Madison County Fair 2008

The boys and their fun fair projects!

Grammy Rose was in on the festivities!

Peyton hammin it up! Peyton sold his Old Time Butter Crunch Candy! We had fun shopping at Cracker Barrel for his pail! Thank you Mr. McWhorter, April, Chance, Mr. Shirley and Centex Supply for your contribution! We pray God blesses you for blessing us!

Garet selling his Orange Citrus Bars! Our bucket had an orange citrus tree with lots of orange yard tools and gloves! Thank you Downtown Merchants Committee and Centex Supply for your contribution!

Spring Break 2008

Woo~Hoo!!! Spring Break 2008!!! I wish I could say that we received lots of R&R, or went on a BIG vacation, or Spring cleaned.... BUT, I can't! Between Easter and preparing for the fair,

it's been busy! The boys played and played and played some more! We spent afew days in the Woodlands! Garet went camping with his best friend... Logan! So, Peyton camped in brother's room while he was away! We enjoyed all of the pretty sunshine! It's nice to know that summer is just around the corner!

Happy Easter 2008

Easter was spent with family and friends! It was a beautiful, sunny day! It was a nice time of reflecting on my Lord and Saviour... Jesus Christ! Because of the sacrifice that he made... we have HOPE! Even on the darkest days! Even in the worst of circumstances! Through all kinds of situations....death, sickness, times of change,trials, tragedies, abuse, divorce, times of loneliness and rejection! As Christians... we have HOPE! That is what Easter is all about to me! Thank you Jesus!

Coloring Easter eggs! Where in the world did it go?

Easter morning 2008! Look what the Easter Bunny brought!

Look at all of those EGG HEADS!!! I think I drive our family CRAZY!!!! I'm the "Game girl"! I hate it when we all get together and everyone thinks they can eat, sleep and watch the ballgame! How boring is that!? I made everyone come outside and we had an EGG-Cellent time with EGGS!!! We did afew fun games with eggs! They were so mad at me b/c I was taking pics instead of playing! They do look kinda funny! If you drove by 310 N. Shipp, you probably got a big kick! If they mess with me anymore... next year I will make them do potato sack races! HA!

"Don't kiss me! We're cousins!" Garet was serious about this!

Robert says, "Honey, we can do this!"

"This is silly Dad!"

No one wanted to take pics! Can you tell?

Dadgum... Madison County Fair...Here we come! Yeehaw!!!

We have lots of work to do!!! My daughter-n-laws will LOVE me someday because my boys are going to know how to cook!

This recipe calls for lots of orange zesting per Paula Dean!

Beautiful oranges for our Orange Citrus Bars!!!!

Peyton toasted almonds for his Old Time Butter Crunch Candy! Yum~Yum!

Garet hard at work on his Pecan Toffee Tassies!

This kid is the hardest kid to take pictures of!!! It's so frustrating! My neighbors probably hear me every time I get the camera out! Look at the camera! Smile! Open your eyes! Smile with your eyes open for goodness sakes! How does Shauna Maness do it? I'm no photographer!

My little stubborn Pillsbury Dough Boy!

The boys proud of their finished products! We hope all of our hard work pays off! Wish us luck!

My little Picasso... Garet, is enjoying art this year! There were six students chosen from the Intermediate School to have their drawings entered into The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Garet was one of the six students! He named his picture, "Sunrise Cowboy". It didn't place, but he received a beautiful ribbon! He also entered it here in Madisonville and it won Grand prize!!! So, he will be receiving a scholarship at the end of the year! Go Garet!

Thank you Jesus for all of our fun blue ribbons! I have no idea how to turn this pic! Can someone help a sister out?

It's Fair time!!! One of my most favorite times of the year! We were going to attempt animals this year, but it didn't work out that way! BUT, I love to cook and bake and I hope to pass that onto my boys someday! There is nothing better than a large glass of sweet lemon tea and a good ole cookbook!!! One of my favorite pastimes! Searching for wonderful recipes to share with family and friends! We worked our tail off this year! We spread our baking out over three days! My house looks like a bakery! Have a sweet tooth? Stop on by and I'll send a plate with you! I love entering good recipes and it's always fun to WIN!!! Our hard work paid off... Thanks to the good Lord! Here were our results:

Orange Citrus Bars - Reserve

Pecan Toffee Tassies - First Place

Old Time Butter Crunch Candy - First Place

Banana Nut Bread Butter - Second Place

Texas Cornbread - Fifth Place

Pineapple Cheese Bread - Fifth Place

Peanut Butter Candy Bar Brownies - Participant

We are really not bragging! We are just soooo excited! If you are not involved, get involved! We had two years with nothing but green ribbons! We did not give up! It's a learning process! If you place Grand, Reserve, or first you go on to the big auction! The auction is next Monday night. So... we have lots of work to do! Here is an assignment for all of you creative people! Garet is selling his orange citrus bars and Peyton is selling old time butter crunch candy! I have to come up with adorable ways to display them. Themed buckets, containers, etc. Any ideas? Please help!

March Happenings!!!!

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippety, Hoppety... Easter is on it's way! Today was Peyton's Easter party at Miss Connie's. The Easter bunny paid the kids a visit and they hunted eggs over and over and over again. Six times to be exact! The kids ate lots of goodies and came home with tons of fun stuff! It looks like Easter time around here now!

Peyton showing the Easter bunny his goodies!

Peyton and his best bud... Tyler.

Peyton and Tyler showing off their dinosaur eggs! They didn't care how many eggs were in their basket as long as they each had one dinosaur egg! Roar!!!!!!

Did someone say SNOW in here in Madisonville, Tx. ? YES!!! Last Fri. we woke up to a beautiful snow! It looked like a winter wonderland for a short amount of time! It was fun while it lasted!

Preparing to launch some snowballs at mom!

Nothin like playing in the snow in your PJ's! We had to hurry! We were afraid it would go away! We live in Texas, it doesn't last long!!!

Garet eating snowflakes! and wishing he didn't have to go to school!

Last week, Zoie Lynn turned four! This is Peyton's princess! We had a little playdate! Peyton showered her with a rose and a Hannah Montana barbie! Isn't she cute?

After a romantic lunch, the cute couple was spotted having Popsicles together!!!

Cherie turned on some tunes and we watched the kids boogy!!!! I even joined in on the HOKEY~POKEY!!!!

BOW ~CHICA~WAH~WAHWWW!!!!! Peyton busted some moves that frightened me for a minute! I thought..."Where did he learn that? What have my children been watching? Where did I go wrong? He looks like a stripper! Not that I know what one of those looks like! (Laugh!)" I was reminded that he learned these moves from Alvin on Alvin and the Chipmunks! Whew! I was relieved!!!

D-Now weekend 2008

HOT Senoritas having a BALL!!!

I loved my fan! Can you tell? I played with it all weekend! People, I don't have girls! I have to play when I get the chance!

The Ladies of Espana!

The coronation service!

Who says you can't play when you get old? Why don't we have afternoon tea in the US?

Our cute Sunday School girls! Aren't they precious?

Noon tea anyone?

OK... So, who says you can't be a tough princess?

Tug of war!!!! Go Espana!!!!!!

Garet represented Scotland in a wrestling match between the squires.... and he WON!!! I guess Monday night WWE has paid off! He was so excited and I was a proud Mom!

Watching the Royal Tournament! We were cheering for Espana! There was archery, catapult, sling shots, wrestling matches! It was a blast!!!!

Garet was the squire for Scotland. He was incharge of protecting the flag all weekend!

JD ~ "The King"

Peyton and his dad.... The Barbarian! Yikes! You can't see this very well, but Auburn had Hannah Montana hair coming out of his helmet. He had a long Barbie doll tail. So funny!

The throne was symbolic for our King! The Royal Ball was in honor of our Lord and Savior!

So cool!

Me and my date! Auburn was unavailable for pics! I'm so sad, there was a big smudge on my lens and I didn't know about it for awhile! So, excuse the SMUDGE!

Mason, Sterling, Grant and Garet ~ This makes me want to CRY!!!! My little boy is growing up!

My familia! Auburn from Germania, Garet from Scotland and Carrie from Espana! We were all traders this weekend!

Miss Thang ~ Erica Lynn!!!

The lovely Pam of Scotland and I!

These guys were up to no good! Can you tell?

Peyton was is on this weekend too!The End!

What a spectacular weekend! It was go, go , go and I"m so pooped, but it was so worth it! There was worship and truth, lots of art projects, morning tea, the coronation service, the Royal Tournament at the Bailey Ranch, and the Royal Ball all in one weekend! The theme for the girls this weekend was art... painting, sculpting, collages and photography! The girls got to do each of these art projects and it was tied into a lesson. Each one of us have been created and sculpted by God's hands! We are his masterpiece! Our lives are to reflect our creator! There were great lessons for even old people like ME! There was even an art gallery to display our art! It' was unbelievable! I went back to being a kid again! We stole flags from other countries, we maxi padded cars in one of the other countries and the war started! Have you ever maxi padded cars before? I've learned from a dear friend... don't maxi pad cars when it's going to rain... they absorb well and don't come off very easy! Love ya Steph!

"Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him." Psl.45:11