Parker

Spending some days with Parker! 

He's fabulous!

He joined us here on earth on Sunday (with a little help from the Super Moon, I think!)!

9 lbs 10 oz, 23.5 inches long

But as you can see - he's not a 'fat' baby.  He's just got a lot of inches that needed to be filled in.

He's generally happy - and pulls the funniest faces.

We love him lots!

Welcome Parker - so glad you are here!

Ants, ants, and more ants..........

You remember that song: "The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!....."    Well, they marched to my kitchen!  Lots of them.   My mother used to call them sugar ants.   I was squishing them and washing them down the sink and they just kept coming. 

I was lamenting to my neighbor Debbie (who knows EVERYTHING! - Seriously, she does!) and she suggested I try a product.  And she said no matter how tempted I was to smash them when they started to gather and eat, that I shouldn't do that.  They need to eat this stuff, then they take it back to their colony and ants in the colony also die. 

We set some out last night - drops of goo on pieces of paper.  Got up this morning and ALL of the goo was gone off of one strip of paper (six decent sized drops) and the ants who had eaten most certainly had gone back to the colony and told everyone else to come get some.   This is what we found this morning when we got up.

An Ant Party...........ewwwww..........ick!

Ants.  Lots and lots of ants.  But look at them eating that goo.  It must be nummy.  So we made more strips of paper with more goo for them.  And Debbie was right....it's SO HARD not to take a paper towel and just squish them all.

Hmm....closeups of my kitchen grout aren't too pleasant to look at either!  But look at them eat that stuff.  It's the summer kick-off social event!

The product I borrowed from her to use is this.  It can take several days to take care of the entire colony, but she swears that it works.   I'll keep you posted, cuz really, this is disgusting!

Tender Mercies

I was a little down when I went to the garden this morning.  The onions didn't grow.  Not one little bit.  Neither did the peas and the carrots are struggling.  The tomatoes are doing 'ok', but it appears that something is chewing on their leaves.  The beans are doing well.  I planted three rows, one for the bunnies and two for us - that seems to be working well.  A couple of years ago our strawberry patch bit the dust and so we began another one this year.  As I went to check them, I noticed something on the edges of the leaves, and was so discouraged because it looked as though there was something wrong with them and that they too were dieing!  Upon closer examination - I saw this.....

....beautiful dew drops on the edges of the leaves.  I was so grateful to see that they weren't dieing, and so amazed at the beauty of tiny droplets of water. 

Waiting for Parker!

My youngest daughter is expecting her first child - soon!  It's a boy.  His name is Parker.  I already love him to pieces!  I've been doing a little sewing for the little guy and the first time mom and dad.  I made a car seat cover that has already been sent to them.  I also fancied up this take-along diaper wipes case and made a few receiving blankets.  They are made with two different pieces of flannel and sewn together.  I make them bigger than store-bought - approximately 43x43 - and try to do a cute edging. 

See you soon bud!  Enjoy your last few days with Heavenly Father!

Caramel Onion!

Yes - you read correctly!  The owner at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory agreed to put caramel around an apple AND an onion.  We were at girl's camp last night and gave a short lesson on how deceptive the adversary can be when he wants us to do wrong.  How he makes good things seem bad, and bad things appear very good. 

Through a variety of short eliminations, we chose two girls to participate.  They were able to pick their apple, and then we announced that it would be an apple 'eating' contest.  Girl one just dove right into her apple - girl two was a bit more tentative, and just starting peeling off the caramel a bite at a time.  When she got a large patch of caramel eaten - she looked down in preparation to take a big bite and said: "I'm not eating that!" 

So - because she was tentative, we didn't get the reaction we were hoping for....but maybe being a little tentative and aware as we navigate this life isn't such a bad thing!

Move over Kraft Caramels, here comes RMCF!

During one of our last full weeks of school - we had Staff Appreciation Week.  One of the things our wonderful principal gave to all of the staff was a caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Oh. My!  It was so wonderful!

These apples have to have some of the softest, most amazing caramel on them that I have ever had!

It's Girls Camp this week for our church.  The youth leaders (girls 16-18) will be the only ones there tomorrow and tomorrow night along with their adult leaders.  The rest of the girls won't show up until Tuesday morning.  It's become a tradition for the Stake Relief Society Presidency to visit camp on this first night - enjoy some time with the girls - and present a short thought/lesson.  It's going to be a good one.  Caramel apples will be involved!  Can't wait to see the girls' faces!  I love surprising them!  Check back soon to see pictures of what I'm talking about.  You'll love it too - I promise!

In the meantime - if you have a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory near by - you should check them out.  If you are in NW Missouri, check out the one on St. Joseph and tell Leslie that Korine sent you!