Mud balls

Well my kids have always enjoyed the art of making perfect and very useful mud balls for as long as I have known, but the other day I saw something new.


I turned on the water in the dry pen and over filled it so the kids were having a blast making mudballs in the sand. As they worked Ben had a great idea. I looked over at them after I picked out a horses hoof and was surprised to see Ben holding something. I knew instantly what it was but couldn't figure out why he was standing there holding it.


"Um, Ben, what do you have there?


"A mudball


"Why? "


"Because I like them."


"Where did you get it?"


"Over there,"


"Do you know what that really is?"


"A mud ball"


"Sorry honey but that is horse manure, that is horse _____!"


He looks at me, looks at the clump in his hand, looks at me.


"No mom, it is a dirt ball. "


Seriously I could not convince Ben and Paige that those premade mud balls and dirt clumps were actually horse manure. How sad and yucky but I still had to laugh out loud.

That is so Fair!

How fun it was to be home for the Fair and to have my children participate. All this planting,weeding and caring sure seems worth it seeing it at the fair. The kids enjoyed it.

Best of Show!! Thanks Aunt Diane for the tubers. They grew beautifully!

Love that expression!

The Tractor Pull Competition was fun this year, we did it twice.

Payton made it to the third round!

Go Jill!

Our group cheering on the tractor kids.

Yep, I entered a few photos in for fun.

Jill's canned peaches

Funny veggie faces. These were fun to create.

Avery's carrot kid.

Kissy lips Mrs. Pumpkin-head.

Payton's blue ribbon no-bake cookies

Cute Sisters

Loving the soft serve

More tractor pulls. Paige "forgot" she wasn't 4 anymore and got to pull in the 4 yr.old age group. She did really good for a 4 yr.old, and got teased a lot when the truth came out. Opps. :)

Everyone gets something.

Mabel's Blessing

We were so blessed to have Justin extend his visit by one day and give Mabel a name and blessing in the church. It was a sweet moment he almost missed by just an hour. Benny's little boy Cash was being blessed so we were able to do it at the same time with a lot of family on both sides.

Justin goodbyes

Once again the airport goodbyes.

They just never seem to get any easier. See ya in 4-7 months.

After many tears (mostly from mom) we needed something else to think about. Thanks for Jeremy and Amy letting us crash there for a while, and then Dan, Ben and George for letting us crash their boating outing it was perfect. It was so fun to have family all around and a beautiful river park near by! Even when the party was over and I finally had to face the reality of going home without my hubby I was surprised to walk in my door to the aroma of yummy home cooking a sister from church had left on my counter. What a great support group is here. I sure love it!

Our "little" group

The only one "old enough" to drive on the river!