"But that one makes me cry." 

For those of you familiar with the old Andy Griffith shows, you might recognize this saying as one that Charlene Darling would say to her pa when trying to decide which bluegrass song to sing and play.  They would finally agree on a song and her pa would advise Andy to "jump on in and hang on" (in his southern drawl) as the famous Dillards would "commence" to play.

Anyway, that saying is what came to mind today when I heard an old familiar song.  It's a song that I had heard hundreds of times before, but had never really stopped to listen to the words...

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary

...a song that brought back memories of my childhood, but not because of the words.  I remember back in my elementary days at the good ol' Interstate 35 school building in St. Charles (no, we didn't go to school in the middle of the highway - ha) when we were getting ready for our annual spring music program.  As the younger grades were listening to the older students practice, one of the kids on the stage fainted.  It was a scary thing for me because I had never seen or even heard of anyone fainting before.  And, since that was the song that they were singing at the time, it stuck in my mind.

Well, today our oldest son asked if I could play "Puff, the Magic Dragon" on youtube.  I told him that I could and picked out one of the videos that included the lyrics.  I sat at the computer as it played and, for the first time, really listened to the words of the song.

That's when I cried.

The song tells of a young boy who has an imaginary dragon who does very brave things and they have wonderful adventures together.  But, one day, the dragon senses that he is no longer needed, as the boy is growing up and going on to bigger things.  The toys and childish imagination get left behind.

As a mother of two imaginative boys, this song really struck me.  Yes, I want my boys to grow up and go out on their own some day, but sometimes it's sad to think of leaving these little boy things and special memories behind.

This weekend was the 73rd annual Tulip Time Festival in Pella.  The theme for this year's celebration was "Where Dutch Traditions Bloom".  We had heard that it was going to be cold and rainy on Friday and Saturday, so we decided to go Thursday night.  I had wondered if there would be that much to see and do of an evening, but it turned out to be a really fun family outing!

Pella is a Dutch community known for its windmills, tulips, pasteries and meats, wooden shoes and Dutch names such as Van Engelenhoven, Vander Ploeg, and Jaarsma.  We were drawn especially to the Jaarsma name since it happened to be on the sign above the door to a bakery.  Not surprisingly, it was a popular place to be.  While we waited in line, a woman gave us a sample of their Dutch letters.  But, when it was our turn to order, I chose a creme horn... my favorite!  Yum!   

The Vermeer Mill is a replica of an authentic 1850 Dutch grain grinding windmill.  It is the tallest working windmill in the United States.  We had already taken a tour of it on a previous visit to Pella, so we opted to stay on the square for the other festivities.  Here is a sampling of what we saw:

I let the boys choose which tulips they wanted to pose in front of and they chose these since they were the tallest:

Each fall, Pella plants more than 100,000 new tulip bulbs to assure quality blooms for their festival in May.  Here is one of their very unusual variety of tulips with a mixture of orange and purple:

The "Flying Pans" steel drum band from the local college:

Street scrubbers cleaned the street before the parade began.  One little ornery girl threw a bucket of water at our 9-year-old son.  :-)  Notice their wooden shoes:

The parade started at 8:30 and included lighted floats, bands, and other Dutch specialty attractions:

The Pella Christian Jr. High Marching Band especially caught my eye with their authentic red wooden shoes.  Can you imagine walking the whole parade route in a pair of these?

Toward the end of the parade, lightning was flashing and then it started sprinkling.  But, as the crowd was quickly dispersing, our 9-year-old asked me to take one more picture...

For some reason, the boys had special memories of this particular water fountain from a previous visit to Pella.  Whatever.    Also, they didn't notice that their dad was hamming it up in the background until on the way back home.  To pass the time, they decided to look at the pictures on the camera.  When they came to this one, they said, "Daaaaaad!" 

But, this is the picture that I couldn't resist taking:

I admit that we have our share of times when our boys just don't get along.  That's why family outings like this are so important.  When we share fun times together, the annoyances, competitions, and other grievances seem to fizzle out and leave behind a more pleasant atmosphere.  That's when brothers become the "best of buds". 

"April showers bring May flowers"

After such a long, cold winter, the long-awaited spring has finally sprung!  Yay!

It's so refreshing and invigorating to see life return to the ground and trees.  The colors are so bright and bold this time of year.  There's just so much to enjoy!  Flowers on the trees, in the flower beds, and even the first dandelion (okay... only the first one.  ha). 

It seems that everyone I talk to admits that spring is their favorite time of year.

Well... almost everyone.   

~Connie~

"Rain, rain, go away..."

No way!  Not when you've got a cozy spot on the front porch with your favorite detective story! 

~Connie~

Last weekend, we had a birthday party for our youngest son (yes, this post is a little late - ha).  We decided to go with a detective theme, since both boys are into spy gear, detective stories, playing the game of "Clue", etc.  Here is a copy of the invitations that I sent out for the party:

(front)

(inside)

As soon as the guests arrived, the boys and their friends played outside with silly string.  Then we ate the usual pizza and drank pop (all Ward birthdays are the same - ha).  I always let our boys choose what they want for cake and the last few years, they have requested raspberry swirl angelfood cake.  I got this recipe from an Amish cookbook and it is delicious!  So, we had the cake with neapolitan ice cream.

After we devoured the food (everyone must have been starved!  ha), we played a game called "Mystery Photos".  I had found 20 different close-up pictures on the web (http://www.mysteryphotos.com) that I glued on individual cards with "Clue #1", Clue #2", etc. written on them.  We passed them around to everyone and they had to write down what they thought the item was in the photo.  It was much harder than you would think.  Here's an example:

(shell of a tortoise)

The one with the most correct answers won a prize.  Norman's older brother won with 12 correct items.  Most of the others got 6-8 correct.  Maybe I should have chosen easier pictures. 

The second game was just for the boys (I mean, instead of the parents.  Ha!  There were no girls at the party.  It's not that we don't like girls.  It's just that... well... we only have boys.  )  Anyway, Norman made up a treasure hunt with clues.  Each boy got different clues taking them to different ending points.  There was a little mix-up when two boys had clues leading them to different trash cans, but they went to the same one.    They all eventually ended up with their individual prizes at the end, though.

After that, we were ready for the present-opening ceremony.  Here's the greedy... er, I mean, happy... birthday boy:

He got some really fun things, but this specific birthday card surprised us all:

His 11-year-old brother gave him this card that he had made himself.  It even rhymes!  Here is what is says:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

9+1 SPANKINGS YOU'LL GO THROUGH!

YOU DO AS YOU PLEASE!

AND...

YOU SMELL LIKE LIMBURGER CHEESE!

Wow!  This really brings tears to my eyes!  What a loving brother!   

So... did our newly-turned 9-year-old have a successful birthday party?  Sure thing!  Just look at the below picture:

Hey, wait!  That's not the birthday boy!  That's his dad and his uncle... playing with his gifts! 

What happened to our son???

Hmmm... Is there a detective in the house?

Cristina from jugglingpaynes recently held her second annual comic strip contest and we were one of the winners!  Yay!  Her judging criteria was that it had to make them laugh and it had to be somewhat easy to translate into comic strip form.  My idea (which really happened to our family) was rather lengthy, but Cristina was able to condense it enough to get the point across.  She did an excellent job!  Check it out here:

http://homeschoolblogger.com/jugglingpaynes/511877/

As some of you know, Cristina is a very talented artist who enjoys creating her comic strips around the homeschool theme.  In fact, she has drawn over 200 comic strips!   I love looking at them!  As a homeschool family, I can usually relate and they always bring a smile to my face.

Thanks, Cristina!

~Connie~ 

Okay, here is our 11-year-old son's other planet picture that I promised you:

It turned out kind of small, but he couldn't get it any bigger.  When I enlarged it on flickr.com to put it on my blog, it became blurred.  So, I guess you'll have to use your imagination this time.  :-)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, this creation of his was sparked by the following picture of a mesocyclone (taken by storm chasers, Mike Hollingshead & Eric Nguyen in Nebraska):

He said that when he saw it, he thought, "Wow!  That would make a great planet picture!"  He turned it upside down and then, with the help of his dad, smoothed out the rough edges and deleted the background.  And, like his other picture, he blackened the sky and added the stars.

Now, for the moon, he got really creative on this one!  No, he didn't use a picture of yellow... or even green... cheese for the moon.  :-)  He used blueberries!  He cut out a circle and gave the moon a golden hue.  Lookie here at what he started out with:

Awhile back, I was making blueberry pancakes and after draining the blueberries, I put them on a paper plate until I could add them to the pancakes.  When I was finished, I noticed that they had left a very interesting design.  I showed it to our son and, of course, he wanted to keep it. 

I have learned to ask him before throwing anything away.  You just never know when it might become a great piece of art!  :-)

In fact, due to his creativity, it is rather hard knowing what to buy him for his birthday.  He would rather make things himself instead of using something already made. 

Hmmm... I wonder if the local recycling plant sells gift cards.  :-)

~Connie~

To most people, this is just the top of our trampoline with patches of snow on it:

But to our imaginative 11-year-old son, this becomes a whole 'nother distant planet!  He has a great interest in outer space and enjoys drawing or creating planetary scenes with things like red dirt (that we picked up along the road in Oklahoma), plastic toys, Legos, etc.  This time, though, and with the help of his dad, he used a camera and the computer.  This is what transpired...

They deleted everything in the picture above the trampoline, painted the background black, and then "dotted in" different colors and sizes of stars.

Then, they created a moon on a separate page and pasted it in the background.  Our son was very pleased with the finished product!

I'm always amazed at the things this boy comes up with!  Today, he told me of his latest idea that has been formulating.  He found a cool picture of a mesocyclone that he plans on flipping upside down, changing the colors, and turning it into another planet.  I've seen the beginnings of this one and it's going to be awesome!  So, stay tuned...  

~Connie~

(The following jokes came in an email.  Although they appear to be in a classroom setting, some of them very easily could have happened during homeschooling):

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America.

MARIA: Here it is.

TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America?

CLASS: Maria.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?

JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, how do you spell 'crocodile'?

GLEN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L

TEACHER: No, that's wrong.

GLEN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?

DONALD: H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER: What are you talking about?

DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Jessie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.

JESSIE: Me!

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Jacob, why do you always get so dirty?

JACOB: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I'.

MILLIE: I is...

TEACHER: No, Millie... Always say, 'I am'.

MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'

___________________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it.

Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?

LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me, do you say prayers before eating?

SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my mom is a good cook.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Clyde, your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?

CLYDE: No, it's the same dog.

___________________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?

HAROLD: A teacher.   

As I was thumbing through the grocery store ads, I noticed a coupon which read:

"11 Banquet Meals for $10"

I didn't stop to figure the math, but I knew that it came up to less than a dollar for each meal.  This sounded like a good deal to me, so I cut out the coupon.  It had been years since I had eaten a "TV dinner"!  This would be kind of fun.  Plus, since our boys had recently come down with the nasty flu/cold virus that had been going around, there was a possibility that I would get it also.  And, by gauging how our boys acted, I sure wouldn't feel much like cooking if I became sick.  So, besides being fun, these "meals" might just come in handy.

With Wednesday night being “church night”, I opted for our first serving of tv dinners.  Boy, were they a hit!  As my husband kissed me afterwards and thanked me for the meal, I said, “Sure, no problem!” 

And, you would have thought I had served a banquet fit for a king, the way our 11-year-old son went on and on about his wonderful tv dinner at church services that night.  He told everyone who would listen about his corn dog, French fries, and corn (including all the adjectives he could think of to describe them).

Getting into the habit of just throwing our suppers into the oven, I announced that we would be having tv dinners again the next night.  Since I had gotten a variety of meals, everyone chose the one that they wanted.  Our 11-year-old chose the fried chicken meal and that’s all I heard about all day, “I get fried chicken tonight!”  (Okay, as a side note… I don’t do fried chicken.  So, that could be part of the reason he was excited.  )

Well, yesterday, Norman came down with intestinal flu.  I began to wonder if my days were numbered.

Sure enough, this morning my throat was sore and I was starting to feel a little funny.  With our supply of tv dinners dwindling, I’m thinking I’d better be hurrying back to the store and restock.

Hmmm… I wonder if Banquet Meals comes in Bananas Rice Applesauce & Toast. 

~Connie~