Country Girl Always and Forever...

Highlights from the Nashville Wedding

2009-10-13T09:20:00.003-04:00

Tony was "cavity searched" at BWI airport because he forgot that he was carrying his box cutter on his belt.

We flew Southwest Airlines and did not realize that it was a "free for all" seating, we were some of the last to board the aircraft and therefore did not get to sit together on our way to Nashville.

We upgraded our rental car from a Ford Escape to a brand new black Chevy Camero (very fun, and it got us LOTS of attention in downtown Nashville)

Had an outdoor picnic at Beth and Jeff's on the first night where I got bit by a mosquito (?) and then my entire wrist swelled up from it and it is not FINALLY not itching anymore! My allergies to bug bites seem to be getting worse!

Tony and all the groomsmen went bar hopping and got home sometime after 2:00 am. Tony got a new nickname from the guys of the band "TAGSBRUSCO" (because they did not know who he was prior to the wedding, but they would see our email address on correspondence back and forth when the bachelor party was being planned)

Beth and all of us went to a really trendy bar called Patterson House (which from the outside you would NEVER think was a bar), what makes this place really special is that all the drinks are made from scratch (they fresh squeeze the juice, and make all their own syrups)...even the ice in our glass was special as mine was a globe shaped ball of ice. I really hit it off with another girl (Erin) from MD that knew Jeff from college and we hung out the entire weekend together.

Friday, Tony and I shopped at 2 different malls where I bought a "Nashville outfit" as we both felt so under dressed walking around town. Everyone in Nashville seems to be dressed to the nine's all the time, so my outfit is my souvenir from the trip the only think I didn't get was a pair of cowboy boots (because you wear them with everything) and then walked around the beautiful Opryland Hotel. (we had been there before when we were dating and it has changed alot...definitely a place I would want to stay if we travel to Nashville again)

We attended the rehearsal and then it was off to the dinner at a place called "Rumor's East"...where they had a tent set-up outside for about 60 people. We sat with 3 of the band members and their wives/girlfriends and really had a wonderful time. We were introduced to some southern favorites like fried okra and shrimp and grits...very yummy! All of the wedding party stood up to say kind words about Beth and Jeff and there was not a dry eye in the room. Tony even shared a childhood story about rescuing Jeff from a test hole at their house in Darnestown by using a vacuum cleaner.

Saturday we hung out at the hotel as Tony had to be at the church by 3:00 pm and the ceremony was not until 6:30, so I had lots of time to kill. I got a ride over to the church with Jeff's parents.

The ceremony was beautiful, there were 12 girls and 8 guys in the wedding party. The ceremony took about 25 minutes and then we waited for the pictures to be taken afterwards.

The reception was held at Cannery Ballroom. It reminded me of an old warehouse that was converted into a reception hall. Dinner was served buffet style and then they had a live band of guys that they travel with while they are on tour. At about 11:00 pm the band wanted a break, so The Lost Trailers played 3 songs for all of us (it was AMAZING).

When it was time for Jeff and Beth to leave we all got sparklers (like the ones you use on the 4th of July) and we lined up outside in 2 lines with the sparklers lit as they came out to get in their antique car to drive away!

We headed out to the airport early Sunday morning and were able to score seats together on the airplane home!

Our trip to Nashville will be one we both remember for a very long time!

A bad start for Sophia...

2009-09-01T08:35:00.004-04:00

Oh my, our drama queen strikes again...it all started with the outfit she had on this morning, she did not think the pants matched the top so we went round and round and finally I gave up and let her change her clothes (it was black pants that apparently did not match the pink shirt she had on, however the brown ones do...go figure on that one!)

Next it was the chocolate milk I didn't make right...we were out of chocolate milk so I told her I would make her "magic milk" (white milk with chocolate syrup)...we were almost out of the syrup in the bottle so I poured the milk into the bottle and allowed her to shake it up...things seemed fine at this point...then I squirted all the now chocolate milk into her cup and she totally lost it...she WANTED to do that part...OMG!!

Now onto her lunch...yesterday because I was not feeling well she packed not only her lunch but Gabe's too, and she apparently does it in some way that I don't, because today when I PACKED it her sandwich was mushed! She realized this when we were sitting at the bus stop (why we need to open our lunch box and inspect our lunch at 8:00 in the morning is beyond me) and again she lost it, she had her lunch thrown all over the backseat of the car...it was totally ruined in her opinion, at this point I was about to lose it, and I spanked her bottom and told her to get over herself and put her lunch back in her lunch bag and back in her backpack. When the bus arrived she was in "rare form" and I had to practically carry her kicking and screaming acrossed the street and onto the bus...our bus driver is so sweet...she told me to put her on and she would get her safely to school...I am curious to hear how things turned out...

I also called the school to give them a heads-up that she was coming and was not happy about it...they said no problem they would make sure she had a good day...so glad she goes to such a wonderful school!

On a completely unrelated note she calls a fly swatter a fly slapper...thought that was cute and needed to be remembered!

Shopping at the Columbia Mall....

2009-08-16T19:27:00.003-04:00

I can't tell you the last time we as a family have walked the mall and freely bought whatever our hearts desire was...well today we did!!

Sophia got new sneakers at L.L. Bean, (I wanted a new pair too but they did not have my size) and her Halloween costume and lunch bag at the Disney store.

Tony and Gabe got a new remote controlled helicopter from Brookstone.

I bought a bunch of new kitchen gadgets at Williams Sonoma and Chef Imporium, as well as a box of chocolates at Godiva, and a new make-up brush at bareMinerals.

We finished up the day with a yummy lunch at P.F. Changs.

1st Annual South Mountain Creamery Company Picnic

2009-08-15T19:31:00.002-04:00

Tony and I went all out on this one, we had LIVE music, more food than anyone could care to eat, fresh cut french fries, a dunking booth, horseshoes and volleyball. We had a wonderful turnout, and everyone commented on what a great time they had, the event ended with a hayride to our farms on Marker and Mt Church Rd. We look forward to celebrating our successes again next summer!

William Ausherman Sowers 9-11-28 thry 8-8-2009

2009-08-13T19:47:00.005-04:00

This week as pretty much been a blur to me and my family...my beloved Pappy passed away on Saturday evening at around 6:15 with my Grandma, my Dad, Uncle Phil and Uncle Matt around his bedside. Tony and the kids and I were in Williamsburg on a vacation of sorts when we got the call and immediately came home.

Pappy had been battling kidney cancer since around January of this year, he tried a few rounds of chemo but only having one kidney made this too hard on him so he decided to quit the treatments and ultimately pass away in his home surrounded by family.

Being that the last time I lost a close relative was when I was 4 and it was my Dad's brother Doug (and I don't remember anything about it, except for the fact my nose bled the night it happened all over my bed), this last week has been extremely tough and exhausting. Who knew all the arrangements that go into a funeral? Who will be the pastor, what will Pappy wear for all Eternity, what music will we sing in his honor, who will carry the casket from the church to the grave site, how will my kids react, how will I react? This was all so new to me...the heartbreak of watching my Grandma bury her soul mate and now will be living alone, I can't even begin to imagine that!

Gabe and Sophia seemed OK until the day of the funeral, when we all walked up to the casket one last time, it hit them hard that he was truly gone from this earth, I think that was the worst part for Tony and I...and also to see my Daddy cry for his Daddy was pretty rough too.

Oh, Pap (my nickname for you) and you called me "your girl" I miss you so much, you made me the person that I am today, you LOVED everyone you met, you loved all of your grandchildren and great grandchildren, you worked hard to provide for Grandma even on your deathbed you bought a new stove for Grams because you did not want her to be cold this winter (like we would EVER let that happen)! Your beautiful garden never got planted this year because you did not have energy to plant and tend to it. You loved to feed my children candy and send them home with candy (even though they had not had their dinner yet)...so many of my memories of you are sharing what you had with others, be it the vegetables from your garden or the fresh clean water from your spring house you were always doing God's work...I hope that I can be half the person you were.

I will always love you, may you no longer be in any pain, and be in comfort up alongside the angels in heaven, I WILL see you again!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T07:06:00.002-04:00

Easter kindof snuck up on us this year...I guess with everything else going on it was almost forgotten entirely! Spring Break started for us on Wednesday of last week, as long as the weather was nice the kids came outside with us for most of the days. On Wednesday night we dyed eggs. On Thursday night Gabe got invited to spend the night at Aaron's house (a neighbor up the street), so then Sophia wanted to spend the night someplace so I took her over to Grandma and Granddaddy's house.

While Tony was running errands earlier in the week I had him pick up a few goodies for the kids' baskets, and I went ahead and ordered candy from See's for all the grandparents and great grandparents (plus a box for Tony and I) the candy is so good I just couldn't resist! Tony surprised me with this lens for our camera!
Mom and Dad had house guests in town (relatives from WV) so Sophia and Gabe had cousins to play with...we even let Sophia spend the night at Nana and Poppy's house on Easter night so that Kendra and her could spend somemore time together.

On Easter morning I went over to get her and then when we came back home she hunted for her basket and the eggs they dyed earlier in the week, at around 11:00 am we headed over to Gram's to get ready for Easter dinner. All the cousins got to play together and the adults chatted.

After we got Grams' house was cleaned up we came home and moved a few loads of wood.

History in the making...

2009-04-10T18:13:00.003-04:00

Today our creamery celebrated its 8 year anniversary so Mom went and got a sheet cake, nuts and sodas to serve to all the customers who came into the store today! Who would have ever imagined that we would be such a HUGE success today, it is such a enormous blessing!

Today we also had our first ever training with our new crew from Virginia Beach. Lisa our GM drove up with our first driver Nathan (who drove for Yoders for 8.5 years)and we gave them the grand tour of our facilities, talked to them about our history, should them how to use the admin side of the website and gave Lisa her laptop and both Lisa and Nathan company cell phones. When they left at 3:00 pm Nathan was driving our first truck to its new home at the Virginia Beach Farm Market (until we get our lease signed at our store front and commercial storage facility). Mom and Dad will be driving our first shipment of milk down on Tuesday afternoon and will be assisting with deliveries on Wednesday as well as taking care of getting papers signed with the city.

As I watched our truck head down the road I couldn't help but feel excited and a bit apprehensive of what the future holds for us...

Feeding the steers at Old Hagerstown

2009-04-09T10:12:00.000-04:00

We farm in total about 1200 acres of which about half we own. We refer to the different farms by their location. Old Hagerstown refers to the road name of the farm that we rent. We keep all of our beef steers at this farm to finish them off before they go to become the beef that we sell thru our home delivery and dairy store. We raise Holstein and Brown Swiss cross cattle.

Each evening my parents go to the farm and feed the steers, sometimes Sophia or Jereamiah will tag along to ride with Poppy in the skid loader. My Dad will take 3 large scoops of ensilage (chopped corn, and corn stalk that has fermented in a pit) to feed in the bunk and then later he will also feed some cracked corn and soybean meal on top (that we raise and mill on our farm). Thru the winter this, along with bales of hay makes up the majority of their diet...but come springtime the steers will spend more and more time out in the pasture eatting lots of green grass and we will have to feed them less and less out of the bunk in the barnyard.

The rolling fields of the farm at Old Hagerstown Road provide quite the workout for the steers as they travel down a large hill to get to the main creek that runs thru the farmland, and then they have to climb back up the hill to get back into the barnyard, this exercise provides nice leg muscles that produce a nice meaty lean steak!

Brownie, is a Swiss/Holstein cross that is overly friendly and quite a pain,he pushes everyone out of the way so that he can get the best spot on the bunk, he also will knock you over if you are out in the yard with the cattle and he wants to play!

The Maryland Science Center & Barnum and Bailey Circus

2009-04-05T18:30:00.007-04:00

We decided that we were going to spend the day in Baltimore, the weather was beautiful and we had tickets for the circus later in the day. We started out at the Maryland Science Center...it had been about a year since the kids were there before...honestly not much had changed in that period of time, but with Sophia being a year older I think she learned more this time around. The third floor with the water room was still the favorite...since it was not very busy both kids got to take part in an experiment in the wet lab where they learned about DNA.

At around 2:00 we met up with Jon and Michelle and had lunch at PF Changs at the Inner Harbour...we LOVE the chicken Lettuce wraps that they have there and the closest one to us is in Columbia so we don't get to eat there very often!

We got over to the arena in time for the pre-show which was super cool because we got to be down on the actual arena and got to interact with the clowns and other performers before the show actually started. Thanks to Ron (one of the security guards at the Baltimore FM) we got free parking and super seats this time. Tony and I know that we attended the circus as children but neither of us had memories of it so this was a great experience for us to share together and with our kids! I think my favorite parts were the elephants and tigers!

Spring Soccer Starts

2009-04-04T18:21:00.002-04:00

Our first game of the season was on a VERY windy day...but that did not stop our team the Jaguars from playing an AWESOME starting game of soccer. Tony took the day off from the market and we stopped at Subway on the way home for lunch!

Our Farm

2009-03-30T17:03:00.002-04:00

This was our first real photo shoot of the farm, and Tony got alot of great shots...many of which will now be used in advertising brochures that will be taken to Virginia Beach, the photos will also be in rotation on our creamery's home page (www.southmountaincreamery.com), as well as on our new ice cream containers...what a great investment we made in getting our camera!!

Stressful time...

2009-03-29T19:12:00.003-04:00

Between the launch of the new business, the sudden decline in my Pappy's health and the mysterious stomach flu that Sophia has had since Thursday it has been a "roller coaster" weekend.

We decided to make a real go at the business expansion into Virginia Beach, VA. There used to be 2 dairies servicing the Hampton Roads area but in recent years both have gone out of business...one due to family issues and the other due to unwise business decisions that lead to recent closing in December 2008 leaving all of the staff and drivers that had worked for them for at least a decade without work and the customers without milk! When the first article went out on the 11th of March showing our initial interest in expansion we got about 50 sign-ups and some of the former employees contacted us saying they wanted to help us make this work, so then we heard that BIG TIME dairy out of Chicago; Oberweiss came in and bought the customer list and trucks we were at first a bit deterred but then after speaking to Yoder's former General Manager and actually having her drive the 4 hour drive to MD to meet with us we decided we wanted the routes more so now that Oberweiss thinks that they are going to ship milk 900 miles to deliver to these customers who are used to a more natural product straight off the farm. Well once Oberweiss got wind of our decision they called up Tony and told him that they had never head of us and that we should "back out" because there is not enough business in VA Beach for 2 dairies...well as you know it it is "game on" and we hired the former General Manager and we are hoping to be delivering to VA Beach by the first of May! In the midst of all of this we have our festival on April 25th and 26th...Tony and I are traveling to SLC for a conference at the end of April and we are also going to have the Veggie business delivering by the first of June...talk about STRESS!!!

My Pappy Sowers, was taken to the ER on Friday by my Grandma because he wasn't eating and he was having pain in his groin area, so he was admitted...found out he has a urinary track infection and he only has one kidney because he had cancer in the other one which was removed in 2002 and the cancer is back where that kidney once was, he has cancer on his liver and in growths on his neck. He is currently on a 10 day treatment on antibiotics and will be in the hospital for at least that length of time and then it will be decided if he is going to undergo chemo. Tony and I were into visit with him last night and he looks good in spite of all that is going on with him, he has had lots of visitors and his spirits are good so at least he is not suffering (besides for the horrible hospital food :))

Sophia has been complaining of stomach pain on and off for 6 months or more, there is no rhyme or reason to when she complains about the pain...I give her tums and most times the pain seems to disappear...I just figured she has my acid reflux issues...as of last Thursday she was complaining for hours at a time and I decided we should go and get her checked out...so we saw the dr Friday afternoon and they decided to start her on a round of Zantac to see if it would help...I was told to call the office if she started running a fever or vomiting...well I gave her the 1st dose in the parking lot of the dr office and by the time we got home she threw-up (I looked up the side effects of the drug online and vomiting was a side effect) on top of that I was thinking maybe she just has a stomach bug...plus she started feeling better after that and actually wanted to eat some dinner. I tried to give her a 2nd dose at bed time we did not even get it in and it was back up. Saturday she laid around on the couch all day complaining of pain but by early afternoon she had energy and wanted to go outside to play. We left the kids with Nana and Poppy so we could visit Pappy in the hospital and while we were gone she had diarrhea and she vomited in the Bronco. We bought her some fruit juice Popsicles to try to keep fluids in her and she slept all night and woke up this morning fine. By mid-morning the pain started again and we went out to run errands and we went to lunch, she ate some plain rice and drank some spite...we went to the grocery store we were hardly in the door and she started crying out in pain and said she was going to throw up I took her outside and she threw up in the parking lot. We got home and she rested for a bit and then felt better again and came outside to play at the farm...I just don't know what to make of it all...when her belly is hurting you can see it in her eyes, but she does seem to be eating and drinking, and she doesn't throw up all the time...I would think if it truely was a stomach flu it would be more constant...the only good thing about going to the doctors now is that we reached our deductible already so the rest of the year we will only owe the co-pays!

More Excitement on the Homefront...

2009-03-26T16:43:00.002-04:00

After much thought, family meetings, and even a visit from one of Yoder Dairies former managers (Lisa made the 4+ hour treck up here to MD to meet us in person and get the grand tour) we have decided to move forward with the expansion of South Mountain Creamery into Virginia Beach and the surrounding areas. We have placed advertising in at least one source that will be distributed to around 63,000 homes early next week, plus we are hoping to have one of the local papers run a story on us (which always yields lots of excitement!)

We will be offering the former manager of Yoder's a position in VA Beach to run the show for us there (setting up a distribution center, hiring drivers, admins...etc). At first our plans we not to start service until June, but a large dairy out of Chicago (Oberweiss Dairy) as purchased all of Yoder's delivery trucks and the original customer list so we figure we need to move fast to get our "foot in the door."

Between this and the start-up of South Mountain Veggies and a few other things we have in the works (more on that later...) life is certainly never dull or boring around here!!

Sunday

2009-03-23T14:53:00.005-04:00

We really accomplished alot today...Tony had to get up at his normal time to separate milk so we then got an early start on splitting wood...we had 2 loads cut, split and loaded/unloaded by 11:00 am (the kids were actually really good help!) We came home to change and shower and then headed out to lunch at Red Lobster and then to Home Depot and the grocery store. We then came home and Tony crashed on the couch and the kids and I planted some herb seeds and played on straw mountain. Once Tony got up from his nap we headed out to take photos of the farm for the creamery's website...it was so nice out that I did not want to go home so we rode over to the Marker Road farm and then up to Andrew and Trisha's house before coming home for the night. (the house is about a mile off the road literally straight up the mountain!!)

Ever since we visited Andrew and Trisha's house...Sophia has insisted that she wants to spend the night...the only problem is that Trisha works as a L & D nurse at Shady Grove and has weird hours...so I don't know when she may get to spend the night..

Random...

2009-03-23T14:49:00.004-04:00

Sophia calls her private parts her "privacies"...the other day she asked me if her belly button was part of her privacies...and now when she changes her clothes she has to close her bedroom door so her brother won't see her!

Jereamiah is scared of Chuckie Cheese, but NOT Chuckie Cheeses'...he just "hates that rat!" Apparently the Easter Bunny takes a close 2nd to Chuckie Cheese...unless he has candy and then he is not quite as bad!

The other day someone told Sophia that she looked just like her Daddy...she did not miss a beat when she said "except Daddy doesn't have any hair"...LOL!

SOPHIA (our little entrepreneur)...

2009-03-18T15:29:00.003-04:00

Our child generates money at the creamery by either singing or doing tours. Literally on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's when she gets off from school she spends the afternoons out in front of the creamery with homemade signs charging people for either a tour or for her singing/dancing show.

The signs typically read: "Sophia's Show $1.00" or "Tours by Sophia $1.00" she used to work for $.10 but she learned fast that she liked the paper money better...today she has earned almost $5 (as some customers give her the change they got from the store or what is lying around in their cars).

She is not the least bit shy and she makes up the songs as she goes...and no one is allowed on her stage (which is the top of the picnic table that sits outside the creamery)

Poor Gabe....

2009-03-17T12:08:00.003-04:00

he has not been well for over a week, I sent him to school last week thru Thursday (when he came home he told us he declined lunch because he wasn't hungry)and then decided things were NOT getting better and ended up taking him to the doctor on Saturday morning after he was up most of the night coughing. After waiting over an hour past our appointment time we were FINALLY seen by Dr. Fleming who checked him out and ruled out pneumonia and diagnosed him with Acute Bronchitis, and since this has been the third time this season with Gabe having Bronchitis he did not want to go the antibiotic route this time as he is thinking Gabe is ultimately asthmatic and wanted to try a round of steroids...so we are having day #4 on the steroids and I am worrying that things are not improving as quickly as they would had he been placed on an antibiotic! Part of Gabe's problem is the fact that he has never learned to blow his nose (how exactly to you teach your child to do this, because apparently Tony and I have failed at this task)so he sucks all that mucus back in and then gags on it, which in turn causes him to cough and the whole process repeats itself! I think he may also have a touch of viral pink-eye (which is not contagious) but is causing his eyes to be swollen and watery. I feel so bad for him but do not know what else to do, we have him on like 5 different meds for all the different symptoms...I am hoping that with just 2 more days on the steroids things have to go up from here....

**the teacher announced to the class that Gabe was very sick and that he had Bronchitus, 2 of the girls from his class went home and told their mom's that gabe had breast cancer, so they called me to get the scoop...isn't it funny what 2nd graders hear??

Life update...

2009-03-15T10:21:00.002-04:00

I was thinking the other day that it had been quite some time since I had written...but I can't believe almost a month has past...!

We launched the new Veggie Website the first week of March (www.southmountainveggies.com), and we got almost 1000 customer sign-ups and we knew that we had to select only 350, so that was some hard decision making on Tony's part...it ultimately came down to the areas with the most density of interest and then it was divided out into 5 routes, and then we sent out the emails to everyone letting them know if they made the cut or not...most people were understanding...others not so much. At this point we are awaiting a decision from the bank on our loan and then we can move forward with buying a truck, setting up the bank account and cleaning up the space we are going to be renting to use as the warehouse and loading dock...our plans are to be making the first deliveries by June.

I have been having trouble with my stomach again and was in alot of pain and was unable to eat, so I got back in with the Gastro Doctor and had the Upper GI study done again (it has been almost 2 years since the last one) and although there was no ulcers there were many legions (basically if I would have let things go I would have ulcers again) so I am back on a bunch of meds again and I am feeling a lot better.

Gabe finished his winter indoor soccer season with 5 wins and 1 loss, and we invited the whole team out to the creamery for ice cream and all the kids played on straw mountain for awhile. Gabe has also been busy earning academic badges and pins for cub scouts and this weekend we have been trying to get all the achievements completed so that he can move up to the Bears in the fall. I also had another conference with his teacher and he is ready in all areas but his writing (meaning punctuation and grammar) to be moved to the 4th grade next year, so it is up to him at this point if he can improve enough in this important area or not.

Sophia just finished 8 weeks of gymnastics and I signed her up again for another 8 week session for the spring, she is really getting good and loves going. She is also reading now, and is very proud of herself! I got her signed up for Kindergarten and they sent home a packet of items that the kids needed to know before they started in the fall (ie matching capital letters to the lower case ones, counting to 20 and placing the numbers in the correct order when they are mixed up) and she took one look at it and said "that's so easy" so we sent the packet back to school and figured there would be another child that could maybe use it since she won't be needing it.

Tony has had his hands in a lot of new projects...we are getting ready to expand the creamery, because the milk price is at an all time low he is also trying to line up lots of wholesale accounts (something we really did not want to do before) but since we want to sell as much milk as we can thru the creamery versus sending it to the co-op we are now open to the idea. An article ran in a newspaper down in Virginia Beach, VA about us and now we have some interest in that area (which is 4 hours away) to do delivery and if we can get 1500-2000 customers we are honestly considering it. We have landed at least 2 ice cream accounts so we will be making ice cream every day starting next week to keep up with the demand not only for our store but for a store in Ocean City and one in Silver Spring.

All in all I would say life is treating us really good at the moment, we have alot to be thankful for, it is a nice place to be in!

Kindergarden Registration, Spring Conference

2009-03-03T07:02:00.002-05:00

After delivering milk all day with Curtis (since one driver broke his ankle and the other one has kidney stones) all available employees were dispatched to deliver milk today. We got back to the farm just in time for me to get to the elementary school to get Sophia registered for school in the fall (can you believe my baby will be going to school?)

While I was there I decided to see if Ms. Perrel could conference with me (since my scheduled conference on Monday was cancelled due to the snow). Things went well, Gabe is above grade level in every area but on his writing. He needs to improve on his sentence structure, his capitalization and punctuation and spelling. He has gotten interested in my blog and so I set him one up under my account and he has been typing on that...we will see how long this lasts...

Notes...

2009-02-24T03:14:00.002-05:00

Sophia took her first real shower by herself...she was super excited about it. I helped her wash her hair as she still got soap in her eyes.

Gabe was "Camper of the Week" in his classroom. He had 6 letters to read from Nana Sowers, Daddy, me, Aunt Marcia, Grandma Beachley, and Nana Brusco. He also took in photographs to share with his class.

Pinewood Derby, Blue and Gold Banquet

2009-02-22T17:52:00.004-05:00

We had BIG plans this year we were REALLY going to plan out the ULTIMATE derby car, and then reality set in and we were putting the finishing touches on the car this morning...so much for organization!

Sophia had a car too this year as they have a "sibling race" after all the cub scouts race their cars. Sophia's wheels came off her car and caused her car to fly off the race track and flip over on its side. I was afraid she was going to get upset...she took it all in stride and laughed about it, I told her after the fact how proud I was that she did not get upset about her car crashing...she laughed and siad that it was funny but EMBARASSING too!! (great so we can already be embarassed about something at 4?!)

Gabe also received 3 belt loops and 4 pins for achievements earned.

Sophia is FINE...

2009-02-19T17:43:00.003-05:00

We had our appointment with the Pediatric Cardiologist from John's Hopkins (Dr. Brenner). He did yet another EKG, and a full check-up of her heart, and asked Sophia and us a bunch of questions and then taught us how to take her pulse to get a normal baseline of her heartrate, that way if/when the palpitations occur again we will know how to see how high they are. A normal heartrate would be around 100 bpm(beats per minute)so if she would have an episode where she was at say 200 bpm or higher then we most likely will need to see him again. So all in all good news!

ER visit for Sophia...

2009-02-19T10:00:00.005-05:00

For the past 3 weeks on and off Sophia has been bringing to our attention that her heart is beating really fast...(times when she is resting and should not have an elevated heart rate), honestly I brushed it off and moved on...well yesterday while at Nana's resting on the couch watching TV, she suddenly comes running out to the kitchen where mom and I were talking grasping her chest and crying saying it hurt really bad and again her heart was beating really fast (considering she was simply watching tv). She had gymnastics and so I asked her if she still felt like going and she wanted to go, and as we got ready to head to the class I heard no more about it, she attended the class and everything again seemed fine...Gabe had a Cub Scout meeting in Myersville so we planned on meeting up with Gabe and Tony at the McDonald's for dinner and then were all going to attend the meeting together. As we were finishing up our dinner Sophia again started to complain about pain not only in her chest but now also in her stomach and she was again crying, so I took her home and the boys headed to the meeting. I decided to call the doctor on the way home to see if they thought she should be seen, they said they did not have the proper equipment to see a child for a chest pain and said she needed to go to urgent care. So my mom takes me back to Myersville to meet up with Tony so the two of us head to Frederick with Sophia and mom takes Gabe home with her once the meeting is over. We arrived at urgent care and they turn us away saying chest pain is something that needs seen at the ER (granted by this point Sophia is acting totally normal the only pain she is now complaining about is her stomach), so we head over to FMH to be seen there. We arrived around 8:00 pm and actually were thru triage and in a room by 8:30...they did an initial EKG which came back with some abnormalities, and a chest X-ray (now granted they are now telling us that obviously they will treat to the best of their ability Sophia's condition BUT that they are not a "Children's Hospital" and therefore depending on how things progressed may send us somewhere else...

The ER doctor has now called a pediatric cardiologist at Hopkins to consult over the phone...they decided they want a 2nd EKG and Sophia is no longer thinking any of this is fun, they had to reapply the stickers to get the 2nd reading and now she is stressed so who knows what the reading will show...they fax both EKG to Hopkins and come back for Cardio Blood work which Sophia completely FLIPPED OUT over it took 3 of us to hold her down while the nurse took her blood (4 vials of it) and then got an IV line started.

Now it was a long time before the Dr FINALLY came back to our room to discuss with us how to proceed next...basically they found nothing urgently wrong but again they reiterated how they do not have the facilities for children and that we should go see a specialist in the morning just to be sure...we got home and picked up Gabe from my parents at around midnight.

She is acting normal today except her only compliant is where they had the IV line in her hand it is still sore. She is telling everyone that she is no longer allowed to have caffeine as that is what makes her heart race. In fact as she was reading her cereal box this morning it was taking about so many "calories per serving" and she thought since the word started with a "C" that it was caffeine and that she wasn't allowed to eat the cereal...

Gabe was talking to my mom last night and told her that he doesn't understand how anything could be wrong with Sophia's heart because she doesn't smoke and she doesn't drink (they are learning all about heart disease in school).

I was able to get an appoint with a specialist from John''s Hopkins we have an appointment with him this afternoon...

Picasa 3

2009-02-14T12:47:00.003-05:00

As you can see I have recently been introduced to a free photo software that allows me to play with my photos and then make these photo collages. Been spending way too much time editing photos now...

The kids were driving me crazy this morning, so I needed to run an errand and I decided there was plenty of energy that needed used up so we stopped by the park in Middletown before heading to lunch at Subway!

Valentine's Party (Sophia)

2009-02-13T17:40:00.004-05:00

As we were putting the final touches on the cards and treats for Sophia to hand out to all of her friends, Tony reminded me that the kids don't look at the cards anyway...they just want the candy...well that may be true for boys, but when she received her very first valentine from Sammy this morning in the car on the way to school she was so excited about it that it brought back memories of me and my first Valentine Cards...how exciting it was to pick-out the valentines at the store and then write each and every classmates' name on the cards and awaiting the look on their faces when they opened the Valentine YOU gave to them...of course now each card has a treat attached to it...not sure if it was like that when I was young I just remember sitting and reading each card over and over again.

Valentine's Party (Gabriel)

2009-02-13T17:18:00.003-05:00

Today Gabe had his class Valentine's Party. I went along to help in the classroom and also to bring teh ice cream for the Sundaes. Noah's mom had things organized so nicely, that in the 50 minutes that the party was going on everything fell right into place!

They kids had 3 stations to go to, the first was making a craft with their handprint on it that has a poem that reads...
Let me hold your heart in my hand
This is where your heart needs to be
My love for you will always be true
Your heart will be safe here with me

The second station was making the ice cream sundaes.

The third station was BINGO with them each receiving a box of conversation hearts as the markers for the game.

BIG NEWS!!

2009-02-09T06:07:00.001-05:00

Our BIG news, Tony has been busy writing our business plan for our new business venture and we are moving forward to hopefully have a LIVE website by early March and be making actual deliveries by early to mid May. The name of the business is South Mountain Veggies (www.southmountainveggies.com, southmountainvegetables.com or southmountainveggie.com). We have polled our current customer base of over 4000 customers and got an overwhelming response of over 1500 positive emails that have also been sent out to people that are not currently customer but are also very interested in the service. Tony has 22 local farms on board to supply us with the fruits and vegetables, we will be building a building/warehouse hopefully in our front yard that will not only house the walk-in refrigerators and packaging rooms but will also be large enough to park the delivery vehicles inside. We are looking at purchasing 2-3 refrigerated sprinter vans to start. The website itself should be able to handle the customers' orders (as the same tech group that built the creamery's site will be building the veggie site) so we are thinking our only labor will be hand packing the orders, we will hire drivers to handle the actually delivery runs.

More to come as we know more...!!

Disney on Ice and other weekend news...

2009-02-08T07:13:00.009-05:00

Been another busy week, I can't remember the details of the weekdays, but we try to have some fun during the weekends. Sophia went with Tony to the farmers market and sold the rest of the pot holders they made...so far both kids have made $10 each on the potholders project..(I may need to pick-up some more loops when we are in Frederick). She brought home some pretty pink tulips for her room, I am thinking she smiled sweetly at "John the flower guy" and he most likely gave her those Tulips!

Gabe is starting to come down with the "crud" (it is what I call the congestion that always goes right into his chest and will most likely turn into Bronchitis in another week), but insisted that he still wanted to attend his friend Owen's birthday party at Ridemakerz in Hagerstown (it is similar to "Build-a-Bear" but this is geared for boys). Owen's parents had the party set-up that each boy could build their car up to $30 each and then anything above that we were responsible for (Gabe had already planned on spending his $$ to upgrade his car into remote control) what I could not believe was that the car cost $72 when it was all said and done...what an expensive toy and can you imagine the bill Owen's parents had to pay for 13 kids?!

We were right next door to Chipotle so Gabe and I invited Mike, Linda and Chris Morse to join us for lunch (they were at the party too, and we know them from cub scouts) and we chatted for a few minutes before heading home.

I finished and e-filed our taxes for 2008, we should have the refund by the end of the week!

I left Gabe on the couch while I headed out tot he farm for a few minutes to meet up with Tony and get Sophia ready to head out to Baltimore to the Disney on Ice show. Tony has connections thru the Baltimore FM and was able to get us discounted tickets for the show and VIP parking right outside of the box office, so that worked out great for us. We met up with Jon and his family to sit together for the show. I honestly can't believe Sophia made it thru the whole thing has she had been up since 5:00 am and Tony said she hardly slept at all in the truck! We stopped real quick at the Chick-Fil-A in Catonsville before heading home for the night.

On Sunday, Tony got up at 1:00 to help my brother with the morning milking and then came back to bed and we let him sleep until almost 9:00 (the kids were making too much noise running around). We headed down to the farm to check on a few items and then headed out to town to run some errands and pick-up a quick lunch before Gabe had his soccer game and photos taken. I took my camera along and started asking the photographer questions and he took my camera and showed me a few more of the settings and helped me take some ok indoor sports shots (he says a need a different lens which is like $2000, so I guess "ok" sports shots is what we will get as unless I am seriously going to take a class or something we will not be spending that kind of money on a lens)...although I have found a few online courses that I may look into taking...(in my free time, LOL)

The photographer showed me a different way to hold the camera, but my lens is still way too SLOW to keep it from being blurred...

This is Sophia with her friend Natalie.

Tony finished the bathroom project and nothing is leaking under the sink anymore so I think that project is officially completed! Since it was such a nice day/evening we took a walk before dinner and met up with my brother and some other guys at the shop and ended up playing some football with the kids. Mom and Dad are still not back from their trip to Florida(they have been gone since Saturday the 31st)...maybe tomorrow...?

A cold Saturday and a busy Sunday...

2009-02-01T18:13:00.005-05:00

I spent most of Saturday thoroughly cleaning the house, doing loads and loads of laundry, and then going to the grocery store to pick-up a few things for the week for dinner. With the wood stove in the house, there is always lots of duct and dirt all over everything...once the stove is closed in the spring I plan on renting a steam cleaner and washing all the carpets and upholstery!

Gabe and Tony went to the Baltimore Farmers Market and FROZE, I think the high yesterday was in the 20's! One positive thing that came out of Gabe attending the market was he got to sell his pot holders that he has been working on since Christmas and he and Sophia split the $14 made...neither one of them wanted to spend their money, they are both into saving it right now (which makes me soo happy). Gabe and Sophia both have Cd's in their names and Sophia also has savings account that we can add money too. Tony was able to "land" some cheap Disney on Ice tickets that we will use next weekend.

We watched a netflix movie last night and had Chicken, Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo for dinner (a new recipe I wanted to try) it turned out really well!

Sunday, Tony got up at 1:00 am to help my brother milk and clean out the barn, so we did not get up and moving til 8:30 am. I made us breakfast and then we headed to Home Depot for a few more items to finish our bathroom project. By 1:00 we had to head to Frederick for Gabe's soccer game and then out to a late lunch at Uno's.

We came back home and almost have the bathroom remodel complete, we have running water (but the one drain leaks a bit, so that will need redone in the next few days), we got the new cabinent built and put in place (but to make it permanant we need to move the mirror)...but you can get the general idea...

Lots of snow days...

2009-01-30T06:27:00.003-05:00

After having attending school on Monday the kids were then off from school on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then having a 2 hour delay on Thursday. The President actually was surprised that we take time off from school around here for snow and ice! Apparently in Chicago they would still attend school and go outside for recess went he weather gets bad...not sure how I feel about any of this being changed...

It was hard to get around outside, all of our burning wood got covered in ice because the tarp blew off the wood pile before the ice storm hit, so that made burning wood for heat interesting...

My poor van stayed parked until Thursday afternoon as it just wasn't going to be possible to get in and out of our driveway, plus there was really no where for me to park at the creamery anyway, so Tony hauled the kids and I where ever we needed to go.

The kids stayed home for 2 days despite my mom's efforts to get them to go outside and play, they are like me in the fact that I never found any fun playing in the snow...it takes forever to get dressed, then you have soo many layers on you can't move, you get outside and your hands get cold when you start to play in the snow and soon after your toes start feeling cold and by then you have had enough and want back inside and then you have the mess of wet boots and all the layers of clothes...totally not worth it! Sophia is usually a bit more tolerable to the cold, but Gabe could live without any of the white stuff (well except for the fact it cancels school)

Tony and I would come home periodically to check on them and put more wood in the fire. They stayed busy playing games, watching tv, playing the Wii, and completing chore lists that we gave them to do...on Tuesday night we came home to a vacuumed house and the dishwasher emptied! They keep my cell phone and call Tony if they need anything important (things like tattling on the other one for eating something they were not supposed too or general disagreements!)

We had to cover the store and the billing persons job on Tuesday because they both called in sick, it worked out OK because the store had like 2 customers the whole day, the phone wasn't busy at all, and it was kind of fun doing someone else's job for a change!

The bad weather caused us a delay in delivering on Wednesday. The trucks did attempt, but when things looked like they weren't improving (road conditions and air temperature), we called them back home and now we are just a day behind delivering for the rest of the week. (most customers are very understanding of this)

Found that our one driver was guilty of the "egging incidents". Apparently he and his buddies got bored one night and decided they wanted to throw eggs at cars and so Joe told them he could get the eggs for free from his workplace and so they stole at least 30 dozen from us and hit downtown Frederick. Joe worked for us back when he was 12 on the farm and has been back with us at the creamery for about 6 months so we took pity on him and are giving him another chance, we are not pressing charges but I did take the money out of his paycheck for the eggs. He seemed very embarassed and ashamed yesturday when he came into work and apologized to us...( oh to be 19 and stupid!)

Busy Weekend...

2009-01-25T14:26:00.005-05:00

This was our first Saturday back from the trip...Tony was back at the market and gone all day :(...so I utilized the time working thru emails at the creamery, catching up on laundry and cleaning out the woodstove and hauling wood. Gabe was invited to a birthday party at Adventure Park USA in New Market so we headed out there in the middle of the day for a few hours of fun! I was surprised Gabe wanted to play on the "high wires" but he did rather well, and Sophia has gotten hooked on playing racing games and she is really good at them, she played the wave runner game and came in 3rd both times, since she is too short to steer and press the gas, she sits on my lap and drives while I use the gas and brake for her.

On Sunday we decided we were going to attempt to re-do the bathroom, and started the project at around 10:30 in the morning, of course things did not go as smoothly as planned, as when we were first demolishing the original cabinent we found yet ANOTHER dead rat under there...GROSS! Then the next problem was the placement of the waterlines in the old cabinent were on the outside edges and the outside edges of the new cabinents were rows of drawers so that wasn't going to work (we had to move the water lines)...then the only plug in the entire bathroom is over the sink which was now going to be covered up by the new countertop, so Tony had to move the plug...
BEFORE

AFTER DEMO...

I will an after photo...once it is complete (hopefully soon!) We have been using the kids' bathroom to brush our teeth and any other task that requires water!

An unwelcome Homecoming...

2009-01-25T10:00:00.004-05:00

When we go away on vacation and leave the creamery to my family to run, there always seems to be LOTS of extra DRAMA, and then time proved to be no different, infact things got way out of hand, and caused our homecoming to be less than desirable.

Apparently, while we were gone, they fired 2 employees, a driver because he did not come into work because he was in jail for drug posession, and the other employee was our customer service person who was distributing nude and vulgar pictures of herself while at work and then she also claims to have be sexually abused by Tony and supposedly she has emails and text messages to prove her case. So when we got home my family decided to have an "intervention" of sorts and basically sat us down at the kitchen table and accused Tony of all this wrongdoing, and therefore basically severing any bit of relasionship that may have been left, as I know he did nothing wrong and I can't believe that my family had these awful thoughts about the man I love so dearly! Even a week later when it continues to prove that the accusations were false we have yet to receive any type of apology. As a result of these turn of events, my family now wants to take over control of the creamery and thus make us "employees" instead of owners, because we obviously have let things get out of control by getting too close to our employees. In light of all of these changes Tony and I are now looking at opening a business on our own, as it is evident the creamery will not be ours in the near future and we are no longer willing to work for "peanuts" for a company that does not realize our worth and the sacrifices we have made with no recognition or praise.

Things happen in 3's....

2009-01-23T10:47:00.002-05:00

It has been a week of many challenges and happenings around the farm...one of our farm workers Curtis was hauling a load of lime in our tractor and trailer and was trying to unload the lime when the load shifted wrong and the entire tractor and trailer flipped over onto the passenger side causing Curtis to fall over and hit his head on the ground and then having to break open the windshield in order to get out of the truck, we are not sure how long it was before he called my brother for help but when Ben arrived on the scene Curtis was on his knees way out in the middle of the field no where close to the truck...

Another interesting occurrence was the fact that during lunch on Thursday a sheriff showed up at the creamery questioning Tony about where we get our eggs from, as our empty cartons were found all over downtown Frederick next to streets of cars that had been "egged" and he was wondering if we had any idea who would do this? We had no idea and gave the sheriff info on all of our drivers and any "disgruntled" employees that may have been involved but because it happened in Frederick in the middle of the night it was quickly ruled out that no one currently working at the creamery was involved. The next day in the newspaper there was an article written about the "egging incidents" we were not mentioned but apparently it was not just Frederick that was hit; as Braddock Heights and some of the higher end neighborhoods in Middletown had seen similar incidents happen too!

The 3rd incident that hopefully will complete this "run of bad luck" was a cow was eating out in the barn and somehow got her nose caught in the feeder and it literally took off her nose and her jaw, it was very gruesome and my brother had to shoot her as she wasn't going to live...

Our trip in a nutshell....

2009-01-17T17:04:00.001-05:00

We took over 600 photos, which sounds like alot but until you've actually gone thru them and edited them you don't seem to have too many remaining that you want to really keep as a remembrance of our time away...

Saturday the 10th: Took 2 airplanes to a charter bus to the ship...we left at 4:00 am and were on board by 1:30 eating lunch...not too shabby, but we were EXHAUSTED!

Sunday the 11th: Arrived in Key West by late morning, got off the ship and explored the town, got "Conch Fritters" to try and then took the kids on a pirate scavenger hunt in the nearby pirate museum...(parts of which were quite disgusting...everything was supposed to be actual artifacts).

Monday the 12th: was a day spent at sea...the kids tried out the pool, we played ping pong and Foosball, Sophia got her hair braided, and Tony and the kids went to see the movie BOLT in 3-D while I took a nap.

Tuesday the 13th: we arrived in Grand Cayman and we had to tender to get onto the island (this means the ship can not dock, it has to stay out in deeper waters and we take smaller boats from the cruise ship to the dock and back again). We had scheduled an excursion to visit a turtle farm, so we got aboard a charter bus and they drove us about 25 minutes from Georgetown (the capital city)to the farm where we were dropped off and had a few hours to explore before heading back. We got to see the breeding tank, we got to hold a turtle and then the kids and Tony got to swim in a salt-water lagoon with fish and Iguanas (which apparently freaked Tony out a bit and he quickly got out!). On the way back our bus stopped in "HELL" and we took photos before heading back to the dock. The kids and I were exhausted so we headed back to the ship, Tony stayed behind and got himself some Cuban Cigars and stopped into "Margaritaville" and got himself a shot before heading back...

Wednesday the 14th: the kids spent the entire day in the Kids Club due to the fact that the excursion Tony had planned for us was to take around 8 hours. We were forewarned that the 35 minute boat ride from Cozumel to mainland Mexico was going to be really bad, as the waters were very rough, and Disney offered to refund us our money if we chose not to go, Tony was determined we were going no matter what, so we boarded the boat and hung on tight as people all around us were getting seasick...we thank goodness made it across in one piece! Once in Mexico we walked thru a very crowded city marketplace and then to a van that took us another 25 minutes away into the jungle. Once at the location we zip lined thru the jungle, rode bikes, swam in the underground rivers and saw a Mayan purification ceremony, it was all very surreal, after we finished all four activities we had a traditional Mexican lunch before heading back to the beach to re-board the ferry back to Cozumel.

Thursday the 15th:this was anotehr day at sea, but this time the weather had turned cold and windy so the kids could not really use the pool. We played video games in the arcade, Tony and I had a couples massage, and then we caught the movie "Bedtime Stories"...nothing real exciting...

Friday the 16th:This was our last stop before heading back to Florida...Disney's private island "Castaway Cay." The high was only in the 60's (not warm enough for me to get dressed in swimming clothes) so we got off the boat in jeans and sweatshirts to spend the day at the beach...as the morning progressed and the sun came out, Tony headed back to the ship for swimming clothes for himself and the kids, it was just too cold for me! Gabe and Sophia played in the sand and surf and made some new friends. When we got back to the ship we started packing up our things because all of our bags that needed to be checked for our airplane ride home had to be outside our door by no later than 11:00 pm.

Saturday the 17th: we asked for a wake-up call as we needed to be up, dresses and be out of our room and eaten breakfast by the time the ship docked at 7:30. Because our flight home was before 12:00 noon we needed to be off the boat and heading back to the airport as early as possible. Once back at Dullas it was "back to reality" as we had to go and wait at baggage claim for our bags and then hail down a bus to take us back to our very COLD van and drive back home...

***We had dinner service at a different restaurant each night, alternating between Luminere's (a French Style), Parrot Cay, and Animator's Palate...I think we all agreed that Parrot cay was our favorite!

*** Each night when it was time for bed we would find our towels turned into all sorts of animal shapes along with 4 chocolates so that we would have "sweet dreams"!

***I had to go to the on board ER on Tuesday because I had been not feeling well for 2 days and I found out that I had a bad case of Strep Throat and was given some strong anti-biotics, even though I did not feel good and was freezing cold all. the. time. I still went on all the excursions and tried to make the best of the situation!

Only 2 sleeps left...

2009-01-08T06:26:00.004-05:00

The excitement is getting almost too much to bare, not only for the kids but for us as well, it is all that we talk about, "next week on this day we will be here doing this and that" or when the kids want something to eat that we are out of at the moment (because grocery shopping will have to wait until we return) I remind them that they can have all their hearts desire next week, the food on a cruise ship is simply "INSANE"!

Been playing with the new camera, trying to figure out the settings, at first we were only going to take the new one along, but I am still more comfortable with the small one, so I think it will join us as well, especially for the one day we are gone from the ship for 7 hours, I think it makes more since to be dragging around the smaller camera...I guess we will see...

The kids are totally packed, Gabe has completed all the homework that was sent home he will be returning the last assignment tomorrow, I am done except my bathroom stuff, Tony has yet to pack at all...he claims he will pack when the "actual" vacation for him begins...(which will be tomorrow night), the house is in pretty good order to leave and mom will be taking care of the furry animals while we are gone...

2 hour delay today...

2009-01-07T07:10:00.003-05:00

It is a good morning to sleep in with the sound of rain on our windows...the kids need the extra sleep anyway to get over their sickness...

Took the kids to mom's so she could put Gabe on the bus and keep Sophia for me...

Internet was down until after 1:00 pm today because there was apparently an electric surge and it blew the Comcast fuse in the line and no one at Comcast believed us when we kept calling in with an outage, FINALLY at around 11:00 one of the "independent techs" was sent to our location to determine the cause of the problem since Comcast thought we did not know what we were talking about, he couldn't fix it, and at that point a "real" service tech was called in and they found that the problem WAS their's, isn't that nice? We pay a premium for business service, yet we had to waste time and money driving to Frederick this morning to use Kinko's Internet service to do our work!

There are 2 creameries in the tri-state area that recently went out of business 1 that is 4 hours away in PA and one in Virginia Beach. Their wholesale customers are now coming to us to fill their dairy needs...not exactly sure what we are going to do just yet, it is not only fluid milk but also ice cream mix, some accounts want us to use their milk, others want to buy ours...we need to decide as a family if we want to consider doing wholesale accounts again...

Tony went to Lowe's and bought us a brand new double vanity unit, and hardware to install in our bathroom, most likely it will be a project for after the trip but we decided it was more likely to get done sooner if all the pieces were purchased ahead of time and were already at our house...

When we got home from work tonight, there was something in the bathroom cabinet again, so when Tony got home from work he started demolition on the cabinent found the hole those darn rodents were using to get in the house and filled it will some sort of foam but not before filling the hole with bait to kill them first! He was like "try to get in our house now you suckas!"

Gabe was supposed to go to cub scouts but his "sickness" has now moved to his sinuses, so he took a shower and some sudafed and watched Tony play Mario Cart. He has been off antibiotics since Tuesday, so it seems to me if it was a sinus infection they should have taken care of it...so we are hoping it is just the end of his cold...afterall warm humid air should do all of us some good, right?

A crappy weather day...

2009-01-06T06:58:00.004-05:00

We always get a bit worried when it is calling for ice or snow, because of our delivery business. Praying that the temperature stays above freezing so it all stays rain...we can handle raindrops, just not ice!!

Schools closed 2 hours early, all of our delivery trucks made it home in one piece!

Fought with Gabe for what seemed like hours to get thru some of the work he will be missing next week.

Started Sophia on her 7 day antibiotics...which means we will have to find a way to keep them cold in transit til we get to our stateroom and can put them on ice...

almost caught RAT # 6 (it has escaped the trap twice now) I am so OVER this, I emptied the cabinents/drawers and taped them shut, Tony is going to order us new vanity units tomorrow and we will install once we return...

Back to a routine...

2009-01-05T06:13:00.006-05:00

School starts back to day for both kids, so my alarm got set for 6:00 am even though I was awake by 5:00, not feeling so good today, my sinuses are screaming and I have a headache...better get using that Zicam!

Took the kids to school and then off to work, found 40 new customers awaiting service (since Friday...all those customers signed up over the weekend...CRAZY!!!)

Started making lists for the employees and my folks for when we are away...

Had a driver call in sick, so Tony was in DC making deliveries all day.

My package from VS arrived...mail, packages...all are good things...VERY good things!:)

Gabe started bringing home his homework from when we are away...(there seems to be ALOT)

Made a quick dinner of steak and fries, and then played Mario Cart racing on the Wii (we are all soo ADDICTED...and Sophia is surprisingly very good at this game!)

Sundays and Splitting wood

2009-01-04T12:31:00.007-05:00

We slept in this morning and then Tony made all of us French Toast for breakfast before we headed out to work on splitting more wood. We have used soo much more wood already this season than we originally thought, so instead of working on next seasons' wood this year we are still splitting for this year...just a learning process I guess...

The pieces we were working on today were some of the very first tree Tony cut when he got his chain saw back in the spring...they were MONSTERS!! The splitter hesitated a bit at times but in the end got it all split, we figured we probably did about a cord or more this morning!

For the first time since in what feels like months, gabe was able to play some soccer with Renee and use his new soccer ball that we got for him for Christmas. The winter league will start again on the 24th.

When we first installed the stove we intended on NOT using any propane gas, but as we have learned thus far this season, we need to use it to help maintain a temperature inside the house as we are not so good at keeping the fire going "a round the clock" and on especially cold days/nights if the fire goes out it gets really cold inside quick! I did have Thompson's Gas come out and top off the tank cause I was not sure how much we have used thus far this season (we have a 500 gallon tank), it only need 80 gallons so that was not bad at all!

We headed out to Hagerstown and made a quick stop into visit my friend Erin, before we stopped for lunch and then onto Best Buy to get a different filter for my camera. I wanted Erin to help me with some of the settings on my new camera and she showed me a few tricks while Sophia played with Hank and the "boys" chatted in the kitchen. We had a few more stops to make but I feel like I am coming dow with a sinus infection and therefore just wanted to go home, take a shower and sleep...

A day of cleaning and organizing...

2009-01-03T12:56:00.010-05:00

With less than a week until we "cruise" we still have lots of packing to do. The kids are pretty much done at this point, going somewhere warm does make packing a bit more challenging as we have to get the bins of summer clothes out and some things no longer fit so then we have to go thru the clothes that were too big at the end of last season to see if they will fit...etc, the kids were both given new summery clothes for Christmas so that certainly helped...then there was the task of finding the swim clothes and sandals, and thank goodness both still have things that fit, because trying to find those items in the stores around here at this point would be next to impossible!

I took 2 bags of clothes to the "Planet Earth" bins in Frederick last night and we have 3 more bags today!!

Been really into making soups lately...first it was Chicken Corn, then Vegetable Beef and now today, Split Pea with Ham...the family gets tired of eating it after one or two nights, but I can always take a few quarts of it to work to share with the girls in the office and it is a great way to stretch a few key ingredients to feed everyone for 2-3 meals! Leftovers are certainly key to making the most out of your grocery budget!

Tony got home from the farmers market and asked if we wanted to join him at the Cochran's Auction House as my Dad and brother were already there and we had plans on purchasing some sprinter vans to use for deliveries at the creamery. Dad thought they would go pretty cheap and that we could buy 2-3 trucks for say $12000. Well, each one went for that price so we only ended up with 1, so we will give it a shot to see how it works with making milk deliveries! I had never been over to the auction grounds in Boonsboro and it was quite interesting to watch all the happenings...I just wish it would not have been so cold for the kids!

Came home to a simple dinner and then more playing with the new camera...

Vinnie and Sugar are starting to "tolerate" each other a bit more. She doesn't hiss anymore and he hardly barks at her...I guess it is a start!

New Year, 2nd Day...

2009-01-02T07:09:00.001-05:00

Tony and I took both kids to the doctors, Gabe has the start of a double ear infection and brochitius, so needless to say he has started antibiotics. Sophia is starting to show signs of maybe heading down the same road but was not bad enough yet to warrant a prescription, although since she has already been seen by a doctor should things get worse we will not need to be seen again, we will need to just place a phone call and antibiotics will be given.

Tony then surprised me by taking us out to purchase a new camera for our upcoming cruise. We have a small digital camera and had been thinking up upgrading for some time...the small one has been "acting up" (not exactly sure if it is the camera itself of user error) however many of the kids' Christmas photos came out all "grainly and yellow" and I was tired of the disappointment...so we "dug deep" and got ourselves this one...

Here are a few of the photos taken BEFORE we started reading the HUGE manual that came inside the box...

We also decided that we wanted a wireless router so that we could play the Wii Worldwide so we picked one of those up as well...now Tony and the kids are REALLY hooked on the Mario cart racing and Gabe can upload all his coins to his "Club Penguin" account.

Gabriel's New Years Resolutions...

2009-01-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

get O's on my report card
get first place in soccer
turn 8
get a grade level above
make pot holders and thngs that you put drinks on and sell them
read 39 clues
buy stuff
get better
work
get money

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T07:48:00.006-05:00

I am not one to write down resolutions on a piece of paper, but I have thought of a few things that I would like to improve on in my life in the upcoming year...

1) write more on this blog, as it will be something to hand to my children and grandchildren to read, a cronicle of sorts and I need to make more of an effort.

2) keep in touch with more friends and family thru emailing more diligently or using websites such as facebook.com or myspace.com (afterall you can never have too many friends!)

3) send more cards thru the mail for birthdays or just because (afterall I LOVE getting mail in my mailbox!)

4) have another fun year with those I love the most my Tony, Gabriel and Sophia!

Although we did not stay up to actually see the ending of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, we are hoping for another fun filled year of success with our business and many memories to be made with our closest friends and family!

Today, the office is closed but it is a day of much needed cleaning and organizing of buildings in and around the creamery so that is our BIG plans for the day...spent the morning signing up new customers, cleaning out the filing cabinents, the sheds, putting the christmas decorations away and then hauling trash, we stopped briefly for lunch and brought the kids outside with us for the afternoon of doing the year end inventory and defrosting of freezers...

And this is the first bottle of wine drank in 2009...(some of the inventory my father-in-law purchased to fill my wine rack for Christmas...THANK YOU) Honestly, I picked this one up because I liked the label...the Riesling inside was good, I did not enjoy it as much as my favorit Chateau St Michele, but was fruity and light and easy to sip...

Tasting Notes: Delicate floral notes are woven through a framework of intense aromas of yellow peach, ripe nectarine and a touch of pineapple to make an enticing package. The flavors of freshly picked peaches are combined with a hint of honeyed sweetness. The delicate balance is impressive, with the fruit flavors lingering through the crisp, clean finish.

School Photos

2008-12-10T10:49:00.009-05:00

Gabriel's winning 2008 MVYAA Soccer Team! In which Gabe scored the winning goal after a double overtime...YEAH!!

Gabriel 7 years old

Sophia 4 years old

2008 Christmas Photos "Professional"

2008-12-04T07:24:00.004-05:00

Unprofessional Family Photo

2008-12-04T07:03:00.000-05:00

Taken Thanksgiving Day 2008 at Grandma B's house...

Soccer Photos

2008-09-25T15:16:00.005-04:00

Gabe receiving his year end trophy for the Jaguars.

Back to School Night...

2008-08-28T06:33:00.002-04:00

Tonight was the night we got to see Gabe's classroom and meet his teacher. Mom wanted to come along with us because she wanted to see the school again and run into her friends she had not seen in a while. (this was certainly the place to do that!) I actually ran into 3 girls I went to school with AND graduated with who have kids either in 2nd grade with Gabe or going to pre-school with Sophia! Very exciting!

Gabe's 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. Perrell and his class is where my 2nd grade class was with Mrs. Kopp (oh so many years ago...so amazing!) His teacher seems very organized and eager to teach, she had a very nice presentation for the parents to explain her plans for the upcoming year. Gabe is with 11 of his classmates he has been with since pre-school, I think this type of classroom organization is important for friendship building and also cohesiveness of learning. I remember being with the same group of kids all thru my elementary school careeer and because of that we stayed friends thru HS and even beyond.

Mom and I signed up to volunteer around the school, so that should be a fun change of pace for the both of us!

Happy Birthday to Kate...

2008-08-26T07:29:00.000-04:00

Today she turned 24, Mom made Lasagna and angel food cake for her birthday lunch.

I HAD to take a picture of Jereamiah just because he is SO DARN CUTE!!

1st day of 2nd grade

2008-08-25T16:26:00.002-04:00

The first day of school was FINALLY here, not only was Gabe super excited, so was I...who would be in his class, was his teacher fun or strict, what time did he eat lunch, what special did he have? I could hardly wait for him to get off the bus at 4:15 to tell me all about his day!

Gabe is getting to ride to school in style, in some of the counties brand new school buses. It is like a charter bus inside with lots of room and the driver is in a captains chair way up high. The bus is very well lit and has lots of flashing lights when it is picking up and dropping off kids...VERY COOL!

Nana and Sophia were also there to wave him off on his first day of class!

Sunday, Sunday...

2008-08-24T17:39:00.002-04:00

This picture is of my grandfather and his 4 sisters (back row: Ruth Rebecaa, Gladys, front row: Fred, Ruth Ellen, and Eleanor). Both the kids had a really fun time playing water games, breaking a pinata, and doing a cake walk.

We woke up and had nothing really planned for the day, we knew it was the "official last day of summer" as school starts tomorrow for Gabriel. I had rearranged Gabe's room yesturday and of course Sophia wanted her room re-done as well. So we started working on her room and realized just how much clutter our child can hide under her bed and inside of other stuff, and when we told her it had to "find a home" or would be thrown away, we realized all the small pieces of toys and games really had "no home" and we can't just throw all this perfectly good toys and games away, we HAD to find some storage solutions that was functional and looked nice. Buying more of those ugly plastic storage bins was out of the question. I had done some research online and found some ideas but I did not want to spend hundreds of dollars on furniture I could not see or touch first, so to get us out of the "disaster" we call our home we headed to Frederick in search of a storage solution, we searched 3 stores in Frederick and had to return home for a family picnic in Middletown. I was in a pretty disgusted mood knowing that we had to come back home with no new solutions for all the clutter...while at the picnic Tony decides that he wants to drive to IKEA in Baltimore...

It had been years since we had been to IKEA and the place is simply AMAZING. They had childcare for the kids so we were able to leisurely shop the store. We found 2 pieces that we think will suit our needs, so we gathered up the kids and loaded the car to head home. Now hopefully we will find the time to get them put together and organized!

What started out as a pretty mundane day, ended nicely!

First official day as a "Soccer Mom"...

2008-08-23T18:24:00.004-04:00

The day has been hovering over me since about mid-July when we FINALLY decided to take the "plunge" and sign Gabe up for the traveling U8 team thru MVAA. We had looked at trying it out in years past and put it on the back burner...wasn't sure if I was truly ready to commit chauffeuring him to and from practices twice a week and traveling all over on Saturdays and/or Sundays for games, but after Gabe had such a fantastic time at Soccer Camp this past year we knew it was time...I also signed up to be a "team mom"...not exactly sure what that entails quite yet...

Today was spent solely doing all things soccer related...the day started bright and early with us meeting with the coaches and other team players to lay-out and paint the fields. I had no idea what to expect and actually it was quite fun and educational. I ended up helping to either measure the lines or helping with the painting, there we plenty of other kids around so Gabe and Sophia were entertained and I got to socialize and learn about how the teams were picked and about all the different coaches.

That was finishing up right around lunchtime so the kids and I went to Subway for lunch and then home to re-arrange Gabe's room. Since we have moved here over 3 years ago we have never done anything with his furniture...so to make more room I took the door off of his closet and we moved every piece of furniture to a new place...it is like he has a totally NEW room. We also did some purging in time for the neighborhood yard sale...

From that we left to attend his soccer meet and greet party at the coaches house, and this part of the day was the part I was most nervous about, but much to my surprise everyone was so friendly and kind, the kids are not all from Middletown, there are kids from Myersville, Boonsboro and even Frederick (not sure why you would drive from Boonsboro or Frederick to play in Middletown...but nonetheless).

The kids played some mock soccer games and the coaches got to take a good look at what skills each player brought to the field, us parents sat around chatting and learning about one another, I had a really GOOD time. (and I think the kids did as well, as the car was full of soccer chatter the whole way home)!

We got home in time to help finish loading the last farmers market truck and get back to "reality"...(as I did feel a bit guilty of getting out of all of my normal Saturday chores)!

Happy 7th Birthday Gabriel!

2008-07-16T17:59:00.004-04:00

Nanna made him Tacos and Macaroni and cheese for lunch and Chocolate Eclair for Dessert.
He got his very own tool set and a Woodworking 101 Book that will not only teach him the basics about wood and the tools but will help him learn to make 14 different projects...he is VERY excited abouth this and has already read the first 3 chapters all by himself!
While attempting to gather eggs from Nana's chickens the morning dew made him slip and fall and GUESS WHAT???
He broke his hand this year....(always the right arm, first year was the right wrist, last year was the right elbow, THIS year the right hand)...he walked into Dr. Chung's office today and greeted the doctor like an old friend...JUST GREAT!!

Happy Birthday we LOVE you!

How truely perfect....

2008-07-09T20:20:00.003-04:00

Found this on my brother-in-law's blog and it could not be any more perfect than how life has been in our own office over the past 4 weeks, between website problems, program problems, network and printer problems, it takes all the patience I can muster some days to not completely go off when everything keeps going wrong...I can honestly say I have not laughed this had in a VERY long time...thanks for the comic relief...it was very needed!

Bad Day

Happy Birthday Tony!

2008-07-07T19:02:00.002-04:00

June in Review

2008-06-30T19:53:00.007-04:00

So much has happened in the month of June that I had to go back thru all my photos to remember all the highlights...

At the creamery; Tony was overseeing another MAJOR project as he had to coordinate and install a new chiller and ice builder for the creamery. This entailed finding the correct equipment making sure it was going to be able to handle the volume our creamery will need to do in order to service our ever growing business and then hire a crane operator to remove the old equipment and install the new. ..

The kids were excited about the Summer Reading Program at the library that we HAD to go and get signed-up on the very first day and I bought them both t-shirts...(I still can't believe they both dressed themselves in the very SAME outfit one morning for school!) Gabe actually read 4 books on his own this summer so he will be eligible for a reading award the first week of school. I know my mom would wish they would read more, but I just can't seem to keep Gabe interested in it, maybe once he really learns how to read better he will take more interest...?

Mom and Dad Brusco came into town to visit in the middle of the month, which meant lots of familytime together and drinking loads of wine! Gabe and Sophia so enjoy spending time with their "grandparents from California" and always miss them after they return home. Even they they come to visit us they always in insist on "treating" us for dinner.
Just as we were hoping to get away for our summer vacation we decided to LAUNCH our newly built and designed website to take over the entire ordering and billing process. We did not expect to have SOO many problems and at first did not think we were going to be able to leave the office staff. We did afterall get to leave for the Poconos a few days late but did take a break nonetheless. The office staff was great handling everything while we were gone...

We visited Bushkill Falls to do some hiking, we played LOTS of putt putt golf and just did NOTHING...not our typical vacation, but it was nice to get away from the stresses of the creamery if only for a few days...
The one day we ventured to the "Great Wolf Lodge" and played in the waterpark and took part in the scavenger hunt they have around the lodge...we spent an entire day there and it was well worth the extra money spent! (the kids are still talking about it!)

The month ended with Jereamiah "Blue" turning 2, and our Sophia turning 4.

Happy 4th Birthday Sophia!!!

2008-06-30T07:54:00.002-04:00

To our "baby girl" may your have a blessed birthday, we LOVE you with all our hearts!

Happy Birthday to me...

2008-05-29T06:35:00.006-04:00

I could have not asked for a more perfect 31st birthday this year...the weather was beautiful, I got to see so many family members, and friends. My email inbox was filled with birthday wishes and so was my mailbox, it is nice to feel "special" one day out of the year!

The day started with both kids giving me homemade cards...Gabe's even had $.15 in it! Sophia insisted on wearing her "birthday dress" because it was my birthday and you have to dress up to go to a party, Gabe quickly entered the conversation and said that once you get old like Mommy you don't have birthday parties...THANKS GABRIEL!!

Once at the creamery my Dad was getting ready to head out on a milk delivery route ( a driver called in) so I got a folding chair and went along...we got some fun one-on-one time together as we made deliveries!

I got back to the office around 11:00 and found notes on my desk from the drivers and office staff wishing me "Happy Birthday" and then soon after that cousin Jim came in with roses from his garden for my desk. Jon and Michelle stopped by the creamery to get more product shots for the website so I got to chat with Michelle for a few minutes and see the baby...then it was off to my birthday lunch at Mom's. She made my favorite Slippery Beef Pot Pie and we had Oatmeal cake with Toasted Coconut Icing for dessert...yummy!

Around 1:30 Tony said he had a surprise for me and that we would have to go in separate cars to Frederick...he got my van completely detailed (something I have been asking for since before Christmas of last year)...I was soo excited!

So we dropped it off and headed back home and on the way Aunt Marcia calls me to stop by the Braddock Heights Post Office (she is the Postmaster) as she has something for me. I got to choose from 3 Longaberger Baskets..and I choose this one...

It will fit perfectly between the 2 captains chairs in me van to hold mail, or other items that I would have otherwised placed on the other seat.

As I was heading to pick-up Sophia around 4:00 I decided to get the mail and found this card waiting for me...what my girlfriend wrote inside was perfect, how did I get to be soo lucky...surrounded by soo many people that truely love and care for me??

The day ended with all of us heading back into town to get my "brand new" van, and it does look NEW, all the stains on the carpet and seats are gone, the melted gummy bears in the back glove compartment were all scrapped out and my car smells NEW! Then Tony took all of us to Outback Steakhouse before we headed home and off to bed.

Thank you to everyone who helped make my one day a year so VERY SPECIAL!! I love all of you! XOXO

Maybe...

2008-05-15T18:09:00.002-04:00

we weren't supposed to spend our tax return money on a new wood stove...?

I come to this conclusion because...

we figure there should be a book out called "Starting Fires for Dummies" as apparently we need to read up on this subject as a simple task of starting a fire in the firebox has taken us hours before (no joke), until Tony's brother gave us these fire starters and now things have gotten easier (but I have a problem with paying for something that should be able to be done without the fire starters). Extra newspapers anyone...?

we are now on our 2nd chainsaw for the actual cutting of the wood. The first one was purchased at Home Depot and was a cheap one (comparatively speaking) and made cutting wood seem like we were trying to cut thru Parmesan cheese with a knife, and we thought if this is how hard it is going to be how will we ever cut enough wood to get thru the winter...then we learned we need a professional grade saw, so we returned the first, and spent more money and now have this EXPENSIVE saw and now we let it run out of fuel, and then we flooded it, and now the air filter is clogged...so needless to say we are still NOT cutting wood!! Although if we were it would be an easier task witht he new saw...

at lastly, but MOST importantly (as I am walking around the house cleaning up bird shit), we have a problem with birds coming down the chimney and getting into the fire box...not once, not twice but almost daily at this point (which normally would not be a huge deal) as the cat looks thru the glass at them as though it is some sort of cat TV and if they die in there then they certainly deserved it for coming down MY chimney. But TODAY the bird somehow got the firebox door to come open and had been flying around inside my house all day (unbeknowst to me) and I come home to find the cat chasing it around, and everywhere it landed it apparently pooped!!

I FINALLY got it trapped in my bathroom and got myself a pair of gloves and caught it, gave a REAL good talking to and threw it outside!

So what do you think...should we go back to propane...or just caulk it up to beginners luck...? Maybe one day we can even laugh about this....

Stories...

2008-05-12T07:06:00.002-04:00

Yesturday while at LOTUS (a chinese restaurant) both kids wanted to speak to the waiters in spanish. Gabe had learned some Japanesse during his Japan usit at school so he wanted to say hello in Japan, we ended up laughing at the table over this!

When Sophia wakes up froma dream she says "This night I dreamed...

Happy Mother's Day...

2008-05-12T06:44:00.003-04:00

I was completely surprised to receive this beautiful bouquet on Friday. My girlfriends at work were so excited when the box arrived that they couldn't wait for me to open it! Peach roses are my absolute favorite, and Tony's parents did a wonderful thing by thinking of me, THANK YOU!!

As for the day itself...basically just another day...Tony did make breakfast, and then we cut wood and mowed part of the yard before heading to Frederick for lunch at LOTUS, and then our HUGE monthly grocery store shopping trip (2 very full carts), you can just see the look on the cashiers face when we pull in there lane...ha ha!

Gabe and Sophia made me homemade cards, with I will cherish! The day ended with us watching movies and a fire crackling in the stove.

Weekend...

2008-05-05T07:31:00.002-04:00

I was supposed to be starting the Vienna Farmers Market this past Saturday,, but Sophia came down with a fever late Thursday night and I did not want Grandma to be around her so I was able to get Kate to cover for me this week. I took Gabe to Grandma's to visit while I mowed the yard, weeded the flowerbeds and cleaned the house for most of the day. Sophia still had a fever so she spent the day on the couch. Saturday afternoon I took Gabe to a birthday party at the bowling alley in Frederick. This is like the 3rd party where Gabe goes to a party and he is the only classmate invited...all I can say is he must be friends with everyone.

Sunday, Tony and I made a batch of butter for a wholesale account, put driver coolers together and then came home mid-day to watch a movie and snooze on the couch. We got a phone call around 2:30 from mom and dad saying teh pigs were out and they needed help putting them back in (they had been up since 4:00 am going to the new Sunday FM in Baltimore). We then loaded up Vinnie in the truck and headed over to Jon and Michelle's for dinner. It was a perfect evening, the kids played together, the dogs played together and we got to sit around and talk and share a bottle of wine. Hopefully the next time we see them, the new baby will be here!

Conference, Festival, and more madness...

2008-05-02T02:43:00.002-04:00

Tony and I got a few days away from the farm to attend the IHDA (International Home Delivery Association)meeting that was held this year in Atlantic City, NJ/ We have gotten to attend in years past when it was held in Nashville, and Orlando, and we always have a really nice time and bring back LOTS of new ideas to improve our business, this year was no exception. We met up with an internet webiste group that we have since signed with to completely overhaul our website and shopping cart, we came home and hired a new "swing" driver who will do nothing more than fill in when a driver is out and fix any and all problems on the routes. Aunt Marcia was kind enough to come and stay with the kids while we were away.

Our festival was this past weekend and although we did no MAJOR advertising (meaning radio or newspaper ads) we did had out almost 9000 fliers and I sent mass emails to our over 2600 customers who are logged into the website. We have NEVER had the response we got from this festival...we figure we had over 5000 customers in attendance over 2 days, we ran out of parking in the main field and had to go across the street, we ran out of food on Saturday and Sunday, and we went thru 600 vials of butter during the scavenger hunt...it was an amazing and very tiring 2 days! The food tent and the store we had lines at pretty much all day...it was pure MADNESS!

Monday one of our drivers was having trouble with his truck, (the alternator was bad), so Tony and I went to meet him to switch trucks, I was not clear at the time how we were going to get the broken truck home but Tony was determined that we were driving it home...so my job was to follow him in our truck and as long as he kept driving he was fine but any red stop lights we were doomed! We broke down and needed jumped 3 times between Smithsburg and Boonsboro, and ALWAYS at very busy intersections...we would just stop traffic and I would pull around facing the front of his truck and we would jump it and head on our way until the next time...may I say it was also pouring down rain! (we jokingly said that our next purchase needs to be our very own tow truck) Just 2 weeks ago we had a driver break down on the George Washington Parkway on a Friday night in the middle of rush hour and we HAD to call a towing company to bring him home...

In the office we can hardly keep up with all the phone calls and new sign-ups...I literally worked all day on Tuesday doing nothing more than entering in new customers and I did not even put a "dent" in the online list...what is so frustrating is that the customers have no patience and they call wondering WHEN we are going to start the service, we used to tell them that they would receive confirmation in 24-48 hours we have now doubled that time frame. The farm is in the process of buying 100 more cows as we are pretty much at the point of using all that we produce and we have since stopped taking on any NEW wholesale accounts for the fear of NOT having enough product.

Ever since we put the "invisible attendant" in the store the store has gotten quite busy, some days we are literally taking turns running up and down the stairs from the office to serve customers in the store, Mom has at least one tour group a day, so we always have LOTS of ice cream to scoop. We are thinking we are going to need to hire a "real" person very soon!!

My article came out in the "Country Woman" Magazine, as well as a front page article in the Frederick Gazette Newspaper, and now FOX 5 News wants to do a story on us as well, it is exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time!

On the home front, we are just trying to keep it all together, by putting soo much effort into the creamery we come home most nights just exhausted, since the weather has been relatively nice I can work outside some in the evenings and the kids play with their cousins next door until dinnertime, I used to have Saturday's as my cleaning day but now that Farmers Markets are starting this weekend I will have to try to keep it all together by doing a little each night. We will have our "normal" saturday markets and this year we are also doing a Sunday Market that we will be alternating weeks with other family members.

Life is busy, but I LOVE it and I would not want it any other way...

Hello, we are alive...!

2008-04-20T10:55:00.003-04:00

OK, so I have been REALLY bad at updating lately, and it is not because I was short any exciting news or stories to share, just been too darn busy and worn out to sit down and type it all out...now mind you the only person who will be more sorry about all of this will be ME, as I tend to go back and re-read my posts after the fact to help me remember all that has happened, and now I have a HUGE void in my blogging...not sure honestly if it will get filled back in or not, but I thought I had better make an attempt of starting somewhere...so here goes...

I think Spring is starting to come to the farm as we have baby kittens everywhere (some that we have found and started to play with a spoil and some that are still hidden out in the barn and need to be discovered), the hatchery has been opened up and we are starting to see signs of life out of our turkey and chicken eggs, the temps are in the mid to high 60's and the fields are this brilliant bright green...life is perfect!

We are doing something different with the grazing of the cattle this year, we are organizing 5 different paddocks and have started rotational grazing, this will help us save food costs as well as satisfy our customers wants to get their milk from a herd of grass-fed cattle...of course it makes more work for us as we will have to make sure fences are set properly so that the fields are properly rotated and it will also be a learning process for the cows as they get used to being moved from one field to the next every 3 days or so...

We have started planting corn, and according to our records from last year this time we are actually 3 days early (which of course makes my Dad happy as he doesn't want to get behind on the field work)

At the creamery, we closed last week on the new loan with Hagerstown Trust Bank it has been a grueling almost 6 month process to interview banks and find one that will fit our needs and understands our business and more importantly BELIEVES in it and wants to see it prosper into the future (for an agricultural business this is not an easy task)...so I am now in the process of ordering all new checks and switching bank accounts and switching all the automatic payments and getting used to a new online banking set-up...I guess the one thing I have learned is the only constant in life is CHANGE, and we certainly are seeing alot of it!

We are updating the on-farm store to be more of an ice cream and sundae shop. Tony was able to get a refrigerated sundae bar and soda fountain from an equipment dealer and so we are in the process of re-vamping our current store into a new set-up and hope to improve traffic. We also have installed a "invisible attendant" for the store that basically alerts us up in the office when someone enters the store so that we don't have to pay additional help to stand in a store that does not do much business, so far it is working out great the 3 of us in the office take turns going down to help customers and the store stays very neat and organized now.

In our "free time" (yeah that is a joke) we have been keeping busy cutting wood for our wood stove, from what we figured it should pay for itself in about 2 years at the current cost of propane gas, but with that price on the rise it may not take as long, and so far Tony and I enjoy working on getting a load a couple nights per week...because we are new at this we are not sure how much wood we will need to heat our home next winter so we will keep cutting for as long as we can find a place to store and cover it.

Gabriel is almost done 1st grade, the year as flown by so fast, he has been busy enjoying Tiger Scouts and will have the "Arrow of Light Ceremony" this coming week to move up to the Wolf Cubs. I wish we were able to get him more involved on a soccer team but with Tony and I working Saturdays it is just not possible, he has been getting lots of practice as our one employee is from Mexico and apparently played pro soccer before coming to the US, and every night after work Gabe and Renee play together, even though they really can't communicate well, the game seems to bring them together on another level.

Sophia is enrolled in pre-school for the fall, and her tuition is already paid in full, and she could not be more excited about starting school. She will be attending with her cousin Sam and one of Gabe's good friends' sisters so she will already know 2 others in her class for the first day which should help make the transition go that much smoother. She is still taking gymnastics and still seems to enjoy it, I am not completely convinced it is for the long haul but for now it is what she wants to do.

March 2008 in Review...

2008-04-02T18:30:00.007-04:00

My girlfriend Erin had her baby 5 weeks early and I made many trips to visit with her and Hank as they recovered at home. She did similar for me when I was stuck at home on 5 weeks of bedrest with Gabriel.

My cousin is FINALLY getting married in May, and I attended her surprise wedding shower, which was really lots of fun and it was the first one Sophia had ever attended, and she was soo excited that she got to get all dressed up and act like an adult.

Gabe's boyscout troop got tickets to go and see the HArlem Globetrotters in DC. I wasn't sure I really wanted to go, as I am not much into sporting events, but it was really fun and taught important family values to the boys.

Since we were already in DC, and Tony delivers down in teh general area once per week near the National Cathedral we decided to stop and see it for ourselves. What an amazing place, had we not gotten there near its closing time we would have gotten a tour with history. It reminded me of teh Notre Dame Cathedral I saw while in France.

The tulips are about to bllom in front of Grandmas house, we call her "The Daffodil Lady" as you can see her beautiful flowers from miles away, I wish I had gotten her green tumb (the only thing I am able to grow around here are weeds)

I took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt in at the Park in Middletown.

My girlfriend had this grand idea to make Bunny footprints out of baby powder all over my living room to help make the Easter Bunny seem more real...all it did was cause both Gabe and Sophia to come running into our bedroom to say that someone made a HUGE mess in our living room and neither one of them did it. When I said "I bet the Easter bunny did that" Sophia promptly chimed in to say that a bunny would hop on 2 feet not on one....I guess I made a mess and get to clean it up...the joke was apparently on me!

At Grandma's house for Easter dinner we were surprised to find a new addition to the family with a baby lamb!

This is our brand new soapstone wood burning stove. Not sure what we are getting ourselves into but whatever it is it has to be better than paying the HORRIBLE propane bill every month...we will keep you posted!

Sunday Hiking Trip...

2008-03-02T06:51:00.001-05:00

With Sunday being our only day off per week it leaves us most times scrambling to do errands and nothing really all that much fun, but on the few Sundays we do have nothing planned it leaves us feeling if we don't have plans that we wasted an entire day laying around the house...the later was how we felt this week. We had originally planned on going to the Inner Harbour with the kids but neither of us felt like driving there, so that was out, we called Tony's brother to see if they were up for a visit and Michelle and Elizabeth were sick, so that was out. I had a quart size bag of change that needed to be rolled so that we could take it to the bank so that became our "project"...after it was all said and done we had a $124.50 in CHANGE!!!

We went outside for a bit and realized how beautiful the day was and got the idea we should go hiking, and then decided we would hike from our house to Grandmas house (which is 3 miles away via the roads). I was hoping she would hike with us, but she said she couldn't do a hike like that anymore and gave me a few clues as to what to look for as we were hiking, we were doing really well at first, we found the loggers trail after climbing almost straight up the mountain, and we made it to the electric lines that look over the valley, we felt very proud of ourselves, we were only about an hour or so into our hike and seemed to be more than half way there...then something went wrong...after we got thru the power lines we lost the trail and so we new what direction we were to be heading in, but the ground was pretty rough, and we were getting higher and higher, we finally decided that because we could not determine where we were in the mountain anymore we might go too far, so we tried to find a place to get down, then we get a phone call from my mom saying a freezer went out at the creamery and we needed to come home...long story short, we ended up coming back out of the woods at the base of the power lines...we somehow had doubled back when we were making our way down the mountain, we were all so disappointed that we only made it about halfway! Come to find out, we were actually following the Appalachian Trail, the loggers trail we were to follow was down much lower on the mountain...either way it was fun while it lasted!

Busy Saturday...

2008-03-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

Whew...what a busy day we had today (I guess no more than usual, but I at least have time to make a note of this one..)

Of course, Sophia came home a few hours early from her sleepover next door at my brother's house, but since things have been no stop around here the house can be pretty disasterous by the weekend, leaving me with plenty to do while Tony is at the farmers market...

I managed to do 7 loads of laundry, clean all 3 bathrooms, organized both of the kids closets, disassambled, washed and re-hung 7 of the light fixtures in the house (I also replaced all the regular bulbs with the new energy saver mercury bulbs), and baked a batch of bananna chocolate chip cookies (and this was all before 2:00 when Tony got home)...whew!

Once we got over to the farm, we organized and labeled all the used metal boxes so that we can FINALLY re-sell them and get them out of our storage cabinent, hauled and burned lots of boxes that we laying around the creamery and other buildings, fixed the fence on the maturnity ward, and then helped unclog the drains in the mailking parlour all before we got to come home and have dinner...it is no wonder I promptly fell asleep after I took a shower...

In other FUN news we have our June trip planned for the Poconos in upper PA. We will stay one night at Hershey Park (at the Hershey Lodge) on the way up, and Tony is looking into staying in NY City and possibly seeing a show...

For our January trip we have a Disney Cruise booked for the eastern Caribbean, however I think we want to switch it over to the western Caribbean now because the excursions look to be better and there is one more stop for the same money. SO excited about this one!!! :)

A sleepover for Sophia...

2008-03-01T11:30:00.002-05:00

Sophia spent the night at Sam's house last night, I was not expecting her home until around 9:00 am this morning...however she had other ideas...

At 7:30 am the back door opens and then closes and I hear from back in the office "GOOD MORNING MAMA!" I was shocked and thought for sure Aunt Kate must be with her...much to my surprise not only was she alone but she had left Sam's house without telling anyone that she was leaving...she said she wanted to come home, so she got dressed and put her shoes on and walked home! When my brother got out of the shower he came rushing over to our house to make sure she was here...her comment to him was "yes, I am here this is where I live!"

Leave it to our very independent 3 year old to come home when she feels like it...

Storytime with Daddy...

2008-02-29T07:18:00.002-05:00

In the evenings before bed we have a short storytime with both kids. Most of the time Gabe has the book he wants to read and Sophia has the book she wants to read so then the arguing begins over who gets me to read to them (somehow Tony always lucks out on this). The other night however, Tony was the one picked to read and of course both kids wanted him to read to them first. Since Sophia already had her book out and ready Tony began to read to her...

Sophia's favorite book is the Disney Princess Enchanted Stables, which she knows backwards and forwards...so really Tony had no chance. He opened the book to a page in the middle (which she immediately corrected him on) and said "Once upon a time there was a Princess named Fred who had a Donkey named George, and who married a Prince named Sally...it took her a brief moment before she started getting upset that he was changing her beloved story about Cinderella and her horse Frou.

Gymnastics and Dance Class

2008-02-28T17:45:00.002-05:00

For Sophia the last few months have been busy with first Ballet and Tap dance lessons and more recently gymnastics. I thought I would let her try both activities to see what she enjoyed before putting out the money for "real lessons."

Although she looked absolutley adorable in her dance outfit, she struggled with her coordination and got flustered very early on, but since I paid for the 6 week class I made her finish.

With Gymnastics from the start, day 1 she loved everything about it, and was very proud of herself and the fact that she could do the tumbing and balance beam...etc all by herself! The coach for the pre-school class is very kid friendly and Sophia just does anything to impress her! Although she still struggles with things like jumping on one foot, and keeping her legs straight during some of the streching exercises, everything else comes very easy for her and I think if she had to choose, it would be gymnastics that she likes the best.

Pinewood Derby, Blue and Gold Banquest

2008-02-24T17:26:00.001-05:00

On sunday we attended the Pinewood Derby race and Blue and Gold Banquet for our Boy Scout Pack.

Since I did not grow up doing Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts for that matter, all of these activities are new to me. (the uniforms, all the memorization, award recognition, derby races...etc)

So this past Sunday we spent the entire afternoon at the Myersville Firehall where all the dens in the area got together to race the cars they had built. It was soo neat to see how different all the cars were when all the boys started out with the same block of wood. In Gabe's class he came in 7th place out of 8 (which Tony and I were quite happy with because he didn't come in last and because he didn't make the top three we don't have to go to the regional race which would be on another weekend).

This is a picture of Gabe's Tiger den...

This is Gabe with his friend Aaron who is a Bear Cub...

Update....

2008-02-23T10:53:00.002-05:00

Back from Disney

Whole family got sick, Mom and Dad and Tony had the worst of it (all took time off from work)

Kids started Gymnastics and Basketball

Gabe attends Chess Club at the Middletown Library

Becky and Jason came to visit (haven't seen them since July 4th)

Creamery gains over 300 new customers in one month!

Mom, Dad, Ben and Jim travel to Danville, VA to bring home 3 new delivery trucks for our fleet.

Tony books us a Carribean Cruise for January 2009.

Ben has surgery on his back.

Celebrated Samuel's 4th Birthday at the Skycroft Conference Center

Home again...

2008-01-21T16:45:00.000-05:00

We arrived back home from our vacation very early Sunday morning to frigid temps, joyous!

Our Disney vacation started Sunday the 13th when we left for the airport at 4:00 am for an 7:50 flight. We were able to check-in to our resort at Old Key West but could not get into our room until later that afternoon, so we headed to Downtown Disney and played at DisneyQuest for the majority of the day.

Monday we spent from open to close at Magic Kingdom.

Tuesday we did Future World at Epcot, ate dinner at the Garden Grill and watched the fireworks show.
Wednesday we did the World Showcase at Epcot, and had lunch at the restaurant at Canada.

Thursday we did MGM, had a character breakfast with PlayHouse Disney characters, and then went to the Luau at the Polynesian Resort for dinner.

Friday we did Animal Kingdom and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

Saturday we played Fantasia mini-golf, and did some last minute shopping at Downtown Disney before heading to the airport for our 8:00 pm flight.

The trip was very much needed but between the weather being cold and rainy most everyday, and the fact that the parks were VERY crowded, this certainly was not our best trip to Disney. I will be working on a vacation album in the near future.

Back to work in the office today was basically just catching up on emails and voicemails. It looks like we have about 80 new customers that I need to get into our routes that signed up while I was gone last week. Tony started advertising for another driver, as we are going to need to split a few of our existing routes to allow for more growth as well as replace a few drivers that have been causing us trouble for awhile but because of the holiday and our trip we have put up with them way too long!

The kids spent the day with Grandma and Granddaddy and had a really good day. Sophia really missed them and got right back into taking naps with Granddaddy. Gabe worked on schoolwork and organizing his next necklace project.

It is good to be home....

Out of the mouths of 3 year olds...

2008-01-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

Sammy today at lunch announced that he no longer had "dia-rhea-rhea-a" (apparently he shared it with his brother as he now has it).

This morning while on the way to Grandmas Sophia was singing the bible song "Zachias." I was about 5 minutes away (after dropping her off) and my cell phone rings, it is Sophia and she is all upset because Grandma doesn't know the words to the "Wee Little Man" song...

Zachias was a wee little man,
a we little man was he,
he climber up in a sycamore tree,
for the Lord he wanted to see.
As the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree,
and said "ZACHIAS, YOU COME DOWN"
For I am going to your house today
For I am going to your house today.

He said he did it because he was scared...

2008-01-08T18:37:00.000-05:00

to tell us the truth. Gabe had taken his brand new Gameboy DS case to school on Friday for show and tell, it had one game in it, he did not bring it home on Friday, or Monday and this morning I reminded him to remember to bring it home tonight...he still "forgot" we said we were going to call the school and talk to his teacher, he then confessed that he lost it on Friday somewhere between school and home...we can't exactly get a straight answer out of him...when we asked him why he didn't tell us sooner, he said he was scared to tell us. What should we do, is this something that should be punished for? He kept his secret for almost 5 days from us...

Trip to the Cheese Haus...

2008-01-05T08:22:00.001-05:00

got brain age

got disney passes in the mail

loaded farmers market

new battery for the car

Where's Vinnie??

2008-01-03T07:56:00.000-05:00

I did not sleep well last night, my head and throat have been bothering me, plus I had the next installment of my "One Tree Hill" addiction to watch (the new season starts next week!). As I was up and down through out the night I would check out the backdoor to see if Vincent was asleep in his bed and he never came home, so first thing this morning I asked Tony to check down at the farm and call me, because I was getting worried, Vincent LOVES his bed and heat lamp and is ALWAYS home if we are home...so where was he?? I called Tony a bit later and he said he would start checking at the "first light" but I wanted answers NOW...so I decided to get in the van and go and check around my self...as I am getting in the van to start it something sneezes in the backseat...it was Vinnie!! He got locked in my van all night, the kids were the last to get out of the car last night because my arms we full and they must have closed the door before he was able to get out...I was SOOO relieved, and so was he!

Then after all the excitement of finding him and calling Tony I realized I never started the car, and so I headed back outside to find that it would not start...we are pretty positive it is the battery, so hopefully the guys in the shop fix that today, as we don't need to get stranded at the airport!

Sophia spent the day at Nana's and made sure to take her "pretty dress" and jewelry along to play with...just as soon as we stepped foot inside Mom's house off went all the layers of clothes I made her wear so that she could put on her dress and princess shoes and jewelry! Mom kept telling her that the house was too cold for her to not be wearing any socks, but Sophia would not have any of it as it did not go with her dress!

Tony hung my back porch hooks, that we bought over a week ago. I needed a place to hang our barn clothes and boots outside so the mess would not be drug inside.

Gabe's brought home his very first project of the school year which will be due while we are away (the project is really for the parents), so we got right down to working on it as he needs to find 40 pictures out of magazines that demonstrate the beginning blends they are learning in language arts. The blends are like BR, GR, SN...etc, he then needs to neatly cut them out and display them on a poster board with writing under each one. Working with Gabe on something he doesn't want to do causes EXTREME stress as he will start whining about it and get off task, I was soo frustrated that by the time Tony got home, he took over and was able to get him to do 10 of the pictures...AHHH!

The pigs were too cold!

2008-01-02T17:07:00.000-05:00

As I was putting Gabe on the bus this morning Mom said that the pigs were crying in the middle of the night and would need some attention...even though we had strawed them up the night before, it wasn't enough to keep them warm. Since the kids were both under the weather I knew I would not want them out in the cold doing chores tonight so Tony and I gave them an entire bale of straw to play in. With pigs you don't need to really spread it out for them because they naturally "root" thru everything they will basically make a bed for themselves and should be able to snuggle together tonight and stay plenty warm! In just the short time we have had them, they have really started to look quite "normal" instead of all scrawny and bony as they were on the first day, and all of them have such neat personalities and LOVE to be scratched behind the ears! We weren't able to water the pigs because it is simply too cold out, so we will make sure they have plenty of warm milk in their "slop trough" to drink until the temperature gets above freezing.

Vinnie doesn't know what to make of them, and the "weird" noises pigs make...but everytime I get in the pen with the pigs to feed them they follow me around and try to eat my boots or pants and this REALLY upsets the dog. He stands on 2 legs with his paws on the fence barking his his "scariest bark" (which frankly is quite pathetic) until I get out and then he promptly showers me with kisses as if to say "Mommy I am so glad you are OK"...just too cute!!

Tony took Gabe to his monthly cub scout meeting which ended up being a complete waste of time, because the parent that was due to instruct tonight thought the meeting was at 7:30 (instead of 6:30) so the boys did nothing for an hour and then we he FINALLY showed up and wanted everyone to stay Tony had had enough and said that he and Gabe were going home. he had been up since 4:00 am and it was past Gabe's bedtime...so Tony was pretty mad about that!

The boys picked up dinner for Phia and I on their way home. I got Sophia's pre-school [application in the mail today and promptly filled it out to return it tomorrow, the morning class ALWAYS fills up quick!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T07:50:00.000-05:00

The kids woke up even worse than they were yesturday so although I had thought yesturday that I would wait to start Sophia's antibiotics until later in the week I got hers filled when I picked up Gabe's meds and started them both at the same time. The store and office were pretty much quiet all day so although I did stop in for an hour just to check on things I was mostly home with the kids all day. Gabe's eyes are looking alot better, but I am afraid that is coming next for Sophia, but at least I already have the drops so if it did spread to her I won't have to make another appointment.

Tony spent all day in the plant making all the cultured products, he said the only thing that got him thru, was knowing this was the last time he would have to make them until after we return from the trip...as you can tell we are Really looking forward to our week off, we are soo burned out!

Tony's parents had gotten us a puzzle of the topography of the area in a 4 mile radius of our address and we have been working on that together, it is quite difficult since there is not a picture to look at, we did the outside pieces first and Gabe was a HUGE help with that and then we were able to find 40 (a main road) and followed it the whole way across the middle of the puzzle, so we were happy with what we have done soo far. Tony commented to me how we were getting to be such "OLD FOGIES" because we just come home from work and go straight to working on a jigsaw puzzle...I asked him to you want to go out and do something fun and he said he was content just working on the puzzle...me too! We will make sure to take a picture of the finished product!

A Month in Review...

2007-12-31T21:32:00.000-05:00

December has gone by way too fast...between the business of the retail sales at the creamery, holiday parties, the first snow of the season, and extended family coming into town, it has been a non-stop month, thank goodness we have an AMAZING Florida vacation awaiting us in the New Year...we are REALLY looking forward to the break!

At the creamery we reached our yearly income goal that we set forth for the bank (unfortunately, the bank gave up on us too soon and now we are "bank shopping" as we have to find a new bank in the very near future), we have been working diligently as a family to reach the cash flow ration that banks are looking for these days, and trying desperately to get rid of any unnecessary debt. Our sales for the 4th quarter have been phenomenal so we have been able to slowly work thru some of these previous issues, so I think we will be in the right place for a new bank to take over. We have about 2200 customers, and without advertising have seen an average of about 15-20 new "starts" per week over the past 6 weeks...(I just pray this continues, as we are now entering into our "slow season" and will need this momentum to get us thru).

We got our first snow of the season earlier this month and although I typically do not like to drive in the fluffy white stuff I did attempt to take the kids to and from Grams house, and I did OK in the morning (not saying I did not slip and slide some, but I at least did not hit anything), but on the way home that evening, I was almost back to the farm on a straight flat part of the road and I hit a patch of ice and did a 180 and ended up on the side of the road in a ditch...Sophia thought it was FUN and asked me if we could do that again...Tony arrived a few minutes later and used his truck and the straps to get me back up on the road, we then parked my van at Mom's and he drove me home...(I was pretty much finished with driving by that point anyway!)

Gabe had his Boy Scout holiday party and received his very first pinewood derby car kit, that Tony and him could work on together. That should be fun to see how he creates his first car. Tony says his first few years of doing it the car was basically a block of wood with rounded corners that had wheels on it, I think they can be a bit more creative than that!

We attended various Christmas parties, the first being for the extended Sowers family which was held this year at my cousin Jessica's house in Hagerstown. We had a HUGE brunch meal and then all the great-grandkids opened gifts. (Tevyn and Trevor Sowers, Samuel Sowers, Sophia and Gabe Brusco, and Jereamiah Sowers, (missing Macie Sowers)) We really need to make more of an effort to get all these cousins together more often this year!

We celebrated Christmas with my parents on Sunday this year, Mom made her seafood newburg and we had steamed shrimp too, along with holiday specialities like her rice pudding, and lots of cookies...there was way more food than family to eat it, so we got to eat it for leftovers the next day at lunch! The kids all got 50 gold dollars from the US Mint, since my parents insist the kids needed absolutely nothing, the coins were the best gifts which can be enjoyed later. I got a new sweater and Tony was given money to take us out to dinner...(which we will use on our trip next month to Florida)

Tony's family came into town for the holidays, which the kids REALLY look forward too, because Gabe can practice his chess skills on Pop Pop, and play hours of Wii Sports! Mom, Sophia and I baked Mom's famous Fruitcake cookies and then the kids both made gingerbread houses...this has become a yearly tradition. We enjoyed many meals together, some here at home and others out, no matter were we went the conversation flowed as easily as the wine! (thanks so much to Dad!) The kids received new bedsheet sets and puzzles and Tony got an Ipod radio and I got the serving platters and spoons I had asked for, so we had a very joyous time together. We all attended Christmas Eve service at our church in Frederick after a wonderful dinner at Carraba's! As always the visit is too short, and Mom and Dad must fly back home to California!

Christmas Day was our BIGGEST day celebrating, as the kids opened their Santa gifts (their BIG gifts of this Christmas would be the Nintendo DS and a few games for Gabe and for Sophia the Fisher Price "EasyLink" with 9 keys), and then we headed to Grandma's to open gifts and have lunch together and then soon after that we headed to West Virginia to spend time with Jon and his family where we enjoyed another meal together and the kids opened the last gifts of the season!

Tony and I exchanged gifts this year, however he had my gift to him all figured out weeks before Christmas, my gift on the other hand, he made a guessing game out of to see if I could guess what it was prior to Christmas morning...these are the clues I was given...(one per day, over the course of about 2 weeks)

A Collection

Tortoise and Hare

Fiery Ash

White, multicolored

Magic

1 and 3

teardrop

school

bubble

bird

Disney Cruise

It has been guessed...

My gift was a pair of blue topaz earrings and the newest Harry Potter movie. I got him an Ipod Nano.

As always the Holidays come and go way too fast...leaving me with a bit of post-holiday blues, but now we can all look forward to DISNEY!!!!

Last day of 2007...

2007-12-31T07:18:00.000-05:00

Both kids woke up with low fevers and coughing so I went ahead and made appointments for them. Gabe has pink eye and fluid in both ears so he got an antibiotic, Sophia has not really been sick long enough yet so an antibiotic was prescribed but I won't get it filled until at least the end of the week if things don't improve for her. The doctor did give me samples of a stranger antihistamine and decongestant to help the kids breathe better...Gabe's problem ultimately is the fact he doesn't know how to blow his nose and therefore all that "stuff" has not where to go but in his throat and ears! When the Doctor asked Sophia how she was feeling, our "drama queen" answered "not good, I still have this AWFUL cough!"

For dinner tonight I decided to use one of my new platters that I got from Tony's parents to serve dinner on...we had stuffed flounder, broccoli, and garlic mashed potatoes...yummy!

Sam came over to play after evening chores were completed and Sophia got all dressed up in her Christmas dress and new "princess shoes" and decided that Sammy and her were getting married, so I told them I needed to take there wedding portrait and this is what I got....two goofy 3 year olds laughing hysterically!

Tony reminded the kids that everything we did last night was going to be for the last time...this is our last meal in 2007, this is your last bath/shower of 2007...this is the last time I am going to tell you to go to bed...(you get the idea), the kids found the game amusing! Our family was in bed fast asleep by 10:00 pm so although we did not watch the fireworks we still want to wish all our friends and family HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Another "low key" Sunday....

2007-12-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

we have been having Sundays like these for months now...and it will be hard to try to get back into a regular "routine" but we MUST soon...what I mean is that with Sunday being our one and only day off per week, we have gotten lazy, and no longer set our alarm to ensure we get up in time for church, and therefore we have not made it into church in months, and we also have gotten spoiled by having Sunday breakfast out before doing the errands that we normally would do on a Sunday. We MUST change ourselves!

Today, after returning from our "brunch" as the kids like to call it because we ate at around 10:30, we decided to go ahead and take down the tree and holiday decorations, and vaccuumed up all those nasty pine needles from my carpet! We purchased a few items at Lowes today so that we can change out of our dirty barn clothes out on the back porch versus inside, I can't stand hay and straw dirt adn mud all over my floor!

I am trying yet again to bake a cake in my oven, because Tony brought home beautiful strawberries from the market and they would be great on top of a cake! I made muffins in it yesturday and it take take about 10 minutes longer than the recipe said, so hopefully the cake will be OK too...I know we will have to break down and buy a new one soon, we looked today at after Christmas sales but I would like to have one similar to what I have now and they are running like $500...would love to find one that is missing its box or has a scratch on it or something, so that it would be a bit cheaper!

We are all getting a cold or something, the kids have been having that dry hacking cough all day, Gabe's one eye is weeping slightly, and Tony and I just feel tired...if things don't improve by early next week we will be making appointments to see the doctor as we have to be better for our upcoming trip!

Mom walked over and visited with us for a bit. She has been walking more because of her diabetes, it is good for her and with the meds she has been taking it seems like she has things under control.

The PIGGIES arrived...

2007-12-28T07:43:00.001-05:00

We decided that these pigs were the most pathetic looking bunch we have ever gotten and are glad we did not have to spend any money on them, we concluded that they probably had not been fed in 2 days, so hopefully once we get some food in their bellies they will plump up and not look so scrawny!

Sophia was so excited all day and could not wait for the baby pigs to arrive! It has been years since we had pigs on the farm, as Mom got tired to them always getting out and running thru her yard and down the road...(although funny to watch...chasing pigs is NOT a job at the top of any of our lists, as they NEVER go where you want them to)

The pig pen needed strawed up, the pigs needed fed and watered and Sophia and Victoria decided all the pigs needed names, so everyone was very busy for about 2 hours getting our "new additions" all settled in. The kids used 5 gallon buckets to haul straw from under the barn into the pig pen, Gabe and Sophia, unloaded the buckets, while Sam, Victoria and Bubba filled and carried them.

Although doing farm chores it not always fun, when you have a bunch of kids around to help it can have its perks! Ben and I remember having neighborhood kids coming over to play and help do chores, and I am glad that our kids will get to have the same memories, plus Victoria and Bubba are used to doing outside chores as they have horses to care and feed at their own farm.

Getting back to normal....

2007-12-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

It seems like I always get a dose of the post-holiday blues, and this year was no exception...usually it comes between Christmas and New Years, this year it hit me on Christmas Eve and lasted all of Christmas Day...after a really good cry, all is better and I feel very calm and serene. Today I spent the entire day with the kids, we played games, I did about 5 loads of laundry, scrubbed the shower, cleaned out the oven (even figured out how to re-calibrate it) so that we won't have to spend money on a new oven for the time being...I felt pretty darn proud of what I accomplished!

My mom called and wanted to know if Dad and her could come and look at our Christmas, but most of it is already put away. I was never good at keeping the gifts under the tree...even as a child I can remember trying to take all my "goodies" up to my room before my mom was ready for me too! I will most likely start to take down the ornaments tomorrow so that by the weekend the tree can be taken out into the woods and I can get my living room back in some sort of order.

Sophia was supposed to have a pre-reading class today at the library but because of the holiday it was cancelled, so while we were in town I decided to do a bit of grocery shopping before heading back home...(besides, they have a Starbucks in Middletown now, so it gave me an excuse to get a Peppermint Latte)...the new baby pigs were supposed to arrive today, but Dad did not have time to go and get them so that is a job that will have to wait until tomorrow. We decided it was time for Gabe to have some sort of daily responsibility around the farm, the plan was that Uncle Ben was going to by 2 pigs, one for Gabe and one for Sam so that they would have something to care for each day, well the night of the sale an entire litter of pigs went for nothing so we got 10 pigs for FREE! Between the old milk and apples that a local orchard wants to get rid of, the food for the little piggies should be free...at least for a short time!

We had a few items to return so we headed out to town this evening to return those and did very well at not spending any additional money. Tony bought me earrings, but they were too large and hurt my ears so I was planning on just returning them, but when we got into the jewelry store there was this beautiful blue topaz ring with diamonds set in white gold that I decided I "needed" instead, so I traded the earrings for a ring and saved about $40 in the process.

Tony and the kids are fighting colds, it seems like everyone around the farm has got something at the moment, first it was strep, then pink-eye, now some sort of stomach bug is going around...I just hope it spares all of us! Thank goodness I have lots of Zicam on hand, it is amazing stuff!

Time moves on and on....

2007-11-18T07:39:00.000-05:00

Again as this time of year proves to me that it can be overwhelming I have not had a chance to sit down and write in my blog...

Things are still rather quiet here this morning so I thought I might have some solice to write a bit...Tony is out on a route, a driver walked off the job on Friday after not completing his route, there were still turkeys to deliver and about 20 customers missed, so Tony opted to run those today (Sunday), and the rest of the weeks schedule will be alternated between Tony and my parents getting all the routes completed.

I have been "off" from Saturday farmers markets the past 2 weekends, so I decided it was time to clean all the carpets, and drapes, and get rid of all the toys and outgrown clothes, to get ready for the holidays...plus since we have no basement our storage capabilities are limited and I can't stand "clutter"...so I have been busy free-cycling many many boxes the last few weeks.

Yesturday, I joined Tony and my Mom at the Baltimore FM, where we had over 60 turkeys to sell from pre-orders and lots of extra products. We were quite busy the entire 4 hours of the market adn exceeded our sales goal that we set forth for the day...it was our best day yet, bringing home over $4,000!!

Gabe's boyscout troop is staying busy. Between his 3-4 meetings a month we have been having weekend outings as well. The last 2 weekends we have been working on their fall food drive called "Scouting for Food." The first Saturday we hit neighborhoods around Myersville putting out plastic grocery bags asking those to fill them up with canned goods and leave them out for us the next Saturday. Gabe and his friends had such a good time going door to door and then picking up all those bags of food...it was kind of like at Easter when you are searching for your Easter basket! He is working towards earning more beads to go on his Tiger badge, and seems to really be enjoying this time together with his friends and his Dad.

As those close to us know, that Gabe worked all summer on making necklaces and bracelets with his great grandma because he broke his arm and could not go swimming. Well, their business really took off and he made over $150 that we put away for him and we left him keep a bit to spend as he wished. Gabe made 2 purchases...the first being a pack of Pokemon cards and a book to explain the game and the second and more recent purchase was a Webkinz dog for Sophia...BUT wait before you think how sweet he is, all along he knew he wanted the code in order to play with a new one online, and he knew that Sophia would just want the stuffed toy, so REALLY he was getting it for himself!

The creamery sold almost 600 turkeys this year...WAY more than we ever wished for...so it is lots of work getting everything organized and routed out so that all the customers get their turkeys before the BIG day. Tony rented the largest moving truck he could and him and I headed to Thurmont to pick up the birds, we then brought them home, unloaded the 8 skids and organized them by size in our refrigerated truck, we then took the rental back to Frederick and then came back home to start the process of pulling the turkeys in route order for the next days deliveries...we have to do this each day from Friday thru next Tuesday, for 7 drivers on each day...some drivers have over 30 turkeys going out, so keeping everything together is critical to ensure each and every customer ends up with the correct turkey...it is no wonder we are glad when Thanksgiving Day is here and not able to eat any turkey!!

My mom celebrated her birthday last week, so we are going to take her out to lunch today at Miyako's a Japanese Hibachi Restaurant in Frederick, they have never been before and the kids LOVE watching how their food is prepared! Unfortunately, earlier this week Mom was diagnosed with Type II diabetes and is now daily checking her blood sugar and changing her diet, we are hoping that the new meds they placed her own might be able to make her pancreas work enough that she will not be insulin dependant but it is too early to tell at this point...

A Sophia Funny....

2007-11-08T18:31:00.000-05:00

Sophia comes to me this evening as I am sitting working on the computer and says "Mommy I need somemore of that paper I use to wipe my butt with, it is all gone..." (as she was talking she even was mimicking hand movements to go along with it)...sorry I can't stop laughing over this one, she said it with such seriousness!

So far we are 2 out of 4...

2007-11-07T19:11:00.000-05:00

Took Sophia to the doctor this morning and she too has Strep throat, they of course would not go ahead and test me while I was sitting there, so when my sore throat gets worse tomorrow or the day after I will have to make yet a third trip to the doctor!! I mean how hard would it be to pull my file and then stick the swab down my throat...it would take like and extra 3 seconds...to save me time and aggravation later...?!

Sophia is in a pretty rough spot tonight her cough is dry and tight in her chest and whenever she coughs she cries out in such pain...it is so sad to see the kids soo sick...Gabe is at least heading in the right direction as I sent him back to school today.

The office was very busy today as we are starting our first Arlington route in the morning and it has 83 stops on it. Tony stayed over at the office late to make sure all the stops were in the correct order so the driver doesn't have a hard time locating all the houses. My new C/S girl did manage to make it into work today, she was very quiet and reserved, unlike how she was last week, hopefully she turns herself around and can get her life back in some order...

Tony took Gabe to his cub scout meeting tonight, since Sophia was not feeling good I got to stay home!

2007-11-05T05:39:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I think I have a bit of deja vu when I go to write these stories as the same situations seem to happen over and over to the people we hire.

First thing this morning is our newest driver shows up to work to simply hand in his cell phone and fuel card as he is quitting, the job is simply too complicated and he can't handle it, so now we have all these new customers and not enough drivers so we have to send drivers out knowing they won't finish the route in one day and so I have to send out mass emails detailing the problem and thank goodness the customers overwelmingly are supportive and understanding of our predictament!

Then my newest CS person never shows up, never calls in, and by early afternoon we get word from her friend (that works in production) that she is getting seperated from her husband of 10 months and moving back into her mother's house, but still no phone call to us, her employer...I guess when your so wrapped up in your own problems you forget about your responsibilities, I can see that she is not going to last long...

The doctor called as I am sitting at the bus stop with Gabe to inform us that the culture they sent to the lab came back positive for strep and that she is calling in meds for him and he needs to stay home for 24 hours...I was pretty upset because when I took him on Friday the rapid strep showed nothing and they sent us home with nothing he played with his friends all weekend and then I sent him to school all day on Monday... I told her I think at this point he has surely spread his germs everywhere! So I called the school to inform them of the problem and my mom kept him all day for me.

Grandma called at lunchtime to say Sophia has no energy and a slight fever, so I know she is getting it now too!

Halloween Loot and a sick kiddo...

2007-11-01T07:42:00.000-04:00

Gabe has been feeling under the weather since early Tuesday morning. He woke with a sore throat, but I gave him tylenol and sent him off to school, when he got home in the afternoon you could tell he wasn't doing any better and by dinner he had a fever and a really nasty dry cough. So he stayed home all day Halloween and rested on the couch, he would call me home if he needed help getting lunch, but otherwise slept and watched tv all day...miracuously he was felling MUCH better when it was time to head out to go trick-or-treating!
We go to a neighborhood in Frederick where the houses are very close together. The kids always make out like bandits, and bring home an entire pillow case filled with goodies! Most of it will most likely go over to the creamery as snacks...

Gabe stayed home the rest of the week and I FINALLY broke down and took him to the doctors on Friday morning to find out that there was nothing they could do it was simply a bad cold and keep giving him tylenol and having him rest. Of course by Saturday afternoon he was feeling much, much better!

2007-10-30T06:13:00.000-04:00

Sleep certainly comes easy these days, the time seems to fly so quickly, before I know it it is way past lunchtime and I have not even taken a break. I honestly love it when things are so overwelmingly busy, I feel more fulfilled knowing that I did all that I could do in a day but there is still more to do tomorrow. Tony is interviewing a C/S person today to possibly help Caren and I FT as the phones are CRAZY, we are taking turkey orders for Thanksgiving and trying to split both the Alexandria and Arlington Routes because they have both grown so out-of-control that one driver can no longer accomodate the route alone.

Gabe is doing very well in school, he presented his career project yesturday and received top marks from his teacher. Sophia is singing and dancing more and more these days, I will have to find another class to help her explore these activities more.

Overall Life is good, and Fall is most definitely upon us...LOVE, the cool, crisp weather!

October in review...

2007-10-28T17:05:00.000-04:00

If I look back at previous years, these fall months are always very tough as far as keeping this blog updated, this is our "busy time" and we hardly spend anytime at home except to eat dinner and sleep...

We went to the Renaissance Fair with Jon, Michelle, Lizzy and Katelynn. We have not been in many years and thought it would be fun, but honestly it was quite a disappointment as the place was PACKED, you could hardly move around and it was way too HOT to enjoy any of the festivities. I guess the only thing good about it was the fact that Tony got the tickets for next to nothing from a friend at the Baltimore farmers market.

The second week Tony's parents were in town for a brief visit. We all had a really nice time just enjoying each others company. Dad and I drank wine together, and the guys played chess and did lots of goofing off. We spent our last day together at the pumpkin patch and corn maze in Frederick. As always our time together was too short, but are looking forward to seeing them again at Christmastime.

The third weekend brought us to our Fall Harvest Celebration, which I think was our biggest yet! The weather was absolutley gorgeous and we had at least a thousand in attendance, we actually ran out of parking in our normal lot and had to use one of the crop fields for overrun. The best part for me is all the old frineds that I get to see. This festival brought in 2 high school friends that I have not seen since 1995 when I graduated, it was soo wonderful to have a chance to catch-up and see their children.

Just like me, when I was little, Sophia has a liking for the kittens here at the farm. Pretty much just like me, adopting one from each and every litter. This one is Rosie. Tony won't let her bring it home it has to stay at Nana's house and we can just visit...

We FINALLY got around to carving pumpkins, we had been promising the kids since Saturday night that we would do it and everynight we would get home late and were tired and just kept putting it off, well Gabe wasn't feeling very good and he really wanted to carve them so we did, and I think they turned out well! We call this our "snowman pumpkin"!

2007-10-15T06:56:00.001-04:00

So much has happened and I keep meaning to update, and it just never happens...

We met with a business consultant that we were first introduced to back at our Home Delivery Conferences 2 years ago, and we exchanged ideas on how to better grow the creamery for the future and it looks pretty positive that we will be bringing him on in some manner to try to better grow our existing routes. We are also working with him to order our next 2 delivery trucks, as it has been a year since we purchased any new vehicles and we need them.

In just one weeks time we lost all of our spanish workers and I fired our store clerk, it was not a good week for any of the family as we were very short staffed, but we made it thru by working together, until new personal could be hired.

An article was written about us that ran in the Washington Post, even after it being over a week old, the calls and emails are STILL coming in requesting service to areas such as Reston, Arlington, Old Town Alexandria, Herndon, and Great Falls. We are taking names and putting everyone on a waiting list until we can get the trucks and new drivers hired to accomodate all the new business...this is a very exciting time!

Gabriel has officially started as a Tiger Cub, we have attended one pack and one den meeting and gone on one outing together. It looks to be a very positive experience for Gabe, and he already was friends with many of the other boys, and now the 6 of them will grow up together in the scouts, so I am excited about that. It seems like alot of work, but I think it is important for him to learn these valuable lessons at this time in his life to help him to be a better adult.

Sophia has taken about 4 weeks of tap and ballet classes and I think she is enjoying it. The reason I am not completely sure is the fact we are not allowed to be in the class during instruction time so I don't get to see how she is progressing and once we get home and I ask her to show me what she has learned she doesn't remember...

I have Gabe taking a Soccer Skills class again, this will be the third time, but because neither Tony nor I are available on Saturdays I can't enroll him to play on any Fall Leagues because we would not be able to take him or watch his games. I am hoping the Rec Center will offer an indoor soccer league over the winter that he can take part in.

..."a shiney new coin will be in its place"...

2007-10-03T06:29:00.000-04:00

as Sister bear says in the Bernstein Bears book. Gabe has had a loose tooth since the very first day of school, and FINALLY yesturday at school when he was eating his mashed potatoes at lunch it came out and he had to go to the nurse. Tony and I had been a bit worried about the fact it wasn't coming out on its own, and the new tooth is well on its way to be in, and of course it is very crooked (I guess because the old tooth was in the way and it had to go a different direction). Tony actually had a call into the dentist yesturday afternoon that if it was still in Gabe's mouth he was taking him to get it pulled out. Tony said he had plenty of teeth pulled as a kid because the roots were soo long they wouldn't come out on their own. I on the other hand always found it exciting to have a loose tooth, my family would kid me that they would tie a string around it and close a door to get it out (we never did that of course, but it was ALWAYS there as an option)! Gabe was quite upset about the tooth being so loose and not coming out, he did allow me to try to get it out at home, but the tooth was just too small and I could never quite get the correct grip on it. Hopefully, the next loose one won't be so tramatic!

Harvest Time...

2007-09-17T21:15:00.000-04:00

If anyone ever asked me what my favorite time of year would be, it would be a hard choice between the spring and the fall. I really enjoy the mild temperatures of these times of year but they also say alot to those of us who have choosen to be "stewards of the land" or farmers. In the spring it is a time of rebirth, we plant our crop for the year and hope for rain that will yield a bountiful harvest to feed our cattle thru what could be a long winter. The grass is fresh and green and the smell of sweet hay blows in the breeze.

The fall brings with it the sights of dried corn standing in the field and business that harvest brings with it. Lots of work to be done out in the fields. It would be nice to get thru a chopping season with no break-downs but unfortunately this season has just begun and we have broken down almost 16 times!! Today the machines seemed to be working OK and Sophia likes to spend time with her "Poppy" so I took her in the field to join him aboard the chopper. ..
I love the view I can get from Grandma's stone fence, you can see all of Middletown Valley from here...she certainly has the "million dollar view" from her front porch!
Because of all the urban sprawl around here, we farm small plots of land in all directions of the main farm, causing us to haul the silage miles and miles from the field to the silos to store it for winter. Today, the guys are hauling 3 miles one way, which is hard on tires, fuel and the machinery.

Thank you Lord for our Bountiful Harvest, we are forever grateful to you for what we have and who we have become...

Day at the Great Frederick Fair...

2007-09-17T19:52:00.001-04:00

It has been about 2 years since Tony and I took the kids to the fair. It was a yearly tradition when I was growing up to go year after year because we were in 4-H and we showed cattle and pigs, in fact we got to take the whole week off school to show and care for our animals at the fair...those were the "good ole days." Looking back I wonder how my parents did it all, taking care of the animals at home and running us back and forth to the fair all week, I am sure they were glad when we could pack it all up and bring the animals back home again, but as kids we thought it was soo much fun to have all that freedom to go from barn to barn and hang out with our friends...I sure hope my kids get to have those same memories!

When we got to the fair it wasn't real busy yet so we walked thru a bunch of the buildings...I love to look at the photos, and I showed Gabe all the things he could make to enter in the fari in years to come...everything from bug collections to planted flowers to even baking his own cookies and cakes...he really seemed to show interest...especially when I told him what each colored ribbon meant and the fact that you got money at the end of the fair depending on how your items placed.

Tony and I like to "eat our way" thru the fair. Have a little something from this booth and that stand and share the whole day. Of course there are booths we always buy from, and we even gave a few new ones a try. Our favorites our the Lion's Club pizza booth and the Lime fizzies, and we ALWAYS have to get a walk away sundae or chocolate covered bananna!

For a Sunday there was sure alot happening in the barns, I don't ever remember having shows on the weekends, in fact we usually were just getting our animals into the fair that first weekend and starting the weigh-in process for the steers and pigs. The 4-Her's were already doing the fitting and showing for the pigs and the sheep. It was fun sharing with Tony all my showing stories, as this was before "our time" together. The pig show is HILARIOUS in the fact that you are trying to keep control of a pig with nothing but a stick or cane, and some of the kids' pigs would take off across the ring kicking up their heels in delight (that was sooo me and any animal I attempted to show), interferring with the ones who had spent the time "training" theirs to obey the stick, where mine just thought the cedar chips looked like a fun place to romp and dig!

I never thought of the fair as a place to ride the rides in fact for many years I was scared to death to even go over to the "carnival" side of the fair...it just wasn't safe, besides we were too busy cleaning up after our animals and playing games with our friends around the barns. My children however, think that is what the fair is all about and getting them to focus to the agricultural side of things wa s bit challenging at times, but to me the fair is about the farmers' harvest, and truely reaping the rewards of their hard work. I know my kids will get the just of that when they get older, for now it is all about the rides and games!

and the flood gates have opened...

2007-09-06T20:14:00.000-04:00

I guess we don't call it the beginning of "busy season" for nothing! It was like all the schools around here opened and our phones went from almost silent to non-stop ringing for the past almost 2 weeks...everyone that took the summer off wanted to get started back right away, plus we are getting like 5-6 new sign-ups a day and we are doing absolutely no advertising, it simply amazes me!

About 2 weeks ago a person from Alexandria, Virginia contacted us about doing delivery, she heard that we may consider such a thing if we had enough customers to make it worth our while. So Tony figured up how many miles it would be one way and it is around 75 miles so he told the lady we would need at least 75 customers to even consider it, and wouldn't you know it, in just 2 weeks time I have close to 80 names with more coming in, just in the last 24 hours alone we have taken in almost 50 new sign-ups online!! I am totally blown away by the sheer fact that people want our service soo badly that they do all the advertising for us and get what we ask for...they are certainly full of determination! Needless to say the new route to Alexandria will begin on September 24th.

Also on the horizon is our fall products that we will only have thru the New Year. Items like apple cider, egg nog, turkeys and speciality ice creams. Something else new that we just recently started was frozen prepared meals made by my cousin out of Westminster. Basically, the customers have the first 2-2.5 weeks to place their meal orders and then the last week of each month they will be delivered to their homes along with their normal milk delivery. In just a mere 5 days I have about 30 orders and the meals are $25 a piece. We advertise that the meals are made with our meats and again is supporting a local small company like ourselves...the customers just LOVE the idea!

In just over a month we also have our Fall Open House and even though we have not done too much planning as of yet, people are already calling and wondering the dates and times of it. We are having it the 3rd weekend of October this year, so hopefully the weather will still be nice to draw a decent crowd...that has to be one of my BIGGEST worries of the festival.

In production, we are running between 7,200 to 9,600 pounds 3 days per week, and even that doesn't seem like enough, our biggest problem right now is cooler space, our new equipment can certainly handle running more milk we just have no where to put it! We are also bottling goat's milk twice per month and very soon we will be bottling milk for a dairy out of Ocean City, MD. They will haul the milk to us to bottle and then haul it back to sell at their farm.

At the Baltimore Farmers Market where Tony goes each Saturday, he has been approached by one of the head chefs at Philip's Seafood (located at the Inner Harbour) they are in the process of revamping their menu to accomodate more local offerings and want to possibly use our dairy. To see how things work they are having a breakfast the end of September that will host over 70 chefs from other restaurants in the area, so even if we don't land the BIG account the possibility of getting some smaller restaurants is certainly there! Even though back 5 years ago we really had no interest in landing wholesale accounts our minds have changed in recent months as we realize we can still make a nice profit margin by selling as much as we can ourselves. We have milk in a grocery store chain located in Emmitsburg called Jubilee Foods, as well as 2 locations in Baltimore called Atwaters. We supply butter to the Marriott Hotel at the Inner Harbour for their in-house restaurant.

I think we have enough to keep us occupied for at least the next 3 months, and then we will need a vacation!!

Out of the mouth of a 3 year old...

2007-09-03T18:58:00.000-04:00

We sometimes have Sammy over for dinner and tonight just happened to be one of those evenings...and he is ALWAYS full of all sorts of information...tonight was certainly no different...

As I was walking him home he asked me if I knew what corn starch was...I said sure I use it to thicken gravies and sauces when I am cooking...I thought the question was a bit odd but then again we are talking about Samuel. He quickley corrects me by saying NO its not, it is used on sore butts, sore penises and even on Nicole's "susie" sometimes...I was like not sure what to say exactly except "Oh, that's nice."

After I dropped him off, I called Kate on the phone and asked her about it and she said that when all the cousins stay at her mom's house she uses corn starch instead of diaper rash cream if any of them have sore bottoms.

Leave it to Sam to give me MUCH needed info on HOW to use corn starch!!

Handsome and Famous...

2007-09-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

First Day of School...

2007-08-27T19:04:00.000-04:00

With the summer coming to a close, it was back to strict bedtime rituals, chore lists that need to be done each morning and now alarm clocks that need to be set and followed in order to have a smooth morning. Gabe's bus picks him up at 8:22 and I need to have Sophia dropped off at Grandmas BEFORE the bus arrives so that I can go straight from the bus stop to the office.

On the first morning, the whole family was in attendance to see Gabe off to first grade. Daddy was running a bit behind so Gabe had to make sure he was coming and therefore called him on the phone. Sophia and Vinnie goofed off, and Uncle Ben, Nana, and Poppy took lots of photos.

From the time I started to ride the bus (at the beginning of middle school), thru my brother riding the bus, and now Gabe, we have always gotten on the bus out in front of my mom and dad's house. Since it sits on the corner of 2 roads, we always got picked up once the bus came down from picking up the kids on Reno, and on the way home we would get dropped off prior to the bus going up Reno...so basically we got the best of both situations and not being stuck on the bus one second longer than necessary! The bus driver this year is new, and she decided that the intersection where we have gotten on and off the bus for the last 20 years is now too busy and she will pick him up and drop him off as she comes down the mountain, so Gabe will have to ride the bus for unnecessary time. I can understand her concern, but from my point of view her lights can clearly be seen from all points of the intersection and there would be always be someone there to make sure he was safe.

Of course, come the end of the first day both Sophia and Sam were very happy to see Gabe get off the bus, BUT Gabe on the other hand did not want them hugging him before the bus was most definitely out of site!

Sophia's Stories

2007-08-27T06:41:00.000-04:00

Sophia has a very active imagination...quite different from her brother who has trouble playing make believe (Tony says he gets that from me)...anyway in the past few days Sophia has made a "new" friend whose name is "Woody Door" we call her "Woodie" for short. Woody lives on Markertown Rd (a combination of Marker Rd where we farm and Middletown where we live). Woody's phone number is 123-456 and they talk on the phone all. the. time. Grandma took her along up to the Boyd's Bear Factory in Gettysburg on Saturday and we were all placing bets on how many bears Sophia would end up coming home with...it ended up being 3, one for her, one for Gabe, and one for Woody! Woody apparently spends the night every night, and she simply rides her bike over to our house from her house on Markertown Rd. The other day while driving thru Middletown Sophia showed me where Woody lives and wanted me to stop in to visit and I told her it wasn't polite to come "unannounced" to someone's house, that I would need to call Woody's mom to set-up a play date...I wonder how long this will continue??

Other times that Sophia's imagination has "run wild" was a few months back when she would tell us this story over and over again about a little boy that got lost in the woods, because he did not listen to his Mommy and wouldn't hold her hand. We are thinking that was a combination of the Hansel and Gretel story and the fact that Grandma drills into her head about having to hold hands when they go anywhere together.

Also she was transfixed on Grandma's missing fan back in June. Grandma told her someone must have stolen her fan from their summer house at "THE WOODS" over in West Virginia. So Sophia offered to share her room fan with Grandma and would tell anyone she met that someone stole Grandmas fan and was up in the Woods...too funny!