Party like a princess...

So times are a changing here in the King household. Almost 2 teens live here, and soon to be a bunch of pre-teens to follow. :) Trying to...

Thursday, November 24, 2011

psalm 105

what a beautiful Thanksgiving morning
here in eastern pennsylvania...

     give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name;
make known amoung the nations
what he has done.
sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.

                                                                ~psalm 105:1-5

i hope you can take some time today to reflect
on all you have to be thankful for.
even if times are "tough" if you live here in america,
you are one of the richest in the world...


 
happy thanksgiving.

Friday, November 18, 2011

a visit to pappy and grandma's.

so 2 weeks ago i made it a priority to visit my grandparents.
i did visit my mom's mom.
and never got to my dad's parents.
until today.

these are the grandparents that i grew up knowing well.
we lived closest to them.

and now.

it is such a blessing to live so close to
each of our parents.
the bond that children and grandparents have is so
fun to watch transpire...
and well. the ~free~ built in babysitting is a blessing too. :)

but i watch my children making memories with
their grandparents, just as i did with mine.

it's kind of bittersweet as i watch my grandparents age.
and think ahead.

 (this picture is classic of how i would have acted when i was campbell's age...shy.shy.shy.)

 (there is plenty of loving baby genetics that i inherited from both sides of my family...) :)

(my grandmother can hardly see anymore, but it was precious to see her with karolina...)

(and calli wasn't so sure about pappy either...until we broke out toys, and klondike bars...) :)

we had a busy day. we then
 visited my mom at her work...the new holland re-uzit shop,
(where i found some great toys to put away for chrismas and birthdays.)
yay.
then we got some teacher gifts (in the way of food)
and some soft pretzels.
and then found our way home.

but...
i am beat. and now it's craft time.
eeeeekkkkk.
i try not to do craft time too often. :)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

my son.

a friend asked me last night if i felt like things were "normal" now?
"yeah"...i said. "they just feel really, really busy.
like i can't ever catch up."

it's not necessarily a "bad" thing.
i am involved in a lot of good "things"...
but Bible study, yesterday, was about sacrificing some things to the Lord...
even really "good" things.
so. now i am thinking on that a bit.

all that to say.
my 8 year old son came down this morning.
and met me at the desk in the office.
i was paying bills, sifting thru the mess, and looked up.
to find him standing there.
with the same shirt on as yesterday.


i said, "honey. go change your shirt.
you can't wear the same shirt 2 days in a row."
he casually said, "it's not 2 days mom.
i've worn this shirt all week."
(may i remind you it's now thursday...)

yep. i am not overwhelmed. :)
(just clearly in denial)
life is normal.
but i did't notice my son has been wearing the same shirt to
school all week long. eeeekkkkk.
in my defense, he did say,
"the kids didn't know either. i wear a different sweatshirt overtop."

ha.ha.ha.ha.
i totally *cracked up*.

****************************************

on another note.
my husband has come full circle.


i sneekily took the picture.
he was not happy about it. :)

i, however, am delighted!
it really does take awhile to paint all their nails.
i was happy for the help. :)

and it shows all of you, he really does have a softer side... 

:)

Friday, November 11, 2011

goin' on a fox hunt.

so the other morning we put in peeps, and our friend kendall, brought 2 of his 3 kids, austin- who goes to preschool with campbell, (and seriously, they are like best friends), and elise...who also seems to like campbell. :) it was such a beautiful day, so they stayed and played until around nap time...i thought they would play outside...but i think they were in the basement most of the day.  :(
oh well.

they were occupied and happy.
some days that's all that matters around here. :)

sometime after i popped out of the shower, and before lunch, my man called and told me to go check out a fox hunt that was just starting a few roads over. hmmmmmm. so, we loaded up and went. it was kind of a sight. me, i mean...with my vehicle that was making a loud sound...(scheduled to get fixed "the next day")...and these 4 kiddos, munching on their apples.

we head on over, and i hop out to see a ton of horses trotting along the woodline, and this man, well, there were people everywhere looking, but there was a man standing close to where i hopped out, so i started asking what was going on. seriously people. i know i am getting much more like my husband. there was a time in my life where i would have ~never~ conversed with a stranger eating his crackers, watching horses, but i did. i learned that the "dogs" are not dogs...they are "hounds" my terminology was completely off, and i might have offended him. ooops.

tried to explain it to the kids a bit...but once the hounds took off, then the horses took off, and jumping in and out of the truck, 3 more times, trying to get a glimpse of excitement on 3 different roads, we headed home...and i was only able to get one picture.

(this was only some of the horses...and the hounds were in front of the man with the red jacket...i forget the technical name for him? oops. but he was the leader of 'the hunt'.)


fun. but maybe i will wait until the kids don't need help getting in and out so much, til i go next time. what a learning experience though, and neat thing to watch...it was hilarious, watching these older folks hop in their cars, and head on over to another road, hop out with their binoculars, listening for the hounds, hopping back in their cars, heading to another road...wild. :)

and my 8 year old son ate 6 packets of oatmeal for breakfast this morning.
is that even allowed?


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Pumpkin Olympics.

i guess it's fair to say that we live in the country,
here in atglen, pennsylvania.
and it helps to have creative people (jeff and rhonda)
around to give us country folk some good 'ol
fashioned unique ways of having a good time.

sunday was the pumpkin olympics at one of the 
 neighboring pumpkin farms.

this is the first year that i have actually made it there.
 i usually stay home with a napping child or children,
but this year, we just skipped naps. :)
well. besides karolina. i mean.
she slept the whole time in the front carrier i was wearing.



a highlight at our neighborhood parties,
is always the barrel train. matt drove the train most of the
day. it just never gets old for the kids...even the older kids...




you can't see this real well. but on the above left side of the pic,
is a giant sling shot...slinging potatoes into the field. and the right
is the 'pumpkin chunkin' machine. 4 people actually sit on a high swing,
and the momentum and weight of the people,
swinging down on the swing, sling a pumpkin
f.a.r. into the field, and you watch as it smashes to pieces...
(none of my family took part in this...)


pumpkin basketball...seriously there is every kind of game you can imagine.
just with pumpkins encorporated.





kaycee on lower right,
our neighbor, and friend, courtney, front and center,
and campbell left...



kaycee and courtney putting together a large wooden
pumpkin puzzle...


a piece of sunshine for this rainy day.
4 year old campbell...


a group shot watching the pumpkins roll down the big hill.
with some friends...


a glimpse of truckloads of extra pumpkins from the season,
being "let go" down the hill. they smash into pieces,
and then the cows get to eat them.
very much sounded like a stampede...


and well.
i had to throw this in for good measure,
since she slept the whole time.
 karolina grace at 3 1/2  months old...

Friday, November 4, 2011

a visit.

kaden and kaycee had the day off school today.
was wondering what we could do that was fun.
debated. debated. debated.

i have one friend whose grandma just died. :(
i have a cousin who lives in colorado who just came in for a visit,
and probably has more pictures with my grandparents and
her baby, in her couple day stay, than i do with mine,
over a lifetime...and i am the one who lives c.l.o.s.e.
(that made me feel kinda bad)
so...

we went to visit grandma shank.
(my mom's mom)
she lives at fairmount homes now, and
has moved recently into the dementia unit.
that is a hard thing to watch.
when it's someone you love.
hard. hard. harder to understand why?

we had fun.
i am beginning to get the picture...that i look like a circus.
me and my 5 kids. :)
i live in this dream-world.
that because my kids are ~fairly~ well behaved,
that we look like an ordinary family when we go places.

but the more pictures that i look at,
the more i realize, that ~my~ normal, is
anything BUT other's normal. :)




grandma was actually having a very good day.
the last time i visited, it was very clear that she did not know who i was.
she has ~always~ loved my husband, and the fact that we are farmers,
and didn't remember we lived on a farm last time...
but today, she got a funny look of recognition on her face.
we spoke of family. potty training. farming.
steers and chickens.
(my grandparents raised steers, pigs, and chickens on their farm...
my grandmother worked very, very hard...)

we visited for awhile.
walked the kids around...those people love.love.love.
to have children visitors...
especially a smiley, quiet baby like karolina. :)

then i asked my mom if she would like to take me to cosco. :)

ha.ha.ha.
she obliged, and my dad even came too.
sure they are glad they don't have to grocery shop with me everyday. :)

we had fun.
thanks for a great day.
wonder when their next day off school is. ;) 

and for anyone who cares...
i did not get my bathrooms cleaned yesterday, OR
my laundry folded. :)
looks like that won't happen again today either.  :(

maybe i can put it off a few more days,
so we can fit in a visit with my other grandparents. :)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

niagra falls.

so we went to the king cabin this past weekend.
missed all the snow here.
for no snow there.
was kind of a bummer...
oh well. ya can't win em all, can ya?

matt's mom always asks me what the highlight of my trip was.
this time, it was seeing a bear.
in my 11 years at the king cabin, i have never seen one.

this time one big bear ran out in front of us,
in the middle of the night,
on the way to the cabin...

the kids were all sleeping, which was a small bummer,
but not really. :)

he sure didn't move very fast...

i had just got done telling matt he was driving too fast.
we were seeing deer everywhere,
and i was sure he was going to hit one.
he said, "if i hit one, i want to hit it right."
sounds like my man, right? :)

and then we see a bear right in front of us.
eeeeekkkkk.

arrived at 1 a.m. sat. morning.
and then it rained/wet snowed all day sat.
nothing stayed on the ground, so it was a
coloring/polly pocket/play dough kind of day.

sunday we took the 3 hour car ride to niagra falls.
and 3 hours back to the cabin too... :)
did stay on the american side because we had no passports, etc.
which was totally fine with me.

that helped the kids with missing the snow.
at least they got to see a big waterfall. :)

we had a great time just being a family of 7.
eeekkkk. doesn't that sound crazy...
here's some pictures of our time at the falls.







calli is not looking real happy in any of these pictures.
she had a good day.
just pulling some three year old attitude i guess?
we had these people we didn't know keep coming up to us,
asking if we wanted them to take our pictures...

so they were always trying to get her to smile.
i guess she didn't like that. :)




so that was pretty fun.
we then left around 10 a.m. on monday morning, to come home...
(i am usually NOT a proponent of missing school,
but the kids had a half day on monday...)
and on our way home we ran into the weigh station for those
who had shot elk...

it was amazing.
these animals are monsterous HUGE...
for real.
if you are faint of heart please don't look at the pictures to follow.
there is blood...
and large dead animals.
enough said.


*******************************************












do you see that huge crane?
this elk weighed in at 574 lbs.
and that is gutted...before they weighed all his "insides"...
guessing an elk might weigh between 900-1000 lbs.
holy moley...

now on with today.
my little angel of a girl, karolina, has decided to get up 4x
for the past 2 nights.
trying to chalk it up to a growth spurt?
not sure what's up.
but. i am over it. already. :)
thankful for a baby who has  ~almost~ slept thru the night
since the day she was born.

party on at my house today.
as some of our cousins are here to play.
and do their school work. :)
karolina and my niece rae, are sleeping now,
so i can finish my post, and pay my bills, and fold some laundry.
all before i tackle the showers,
which are DISCUSTING,
and  red up before small group arrives tonight.
makes a girl tired, ya know? :)

have a *great* thursday.
kids have off school tomorrow.
don't know what we might do...
something fun? :)