Canvas City

Would you just look at this! I found this cute Canvas City idea from The Little Things. Here is how to do it:
Buy a piece of canvas about 2 yards.
Hem the edges, so it does not fray.
Grab a pencil and draw streets, houses, a hospital, an airport, a park, a school, a police station, grandma's house or any other buildings you want. You can include some local stores from your hometown. Color everything with fabric markers or paint.

I think this is a such a great idea! Those carpets with the little cities on them are kinda expensive. Plus you can customize this one to your town. I think this will be my next project.

I was Robbed!!

I wasn't going to make a whole post about this but then I decided I HAD too. I'm really not that conceited about a lot of things. I'll tell ya that I do just about everything half-ass. I'm pretty good at scrapbooking. I'm pretty good at making cards. If you leave me alone long enough I can probably sew something. My knitting is getting better. I'm ok at housework. And the mother thing....it just depends on what day you catch me.


But I have to tell ya...I'm good at making pies! My mom taught me well. It took a long time but I think I'm finally at a place in my life that my pies are good. Two years ago I decided to prove it. I entered a peach pie in the local county fair and won first place!! I was so excited!! (This is 2007's pie).
Last year I entered two pies in the fair. I was getting greedy and wanting that $4 prize money.

The pie on the left is blackberry and it won 2nd place. The pie on the right is apple and it won 3rd. Just by looking at them I would have thought the blackberry would have got 3rd just on appearance....but I do think it was the best tasting of the two.

Well, this year I decided to enter another peach pie cause I just KNEW I would win a blue ribbon for it again (I was getting cocky...I know). I made three pies and we ended up eating one of my rejects cause I didn't like how it looked and if I do say so myself it was VERY yummy.

This is my 2008 peach pie. Not a great picture cause I forgot to take a picture till I actually got to the fair. I had to be at the fairgrounds before I took Sissy to school to meet her teacher for the first time. VERY hectic morning.

Well....I didn't win a thing!!! I didn't even place!! I'm not really upset about it other than the fact I wasted a quart of peaches. I wish I could know what was wrong with it. I wish they gave reasons why they didn't like it. The only thing I can think of is it was too dark on top...it wasn't burnt just a little done. The picture looks darker than it really was.

Third times a charm. My pie contest days are over.....apparently I don't have what it takes.

Corndog Anyone??

It's that time of year and I have to just say....I love the fair!! I love the food, the smells, the kids, the food, all the exhibits, the food...did I mention food?? I usually take so many more pictures of the fair but Bubby is WAY more active than last year. He was out of the stroller a lot so I had to really be on my toes to watch him. I usually get at least a half dozen or so pics of food...but not this year.

He loved checking out the bunnies and quieter animals.

He didn't want to have anything to do with the roosters and chickens. They were just too loud for him.

The kids were able to watch a goat being milk. They really enjoyed it...the goat did too I'm sure.

My poor friend Esther wasn't watching where she was going and stepped in the dreaded 'cow pie'. Oh it was horrible!!! We all felt so bad for her that we grabbed our cameras and started clicking away....then we handed her a baby wipe of course. What kind of friends do you think we are?? You are right...we are.

This day brought to you by.....

It's a Pec Thing....

Sissy, Bubby and Little FarmerFoley enjoying a local festival.

We decided to walk...cause FarmerFoley said it wasn't that far. You ever pushed two strollers and four kids 10 miles on a gravel road? (ok...it was more like 1 mile but it felt a LOT longer!) It was HOT. Bubby wasn't feeling well so he didn't really do much. BabyFoley was hot and cranky.

After some jumping, hotdogs, drinks, and face paint we headed for home. Thank God the Farmer came by and picked us up.

Socks in June?

While downloading photos I found these socks I knitted for my friends birthday in June. I forgot that I had taken a picture of them. This is the first time I have used this yarn and I just love the self stripping. Looks like I can REALLY knit doesn't it???

Hairbackers

Headed into Target (also known as the most wonderful place on earth) the other day and I told FarmerFoley I needed to grab my camera before we went in. She said, "Why on earth do you need a camera in Target?" I told her, "You just never know when my kids might do something cute and I'll have to take a picture of it."

She scoffed...but look! Bubby was too cute and I HAD to take his picture!While in the dollar deptartment Bubby was grabbing all the hairbands and putting them on his head. You know I just remembered...I used to call these hairbackers when I was little. Why? you ask.....cause they held my hair back of course.

Honest Abe

This week is the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debate. After having ice cream with friends the other day we visited Debate Square and said hello to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas.

Future president??

Kindergarten

And off she goes.....sigh....

Ice Cream with Friends

Who doesn't like ice cream in the summer...or winter? Don't answer that cause I don't want to know you if you don't want to eat ice cream ALL the time. (just kidding!)

Partying with Friends

Sissy was invited to a Birthday Princess Party at the local arts center (birthday girl on left). She had a really good time and I would have to say I really enjoyed myself also. The girls had the usual cupcakes, treats and presents but they also were able to create a fun Princess hat, fairy wings and work on other coloring projects. I was very impressed with the party!!

Eating cupcakes with the other princesses.

Sissy outside the arts center in her princess hat....doesn't she look like a garden gnome? haha!

Picking with Friends

Since I don't have enough to do I decided I needed to can cherries this year. FarmerFoley was nice enough to take me to her friend Jim's. The kids had a great time playing and all things considered cherries are easy to pick so it wasn't all that bad.



Mr. Jim took the kids for a ride around his farm. They couldn't have been more pleased.



A crop duster kept buzzing over us. I tried to get a really nice picture of the biplane but it just did not happen.



I could have just stayed there forever. We could have not been in a prettier area.

After 2 hours of picking I thought we had a ton of cherries.....but after canning them it seems we only got enough for 7 quarts....

....that's ok....do we REALLY need to eat anymore cherry pies than that a year??

Wild Ride

On the way home from visiting relatives this weekend we ran right into the middle of a really fierce storm. We could see it building and coming across Iowa but we kept driving and hoping that we would miss it. After listening to the radio for miles and miles and since there was no place to hide but in the corn fields we pulled off to have some ice cream and hopefully it would blow over and we could be on our way.

After 20 minutes of ice cream we got back on the road. Thank goodness we stopped! There were trees and power lines down all over the place. We saw one huge tree on top of someones very nice RV. The picture is dark and fuzzy cause Bubby had been playing with my camera and the settings were all messed up (that and I need a new camera!). But you get the idea.

Some local towns were still without power on Tuesday. After the storms the sky cleared pretty fast and we had a wonderful rainbow (Bubby had one on his hand too!)

Man I hate storms!!

Girls Night Out

Had to come home and blog about my fabulous night out with the girls. Ok...we were just knitting and talking but it was just too much fun.

Super Christian Girl was just too wonderful to open her home to us. She kept FarmerFoley laughing all night with her stories. Which just made us laugh even more...cause have ya heard FarmerFoley's laugh? It's like nothing you have ever heard.

The Texting Guru helped us all figure out our phones and kept us laughing remembering all our old dance moves.

Aloha Knitter kept her head low and her needles flying. She knitted the sweater....I started the sock. So not right....

It's good to have friends...even better to have really good friends to laugh so much with that people would think you had been drinking.

Come Sail Away

Since gas is at the highest it has EVER been in the history of the free world we have decided this is the summer we should travel all over the country. This weekend we had a wonderful visit with relatives.

The kids and Hubby were able to do a little fishing. Since it was 110 degrees (seriously!) I layed on the bank and tried to move as little as possible.

Uncle took the kids on his sailboat. They LOVED that! Couldn't get enough of it.

Later that night we took the kids bowling. Neither one of them had ever been before. I would like to take Sissy more cause she talks about it all time...even though she's never been. They could not have been more excited.

Sissy took it VERY seriously!

Bubby would throw the ball and then become bored quickly cause it took SO LONG for the ball to reach the pins.

Sissy scored 91, Bubby scored 90, Mommy scored 57. hahaha!! I think I need bumpers next time.

New Baby Nephew could have cared less.

Just Peachy!

I know some of you think since I'm a SAHM I really do not have anything to do. I should have all the time in the world to blog, right? Some people keep asking where the next post is and I have to just tell ya....I'M BUSY!! Just kidding...I'm really just laying around eating cookie dough...just kidding again.

Since we returned from our trip it has just been crazy around here. Whose idea was it to leave during gardening season? A farmer never leaves during harvest right? At least that is what I've been told by FarmerFoley.

I have been up to my ears in canning the past two weeks. In an attempt to use the deep freeze less I have decided to can everything this year. Hubby says we should be ready for the 'big one'...whatever that might be.

I canned 20 quarts of peaches.

So far I have canned 27 quarts of green beans and after picking cherries the other night for what seemed like hours I ended up with only seven lousy quarts of cherries. I swear it seemed like WAY more to me before I got them in the jars.

The zucchini I am going to freeze because I have yet to hear good things about canning it. Our zucchini's are out of control this year! Nobody picked them while we were in Alaska and then we were only home for a week and then left for the weekend again. They are bigger than Bubby!! I have nine laying on the counter right now waiting to be shredded....they can just wait a little longer.

Notice the yellow banana....it's average size. These zucchini are MONSTERS! So far I've only froze the zucchini and onions. I figure when the 'big one' hits we can just thaw them out and it will be fine.