Jon and Kate Plus 8

I am in front of the TV right now and just flipped on Jon and Kate Plus 8. I like to watch that show. You know Kate really does a good shop for 8 kids under 7.... AND, they're all pretty well behaved. You see SOMEONES ALWAYS crying because there's 8 of them, lets see.....they each have 3 hours of crying time a day. I like that idea! Let's see if I can name all of them: Jon Kate Cara Mady Aaden Alexis Collen Leah Hannah Joel Woohoo!!! Yay!! sourpatch

Things in my House Thursday #1

"Things in my House Thursday" was started by MommySweetMom. Go and sign up at her post to join! We are going to show things that are special or just anything in your house that you want to share.

This is a fake cat. It looks real, but if you really get to looking at it, it doesn't really. I inherited it from my grandpa that passed away recently. I have yet to name the thing so why don't we get started? Her humble abode is under the only sewing machine in the dining room. It's really creepy when you're wondering around the house with a flashlight and it happens to glace upon her. The eyes really glow...

4-H Fair Crafts

This is a pic of all my 4-H crafts. I entered 50 crafts and 9 culinary items. I finally figured it up last night and I won a good bit of money. You can, hopefully, zoom in on the picture. You can see my prized pillow case in the back left. Thanks! sourpatch

Nobama

I saw this bumper sticker on a car in a parking lot. It rather struck my funny bone. Or the maybe the giggles had already set in. Ohhhhh no. My family better head for cover....

Today were are preparing, tagging, and even still making crafts to enter into the 4-H Fair. I am entering approx. 75 items and will probably win close to $100 dollars total. But you know, just estamites! I'll post a group shot of the crafts and my pillow cover that I'm oh so proud of! We'll be making food tomorrow, but today I made sweet chex mix and salty chex mix. As well as canned salsa and oreo balls.

sourpatch

Basketball game and Sewing

I had a basketball game this morning. We did actually win this time. I've been playing in a summer league with the same team I've played with this last year. I just haven't posted about the games. They weren't very good. They had one girl that got like all of their points out of three-point shots. We creamed them pretty bad. After that, Mom and I went to Hancocks. They were having a sale. A lot of cute fabric was on sale for 50% off. I got 2 types of fabric for 2 different things that I need to make for the 4-H Fair. I got some white fabric with small red squares on it. And some orange design fabric for an apron. It's in the washing machine right now. I'll post pictures when I'm done with it.... Later! sourpatch

Spring, I mean Summer Cleaning

Yesterday, Rachel, Mom, and I cleaned the upstairs. I kid you not! It looked like a tornado went through. Since our upstairs is relatively small, only two large rooms, it wasn't too bad. But, you'd actually be surprised of how much stuff we could pack in there! We went through a bookshelf packed full of books, then a whole pile full of old school books are just books that got tossed there. We then sorted the books into sell and keep piles. We are going to sell almost all of the books in that huge pile. Right after that, we went to the VegSource website where you can sell stuff. So, for about 3 hours we listed books. It was kind of inspiring because one of the books we listed sold while we were listing. We listed about half the pile yesterday. I can only imagine what we're going to do today.... Well, I'm going to go have breakfast, a nice meal of eggs and cinnamon rolls... Yum yum!! sourpatch

Questions

1. What is the worst vacation you ever took? 2. If the statement, 'You are what you eat' was true, I would be a _______. 3. What do you believe is the greatest unsolved mystery of all? 4. Which of the seven dwarfs personifies you best – Dopey, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Grumpy, Happy, or Doc? Lets each share a little bit about ourselves and answer the questions. These questions were taken off a blog that I regularly read: Quiet Life. 1. A bad vacation?? Are you kidding? 2. Pizza, either that, or a pancake, or maybe I could be a french fry.......Hm............Can I help you? 3. If they're going to make a third National Treasure. 4. Grumpy sometimes and Happy, and when my services require it: Doc. sourpach

Parkers Crossing Video

This is a video of one of my cousins' re-enactments at Parker's Crossing. He made several shots in the video. He is the drummer boy.

Also, his new book, The Orphan and the Beaten Drum is now published and available at his website: Southern Cadence Press. It's a little long at first so you might want to forward it a little.

sourpatch

Botanical Gardens

In the botanical gardens today. We saw: (all photos were taken today by me at the botanical gardens) ... benches... ...flowers...

... a stinkbug...

... a rose garden...

... water lily's...

...biting fish (THAT, was fun)...

... more flowers...

... a lake...

... water puddles...

... flowers (Isn't it great?!)... ...flowers (it's what the Botanical Gardens are supposed to have, right?)... ...statues... ... fruit ladden trees...

... light...

I had a wonderful time just going and taking pictures. We also went to CiCi's afterward which was a humongous plus!! Yayy! I do have some more pictures, so, check my Photography Blog for more. sourpatch

Ducks Unlimited

We took a tour today at the Ducks Unlimited. The whole family managed to make it out of the house in time after working out this morning. We ran home and changed clothes then ran, or rather, drove to the Ducks Unlimited building. We watched some videos and a slideshow then headed the to explore the building. We saw all the office space and the print shop. The print shop was really interesting because it smelled like the sweet smell of ink. I love the smell of ink and gasoline. I don't know why, just because. I didn't realize all of the jobs that it takes to make a company! They have an accountant ( two actually), photographer, tour guides, publishers, web designers, & all sorts of office personel. At the end, they had free t-shirts and duck whistles that each of us recieved. The only thing is, they only had sizes large and up. So, each of us got a large which doesn't work so well. What we're thinking is that we should take it in a little on both sides. That way it has sort of a tunic effect. We can't with these specific shirts, but with others that don't have an emblem on the back, you can put a tie in the middle and make a tunic, considering we already have the oversized sleeves. Yesterday and today I took pictures of butterflies. They're tricky to catch, but I think I got a good one. Tomorrow, I'm going with Rachel to the Botanical Gardens. After that, we're making a trip to CiCi's. What could be better?!? I never get tired of pizza. sourpatch

Color Pencil Holder/Roll

Rachel made me a colored pencil roll the other day. I picked out the fabrics out of her scrap pile. It brings me hidden joy when I roll it out and look at it. You've probably noticed that Rachel and I have both posted the same pictures, I took them, by the way. But thanks for making it for me, Rachel!! I have to have colored pencils for my biology lab I'm taking this year. So, why not make a fabulous stylish roll for them. You can see Rachel's Blog for more details and things.

Mosiac Maker

The Game:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name? Elana

2. What is your favorite food? Italian

3. What high school did you go to? Homeschool

4. What is your favorite color? Blue

5. Favorite drink? Coca Cola

6. Dream vacation? Cruise to the Bahamas

7. Favorite dessert? Plain Vanilla Ice Cream

8. Favorite Singer? Martina McBride

9. What you want to be when you grow up? Professional Photographer 10. What do you love most in life? Jesus

11. One Word to describe you: Goofy

12. Your flickr name: sourpatch

sourpatch

Upcoming 4-H Fair

After school today, Rachel and I have to put together our entry forms for the 4-H Fair. This is a fair for all the 4-H'ers to exhibit their craft, sewing, and culinary items. Plus your pets. It's all really fun to enter, plus the prize money. I think last year, Rachel and I both got about $50 or $60. We always have a really long list of everything that entered. This year, we've been keeping it all in a box for this exact reason. I'll try and post a picture later of my crafts and stuff. sourpatch

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Here lately, I've been in Hot Springs Arkansas, or...right outside it. I went with some good friends of mine in their camper. We had to start the week off pretty sad: their dog, Sassy, died on the third day. That was very sad, and we don't even really know why she died at that moment. I got my friends to watch both of the National Treasure's while we were up there, too. We went swimming a lot, and Rachel says I'm as brown as a monkey. Not burnt! I just had to clear that up. I caked the sun screen on, because being burnt doesn't feel too good to me. We went to a water park that was really close to the KOA Campsite we stayed in. The water park is called Crystal Falls. My favorite thing to do was to ride the water slides and get flushed in the toilet bowl. We actually did that for about 4 days. We went to the actual amusement park one day though. We had a lot of fun and a lot of chlorine. We also went crystal digging which was really, really fun to do. We found some really cool stuff. Yesterday, the day I got back, we went to Chili's to celebrate Mom's birthday. That was fun. I'm just trying to fit back into the swing of things today. By the way...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND ZACHARY!!

Zachary's birthday was on the 1st and Mom's was on the 5th. Don't ask her how old she is, she'll say 20.

Remember to check my photography blog for pictures of the landscape that I took!! sourpatch

Water Park

Just letting you know I'm still alive!! And having a good time at that! Here is a picture of the water park that we've been visiting. We're going for the 3rd day today. Their slides are pretty awesome!! The picture isn't even half of the water park...

Take care, sourpatch

Gone vacationing with friends. Be back Saturday. Don't miss me too much! Just kidding... I'll post pictures when I get back. I might be able to post while on the trip. We're going to a water park, jet skiing, and some other stuff. ttyl sourpatch

Our New Sod

You can't really see it to well in the picture below, but it is there. We put down 2 pallets of sod last week. Here are some pictures. I don't have any before pictures, I've got to work on that... We put it in bare spots that really needed it. Our goal in the next couple of months is to buy about 3 more pallets and finish the backyard. It won't be long before it looks like a park! Today, Rachel and I are going to paint the laundry room. I'll get pictures of that and share it with you. sourpatch

Lazy Afternoon??

This afternoon ... it's unanimous! We're going to sit around the house and be lazy. I have a knack for that. I like to look at it as rest time. Yeah, that's it. So here I am, after finishing off the cake, playing sims and blogging while listening to Josh Groban. What a wonderful life! Meanwhile posting pictures on my Photography Blog. I keep trying to put paragraphs in my writing. I do write it like that. It just doesn't publish that way. I think it's my blog background. I think I've decided to finally change it, under the prodding of Rachel, but am hesitant because it takes so long to replace all the things that I have on my sidebar. sourpatch

Canoing Trip

Last Tuesday we went canoing on a river with the 4-H Wildlife group. It was a last minute decision that I had made the night before. Oh goodness, it was all a mistake. I was informed at the carpool meeting place that there were going to be snakes along the way. Joy. (I'm scared of snakes.) When we got there, there was a whole bunch of mud. I hadn't planned on getting my (slip-on) shoes dirty to begin with. Mom had worn her good white tennis shoes ... bad idea. "Sakura" was my partner. Thankfully, she plays tennis, so her arms are strong. Because I could barely carry that canoe. Those things are much heavier than I originally thought. I could barely pick the thing up, let alone carry it a little ways. I kind of just slid it along in the mud. It was so muddy when we were "dragging" our canoes to the actual river, that they kind of just floated. Then I lost a shoe. Here I am in my sock, (it was a white one, I might add) trying to pry my shoe out from under the boat. It was then that I told myself it was time for new shoes anyway... Also, if anyone needs a way to turn socks brown, I have a solution. It's simple, quick, and easy to remember. Finally we were in knee deep water. Not too long ago, we were also informed that these snakes were the exact color of the mud. I was, uh, ... thrilled. So here I am, I've now lost a shoe twice in the mud and both my socks are brown. We finally drag it across these boards and were almost in the river. Sakura and I climbed in and floated out into the river. The rest was madness. We didn't know how to paddle or turn. We were quickly told to grab a branch or something for a quick lesson in paddling. After that, I must say, it was rather enjoyable. We canoed for quit a while after that without interuption. We had lunch on the canoe which was fun. The rest of the trip was eventful. To say the least. At first, he pointed out one snake in the bushes, but I couldn't see it, so we paddled quickly by it. The second snake he pointed out was on the other side of the river and it was just sunbathing. After that, we stopped for a "bath room" break, to say the least. It was no more of a bathroom than the middle of the woods. Some of the people went, but people like me and others decided, "We could wait." The next snake we came across is the one that people have apparently been talking about for the last week. I don't blame them, quite frankly. Ok, so I jumped out. There you have it. The tour guide told everyone, there's a snake up here. Lets just say that Sakura and I were not the best at turning last minute. We were heading right for the log with the long scary looking snake on top of it. So, terror stricken, I decided there was only one thing left to do: bail. Sakura, also panic stricken decided not to do anything and just head straight for it. Probably frozen to the canoe. So, the real question here is: "What would you have done?" The million dollar question right there. Anyway, I hightailed myself back into the canoe, almost tipping my partner over in the process. Also, in more normal Sourpatch spirit when I got back in, "I'm okay!!" I learned later from the tour guide, the snake was a water moccasin. It jumped in the water when I bailed out, too. Lovely. It gives you a great feeling to know your swimming with a water moccasin. (We're not even to the best part yet!) Rachel and Mom (they were partners) were laughing their heads off when they had to pass us. I didn't appreciate that too much. The funny thing is, they flipped the bend up-ahead. So, in normal Sourpatch fashion, I couldn't help but laugh a bit at their sopping venture either. You can check Rachel's blog for details on her flip. Meanwhile, their paddle had floated downstream, so we picked it up. The current was the fastest it had been the whole trip anyway. Sakura and I beached ourselves on purpose, but the current was so fast it was pushing us off of the shallow spot. I had my paddle stuck in the sand to keep the canoe from moving any farther. Meanwhile, Rachel and mom are trying to flip their canoe back over. Which, apparently, was really hard to do without having water in it. The guide had to come help them. Notice it was only our family that had to get wet. Zach escaped unscathed. We made it to the end which was kind of sad. I had a jolly time anyway. We had to change beneath a car bridge that goes over the river. A truck or something went over and the bridge broke! Okay, not really, that was for drama. It was really loud!! Rachel and I finally got changed and we headed back home. I was thrilled, okay I wasn't thrilled that I had basketball practice that night either. The end. I am also not thrilled that I missed today's basketball game because we didn't even hear about it. Oh well, the house is clean. I am going to go pop myself a big bowl of popcorn and watch some TV. Lesson of the day: Be very afraid of snakes. Tata! Make sure to look at my new "Favorite Quotes" section on the sidebar! sourpatch

Canoing

See Rachel's Blog for an update on what happened at our canoe trip yesterday. I'm too tired to speak much now, but for Miky, Sakura, and Brooklyn, there's a site I found with a photography contest on it. The address is: http://www.quantum-leap strategies.com/photo_contest/photo_contest.html. Amatuer photographers are welcome, too. The prize is $250 dollars that is awarded to a single person monthly. You can enter pictures every week, but not more than that, or your disqualifed. sourpatch