The story of our Christmas Tree!

Me and my hubby

Yearbook photos

My yearbook photo from 1962My yearbook photo from 1972My yearbook photo from 1980 Well, not really. If They WERE real that would mean that I was in school for thirty years or something like that. Not to mention that I wasn't even born until 1977. But they ARE funny to look at. Try it for a good laugh.

http://yearbookyourself.com/

Isn't this pretty?

I love my back yard. It makes me feel sorry for some of you city folks.

It's time to let go.

It's become his obsession. At his 2 year check-up Dr. John asked if my oldest still used a bottle or pacifier. I quickly said "No bottle. That's been long gone. The binky is a different story." Dr. John said "Do you want me to be the bad guy and throw it away?" My reply was that it would have to be a little more creative than that. This was what I came up with. Now when my baby pleads for his "binky, binky, binky", I hand him one of these. He's tried to find another way to use it, but it's not the same, and he throws it and walks away. Can it be this simple?

Firemen's Day At America's Fair

On the first Friday every year at The America's Fair (formerly known as The Erie County Fair), they honor the local area's Volunteer Firemen and EMS personnel. We get free admission and get to show off our trucks and marching skills (or lack there of). We pitch a tent on the inside if a 1 mile horse race track, eat, drink and celebrate with other local Fire Depts. At 7pm the parade begins. It starts with marching and ends with all the firetrucks flashing their lights and sounding their sirens. It's so loud, and very, very cool to see. I'll try and give you an idea of what it looks like from the inside of the track.

Some other pics from Fireman's Day.

Daddy and Benny getting ready walk the fairgrounds.

Xander sampling some of the farm equipment displays.

Xander playing on Farnham Fire Departments 1929 Buffalo Firetruck.

It almost always wins a blue ribbon.

Benny, hydrating.

Catching a quick nap before the parade. They didn't even flinch as the other fire dept band practiced in the background.

After the parade we hit the conservation building and Daddy took Xander fishing at Lawtons trout pond display. The creepy man to the right IS NOT a relative. He belongs to the pond people.

And in true Maurer fashion, we end the evening with a trip to the fish game. Now my husband has "hooked" my son on the sport. He's good at it too. He actually won one!

Eden Corn Festival

The first weekend in August is alway corn pickin' time. This is our trip to the festival to get the first taste of this years local corn. Um, I don't think we actually got any pics of us EATING the corn because it's hard to hold the camera with our buttery fingers! Sorry. It was good though.

The sky was so pretty. We only managed to have a 5 minute rain shower roll through. That's when the eating started. What else does one go to these events for anyway?

Grandma Maurer taking Benny on his first ride!Grandpa Maurer with Xander.

Daddy and MiMi teaching Xander to fish for sharks. Xander participating in the "Catch and Release Program".
Daddy, Xander and Grandpa Gannon.

And this is my "oldest child" showing you his fishing skills. We CANNOT leave without playing the fish game. Most people stock their ponds with trout. We do it with "fair fish".

The boys!

Here are the latest pics of Xander and Ben.

Are they cute or what?

I thought I'd give exposaroonie a try.

Here's what I spy with my photographic eye.

My attempt at using framing to make a subject more interesting. What do you think? If you likey, please go vote for me at...

Room for improvement?

One point away from SUPERIOR. It was probably because I don't give my husband a shampoo or manicure.

58 As a 1930s wife, I am Average Take the test!

Scoring:

0-24 - Very Poor (Failure)
25-41 - Poor
42-58 - Average
59-75 - Superior
76+ - Very Superior

How to eat a banana: Lesson 2

How to eat a banana- Lesson 1

A walk through Farnham

While going for a walk the other day with the boys I decided take along the camera. It was such a nice day I couldn't resist sharing my small town.

Is that seven forty five? Yes. The seven fell off last summer and was leaning against the rock waiting to be re-hung. Then it went missing. We'll get the new one up soon.

This is the sign across the street from me. I am the last house in the village. I also get the pleasure of paying both town and village taxes. Lucky me.
This is the sign out front of my house. No number to fall off here. The hanging sign is for my husbands archery business, Non-Typical Outdoors. It lights up and looks cool at night.
An abandoned robin's egg.
The Hamm's. Believe it or not this is an improvement. They tore down the old eyesore and will be replacing it with a new house sometime this summer.
The horse farmer down the street. He's got tons of horses that come and go all summer long. They also do horseback riding across the street from my house. I was showing Xander what all the white stuff was floating in the air. I was going to let him keep it until he whacked his sleeping brother in the face with it.I love in the spring when these trees have their pretty flowers. I wish they stayed this way all year. This one smelled fabulous!My favorite house in Farnham. It belongs to the Bill and Marilyn Russell. To me it represents what a small village house should look like.Sniff. Sniff. This house belongs to our good friends The Shannons. They moved to Washington State last fall. Job relocating sucks! Some mutual friends will be renting it and are moving in next month. These geese were not happy that we were walking on "their" sidewalk. I wasn't happy about stepping in their goose poop!
The Village Hall
JD's Farnham County Inn. (Formerly known as Pizzolanti's) This place just reopened last week. We hear it's great. Can't wait to try it!"The weird house on the corner."Mr. Militello's Greenhouse. We stopped here on the way back to say "hi" to my friends grandpa and her brother Cliff who were working outside. Mr. Militello was so cute. The little Italian eighty-something year old held my hand while he lead me through the greenhouse. How sweet. I'll be shopping there more often.This pic speaks for itself.The Park. (A work in progress.) I am proud to say I helped plan the first phase of this project and picked out the playground.St. Anthony's Church. If I attended Mass regularly, it would be here.Ahhh, "The Big Blue Water Tower". When I tell people where I live they always get a puzzled look on their face. You see, Farnham is the smallest village in Erie county, and it is the last street in the county too. It's roughly one square mile in size. I use the water tower as a landmark. While passing the barn on the way home again we saw a horse rolling in the dirt. It was funny because he sneezed 5 times when he was done.
Ahh, Home Sweet Home!