Middlebury Falls

Down the hill from the Marble Works in Middlebury where the market is held is Otter Creek and a waterfall. Most of the vendors have a great view of it from their spots, but not me. :-( One day Kurt went down and took these pictures that came turned out amazingly!!! (thanks to Mrs. Iocco's camera!)

the falls
Love this one!

One Saturday some kayakers went over the falls on the calmer side. With a spotter watching one by one they went over....slipped under the water and bobbed back up!

spider web

(this one is really neat! I know it's blurry,

but click on it and it will make it larger)

a lamp post!!

(now where's Lucy and Mr. Tumnus??!! )

Farmers Market!

(click on the pics to see them larger and clearer)

My booth!!

:-)

Kurt!!!!
At the beginning I had some friends doing this with me. And there was a couple weeks they couldn't be there so Kurt helped me out and boy was he a help!!!! I would have been running around like a mad women if he wasn't there! It also gives both of us the chance to walk around the market while the other sticks by the stuff. :-)
My friends have now decided that they will no longer be doing the market. So now it's just Kurt and I. We have a blast talking with our "neighbor" Pete and watching and talking about all the people walking by. :-)

Italian bread, cookies, cakes, muffins, rolls, brownies, etc.

nightgowns and some dresses

Lemonade and Iced tea!!!

our best seller!!

Kurt chillin'

HARPER!!!!!! (and his mommy)

This is my little cookie buddy! As soon as the market opens at 9am he makes his way slowly across the grass to my stand. I notice and motion him over with a wave of my hand and he comes running, dollar in hand. "How many cookies today Buddy?" With a mischievous grin he holds up one finger. He picks one out and runs back to his mommy only to be called back to get his change.

"May I go now?"

"Yes!"

But only to return a couple minutes later for another. :-)

This last week once the town clock tolled 9am I heard him yell,

"MOMMY!!!!! THE MARKETS OPEN!!!!!"

"Ok, ok," she says, "Hold on!"

a few seconds later he came running!! :-) That little boy has stolen my heart! Free cookies for him this week! :-)

Good friends of ours, the Iocco's

Too bad they're way down at the other end of the market! :-(

view from the left of our booth

The older man on the left is Pete. Kurt and I have such fun talking with him! We're either talking and laughing about the people wandering around, trying to figure out why/how people can just walk right past our booths or try some of my samples and not buy anything, esp. after saying how good it is!!!! Then we may be discussing the latest news headlines, or getting playfully scolded by him! :-/

MUSIC!!!

One of the best parts of the market! Every week there is some sort of band/group there playing. This past week it was a boy around13-14 playing the saxophone. Just him, no one else, no other instruments. He didn't play that good and always seemed to be looking for the next note. Let's just say Pete had a lot to say about that we had some good laughs.

More views

Finally! A post!!!! And the unwanted guest!

Hello to all my blog friends!!!
I'm terribly sorry I haven't posted anything new in a couple months! I know how bummed I can be when I keep checking a friends blog and finding nothing there time and time again.
Things have been quite chaotic and busy here. I've got the farmers market every Saturday and have been spending quite a bit of time each week getting ready for that. (sewing and baking) The market is going great and I'm really enjoying it! My next post will be of pictures from there! :-)
On top of that and the regular norm of life here at FQF we've had a guest staying at our house. This guest came without invitation and has been here for around 6+ weeks and he is most unwanted, but is refusing to leave! The first weekend in May I went down to PA for a wedding and stayed with Kevin who had just moved down there. Our guest came home with me then (or maybe he was with me before then??) and thus began our troubles. What's his name you ask????
Why it's WHOOPING COUGH!!!!!!!
Yes, this dear bacteria came into my life and has delighted in being an ever present annoyance for the last 6 1/2 weeks. I thought it was only a really bad cold and ended up passing it on to all my younger siblings. :-( 5 have it pretty bad, but are on the mend. Nights are getting less busy and more peaceful. That's good for Dad. who has been a ghost, drifting from one room to the next every night tending to one child then the next. The other 2 children have light cases right now and we're hoping they don't get any worse. Mom, Dad and Kurt have been lucky so far to have avoided it somehow. Kevin, even though he doesn't live here, also had/has it. Him and I came down with it at the same time.
So, life has been full of baking, sewing, coughing, keeping kids calm so as to cut down on coughing fits, keeping them happy with plenty to do seeing how they can't go anywheres till their quarantine is up (which is this Friday ya-hoo!!!!).
Well there you have it. My excuse for not blogging in so long. It sounds like a good reason and justified, but I know I could have done something during the last couple of months!!!

Grand Canyon

When Mom, Dad and Kevin went to NM to visit Kelly earlier this month they all went to AZ to visit the Luke Toews and his family. Luke was one of the 3 other GES guys that was in Ghana with Kevin. The Toews only live 2 hours from the Grand Canyon so they took a day to go see it. The pictures they brought back were AMAZING!!!! I would love to go and see it for myself one of these days.

These first few are of a small canyon they went to close to the Toews house.

you call that small??? :-/

Mom and Dad

(who are celebrating their 26th anniversary today :-)

Kevin, Luke and Nathan


~THE GRAND CANYON~

(just a small part of it)

Kevin looking down

at the lookout

group shot

Quote For The Day

"You will find all that is lacking in your heart, in the heart of Jesus, dying on the cross. Then you will be enabled to love those whom you would naturally, in your pride hate."
- Francois Fenelon

youtube

For some reason I haven't been able to post any videos from youtube on my blog and I'm so bummed!! :-( I don't get it. It use to let me but for the past couple of months it won't. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to post links to the videos. But that's not as nice as having it right here.

Music!!!

I brought my music back Lauren!! But this is a different one with new songs. Enjoy!

Ivanya's Birthday

3 years old!!!!!

waiting for her presents

Dad actually got her present this year.....just because he happened to be in Rutland that day!

You should have seen her jump up and down when she saw this! She was riding it just about all day today!

candy, new bike, what a life!

:-)

chocolate-chocolate cake!

talking to Kelly!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ivanya!!!!!!

Homecoming!!!!

Kevin's home!!!! He came in on Monday, the 12th to JFK in New York City. We went down the night before and stayed at my aunts in NJ so that it wouldn't be that long of a trip. When we got to the airport Dad dropped us all of at the door and went to park the van. Mom figured we had some time before Kev showed up so she took the girls to the bathroom. But guess what??!! In walks Kevin and not one of his parents were around! Kurt immediately called Mom on her phone and they came rushing out as soon as they could! One by one the girls went running into his arms till he had all 3 of them! Yes, it was a wonderful reunion and we are SO enjoying having him home! There's been many stories to tell and hear, pictures to see, and TONS to talk about! :-)

Kev and Jacob...

...and Renee...

...and Gracie, being Gracie!!!

Talking to Kelly

Heading home!!!

Christmas presents!!!

...and trying to get Ivanya to come near him with some chocolate!

Kev and Renee taking it easy :-)

I have some more pics of NYC and our time at my Aunts that I'll post later. I had to get these on quick cause I was getting yelled at for taking so long!

We're leaving tomorrow to go pick up Kevin on Monday!!!!!!!! :-)

Hmmm.......

I think it's time to take the Christmas music off here. :-)

A wonderful surprise this morning!

On Monday Kevin called saying that he might be able to come home THIS Monday instead of next Friday!!! It all depended on if he could switch his ticket and get all his work done. Well.......Mom got a phone call this morning saying YES!!! He IS coming home on MONDAY!!! One of the guys there was able to switch his ticket and he WILL get his work done in time! He'll be flying out of Ghana on Sunday with a few other people. They'll have a layover in either London or Germany and split up there. The rest going to PA and Kev coming into JFK sometime on Monday. As I'm sure you guessed, we are all SO excited! It's been over 2 years!!!!!!! Well, for me and all the little ones! It's only been a little over a year for Mom, Dad and Kurt. So, we're busy running around getting the house in order and rearranging the boys room so we can fit Kev in there! Ah yes! Excitement is in the air!!!!! :-)

Kurt Browning - Singin' In The Rain

This is pretty amazing and so much like Gene Kelly's version in the movie

2 weeks from today
KEVIN WILL BE HOME!!!!!!!!