Thursday, June 25, 2009




HARVEST!
Despite rain after rain, wheat harvest is finally underway. The guys got started Thursday the 18th but then got rained out Saturday with another 2 3/4 inches of rain. They were back at it Monday night (thanks to determination, heat and wind) and have been going strong. Well as strong as you can when you're dodging mud holes and "sticky" wheat. (evidently when the wind quits and the sun goes down it gets hard to cut). It's a strange harvest for me, Collin has only ventured out to the field 2x due to a wheat dust allergy that has gotten worse each year. He has no desire to start wheezing and coughing, so when he does go he stays in the pick up until every piece of machinery has come to a stop. Hans has been rather indifferent about harvest. Erin is in TX with Mike and Staci (you can see pics here). Alan has been riding with Chris some, but this year is very different then the years when they are all begging to go to the field. I'm the cook, so my job is to feed the crew 2x a day. (lucky them...)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

baseball 0001

We had fun putting together a montage of photos and video clips from baseball games thus far. Erin has been the videographer and it's a bit bumpy, but she had fun doing it!

It was the 6th inning. The 2 undefeated little league teams were playing each other and it was tied 10 to 10. Our All Stars had been behind the whole game (miserably so), but managed to overtake the other team in the 4th inning. In the 5th inning, the other team advanced to 11:10, but our boys did not answer. The defense held them to 11 in the 6th and then it was our turn to bat. I do not remember all the details, but we had a boy on 1st and 2 outs. Caleb Lambert was up to bat, it took several tries and a few balls but he finally smacked the daylights out of the ball and got to first, bringing another boy home. Tied again 11 to 11. I looked over and gulped....
Alan was up to bat. I could not believe it!!!!!!!!!!! He has been hitting well all season, but it's still just his first year and he is not beyond striking out and that would be the game. Chris was the 3rd base coach and he turned his hat to the rally position.
Swing and a miss Strike 1
Swing and a miss Strike 2
Swing and a miss...low ball
Swing and a HIT!!!!! Alan makes it to first and the other boy home....beating a team that had overpowered them most of the game. Yeah All Stars!
Here are some highlights: Hans is a great hitter and he had a line drive he almost caught, even laid out for it, but he was at least able to tip it a bit.Our catcher was very intent on keeping the other team from stealing in the 5th, crucial in keeping the score from creaping up.

Caleb scores the final run that wins the game 12:11! There are other kids that just did such a great job. Conan made several excellent throws from 3rd to 1st for the out and Jeremy snagged several hits as pitcher for the out at first. What a fun game! Great job guys!

Friday, June 12, 2009

vbs 09 0001R

Since I already worked with these photos a ton, I thought I'd just post the whole slideshow from VBS! Music is from Answers in Genesis: Operation Space. 2009

Thursday, June 11, 2009

VBS is always so fun for the kids. Even our "older" kids enjoyed themselves. This year the theme was Operation Space: A Close Encounter with God's Word from http://www.answersingenesis.com/ Let's see if I can find some good "shots" of our kids amidst the tons of photos I took for the slideshow.

Bad mommy, I need to find the others. I don't have that many of my own kids!!!
Mom and Dad A's 50th

We went to CO for a reception at the Holly Hills church in Aurora.

Bruce arranged for family members to sing and play music for mom and dad which I think they thoroughly enjoyed!
Erin signed and the boys sang, Lord I Lift Your Name On High
The Quartet from 50 years ago comes together for an encore!
It was fun for me to meet some of the people my in laws have been talking about for the 15 years I have been part of this family! There were a lot of nice memories made!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Free to good home in the central KS area...
I have a new share site from shutterfly where I make my photo books and get some of my pictures printed. This way if I have pictures anyone wants you can just order them from shutterfly yourself. And if in the future I decide to start trying to "sell" my photos it can be upgraded to a pro site. I'm a ways from that yet!
However, here it is:
http://andersonfarms.shutterfly.com
I have the 50th Wedding photos there and some of the school events like track and field day for the 5th and 6th graders and the kindy zoo trip. Let me know what you think!

Monday, June 08, 2009

I made it, we made it... whew.
It was back in February that Brandy, our pastor's wife, asked me to help direct VBS. I said yes, but was reluctant because i have done this 2x and it is definitely outside of my gifting. Remembering details... thinking of all the little things that need taken care of...admin type things... those aren't my gift. Yet, God does not only call us to use our, "this comes easily for me" gifts and I love working with Brandy so... I said yes, of course!

It was in March that we started planning Mom and Dad A's 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration to be held in Colorado. Chris' older brother Bruce and his family would go from PA to CO and then back to KS for 2 weeks. It was the mid-March when we decided to hold a reception in KS as well for mom and dad's 50...

It was at lunch with Bruce and Karen over spring break when I realized all 3 of those things were going to happen at the same time! I felt a sense of dread begin but decided that we could handle it as long as we planned ahead and were ready!

In early May the kids chose their summer sports: Alan and Hans chose baseball and Collin wanted to sign up for Summer Basketball, both to start June 1 (same week as VBS). It was the last day of school when we got the notice that football camp was the same week as VBS.

Are you tired of reading yet? This is more for me than anyone else because the last 3 weeks are a blur to me. I was in charge of Erin's last day of school party. That afternoon Collin had a party to go to, Hans had piano and he and Alan had baseball! Got home at dinnertime, finished laundry and planned to pack in the morning. At 10 the next morning we leave for CO arrive in Denver at 5 for dinner with Jen and Simon. Off to the church to decorate and practice music. Back to Trish and Aarons. The weekend is lots of fun, but very fast and we leave Denver at 3:30 on Sunday arriving home at 11:30 pm, so Chris could work Monday. We had a week to prepare for VBS and the KS 50th Wedding anniversary.

Now that it is June 8th I can sigh, I just don't know why it all has to happen at the same time. It's hard to enjoy things when they come so quickly. There were days last week when we had baseball, football and basketball in the same day after VBS. We always say that we don't want the kids to get over busy, that we don't want them to be going from one activity to then next. Well, we get to eat more words because on Wednesday last week Collin went to football camp for 2 hours and then straight to a double header basketball game :o) Ahhh youth! I am thankful that God has gotten us through and kept us well. Seeing all the youth's faces at VBS always makes the work worth it. And the helpers! We thought we might be short on helpers, but we ended up having a few extras to help with Tshirts and fill in during absences. God is faithful!
I'll upload photos throughout the day! I'm done rambling...