Snow Day with Walker

Saturday, February 16th turned out to be remarkably different than I had expected.  Joy and Hunter were in Boston for the debate tourney and Walker and I were home alone for the weekend.   I was full of plans for farm work for the day, and as the day before had been a crisp mid winter day, I did not even check the weather before making plans about what I wanted Walker and I to do that day.  There was pruning to be done on the apple trees, piles of mulch to be moved and repiled with Charles's front end loader and a garden to ready.

But as it turned out, none of my plans were to be.  I woke up early and as soon as I walked into the living room, I saw that it was overcast and snowing!  Not expected.  I thought that as this was the only snow of the year so far, I had better wake Walker to see it.  Sure enough, he was excited wanted it to stick.  But the thermometer said 34 degrees, so that wasn't happening.  So I made a quick check of the weather and soon realized that, snow or rain, we were going to see precipitation all day.

Well, the precip was most definitely snow, and it never ceased for the entire day.  It snowed constantly for the entire daylight period, sometimes quite hard, and yet never did it stick even a little.  Such a day I had never seen before.  It was beautiful, but as for getting work done, it was deadly.  Walker and I sat in the sun room nearly the entire day, watching it snow, and watching the birds eat from the feeder, playing and talking and reading.

Snow Day

So, no trees pruned or compost piled, yet a beautiful day shared with my just 7 year old boy, who is on the cusp of loosing a front tooth.  Another day I would love to hold onto tightly, to stick in a bottle so that I might relive it again and again as I watch my little boy turn into a big boy.  A perfect day to experience over and over, to try and improve on each time as in "Groundhog Day"!

Walker as a 7 year old!

Children are the blessing of life.  They teach you things that you could never learn on your own.  They show you how to love and how to feel in ways you didn't know were possible.  They make you strive to be better than you would ever otherwise be.  And for me, they make me wish that this snowy day would never end.

WEE Fall Festival

e\Enjoying the simple things in life helps us truly enjoy life! Although it was not planned, Walker, Hunter and I stopped at the West End Elementary Fall Festival last night. This is not the elementary school that Walker attends, but it has been the one all the other three kids have gone to. Some weird change in the zoning placed Walker at West Pine Elementary, about 6 miles down the road. Nonetheless, the festival is filled with so many people from the community. A lot has changed since I helped with the  PTA and this activity. 20 tickets later, Walker is off to have some fun. Hunter just wants money and food. We throw squeezy, gushy frogs into pumpkin buckets. Next was using a water squirt foam tube gun to spray off the eyeballs sitting on top of different bottles. Searching through the hay to find treats is also fun. Unbeknownst to us, each child was to get 3 prizes. Walker found about 8. when he discovered the rules, he was quick to be honest and only kept three pieces of candy. Sweeping the pumpkin around the witches hats was not as easy as it looked. Knocking down the orange cones with a tiny pumpkin was done twice. A basketball hoop with a timer was probably the most expensive with a 3 ticket charge, but he seemed to like it the best.
There was the silent auction for nicely created baskets/boxes. Purchasing cupcakes took the place of a cake walk. There was a kids cake walk, but the prize if you landed on the correct number was a prize rather than a cake. There was the bouncy house and the pony rides, face painting and hair spraying. Pizza and hot dogs and popcorn was dinner for many to include my boys.
The work that went into creating this event was amazing. Everyone seemed to have fun playing the simple games. It was spread out and outside this year. Nice. Weather was perfect for it. We were not there but 45 minutes, but it was a delightful time. I enjoy the small community activities. Something our kids will remember too.

It's been awhile! + B-Day parties still happen?

Wow! Has it really been 2 and 1/2 years since I blogged? I knew it had been awhile, but not this long.
Well, hopefully I'm back for more consistent writing. I have recently changed jobs and with that came some soul searching and considering "hobbies" that I enjoy. I have just not taken time in the past to make time for those things. New job - new chance to "redo" some priorities.

As with so many things, are kids birthday parties a dying tradition? Much like sewing, writing a letter or home phone lines? I ponder this today as I watched Walker and many of his 1st grade classmates run and play at the park. The invitation to her birthday party came 2 weeks in advance. The invitation had all the routine info on it. The RSVP was to an email address which was new, but I did probably for the first time ever actually RSVP. :)  As with kids, the days until the party seem forever away. Walker bought her a card game (UNO), a girlie baton, some princess/barbie nail polish stuff and a package of balloons. The balloons were a special touch that he thought she would really like. He picked out the gift bag too. Wrapping presents should be added to my list of dying traditions too. A gift bag is cute, just as cheap and so much quicker! Nonetheless, he signed the card "From Walker", placed all the items in the bag and then the red tissue paper was placed.
We arrive at the park to find about 7 girls from his class and perhaps 2 other boys. As we walk up, the girls scream and giggle, "Walker is here!" Immediately they all take off running as if chasing after a balloon. The parents - about 6 of us - hang back and chit chat and watch the festivities. We enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers. The wind is blowing - not too hard, but enough to whip under the princess theme tablecloths and continuously blow them off. An attempt to use tape to hold them in place is to no avail.
The cake was adorable. Made in the shape of a Princess castle! Walker did not much like the dark chocolate cake with purple icing, but someone did take a lot of time to make it look like a masterpiece.
Gifts were opened with the highlight being her new bright pink bike! The surprised and elated look on her face was priceless. Goody bags and then the pinata! Everyone took a few swings and eventually the prizes from within the lavendar colored castle box came tumbling out. Shortly thereafter, we left headed to town.
I can remember Brittney having several b-day parties with friends and activities. That of course lead to many slumber parties in her teenage years. Those were something! Only a couple came to mind with Danielle. Her birthday usually fell when school was out. Hunter was  never much on parties. I think we may have done one at the movie theater or perhaps the bowling alley? I'm only 45 and already I can't remember things. Walker's b-day parties have mainly consisted of family dinners, cupcakes usually at his school with his classmates, but no big party like today's for his friend. Perhaps Jan 2013 will bring a one.
Perhaps I ponder this question because it has been so long since Hunter thought a b-day party was cool and that's why it seems to be a dying fad. The other piece is that I'm not sure we are in the mind set to spend gobs of money on the event. Having family and a few friends and having fun is really the purpose of a bday celebration.
We had a good time today and the weather was perfect. He enjoyed it and thats what matters.
To add to today's party, I would like to note that Walker has a friend named Kaylie. She and he became good friends when they were in the same class at the Child Development Center. We have pictures of him and her chasing each other at the pre-school graduation. Kindergarten found them in different classrooms but still playground buddies at school. This year they are in the same room. They are only in the 1st grade and already there is the "giddiness" between the two of them. They will act silly when it comes to pictures together. It seems as though they think the other has coodies, yet chasing and giving the "aww shucks" fist to the shoulder seems exciting and fun. Her parents are great and we sit back and grin as we see a 'sweet' childhood crush seems to be evolving. Wonder what 2nd grade will bring? 

Ocracoke Shark Attack Victim

Tradewinds Tackle (@fishtradewinds) 6-year-old bitten by shark at Ocracoke recovering well http://t.co/xHk4eNP

Nothing Like a Little Perspective

Sent from my iPad

Beetle on the Porch

Taken by Walker. An inch long. What is he? You know, god has an
inordinate fondness for beetles, so it may be tough to discover.
Perhaps he is a previously unknown species? The size of a June-bug,
which I have just noticed hearing today.

Leaving Utah

At the SLC airport waiting for our plane. 27 and snowing all morning. Was very nice yesterday at Mesa Verde - sunny and warm. These are pics of some of the ruins that we saw there. Amazing place. Spent the night yesterday at a dumpy motel called "Book Cliff". Joy, think Hodges motel! Nice, snowy drive to Salt Lake this morning. Ate at a great Mexican restaurant in Spanish Fork. First food in awhile not out of our cooler!

Great trip and still a long flight and drive, but ready to be home.

Sent from my iPhone

Christmas Cheer

Silly Girls

Ray Green's November MartinFarm 10 pt 2010

Wow!

Saw this guy on The Today Show today. ??I will be going to see his movie!! ??What an experience, what a story

Aron Ralston

video of return to site

Movie Trailer

Chuck Norris Jokes

A List:

• Superman has Chuck Norris pajamas.
• Chuck Norris lost both legs in an accident and walked it off. 
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity...twice
• MC hammer learned the hard way that Chuck Norris CAN touch this
• There's no such thing as evolution, Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live
• Chuck Norris vacationed at the Virgin Islands. Now they're just known as The Islands.
• Every time Chuck Norris hears the term "Virgin Mary," he chuckles to himself.
• Chuck Norris played 18 holes of golf and scored 14.
• Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every dead man, there is Chuck Norris.
  
• Chuck Norris has never won an Academy Award for acting... because he's not acting.
• Chuck Norris wears a cup not to protect himself, but to protect the players on the other team.

 

And here is a youtube video of Chuck Norris on Chuck Norris!

Another Embarrassing Chiquita Photo

From our Chiquita Banana photo shoot last week at the NC State Fair. ??Thank goodness I didn't let Joy talk me into auditioning for the "Marriage Ref".??

NC State Fair 2010

Just another day at the fair! This is about our 15th consecutive. Now
you see why.

Amazon to Launch ???Kindle Singles???

This does sound like a great idea. Competition is really bringing out some great products lately!

Amazon to Launch “Kindle Singles”

via Marco.org on 10/12/10

Amazon to Launch “Kindle Singles”:

(via infoneer-pulse)

Less than 10,000 words or more than 50,000: that is the choice writers have generally faced for more than a century—works either had to be short enough for a magazine article or long enough to deliver the “heft” required for book marketing and distribution. But in many cases, 10,000 to 30,000 words (roughly 30 to 90 pages) might be the perfect, natural length to lay out a single killer idea, well researched, well argued and well illustrated—whether it’s a business lesson, a political point of view, a scientific argument, or a beautifully crafted essay on a current event.

Today, Amazon is announcing that it will launch “Kindle Singles”—Kindle books that are twice the length of a New Yorker feature or as much as a few chapters of a typical book. Kindle Singles will have their own section in the Kindle Store and be priced much less than a typical book.

This is a great idea.

Wildly Successful Farmer's Market

In Raleigh on a Sunday morning! Lots of great vendors and very busy.

Hunter gets a hit

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Hunter gets a nice hit in this video, and he earlier caught a pop fly.
Last game of the summer and his team won!

Late Summer Morning

Cool and wonderful this morning in ESNC. the Salvia is gorgeous and
the chickens busy!

Walker Dancing this Morning - 8/27/10

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Walker Martin showing off some pretty good dancing moves!

Blueberry Picking Days

Brittney, Hunter, Walker and I picking berries on a hot summer morning!"