Officer and her Mini Me

This is a pic of my sister, the Officer, when she was 4 or 5. 

This is a pic of my 3 year old daughter Yahoo. 

And here they are both together about two weeks ago. 

It's eerie how much these two look alike! Yahoo sure doesn't look anything like me. 

See?? Yahoo looks more like my sister than she does me! 

 You'd think that after carrying her in my womb for nine and a half months (I swear!) and going through a C-section to give birth to her she'd at least have the courtesy to LOOK like me! 

This is my favorite photo of the two together! I have to say that the way "looks" get passed down in my family tree has always amazed me.

I don't know if I want Yahoo to grow up acting like my sister the Police Officer! That may be more than I can handle! 

Public Speaking, Captain America and Being Stuck in the Shower.

On Saturday our 4H club participated in our county's Club Day. 

In front of two judges and a bunch of parent our club put on a skit; There Was an Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly. The old woman was a 18 year old boy who sure didn't seem too excited about dressing up like an old lady :) but he was a trooper and didn't complain too much. 

The skit ended with my boys, the horses, saying in unison, "She's dead of course!" after the old lady swallowed a fly. 

After the skit my boys participated in a show and tell. They chose one of their 4H projects to share with the judges. Even though we practiced their "speech" they never said the same thing twice. I'm not too concerned about that though. I think the most important thing for them to get out of this experience was the confidence to speak in front of a crowd....which I think they were born with. 

Yip shared the Captain America stuffed toy he sewed. 

Yap shared his Electric circuit board. 

Yep, they both did very well. No nerves, lots of confidence. I'm thinking they are born speakers. 

I wish I could say the same about myself. I do NOT like to speak in front of a crowd. Once when I was a junior in high school I was required to give a speech in front of the class. I chose to speak about one of my favorite artists and I even had posters to share. But when it was my time to get up in front of everyone my hands were shaking so badly my teacher had to have a couple of boys hold the posters up for me. I eventually got over my stage fright enough to get up in front of my art classes and speak. It seems so much easier to speak in front of kids than adults. I had to give a short presentation to some adults a couple weeks ago, and although my hands weren't shaking, I did have a slight tremor in my voice and I forgot a lot of what I had planned to say. 

I don't know where I got my stage fright because I have plenty of siblings who have no problems getting up and talking to people. I have a brother, Mountain Man, who can get up and talk to hundreds of people without barely having to prepare. He's always cool and collected when talking. My sister Mrs. Einstein, the science teacher, went to numerous national FFA conventions and giving speeches. I remember one particular contest she was preparing a speech for and she would practice it whenever she could. She even came into the bathroom when I was taking a shower once to recite her speech knowing that I couldn't run away. Dang, by the time her contest rolled around I had the speech memorized too! But I'm sure glad that I wasn't the one getting up in front of an auditorium to recite it. 

I'm glad my boys have the opportunity at such a young age to practice public speaking. I think if I had started at a young age too maybe I wouldn't be so nervous as an adult. But as it is I'll just stick the background and paint, rather than speak, in silence! :) 

Something Wonderful to See.

I saw something wonderful yesterday. 

Here it is. 

Big brother reading to little sister. 

What's even better he sought her out and asked if he could read a book to her. 

I've been waiting for this moment since the day she was born. 

Amazing how much him reading to her helps me out. 

A Wedding!!, made by hand...

My twenty something-ish cousin just got engaged over the weekend. YAY!! 

I'm so excited for her! She's been living in Oklahoma the last few years, about 5 hours from me, and while her fiance and his family are from Oklahoma, her whole family is back in Indiana. Once I read her engagement status on Facebook (of course!) and being relatively close to her geographically, I offered her as much help with her wedding as I could give her....because face it, most of us aren't going to have the green to put on a wedding like Prince What's His Name did over the pond a few months ago. 

Offering her my help got me to thinking about DR and my wedding. Boy, did we get help that really kept the cost of our wedding low! Of course it didn't hurt that I'm a cheapskate, miser, tight wise with my money either.  

First our reception was in the town park which I received as a wedding gift from a couple of guys on the park board whom I just happened to coach track with. 

If you look behind my sister on the tent poles you'll see bundles of wheat and flowers, which my sisters and I picked out of fields and ditches. And that big beautiful sunflower arrangement on the table? It's in a Ball Canning Jar. Yep, I had two fabulous sisters who did ALL the flowers; bouquets, boutonnieres, table arrangements...and they did a great job! 

Friends of ours served the food and another friend roasted half a hog for the reception as a wedding gift too. Looking back, I'm really thankful for all those gifts that helped me have a wedding party! 

My mom made my wedding dress and the bridesmaids' dresses. (Ugg...sorry my lovely sisters... This photo suddenly brings to mind that movie 27 Dresses! And no, you can't wear it again!!) 

Come to think of it, in the past 9 years my mom has sewn 3 of our wedding dresses and probably a total of 10 bridesmaid dresses for 4 different weddings! Mom, you are a saint! 

For our wedding, to keep costs down and to add a more personal touch, I designed our wedding invitations. 

And being that our wedding was in August when guests arrived they received our program printed on a fan. The front was a drawing I had made and a poem and the back had all the pertinent stuff you usually find on a wedding program. 

If my cousin is anything like me *cheapskate*, which I'm pretty sure she is, she'll probably want to save some money on her wedding. From the dress, food, cake, photos, flowers, gifts, etc, etc.....what kind of advice can I give my cousin on her big wedding day? What is the best help you received on your wedding day? What are some great wedding resources that most people don't know about? 

What Little Sisters do at a Football Game

Three little girls....

....all little sisters to football players....

...thank goodness they have one another to entertain one another....

...otherwise it could be a long season!....