Sweet Corn Festival

Okay, we told you there is a festival for everything here in Ohio. The Sweet Corn Festival was last weekend and we went to eat some corn. We got word early in the day that the fried corn fritters with powdered sugar were only 2 for $1 and that they were way better than the funnel cakes. Dawn should write an article for the paper about local eats. She called to give me the low down on the corn festival fare. We shared the fritter frenzy with some friends that we ran into and after a day of rope making, corn eating and sweat pouring, we finally tried the fried corn fritters. Well, Paula Dean would be proud. They were the best fried corn fritters I've ever had. Okay, so they were also the only fried corn fritters I've ever had. I hope Dawn likes Sauerkraut. The Sauerkraut festival is just around the corner.

Just another day...

Hayden got a couple of packages for his birthday a few days ago and he was very excited to find some new hats! He thought the spiky hair hat was so funny and even let John put it on and Hayden took his picture. He also got a new cowboy hat. Soon after opening his packages, he ran upstairs and changed into his 'cowboy' outfit. Boots, spurs, jeans, long sleeved 'cowboy' shirt and of course, the hat. He wore this outfit two days in a row. He wore it to pick Kate up from Volleyball and a lady in the parking lot said, "looks like the long lost son of George Strait." People at Target were pointing and explaining to their kids what spurs were. Hayden thinks it is so cool to dress like a cowboy.

We asked Hayden and Rachel, at dinner the other night, where they would want to live if it couldn't be Lubbock, Texas. They both said Texas! And went on to say that it should be on a farm so we could have some goats and maybe a horse and a cow. We have obviously instilled Texas Pride in our children. Each of them wants to move to Texas.

If you know me, you know I LOVE bags...

A few months ago, we went to the 'Superchick' concert and saw this girl with the cutest purse! It looked like a quilt. Not a Vera Bradley quilt, but a homemade, hand designed, do it yourself kind of quilt. I had to ask her if I could take a picture of her purse. She laughed and said yes. Turns out that her Aunt made it for her and sells them at a shop in Georgia I think. Now that I had a picture, all I needed was a pattern. My friend Linda called me later and told me that she had found a pattern online and would share it with me. Well, I made a sample bag out of some scrap fabric I had lying around and it turned out so cute! I took it to bible study and showed the ladies that had all seen the picture of this girls purse from the concert. They were so excited to see that they too could do it, so we set up a 'class' to make your own rag quilt purse. For the past 2 days, I have had around 9 extra people in my home (4 adults and 5 kids) and we have been making these purses. We had so much fun cutting everything out and putting them together. They are time consuming. It takes about 6 hours to make the larger bag and about 4 to make the smaller bag. We had all levels of seamstresses. Britain learned to sew for the very first time and learned how to use the cutting mat and rotary cutter. She even sewed some of her own purse. She really had a great time. It was a lot of fun to see the fabrics come together in a quilt like design to make a purse.

The purse we saw at the concert that lead to all of this...

Day 1: cutting and a little sewing

Day2: Britain learns to sew and her mom Michele guides her.

Britain and her new purse!

Suzanne, Michele and Britain show off their new purses. Aren't they cute!

VBS

We had Vacation Bible School this week and I volunteered to be the 'craft' lady. Dawn was my sidekick. We had K-6th grade for crafts and had about 60 kids. I just wanted to share a couple of pictures. I took some neighborhood kids with us this week and was seen a few times with 7 kids climbing out of our truck. It was a fun week, but we are all really tired.

Freezer Cooking Day

What a day! After a week of VBS, you probably think I'd have to be crazy to do a freezer cooking day. Well, I am exhausted, but the rewards from a day of cooking are so great. I can say for sure that I will not do it all in the same week again. I did get everything ready ahead of time and just had shopping to do this week. We had 11 ladies in our church kitchen cooking 9 recipes 11 times. It was great! At the end of the day, you go home with 9 recipes that are made to serve 6-8 people. What did we make? Penne Ala Vodka sauce, Nanny's Sunday Pot Roast, Machaca Beef, Chicken Soup, Creamy Chicken Italiano, Taco Pockets, Twice Baked Potatoes, Tammy's Yummy Cookies (we freeze the dough) and Breakfast Burritos. I have been freezer cooking for a long time, but never on this large a scale. I used to just do it for myself at home. Trying to save some time here and there and double up on my cooking and freeze what I could. Then, in Albuquerque, I got together with 3 other ladies and we would come up with a menu that was agreeable to everyone, have 2 recipes each to cook in our own homes and then we would make 8 of each recipe and then meet a week or so later to divide everything up to take home. That actually works great too. I have to say, this does make me think about opening my own freezer meal business. I love planning, creating the spreadsheets for my shopping, calculating and converting all the measurements of all the ingredients... After doing this three times now, I think we have worked out the kinks. I wanted to blog my experience for you to see what I have been doing. Well, now I have to go make dinner for my family, but at least I have something in my freezer!

Hayden turns 5!

Ourrrr little pirate turned 5 on August 1st. Hayden was so excited to have his birthday party. This year, we actually weren't traveling. Hayden has a friend named Noah that is just a little older than him. He goes to our church and Hayden loves to play with him. Noah was the only other boy at the party. There were a bunch of little girl pirates running around looking for treasure. We had a treasure hunt and enlisted the help of some neighborhood kids along with Kate and Sarah. Kate was a mermaid waiting with a clue in the mermaid lagoon. Sarah was Elizabeth Swan and ready to walk the plank with the third clue. We had another pirate waitin' in the open meadow to lead them to their treasure. The final clue led them home to the large wooden plank where they were sure to find a sweet treat. The cake! It was a lot of fun to have a boy party.

Hayden and his sisters...

The girls were invited to a birthday party at the local school of cosmetology. They had so much fun! They got their hair done, their finger nails and toe nails done too. They each thought it was so cool. I think they walked around the rest of the day feeling like Hannah Montana (a pop star/average girl series on Disney channel). You know, there are some really expensive places to have the same thing done, but this was by far the best. They even included the goody bag for each girl.

Kate Turns 12

Wow, can you believe she is 12? We can't either. She has started babysitting and usually has more money than I do in her purse. She wanted one thing only for her birthday and that was a green ipod. We did have her put some of her own money in towards getting it. She 'sacrificed' some of her allowance for 4 months in order to get it. Boy was she excited to finally get it.

Tammy came to visit

Audra and Tammy

Hayden, Rachel and Kara

When we lived in Florida, we met some great friends there. The Leech family are some of those friends. Scott and Tammy stopped to visit us recently on their way to Pittsburgh to see family. Tammy and I became friends through our neighbor at the time. We have seen them both give their life to Christ, have two more children they didn't think they would have, and become the AWANA commander and secretary in the short time we have known them. It is such a blessing to see God grow your friends closer to Him and to see how He calls them to serve. This visit was such a fun time of reflection and looking forward at what God is going to do in our lives.

A new chapter in our lives...

We have some news to share with you and ask you to pray with us during this transition. The Air Force has been undergoing a Reduction In Forces and cutting many jobs. We have been on the list this year and just got word that John will not be retained. His last active duty date is January 29, 2008. As we found out that our name was on this list months ago, we prayed that God would guide us and direct our paths and we acknowledged that He was in control. Certainly, we thought that His will would be for us to stay in the Air Force. We feel that we have been kind of like missionaries moving from place to place serving Him in different capacities. We trust that God has orchestrated these events because He has more in store for us. This will be a new chapter in our lives and we have no answers right now; it is too fresh to have some kind of plan or direction. Pray with us that God will give us wisdom and discernment as job offers come in and that He would guide us to where He wants us to be.

We have many positive things to look at in leaving. John will be able to get his Master’s degree completed free of charge. He will already be enrolled in his last semester before his separation date and they will allow him to complete the semester. We can stay in base housing even after he is out. He has many marketable experiences and trainings and certificates…that we think will be helpful in finding a good job. We do get a sum of money as “compensation” for being cut; it is not a large amount, but will get us completely out of debt and leave some for a down payment on a home.

We are not used to having no limits on where we can go. The Air Force has been our life for the last 12 ½ years. We are used to limits and restrictions on everything. The door is open wide and we look forward with eager anticipation to see what God has in store for us. We have enjoyed being a part of the Air Force family and have met many of you along our journey. We are thankful for the friends we have made and count it a blessing to know each of you.

You may be wondering how our children are handling this. They are all four wanting to move to Lubbock, TX. They are excited and seem very eager to find a new home and school that they will go to for longer than two years. They don’t understand that concept yet. They have moved every two years or less since starting school. Sarah said,” you mean we won’t have to move again”. Of course we told them that any job can decide to move you, but that where ever we go, they should all be able to stay in the same school until they graduate from High School. I think that is mind boggling to them.

We know that you are all scattered across the U.S. and that some of you have already transitioned out of the military either through retirement or by choice. If you have any words of wisdom for us, please share those. We know that this will be a big adjustment and know that some of you may have some insight that you would like to share.

We have a family blog that is updated with photos and the things that we are doing. It is by invitation only. We’d be happy to send you an invitation to join. You just have to create a user name and password to be able to view the blog. Let me know if you’re interested in keeping in touch that way.

Blessings,
Audra and family

Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys...

Hayden loves my Pa Pa's old hat. My dad sent this to me last year and it sits on top of our entertainment center. When Hayden really wants to get all decked out in his cowboy attire, he asks to wear Pa Pa's hat. Well, Hayden and his sisters were invited to Hallie's cowgirl birthday party and just after breakfast, he was ready to go. I took him outside to take a few pictures. He did end up changing his outfit before the party; afterall, they were going to play on the slip 'n slide. I love that he was so serious, like he was a real cowboy!

Gran and Poppy came to visit!

We just had a great visit with John's parents. They came out for a week and we really enjoyed our time together. We had fun playing the Wii, having a water gun fight, and creating some crafty clay creations! We try to do something crafty every time we get together and this time was no different. Carol, Rachel and I went to Michael's to get some ideas. We ended up buying sculpey clay and had a ball playing and creating different things. The kids were not the only ones that had fun. We all had a great time. We are sure to get creative again with our clay!

4th of July

"Abe Lincoln" was in town.

Emilie and Hayden

the parade

Rachel and her flags!

Patriotic Toes: Me, Hallie, Rachel, Jesica and Dawn (Kate and Sarah were too busy)

It doesn't get more patriotic than a parade and a picnic on the 4th of July. We were invited to join some friends for a picnic and to see the Centerville parade come down the street in front of their home. It reminded me of Clarendon's parade (my home town). I used to go every year when I was young. This year, our kids got to experience that same small town America feeling of celebrating the 4th of July. They were front row for a great view and prime targets for candy throwing. Although in Clarendon, they didn't throw t-shirts and bags of chips. (They also didn't have boys with shovels going along behind the horses to scoop the poop.) The kids got to shake hands with "Abe Lincoln" and see Darth Vader. Hayden sat with Emilie and she got him a high school musical shirt and lots of candy. You may recognize Emilie from our Superchick concert night. Hayden loves her! We had a great time and hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July...

Clifton Mill

We recently went to Clifton Mill for breakfast. We'd heard they had a breakfast that could feed an entire family the size of ours with only 3 pancakes. Well, they do and it is $24.99. The pancakes were so big they didn't fit on the plates. It was a neat place and we would like to go back during Christmas to see the light display. I just wanted to share a couple of photos.

http://www.cliftonmill.com/

Superchick

We just wanted to share some photos from our latest adventure... a FREE concert! Superchick

Springfield, Ohio has a FREE summer concert series and we told several friends about it. We all went together and took about 20 people. We all had a great time!

http://springfieldartscouncil.org

Washington DC 2007

Mount Vernon...

Seeing the sights...

The Capitol Tour...

We just got back from a trip to Washington DC. We had a great time being tourists. Molly and Caroline Holden met us in DC and joined us for a vacation also. They are in a few of the photos with us along with my sister and her family. Molly's husband Mark had to work and couldn't join us- We missed you Mark. My sister and her family live in Woodbridge, Virginia. She lives just down the street from IKEA! No, I did not take my camera to IKEA, but I did take it everywhere else.


We visited Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. Seeing his home and walking through the estate really makes history come alive. I hope that my kids remember this and can share what they saw and learned with their classmates in school. We saw the mansion, gardens, his 16 sided barn, the slave quarters, the original tomb and the new tomb and we drove down the road to see the Gristmill and the Distillery.

We went into DC to the Mall and visited the National Museum of Natural History, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and even got to tour the Capitol. The Museum of Natural History was our kids favorite place to go. We went three times this trip. Walking through the dinosaur exhibit and seeing the 'evolution theory' shown as "fact" was a great teaching tool for us. We could take our kids back to Genesis 1 and ask them who created the trees? Did they really ooze out of a pool of sludge and make their way across the entire earth like the pictures show? No, God created them. Did man 'evolve' from another creature? No, God created Adam and breathed into him the breath of life. Sorry for the detour in thought... it was a great time to teach our kids first hand that just because it says something in a textbook, doesn't mean it is fact.

We also got a private tour of the Capitol. When I was in High School, I babysat for a family that later was elected to office. Texas Congressman Mac Thornberry from Clarendon, TX. I found his website and emailed him to see if he would be able to have someone give us a tour. Surprisingly, I recieved a call the next day. We were able to set up a time to tour the Capitol during our visit. While we were there, Congress was in session, so after our tour, we went back to Mac's office and everyone got to meet him. Just to let you know, it does take 30 minutes for 12 people to walk from the Museum of Natural History to the Capitol and get through security. We were a little late for our tour, but they were nice enough to accomodate us anyway.

In our four days of sightseeing alone, we walked about 22 miles. We bought pedometers for the kids. They had a lot of fun keeping track of their steps on our trip. We did calculate the mileage. Rachel walked twice the number of steps John walked each day. Hayden, well, he had the best seat of all. By the end of each day, we were all wishing we had someone to stroll us around.

Sarah turns TEN!

Wow, hard to believe that she is ten years old. We had a little Luau for Sarah this weekend and she had five girls stay the night. They made their own pizzas, made ribbon flip flops and played the Wii all before midnight. Finally at 12:30, we had eight girls lined up like sardines in our living room floor to watch a movie. They all had a great time. It was so funny to watch them play the Wii. Marissa was the best bowler. She bowled five strikes each game and was the one to beat. Sarah got some fun gifts and had a very good time. Poor Hayden, he really wanted to sleep downstairs with all the girls, but he had to go up to his bed. I think it will take us a few days to catch up on our sleep. But that is what sleepovers are for: staying up late, good friends, playing games and yummy snacks!