Saturday, August 25, 2012

The BIG "B"!

A long post for a very big day, a day at the fair: Gramma Sandy's fair! Mary and Phil came along and made it extra special and fun for the kids, and 100x's easier for a pregnant mama! 


The first thing we did was the "jumpoline". That's Mimi over on the left side behind the poles. They were super cute and they loved this!


A bite to eat. Pippy eating a hot dog, Pippy-style.


Tractors in action.


This little bunny was in the bunny&poultry building, and Maxwell fell in love with it. We took this picture and Max kept asking me to show it to him. On the way home he wanted to see it again and he even gave him a name. He says he's going to get ready for a bunny just like this one. Well, Eggers do love their animals. I think Pa and I are going to have to figure out how to get Maxwell a little bunny. But first we have to have a baby, then a bunny!


We were just in time to watch Roy show his steers.  Good job, Roy and Jolene :)


Maxwell caught in a floofy moment, and a third-trimester Mommy happy to be in the shade.


Mary and Phil were truly loving life at the fair! And they appreciated the VIP treatment!



Maxwell is a true Egg, a real animal lover.



Give me that Pip!

Maxwell gets serious about milking a "cow".

Mimi too.


Maxwell entered his tee-shirt and won a blue ribbon!


Mimi too!


Ice Cream daze.


Pa and I walked around by ourselves for an hour and checked out the tractors. This man knows his tractors.  I do too, I have to say, because we spent the first couple years of our marriage watching "Classic Tractor Fever" on RFD TV in our apartment. 


I thought I might look petite if I stood in front of this enormous combine. Did it work? Sort of?


End of the night. Gramma gave the kids a lift back to our car. We packed a lot in. Max and Mimi were so brave. They even did a rock climb while harnessed up. They went really high, especially Max! And Max went on a REALLY fast ride called the Polar Express. That was a surprise, b/c usually he will shy away from the fast or high rides (Mimi loves them!). But I think he went on that one 3 times!  And who did they go on all these rides with?... MARY, who gets the Eggers blue ribbon of the day!  Phil, you too, thanks for throwing me cold waters at exactly the right times!  This was a very good year for the fair, well done, Gramma Sandy!

Best Summer day

I've been more anxious than usual lately (I hate it!). But a very sweet friend dragged me out last night and we had a great heart-to-heart and I was able to get a lot off my chest AND gain some great insight.  The by-product of that was: I felt so much better today, and I was really able to enjoy a great day at Jackson Cove with the kids and Chris :)  It was Chris's company picnic, so he picked us up around noon and we went right over. We had such a great day!

A pizza truck for the company and families: So good. Thin crust and lots of choices, all you could possibly want. The pieces were small so you could sample everything, and there was lots to sample! 


This was just the first batch (and only half the table)!  So many different kinds. YUM.


The ducks kept popping into the swimming area. They were like pet ducks, they just came right up to everyone :)  This is the bold mama. The babies brought up the rear.


Max and Mimi went right to it and stayed in the water all day (us too)  :)


Best goggles ever: they're like masks but without the nose piece.  Max had them first, and pretty soon I had to go buy Mimi a pair too b/c hers just paled in comparison. A bit expensive, but they turned out to be very worth it!  Also, notice that Maxwell lost his front tooth right in time to start second grade!


Mimi has perfected her handstand this summer.  She can hold her breath for a really long time, especially for a pip-squeak with little lungs!


Me and my Pippy.


Diving for smooth rocks.


Double handstands!


All day long I just kept thinking, wow, I feel so relaxed!!! I think this might last the whole day!!! This is so nice after weeks of having a knot in my stomach.  Hopefully this is me turning a corner on my anxiety for a while!!!

Just a note about anxiety: last night my friend said to me that she doesn't get as anxious as she used to, and here's how she fought it: She would write down everything she felt anxious about on one side of a sheet of paper. Then she would really think about it and write down everything she could do about each thing. Sometimes there was something she could do, and sometimes there was nothing! That would help her to see that for some things, she could make a plan that might help things, and for other things, there was nothing she could do and it was out of her hands.  That's such a great idea! And it's a proven method, b/c it worked for her!

Less than one week before school starts... many mixed emotions! Yes, it really is time to start, but I'll be in an empty nest (at least for a couple of months)! It's a new school, and Mimi's first year of all-day school! There's a lot to get done around the house, so I will be busy, but I will definitely be missing my kids, even though we've been driving each other slightly crazy this week with end-of-summer cabin fever... So I'll probably be making one of those lists very soon! But for tonight I'm just glad to have had such a nice, relaxing, FUN day!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

What have been your favorite Olympic moments so far?

Here are my top three!


#3)

Sally Pearson from Australia won the 100 m hurdles, but what I loved the most was how thoroughly happy our two gals, Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells, were to win the silver and the bronze.  I've been seeing so many Olympiads devastated by their 2nd and 3rd place standings, it was so refreshing to see these two class acts be so happy to be the 2nd and 3rd best in the world!!!  Has anyone else been incredibly proud and impressed by the classiness of our gals' track team?  I just love them!


#2)

Aly Raisman sure put on a show with her two gold medal wins and a cliff-hanger bronze.  I loved that bronze win, the way everyone immediately challenged the score and called it out. She did deserve it, I thought. Did feel a little bad for Romania who got bumped, she was amazing.  THEN that floor routine! WOW! I loved her Jewish shout out with Hava Nagila.  It was awesome. Then Romania came back with a near perfect routine, and honestly I was a little nervous b/c she really brought it.  But Aly was the winner :)  Another super class act too. Handled the pressure beautifully.

 
#1)

Don't you just LOVE Allyson Felix???  Has there ever been a more lovable Olympian?  I LOVE her sweet persona in interviews and then her complete switch to serious and ticked off for the track.  These U.S. track girls are blowing me away.  What class.  I was so happy for Allyson Felix, what a great race.  HOW do they go that fast???? Amazing.

Can you tell I really like watching the ladies in individual events???  I love it!!! I have Olympic fever this time around!

Sunday, August 5, 2012


Chris and I went to Matt & Melissa's beautiful wedding on Saturday. A beautiful day and a lot of fun!  We were on Melissa's family's farm. Gorgeous!


Roy was a groomsman.


Bridesmaids arrive on a hay truck :)


The ring barer carried the rings on a little bale of hay! So cute :)


The bride arrives...



The ceremony...beautiful.


Her mom made this cake!


Love strawberries...


Cowbells for kisses xxx


The old marrieds...


Best bride and groom entrance EVER.






A really fun night with great company. Congratulations, Matt & Melissa!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

What a Pip!






This is Pip after her tub!!! I wish there could be some audio to go along with this because she was cracking me up :) Pa had a less enjoyable night, he spent the evening downstairs sawing off soaking wet drywall and ripping up the saturated carpet from the finished basement. It was bad, but by comparison, we had it far better than most of our unfortunate neighbors.  My poor neighbor across from us in the razed ranch was in tears, carpet absolutely soaking and furniture ruined.  I saw it, it was BAD.  Another Mama I know who has a razed ranch at the bottom of our hill had a foot of water in her basement living room!!! YIKES. I've been hearing the horror stories.  So believe it or not I feel lucky.  And lucky to have a great husband who stays sweet even through a floor-and-wall-soaking flood!

Here's what our basement looks like now:
This is the foot of the basement stairs with the drywall all cut away...



This is looking into our finished basement after Pa had to rip out the part of the carpet that was saturated...


 And this is the wall behind the freezer which also had to go!  And there's a lot more that has to go too, but it's going to have to wait for now...  But with that part gone it smells much better indeed!


WAIT!!! You will not believe what just happened!!! It's 10:55 at night and Pa just came up from slaving away downstairs and took a shower, and we were all set to cuddle up and watch a Conchords, when we heard a big commotion outside... JILLIAN GOT SPRAYED BY A SKUNK!!! Total direct hit and SOOOOOOO strong!!!!  So now we're on our way outside to wash her with tomato sauce!!! Can you believe this week??? 

I'm back. It's 11:30. Here we are washing our darn dog with tomato sauce and tons of soap!!!




Oh man did she stink!  And even after all that she doesn't smell all that great...Those big trash cans are all the drywall and carpet Pa pulled out.  
WHAT A NIGHT!