and the new Miss Edmond LibertyFest is....

well, you'll have to go to Matt's blog for pictures (click here), but we'll be cheering for Talia again next year at Miss Oklahoma. Congrats, Talia!

On the way home

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm

As promised, big news on the blogging front! Dad & Mom have a blog set up - check it out at www.meanwhilebackonthefarm.blogspot.com

Letter From Camp

Dear Dad,

Happy Birthday. I hope you are having a good day. I am having fun here at camp. Right now it is FOB time (flat on bunk). Right now we are getting ready to go on the big slide. I did not catch any fish. Ira did not catch any either. I had a bite but I didn't reel it in fast enough. I am having fun at camp. Last night I didn't sleep well. It kept raining. The showers here are ice cold. I miss you.

Again, Happy Birthday. I love you,

Luke

Jerry got this letter today from Luke. I'm typing it as best as I can remember - Jerry read it to me over the phone. It's pretty close though! It must have been written on Tuesday.

Not so live blogging from the farm

Whew! We have had a busy few days here in Western Kansas. I just put two very, very tired and dirty kids to bed. I'm hoping Luke is just as tired and dirty at Camp Lakeside, 'cause that means he's having fun!

We are back at the farm after a short side trip to Syracuse, where we reminisced and visited old friends. It was fun, but bittersweet. Our gorgeous yard that we wish we still had is just being neglected. Life goes on :) We also got to spend some time with the Berning side of the family. Grandma Kathy fixed us a yummy supper and Vicki stuffed us with some chocolate cake she and Katie and Michael made. It was fun to see them!

Just for kicks, I'm going to throw out a little tease here... look for big things to come in the blogging world tomorrow! That'll get you wondering, won't it?

Live Blogging from the Farm

The kids and I abandoned Jerry for the week (on his birthday, no less) and headed to Western Kansas yesterday. Luke is spending five days at Camp Lakeside, a church camp at Scott Lake. His friend Ira from Johnson is also attending, and they ran into one of their old classmates from Syracuse there as well. Their camp is entitled "Camp Fishy". and was chosen by Ira. The theme is fishing (obviously) so they spend about three hours every morning fishing. Luke likes to fish if he is catching something, so hopefully they'll have good luck. After five days of it, he'll either love it or hate it! He was jealous when we pulled up and he realized there is a Hike and Bike camp going on at the same time. He LOVES to bike and would be overjoyed to spend three hours a day doing that. I'm sure they'll have a fabulous time - they always do. Lots of smores and canoeing and swimming and games and hopefully some Bible time in there somwhere!

Aubrey, Jackson, and I are hanging out for the week. We spent yesterday with Mom and Dad. Jackson got to ride on the combine - Dad is cutting barley. Aubrey got to feed the bucket calf (she didn't love getting slobbered on, and was appalled that Hoover, Grandma's dog, licked the calf's tongue to clean up the leftover milk!) Mom has four kittens on the back porch. They are at such a cute stage; just tumbling and playing and chasing each other. Of course the kids are enthralled with them. Mom and I tore wallpaper off the kitchen walls and plan to spend today washing off old glue and hopefully getting a coat of paint on. Aubrey was a ton of help with this - she enjoyed climbing around on the countertops scraping the soffets!

We plan to visit Marilyn in Syracuse this evening, and spend the day tomorrow with friends there. Then back to Leoti to visit some more!

Shoot Jerry an email or text if you think of it -he's 38 today! Happy Birthday, honey!

Ten, continued

So, Luke got to open his presents at lunch time. He was overjoyed , to say the least, with the Wii he received. He and Aubrey and Luke spent the rest of the afternoon doing this:He has some money that he's earned over the past few months (thank you, Grandpa Bob), which he has been saving to buy a bow for next fall's turkey season. He decided he wanted to spend some of it on an extra Wiimote so one of his siblings could challenge him to a game of tennis. We went to Hastings yesterday and Luke purchased a remote for $42.81. We made it as far as the parking lot, and he stopped cold in his tracks. "Mom, I can't buy this. It cost more than half of my savings! That's too much money to leave my wallet!" Well, after some discussion we decided to hang on to the remote overnight so he could think about it. Since then, he has received some birthday money, which could go toward the remote OR the bow. He's still thinking. I think Hastings has a 90 day return policy. It might take all of those 90 days for him to come to a decision!

Anyway, he had a good birthday. Jackson had a teeball game at Carey Park in the evening, which is completely across town from us. It does take awhile to get there:
Obviously. He did wake up in time to play his game - he had two really good hits and wrestled a girl to the ground in the outfield for a pop fly. That's my boy! Here he is, all duded up:
Notice the water standing in the background. It's pretty wet around here. Later on we came back to the house for cake with Aunt Stacia and Uncle Mick. We had the kids' new favorite cake, Strawberry Angel Food. Yum!