Amish Country

Kieran and I went to Lancaster County yesterday to help Martha celebrate her si....thgeghthe....ty first birthday at Shady Maple. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, we had a terrific time and enjoyed spending some time with Martha on her birthday!

Uh....FAIL!

Me and my partner in crime for the day:

The birthday gal with the cute salt and pepper shakers we got her:

We all celebrated Martha's birthday with her (aka...I have no idea who most of these ladies are...LOL!!)

Tobacco....all the times I've been to Lancaster, never saw it harvested quite like this:

Don't see these guys laying down on the job very often:

Afternoon snack:

Resting in the shade:

Tobacco hanging in the barns drying:

Don't see a white deer too often:

Would you believe we asked him to stand and he did!?!?

Managed to find this place again, wanted to show Kieran what an Amish house looked like inside. Kurt and I found this place back in 1994 when we spent a weekend in Lancaster to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary....16 years later, they are still there!

And I couldn't resist! I saw this laying in their back room and fell in love with it!! At this point, it is just the design; it still needs a backing and then it has to be quilted with the border put on it. They will finish it for me, and Kurt and I will pick it up in October when we spend the day there to celebrate our anniversary! Surprise, Kurt!!

This place has the absolute best ice cream ever! Sorry Creamery!! It was just luck that I found it....almost didn't....went down someone else's driveway by mistake...oopsies:

Kieran: "Hmmm....strawberry....or peanut butter swirl!??!?"

Kieran: "Peanut butter swirl!!!"

Kieran to the girl behind the counter: "One scoop of strawberry, please...."

Kieran to me halfway thru his cone: "I just realized I ordered strawberry....I wanted peanut butter swirl!!!"

Such tiny cones!

They have a drive thru now!! When we got there and were waiting to order, I noticed a horse and buggy at the window! Now that woulda' been a great pic!!

I found these next EIGHT pics on my camera that I hadn't taken...LOL! And I deleted about 20 others that were blurry!! Enjoy!

You Guessed It: A Guest (and a Contest too)

(Me practicing my surprise face. Still working on it.)

SURPRISE!!

Yes, I am the surprise. I hope you weren't expecting one of Michele's fabulous recipes, or a visiting celebrity like Sean Connery or Michael Bolton. If you were, you might be feeling a bit disappointed. I have, truth be told, graced the cover of People magazine on occasion, but that's neither here nor there. Actually, it's here and here. But I digress.

I am writing with some surprise news, shared here on Nephron News at the gracious invitation of Michele---whose blog always (1) makes me hungry or (2) makes me want to go watch the sunset. This entry will do neither of those things, but it might win you $18,000.

And that, for once, is no exaggeration.

At this very moment, I am one of ten finalists competing in a NATIONAL CONTEST to win my mortgage paid for a full year. The challenge was to submit a video to home builder Taylor Morrison on the topic of "homemade memories," and, feeling inspired, I immediately set out and hired some talent...

... and a good director.


Oh no wait---that's me and my family. We're the only people I could find who would deliver Academy Award performances for less than $20 million. Fortunately, I was able to pay in graham crackers, which is always a plus.

Anyway, the final winner will be determined by VOTE, so I am asking all of you---and anyone else in your household age 21 and up---to please vote for our movie!! In case our Academy level performances aren't enough to inspire you, here's another incentive: Everyone who votes will be entered into a drawing to win an identical prize---your mortgage or rent paid for one year! Seriously, folks. That's a whole lotta graham crackers.

To vote, CLICK THIS LINK and vote for "Week 2: Memories Made from Scratch" (second from the left). The voting period ends at 11:59 p.m. on August 31, so don't delay! Our video is currently in FIRST PLACE, but anything can happen between now and then! If you blog, please blog this. If you Facebook, please Facebook this. If you Twitter, please Tweet, and if you are in the habit of shouting things off rooftops, please shout this: "VOTE FOR WEEK 2!"

And while you're there, you might as well watch the sunset. I'm hoping Michele will fix us a snack.

THANKS!

21!

Today we celebrate our first born's 21st birthday! Happy Birthday Dear Alyssa! We love you lots!

Surprise Coming!

Be sure to stop back here tomorrow for a surprise! Can't say any more than that!

Mousehunt

We've had a mouse living with us for the last week or so...the other night he was under the sofa that I happened to be sitting on! There were 3 cats perched waiting to pounce, but the little guy was smart...he chose to stay safe under the sofa. Somewhere along the line, he opted to travel down to Adam's room. Little did he know, this was not going to bode well for him!

Earlier tonight, Adam went looking for his blow darts to eradicate him, but fortunately for Stuart(my new name for him), he couldn't find them! He came up about 10 minutes ago carrying the old gerbil cage...here he actually caught the mouse...LOL! He was rambling about some craziness involving string and a snack bag that had been laying on the floor and how he caught the little guy. He has some popcorn mini-cakes (cheddar flavor) in the cage and added some water. Kurt isn't feeling that Stuart's too secure in the cage....he's making him keep him outside tonight. He said if he doesn't get out of the cage tonight, then he can bring him in tomorrow.

I myself vote for release....far, far away :)

Addendum!

Don't know how I missed the most important pic! Here's Kievah listening to a bunch of chicks singing Happy Birthday to her from across the big pond:

Happy Birthday Kievah!

Today we celebrated Kievah's 7th birthday. She loves Miss Kitty:

We got her this dress; Alyssa has stipulated this is to be her 'first day of school' dress:

Such a pretty smile:

She learned how to blow those candles out:

But then brother Colm needed a turn, too:

These are the older goofballs:

Self portrait taken by Kieran:

The pinata. Do you know they no longer make pinatas that you hit a stick at?!?! I didn't know that! Now you pull the ribbons hanging down until one of them opens the little door on the bottom:

Grab that candy!

Kievah opening Uncle Fernando and Aunt Martha's gift:

Pam and Bethanie made a really cool alphabet album. Here are a few pages out of the album:

She figured these out in short order, too:

Uh....

Pretty new sneaks from Pam and Bethanie...they light up:

An impromptu meeting of the Uncle Kurt fan club. It seems like the members might be revolting:

Too cute:

She loves her little dolly and stroller, except she's too tall! Maybe Daddy can add some extensions!?!?

Way cool!