Late Bloomer

I am not sure why this plant does this. But year after year since I planted it this is what happens. All summer long I watch it as it grows slowly. I anxiously await the day that it blooms out so I can enjoy its blossoms as much as the rest in my garden. But it doesn't bloom until so late in the season that I wonder if it won't this year because the frost will kill it. We have had a couple of frosts already....nothing too serious just pretty light ones. This is what it did to my marigolds: (it is hard to tell, but this marigold is withering because of the frost)

and yet here it is getting ready to bloom like nothing ever happened too it.

I think sometimes we are like these plants. We have so many things around us that try and make us do things in certain time table. We are supposed to do things at a certain age when you are little, like crawl or walk...you have to wait to be an adult till you are a certain age. Some of those things are fine, but sometimes I think we should be less like the marigolds and more like this plant...content to do things at our own pace and the way that we think they should be done. This little plant doesn't seem to give into the pressure of making sure it blooms on time...as a matter of fact I enjoy the fact that it blooms late, then I get to enjoy the flowers just a little bit longer, especially since all the other flowers are fading into the past. I looked at this plant again today (these pictures are a couple of days old) and all of those little buds are beginning to open ever so slightly. They aren't very big, but they do make the garden a little prettier this late in the growing season.

My little helper

I have lots of help around the house. I wonder sometimes why I can't get anything done or why things don't stay done. If you are a mom and are wondering the same thing....here is why: we have to many "helpers". They mean well, but lets face it sometimes they can't get to the middle, or they are too short to run the broom. But why do we continue to ask them to help....so they will learn and begin to do it for themselves. (eventually we won't have to go back and wipe down the table after they have, or refold the towels before putting them in the closet.)

I was unloading the dishwasher. I turned around to put something away in the cupboard and then when I turned around this is what I saw:. I know that he was only trying to help. I also think he was fascinated by the wheels. After this picture was taken, he got the rack all the way on the floor and was pushing it around like a big match box car. Thanks for the help James!

2 out of 3

So we have filled 2 out of the 3 tags that were issued to our house for antelope this year and it is only the beginning of the season! Yesterday Gabe took me out to try and fill my tag. Guess what? I got one! My first ever antelope. I must say that they are harder to hunt than deer. They don't stand still long enough to give you much time to think about your shot. You really have to be confident and just take it. Plus they are much harder to sneak up on than deer. There isn't much to hide behind and so therefore if you can see them, chances are they can see you too. With a deer you can often times make a noise that will cause them to stand and give you more time for a shot....not with antelope. You had better be quick about it because if you aren't.....there it goes down the hill. They can cover a lot of ground quickly too. So now I guess the hardest work begins....to butcher them and get them into the freezer. We will have about 100 pounds of meat now from Amanda's antelope and mine. Gabe on the other hand still has about a month of hunting left to get his. He is going for an even greater challenge....he wants to try and kill his with his bow. I thought they were hard enough to sneak up on with my rifle, I don't even want to try and do it with a bow. To get a good shot with a bow you have to be within 50 yards of the thing! Holy moly I was having a hard enough time with my rifle.

She's on Fire!

Okay, so most of you know that our family are avid hunters. We have been waiting for today for a LONG time.....well I guess just since June when we found out that we drew antelope tags. The only way you can hunt antelope here is if you draw a tag for them. We put in and Gabe, Amanda and I all got one. So today was opening day. Our area is relatively close to home and so we decided that we wouldn't try and all go at once (save the asking for babysitters for when we have to be gone all day). So Gabe took Amanda and Wyatt this morning for the opening day hunt. We had another family activity planned for around 12 so I knew that they would be home sooner if they got anything, but would more than likely just be out until then. They get home and she got one! Man, she is a go big or go home type of person. She got a big one! We are proud of her for doing so well. Now she can be the babysitter while I try and get mine!

Here she is showing off the nice looking horns.

This is one of the whole animal. Look at that big smile. Way to go!

Isn't she beautiful?

The other night for a Young Women's activity (for our church) they were taking pictures. I think they turned out pretty well don't you? They are awesome and tonight Amanda said to me "Mom, I think that I want Sister Smith (the leader that took the pictures) to do my senior pictures." Of course it is a long ways off.....well in my mind it is, but truthfully it is only another year and a half. All I can say is it is a good thing that we own a few rifles because we are sure going to need them when she starts dating in a month...yikes. I just scared myself because in a month she will be old enough to date!

I think that this is my personal favorite of the three. She just looks so pretty.

Oh My!

So the day started out pretty quiet...well unless you count the fact that the kids were super emotional today. I couldn't seem to put James down without him crying. So I decided that I would just take a moment and sit with him and see if maybe he would fall asleep, as I don't think he is feeling very well. Katherine was outside riding her bike. As I was sitting in the family room rocking James, I heard this sound like a tractor truck coming down our road. I started to panic because I wasn't sure if Katherine would know/remember to stay on the driveway. So I hurried out the front door to see what was going on. This is what greeted me:

Oh My, what a sight. Katherine had seen it flying earlier in the morning and brought me out to look at it. My kids have been fascinated by the balloons and love to point them out no matter how many times we see one. We have had them fly over our house and fly low over the house, but never have we had one LAND by our house. (At least that I was around to see.)

We didn't have anything better to do....well unless you count the dishes waiting in the sink, the laundry that needs to be done, the vacuuming....you get the idea. So we just stood out there and watched and boy it was fun to watch and see how they put the balloon away. Katherine said that as the air was being let out that it looked like it was melting.

As they were letting the air out, Katherine was able to go up and feel the material. She wasn't too sure about it, but it was great. I felt it too and it just feels like the material a light jacket would be made out of. I thought it would be heavier or something.
We watched them push all the air out and then pack the balloon into a bag. When that was done the pilots called over and asked if we wanted to sit on it. Really?! Sure! We sat on it and helped push the rest of the air out.

It was pretty awesome to watch this happen. I was thinking that it was going to be a boring day, but holy cow, I guess not. Of course now the rest of the day is going to seem pretty dull compared to this morning.

Birthday time--Mariah

Mariah is now 7! Holy Cow where did the time go? She picked a unicorn cake and it was by far one of the hardest ones that I have done yet. I am not sure I like this cake trend that I have gotten on, but they are unique when we get done with them.
She is getting so big and she a great girl. We love having her in our family and don't know what we would do without her. We didn't celebrate on her birthday as there was so much going on with it being a school night. We actually celebrated today (Labor Day). That gave me a chance to get her cake done and for us to have a little more time. We took a picnic lunch to the park and had lunch with Grandpa and Aunt Chris and her family....then the kids played for a minute. Then we dug in and had the cake. All in all I think we had fun and she enjoyed her day. Thankfully I don't have to make another cake until next month....then we will see what Amanda decides to do.

First Day of School 2011

This is a picture of all the kids that I sent to school that day. For some reason the dog was wanting to be in the thick of things, so I just took one of them all. Besides this is actually the best picture of all the kids that I have.

I was ready for this day....only because I was tired of the fighting that had started taking place because they were bored with everything that was around. I don't know if any other parents notice this same pattern, but at my house it is the same thing every year. The kids are really excited to come home for the summer, and for the first few weeks are great. Then the longer we get into summer the more they don't like to play nicely with each other. The closer we get to summer the more outbreaks we have of down-right dirty fighting. So when school finally does start we are all relived and grateful to no longer have those fights. This year marks one for the records for us. We have 5 kids in school (2 at home) and we have 3 different schools that all the children attend. In our district they have the schools divided into a K-3, 4-5, and then the middle school (6-8) and the high school (9-12). So I have Jacob in Kindergarten, Mariah in 2nd, Bethany in 3rd, Wyatt in 5th and Amanda in 10th. Next year will be harder still as I will have 4 different schools to try and work things out with. With all that being said, it is nice to have the kids off to a schedule and learning new things. But it is hard because Jacob is in school and I just wonder where the time went for us.

This is Bethany on her first day of the 3rd grade. For some reason she wasn't wanting me to take pictures at all. So if looks could kill, I would probably be dead by now. But someone told me that it really looks like she is plotting something very devious.

This is Katherine. She wasn't done eating her breakfast, but she really wanted me to take her picture. She is a little disappointed that she isn't going to school. I am trying to work with her on her letters and such, but to her that isn't the same as actually GOING to school.

This is Jacob. He was SOOO excited to be finally headed to school. The whole summer he kept asking how many days until school started. Then our district had a pre-session kindergarten that I enrolled him in. They had 4 weeks of that, then a break of 2 weeks before school actually started. I really heard it when that ended and it STILL wasn't time for school to start. When I woke him up that morning for the first day of school, he jumped up and was ready to go. (I love his smile here and the excitment just shines through). Kindergarten seems to be agreeing with him too.

James really wasn't sure about all the activity that was happening that day. He was happy to have no one picking up up everytime they passed him, but after a while I think he was missing the older kids.

Mariah was excited too. I think it is a toss up as to who was more excited her or Jacob. This is the first day of 2nd grade for her.

Wyatt starting his 5th grade year. What an awesome young man he is turning out to be.

Amanda is my 10th grader this year. I can't believe how grown up she is.