The Country Vaughns (go to town)

Thinking Days

2012-01-26T09:36:00.000-06:00

Thankfully this semester I am blessed to have Thursdays and Fridays off. That's huge for me! In addition to allowing time to get chores and housework done, I have two full days for the grad student's trinity -- writing, reading, and research. I call these my "Thinking Days" and I meant it. These two days give me time to breathe, time to work, and time to think.


A photo of Evie from Kallie's iPod. Somehow it looks so tender and sweet. I love it

So, here's some of the things I've been thinking about...

Neil Gaiman's journal is really cool. I've known about Gaiman for a year or so now. I know, his fans probably consider that previous statement unfathomable, but what can I say? I'm learning. If you are interested in writing, writers, or Montana you should really follow this blog. I love to know how other writers (especially famous published ones) feel about the craft. I love to hear about their rituals and habits. If you do too then enjoy!

I am by no means even slightly knowledgeable when it comes to good photography, but like the Supreme Court, I know it when I see it. I somehow stumbled upon this blog, and I LOVE it! I am amazed by each photo, especially the portraits. I love to image who these people were and how they lived their lives. Seriously, add this to your reader now!

I guess this last thing ties the two previous sites together, sort of. Lately, I've become really interested in oral histories and specifically those of Southern women and literacy. The SFA has an amazing oral history/documentary project underway! It combines the things most important to Southern folks, food, people, and stories. I'm going to be beginning a little oral history project of my own. I'll tell you more about that as it unfolds. I'm really excited about it!

I'm using my Thinking Days for thinking about a whole bunch of other stuff, too. But this is the best of it. Gotta go, lots more thinking to squeeze in to the next two days!

Much Love, --J

Mosey-ing into the 21st century

2012-01-19T12:53:00.003-06:00

This morning I typed an entire post about signing up forTwitter yesterday then I noticed I’d spelled the title wrong and tried to fixthe typo. Somehow, I deleted the entire thing! Crap! I’m going to try torecreate what I originally wrote, but now I’m perturbed by technology ratherthan excited about it. My commentary maybe tainted.

I like technology. It’s true! I’m always on the lookout forways it can make my life easier/better. I love that I can keep a familyjournal, perform scholarly research, stay connected with friends and family,and do a million other things from the comfort of my living room couch. Plus, I’ma nerd and technology satisfies my information cravings like cake to a sweettooth, but so often technology straddles the line between helpful and wasteful.

Take Pinterest (no, seriously, take it!). I LOVE the siteand the concept – a place to find/post/organize cool ideas for crafts, clothes,and food – but Pinterest is dangerous for me. The amount of self-disciplinerequired to tear myself away from that place is monumental! I have a hardenough time concentrating on all that requires my attention already (can youacquire ADD?) that I don’t really need another distraction.


This is Kallie on the aforementioned couch. It really is a cozy spot!

Enter Twitter. I know it’s not exactly a “new” thing, but I’vepurposefully avoided it over the past few years. That said, no one was as surprisedas I was when I opened a Twitter account yesterday! Let me explain. Thissemester I’m taking a class called Computers and Writing which focuses onconsidering the pedagogical viability of using different technologies in thewriting classroom. I’ve seen a few texts over the past year or so that exploreusing Twitter in the classroom and they seem really interesting. So interesting,that I’ve decided to focus my research for the class on how Twitter is/can beused in the college composition classroom. Effective research includesexperience, right? So now you can follow me @VaughnJennie on Twitter. Fairwarning: don’t expect frequent or copious tweets! If it’s anything like myFacebook habits, I’ll be more of a lurker than updater. Also, I’m stillfiguring out how the blasted thing works, Twitter not Facebook, that is.

Another thing about technology…it can be overwhelming!Everything changes so quickly. In my previous version of this post I noted thatmy sweetie just gave me a new iPhone4s yesterday, too. I’m excited about usingit, but Siri is a little disconcerting. First, her voice. Y’all, she soundslike what I imagine the robots who will take over the Earth sound like. Second,I hate that she disconnects before I can say, “Thank you”! Obviously, she wasnot created by a Southerner. I still say thank you, but it feels like ourconversation is incomplete.

Well, I’ve told you about my most recent technologicaloverload, but I’m still left with one burning question…If I “tweet” on Twitteram I a “twit”?

Much Love, --J

PS – Since I inadvertently deleted the first version of thispost (durn it), I’ve learned one important lesson. I will type my posts in Wordthen copy/paste them into my blog. Y’all probably all do that already, but likethe title suggests, I’m a little slow.

Back to school

2012-01-11T09:15:00.001-06:00

It's the first day of classes! That's always an exciting day for me. This semester I've got some interesting projects in the works and I'm NOT teaching. I'm not yet sure how I feel about that. I LOVE teaching, but it's tough to teach classes and take classes, too. I'm looking forward to no grading (yuck!) But, I'll miss having students!

I'm also nervous about the work I will be doing this semester. I will be working as an assistant to two professors. One is writing a book and I'll be doing research for her. The other is Director of the First-year Writing Program and I'll do various projects for her. I'm super excited about the research and the writing program admin experience will be great on the ole CV. So why the nerves, right? Well, it's my skeptical side...it just seems to easy, something's bound to happen. I shouldn't think like that, I know. I'm working to not be so pessimistic. I'm sure I'll be challenged and delighted by this semester like always!We'll see...

Much love, J

Roll Tide!

2012-01-05T19:11:00.002-06:00

Two of the cutest fans in T-town

I know we're still a few days away from the BCS National Championship game, but Tuscaloosa is just plain giddy, y'all! Our house (and others I'm sure) are watching the pre-pre-game coverage. The teams arriving in NOLA, profiles of various coaches and players, anything and everything related to Monday's big game. Of course, we want our team to win and I'm excited to see which of my students gets playing time!

So until kick-off, we're preparing to roll, pre-rolling, if you will. And, in case you're wondering, T-town will be closed Monday evening so just stay home and watch the game. Seriously. RTR!!!

Much Football Love, J

Dinner and a Movie

2012-01-04T15:25:00.000-06:00

I had a date last night. I asked this really cute and sweet guy to dinner and a movie. He said yes! It was so much fun! We saw the movie first -- Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked, and then we went to Chik-fil-a. Then we brought home some extra nuggets for K.

Me and my cute date

Yes, Holdyn and I had a great Mommy/son date! Hopefully we'll be able to make this a more regular event. Holdyn's almost as great a date as his daddy! ;)

Have you had a great date lately?

Much Love, J

Organizing the Chaos

2012-01-02T17:46:00.000-06:00

Yes, I labeled my book shelves. Doesn't everyone?

In preparation for the end of Christmas vacation I'm trying to get this house cleaned out and organized. So far, I've tackled the linen closet, the cleaning supplies, the spice cabinet, and the pantry shelves. Today it was time to reorganize my office. The bookshelves were first. I categorized the books by type: fiction, nonfiction, comp/rhet, reference, and anthologies. I know, I'm incredibly nerdy, but I use all of these books - a lot - and I don't have time to dig around looking for what I need. After the bookshelves (which took a couple hours), I rearranged the desk, printer, and guest bed. Then separated the craft supplies from my sewing stuff. That way, the kids can get to the craft stuff without tumbling through my sewing patterns, fabric, and notions.

So, that's done! Now I need to get the toys and craft area in order. My closet needs a clean out. And when the kids go back to school on Thursday, I plan on a major overhaul of their junk holes...er, I mean bedrooms. Wheeee, I'm giddy thinking about how neat our nooks will be for 2012 (well, January anyway)!

What are you excited about for 2012?

Much Love, J

Goals, not resolutions

2012-01-01T23:08:00.001-06:00

This year I'm calling my plans for this new year goals, not resolutions. Resolutions never last (at least for me), but I have some success in reaching goals. So, that's it. This year's goals are: keep the blog current, read the Book of Mormon daily (personally and with the family), do some sort of physical exercise each weekday, write 500 words a day (personal or academic), and take at least one photo a day. I want to remember these wonderful, crazy, whirlwind days!

So today's photo...

Sweet little girl hands with freshly painted nails. Swoon!

I wonder what else I'll see this year? What are you hoping to accomplish in 2012?

Much Love, J

One year later...

2012-01-01T17:14:00.001-06:00

Yikes! A whole year since I've updated this blog?! It doesn't seem possible. 2011 literally flew by! We moved "to town" last December (thus the name change) and have thrown ourselves into life here in Tuscaloosa. The kids started the new/old year at a new school and have thrived. I spent the year teaching Freshmen, bless them, studying, reading, and writing my brains out. K spent his days driving back and forth to work in Birmingham, watching Alabama football, and generally being the most awesome hubs and daddy around! In short, it was a fantastic year of busy-ness and blessings. The Country-turned-City Vaughns are doing alright and looking forward to 2012. The silliness, happiness, and craziness will continue (the yuckiness, tears, and heartaches will too) and maybe this space won't be so neglected this year.

Much Love,
J

Field Trips, the Fall Edition

2010-12-21T00:20:00.000-06:00

Holdyn took a field trip two weeks ago to the state capital in Montgomery. Since that's K's home turf he and I went, too. We had a nice time touring the state capitol, state house and state archives. Holdyn used my phone and took nearly 100 photos (mostly of nothing). Every once in a while I'd snatch it back to take a snap here and there.

One of mine -- a class photo RES 4th grade

Another of mine -- Holdyn and his buds

One of his -- soldier with gun

Another of his -- a pretty girl


And another of his -- large canon-type gun

As you can see, Holdyn is all boy. Most of his pictures are of guns, soldiers, and girls. Does anything else matter? Seriously though, he loves his Alabama History class and was enthralled for the majority of the trip. He asked all kinds of questions during the tour of the legislative floors of the state building; including, whether or not past legislators could spit hard enough to "ding" the spitoons and why modern legislators didn't use a hologram for days they had to be absent during session.
I'd love to get inside his head for an hour!

Evie and Kallie didn't get a class field trip this semester, so I took them on a girls' day. Mom, Aunt Elizabeth, and cousin Roma came along, too. We went to the mall for a little shopping, lunch, and a carousel ride. Fun!!

Two cuties getting ready to shop, shop, shop!

Sweet Roma decked out as a snow bunny sans snow, of course.

As things get ever hectic and stressful it is my hope that you and your loved ones will take time to remember the birth of Christ, the true reason for this season of celebration. Don't let our fast-paced, commercially driven lifestyles ruin the peace and comfort Christ brings to us all. The best gift love!

Much Love,

I'm Baaaack!

2010-12-06T11:41:00.000-06:00

Did you miss me? I certainly missed you! I've made it through my first semester as a PhD student/nerd at UA. It was touch and go there for a while, but I did it and I'm so happy!
I'd like to apologize for being out of this space for so long. Believe me, I just couldn't fit one more thing into my life or my brain. So blogging had to fall by the wayside for awhile.
The thing I feel the worst about is not posting our silly, daily life stories. This is our family journal and I regret that there are three whole months missing now. However, now that I reflect those three months held a lot of stress, stomach viruses, strep-throat, and dirty laundry. Not a pretty picture! But seriously, writing in this space helps me look for good moments throughout the day.
There have been lots of those to go with the not-so-good. Dinner with friends, visits with family, wrestling in the living room floor, giggles, gap-toothed smiles, the list is soooo long!


Four-wheel riding with Daddy!

Scaring up fun on Halloween!

And falling asleep exhausted from too much fun!

So, forgive me, my friends, for letting this space go dark for a while. But, please know you have not left my thoughts and prayers. Maybe we can catch up a little over the holidays?!

Much Love,

J

Some days I wonder...

2010-09-10T08:31:00.000-05:00

Some days I wonder what's harder, being a kid or being a mom? This week, I'm definitely choosing mom. Although, I'm having a hard time because of the hard time one of my kids is having. Does any of this make sense? Probably not. It barely makes sense to me! Anyway, I found this video clip about motherhood and through my sobs the words of Jeffery R. Holland brought peace to my soul. I wanted to share it with you; maybe it can help you, too.

Much Love,

--J

Phones

2010-08-20T11:19:00.001-05:00

I got an iphone this week. I know, fancy, right! Anyway, that's not really what this post is about. While setting up the phone (does anyone else find the process of choosing ringtones annoying?) the kids came in and wanted to hear the ringtone. I'd chosen the tone called "old phone," it sounds like...duh...an old phone circa 1950-80 ringing. So I played the ringtone and all 3 kids laughed and said, "What's that supposed to be?"

WHAT?!

That's when I realized they have never heard a phone with a bell ringer! I shouldn't be surprised because we've not had a "landline" in all the time they can remember. But still, it's a shock to the system to be reminded of how much things have changed just within my lifetime. Both sets of my grandparents had those heavy, black rotary dial phones. In fact, until I was a teenager my Granny had a "party line." The old lady who shared the line was ALWAYS on the phone! Could you imagine that today? It's not like this is ancient history we're talking about; I'm not THAT old. (Shut it! I hear that snorting and snickering!)

My children have never lived without cellphones, video games, satellite TV and the Internet. They are very savvy, not only technologically so but also environmentally and gastronomically. They remind ME to turn off lights and not to run the water when I brush my teeth. They sigh and shake their heads whenever they see people clearing land and cutting down trees. They question the origin of their hamburgers' beef and want to know if their fruit is organic. I'm amazed at their sophistication -- I did not teach them a lot of this stuff -- they are just products of their era.

Of course, they are still kids (thankfully). They ride bikes, play outside, run in the house, and jump on the furniture. At the same time I marvel at the differences in our childhoods, I smile at the similarities. It all makes me wonder...what will they live through? What will their children never live with and without?

Much Love,
- J

PS -- I'm not daft, I know this is not a perfect time we're living in, but I know there is more good than evil. I would drown in fear if I thought about all the chaos, hate, and danger prowling today. You can say what you will, but I choose to focus on the positive in the hopes that I can increase the amount of good, beauty, and love in the world.

Big Girls Now

2010-08-18T06:25:00.000-05:00

Posting two days in a row?! Shocking, I know. But there's been some big time events the past few days and I'd be remiss if I didn't document them. Last week, on the first day of school, my two sweet baby girls turned SEVEN. I cannot believe they are seven years old! We had a little pool party on Saturday complete with pink elephant cupcakes and a giraffe mini-cake. Evie loves elephants and Kallie is my giraffe girl. We had a great time with friends and family. The girls got new bikes and some other great things, but they were most excited about this.....

Yep, my two babies got their ears pierced yesterday. Now I've got two big girls complete with bejeweled ears. There were a few tears (from them) and a little doubt (from all of us). In the end, however, they are happy and I'm excited, too!
As my sisters can attest, this ritual was a big deal in our house growing up. We had to wait until we were 10 to get earrings, but it meant we were big girls. And they are big girls - sweet, kind, and helpful. I love those two!

Evie didn't want me to take her picture just after the piercing. She asked me to wait, "Until my face isn't so red and puffy from crying." Seriously. We are definitely raising a priss here! Kallie wanted to choose skull studs. "Ooooo, these are cool!", she said. I convinced her to pick gold hearts with crystals in the middle. Hint - She is NOT the priss we are raising. Holdyn's only comment after the piercings was, "I'm glad I'm not a girl!" This will not be the last time in his life he thinks that, I'm sure.

It's as crazy here as ever!

Things

2010-08-17T07:21:00.000-05:00

I have turned into a horrible blogger! And while I'll admit I like the idea of people reading what I right (frustrated writer), the entire purpose of this blog is to document what's going on in our lives so that later we can remember it all. FAIL.

I've got a break from the "murder drive" today so I'm going to post and try to catch up....

School has begun and we now have a 4th grader and two 2nd graders. It is ridiculous to me how fast these three have grown! This year marks a lot of firsts, not the least of which is that it's the first year that I was not there for "back to school". Thankfully, K is awesome and took a few photos of the big morning. He also called me as soon as he dropped the kids off and gave me the morning report.

As most of you know, I wasn't there because I've just begun my PhD program at the University of Alabama. I'm excited and scared and intimidated all at once! However, I know this is the thing I should be doing because we have been so blessed. I thought with my teaching responsibilities that I'd need to be driving to Tuscaloosa (197 miles round-trip) four times a week. Last week, while in orientation I received my assignments for this semester's work and found that I would not have to be on campus for work!!!! I can complete all of my GTA work online and just go to Tuscaloosa for class 2 afternoons a week and then for any special events/meetings. I cannot tell you what a load that has taken off; driving three hours a day is exhausting!

Well, it's time for my first school drop-off of the year! Smiles all around here!

Much Love,
-J

WOW!

2010-08-03T23:08:00.000-05:00

That's all I can say! I stumbled across this awesome, inspiring blog last week. Gayle is the mom of four kids and she (along with her husband) eat each week on a grocery budget of $60. That's right, $60 a week for a family of 6 (including at least one teenage boy)!!! That also includes toiletries but not make-up, clothes, etc. Also, they only spend $40 per week on gas ($20/2cars). They do have a garden and she homeschools the kids. However, judging by our food consumption this summer that may not be a budget helper! Perhaps my favorite thing about Gayle's plan is that she doesn't use coupons -- that's right NO COUPONS! Considering that I absolutely loathe coupons, this chick immediately won my favor.

We used to have a much tighter grocery budget, but lately we've gotten a little lax. I'm ready to tighten the reins; thankfully not because we HAVE to, but just to be more responsible. We are wasting a lot and we know better!! That extra cash could be used to pay off some debt and boost our savings. I'm not sure I want to immediately cut back to $60 per week, but I'm really considering $80. We'll see.

So, not to be nosy, but I'm wondering what do you spend each week on groceries? What about clothes, shoes, gas, etc? Just wondering...

Much Love,

--J

As Corny as Kansas in August

2010-07-27T10:05:00.001-05:00

We shucked, cleaned, and prepped the corn and ended up with 35 ears and a bunch of creamed corn. However, I thought this photo best depicted the magnitude of the job. My helpers did all the shucking (and jiving?) while I washed, trimmed, blanched and bagged. Although I had more individual tasks our workload was about even. I'm proud of my little workers.

Here's to hoping your summer is corny, too!

Much Love,
--J

Even more pickin'

2010-07-22T06:28:00.000-05:00

Thanks to some kind family friends with an awesome garden we're enjoying a sweet bounty. The kids and I picked corn, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, and cantaloupe yesterday morning. 45 minutes of picking yielded this...

It is literally more than we could carry! Holdyn is proving to be a very good farmer-boy. He loves the hunt for ripe veggies/fruits. Also, he love the various creatures he finds while picking! Evie and Kallie seem to be able to find any ants within a 50 mile radius, become promptly bitten, and then find the closest shady spot to "rest" and "take a water break". However, they love to help me prepare the bounty once we get it home. I love it all! I so wish that we would have planted a garden this year. It is high on my list of goals for next year, though. Especially since the kiddos are so enthusiastic. In the past any garden we had was a solo effort on my part.

So, how does your garden grow? What do you love to plant? What never turns out?

Much Love,
--J

Blueberry Picking

2010-07-09T23:02:00.000-05:00

We made a trip to a local blueberry farm today and did a little picking. I tried to get us there early but by 9am it was already close to 95degrees out. The place was beautiful and the bushes were loaded! We picked 5 quarts in just under an hour.

Since the farm is only open on Fridays and Saturdays I plan to get out there at least once more this summer. The kids loved it but started to flag near the end. In an effort to push them on to full our bucket I suggested we sing while we picked.

We only had to sing a couple verses of "Found a Peanut" and "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain" before we had the bucket filled and were ready to go home. Of course, our renditions had blueberry picking appropriate lyrics -- "Found a blueberry" and "She'll be pickin blueberries when she comes."

Apparently we had an audience to our performance because as soon as I told the kids we could pack up a lady picking across from us, whom I didn't see before I suggested singing, said she'd enjoyed our entertainment and was sorry we were leaving. Maybe the farm should hire us and pay us in blueberries?! ;)

Hope you're having a sweet summer!

Much Love,

-J

Walk Like an Egyptian

2010-07-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

The kids have been going to vacation Bible school at a nearby church this week. They've had a great time learning about the Israelites in Egypt. I've enjoyed the three hour study sessions (comps are today). I've always wondered why we LDS folks don't have VBS, but I'm not asking for another calling or assignment, so I've kept my wondering to myself. ;) Today is the last day of VBS and the kids were told to dress like any Egyptian or Bible figure they've studied. Here's what I dropped off this morning --

Yikes! (That's a mummy, Miriam hold baby Moses, and Pharaoh in case you can't tell.)

Much Love,
--J

Collages

2010-07-01T08:50:00.000-05:00

Finished...almost

2010-06-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the last day of my last class for my Masters degree!!! I'm done, sort of. Now I have Comprehensive Exams -- eek! Thankfully, my English Comps are on a seperate day from my Education Comps. I think I'd keel over if they were together. Summer is plugging along. The kids are loving vacation bible school this week, the library's summer reading program ended last week, and Holdyn's birthday is Sunday.

I know I've been woeful in my blogging duties this year. I'm not keeping a very good family journal, nor am I keeping up with my bloggy friends and family. It looks like I'm going to have to break down and become a "follower." You know I hate that term -- weren't we all taught to be leaders not followers? So, I'm going to become a Subscriber instead. How is that different? I don't know, just humor me, umkay?

Anyhow, I pledge to better fulfill my blogging duties. I'll get some pics up this week, too.

Much Love,
-Jennie

I Wish

2010-06-01T19:30:00.001-05:00

I am lucky enough to be participating as a fellow in the 2010 JSU Writing Project. Today was Day 1. I am so excited to be a part of this project. My personal goal is to challenge myself as a writer and learn from people who have tons of classroom experience. For our first teaching demonstration (taught by Melissa Shields) we wrote an I Wish poem. We began by creating 5 simple "I Wish" sentences like "I wish I had a million dollars". Then we expanded the sentences by adding conjunctive adverbs (because, consequently, in the event of, etc). After creating the poem we made our poems into Wordles. My Wordle is above; click on it to make it bigger. Here is my poem...

I Wish

I wish for my children to be safe because I cannot always be with them.

I wish my Grandma was still living because I need her guidance, love, and stories everyday.

I wish my house would sell so that we can move to Tuscaloosa and begin our new adventure.

I wish I had a laundry folding machine so that in the event of my death my husband and children won’t be crushed in an avalanche of dirty socks and smelly underwear.

I wish for perfect hips (and tummy and butt) like the ones I had before I birthed three children, including a set of twins.

A Rite of Passage

2010-05-18T09:16:00.000-05:00

A field trip to the Birmingham zoo is a rite of passage for 5-7 year olds in central Alabama. Last Friday, the girls and I joined about 20 bazillion other K-2nd graders at the zoo. We had a great time! Evie loves to go anywhere and Kallie is our very own little Dr. Doolittle. Both girls were in heaven and I was happy to be along for the ride and take the pics.

Nothing like starting the day with a little tree climbing...I thought they kept the monkeys IN the zoo!

Riding the carousel, so nice we did it twice!

Kallie's most favorite part - feeding the giraffes. They are her favorite animals. One day when she is a vet, she says, she will lasso one and ride it across the savanna. I do not doubt her!

Evie feed the giraffes, too. She did not enjoy the experience!

By the end of the day we were tired; but, it was great!

What a way to round out a great 1st grade year! These girls are awesome! And just so you know I haven't forgotten him here is a recent picture of Holdyn...

Watch out Daddy, one day he'll be tying you into a knot!

As usual, it's crazy around here. School ends in a few days, Nana's coming to visit, and the house renovations are FINALLY coming together. New adventures are on the horizon!

--Much Love,

De-Greasing Update

2010-05-07T08:14:00.000-05:00

The girls' hair is back to normal today. I got tons of help from family and friends and I ended up using Dawn dish liquid to rewash their hair. It worked wonderfully! Now their cute strawberry blond hair is back and we're keeping the Greaser look in the 1950's where it belongs.

Much Love,
-J

21st Century Greasers

2010-05-06T08:11:00.002-05:00

I've always loved the greasers. You know, the 1950s style with leather jackets, white t-shirts, jeans, and hair greased into a pompador. Zuko, Kenickie, Ponyboy, Dally, and the Fonz are the epitome of cool! Greaser girls were cute too with their red lips, teased hair, tight pants, and shades (the Pink Ladies even had matching jackets). Greaser girls didn't actually grease their hair; but, with the Feminist movement and a desire for equality I guess anything can happen...enter Evie and Kallie the 21st century greasers.

Yesterday evening the kids were at my mom's while I went to a meeting and K put another coat of poly on the floors. Mom was kind enough to feed the kids, take Holdyn to Cub Scouts, and have the girls get a bath. She even let them take a bubble bath! Anyway, towards the end of bath time she hears them calling and goes to check on them. She finds them in the tub with the baby oil -- they tell her they couldn't find any conditioner so they just used the baby oil instead!! She put them in the shower and had them re-wash their hair.

I, of course, don't find out about this until they are already in the bed asleep. This morning I get them up and see they're still rockin "the wet look." I send them to the shower and tell them to wash their hair again. They get out slightly less greasy than before; but, they still look like two members of the Sharks and/or Jets.

Thank goodness today is Field Day and they can wear hats to school! A desperate plea for help on the Book of Face this morning yielded a call from my sister Emily. She searched the internet and found that Dawn dish liquid should help degrease my two T-birds. The plan for tonight - Operation Oil Slick Removal. We'll see how it goes...

Much Love,
-J

Random Happenings

2010-05-04T09:04:00.001-05:00

Here are some random photos of things that happened around here during my bloggin hiatus....

My 9th graders

2 cuties

practing the "pageant walk"

Of course Holdyn was here too. He just seems to escape my camera. I'll get him soon though!

-J

Long Time No Post

2010-04-28T14:16:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted. That's not because I had nothing to say or nothing was happen here; actually, it was quite the opposite. Last Friday I finished my semester of student teaching. It was AWESOME! Somedays sucked and somedays were fabulous; but, everyday I knew that teaching is what I'm meant to do. My students were great and so was my Cooperating Teacher. I chose to abstain from posting during my student teaching for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to be absolutely sure that I kept all things about my students private. Second, I was EXHAUSTED at the end of each day and just the thought of turning on the computer made me want to cry. Third, I didn't want to fall into the WWW at the end of each day and waste the little family time we have together.

K and I have been spending oodles of time working on this forsaken house. We've almost finished the interior and are preparing to move to the outside - just in time for warm weather.

Plans for the move are slowly creeping forward. We're shooting for mid-July to be in T-town. I keep teasing K that I'm moving in July with or without everyone else. ;) But of course, I could never go anywhere without my sweeties. How blessed can one girl be? I've got an awesome hubs, 3 stinkin cute kiddos, and we're all happy and healthy. As long as we're together we're good.

Gotta get back to cleaning and packing!
--Much Love,
J

Tardy-Pants

2010-02-17T15:47:00.002-06:00

Evie wasn't feeling well this morning. She convinced me that she had over-indulged in Valentine's candy and was tummy-sick. Of course, today is the day that I begin my independent teaching unit (Romeo and Juliet) so she had to go visit Mama Ford. After a frantic early-morning phone call I dropped her with my mom on our way to school. About 25 minutes later I get a call from Mom. She tells me Evie has eaten bacon, grits, and a biscuit feels better now and wants to come to school. WHAT?!

I rush to Mom's grab Evie, race home grab her backpack and snack, and we head back to school. As we're pulling into the parking lot Evie says in a completely serious voice, "Mommy, am I going to have to go to the office and get a tardy-pants slip?"

It was all I could do to hold back a laugh. Then my heart warmed; my sweet baby was worried about being tardy! She's never been tardy before and only knew that the "tardy-pants" in her class had to go to the office and get a "tardy-pants slip."

That and holding her little hand as we walked down the hall-way to her classroom made the rush, frustration, and worry all worth it!

So, just call us tardy-pants today.

News

2010-02-05T20:59:00.002-06:00

The Country Vaughns got some big news this week. I've been accepted into the PhD program in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Alabama. We are super excited at what all this entails! I've been offered a graduate assistantship as well, which means a move is required. In the next few months the Country Vaughns will be in full renovation completion mode so that we can get Vaughn Farms on the market and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed)sold. That's right, the plan is to bid farewell to this little piece of land and move the country mice to the city.

The kids are excited at the idea of living "in town" where they can ride bikes, play sports, and possibly (gasp) walk places!

For now, we're enjoying little league basketball season, my student teaching (I LOVE IT!!!), and just being together.

So, we'll see what happens over the next 6 months. It should be exciting, stay tuned!

"Snow" Day

2010-01-08T11:27:00.005-06:00

We're home for a "Snow" day today. I use the quotation marks because there isn't a lick of snow to be seen. We got out of school at 11a yesterday as the fat, fluffy flakes swirled through the frigid air. The kids were so excited to get home to "make snow angels, snowmen, and have a snowball fight" they said. I wanted to get home, pull on some fleece pants and socks and campout on the couch. Well, we all got our wishes, sort of. The snow didn't stick but it did accumulate (slightly) on some things like the steps, the picnic table and the trampoline. This allowed for enough of a thin layer of dust for snow angels and snowballs about the size of a gumball. =)

Overall, I dislike the cold, dreary weather and I'm thankful that I live in a place where it is a rare occurance. School was cancelled for today, too. Now we're snuggled in for the weekend and enjoying our snowless "Snow" day.

Much Love
the Country Vaughns

Snaggles

2010-01-07T20:39:00.000-06:00

We've been losing things around here lately. These lost items aren't the normal things a household may lose on a daily basis - car keys, socks, homework, everloving minds, etc. These lost items are special because they can only be lost once and never again...

Kallie Dec 09

Evie Jan 10

That's right, the girls' have reached another milestone - Snaggles. They've each lost their first tooth. As with all of their other milestones they are about 1 month apart. Coincidentally, they didn't lose the same tooth. True to their usual standards (one with long hair, one with short hair, one left handed, one right handed, one girly, one sporty) these girls lost OPPOSITE teeth. Too funny!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-02T14:02:00.002-06:00

2010 is here - can you believe it? This holiday season was a whirlwind of fun, food, and family. We loved every minute of it! In addition to Christmas and New Year's K and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on 12/30. We enjoyed a quick get-away to Gatlinburg, TN and spent New Year's Eve and Day in the beautiful Smoky Mountains. The kids got to stay with the grandparents and were treated to a roadtrip to Chatanooga with Aunt Lacy and Uncle David. BIG thanks to those two brave souls! ;)

As we headed back to Bama from TN we were able to stop by and visit with K's brother and his family - the Knoxville Vaughns. We don't get to spend enough time with the Vaughn families and we miss them dearly!

Everyone had a great time on their respective trips and we're glad to be back home on "the farm" getting ready to head back to school and work next week.

I'll start my "Clinical Field Experience" aka student-teaching on Monday and the kids head back to school on Wednesday. Thankfully, I will be spending my semester at Ragland High so we can all go to school together until late April. I'm so grateful that things worked out that way!!

We hope that 2010 is full of blessings and happiness for all of our friends and family!

Much Love,
the Country Vaughns

Merry Christmas to All...

2009-12-21T14:33:00.003-06:00

Well, we're in full-on Christmas crazy mode here! I'm going to unplug for the rest of the month, at least, but before I do I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Even though it is totally crazy here we are making a special effort this season to focus daily on the real reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This year, more than ever, we are concentrating on His love, birth, and sacrifice. We're thankful for all that we have been blessed with and pray that we can be instruments to bless the lives of others!

We echo the words of the prophet Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon who testified:
"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father - That by him and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God"

We all are sons and daughters of God. Christ is our elder brother. They love us as we love our families. May these thoughts bring you peace in these perilous times in which we live!

--Merry Christmas and Much Love
the Country Vaughns

Roll Tide!

2009-11-27T15:39:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday K and I headed over to Tuscaloosa join about 88,000 of our closest friends at the Alabama game. Although the weather men predicted a 50% chance of rain, the weather was great! We had fun strolling campus and picking up some souviners at the Supe Store before kick-off. The Tide rolled all over the UT Chatanooga Moccasins 45-0. Next year, we're taking the kids to a game! It was a fantastic day, just look:

Bryant-Denny Stadium

My home's in Alabama

The Millon Dollar Band

The University Campus with Denny Chimes in the background

ROOOOLL TIDE, ROLL!

Life-changing

2009-11-16T12:31:00.003-06:00

This may sound ridiculous but I've made a recent discovery that has changed my life! I love to cook and expecially love to bake; but, my free-time is venturing into the negative now with no remission in sight. In the past I've seen lots of recipes that call for using frozen bread dough but I've never found any at my local store. That is, until I noticed that Sam's Club sells their frozen pizza dough by the case. I really like their pizza crust and thought having some on-hand might cut down on the take-out and frozen pizza purchases. Plus, it is pretty cheap, $19.95/case of about 20-25 dough balls. Anyway, here's the life-changing part...

I've discovered that I can use this dough for all kinds of stuff - cinnamon rolls, hot sandwiches, calzones, really anything bread-related - just thaw, roll-out, and bake. AWESOME!! I'm so excited I just had to share!

Once again, something so simple and ordinary has made me happy. I doesn't take much!

PS - K just told me tonight that he actually got the case for only $16.00 at our Sam's even though it was marked as $19.95. Another use? Hawgs in Sleeping Bags (ie big pigs in a blanket). I rolled the dough out, cut it into long strips, laid pieces of cheese on the strips, and wrapped them around hot dogs. Bake at 400 for 20minutes - YUMMY!!!

Ghoulies and Ghosties

2009-11-02T06:42:00.002-06:00

Actually, we had neither ghoulies or ghosties for Halloween. We did have twin witches and a Clone Trooper, though. Halloween is a little different for us since we live out in the country. Our kids have never been trick-or-treating from house to house but we do usually go to the trunk-or-treat at our church. Also, the weekend before Halloween is always the school's Fall Fest. These two activities provide us with PLENTY of fun and candy so I never feel like the kids are missing out on anything. Besides, even if we did live in a neighborhood I'm not sure that I would be real keen on my kids going from house to house taking candy from strangers. I know it was fun when we were little but the idea really freaks me out as an adult.

Too weird?

Just call us the Doolittles

2009-10-28T12:46:00.004-05:00

That's right, we have yet ANOTHER new member of the family! This is Suzy Puff. She came to us yesterday from a friend who rescued her a week ago. The poor little girl was laying out in the road with her mother who had been hit and killed by a car. So sad! But she is a sweetie and we're glad that we could adopt her. So let's see...that makes our menagerie: 6 goats, 11 chickens, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 rabbit (and don't forget the 5 people, of course).

We also brought home 4 goldfish from the Fall Fest last weekend but "sadly" by Tuesday they were all swimming in the big fishbowl in the sky. Ah, the circle of life as reflected in the circling water of the toilet bowl...what are you gonna do?

Paging Dr. Doolittle.....

Beach Trip

2009-10-05T17:17:00.009-05:00

We headed down to Gulf Shores, AL this past weekend and spent a few days just relaxing together and having a great time. As the kids get older it is so much more fun to go places and watch them have new experiences! Trust me, if you haven't done it, vacationing with three babies/toddlers/diaper-wearers is NOT a vacation.

(In the past I have been known to have a nervous breakdown a day or so into a trip with babies and spend the rest of the time crying and begging K to take me home.)

On this trip we spent most of the time on the beach or by the pool. We ate breakfast and lunch in and dinner out. Here are some random photos from the trip:

Ham!!!

A nice lady on the beach offered to take a family shot! Wasn't that sweet?!

There were lots of jellyfish out and about on Friday afternoon. Everyone ended up getting stung/itchy.

Dinner at Lambert's Cafe - "Home of throwed rolls". This is a must each time we head to the beach! If you haven't been - go, now, stop reading this and go (j/k!) This place serves "country food" think: Grandma or really, really good Cracker Barrel. And LOTS of it, plus when you want a roll you raise your hand a the "roll guy" throws one to you from across the restaurant! Good manners, no, but the kids love it!!!

Speaking of a "throwed" roll, they are tasty (and huge)!

Kallie agrees!

Butter, anyone?

All in all, we had a great time. Oh yeah, one more thing we did that was really fun. This was new for the kids - we went to a Japanese Steakhouse. You know, where the chef comes out and cooks on the hibachi right infront of you?! It was super-fun to see the kids interact and react with him and his mad knife skills! Yes, it was expensive but a true treat!

My way

2009-09-17T12:42:00.003-05:00

This week has been a dilly! Multiple ups and downs all around. Anyway, we've been struggling particularly with Holdy-boy this week. He's super sweet and so smart its actually scary but, he loses focus so easily I find myself having very un-Mommy-like meltdowns.
I think we both had a break-through this week after a lot of tears and strife. The climax came Tuesday after several school days of leaving/forgetting books, papers, and assignments at school I had had enough and snapped (it was not pretty). My snapping caused him to immediately tune me out (of course, wouldn't you?).
However, one comment brought all my self-righteousness crashing down and humbled me. We were reviewing his vocabulary words and got to "independent". The definition that he is to learn is something like "doing things by yourself, without help from others means you are independent." I, thinking that I was really going to teach this little punk a lesson, said "What does independent mean?"
Holdyn: "um, well, it means, uuuuhhh..."
Me mad: "Oh come on, listen, Daddy and I are trying to teach you to be independent; that means we are trying to teach you to do things, what?"
Holdyn: "Your way."
Me: no response, I felt like someone just got in a good gut punch.

Ephiphany - I should be letting him find his own way to do homework, study, and learn. My way isn't the only way. I can share my ideas with him and give him permission to find out for himself. If I want him to be independent, truly independent then he needs to fail, have hard times, and learn to think through his problems not just immediately employ my solution.

Needless to say, we had a good, long, rational talk. No yelling, screaming, and dictating. I listened to him. I'm embarassed to say that may have been the first time I actually listened to what my son had to say - what he thought and felt. While I'm not anticipating perfection from either of us in the future. But, at least on Tuesday we made progress and both matured a little.

We're here

2009-09-01T13:50:00.002-05:00

Hi all! I just wanted to let you all know that we are here and kickin'. We're just doing so underneath a giant pile of sawdust, dry wall mud, plastic sheeting, school papers, donut boxes, and clean clothes.

Our livingroom is under massive renovation and the stuff usually in said livingroom has been parceled out among the other rooms in the house. This means, we can't find most things, we're too tired to look, or I've thrown them out in an effort to gain some semblance of order.

The kids have been in school for close to four weeks. I'm on my second week of classes and working. Krager is on his third set of lungs as the other two were ruined by plumbing glue, sheetrock dust, and foundation dirt.

We're a mess right now so just bare with us! I'm reading all of your blogs and posts.

The Dinner Bell - Cooking with Evie and Kallie

2009-08-20T12:07:00.006-05:00

Evie dreams of her own Food Network show. She loves to watch Food Network and her favorite cooks are Ina Garten, Racheal Ray, and Paula Deen. She practices talking to the "camera guys" while she helps me cook dinner at night. She even has named her show, "The Dinner Bell". Actually, she's really good at talking to the "camera" and explaining how to cut, dice, chop, fold ingredients, etc. For her birthday I bought her her own recipe box that I found at Home a la Mode.

She loves the box and tried out one of the recipies - Deviled Eggs. Evie and Kallie worked together (I helped a little) and the eggs turned out great!

Who knows, maybe my little chef will get her own cooking show one day!

Hometown Tour

2009-08-19T11:56:00.002-05:00

Val and Rachel over at Alabama Bloggers asked me to write a piece about Ragland for the weekly Hometown Tour segment. It's posted today and you can read it here
Thanks to the folks at Alabama Bloggers for the opportunity!

Surprise!!

2009-08-12T08:01:00.003-05:00

This is 'Surprise'. He was born yesterday. I went out to water the animals and found him in the pasture. We didn't even know his momma was pregnant. Evie and Kallie feel very pleased that they can share their birthday with him.

We had a family meeting last night and voted that his name should be 'Surprise'. That name barely won out over 'Boba Fett'. Ah, such is life...

Seeing Double

2009-08-11T12:32:00.007-05:00

Six years ago I was relieved, happy, and terrified all at once. I'd just given birth to two of the tiniest things I'd ever seen before! Granted, they weren't that small, 4'4oz and 4'13oz. But they seemed so small and fragile and they were too early, by 8 weeks! Evie came first, before poor Krager even made it inside from the parking deck at UAB. Kallie came second, just as he screeched through the delivery room door.
We weren't together, you see, because I'd made the trip to the hospital via ambulance. I'd gone into labor early on Monday morning and Krager had taken me to the small hospital where my doctor practiced. He tried to stop the labor but couldn't and there was no neo-natal ICU there. I had to be transported to UAB hospital by ambulance and Krager couldn't ride with me. I was so scared but my sweet friend Andrea, a delivery nurse who worked at the little hospital was just getting off her shift and agreed to ride with me. I'm eternally grateful to her for that.
The girls came just about 15 miutes after I arrived at UAB. Evie at 7:40a and Kallie at 7:45a.
Although early, those girls were healthy and as a nurse said, "They just weren't finished cooking." So cook they did for 2 more weeks in the ICU. I visited them everyday and cried for myself, them, and all the actually sick babies and their families. There were so many who'd been there for months and wouldn't go home. It humbled me. I came to see how blessed I truly was/am that my babies are strong, healthy and with me.
I love you girls! These past 6 years have been hard, fun, and magical - I wouldn't change a thing! HAPPY BIRTHDAY

School days, school days...

2009-08-10T10:23:00.004-05:00

Today is the first day of school! Holdyn is going into 3rd grade while the girls will be in 1st grade this year. We are all so excited and look forward to the year. Kallie had her bag all ready to go this morning. Evie, of course, has had her outfit planned for about a week. Holdyn is a little nervous but is excited that he gets his own locker this year.

The 'Mean Bone' - Every Girl Has One

2009-07-24T14:30:00.004-05:00

This is our hateful cat, Marble. She is terribly cute and slightly cross-eyed. We brought her to Vaughn Farm a few months ago with the intention of her eventually becoming an "outside" pet (as I believe ALL pets should be). K had visions of teaching her to be a mouser and her living in the barn, on the porch, all around and keeping mice, snakes, etc. away.

Of course, when we got her she was new and fuzzy and small and baby kitten-ish. She was just away from her mother and we loved on her, petted her and generally let her do as she wished IN THE HOUSE. The plan was to let her get a little bigger, get used to our place and then get her fixed and then...out you go.

However, she has YET to be fixed. She terrorizes us (me in particular) and is generally a whiny, meowy pain in the tookus! The other day while I was laying on my exercise mat panting and sweating to near dehydration, trying to make it through my 5am workout Marble decided to stretch and sharpen her claws IN MY HAIR. I'd already almost tripped over her 50,000 times that morning. Exasperated, I picked her up, threw her in my bedroom and closed the door. K was out of town on business so I knew she couldn't bother anyone. 50 minutes later as I drug my exhausted body shakily toward the shower, I opened my door and was hit in the face by a foul, poopish odor. Immediately I screamed out, "CAT!!! Where did you do it?" and began searching for the mess. I found it, hot and steamy right on top of the (thankfully) dirty laundry. I don't know about you, but scrubbing poop is not a few of my favorite things. Scrubbing poop at 6am isn't either and scrubbing cat poop at 6am is enough to send me into a flaming fit!

So, my day started well. Later as I was driving the kids to Mom and Dad's for the day (oh yes, I still had to go to work after that great start) I was ranting about the cat and how she needed to be an outdoor cat except "Your Daddy still hasn't gotten her fixed like he promised he would." I know, great example to my little angels.

Anyway, Kallie says, "What's fixed?" I hesitated because I wasn't really sure how to say that "fixed" means neutered so she can't have any cute, sweet kittens. I mean, how do you say that to a bunch of big-eyed, golden-haired, sweeties staring expectantly at you so that you can almost see their halos gleaming? Thankfully, I didn't have to reply because Holdyn, wise big brother that he is, says to Kallie, "You know, fixed, she has to get her Mean Bone taken out." Kallie says, "Oh yeah, her Mean Bone."

I reply, "Yes, exactly, she has to get her Mean Bone taken out."

Get ready Marble...

Ya Follow?

2009-07-22T14:55:00.005-05:00

photo from www.gamesetwatch.com

I've been thinking about this for a long time. Is it just me or is anyone else bothered by this whole "Followers" thing? Probably just me, but let me 'splain. Back several months ago when Blogger started promoting this whole following thing everybody started putting up their "Followers" widget and people started following their favorite blogs. I know its a nice way to always know when your faves are updated and all (I even have 5 followers of my own). But the whole thing really creeps me out. I think its the term "followers" itself. It conjures up images in my twisted brain of some crazed cult leader, wearing a bedsheet, black Nikes, and a feathered headress exhorting everyone to, "Drink the Kool-aid" of my blog. Weird, I know. What can I say?
As a result I have never become a "Follower" of any blog. Although, as you can tell by my own blog there are several blogs that I do, um, follow with a frequency that some might call religious. Oh Jeez, now I'm creeping myself out!
Another thing about following -- it's become quite the status symbol. People display their followers' cute little pictures on their sidebars and give extra giveaway entries for following their blogs (don't even get me started on Tweeting, RS subscriptions and all that nonsense). Please know I'm not judging anyone who follows or has followers!!! It all just seems creepy and wrong to me.
That said, I hope none of my followers decided to "un-follow"(?) me. I'm honored that you'd want to follow me anywhere or even care about my mostly incoherent ramblings on this here blog. Thanks!

Question: Who, what, when, where and why do you follow? Am I really the only person to think the term "Followers" is creepy? (I wouldn't be surprised if I am. I'm totally weird and over analytical) I want to know what you think, follow me?

One Year of Bloggin'

2009-07-15T10:55:00.002-05:00

I just realized this blog is one year old. I can't believe it - I never thought I'd start a blog much less (semi)keep it going for a year! That's quite an accomplishment for me.

The absolute best part about blogging is all the bloggy-friends I've made. I've never met any in person but I love them just the same. To logically think about that is odd, how can you love people you've never met face-to-face? But thinking with my heart I know it is possible; we've connected on an important level and become friends because we share our thoughts and feelings with each other. It's awesome!

Here's to another year of ups, downs, and craziness at Vaughn Farm!

Things I've Heard

2009-07-15T10:38:00.003-05:00

If nothing else, kids are good for a laugh. Actually, they're good for a whole lot more than that but recently I've heard some doozies.

First...Evie and Kallie are playing and come together into the livingroom. Evie tells Kallie to lay down on the couch. Kallie lays down and Evie gets a notepad and says (completely seriously), "Now Kallie, tell me about your childhood."

It was all I could do to keep from falling out of my chair laughing! Where did they ever hear such a thing?

Then...over the weekend we were driving along a country backroad past lots of yard sales and pastures. All of the sudden Evie says, "Oooo, those people must be selling their cows because they all have price tags on their ears!"

So funny! Krager and I just looked at each other and grinned. Could she be any cuter? Could they all 3 be any cuter?

How lucky am I?

What a day!

2009-07-05T21:37:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was quite a day! It began with Holdyn's baptism and continuted with swimming, eating, canoeing, eating, fishing, eating, and fireworks...whew, I'm tired (and full) just thinking about it all. We had a great time with our family and friends. Take a look...

8 years of Holdyn

2009-07-04T00:02:00.000-05:00

Eight years ago today I was introduced to my very own Yankee Doodle Dandy at 8:19am. It was the longest and best July 4th of my life!

Not long after he was born my Mom's boss commented, "If he was born on July 4th he must be destined for something special."

I couldn't agree more! I don't know what or how but mark my words, this boy's going somewhere!
His sister Evie remarked not too long ago, "He's not like other boys."

She's right - he's not like other boys, he's mine!

Happy Birthday, baby! I love you so much!

The Heat Must be Getting to Me

2009-06-28T20:47:00.006-05:00

The heat must be getting to me. I think I'm hallucinating. I'm seeing "Bat Bunny", "Cheer Princess", and "Super Baby" in my livingroom!

Yikes, I know it's hot outside but, boy oh boy. We've taken regular dress up to a whole new level this summer.

Super Baby here wears her shield as a diaper. Bat Bunny, up above, has teeth that are able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And Cheer Princess keep all of her subjects peppy and in good spirits.

Please notice that Spiderman is a recent graduate. The heat must be getting to me...or maybe its getting to them!

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot!

2009-06-27T19:20:00.002-05:00

It was "7th Circle of Hell" hot out today! We headed over to Hoover for a Rugby tournament today. My Bro-in-Law Blasen was playing but it was so hot we didn't stay long enough to see his game. We visited with my sister Sara, him, and the kiddos for about 45 mins. before the heat did us in. We poured our melted bodies back into the van and headed home. I love summer in Alabama but, there are days when going outside is just not doable - ugh. Today was one of those days!

10 Days Without Corndogs

2009-06-25T08:21:00.000-05:00

10 days ago Kallie got her tonsils and adenoids taken out. She was a real trooper and has had no real problems. A tough girl!

BUT, she's had to eat only soft foods for 10 whole days. She's been in desperate need of a corndog. Desperate need.

She's asked at least twice a day since the day of the surgery for one. Today is day 10 - Enjoy your corndog sweetie!

The other Jennie Lee Vaughn...spooky

2009-06-19T15:11:00.005-05:00

So, I'm the only one working in the office today. Needless to say, it's 3:09 on a Friday and I'm bored senseless. I've been on the internet passing the time after working on school work, listening to music and watching a movie on my ipod. Anyway, here's what I found when I "Googled" my name...

There is another Jennie Lee Vaughn out there an apparently she is an actress. She's been in a bunch of stuff (I've mostly never heard of). I, of course, never assumed I was the only Jennie Lee Vaughn out there but it is really weird seeing someone else with your exact name.

I'm sure she's nice and all but it gives me a little shiver to think about it. Plus, I wonder how many more Jennie Lee Vaughns are out there in the world? Yikes, now I'm freaking myself out just a little...

Question - Is there someone out there with your exact name? Who?

That's better

2009-06-18T09:02:00.001-05:00

OK, the text is now legible. I'm still not 100% pleased but it is better. I'll probably keep fiddling with it but for now, I'm done.

Sorry for the background!

2009-06-17T16:06:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I janked up the background. I hate blog backgrounds in which you cannot see all of the text! So, of course, I created a blog with just that, pooh! I'm working on fixing it but have run out of time today...maybe tomorrow.

Seattle - Harbor Tour

2009-06-14T23:46:00.005-05:00

While we were in Seattle we took a harbor tour. Both K and I love the water so it was a fun, relaxing way to see the city. (We walked our butts off that week!) Here are some of the photos (of the harbor tour, not our butts)...

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidty-Jig

2009-06-12T16:06:00.006-05:00

We are HOME! I'm so happy to be home, I love home!

Don't get me wrong Seattle was awesome, fantabulous, exceptional.

But, I'm glad to be home. I missed those monkeys something awful and I realized why K and I have never left them before! For the entire week as we saw new things, ate new food, and generally absorbed life in a Pacific Northwest downtown neighborhood - we continually said, "The kids would love this!" And they would have loved it. Seattle is a great place and really family friendly. We're definitely going back and taking the kids with us! Enjoy some of the week's 2-million pictures...Today - Pike's Place Public Market. My most favorite place in Seattle! We went everyday. If we lived here I'd buy all my produce (and flowers) here!

Sleep-ing in Seattle

2009-06-07T12:56:00.002-05:00

Sorry to be out of touch for awhile. K and I are in Seattle, WA for the week. It's our first trip sans kids EVER and we are having a great time. However, we do miss the monkeys terribly! This trip is part vacay, part work as K is here for the National Convention for Sleep Medicine Professionals and I was lucky enough to tag along.

Sidenote: Am I the only one to see the irony of a sleep conference in Seattle (Sleepless in Seattle)? Corny, I know, but I've been laughing about it for a week! Obviously, it doesn't take much to amuse me, eh?

Anyway, we've been here since Friday and love the city! It's just our pace, not to fast and we love the environmental friendliness and outdoorsy lifestyle here. We've spent our time exploring the downtown so far and even got to hook-up with some of K's family as it just so happens it was his uncle Rex's 75th birthday party this weekend and the cousins invited us to the party. We were both able to meet family members for the first time and that was great! A big thanks to the Candland clan for letting some "Country Cousins" join in the celebration for Uncle Rex! Since it was here big brother's party K's mom was up from Utah and we were able to spend some time with her as well.

Alright, enough blogging, I'm on vacation. I'll post some pics later! Love to all, J

Smiles for a cloudy day

2009-05-29T13:13:00.007-05:00

We need a few smiles around here today. I'm off of work and everyone (but me), including K, is sick. There's been a lot of whining, crying, and general grumpiness associated with today's sick day. It's been a bummer! But I was browsing through some recent photos and found some good smiley face shots. They're lifting my spirits already. Hope the good vibes can spread around.

Have a great weekend and pray for the plague to be lifted from this house ;)

Graduation Day

2009-05-23T21:02:00.003-05:00

On Monday my two girlies graduated from Kindergarten. It was an exciting and busy day! It was sad to realize that they aren't babies anymore but exciting to think of all that awaits them. Most of the pictures turned out really blurry but a couple are good enough to post.

In addition, it was also Awards Day for Holdyn. He received a medal for being on the A-B Honor roll all year long. We are so proud of him, he worked really hard this year!

All in all, this has been a challenging year of all 5 of us. We've all learned new things and had to stretch ourselves but we're happy and glad we're together!

Look out 1st and 3rd grades, here come the Vaughns!

Calling All AL Bloggers

2009-05-19T11:52:00.004-05:00

Hey all you Alabama Bloggers! Get yourselves today over to AlabamaBloggers.com and check this site out. Rachel has had a great idea and I can't wait to see how it all turns out. Imagine, a place for all Alabama Bloggers to blog together about whatever strikes our fancy. Fabulous, just fabulous! Check it out and join in the fun!

My Baby Boy

2009-05-15T09:34:00.009-05:00

We lead them and give instructions...

We walk beside them as they begin...

We follow as they grow...

Then we let them go.

PS Yipee! This is my 100th post!

A Budding Photog.

2009-05-12T18:42:00.006-05:00

This is Evie. She loves to take pictures. She got a camera for Christmas that was a total dud. I found our old Sony 2 mega-pixel camera in the closet and gave it to her. These are some of her shots...

Marshal, the Lab.

Twin, Kallie's pretty pout.

Field trip to Noccalula Falls, Gadsden, AL.

"There's no place like home! There's no place like home!"

Thrifty Thursday - Monday version

2009-05-11T07:21:00.004-05:00

Thursday passed me by. I started a new job, my first office-type job in 8 years! And while its been exciting and fun its also been exhausting and time consuming. So, quickly before I jet off again I thought I'd share a tip or two.

Today I wanted to talk about PRIORITIZE.

--Decide what's important to you and spend money there. Look for ways to save in other, less important areas. I prefer organics but they cost more so I found this list of the 12 most important fruits and veggies to buy organic.

Called the Dirty Dozen, you can find the list here.

Have a great week, much love!

Big Fat Flop

2009-05-06T16:23:00.003-05:00

So, as you know if you've ever read this blog before, our lives here at Vaughn Farms are all about experimentation. We just jump in to new things feet first and sort out a lot of details later. Whatever, it makes life interesting and we try never to be wasteful of money, resources, etc. Most times we're successful and things turn out okay. Sometimes, like today, things turn out to be a BIG FAT FLOP. And I mean like a fat man belly first off the high-dive flop.

As you also may remember we're experimenting with goat meat. Until today its been fine. I've mixed the ground meat with ground beef and no biggie. Well, I found this Martha Stewart recipe for "smoky beef tacos" and thought I'd try it with the shoulder roast I got from the goat.

I put the meat, spices, ancho chiles in chipotle sauce, and some other things in the crockpot to simmer all day. The meat cooked perfectly and it all smelled divine. Time for the taste test...

I pulled out the few bones in the roast. So far so good. Next I shredded the meat, looks yummy. I speared a bit of the tender meat with a fork for a taste...hmm, very faint, slight whangy flavor. I think I can handle that. It tastes mostly like beef roast. Then it hit me...like a flamethrower to the throat...too much ancho chili...way too much...way, way too much.

MY MOUTH IS ON FIRE!!!!!

And I can feel the chili burning my guts. We cannot eat this for dinner. Thankfully, K is at Wal-Mart picking up a few things on his way home. Doubly thankful, he's a good sport and just laughs off my escapades like Ricky laughs at Lucy.

So, frozen pizza it is. Oh well, if things never failed I'd probably get bored. Right? Right? Riiiiight, I'll just keep telling myself that. ;)

PS Marshal is enjoying the "smoky tacos" as we speak. See? No waste.

Thrifty Thursday

2009-04-30T17:54:00.002-05:00

To recap, when I was asked to teach a class at church recently about saving money on food and cooking healthy meals I divided the information into three parts. I've already posted on the first part - PLAN. Today its time for the second part - EXPERIMENT.

By experiment I mean

try different cost saving measures and find what fits your style and comfort level. There are many, many options including: Coupons, freezer meals, crockpot meals, stocking up, shopping sales at multiple stores, etc. Not everything works for everybody; try a few methods to find what works for you.
try new recipes. Again, it may be a flop but it also might become a family favorite.
30 Meals in One day is a great resource. I used this program with my sister and we both cooked 30 freezer meals for about $150 for each of us.
Make your own freezer meals. Make double recipes of family favorites and freeze the second recipe.
Make your own mixes. I make my own pancake mix and my own muffin mix. You can make your own "Bisquick" type mixes too. The Make A Mix cookbook series is available from Amazon and other retailers.
Ask your friends and family for their own tips and tricks. Then try them on for size, they just might be a perfect fit!

So, that's it for this Thursday. I've also got two new websites you can check out. These come compliments of my friend Vanessa, a fellow frugalista. She uses www.babycheapskate.com and www.moneysavingmom.com. Thanks Vanessa!

Remember, experiment and try something new, you just might find saving money is easier and more fun than you think!

Dang it!

2009-04-29T10:17:00.004-05:00

Last night while I was laying in bed almost asleep, I thought of a great post topic. It was witty, clever, and everyone would want to comment about it. I was so excited about it and proud of myself! This morning I can't for the life of me remember anything about it except it was good, I mean good people. Dang it!

Lesson for today: Strike while the iron's hot, people, while the iron is hot.

Instead, you'll be treated to this tasty tidbit that Evie and Kallie shared in Primary on Easter Sunday. I was teaching a lesson about Christ and the events before and after the Resurrection. I showed a variety of pictures and the children were to tell me the event and then place them in order. When I held up the picture of the Last Supper and Evie yells out, "That's Jesus' last dinner!" and Kallie chimes in "And dessert!"

Dinner and dessert, it what life is all about! ;)

Have a great day, love ya!

Kindergarten Field Trip

2009-04-25T20:00:00.006-05:00

This is Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, AL. The Evie and Kallie had their very first field trip there yesterday. It was a beautiful day and I came along for the fun.

These two girls were so excited to go on their first field trip. They rode the bus, had lunch from Jack's, and Evie took her own camera to take pictures, too! Those will be in a later post.

There were beautiful gardens. Even some with not-so-real flowers. The whole park is full of dappled shade and cool paths to walk on. There's a train that will take you through the entire area if you don't want to walk. We mostly walked and explored the rocky gorges, sandy paths, and pioneer village.

We visited the animal habitat and saw deer, sheep, goats, horses, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs and even...

A lioness! I couldn't believe there was a female lion in Gadsden, AL! Apparently, she's been at the park since she was a cub. She was enjoying a nice sunbathe on Friday.

We had a great time! I'm so glad the girlies wanted me to come with them. It was a long, fun day. I can't wait for the summer and all the fun we'll have then!

Thrifty Thursday

2009-04-23T17:31:00.003-05:00

This week's tip is a quick one. I love to sew and always have ideas for what I want to make but can never find the right pattern. Plus, I hate spending money on patterns when I probably will only use them once! While googling "free dress patterns" the other day I found the site http://www.burdastyle.com/ . It is AWESOME!!! There are scores of free or super cheap ($2-$4) and very,very chic patterns. On top of that there are "creations" and tutorials that you can view and use. Many of these are variations of the basic patterns Burda sells. Again, awesome!

While browsing last night I found a pattern for a dress that I'd seen and torn from a magazine over two years ago! The dress is awesome and I can't wait to download the pattern and make my own. Today I found a chic and trendy jacket pattern that is now on my immediate to-do list! The patterns are all rated and reviewed too so you can get tips from people who've used them.

If you sew you've got to check this site out. Be prepared to spend some time there though, because you will totally be inspired by all the creative folks who've contributed to this site! In addition to clothes there are baby patterns, accessory patterns even home and pet patterns!!!

Now, save money on some clothes and get to sewing!

Catching up via FaceBook

2009-04-21T10:46:00.006-05:00

OK, I'm slow on the uptake when it comes to computers. I've been blogging for nearly 10 months now and it took me a couple years to get started. Well, now I've become a FaceBooker and I'm getting addicted! I've found so many people I haven't seen or heard from for years...it's been interesting. It's odd though, for me, to try to catch-up with people via FB. We talk differently on FB. All the sentences are short, sometimes not even sentences.

There are little blurbs like Jennie Vaughn "is currently working to develop a cure for BHS - bored housewife syndrome"

Then you can "write on SoandSo's wall" First, writing on a wall?! The mother in me screams, "NOOO! You CANNOT write on the wall!!!" Then, the rebel in me writes something profound like, "Hey SoandSo...How are you? I've got three kids and live in a house...what about you? Duh."

It feels weird. (Kind of like when your picutes don't have anything to do with your post!) Don't get me wrong, I really love that I've found so many of these people but, its still a little surreal. I like hearing voices and seeing faces. Guess I'm old-fashioned that way!

Thrifty Thursday - Planning Part II

2009-04-16T10:44:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday I gave you the first half of my planning tips. Here's the second half; hope you find something you can use!
--Find the clearance, reduced or manager's special section of your store(s). Most stores have specific discount areas.
--If you don't shop the sales or use coupons Aldi, Sam's Club, and Dollar Tree have good prices daily. (Ex. Aldi's milk is $2.00/gallon for skim and 1%)
--A deep freezer can be invaluable! Think about investing in one. We bought ours (7 cubic feet) at Wal-Mart at the end of summer on sale for less than $200. Also, ask friends or family if they want to part with their freezer or share. When I taught my class the other night a friend said her empty-nester parents have 4 (!!!) deep freezers they aren't using and she also offered to give me her large one that she doesn't need. I'm going to take her up on that!
--Shop the bread store for loaves, buns, bagels, and snack cakes. Day old bread at the bread store is still fresher (and cheaper) than most bread at the grocery store.
--Shop after holidays to stock up on candy, snacks, and specialties. Many candies (like chocolate) can be frozen and then used in baking, etc. (contributed by Shauna Johnson)

Well, that's it for Plan! Next Thursday - Experiment...

As promised

2009-04-15T21:08:00.004-05:00

On Saturday night we told the kids that we should try to catch the Easter Bunny when he came that night. They thought this was a great idea so we set out a "trap." This was actually a cage with a string tied to the door with a trail of lettuce and carrots leading to it.

Needless to say, we didn't catch the Easter Bunny. But, we did "catch his little brother." This is Licorice. Isn't he cute? The Easter Bunny left a note saying that his little brother got caught in our trap but then decided that he liked our house and wanted to stay. He asked the kids to take good care of his little bro. Well, he's being cherished. He lives in Holdyn's room and gets frequent out-of-cage time.

Unluckily, I discovered that bunnies make my nose sneezy and my eyes watery! Oops, guess we should have checked on that before "setting the trap." Oh well, its nothing a Zyrtec can't fix until I adjust to his fluffiness.

As for my new niece, her name is Isla (prn. I-la). She was born early on Easter morning and is too cute. I'm still working on getting her pics up. I've got to figure out how to copy them from her parents' blog.

Update

2009-04-14T10:59:00.002-05:00

We had a great Easter and the Easter bunny brought us a lots of treats including a real bunny of our own and a new niece/cousin! I'll get pics of both up soon but I'm taking the rest of the day off! I just finished a term paper for my Contemporary European Lit class and I'm beat. My brain feels like it just ran a marathon! I can barely type this post, my synapses are firing all over the place and I feel kind of foggy. I'm going to rest - have a great day!

Introducing Thrifty Thursday

2009-04-09T13:32:00.004-05:00

Several of you commented that you'd like to know some of the tips I collected for my recent "Cooking Healthy on a Budget Class." There are a lot so I thought I'd start a regular feature and give a few tips each Thursday, hence Thrifty Thursday. I hope these are useful. If you want to contribute just email me. I'll post them and give you attribution. Let's save some money and time together!

For the class I taught I divided my information into three sections: Plan, Experiment, and Prioritize. For this segement I'll give tips regarding planning.
1. Always plan a menu. Plan your menu for at least one week. I plan for two weeks and would stretch it to a month if my kitchen had enough storage room. Plan your menu around the ads for your local store(s).
2. Set a budget and DO NOT exceed it. Our limit is $180-$200/two weeks, that includes any clothes, socks, sundries, etc. There have been times when things went back on the shelf because I was too near the limit. We lived and nobody noticed anything missing.
3. Shop for as much as you can at once. See number 1. Stopping by the store "just for a few things" rarely works - you always end up with more than you intended.
4. Use coupons only for items you'd normally buy. A name-brand coupon may not be a deal if you usually buy the store brand.
5. Try to buy ahead. Stock up on items you regularly use when they are on sale.

So, that's about half the list of Plan tips. Next Thursday I post the other half. Remember, if you've got a great tip to share send it to me and I'll get it up. Cha-ching!

Thanks to All

2009-04-08T07:23:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who commented or emailed with tips for healthy cooking on a budget. I taught the class last night and it went really well! I'm probably the person who learned the most, though. So, again, thanks for helping me and imparting some great tips, hints, and recipes. I'm considering sharing these with all of you and making it a regular feature. What do you think? I will of course give attribution to the person who shared the tip/recipe with me. But, would anyone be interested? Let me know!

Sweet Relief

2009-04-03T15:59:00.003-05:00

So, as my family well knows, I have some sort of stomach ailment (undaignosed, of course) that causes me to have an upset stomach and its accompanying symptoms EVERY night. I am not exaggerating, just ask K. Every night at about 8pm I get sick to my stomach - this has been going on since I was pregnant with Holdyn so um, 8 years.

Anyway, I finally decided (or K threatened to leave me) that I would try to take something over-the-counter and see if anything helped my situation. I am VERY, VERY anti-medication. I don't know why - I'm just wierd that way. But I thought I'd try a probiotic and see if that helped.

At Wally World I found this probiotic called Sustenex. The package says its different b/c the probiotic is in a gel-cap instead of solid pill form. I don't know anything, but thought I'd try anyway. Also, the package warns that it may take up to 14 days to take full effect. Anyway, I've been taking them since Monday and haven't had an attack since Monday night!

I cannot tell you how much better I feel! It is incredible, really, I'd never have thought it would be that simple. I was sure that I had some incurable form of IBS or something. I mean these were not your normal unsettled stomachs. These were full on doubled over in cramps upset stomachs with much toilet time involved.

TMI, sorry!! The point is, I feel like a new person! I was stupid to let myself suffer so much. Thank you K for your drastic measures. Maybe next time I won't be so hard-headed. Well, I probably will be but thanks for loving me anyway!!!!

Goat Wranglers

2009-03-30T10:53:00.006-05:00

This is Peter. He has been a very bad goat. He's broken fences, chased his sons and daughters away from their food, and even bucked me once (big mistake, Peter).

This is K. He has some past wrangling experience. Cows, not goats. See, he even has his own lasso. He is after Peter who has once again broken the fence. Boo, Peter!
After much chasing - that involved the entire family running through the yard (3 acres), screaming and cursing Peter's existence - Peter was cornered and caught. Of course, our friend from church pulled into the yard just as this began and was treated to the entire show. You're welcome Cecelia, most circuses charge for their clown show!

K and his trusty assistant little k dragged a now successfully wrangled Peter to the barn where he will be separated from his wives and progeny until I can decide what to do with him.

I decided. After unsuccessful attempts to sell or give him away, Peter now exists on another plane of existence. That plane is called my deep freezer. Gyro, anyone?

Hulu

2009-03-23T12:31:00.003-05:00

So I finally when to see Hulu.com after seen several funny commercials. The site is great and I was able to find some of my favorite SNL digital shorts. If you have not seen these please enjoy.

Meeting Miss Lilah and other stuff, too

2009-03-20T15:34:00.004-05:00

This is Miss Lilah. She the new baby of our dear friends, Rachel and Ben. We were privleged to meet her for the first time this last Wednesday. She lives out of state and it was our first chance to see her sweet, baby face. Evie loves babies, as you can see. Spring Break is drawing to a close. The weather has been great and the kids have had a blast playing outside all week long. Today Evie dressed as a cheerleader and Kallie as a dinosaur. They went out to jump on the trampoline and Holdyn was in his room. He came out in his robe with his lightsaber, dressed as a Jedi. Too funny! Even funnier was later I went outside to break up a scwabble between him and Kallie. She had taken the lightsaber from him and he was mad. He says to me, "Mommy, Kallie took the lightsaber and now I'm just a man in a robe!" I guess a Jedi without a lightsaber is, in fact, just a man in a robe. :)

30 meals in a day

2009-03-20T14:54:00.005-05:00

My sister, Sara, and I decided it would be worthwhile to have a marathon cooking session and make 30 freezer meals in one day. Her friend Jeni has done this a couple of times and has this neato computer program with menus, recipes, and it even calculates your shopping list for you. Jeni let us use the software and we made our menu, each did our shopping and met at my Mom's for a day of cooking. (We also had 5 kids under 8 in tow and Sara is 8 months pregnant)
At first it was a little intimidating as the kitchen was covered with food, pots, pans, kids, etc. But once we got started and got a few meals done we were on a roll. We started at about 10am and worked all day finishing the last meals and washing the dishes at about 5:30pm. We actually cooked about 15 meals each but since most serve 8 we split them in two ending with 30 meals each.

It was a long day. We had a few mishaps like when I suggested we boil all the pasta and then AFTER cooking read the recipe which said DO NOT BOIL THE MANICOTTI. And then there was the stock pot full of Mexican chicken sauce that spilled all over me. But, we had tons of laughs and a great day. We were exhausted by the end. But, its nice to know that the freezer is stocked with dinner for about a month!

My Dad was nervous as he watched us invade and proceed to destroy my Mom's kitchen. Thankfully, she was at work and we finished and cleaned before she made it home! All the work was worth it and I ended up spending LESS on those 30 meals than I usually spend on 13-15 meals! Woo-Hoo, I'm all about saving money!

I think we will defintely do it again. We've already got plans for improving our strategy. #1 on that list - read the recipes. Always a good idea, no?

All this leads me to a question for you! What money saving food tips, ideas, or recipes do you have? I need to know b/c apparently the word has gotten out a church about our cooking day and now I've been asked to teach a class on cooking healthy foods on a budget! What?! Word obviously spreads fast, we only did this on Tuesday! I haven't even been to church since Sunday. Anyway, any knowledge that you will share with me would be greatly, truly appreciated. Thanks! Love you all!

Spring Break update

2009-03-19T15:36:00.002-05:00

Well, it finally arrived and I'm so glad. We've had Spring Break this week and although it started with bad weather over the weekend the sun has finally dried everything out and we have warm, sunny weather. There have been several things going on this week (and a few yet to come) and I'll get to each of those soon! For now, we're enjoying the warm weather and lack of schedule. Sending warm weather and fresh air wishes...

Hurry Spring Break!

2009-03-12T16:03:00.003-05:00

There is one more school day until Spring Break. I can hardly wait, not because we have vacation plans, but precisely because we have NO plans. There are a few things I want to get done and some small things we might do but no real plans. YAY! I can't wait.
I feel like that kitten in the "End of the Rope" poster and Spring Break will be my knot. The thing that keeps me hanging on until...until...until I don't know either I can make a longer rope or get stronger and climb back up my rope. Regardless, Spring Break and the lack of busy-ness will keep me going a little bit longer.
Hurry Spring Break, for heavens' sake, HURRY!!!!

A Big Surprise

2009-03-06T16:42:00.005-06:00

The kids and I came home from school this afternoon to see that a certain Daddy had perpetrated a BIG surprise for us all...
They've been begging (ok, I've been begging) for a trampoline for about 2 years now.

Daddy's not been very keen on the idea (visions of broken legs, arms, necks). But, he came home from work early today and put this up to surprise us!

As you can see we are really enjoying a lot of "tramp time" uh, ok, never mind that sounded terrible. We are all enjoying a lot of trampolining this afternoon.
Yea sweet Daddies, sunny warm afternoons, and trampolines!!!

Snow Day part 2

2009-03-02T15:49:00.004-06:00

Well the snow day for J and the kids might have been very mild, but not for me. I had to go to the hospital Sunday morning to discharge patients. When I went into the hospital it was 5:30 am and sleeting. No sign of snow at all. The above picture is what my car looked like at 10:00 am. It took me 40 minutes to drive in and 1 hour and 30 minutes to drive home. To bad the kids could not have come with me and played in the snow. -K

Snow Day

2009-03-01T16:56:00.003-06:00

This is a "snow storm" in Alabama. Church was cancelled, school maybe delayed tomorrow. I know, all you Northern and Mid-Westerners please try not to spew your cocoa on your screen. Oh well, we enjoyed a brief 10 minutes out in the "snow" and then snuggled down for a day of movies and cocoa. 70s predicted for later this week. Ahhhh, winter in Alabama.

First dozen sold!

2009-02-26T13:51:00.002-06:00

Now that most of the hens are laying daily we're getting about 5 eggs a day. That's leaving us with a little surplus of farm fresh, naturally grown eggs. On Sunday I was mentioning this to a friend at church. She asked if we'd sell her a dozen and how much would we charge! I said $2 for a mixed dozen (a great price) and she agreed. That's a great price for her and us - way cheaper than the grocery store price for organic eggs and it only costs us about 50-60 cents/dozen to raise the eggs!

Monday I dropped off her eggs and took her empty egg carton home with me. Kind of like the milkman. When she needs more I bring her eggs and take the empty carton (recycling). So, the first dozen has been sold.

Since Holdyn feeds and cares for the lovely ladies and gent daily that the money will go in his savings account (along with his can recycling funds).

Now, we've got three male goats for sale. Two babies and an adult. Anybody need eggs or a goat?

We're farming now,huh? Coming soon to Vaughn Farms - turkeys!

Fairy Flying (or Falling) School

2009-02-22T22:32:00.003-06:00

With the warm weather we had last week the kids spent most of their afterschool time outside. Holdyn is getting hooked on basketball, of course the season ends this week but there's next year to practice for. Evie and Kallie have decided that they want to have Fairy Flying School. They each pick a type of fairy that they want to be (water fairy, flower fairy, etc). Then they "fly" around the yard (run with their arms out to the sides). One word - Supercute!
Early last week Kallie decided to take FFS a step further. She came in and asked for a plastic Wal-Mart sack. I gave her one and she went back out. A few minutes later Evie comes running in the door yelling that Kallie was hurt. Turns out the plastic bag was supposed to be a parachute for Kallie as she stood on top of the goat shed and JUMPED OFF!!! Thankfully, its only about 3-3 1/2 feet off the ground and surrounded by soft grass. Kallie jumped off, plummeted to the ground, and bumped her chin (hard) on her knee. She was fine after her tears were dried but her chin bears the purply-brown bruise of a failed fairy paratrooper.

We're still here!

2009-02-18T11:58:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to jot a quick post...We're still here and hanging on. School, church, work, and just life in general has got us pretty busy right now! It's mid-terms for me, basketball for Holdyn, house renos on top of work for K, and days of dress-up and "fairy flying school" for the girls.
I'm reading all your blogs almost daily even though I may not be commenting. Please know you make me smile and keep me going many times!
Love to you all!!!!!
-J

Had a bad day

2009-02-11T09:27:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a little of a stinker. Nothing huge just not a good day. Here's what my sweetie brought me. Now, he used to give me flowers all the time and then once we started having kids and money for extras got scarce I told him no more flowers. I'm glad he ignored that yesterday! So, thanks K for making my stinky day end smelling like a rose! Love you!

The new twins

2009-02-03T17:23:00.007-06:00

It's taken me a few days but I finally got out to the barn with the camera today. We haven't named them yet because their mama is not really ours; she just lives with us. Without further ado here are the new twins, two males, born Friday to Tink.

Notice the one at the bottom of the photo has a floppy ear. So, cute!

As you can see they aren't true white. Their white coats look like they've been tipped with caramel. Kind of butterscotch colored.

The twins with the twins.

Two more new little goaties!

2009-01-31T18:42:00.002-06:00

I'll put up pics tomorrow but just wanted to let you know we've got a regular goat nursery in the barn now! Yesterday our other preggers female Tink had twin babies. Of course, they are super cute, too! Stop by tomorrow for a peek...

A new arrival

2009-01-27T17:29:00.008-06:00

Vaughn Farms welcomes our newest arrival....

This is Cottonball, called Cotton for short. Isn't she soooo cute? We came home from school today and there she was. I knew her Mommy, Anna was pregnant but I thought it would be a while because she was not very large. Our other female, Tink, is pregnant and so huge she can barely walk around. She must be having twins or triplets. Hopefully they will come soon, too. We'll have goat babies everywhere!
So far Mama and baby are doing well. I'm staying home tomorrow to watch after them. I'll keep you posted. For now here are a couple more photos of our new baby, enjoy!

Helping a friend

2009-01-23T15:35:00.003-06:00

Attention all sewers: A bloggy pal, ipost, needs some help. Her kids' school is trying to become a national green school (pretty cool, huh?). In an effort to reduce cafeteria waste and raise funds to make necessary changes they are selling cloth napkins at school. Here's the catch, the demand for napkins is outpacing the supply and their few sewers can't keep up. Anyway, if you've got some scrap fabric and a little time they need some 9x9 and 12x12 napkins stitched up and donated. All that has to be done is edge finishing. Go here to find out more...

PS It's a great way to get rid of those scraps you know you have! :)

Mamma Mia!

2009-01-21T11:59:00.004-06:00

So, I've got a new favorite movie. For years now my favorite has been Notting Hill. You know, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. She plays a super-famous movie star (a stretch, I'm sure) and Hugh Grant is a regular guy, bookstore owner. They meet, fall in love, have a disagreement, reconcile, etc. It's actually not a new story but for some reason it so captivated me. I dreamed about it. Especially the last scene where Julia lounges pregnant on a park bench with her head resting on Hugh's lap as he reads a book. So picturesque and sweet and Julia looked so fabulous with her (fake) pregnant belly. Oh, I dreamed of that for myself (even after I fell in love, got married and had babies). Ok, so I'm slightly (extremely) delusional and dreamy, sue me. No, don't I can't afford the stress, hassle, expense, etc. Instead, over-look my eccentricities, m-kay?

Well, while I will always hold Notting Hill in my heart my new fave is Mama Mia! I love the songs, the locale, and the humor. If you've seen it and wonder why I'm just catching on, again over look please. If you haven't seen it, it's a fun time. I mean, who knew Remmington Steele/James Bond could sing and dance?

Now, moving on, a few more things...

Evie's new favorite phrase? "BARRACK OBAMA IS AWESOME!!!!!!" I don't know where she heard that or why she feels the need to scream it repeatedly but there you go. She's five and obviously feels the need to scream alot. (It's hereditary, I'm 32 and feel the need to scream alot!)

Holdyn's new obsession? Weighing things. Yesterday I subbed in the school's Home Ec dept. The elementary kids get out earlier than the high school so I always have a student go get the kids and bring them to the class I'm in. Holdyn found the food scale that measures in ounces. He spent 30 minutes and would have spent the rest of the day weighing random things.

Him: "This pencil weighs less than one ounce!" "The glue bottle weighs over eight ounces!" "These trash bags weigh two ounces!" "I wonder how much the fire extinguisher weighs?"

All the students in the class look at each other in confusion.

Me: smiling at my little scientist the entire time!

The kids new favorite song? Well, their favorite used to be Led Zepplin's "Black Dog". As Kallie said, "This song is good even if they never talk about a black dog!" Now a new favorite is sung repeatedly at full volume, "American Woman, said get a-way! American Woman, listen what I s-ay!"

Do they totally rock or what? I wish I was as cool as them when I was a kid. Oh well, I'm growing into my coolness! ;)

I was going to upload a photo but stupid blogger won't let me! AAARRRGGGHHHHH!

Freezin'

2009-01-18T22:58:00.002-06:00

I know we live in Alabama and enjoy moderate weather year-round. It's fabulous, even when its so hot outside you can barely breathe. I love it! I really am a Southern girl. That being said I absolutely despise cold weather. And buddy, right now it is cold! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the temperature barely eeked above freezing. Today it was warmer but not by much. Hopefully it will warm up some this week. I hate being cold and the kids get crazy being stuck inside for so long. I hope tomorrow is warmer. There's no school for MLK day and there's a lot of animal type chores to get done around here.

Come on sunshine, we're ready for ya!

A new motto

2009-01-10T11:24:00.003-06:00

Yesterday's drive was great. I plugged in the ipod and blasted some tunes I hadn't heard in quite a while. One of those was an old Hank Williams, Sr. tune. I love him, his music is so twangy - it makes me smile. Anyway, the song was "I'll never get through this world alive". The chorus goes, "No matter how I struggle and strive, I'll never get through this world alive." As I listened at first I laughed and thought "Yeah, you got that right." Then as I thought on I realized - it is right. We come to this Earth to have a life and time to learn and grow. We sometimes struggle and get bogged down in bad times. But guess what? We can choose to spend all of our time focusing on our struggles or on our joys because this is our one chance on Earth and we won't leave this existance alive.
It was like, "Eureka!" I'm out of my funk and I'm over other people's pettiness and stupidity (for now). I'm only human so I'm sure I'll need a reminder again later. But for now, my new motto is "I'll never get through this world alive." And I'm not going to stress about it, I'm going to try to enjoy it!

Please excuse me, I'm better now.

2009-01-09T15:47:00.002-06:00

So, yesterday's blow-up was a little embarrassing. (I didn't realize embarrassing had two r's until spellcheck caught it just now. I learn something everyday, annnyyyway.) As I was saying, sorry about the blow-up. I'm feeling much better now. Today I was able to get away for the day and it was really a good change of scenery. I drove a few hours over to visit with my sister Sara and my sister Emily, who lives nearby there came over, too! It's always good to visit with my sisters and just talk about whatever. The drive up to Sara's is beautiful - countrysides and farms the whole way. It was relaxing and soothing to my frazzled nerves.
Thanks Sara for letting me escape for a little while! Thanks Emily for dropping by, too. And a special thanks to my sweetie K for understanding that I don't need a break from him and the kids - I just needed a break from life today!
Smiley again, J!

Stand back kids, she's ready to blow!

2009-01-08T15:46:00.002-06:00

Warning - This is MY blog and these are MY opinions. You are about to read a post that you might not agree with. Guess what? I don't flippin care! Proceed with caution...(or stop reading now!)

I am sick and dad-gummed tired of ALL the lazy, slow-witted people in this world!

Question: Why is it that people are happy to sit back and complain about whatever, but NEVER get up off their duffs to do anything?

Question: Why is it that when some person (me), deluded enough to think all that talk might indicate a wish for change, suggests a way to achieve said change THEY ALL agree it is a good idea then let the deluded person do ALL the work themselves? All the while bugging the person about how long its taking to effect said change and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER ONCE asking if they can help with the process! It's always, "How much longer?" "What's the time frame?" "Any updates?" Yeah, I got an update for you - "You are all a bunch of worthless, lazy, sorry sacks and I wonder how you've survived this long without dying of sheer stupidity!"

Question: Can I pray for someone to be smitten? I've got some really good candidates for a smoting of biblical proportions here.

Question: Why can't I just keep my friggin' bright ideas to myself? Don't worry, I've learned my lesson. No more community/school/state/nation/world improvement projects for me!

Answer: Because I love my children and want the best for them.

AAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHHHH!

Ahem. Well, then, ok. My head has stopped spinning around, I've quit vomiting up pea-soup, and my eyes are no longer glowing red. Sometimes you just gotta get it off your chest. Sorry, and thanks for listening, er, reading.