Halloween Party 2008

We, are ready for the Halloween Party. Introducing "Dobby" the house elf from Harry Potter, and Grace the most WINNING JOCKEY EVER with her horse Butterscotch!

A Budding Blues Musician

Well, 3 years of piano lessons has gotten us "somewhere". Enjoy this - I do. She even has a bit of the uneven swing of it! LOVE this...

Eggs

OMG - We got our first little egg today... Not THE best picture in the world - but it is early yet toay! Grace is holding it - it is very cute and small. Ingrid is holding a STORE egg... What a fun find in the coop this morning! Oh - what to DO with IT!

Success at Schaghticoke Fair!

Well - we were all very very very happy with our successes at the County Fair! Here is Grace with her bunch of ribbons. She also got a 4H Cloverbud Rainbow ribbon for her Bird Journal.
Husky Picture - Blue
Knitted Littlest Petshop Rug - Blue
Cape Cod Beaded Necklace - Blue
Macreme Book Mark - Blue
Fawn Eating Apples Pen & Pencil Drawing - Red
Ingrid, also reaped the rewards of her labors.
Hummingbird Feeder (4H Project)- Red
Fall Painting - Red
Christmas Cross-stitch - Red
Knitted Scarf - Red
Sugar Cookies (not picutred - the Judges ate them!!) - BLUE
4H Bird Feeder - BLUE
4H Bird Journal - BLUEAnd here are my ribbons - - - the girls INSISTED that I should show off too....
Leprechaun Table Runner - White
Molasses Oatmeal (Mr. Anderson Cookies not picutred) - Red
Christmas Wall Hanging - White
Knitted Childrens Mittens - White
Tomatoe Chutney - BLUE
Knitted Pot Holder Pair - BLUE
Pear Chutney - Red
Pine Cone Wreath - BLUE
Smocked Christmas Ornament - BLUE
Knitted Socks - Red
Oatmeal Pan Rolls (not picutred) - BLUE
The coolest thing by far - and I didn't even notice this AT the fair. My Oatmeal Pan rolls, entered in an open category - won BEST BREAD CHAMPION BLUE RIBBON! I was stunned today when we picked up our entries, ribbons and cash awards. They are good - but WOW - I had no idea they were THAT good!

Grace is Ready for the Schaghticoke Fair!

Here is Grace with all her "creations: for the fair. We're hoping for at least one BLUE RIBBON!
You can see her first knitting project over her shoulder. She uses it for a rug in her Littlest Petshop House. She is holdinig her Cape Cod Beaded Chocker Necklace. It has a little silver whale we got 2 years ago on Cape Cod after going on a Whale Watch. She just re-made it for th 3rd time (the plastic elastic thread keeps breaking). She wore it EVERY DAY of 2nd grade - really LOVES it. In her other hand is an acrylic painting she did with her best friends' Grandma. It is a husky and her puppy in the snow. There are paw-prints all over! Then, kind of draped over the picture is her first macreme project - a bookmark. The top of it has a little silver angel pendant that her Grandma Engel gave her. She is very proud of this bookmark. Later this afternoon she will do one more project - a pencil drawing - another "animal study". So she has five things to enter in the fair... Ingrid is working on Grandma Engel's HUGE Sugar Cookies (ala Kansas City Star). She as a number of crafts and 4H entries too. I have a bunch of crafts, preserves and baked items to enter as well. More "RESULTS" to be "posted" later in the week.

An August day - Canoing on Second Lake

We went up to Grafton Lakes today. Just 12 miles from home with a borrowed canoe. What a deal. It is a beautiful day - we just paddled around awhile - explored - saw wildlife and had a lunch en canoe! Here we are in a little cove having our lunch...

Here is David with his girls - doing their LEVEL best not to tip us over!
A little lily - - - with some cool reflections from the shore...
A view of the lake from the cove. Second Lake is 31 acres - just right for a couple hours of paddling around. I think we went around twice.... There is a beaver dam to the far left - almost by the opening to the big lake.
Ingrid took this picture of a few ducks we saw scooting around....

Grace's Bicycling Adventure

Well - our bike ride got off to a very rocky start. It was.... interesting. The kids took off while David was getting his special bike shoes on. About 30 yards down the path (I wasn't with them) Ingrid stopped in front of Grace who swerved right off the path into the woods - and down a little hill INTO A CREEK! (she forgot about the concept of BRAKES!) I ran to help her - having NO idea what I'd find - and then had to jump in a VERY MUDDY creek to rescue her.. URG - she was fine.

Here is a picture of the mud hole. Good thing I had my TEVA's on - and NOT sneakers. I was actully sinking - had a very hard time yanking my foot out of the muck on the bottom of that cute little "creek". Guess they now understand WHY WE DON"T STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PATH!!!






We convinced her to get back on... It was TOUGH. Her shoes and socks were wet - so were her goucho pants. REAL MESS. I told her, eventually, that if she got on and rode - we'd go get her new sneakers (she needs them for school anyway - whew) on the way home. THAT did the trick. Bribes for girls - new clothes or shoes... She was a pretty good trouper -not injured except for a scrape that was't even bleeding on her shin. Whew. Here she is after our ride - at the "scene of the wreck". Her landing spot was about 2 feet below the path - lovely mud hole. (scroll down - there are more words.....) She got a lot of praise for getting back on and sticking it out. Was SLOWER than USUAL, but she got the job done!