I found this little blurb about aprons the other day...It brings back memories of my Grandma and her aprons...always on, and ready for service. While I didn't see her use her apron for some of these things, she used it for some and her in her apron is forever imprinted in my memory. The ones I remember were never anything fancy, but just plain old multipurpose everyday farmwife aprons. I did discover some fancier ones when I was going through her things when she moved, and I LOVE them.

My kiddos look at me kind of funny when I put one on...I really need to change that. I love wearing them because I tend to be a little messy, hence the reason that MOST of my shirts have a one stain or more! I am not sure how many patterns I have collected, but when I get them all made...Watch out! I even have a whole book devoted to the history of aprons. Blissful.

Read on:

I don’t think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.

Don't you agree? Did your Grandma ever wear an apron?

How do you think this one would do for practicality sake????!!!!???!?!?
Just another day in the kitchen!

Arty Smarty's

This last week the kids had their Art & Literature Fair at school. Can I just say an AMEN that they all three seem to have inherited their Dad's artistic ability? This mama CANNOT draw worth a hoot. We were so impressed with the things that they did and it was lots of fun to see all of these projects come together. They have been working for weeks on their presentations. These paintings above are done by Jared. Wowza. Can't wait to have the bird picture framed so I can hang it on the wall. He is very talented!

Here are some of his other projects:

A map from his Robinson Crusoe project:

And here is his acting debut...they acted out a few of Aesop's fables...Jared was the pig in one of them...very FUNNY.


Justin did some great artwork and projects as well:

His class did a "Reader's Theatre" and read a story to us...LOTS of giggles involved.

Nice flowers!

A volcano:

Travis is pretty talented as well:

A painting of a buck...with REALLY BIG blue eye!

Here is his picture that he drew as part of his class quilt...a NINJA cat:

And here is his class reciting some of the many verses that they have learned this year:

Very proud of my guys. Nice work! I guess it is time to buy MORE storage for these projects..with talent like this, I can't throw any of it away!

Just the Good Ole Boys....

Recognize these folks?!?!?





YEP. I am stuck in Hazzard County....or my family room, whichever you want to call it. I have seen/heard every episode from Seasons 1 & 2 now at least...say a MILLION times?!?!?





Travis has been on a Dukes Of Hazzard kick the past week, and no Disney movie will change his mind. With watching the DVD comes dragging out our General Lee cars, Tow trucks and hay bales and barns so one can recreate what we see on the TV...nothin' like a good crash through the side of a barn to make ones day:

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!

I have to admit, there is a special place in my heart for the Duke boys...used to watch them all the time as a kid...wanted to marry Bo Duke at one time. My sister and I had nightgowns with their pictures on it, and funny thing...made like $60 bucks on eBay off of those things!! Apparently there are die hard Dukes fans out there still!!

And, the attraction still lives on...I was late getting on the bus in Gettysburg because on the way out the door I spotted a deck of cards with the confederate flag on them, and it reminded me of the Dukes, so I had to stop and buy them!! Oh. MY.

So, I guess this is one upside to having boys...they love this kind of action. And they don't even pay much attention at all to Miss Daisy...except for the fact that she drives a really cool Jeep. Phew.

Now, if I could just get this theme song OUT of my head.

ANOTHER idea...

What do you think of this? They call it a "floating" hutch. I think I LIKE it!

Grandpa and Grandma on a road trip

Today is the day that Grandpa and Grandma are headed to California for 2 1/2 months! They are going down to Loma Linda, so Grandpa can receive radiation therapy for his prostate cancer.

We will be busy while they are gone keeping up on all of the chores at their house, and eating their eggs and all of the meat in their freezer. It will be hard work. We will also have to get the garden in without Grandpa, which will really be hard work!

But most of all, we are praying that this treatment will be successful and that he will come home healthy and cured. Grandpas are a special thing to kids and we want him around for many, many, many, many years to come. He has been, is and will keep being a very instrumental part in the boys lives and we are grateful for that!

So, good luck Grandpa! We love you and will look forward to your return!

Almost instant migraine

I was visiting another blog today and had to laugh out loud...she has the same feelings about these little gems that I do.

SOMEONE (uh, me) purchased a certain soundtrack a few weeks back. She did so because she thought that the music from the movie was pretty cute. She failed to realize that in the movie, they only share SNIPPETS of the songs...not the ENTIRE song. And 15 songs I might add.

That, my friends, is ALOT of chipmunk singing. Unless you know the songs already, there is really NO way you could understand a word they are saying...but my kids LOVE this CD.

My sister and I watched this cartoon religiously on Saturday mornings as kids and I think I remember having a cassette or two...but, as with my kids, I was YOUNG. And tolerant.

I think I will have to agree with my fellow blogger...with music like this, it IS completely appropriate to buy your 7 year old an ipod.

Just for sanity sake...hey, you do what you have to do.

Back in the swing of things...

Ahhh...Capitol Hill ( and I think they call it that for a reason...my thighs and rear are telling me that they do)...SO COOL!

We are back and glad to be. What a whirlwind trip! We packed so much in eight days I am not sure if I will recover anytime soon. I like to go, go, go on vacation, but this trip took it to a whole new level! I don't think we missed much.


I will make this short, because I don't think you would want me to post the 1300+ pictures I took here...YES, I really took that many. Oh. my. That is going to be one FAT scrapbook.

Highlights...

World War II Memorial..one of our favorites:

Lincoln Memorial:


Dorothy's slippers at the Smithsonian:

Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home:

Statue of Liberty...BRRRRR!!!


A bunch of wide eyed country kids in Times Square!
After all of this, it makes me glad to be from a small town...to many people and too much commotion, but super fun to visit and take in.

I hope to go back again someday and revisit all of the sites, and spend some more time looking longer and deeper.

We had an awesome time though, and I realized that my son is ALOT like his father in the traveling department...he likes his home turf and routine. But, I think he enjoyed himself!