at our house, although she spent her first night hiding in the sword toy bin, trying to stay away from the kids.

She didn't have any accidents in the house the first night; quite possibly because she had thrown up or pooped out everything in her tummy within the first ten miles of our trip home. Made it a difficult ride for me- the smell was about more than I could handle for two hours, with a pregnant-sensitive nose. Luckily, Duane was home to help Anna with a bath for Sissy, while I cleaned out the kennel.

Anna has had a great time so far, taking her for long walks (and I mean 4-5 hours at a time) and playing with her. The night we walked to the river and back, Sissy was dog-tired when we got home. There was no whining from her that night.

Miscellaneous Pictures

Reagan got into Duane's camo paint when I wasn't looking. . .
Daddy and his "pop stars" and Matthew too.

For Uncle Matt and Aunt Alyssa

I wanted to take a picture of Cora wearing the dress Anna wore as a flower girl for Matt and Alyssa's wedding. She refused to just stand normally and let me take a picture. Every time I went to snap the picture, she jumped into a new pose.

Picking up the kids from Grandma Camp

Remington went home from Grandma Camp early Saturday morning, but the rest of the grandkids were there for this picture.

Now don't those two look like trouble waiting to happen?
Ruby seems to enjoy having a messy face- much more so than Stella ever did!
The kids had a good time, but they sure were happy to see their parents!

Swimming at the Moser Reunion

The kids really enjoyed Chris and Andy's swimming pool. We all had a great weekend, and enjoyed the camping, visiting, and eating, but the swimming was definitely a highlight for the kids.



This was the sunset when we came off the cinder path one weekend after picking wild grapes with Mom. Matthew thought the sky was so beautiful, he just had to have a picture of it. He was trying to take the picture through the van window, and just kept getting smeary fingerprints from the glass, so I took the picture for him outside the van.

One Big Snake

While out in the pasture this morning, Matthew and I found a snake skin. It was a bit long- 57 inches, to be exact! I'd hate to step on this guy while doing chores!

4th of July Celebrations

I didn't do the greatest job of taking pictures on the 4th. Somehow, I just didn't feel like celebrating from behind the lens. I did get this cutie on camera though, and a few shots of fireworks at the reservoir.


On the 5th, Stella helped me make focaccia bread, so I let each of the older girls shape and top their own loaves of bread. Reagan thought she should have had some- notice she's picking off Cora's toppings while everyone is distracted by the camera! Anna and Cora did a bang-up job of eating all of theirs themselves too, but Stella shared with her mommy and daddy. What a sweetie!

The Tarkio Air Show

I believe that's a P-51 Mustang they're standing in front of, but I could be wrong- it's late, I'm tired, and it was several weeks ago that this picture was taken. So sue me if I'm wrong.
Watching the Chinook take off- notice Cora's ears are covered. The noise of the planes was almost as bad as the noise of fireworks on the 4th of July for her.


How we spent the first hour or so of the air show. Lots of people left, but not us- we're tough, or stubborn, or both?






Posing with the Apache.

If you want to see pictures of the planes and not of the kids, check out Duane's post about it on All American Blogger. I prefer the kids.