Ag Swag!

I saw the funniest tee shirt at the Georgia National Fair this weekend. It was an FFA shirt and said "Rockin' that Ag Swag". I just thought it was cute. Hell I don't really know what swag even means. I'm pretty sure that I was lacking in "swag" when in one of my best Mother of the Year moments, I realized that we'd mixed up our show dates and that we would have to stay an extra night in Perry. Kids were elated. Parents? Not so much.  We DID have a good time. Addie won two ribbons and Ali Grace improved SO much in her showmanship skills. They are already talking about next season!

 The girls worked really hard first thing in the morning to get their goats ready for showing. However, once the McFarland boys showed up, that quickly ended.

Once the Bennett girls and the McFarland boys get together, nothing productive happens. It's all laughing, chasing, giggling and general goofiness. There are FIVE McFarland boys. God bless their sweet Mama. She is good as gold and has raised some good boys. I can't imagine it. 

The Burke County kids had a great time. Sometimes though, waiting for your class to be called can get boring. Thank goodness for kindle fires, ipods, iphones!

But when your battery dies, you have to resort to finding a lap to sit in...

And then it's usually HURRY UP! FIRST CALL CLASS 39! And we all run like mad men only to wait in line again...  

I suppose there are lots of other things I could have been doing this weekend, but I can't think of anything better than being at the goat show with the Bennett girls, the McFarland boys, the greatest nephew ever, and a whole slew of Burke County 4-H kids. That's livin', y'all.  

Ready for Fall

We have really enjoyed swimming in the new pool this summer! Addie in particular has come so far in her swimming skills and she's even diving well now! Both of the girls are waterbugs and we've had so much fun this summer. When fall gets here, I miss the long days of summer but we've about had our fill of the oppressive Georgia heat and I am so looking forward to some cool weather. We've already started having some cool nights and I've been able to open the porch doors in the morning which does my heart good.  

Addie Belle is enjoying the cross country team at Edmund Burke Academy. I have tried to enjoy running, but nothing about it is fun to me. I have been completely and utterly exhausted after kayaking and I do feel that rush that makes you feel invincible. I've never gotten it from running. But to each his own and Addie seems to love it. Ali Grace is very active in our local 4-H chapter. In fact our sweet county agent, Heather, may want to claim her on her income tax she spends so much time at the office! She competed in the forestry contest a week or so ago and the Burke County junior and senior teams won first place. Next she's competing on the wildlife team and the consumer judging team. Both girls are getting excited about showing their market goats at the Georgia National Fair early next month. Never ever a dull moment around the farm! Here are a few pictures from this weekend. Have a wonderful week everyone!

It's a BLAST on the Ponderosa!

We had a GREAT time with family last weekend on the Ponderosa. Unfortunately, we paid for it all week long! The girls were irritable at night and whiny in the mornings. We survived it though! Here's a few pics from the shindig last weekend.

The newest addition found a sweet sleeping spot! Beth held her all morning long.

Love this sweet smile!  I need to look at pictures like this when she gets that not so sweet tweeny attitude.

My daddy is a true blue baby whisperer. He even tamed Addie when she was that age and wouldn't allow anyone to hold her but me!

Mere took her turn with one of the new Cole grandbabies!

Colten had just gotten a new Kindle Fire before coming down for the weekend. The kids played with their electronics for awhile but thankfully they spent most of their time outdoors.

Don't know what to say about this sassy Swede!

Cutest Hokie punks EVER!

Thanks to Goran and Julie, we were able to get in touch with our inner Hokie during the Georgia Tech/Va Tech game!

Perhaps these are the pictures of the week though.... Pete's mom came to visit tonight. Here she is having a "slushy"... yes, that's what it is... a slushy!

And here's what's left of my daddy's shirt after a horrible accident in the barn today. Thank GOD everyone was okay after the saw sparked and ignited an oil barrel and caused an explosion. How in the world it literally blew his shirt to shreds and he was able to walk away from it is beyond me. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Have a great weekend everyone. Wear your safety glasses. Don't produce sparks near oil fumes. Don't wear white after Labor Day and yell GO DAWGS real loud!

Barbecuepalooza...

Our first major weekend even was watching the first Georgia game of the season! I think there were at least 18 people in my living room. Hence, the stadium seating! Ha! We moved an extra sofa in from the study.

Uncle Carlos isn't really in to football.

Goran, or the Big Swede as Pete calls him, KNOWS where his bread is buttered! How smart is HE?  A Hokie fan, but sportin' his Georgia tee on game day won him some major barbecue points!

Addie has to do a project on a European country for school and she immediately chose "Sweeten". So, I told Goran about it and he brought all sorts of Swedish goodies for her to take to school.

The kids had 3 Kindle Fires going during the game. They entertained each other well. They've been raised right. They know not to interrupt adults watching an SEC football game.

Anneli got a brand new gator upon her arrival on The Ponderosa. She is such a girly girl but LOVES anything John Deere. She cracks me up. She loves running around without clothes. We call her the "Nordic Nudic".

I'm not sure what to say about this pic....

The kids spend the afternoon learning how to surf in a swimming pool.

 

Julie and Cindy burned about a million calories pushing Anneli around the pool.

There were many gravity defying stunts...

And then there was round one of Barbecuepalooza...

The Swedes have a fashion sense all their own...

More this evening after Round 2 and fireworks!

Sweetest girls in the world..

Ali Grace has been so busy with her 4-H livestock project that she hasn't had time for a birthday party! Her birthday was on the 14th but this weekend was the first day we had available to PARTAY on the Ponderosa! The weather was beautiful and the company was fabulous. This afternoon, I counted the girls in Ali Grace's class amongst my best blessings. They are genuine sweethearts. All of them get along and are just kind hearted people. That's uncommon these days and Ali Grace is blessed by them each day. To all the moms of these girls- y'all are doing a heck of a job. There were lots of yes ma'ams and no ma'ams and pleases and thank yous. They were all so sweet today. Ali had a wonderful time.

The Tomlinsons came down this weekend to visit and Cohen enjoyed the water as always. He tolerated all the girl giggling just fine.

You know you have a group of sweethearts when they take the time to play with your kid sister. Addie was just thrilled that the big girls took time to play with her.

We loved watching Bailey's silly antics all weekend.

Tonight we're going to a fish fry with some good friends. The weather is gorgeous. The friends are fabulous. Who could ask for a better weekend?