Carly doing the ball toss...

I think we're about festivalled out now. This past Saturday was the Fall Festival at our church and everything fell into place unbelievably well. It rained right up until the minute it was time to start setting everything out. Finally, the rain stopped, the sun came out and the ground dried up enough so that the kiddies wouldn't get too wet stomping around. The kids loved all of the games. We had face painting, a cupcake walk, a little merry-go-round and two big jumping toys...plus about 6 or 7 carnival games. My uncle brought his food trailers and we served hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy. It was a lot of work, but well worth it if it only brings one more kid or family into church. We had a really good turnout and there was a lot of kids there that I had never seen before. I helped make cotton candy and I was picking it out of my hair for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe what a mess that stuff makes....pure sugar! Of course, that's why the kids love it so much.

This is the cotton candy shack where I spent most of my day. Uncle is so crazy. We had a blast whipping out that cotton candy!

Taking a break!

Let's Get Personal...

Oh, no! I've been tagged by Pam over at Shrinking Pamela and now I have to list eight personal or interesting facts about myself that you may or may not already know. So here goes:

1. I've always wanted to ride a horse, but haven't had the opportunity to do so yet.
2. Since infancy I have rubbed my feet together to put myself to sleep and continue to do so to this day.
3. I aspired to be a Forensic Medical Examiner when I first started college 24 years ago.
4. I lost my brother to heart disease when he was 37 years old.
5. I love spaghetti!
6. I just moved back to West Virginia after living in Florida for six years.
7. I taught ninth grade American History when I lived in Florida.
8. I graduated second in the 1984 graduating class of Valley High School.

The rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose who you want to tag and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

I choose:
1. Angie's Blog of Silly Stuff
2. Fat Girl Goes Fit
3. The Captain's Chair

They Like Me!

I'm humbled to have received another blog award from both Kim at Kim's Kountry Kitchen and Bonnie at House of Bargains. Thanks ladies! I'll pass this award on to other blogs that I enjoy.

Here are the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the persons you've nominated.

The nominees are:

1. A Little of This and That
2. Pamela-Te-Da
3. Three Times a Bridesmaid
4. Let Us Talk
5. Blog About It
6. Homeschool With Tracey
7. My Song of Joy
8. Working at Home and Loving It

It's that time again...

I've already had to make a batch of GOOT and the flu and cold season hasn't even hit us good yet. If you don't know what GOOT is you can check it out on this post. It is a home remedy for infection fighting and I put it on the soles of my kid's feet when they are sick. I'm also putting it on Carly's neck today because she has a sore throat and her tonsils are swollen.

I went to Rite Aide and bought a neti pot. They have a special this week. The pot is $10.99 and there is a single check rebate available for $10.99, so you might as well say that it is free. Carly hates to use the neti pot, but I'm trying to get her in the habit. I left my other one in storage so I'm going to start using this one too. You can definitely tell the difference in your sinuses when you rinse them out with a neti pot.

I'm just really glad that there's no school tomorrow. I don't know why...one of those faculty senate days or something. Anyway, it will give Baby Girl a chance to get rested up. Plus, I'd hate to send her to school smelling like a cook at the Olive Garden.

Don't Fall Festival...

Today was the Fall Festival in Pratt and the kids had a blast climbing the rock wall that the Army provided. The pic below is Carly getting cinched up to climb. I'm such a chicken when it comes to stuff like this. She is never scared at all. I don't want her to be a scaredy cat like me, but sometimes I wish she would have a little more apprehension about stuff. It makes for a safer life and doesn't put as many gray hairs in Mom's head, either. The army reps had a nice table set up with anti-tobacco literature. The kids all seemed to find it very interesting. They had a prop that looked like a pack of cigarettes. You could pull one of the cigs out of the pack and the middle of it was a clear plastic cylinder showing the amount of tar in a cigarette. Most of the kids were really grossed out, so hopefully it will stick with them if they are ever tempted to succumb to peer pressure.

A child got called home today...

I'm really bummed...my mom's oldest sister, Dorothy, passed away today. She was such a sweet lady and I'm glad that mom has such wonderful memories of her. She was 88 and she had been suffering with Alzheimers for years. I know that she is heaven and she is no longer suffering, but it's still difficult to watch my mom and her other sisters go through this loss. She was one of the girls...the first sister to pass, in fact. Out of 16 children there were 10 boys and 6 girls. With the exception of one boy all of the sons have already passed away. Aunt Dorothy was the first girl to go. Mom and my other aunts are sad too because she was in another state and none of them are well enough to travel there for the funeral. They want to be there, but they can't. Keep our family in your prayers, please.

Save the Tatas

In case you've been hiding under a rock or lost on a remote island the past few months, and haven't heard, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Although women should be doing self breast exams and mammograms and all of that other good stuff on a regular basis, this month is a time of heightened awareness of the disease. This is a time to really focus on spreading the word about how breast cancer can be detected early and how it can be treated. This is a time to acknowledge all of the women (men too) who have been diagnosed with this disease and have fought the fight of their lives. We probably all know someone who has either had breast cancer or has been affected by it because someone close to them has fought it. You may wonder what you can do to help in the fight against breast cancer. The battlefield isn't just for women. Men and children can get in the fight, too. Here are some things that you can do to help eradicate this disease:

1. do (encourage females in your life to do) monthly self breast exams and report any irregularities to your doctor
2. women over 40 have yearly mammograms
3. participate in any fund raising activity that will give breast cancer research some much needed funds...right now Yoplait is donating 10 cents for every yogurt lid they receive so come on and eat lots of yogurt!
4. participate in walks and parades and other other activities that will make people look and talk and spread the word and not stop talking until we find a cure for breast cancer
5. donate money to breast cancer research
6. be a friend and support someone who is struggling with this disease