Ye Olde Jasper County Fair

Jack and I headed to the Fair tonight to watch the Fair Queen Pageant. His friends Heidi and Emily were in the Little Miss Pageant and our friend Ashley was a contestant in the Queen Pageant. Heidi and Emily were great. Heidi blew kisses to the crowd and looked so cute in her dress. Jack was so excited for Emily to come out that he was chanting her name! Emily stole the show-I wish I had video of her performance. I overheard the lady in front of me say "she must belong to one of those Baltzell boys."

We were so excited that Ashley was crowned Jasper County Fair Queen! She deserved that crown! I hope to have pics to share of Jack and I with Queen Ashley tomorrow.

After the pageant we headed over for Jack to enjoy some rides. He had so much fun and told me after we got in the car to head home "thanks for taking me to the fair Mom, it was awesome!"

you know he's livin by the Carnie Code

With Independence Day almost here I thought this was very fitting

Nachos

UNITED WE STAND

pretty much says it all

God Bless America

17 weeks down..

Party--like you're 35

Remember when you were in high school and your parents went out of town?? What was the first thing you thought---PARTY!!! Flash forward 20 years. My parents went to Florida and left Cliff and I in charge of their house and pool. Amber L. and I had been wanting to co-host a get together and this was the perfect excuse. The cops did not come and I don't think anyone got pregnant in the back of a car, but I think a good time was had by all.

Cliff and Rick by the fire. Cliff just looks for any excuse to take his shirt off.

Jack, Heidi and RJ before the party got in full swing

Heidi enjoying what the kids called

"bubble world"

Nick Martin

Emily Baltzell going down the slide into the pool all by herself!

The Farley boys

Eliza, Keely, Emily, and Lily

GUS

Check out our family pictures!

We have not had a family picture taken since Jack was about 6 months old. Before we grow from a family of 3 to a fam of 4 we had Amber Lindemann of Photographics take some pics of the Kinkade 3.

Check them out at:

http://amberlindemann.zenfolio.com/p92302403/

The pics were taken at the Diel Pond and I could not be happier with how they turned out.

--in case you are wondering about the white thing I am pretending to lick , it's asalt block for the deer (and me)

RJ and Heidi Lindemann invited Jack to the park for a little fun a couple of days ago. As Jack's red face and sweaty head show, they played pretty hard. Amber took this picture which I thought was just adorable!

Jack doing some fishing at his Grandma and Grandpa Kinkade's

EL CHEAPO

Check out one of my blog obsessions

JANE4Girls

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/

This woman has an $800 a year food budget for herself and her 3 daughters. She just went under the $800 mark a few weeks ago. She uses coupons and rebates and usually pays pretty much nothing for groceries and other household necessities.

I use none of the coupons or tips that she offers. That could be part of the reason why my monthly food budget is close to half of what she gives herself for a year, but it sure is interesting (at least to me) to see how she does it.

H E double hockey sticks

This afternoon as Jack sat down to try his first ever pack of fun dip that Amber had so nicely given him. I turned on the TV and was flipping through the channels and stopped at the movie THE BLUE LAGOON (one of the most awesomely bad movies of all time). Jack looked at the TV and said "what the hell are they doing?"


I was pretty sure I heard him correctly, but asked him to repeat it about 4 more times and then wrongly laughed a lot. I had to explain how wrong it was to say that word and that if he said it again there would be a punishment. We then had a discussion about bad words and not saying them. He asked me what bad words were and could I tell him some. I considered using this as an opportunity to teach him about the late, great, George Carlin, but I will save that until he is a little bit older.

Is Ashley Bunton the next Al Gore??

Thanks to the suggestion from Ashley Bunton my new Sigg water bottle is on its way!! I admit I would have never paid that much for a water bottle for environmental reasons alone, but MAKE LOVE NOT LANDFILL?? I had to have that!!

Whatever the reason, hopefully the cool look of my new water bottle will prompt me to up my daily water intact. After the new baby arrives I plan to keep it filled with something a little harder than water from time to time.

Some random questions answered by Sarah of SARAH SEZ

Favorite person: I will have to say my son Jack. I spend more time with him than anyone else. He seems to find me enjoyable. Maybe I should say my husband Cliff, but Jack thinks I am funnier.

Favorite food: Porkburgers, El Rancherito

Quirks about me: I have to have the laundry done in a certain way. Some things can be hung on the line, some things dry in the dryer all the way, some things can dry in the dryer for a short amount of time and then get laid flat to dry the rest of the way. I am also obsessed with using all of the free address labels that come in the mail. We probably have well over 1000 of them. Maybe that is why we will never move.


What can you NOT live without: Internet access, cable television, brewed iced tea

Favorite blog: Any that update on a regular basis. I read way too many to pick just one.

Who do you wish had a blog: My sister Michelle, Hank Baltzell

What job would you pay not to have? Nursing home worker, pet or human euthanizer

If you could be a fly on the wall anywhere, where would it be? the judging room of any reality show

Favorite Bible Verse: Isaiah 40: 31
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like EAGLES; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.


Guilty pleasure: celeb gossip websites, round robin e-mails with the Leffler and Diel girls


Favorite thing about your house: the people that live in it


One thing you are bad at: I have been known to have what one may call "diarrhea of the mouth", I need to learn not to say whatever I think

If you could change one thing about your current circumstances, what would it be? New house in a location that compromises the country/town debate Cliff and I continue to have


Who would you like to meet someday? Barack Obama, OPRAH, Kathy Griffin, Bill Clinton, Sean "P Diddy" (that's right he is back to P Diddy) Combs-I bet he smells super good, Julia and and Suzanne Sugarbaker

What makes you feel sexy? a good hair and boob day

What is the hardest part of your job? The fact that it NEVER ends and that some people don't recognize it as a "real job"

When are you most relaxed? At the end of the day, when Jack is in bed and I get my daily dose of "me time"

What stresses you out? unorganized activities

Favorite quote:
"I'm a rumor spreader, not a rumor starter"
...Chad Farley

Why do you blog? I got a lot to say. Plus those pics of my oh so cute son are not going to share themselves!

----if you read this and have your own blog, please consider yourself to be tagged
do like I did and eliminate the questions you did not like, just make sure to replace them with another question you came up with

I will issue a challenge to Rebekah and Amber to answer these random questions and share them with the rest of the world on their respective blogs

cinnamon bun in the oven

In case you care (and why are you reading this if you don't), today I am 16 weeks pregnant. 4 months. Only 24 weeks to go. For the most part I am finally feeling pretty good. The biggest downside lately has been that I can't eat nearly as much as I would like to. At my family father's day/my b-day cookout last weekend, I was not even able to finish one porkburger. Porkburger's are my all time fav food, so I would have liked to have eaten two. Hopefully this problem will stick with me long after this kid pops out. I still am down as far as the weight gain thing goes. Don't worry, this baby is not getting deprived or anything. We got a lot to work with as far as fat stores go with this body. I am looking at the negative weight gain as a little cushion for later when I am sure the lbs will start piling on.

Please keep my blogger friend Christina in your thoughts and prayers as she and her family cope with the tragic loss of her father.

kids having kids

Have you heard this one yet?

17 girls under the age of 16 from the same high school in Gloucester, MA are pregnant. Apparently at least some of them had formed some kind of "pregnancy pact".

I wonder if they were doing it for shock value. Whatever their reasons, it had to be for attention. They should have considered a piercing or a tattoo.

I know a school that needs to invest in some abstinence candy bars!

Are you Anatomically Correct?

Unlike most Americans, I never got into GREY'S ANATOMY. A few months ago I decided to give it a try and got Season 1 from Netflix. I was not that impressed, but did not give up. It has taken me about 3 months to get to the middle of Season 2 and I have to say that I am glad I stuck it out. It is finally getting good! I am not sure if I will be stoned for saying this, but I cannot stand Meredith! She is so whiny and needy and needs to do something with those two pieces of hair on the side of her head. Otherwise, it is a pretty good show. Not LOST edge of your seat good, but very enjoyable viewing.

Fear of flying

Everybody is afraid of something. Surveys show that the average persons biggest fear is public speaking, death comes in second. Most people would rather die than speak in public. It really says a lot for the person delivering the eulogy at most funerals.

~

I am scared of frogs. I am also scared of toads. Honestly I am not really sure what the difference between the two is nor do I care. I don't know when or why I became so scared of frogs/toads, but it is an all consuming fear. When I am anywhere that I feel may be populated by the offending amphibian, I keep my eyes on the ground scanning the area ahead of my path to make sure that no frogs are in the way. If I do see one, I get very nervous and have to flee the area very quickly. Some people find this amusing and want to pick one up and use it to taunt. As great of a sense of humor as I have, I do not find this to be amusing in the least. Frankly it is down right mean.

~

This fear keeps me from doing stuff like camping (who am I kidding-frogs or no frogs-you will not find me camping), frog gigging, and lots of other outdoor type activities.

~

I even found a name for my fear(s)

Fear of toads: BUFONOPHOBIA

Fear of frogs: RANIDAPHOBIA (not to be confused with RECTOPHOBIA-the fear of rectum or rectal disease, a fear which I bet most Americans have)

~

So, if you are with me and see a frog or toad you could:

A. Kill it immediately

B. Pick it up and get it way far away

C. Act like you did not see it and make sure I don't either

~

I shared my fear-what's yours?

GNO (girls night out)

Saturday night, to celebrate my b-day, myself and some of my bestest friends went out to dinner at the Hilton in Effingham. F-U-N times. Lots of good food and laughs. I would try to blame it on the pregnancy, but if you know me, you know that is no excuse for the wet chair I left behind at the Hilton from laughing SO hard.

The only thing that would have made the night complete would have been Michelle and Jill's attendance. Hopefully Creighton Tarr will only get married once, so it was good they went to witness that.

L to R

Amanda, Rebekah, Colleen, Kelley, Jamee, Holly, Amber, Me, and Kate

That really is a baked potato with a "lady-like" dollop
of sour cream

Hopefully we won't have to wait until next year at this time to do it again.

Check out more pics on Amber's blog.

It sure is nice to have a professional photographer in the "family".

The great worm infestation of '08

Saturday morning Cliff and Jack made their usual trip up to the river bottoms to ride the 4-wheeler. While off on a side road that still was partially covered in water, they made a very interesting discovery. I had to go up later that afternoon to see it for myself (and of course get pictures).

The road was still covered in 6-12 inches of water, when you looked, you could not see the bottom of the road because it was covered with MILLIONS of worms (I think they were night crawlers).

My Dad (above) said that in all of his 56 years he had never seen anything like it.

The pictures really don't give you an idea of the amount of worms that covered the ground.

My brother-in-law Jeremy wondered if it was some sort of Biblical sign. I am not sure about that, but it was really odd and kind of cool.

FISH FRY

For those of you who did not have a chance to attend last nights NCHS Football Fish Fry at the KC Hall, you missed a great time!! Michelle, Rebekah, Kelley Leffler, and myself stayed busy all night selling raffle tickets, t-shirts, and other Newton Eagle merchandise. It sure is nice to have a large amount of high school boys at your disposal when you have heavy boxes to carry.

If you did not make it out and still want a t-shirt or to order a sweatshirt, let me know. I am going to be replenishing my very limited stock in the next week or so.

Thanks Amber for taking this pic of the boobalicious Diel girls (and a sleeping Dex in his new sling).
Lucky for everyone Gabe was there to sample (and sample some more) the fish and desserts before the crowd arrived. He gave it all two thumbs up.

Gabe won $100 in the raffle. Jason very wisely donated it back and redrew another name. Problem with that--Gabe was sitting right there and heard it all. He knew he had won $100!! Jason said he would make sure Gabe got a really good prize. I felt pretty bad and gave him $20.

~~~~~
It took a good scrubbing to get the smell of that fried fish off of me, it was worth it though. A great way to kick off the 2008 football season! I am READY FOR SOME NEWTON EAGLE FOOTBALL!!

Reindeer and Tyler Schackmann

You gotta check this out-Amber has an AMAZING story posted on her blog.