More March Snow in Virginia

March 27, 2013 By 2 Comments

We had more snow Sunday night into Monday. It is mostly gone now. You can still see it high up in the mountains which is beautiful. One day I will have the opportunity to get pictures of the views we see daily around here. Until then, you are stuck with views of our yard … which is still beautiful.

So this picture was sent to my mom to show her the snow was sticking the road … again. The farmer in his big ole John Deer tractor had plowed our street once that morning.

March Snow in Virginia march-snow-v3-still-snowing-sb

This picture was out back and I sent this one to my mom too. I asked her if I had moved to Ohio and hadn’t noticed.

March Snow in Virginia

We grew up going to Ohio every Christmas to visit family. As kids we LOVED to find snow in Ohio as we didn’t get that much snow here in Virginia.  Maybe you caught snow post one and snow post two here this month. Three snows that closed schools in March is a big deal around here. We often get snows in March but normally it is one … I think maybe winter is done now. Maybe?

I do have to say for the first time EVER I feel like the kids snow boots had some actual use in the winter time!

Are you enjoy the late Winter or are you ready for Spring? Leave me a vote and let me know!

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A Virginia Snow Day – January 2013

January 24, 2013 By 10 Comments

All of the kids didn’t have school today … we actually had snow this was a big fun Snow Day! We had between 2-3 inches of snow … and yes that is enough to cancel school here!

This didn’t do much good for Brian’s to-do list. I decided to not chance the still snow covered roads this morning and stayed home too. I took a morning break to go outside with everyone to play in the snow. The best part of the snow playing was that for the first time in six years, none of the kids screams at being out in the snow! YAY!!!

Here is the snow adventure in pictures …

 

 

Our backyard … do you see our dog in the picture? ;)

Don’t all kids play on the playground in the snow?!

 

Do you have snow on the ground where you live? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Pumpkin Patch Visit 2012: Miller Farms Market

October 31, 2012 By 5 Comments

We took time earlier this month to visit our favorite pumpkin patch here in Central Virginia. We headed to Miller Farms Market in Orange, VA. It is a drive for us but they only charge you for your pumpkins. A lot places around here charge admission fees and even hayride fees. With a family of five, those fees add up so we hope to be spending our money at Millers Farms Market for years to come!

We got our carving pumpkins and my baking pumpkins here. Hopefully by mid-November I will find time to process my Long Island Cheese and Peanut pumpkins for Miller Farms Market. I can taste how yummy they are already! For now, here are pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch …

This was one of my favorite pictures. My boys out in the middle of the HUGE pumpkin patch!

Did you get to visit a pumpkin patch this fall? Leave us a comment and let us know. Happy Halloween to your family from ours!

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Fall in Virginia

October 17, 2012 By 4 Comments

Fall is here! It became obvious last week that Fall arrived here in Virginia. I love the colors Fall brings us here in Virginia.

Taken at Miller Farms Market, Mine Run, VA

Taken in my garden … this mum is bigger than me. I need to re-home it to another spot in our yard besides my flower bed!

Our front tree and bus waiting bench …

Have you seen Fall appear where you live yet? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Friday Favorites: A School Bus Wait Memory

August 31, 2012 By 17 Comments

This isn’t a typical Friday Favorite but I hope you can play along …

Grace rides the school bus. Sophie and Matthew love to wait for the bus with Grace. This morning I was coming up the driveway from dropping off the last of the trash at the street and Sophie says “look mom! It is Matthew’s favorite color.” I could see something on the sidewalk but not what it was so I asked her and she said she didn’t know. To my surprise it was a little red lizard.

 

Well I had to look him up. He is actually a Red Eft which is a young Red Spotted Newt. They are common in this area but like wet areas. I am not sure why he was in our sidewalk and then garden but he was beautiful. The kids loved seeing him and talking about him. It was a good reminder to not touch animals we see outside too.

This morning was a good reminder to take a minute and just wait for the bus and not run out like a crazy mom trying to get Grace on the bus that may or may not be 5 minutes early today.

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Update to the Missing Newspaper Saga

August 23, 2012 By 2 Comments

Last week, I finally posted about “The Saga of the Newspaper Subscription that Isn’t Delivered.” Well I have an update!

Shortly after that was published, we received a phone call asking about our problem. This was slightly humorous since the “problem” was documented with all of the reports of the missing newspapers. At the end of the call, Brian was told this problem would be resolved.

In the middle of dinner that night (everything always happens at dinner time doesn’t it?!), the newspaper delivery guy brought us the paper from that Thursday. We assumed he was notified of the problem … finally but still didn’t believe that would get the paper the following Thursday.

I am happy to report that the Greene County Record newspaper came last week  and again today with the other newspapers!

We are excited to finally get the newspaper I paid for two months ago but it is sad it took writing a post, sharing the post all over social media, and emailing it to the newspaper managers and editors for this to be resolved. Hopefully, the local newspaper will have learned a lesson in all of this though and follow up complaints from customers in a more timely fashion in the future.

I am happy I didn’t cancel but I still wonder if it was worth all of my time to resolve this situation. I hope I will see a Girl Scout picture in the newspaper soon and I will forget about all of the drama it took to finally get the paper delivered to our paper box!

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The Saga of Newspaper Subscription That Isn’t Delivered

August 10, 2012 By 3 Comments

Please see the update to this post published on August 23, 2012!

Back in May (May 14, 2012 is when our card was charged to be exact), I decided to be genius is and subscribe to the local newspaper. When I say local paper, it is a small town newspaper … publication is once a week. I had been trying to remember to stop by the paper box and use up my quarters to get a paper on Thursdays since the Girl Scouts were suddenly in the paper a lot. No more random stops on the way home and digging for quarters … this was going to perfect. Plus they were running a promotion when I called and it was half price. Even better for our budget plus my time being saved stopping every week!!

The first week, the paper came with our two other newspapers. Yes, we are newspaper snobs and get two other newspapers but they come DAILY (The Daily Progress and The Washington Post.) Honestly, we get The Washington Post for two reasons … the coupons (for me) and the crossword puzzle (for Brian). We get The Daily Progress to apparently keep up with what is happening at the University of Virginia (if I could skip that news, I totally would being a VA Tech alumna!) Yet, I digress. Here we were looking to get three newspapers one day a week but it only happened that first week … back in May!!!

For some reason the staff at The Greene County Record which is distributed through their “partner” The Daily Progress can’t get a paper delivered to our house. Instead, Brian or I call them weekly to say once again we have no paper at house.

Is it really a wonder why no one reads the paper any more? I can’t image why people won’t read something that they pay for and it doesn’t show up at their house.

Brian wants to cancel the paper. I refuse to cancel the paper because the delivery guy needs to do his job. It is simple … PUT THE PAPER in the paper box! The same delivery guy delivers all three newspapers! That means he is already at our house every single morning!! I know he has the Greene County Record in his car too … know how I know that?! The neighbors directly across the street from us get their Greene County Record every week. One of the nicer people I have talked in reporting this weekly even confirmed that we are assigned to the same delivery person as our neighbors (thank goodness because that would be completely crazy if we weren’t!)

So once again I get to sit here and wonder if my phone call today will result in a newspaper next week. It may or it may not. I can let you know next Thursday.

What would do? Would cancel the subscription like Brian wants to or would you keep calling and make the paper figure out why they can’t deliver your newspaper? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Wordless Wednesday: The Fair

August 8, 2012 By 2 Comments

We went to the county fair last week and the kids actually got into riding rides this year. It just about broke our wallet but they had a lot of fun. Next year, I will buy the ride arm bands in advance!

 

We hope you are having a great summer where you live!

 

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Wordless Wednesday: Derecho

July 4, 2012 By 20 Comments

I know this is wordless Wednesday but if you don’t live on the East Coast you probably didn’t hear this word in the past five days. A dercho is a widespread and long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms. Generally, derechos are convection-induced and take on a bow echo form of squall line. They travel in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to an outflow boundary (gust front), except that the wind is sustained and generally, increases in strength behind the front. A warm-weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially during June and July in the Northern Hemisphere. (source: wikipedia)

We thankfully only lost one tree and our power was only out 13 hours. Yes, I said only one tree and only 13 hours. 20% of the people without power as a result still don’t have power. They don’t expect power to be fully restored until this Friday … a WEEK later! Many in this area lost many HUGE trees … we lost this one no where near the house.

We were blessed even if the wind did twist the trunk of one of pear trees like it was a toothpick!

Let us know where your Wordless Wednesday post is …

 

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Do you have Peppa Pig fan at your house?

May 4, 2012 By 1 Comment

First, do you live near Charlottesville, VA? If you do, you can get a free ticket to see Sid the Science Kid at the Carmike during the Saturday morning shows! Find details here! Don’t live near Charlottesville? Don’t fret! You can find a local theater near you here!

 

About Sid’s Backyard Campout

Pack some food and bring your backpack because Sid, Gerald, and Dad are gearing up for a big adventure!  They’re setting up tents for a campout in the backyard!  Dad is eager to share his love of nature and demonstrates how to have a great time outside with the simplest of necessities. They look for animals, cook their own dinner, marvel at the stars in the sky, roast marshmallows, and sing songs around the campfire.  Join the adventure and sing along!

 

About Peppa Pig …
Peppa is a loveable, cheeky little piggy who lives with her little brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig. Peppa’s favourite things include playing games, dressing up, days out and jumping in muddy puddles. Her adventures always end happily with loud snorts of laughter.

Peppa Pig: Muddy Puddles and Other Stories shares 12 story vignettes with the Kidtoons family. Each story provides a peek into the world of Peppa as she encounters every day scenarios. As Peppa discovers the world around her, our young audience has many opportunities to learn and grow.

Sophie was sent Peppa Pig gift set with merchandise currently only available in the UK: Peppa DVDs, Peppa plush beanie, My Extra Special Sticker Book, Peppa portrait, Peppa coloring book, Peppa workbook and Peppa First Sleepover.

Sophie seriously loves Peppa Pig. She loves the oink, oink and is often heard saying that after the show. I can say there is a whole selection of Peppa Pig shows recorded to our DVR player for her enjoyment any time of the day! So to say she was happy to have a Peppa Pig DVD and book and other goodies is an understatement for sure! Want to see a happy girl? Here she is ….
Do you love Peppa Pig or Sid the Science Kid at your house? Leave a comment and let us know.
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