35!!!!!!!

So, the last week or so, I have spent anticipating a semi-big birthday...35.  The actual number of 35 didn't bother me all that much until I was looking at a registration for a 5K that I may run in...I realized that I would have to be in the 35-39 category this year...ummmm...that's really close to 40 ya'll! Yikes!  That made me panic for a few hours and then...I reflected on some things and I just don't care about the number anymore.
1.  I am down to the weight that I weighed at the age of 16
2.  I have three beautiful kids and a wonderful husband of 13 years
3.  I am in the best shape I've been in...well, for a long time
4.  I FEEL young!!!!
5.  I am blessed beyond belief and can't even begin to list all the blessings
6.  At 35 I still have student's parents that are older than me!
7.  I'm more active now than 10 years ago!
8.  God has blessed me with growth in those years and amazes me with each day
9.  I don't think my parents are old (yet), so I can't be old either, right?
10.  If I'm planning to run a 5K...I just can't be too bad off, right?

So...today I'm thanking God for my beautiful family and friends and another year to serve HIM...I'm asking Him for wisdom and patience as I continue to grow in Him and learn all that I need to know.  I'm thanking Him for the years that I have had in my mission field of teaching and the many more that I have to come.  So instead of worrying about that age going up, I will continue to be blessed by my days and look for ways to make those days (and years) worth it for the glory of HIM!

Baling Hay and Cousin Fun

Cousin time!  This summer the kids had several opportunities to see and play with their cousins. They always have so much fun together but they normally don't get to see each other too often.  So we definitely enjoyed the time that we had with them...Lots of swimming, golfing, playing baseball, baling hay, and good fun at the fair with them.  Here is Cailey (4) and Kiara (2) hanging out together.  They were so cute together and listening to them "talk" was adorable!

Playing in the sandbox.  Cailey was teaching her all kinds of things!

While they girls played outside of the pool, the boys took over inside the pool  playing basketball and lots of their own created games.  They LOVED this and let me tell you that it was very noisy with 4 boys (10 year old + three 8 year olds)! Whew!

Here's a picture they took at the fair this year of the Markley side grandkids...I may be biased but aren't they all just TOO cute???

The boys have been waiting all summer to bale hay (we missed the first cut because we were on vacation).  Finally the time came and they were so excited.  They got to help out on the wagon and in the field which was hard work, but they loved it!  All the boy cousins had a blast.

It was a late night that night.  The last bale of hay was put in the barn about 10:00 pm. 

Kiara decided she wanted to have her own fun and "discovered" where the markers were at Grandma's house...she was very blue for quite awhile!  Needless to say...we put the markers up and out of the way!

Here the girls stand waving at the boys coming up the lane with the hay wagon.  They would stand there waving the whole time up and down the lane.  Too sweet.

I have a few more summer fun pictures, but I'll save them for the next post...our summer fun is drawing to a close, but it's been a good one...very full this year!

Jackson

I've been meaning to post this, but couldn't decide which pictures to use...so I'm just posting some and knowing that there are a ton more good ones of our new sweet nephew/cousin!   Little Jackson was born  July 14 and weighed 9 pounds...he was overdue and as much as the proud parents were anxious for his arrival...so were the rest of us!  We couldn't wait to hear the news!  At last he arrived and is just the sweetest little (I use that term loosely) guy.  He's simply adorable.  The kids and I, along with my mom made a quick trip to see him in PA when he was 8 days old.  We were only gone a total of 4 days and two of them were driving, but it was great to see everyone and hold my new nephew for the first (few) times!  Love that baby smell! Kiara knew that Aunt Jul had a baby in her tummy and we talked to her about that the baby was here now and she LOVED looking at him and patting him! (sometimes a bit too hard)  Here is Kiara at her first glimpse of him with Uncle Andy/new daddy!

The boys were very anxious to see their newest boy cousin as well...those Witmer boy cousins (5) and then Kiara...she'll be a tough one!  They couldn't seem to get enough of him and I had to give him up several times so that they could hold him!

Oldest cousin, Brock with newest cousin Jackson...

Grant checking out Jackson...actually I think Jackson was checking him out!

Kiara, Brock, Caiden, Great Grandpa Overly, Jackson, Grant and Griffin

Kiara wanted to stick close to me when I had the baby!

We had a lot of fun in the two full days that we were there...movie time with Paw-Paw, baby holding, ice pops, backyard baseball derby, birthday cake...and a bit of silliness too...Can you guess who these kids are in disguise????

Even Grandma Witmer got in on the silliness!

We're so glad we were able to travel in for a quick trip, even though we had to leave Daddy at home.  We love you all and look forward to seeing you all (and holding Jackson) again soon!

More from the fair

As I said in an earlier post, we were at the fair every day...usually until naptime and then coming back in the evening to take care of the animals again and hang out.  Here's a picture of the kids with Grandpa.  We spent a lot of time with Grandpa this week since he was off to be at the fair (on the fairboard).  Kiara was not happy at the fair until we had found her grandpa! :)

It was really hot (in the 90s everyday) so we had some times where we just wanted to sit and not be moving around.  The boys had some games that they played by our pens, including battleship...the real battle was keeping Kiara away from the ships!

Friday of the fair, they always hold a fun and games activity for the 4-Hers that are there.  This year they had teams made up of the different townships/clubs.  They did an obstacle course where they had to carry a watermelon (with greased hands), go under a table, weave through chairs, jump in a barrel of water with both feet and run back as fast as they could to pass off to the next person.  We had so many from our club that we had 2 teams.  The boys were split onto separate teams but had a blast cheering everyone on and doing the course!  

Grant's team ended up winning after 3 heats...way to go West Township!  Woo hoo!

During fair week, Kiara wanted to do EVERYTHING that she saw the big kids doing and was quite the entertainer for those around us.   She was our wild woman!  Here she is after seeing the boys get in the pens to catch the lambs...she wasn't going to miss out on the fun! Once she got in the pens she was helping the boys set up the lambs...and oh yea...kissing and licking the lambs. GROSS!  I told you she was a wild woman entertaining everyone!

Fair week comes to a close with the cleaning out of pens and selling the lambs at the auction.  It's been a great week...

See you next year at the fair!

4-H Fair

The day we had worked so hard for, was finally here...show day at the 4-H fair.  We arrived at 7:00 AM to wash the first of the lambs before shearing all of them before the show in the afternoon.  Our morning of preparation went so well, with no arguing or yelling and for the most part we really enjoyed getting ready.  Poor Kiara spent the first 3 1/2 hours in the stroller...she was such a trooper and seemed to know she had to be in it for us to get things done!

Phil was able to shear a lamb for the first time.  Up until this point just the boys and I had sheared them and he was very hesitant to try it, but he caught on and did quite well...for those who know the story...the pictures of the lamb that he did completley by himself will remain hidden...let's just say he learned from the experience! :)

Getting the lambs ready to go in the show arena...it was a hot day that's for sure.  Brock was very excited to show.  We didn't have any champions this year, like we did last year, but it was okay.  He did pretty well with the sheep and the one class placed right behind the two lambs that won the entire thing, so we were pleased. 

Kiara was really good considering she is 2!!!  She just ran around and acted like she was one of the big kids...here she is taking a break from running and making herself comfy to eat her sucker. 

Brock and Mommy...still smiling with half of the show over! :)

As I mentioned earlier, the day really went smoothly and I was so proud of the boys.  Our day did not end as well as it began.  One of the lambs gave Brock a hard time in the ring...this was upsetting for him and began the start of a bad headache.  By the end of the show, he had a migraine and I had to pull him out of showmanship and take him home.  This was definitely the hard part of the day...for Brock and for us as parents as well.  By the time we got him home, he got sick and then fell to sleep rather quickly.  He was fine the next day, but the day took it's toll on him.  Sorry to those we ignored as we rushed to get him home, we just needed to do what we needed to do.

Below is a picture of Grant with one of the famous Dairy Barn milkshakes...mmmmmm...I miss them already!  We ate our fair share of them that week and they were oh sooooooo good.  I look forward to the fair every year, just so that I can eat their milkshakes! 

Most days we were there in the morning, came home for Kiara to take a nap, and then went back in the afternoon and evening.  On this particular day she fell asleep in the stroller so we stayed all day long.  We tipped the stroller back and propped it up so that she was laying down...how she slept with all the baa's in the barn, I will never know! :)

Overall, it was a great week...very tiring and extremely hot...but we had a great time as a family and created many many memories together. I do have to say that it is nice to not smell like sheep every day now though. Ha! Oh, by the way the boys both did great with their projects...blue ribbons all around! Hooray!

Here we go...

Our journey to the 4-H fair has been just that...a journey.  We have spent hours upon hours in the barn, walking and working with the sheep and preparing projects.  There has been giggles, laughter, tears, yelling, more tears, more giggling and laughing!  Here is where our journey this year began...walking sheep.  Yes, for those of you who are city dwellers, we are walking the sheep behind garden tractors...if you really want to know the reasoning and logic behind it I can tell you but I'll refrain here!

 Kiara usually got a ride at the end from one of her brothers without any lambs on the back but this time she wanted to help a little bit!  She thought she was pretty special. Most of the time Mommy and Grandma chased her around the yard while brothers did the work.

Then came the fun of washing, shearing and doing final preparation for the fair...last year they washed and I did the shearing.  This year they washed and did a lot of shearing.  I just went over it to make sure they got it and then get the places that they couldn't do well (bellies/heads).

The sheep got checked in last night at the fair and the show is tomorrow (Monday)...a lot more hard work and sweat will go into show day, but we are ready and excited...will have pics of that later!

This year Grant was able to be in Mini 4-H and took two projects.  We had a great time working together on putting these together.  He did Farm Animals (poster) and Collections, which he used the collected seashells that we got on our vacation in June.  Both projects turned out great and we are so proud of him!

Brock, along with taking sheep, took the project of Farm Toy Scenery.  He worked so hard on his project, designing, creating, gluing and placing things.  We are so proud of him too...we'll let you know how they did in a later post.

So, for now...we're off to the fair...Wish us luck...we may need a cage for a certain little 2 year old girl...hmmm...can you guess who that might be???

Just like Mommy

Today I was motivated to get some cleaning done...I actually cut up a bunch of fruit while Kiara was in her high chair, cleaned the kitchen, got the dishwasher going, 2 loads of laundry going, swept the whole house and then....time for the bathroom.  My least favorite part of cleaning is the bathroom.  I usually wait until she is either napping or a weekend when we can lock her out of the bathroom and still have someone to watch her...but I knew if I stopped moving, I wouldn't want to tackle the bathroooms later.  So, I decided to see how it went.  It started out by me just giving her a washcloth and having her work on the floor or wall on the opposite side as me...

Then, as I was cleaning the toilet, I glanced up and this is what I see...

She just wanted to be like mommy...isn't she such a sweetie???  Of course, usually she's tearing the house completely apart, but today she has been a helper and I LOVE that!

This picture below was yesterday...we took a picnic lunch to Grandma's so that after walking sheep we could go swimming in their pool. Kiara rather enjoyed her peanut butter sandwich and covered herself in it!

That grin...melts my heart.  More of the boys later...