Deerfield Fair with the Girls

Welcome to A to Z!

We'd love to have you join the fun, either blogging your way through the alphabet with us, or simply visiting. =) We dearly love visitors.

This week is the letter D.

If you're joining in the meme, be sure to link up with us at the end of this post. Since this is a blog hop, you can grab the code for the linky down there too. Find more info about the A to Z meme here.

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Deerfield Fair. It's been part of our family forever. Forever? Yes! It's the fair my mom grew up going to and when my older sister and I were kids, still living in Maine, we'd make the trek and go to the Deerfield Fair whenever we could...which wasn't often, but it was enough to engrain it into us.

It's the fair of all fairs in our family. Still.

So, this year when Mom said she wanted to go to the fair, we converged in Boston. (Did I mention the fair is in Massachusetts?) We flew in from IL, MO, AZ, and Puerto Rico.

This last summer I went to a LOT of fairs and let me tell you, Deerfield Fair is nothing like them. It's bigger and better and cram-packed with people and events. Country events--things like horse pulls, oxen pulls, horse shows, 4-H shows...all that fun stuff.

The big event for us was the heavy horse pulls. We spent hours sitting in that arena watching the horses and teamsters and listening to the announcer. It didn't take long for us to loose our Rs and start talking how we used to. Start became staht. Horses were hosses and we cahfully remembered where-ah we pahked the cah.

We spent hours and hours sitting in the horse arenas (plural--one for pulling and another for the horse shows, which were super cool to see!) Cheryl was smart, she brought her toys and did some journaling with her paints. Talk about cool!!  I loved watching her dip and dab while we waited for the shows to start--cuz yanno, we couldn't lose our good seats. =)

We had a BLAST! The fair was WONDERFUL, but being together was the BEST. We talked and ate and acted goofy and did all those fun things sisters do when they get to go on a trip with their mom. hehe.

So tell me, did you go to the fair as a kid? What was your favorite thing?


~*~*~*~ If you're joining us for the A to Z meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter D, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here. Also, if you don't have the linky gadget on your site, click the link to get the code so you can add it.

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Are We There Yet?

Welcome to the 

third round of A to Z!

We'd love to have you join the fun, either blogging your way through the alphabet with us, or simply visiting. =) We dearly love visitors.

Naturally, this week is the letter A.

If you're joining in the meme, be sure to link up with us at the end of this post. Since this is a blog hop, you can grab the code for the linky down there too. Find more info about the A to Z meme here.

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The other day we (re)watched one of the Mummy movies. One of my favorite scenes is when the kid drove his captor crazy on a train ride by asking Are we there yet? It totally cracks me up every time. I understand the man's extreme aggravation by that phrase! In fact, it's one of the forbidden lines in my family. Really.

In the past year or so we've spent a fair bit of time on the road. Our longest trip was last December. Five kids, two adults, and a monkey, in one van from Illinois to Arizona. Thank God for 15 passenger vans!

All those miles and the only time I heard Are we there yet? was when it was said jokingly to harass me. But their body language said all...

Of course, at the beginning of the trip everyone is eager to get on the road. But it doesn't take long before this happens...

Boredom!

Reading a good book.

Dad likes it comfy cool in the van...much to Mom and Toby's dismay. When Toby was in the first bench seat, this is how he ended up. Bundled in his blankies. LoL.

Lotsa picture taking.
Pictures inside the van and outside the van.

Time to draw and write.

Toby's second favorite place to ride--the top of Mom's seat where he could keep an eye on everyone and everything.

Play stop. Yes, those are my kids on the playground meant for LITTLE kids.

Because you're never too old to play on a playground. (This one was just a couple weeks shy of turning 20 in this picture! LoL)

Status update time...

Why'd ya wake me up?

Are we there??







Craziness of all kinds!

All's fair and love and war. hehe.
This is where Mom whispers desperately, Are we there yet?

Touch my seat and I'll tell Mom.
Go ahead.
I dare ya.

Yay!! Rest stop! Wahoo!

Movie time. Computers and tablets are great on long trips!

My husband is great.

So, can you tell how I spend all my time when we're traveling?

LoL. Give me a monkey and a camera and I'm happy for hours on end. Good thing too because writing with a monkey on my lap is almost impossible since Toby likes to lick the pen and paper and play with the pen. sigh.

Toby's Are we there yet? look.

Just

can't

keep

my

eyes

open...

Guess what?
Okay, besides how much fun this mom's revenge has been. LoL

We made it to Grammy and Pappy's!!

So tell me, how does your family fight the Are we there yet? syndrome?

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If you're joining us for the A to Z meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter A, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here. Also, if you don't have the linky gadget on your site, click the link to get the code so you can add it.

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The Nut House Residents

Welcome to this week's a 2 z
and the letter

N. If you're joining in the meme, be sure to link up with us at the end of this post. Find more info about the a 2 z meme here.

Residents of The Nut House...

My husband and younger boys.

My daughters.

Me and Toby.

Below is my oldest, playing with one of his toys.

Yup. That's all of us.
Some of us in our normal state and
some of us in our goofiness
and for some of us, goofiness is our normal state.

Not that I would ever mention any names...
but a picture is worth a thousand words.
hehe.


If you're joining us for the a2z meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter N, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here.

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A Day Together

It's not every day I get to visit with my sister, Cheryl. In fact, our visits are too few and too far between. But that means when we get together we soak it in and savor it.

Right now we're in Puerto Rico, where she's been living for a year.

It's been such a good day I wanted to share it with you...

Waking up at my normal time meant getting to enjoy early morning on the coast. What a treat to fall asleep listening to the surf.

A room with a view AND a breeze.


The simplicity of this house is wonderful. It's on the cliff and open to the beauty of the sea.




After a leisurely morning, we took off for the beach...

Cheryl took me to Crash Boat Beach--such a cool name!! --where we swam and had lunch. It was the first time I've been swimming in the ocean for 25 years--I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

After lunch we hit another beach to search for sea glass. I have to admit, if I had to choose between the two (and could only do one), I'd choose searching for sea glass. Such a fun treasure hunt!

Late afternoon found us relaxing in the hammock--talking and reading. It was my first time to be in a hammock. Pretty neat! It provided some laughs as we eased in and out, hoping we wouldn't flip.

Then I grabbed my camera and went exploring...down the stairs that scale the cliff and take you to the shore below the house. I only went part way. We might tackle the jungle at the end of the stairs another day.

Since I was only wearing flip flops, and because I'm such a chicken at heart, I went down very slowly. Farther down there were big, dead leaves covering the stairs, but here, here's what I spotted....

A tiny hermit crab! He wasn't even as big as my pinkie fingernail. So cute!! There was another one half his size, but the thing was fast and I couldn't catch his picture.

By the time I went back topside, the sun was setting fast. Since I love silhouttes, I had fun playing with the light and the palm trees and feet. Silly sister fun. The best kind!

Of course, there was more kicking back, talking, and playing on the computers too. A perfect day. Together.

Want to see me and my sister? Head over to SeaLevel320 where Cheryl has a fun collage posted of our day.

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Children and Service

Teaching our children about God and living out our faith before them is important, but there's another thing we want to teach them, and that's to serve.

My oldest, just left of the shark--on a fun day on their missions trip.

Recently my four older children went on a youth missions trip with our church youth group. This is something they do every year instead of going to a church camp, and I love it. They get to meet other kids their age, attend fun youth Bible meetings once or twice a day where they hear God's word and have those mountaintop experiences, and do something good for others. Often they're roofing or painting a house and, through teamwork, they get the job done in the five days they're on the job. They work hard, but they also see the joy of the homeowners, and have seen people saved as a result of their work. Many of our church kids have been saved on these missions trips and others have rededicated their lives to God.

As easy as it is to help my kids pack for that trip every year...

It's not the church's responsibility to teach my kids to serve. It's ours as parents. 

My younger daughter and a church lady she helps.

To do that there are several things we've done. Our church has a clothing room for the community and we spend one morning a week there helping the ladies who run it.

Another way to teach your children to serve is by helping with the set-up and clean-up for church dinners. Wiping tables and putting away the tables and chairs isn't the funnest job around, but it's a great way to teach the kids to help in any way they can, even if it seems small and insignificant.

Last Spring we discovered another way to serve. A well loved man in our church died, and as is custom, one of the Sunday School classes was in charge of the funeral meal for their large family. They needed help and contacted a younger class, the one I attend. We not only prepared dishes to bring, but we spent the day serving the meal. Set-up, serving, and clean-up. The older ladies were thankful for young legs to do much of the running and, once again, my girls saw another side of christian women in action. It means giving up a day of working at home and a day of school for the girls, but it's worth it.

My older daughter, roofing on a missions trip.

As we've served together, we've noticed something. There are two kinds of servants: those that serve out of duty and those that serve with a smile. We've spent time talking about this in our family, and we've talked about the results. Sadly, the kids have noticed those that serve out of duty because they tend to snap at others or are sullen as they serve, but it has made them see the importance or serving with a smile and with a good attitude. They also have seen people that serve out of love and the difference that love and their smiles make.

Let's be sure to teach our children to serve God in every way, and in any way they can. And more importantly, let's teach them the importance of serving with a smile.

Serving out of love for God and love for others is the key to serving.

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a2z Starts with A

Yes! a 2 z is starting up again today! I'm so excited! This is one of my favorite posts every week--it's a bit of a free-for-all for me. A time when I can post about anything I want...as long as it relates to the week's letter. This week, of course is the letter A.

Me and a bucket of apples.

Welcome to the a 2 z meme!

This is our third round, and if three times is a charm, then this is the charm round. *eye roll* (I did mention free-for-all, didn't I? LoL)

If you're joining in the meme, be sure to link up with us at the end of this post. Find more info about the a 2 z meme here.

This summer has been busy here. We haven't gardened for years but this year we did, changing my summer plans because a garden isn't just a garden for us, it's canning too.

Our oldest son took an interest in our orchard this year too. He did some research then set out to care for the trees. For the first time ever, we have fruit from the trees! A storm blew down a bunch of small apples and I was able to pick up three five gallon buckets of them. They were too small for anything except applesauce.

So, we sauced them. It was scorching hot and the thought of cooking down apples in my kitchen wasn't too appealing. My wonderful, out-of-the box thinker husband suggested pressure cooking them on the fish-fryer burner on the deck. He didn't have to say it twice!

After washing and chopping the apples in half, I filled my jumbo pressure cooker--it's only 16 quarts. ;-) In seemingly no time the apples were cooked. So much faster!

When Jim and I married, he was smart enough to invest our wedding gift money into a KitchenAid mixer and attachments. We've had one ever since.

My three boys, helping.

This was an all-hands-on-deck project because while we were saucing the apples, Jim was in the kitchen cutting corn from the cobs.

The KitchenAid attachment is great. Someone spoons cooked apples into the hopper thingie, they funnel down and are pushed through a through a sieve tube, squishing the sauce out one direction while pushing out the peels and seeds at the very end. Kids love watching it and helping.  But you do NOT need a KitchenAid to make applesauce! It's been so long since I've made applesauce that I did some quick research to refresh my memory before I started. I found a great site that gives alternatives to the KitchenAid. Click here for a great post about the different tools you can use to make applesauce.

Those three buckets of small apples gave us 24 quarts of applesauce that will be doubly delicious this winter.

So, when life dumps apples on you, sauce them!
*eye roll*

If you're joining us for the a2z meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter A, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here. This is also a blog hop, so go ahead and grab the code and post it on your site so others can join in too.

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