So Much To Tell You!

Ella waiting for surgery.

She brought home a surgical hat and stuffed zebra for souvenirs.

Junior hatching!

This is Daisy! She is very nosy and you can tell when she gets scent of something - her nose goes up in the air.

My first time on the trampoline. I did not enjoy as much as the girls! Thanks, Eric!

Emma showing Tina and Anna hanging around in the beef barn at the fair.

Ella dancing on the gates at the fair. She kept herself entertained

with her imagination.

Chris blowing out Darla on Thursday. I think he really enjoyed the fair and

showing experience.

Anna and Kirstin Osland at the Cloverbud stick horse show. Yes, I had to sit through the horse show for Anna to do this (painful!). Just kidding!

Emma with her cabbage and kohlrabi at the fair. She received an A rating!

It was an amazing week at the fair last week and since then we have had much going on in our lives! We survived the fair and Emma did a great job and we're very pleased that she wants to show again next year. Chris and Emma have already started strategizing what vegetables to enter next year and what heifers or steers they are going to work with. It really was a great family experience. Not only did Emma have a great week, but Anna and Ella thoroughly enjoyed the fair as well. If you've never been to the Mason County Fair, it is about as po-dunk of a fair as you can get, but we wouldn't want it any other way. There are no carnival rides or food carts, so you can let your kids wander through the barns and play with other kids without worrying. Everyone watches out for everyone else!

Saturday, after the fair, we headed to Washington for Kaylee Mae's (our niece) 10th birthday party. I had my first encounter with a trampoline and I'm still not sure how I feel about it! It was going well until Eric (my brother-in-law) decided to get on it and shake things up a bit for me. I think all he accomplished was a backache for himself and nightmares for me!

On Sunday, we decided to finally go and look at a dog that some friends of ours knew about. All we knew was that she was some sort of coon hound and she needed to be on a farm to run. We all fell in love with her instantly and brought her home. Her name is Daisy and Chris and Emma seem to be quite taken by her. She's been tied up because we're afraid she will run, but either tonight or tomorrow, we'll let her off the chain for a bit and have her check things out!

Today is Monday and we have had two major happenings this morning. Junior, our Monarch caterpillar, finally hatched out of his cocoon into a beautiful butterfly. We did not get to witness the actual hatching, but awoke to find him shaking out his wings of the liquid they contain. The girls let him go out on the deck. After he was released, we packed up Ella to head to the hospital to get a tube replaced in her left ear. She did great and hasn't stopped since we brought her home. I was hoping she would be tired and groggy this afternoon, but not Ella, she is playing, singing, and dancing. I went ahead and took a little nap without her!

That's quite enough for now. I have to start working in my classroom this week and get ready to head up the great white nort' later on! Take care and thanks for checking!

The James Gang