Fathers

Just want everyone to know what a great dad, my hubby is to our girls. He & the girls enjoy doing many things together, even though they are teenagers now. The teenage years can be times when parents & children drift apart, but I am thankful that this hasn't happened in our house (& hopefully won't). The only thing I can think of that the girls don't do with Jeff anymore is visit the toy department. It has something to do with the way their dad acts, if you could imagine!! :) He doesn't think of himself as being overly sucessful, but as I tell him, he takes GOOD care of us in providing for our needs & wants. :)
Then, there is my dad. I am thankful for a dad who loves his family, loves God, & cares for the people around him: extended family & his church family. He & mom will be coming out Wednesday & staying for 10 days. I am so looking forward to it since I haven't seen them since last summer!!!
Then, last but not least, there is my father-in-law. He is an awesome father-in-law, too, and that should spell it out! I know I have mentioned it before, but when you hear about some of the horror stories of in-laws, it makes me doubly thankful for mine! We have a great relationship & enjoy our times together. In fact, I received a set of handmade, outdoor, wooden chairs from my dad-in-law painted my favorite color-blue! :)
So, Happy Father's Day to my three favorite dads: Jeff, my dad, & Jeff's dad!!
(Please note, I/we did already tell them this, I am just late posting my blog. Just want the blog world to know how much we love them!)

Our week

Monday Kerri & I picked strawberries with our good friends, Wendy, Lindsay, & Joseph. They picked 7 buckets & we picked 4. :)

We made freezer jam.....

and hulled & sliced LOTS of strawberries! We bagged cut strawberries to use for shortcake later on and left some whole for strawberry pie for when we get a craving in the middle of winter. :)

On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday, Kerri & I did some cleaning & straightening of some closets, mixed up cookie dough & coffee cake, and BAKED. We did a total of 10 coffee cakes, 4 coffee cake loaves, & 22 dozen cookies.

Sharree is not being mentioned in all this because she was at our church conference's youth camp. There were a lot more campers than they anticipated (around 150 last year & 214 registered for this year) so the girls from our church had to stay in a basement. The called themselves the "Dungeon Girls" and the camp staff started calling them the same. :) As basements are it was a bit damp, but cool. Sharree really enjoyed herself and made first place in the Bible Bowl (questions are asked from a book in the Bible & study papers are available to help you prepare) and received a $40 Walmart gift card.

On Saturday, you guessed it! We had Farmer's Market. It was another nice day & we sold all but 1 dozen cookies. The above picture is our "booth". As you can see, we only set up one table, but it is in a nice park near the river w/trees around us & we have lots of fun!!! We have so enjoyed visiting with our fellow vendors & our customers. We are already noticing repeat customers, too, and they sure do like the samples! :) But, don't we all! :)

Farmer's Market-wk. 2

Well, this week at the Farmer's Market we sold ALL of our products!! Yah!!! Yippee!!!! :)
I didn't take a picture (again) of our tent, but will try to remember next week. We did get there 45 min. earlier than last week, had a different location (thanks to some friends saving us a spot) and passed out samples. All of which, I believe helped us sell our stuff. We ran out of our coffee cakes in an hour but still passed out samples and had many people tell us that they would be back next week for some. We also gave out samples of two of our cookies-Banana Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip & No-Bakes. We only baked a bit more than last week because we were afraid of a lot of left-overs. So, this week we sold 4 out of 4 coffee cakes, 2 out of 2 pies, & 17 dozen of cookies!

Farmer's Market

Mini Banana Bread Loaves

Peanut-butter chocolate-chip cookies & Banana oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies

Coffee cakes, blueberry pies, & apple crumb pies

Well, the girls & I did our first Farmer's Market session. We baked Thursday evening and Friday afternoon & evening. We were quite tired by the time we were done, but satisfied with the results of our baking frenzy. We started out with a small amount because we just did not know what to expect. We sold 7 out of 10 dozen cookies, 2 out of 4 banana bread loaves, 3 out of 4 coffee cakes, & 1 out of 4 pies. The day was a beautiful day (70s w/a breeze) and we met many fine people. We were a bit disappointed with our sales but we ended up at the end of the line of vendors/sellers and were told that it was a very slow day. So, we have revamped a few of our plans: set up earlier, pass out samples, & decorate/display a bit differently. Hopefully, people will come to like our products and the amount of people will increase during market hours. If not, I will be gaining instead of losing weight this summer. :( At any rate, my girls shouldn't have much opportunity to say they are bored this summer. :)

End-of-the-school-year bustle

Graduation night! (Friday evening) The high school girls think the tails on the back of our MA gowns are "attractive", thus the back end view of Stephanie & I.

Kerri & Sharree with school mates: Jennifer & Emily, on our last day of school picnic. (Friday)

We went on a field trip to Columbus, Thursday. We went to Graeter's Ice Cream for a tour, Al's Delicious Popcorn, & ended with a tour at Anthony-Thomas Candy factory. Needless to say, it was a yummy field trip! :)

Kerri, Sharree, & Jennifer-PCS trio-sing verses of "Thy Word" at our Awards Program.

Awards Program (Tuesday evening)

The pictures are out of order, but we had a busy final week of school. All the events were wonderful, but I am glad that.......SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!! I have to go back to do paperwork & end-of-the-year projects but the '08-'09 school year has closed. :)

This summer the girls & I are planning on selling baked-goods at a Farmer's Market in Wapak. It will only be on the weekends & will be a way to make a bit of extra dollar$. A friend at church (Wendy :)) inspired, counseled, shared info, & encouraged me, since she & her daughter will be doing the same thing in Lima. I'll have to report back later with an update.

Sorry about not posting last week. Our computer was "sick" and had to go to a computer tech for help.

Things for which to be Thankful:

Lately, I have found myself, having to remind myself, to be content with things, situations, ... so today here are some things for which I am thankful & content:

1. Fixing my blogger background problem (thanks to Stephanie for showing me exactly where the minima setting was located).

2. Sharree had a GREAT time on her Jr/Sr class trip to Branson, MO, and God protected them through two bad storms (one of which a tornado warning was issued & they had to go to the bottom floor of the hotel) and many miles on the road (12 hrs. one way).

3. A beautiful, sun-shiny day!

4. God's Word & the Holy-Spirit who shows me new things (Ps. 18:29) & is "still workin' on me" (my inner being, hormones, changes of life,...).

5. Garage sales- which includes bargains, finding "wants", Sarah Seeley, & Kerri (my two g.s. cohorts).

Of course, this list could go on & on, but for right now I am thankful for these. :)

Happy Mother's Day

One of Sharree's fingerpaint masterpieces. Mine was a flower.

Making playdough.

Playdough creation.

Now before any of you start wondering about my oldest, she was completing some projects for her home economics class. This part of her course dealt with children & child care. So, my finger painted flower is displayed on my refrigerator just like the good 'ole days when the girls were younger. :)

Since today is Mother's Day, I am thankful for my two daughters-without them, I wouldn't be celebrating Mother's Day from my end. Now I don't get pictures to hang on the refrigerator or dandelion bouquets anymore (well, I do from my school kiddos), but I do enjoy the newer "gifts" from my girls: help w/ chores, shopping dates, stay-up-late video nights, ... Then, later on, I am sure I will enjoy other special moments with them as they become adult young ladies & possibly mother's themselves.

The more Mother's Days I celebrate, the more I appreciate my mom! As I get older, I realize more & more what a great mom I have & count her as one of my friends. I think as children we never really appreciate the sacrifice, time, love, shelter, encouragment, counsel, .............. that a mom gives during her children's childhood. Now that I am older, I "see" things a bit more clearly, which makes me love my mom even more! So, Happy Mother's Day, Mom and to all of my blogger friends who are moms (or read my blogs)!