Strawberry Festival 2013

You may have worried what Buckhannon, West Virginia would have to offer my kids.  I know I did.  Never fear, though.  Buckhannon has the O'Neill family.  Matt and I knew the O'Neills years ago in dental school.  Back then we never imagined how important they would be to us some day!  In a town of population 6,000, in the east, with a small ward of members, you would never expect to find a family with friends for each of your kids.  Enter Beth, Patrick, Thomas, Cate, and Maggie:

Amazing, right?  I would be lying if I said it wasn't an answer to prayer for both families.  Being locals, the O'Neills invited us to do the Strawberry Festival with them.  

 The West Virginia Strawberry festival is a big deal.  It includes 4 parades over the period of a week, a carnival, various competitions, and, of course, a pageant.  The Grand Feature Parade is 2 1/2 hours long and showcases high school bands from all over the state, dancing groups and even international bands and dancing groups!  There were groups from Canada, New Jersey, Haiti and Peru!  This festival is for real.

And Beth was in it, too!


I wanted to act like a local, so I did all of our nails like strawberries.

And put these in our yard:

And we got all of the girls strawberry dresses made by a local vendor.

My friend Sharleen came down for the festival.  We had a great time, but didn't get much sleep!

Matt ran the "Strawberry Mile" race.

 By the time the parade was over, I just wanted to go home and take a nap.  But there were rides to be ridden and carnival food to eat.  What was a girl to do?

This is one of Hazel's faces.  She kills me!

Do I look pregnant in this pic?  Don't answer that...

Motherhood

 Jack turned 7 last week.  Seven!  Wow.  Aside from panic and angst at my little guy growing up, I was also struck by the silliness of birthday celebrations.  What exactly did Jack do to deserve this celebration?  He didn't bare himself.  Birthdays are really backwards, aren't they?  That's the day each person should thank their mother for giving them life.  At least that's how I see it.

In the same way, I guess Mother's Day is the day we should honor those who've made us mothers.  So...here they are, the people I should really be celebrating on Mother's Day.  The people who made me a mother.

 Merr.  Oh, how little I knew almost 11 years ago when I became her mother!  She's the one who started it all.  She is the one who forges the path for all of the other kids.  Sadly, I will probably make the most mistakes with her.  Luckily, she's tough.  Tough and smart and beautiful inside and out.  It's terrifying to me that she is going into the scary years of puberty and teenage-hood.  She'll help me figure it out, though.

Joel.  Oh, the trial by fire this guy has been!  If you can parent a kid like Joel, you can parent anyone! (Or at least that's what I've told myself every day of his life)  Joel is SO hard and SO rewarding.  He has a super strong personality.  Someday that personality of his is going to serve him well.  In the meantime,  I adore him and all his strong willed quirks.

Poor Jack.  Middle child syndrome has hit him hard.  He follows me around whimpering for attention.  He is a huge pleaser and a serious peacemaker.  I am so grateful to have this little guy.  Luckily, he won't let me forget he's around and he wants to be loved so much.  How could I refuse?

Norah.  Answer me this:  How did a person with my genes end up with such a BEAUTIFUL child?  Seriously.  But more importantly, she's kind and giving.  She shares and loves and is learning so much.  She adds such a fun layer of personality to the mix.  I can't wait to see who Norah grows up to be.  I just know she's going to be amazing.

Hazie.  I've never met a 10-month-old with such a great sense of humor.  Or any sense of humor, really.  She makes hilarious mad, sad, angry faces at me and then laughs her head off.  She is clingy, but I've learned to appreciate how much I get to hold this sweet little doll.  What if she's my last baby?  I want every last second to be spent with her in my arms.  

I love these little guys so much.  How did I get so lucky to be their Mom?  

And, of course, how did I get so lucky as to have this amazing lady to be my Mom?

My Mom is constantly surprising me with who she is and what she can do.  She is always re-inventing herself to adapt to different situations.  She's not afraid of new adventures and never shies away from hard work.  Love you, Mom!

DC and Buckhannon

So much has been going on.  We moved out of Altoona, stayed with Matt's parents for a month, and moved in to our new place in Buckhannon.  I guess the best I can do to catch up is to post the pictures I have on my camera right now.

We took a short trip to DC to see my parents.  They were actually in town on their way to attend my sister, Whitney's graduation from SVU.

We're all so proud.  And jealous, because now she and her husband have moved to Ecuador to teach English for 6 months.  Some people have all the fun!

We came to DC a day early so our kids could get a little "school" in at the Natural History Museum.  We chose that museum out of all the many choices for its many exhibits that interest my kids.

For Merrody; the ocean life exhibit.  We were looking in the aquarium, and I thought I saw a tiny gold star (like the ones the teachers used to give us in kindergarten) stuck to the glass wall.  Nope, it was a tiny baby starfish!  Cutest thing ever!

For Joel; crystals, geodes and rock formations galore.  I never did post about the science fair, but Joel grew about 15 different kinds of crystals.  He was in heaven.

And for Jack:  A live butterfly exhibit.  Jack's science fair project was on the life cycle of butterflies (the pics above are from the butterflies he grew from caterpillars).

After we left the museum, I tried to get a family picture in front of the Capitol Building.

This is what my family would look like if only the obedient kids were allowed to remain in the family.  Ha!

There we go, a normal family picture.  Mom's behind the camera and Norah's not looking.

That evening we met up with my parents, Whitney and her husband Adam, and my sister Heather's family.  So fun!

My Mom and Dad are heading on a mission in a few months.  We're all so excited!

The next day we did the National Zoo. 

Is it just me or has Hazie perfected the cute wink?

 ...and to the Air and Space Museum the last day.

Thanks for the fun time, Mom and Dad!

Now, we're settling in to our new home in Buckhannon.

If there is ever a time to move to Buckhannon, it's now!  The hills and valleys are filled with rich, fragrant, blossoming trees and it's as green as Ireland.  It really is magical. 

I wanted my Dad to see the views from my house (He likes that sort of thing).  Here you go!  This is what we see from the front:

Here's one side:

and the other: