Camper Fun

See her "wings"?

 We took out the '69 Lakeland camper we've been working on AKA,"The Hen House" last weekend to a music get together right down the road. There was a good chance of storms and we thought it might be nice to try the old girl out before we sold her. Earlier this year we bought two vintage campers to restore and "cuten up" to sell them. So far, we are super close to having this one completed. We are waiting on some paper work to be finalized, and then she's going up on Craigslist.

The four-of-us slept very comfortably. Well, actually, Cam didn't stop pickin' until about 2am and then drove home to milk the goats at 5:30, so he didn't sleep much at all. But, the girls and I slept great.

The music went on 'til the wee hours. The music drifted down over the hill and to our little home for the evening. It was quite a pleasant way to drift off to sleep.

Ice Cream Social

Bernie showing off her yummy bowl.

 We held our annual Midsummer Night's Ice Cream Dream this year. As always, it was so much fun. I made five plus gallons of goat milk ice cream that was delicious. We provide the ice cream and each family brings a topping or mix-in to share. This year was especially fun with the variety of toppings brought. We had crushed oreos, no-bake cookies, sprinkles, mini Reese cups, whip cream, and jelly beans, just to name a few. The hardest part was choosing which ones to put on!

Beautiful Ezra.

There *may* have been some pee on the slide. I'm not naming names.

 It just so happened that the ice cream social coincided with milking time, which usually draws a crowd. It always fascinates me to see who is interested in trying their hand at it. Jane, for instance. Jane is my good friend Bon's mother-in-law. Bonnie now lives in California with her new hubby, Colin. They happened to be in town for the ice cream social (yay!). I then found out that Bon's in-laws would be in town, too and promptly invited them to be part of the fun. I don't know them very well, but I never would have expected that she would jump at the chance to milk a goat! Who knew!? I was so pleasantly surprised!

Bonnie and Me. She came all the way from Cali for my ice cream! 

 The thing I love about recent parties at our house is the kids. They run wild. They have free, safe reign of our huge yard. I love to feel so confident that nothing bad is going to happen to this wild group of kiddos. They are crawling through the corn rows, whooping, hollering, finding secret hideouts and being beautiful, happy children. I really love it.

Not quite whooping and hollering with the big kids yet.

My gal Melissa and sweet Cece or "Baby HeHe" to Maggie who doesn't say her "S"

 Here's one of my favorite pics of the evening. Bonnie, her sister Amanda, Melissa, and me. We all grew up together and I was glad to capture this fun moment with the four-of-us.

The most exciting part of the evening happened after most of the guests had gone. There was a missing set of keys. It was well after dark by this time, so we got out the flashlights and scoured the yard. Looking in every nook and cranny we could think of. Alas, no keys. I got up the next day and searched the yard in a grid-like-cop-show fashion. Alas, no keys. Luckily, the keys were found later that day in the belongings of one three-year-old boy who may or may not be the culprit of the slide pee. Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Father's Day

Father's Day has long since come and gone. I've been waiting to post because I wanted to get a picture of Cam in his gift. Alas, I'm still waiting, so I'll share what we made for Poppy and Opa.

First, Opa. 

Opa has been sharing Greek Mythology with the girls. He has several children's books on the subject and shares with them about Perseus, Medusa, Zeus, Poseidon and the like. One of their favorite stories is about the Cyclops. I really thought Opa needed a Cyclops hood to have on hand at his house for Greek story-telling. Of course, I couldn't find a pattern for a Cyclops hood, so I had to make one up. I used a ping pong ball for the eye and drew on it using permanent markers. I added big ears and some fake hair. I think he loved it.

Now Poppy. Poppy is my dad. He grew up in the mountains of West Virginia. His family ran a grocery store and his dad worked in the coal mines. He has a handful of stories from his childhood that he likes to tell. He used to tell them to me when I was little, and now he tells them to my girls. One of the most memorable is about his encounter with a rattlesnake. Or, "Poppy's Snake Story". It is only a matter of minutes from when Poppy climbs in our car that the girls, usually Maggie, ask for "The Nake Tory". The girls have the story basically memorized. So, I decided it would be cute if they retold the story in their own words and illustrated it for him. Then I created a Snapfish Photobook that I was able to pick up at Meijer in a matter of hours. It turned out really cute and personal. I loved hearing how they told the story and what they felt were important elements. 

If you're interested, here is their version:

Lila: Well, you know when Poppy told us the snake story? He always told it for Maggie.

Maggie: I always like the nake tories.

Lila: So, he started off as “you know where Poppy came from?” And, I forgot it right now.

Lila: So, once upon a time when poppy was little, Poppy and our cousin Norman heard about a peach orchard on top of the hill

Maggie: No when poppy was grown up.

Lila: So, they went on top of the mountain and they took Norman’s dog Buster.

Lila: It was a short time.

Maggie: No, a long time.

Lila: No, it was a very short time. They picked and picked and picked and picked and picked and picked and picked peaches from the hill. Well, actually it’s a mountain. Not a hill. So, when they were done picking peaches, they started down the mountain. But, suddenly…

Maggie: They heard a tss tss tsst

Lila: He heard a rattling noise and a “hiissssss”. Poppy said, “Stop, Norman! There’s a rattle snake ahead!” But Buster kept going. And he trampled right up on the snake and the snake bit him right in the neck. But not very hard and not very easily, too!

Lila: The bite swelled up for a couple days. Poppy came to check on Buster, Norman’s dog of course. He was better, but it was a little swollen.

Maggie: Poppy thought he was going to die any minute, but he didn’t! Them ran home as fast as they could. Them thought Mustard was going to die any minute, and he didn’t die! Their friend was there and they went on top of the mountain again to shoot it and there was no snake. It’d crawled into his hole. The hole was this wide.

The End

I had some extra pages, so I decided to do an "About the Author" for each of the girls. The book turned out so well and Poppy really seemed pleased. 

Pioneer Dress #2

 This is Lila's "Laura dress". It is made from a homespun-type fabric we bought from Joann. I followed an old pattern Simplicity 9708 that my friend Diane had given me. I used the new version of this pattern for Maggie's dress.  Lila wore this outfit to piano lessons today. I don't know what her teacher must think. Between her bike helmets, outlandish fashion, and pioneer dresses, my girl certainly has her own styles. I miss the (very short) days when I could dress her like a doll where everything matched from head-to-toe.  These days, if I try to make suggestions, she calmly tells me, "Mommy, I'm different than this family, please let me wear it". She has her own style. You can't tell here, but under the dress she is wearing her purple patent leather flats because "they are the most old-fashioned shoes" she owns. I know some day she will probably come to me (as I did to my mother) and say "How could you let me leave the house like that!?" I think I will calmly reply "Just wait, my darling, wait until you have a daughter of your own, then we'll talk".

As a funny side note, I mentioned that Maggie wore her dress to church last weekend. Afterward, word got back to me that a middle-school age young woman saw Maggie wearing her dress and asked her mother flatly, "Did you make me wear dresses like that when I was little?" To which her crafty mother simply responded, "No". The young woman was relieved and said "Good." 

I do hope my girls look back on all this and smile. I do hope they remember these days with fond and joyful memories as I know I will. I hope they know their mother loved them well.

The Ingalls come to O'Bannon Woods

 Last weekend we participated in "A Day on the Farm as a Pioneer Child" at O'Bannon Woods. It was a lot of fun! They had asked Cam to bring a goat and do a milking demonstration and we were all able to go. The best part was, my friend Diane was able to loan Lila and me some period attire. The girls were running around all morning calling each other "Laura" and "Mary" and Cam and me "Pa" and "Ma".

The girls were technically too young for the activities, but they let them participate anyway. There was goat-milking, bread-making, feeding of oxen, brushing out horses, and more. They both really enjoyed being with the big girls. 

 The dress that fit Maggie was red and she really didn't think that Mary would wear a red dress. At least that was her reasoning for not wearing it. So, she's not very period-friendly, but she sure is cute!

 Here's Ma. Diane had two potential dresses for me. One was much fancier than the other and I was sure Lila would pick that one for me. But, she chose this one because it looked "just like Ma". I brought some knitting along and sat near the goats.

 Here's Pa. Cam shaved his goatee the night before for more authenticity. It's kind of rare for me to see his face! The kids all loved the demo. All but one of them tried milking. I was impressed at their willingness to try.

Here's Olga being spoiled by clover the girls were picking for her. There were quite a few other volunteers there that day and they were all so friendly and welcoming. The whole experience makes me want to sew some of our own pioneer clothing and do this more often. Diane to the rescue again, she is hunting up her old patterns!

Easter!

We had a great Easter with lots of family, fellowship, play, food, and friends. We dyed eggs Saturday night and even had glitter to add to them. Luckily, the dye washes off little fingers for church.

 Cousins are always happy for an excuse to get together. They hid eggs, colored on the sidewalk, pretended to be dolphins, mermaids, and little girls... it was fun.

  

For some reason, my niece is always a lot more cooperative for pictures than my girls.  Here she is with her Opa.

 She's convinced we looks "Just Alike!" (Even though she really looks just like her Aunt Renata)

 Family tradition of Easter family pictures.  Maggie is traditionally not very cooperative! Today being no exception.

 A room full of friends, family, and food= good times.

Nana and Lila on a beautiful Easter day.

A Family trip to the Forestry

Harrison County has a beautiful forestry to which we have a park pass. Cam has been utilizing it recently for hilly runs gearing up for the Derby City Mini. But, last week we took a family trip to hunt for mushrooms and enjoy being outside on a glorious day. My work cancelled last minute, leaving me with the morning free, so we jumped in the truck and took off.

 We took time to play in the creeks and looks for critters of all shapes and sizes.

The forestry also has a pioneer village with log cabins and out buildings. Maggie and I played Ma and Laura in these cabins while waiting for Daddy and Lila to collect some salamander eggs for the visitor's center. What a great way to spend a morning.

Maggie's birthday

My girl turned three.  It seems a little unreal. My sweet girl has gotten so independent in so many ways, but is still so much more of a baby than Lila was at this age.  Of course, when Lila was three, we had a real baby around and probably less tolerant of those behaviors.  But, I must admit, some of her babyisms are just so stinking cute.  I could listen to her talk all day long.  She is still s-less at the beginning of words.  So, her birthday party was "Trawberry Hortake" themed.  She enjoyed being the birthday girl as much as her mommy does and was glad to draw it out over a week's time.  We celebrated with the grandparents on the night of her actual birthday with a homemade calzone dinner.  Her actual party we held on St. Patrick's Day.  It was gorgeous weather and we left the house wide open.  Our yard is so much better for entertaining than inside the house.  So, I was thrilled to see the sun shining and temps in the 70's. 

 I purchased this template for the strawberry favor boxes, although it appears there are quite a few free templates out there.  I enlarged the template quite a bit so that it could hold more goodies!

 The puppies made an appearance and were well-loved and carried around the whole yard.  My nephew especially liked them and after they were put away, kept asking where they went.  "Puppy?"  "Puppy?".

These are some very special boys in our life.  Left to right, "Opa", my nephew Worth, my handsome farm husband, and his Grandad. I caught a rare moment with all of them smiling, even Grandad!  What a fun day celebrating my favorite Maggie in the whole wide world.