Miles 4 Myanmar Race

We Heritagers kicked off our Saturday morning with a brisk 4k today. It was the Miles 4 Myanmar program. We trotted out at 9;00 a.m. in our matching purple and gray oober-smooth Lion T-shirts and showed our charity with some friendly competition and lots of thunder. It had rained a bit beforehand, but thanks to Providence it was only gray clouds by the time we started. 

The race went from our tractor (pictured below) to the Stop sign at the end of our road and back. Little did some of our young ones know that we were stopping there and not going all the way to the Little White Church per usual, which added a bit of dicey excitement into the whole mix at the end when they didn't show up with the last stragglers. No, worries, however. They were quickly found thanks to an ATV and willing 12 year old boys and myself (Willa, heh).

The "Friendly Competition."

Not that we were keeping track, but...

Here are the results:

1. Ean

2. Joseph S.

3. Emma S.

4. Kenneth

5. Seth 

6. Jenna

7. Willa

8. Chloe

9. Isaiah

10. Calvin

11. Sophie

12. Cathy S.

13. Olivia P. + Julia

14. Matthew R.

15. Elisha P.

16. Isaiah R.

18. Ethan P.

19. Maggie S.

20. Elisha R.

21. Mckenna

22. Annie

23. Shiff S.

24. Gabrielle P. + Elsie H.

-Willa for the Howards

Caleb and Lauren's TN Reception

After so many folks from Tennessee missed Caleb and Lauren's wedding up in Bristol, they threw a second reception down here for the two. We had a blast watching some home videos and slide shows of Caleb and Lauren, dancing to music from Bruno Mars to DJ Casper to Sid the Sloth and eating the plethora of desserts set out, along with the BEST cake I have ever eaten (kudos to Anna for a job well done. :D)

Mommy and the other mothers danced to Footloose again, as has become tradition. 

The night was rather short, but sweet. By the time we were finished dancing our hearts out, we were all ready for some sleep.

2014 | From Emma's iPad | Part 4: May Projects

5.2.14

May is always when things begin picking up speed until we all feel like we're holding onto a runaway dog's leash. This May the projects were my farmer's market start-up and Olivia's launch of her Kickstarter campaign. We were both so confused one night about profit margins and gross and net, etc. and couldn't get what Daddy was trying to tell us. So he grabbed the 3 closest things to hand and we had an object lesson. We actually sat around the table at 10:00pm handing each other dollar bills, old bananas, and glasses until both she and I saw how it all worked. We both felt so much better after that. :)

5.3.14

My first Saturday at the market!

I was very pleased with how well the booth display worked out.

I helped sell the Lingo's products as well.

It was also the Bradshaw's first week running the lemonade stand as a fund raiser for our church's building fund. They sacrificed their Saturdays so cheerfully and put such a genuine effort into the whole operation, we were all humbled and so very thankful for their servant-hearts.

5.7.14 - 5.23.14

I sent out my new banana bread mix to be tested and Camille took some lovely photos of her loaf for me. :)

Of course, in the middle of all our ridiculous craziness, what could be more normal than quick, random afternoon photoshoots with Willa for her blog? This one only involved stripping a twisty tie, wearing a leather jacket in 80* weather, and pretending to pick a padlock on the deer processing shed.

But, in return, this angel helped me stamp some 150 bags or so. (That mess means we were being overly productive, with not enough time to be organized. ;)

The little house pantry was well stocked with baking goodies.

Late-night chalkboard painting. 

Aaand... my late-night helpers.

The usual Howard pun-a-thons on Facebook.

Shortcakes for the Strawberry Festival at the farmer's market!

5.25.14

Up practicing for Olivia and Claire's CC class test with panache.

5.26.14

Willa and I had been talking about doing my senior portraits for weeks...

So we finally just took some time and did it.

(I'm still waiting for them to be culled and edited. All in good time, I guess. :P)

Speaking of strawberries... we picked at least this many for a week or two almost everyday. It was amazing!

And they were delicious.

YUM.

5.30.14

Olivia and Willa actually drove into town to shoot at the Vaughn's office building. Getting a quality video together took a lot longer than expected! But, they finally shot everything and were ready to put it all together.

While I baked cookies and banana bread. :D

Part 5 is next if I can keep my eyes open.

2014 | From Emma's iPad | Part 2: January-February

1.9.14 - 1.14.14

This January I started selling my gluten free mixes at a store on the square. They've been going well since, with very few months where I've taken a loss. Yay for buying local!

Playing with Photobooth is always fun.

:)

Even for me!

1.15.14 - 1.31.14

We also started an auto-immune paleo "diet" after we go back from CO. The food was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. if a little abnormal at times. But, seriously. It was good stuff. 

This is such an awkward picture. "Here, Emma crouch so that I can have a face next to the homemade jello!" :P I love it. 

Most of my pictures are of food this month... 

This is three of our favorite dishes, lemon green beans, sugar snap pea-cucumber-onion salad, and slow-cooked apple chicken thighs. YUM.

And I have no idea how many of these delicious babies I cooked up. Pumpkin thumbprint cookies with strawberry jam. 

Grilled chicken salad.

The nature of the food we were cooking meant there was a lot of time chopping, washing, and cooking, but it was worth it (and a lot of fun in the meantime). I loved all the vibrant veggies!

:-O

:)

Josiah hopped up into my lap one evening in his red footie pajamas and said that he had a story to tell me. "Once upon a time there was a princess named Emma and there was a knight named Josiah..." (My heart melted into a puddle just with that opening line.) In the sorry she got carried off by a dragon but was saved by the knight in the end. To celebrate, they had a knight party and all ate their favorite ice cream- "Lollipop mint chocolate chip wif sprinkles" and lived happily ever after. The End.

2.2.14 - 2.6.14

Again with the food- this time a strawberry, pineapple, honey, coconut milk smoothie. Delish.

This was my first near-death expedience of the year. One day I walked in to the closet, put one more pair of jeans away on this shelf, and then the whole thing collapsed. I hopped out of the way just in time. :P I told Olivia that this was a definite sign that we should probably clean out our closet.

2.7.14

IT SNOWED.

I heard later that morning that Camille had FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL so, naturally, we threw an impromptu graduation party, complete with best friends and a blanket fort.

Besties.

:P

Liv's head grew considerably large that evening. It made a very nice pillow.

We played chick-flick-themed charades and laughed ourselves silly until 10:30pm or so. 

And totally devoured entirely too many of these AMAZING super-healthy coconut banana pies.

2.8.14 - 2.9.14

Look, more food! 

I'm positive our church is part of the only denomination that has it's own wig hashtag. #cpcawesomewigs

Just driving back from running errands in town with Liv... Only in small towns can you block the main thoroughfare with a tractor and some ridiculously long pipes like it's no big deal.

And then apparently some folks got hold of my iPad during fellowship one evening...

Say cheese!

2.14.14

Valentine's Day I felt so very blessed to get up early and fix a special breakfast with Mommy. That was one of the first times in a year or more that she was feeling well enough to do that sort of thing! Hallelujah!

We had fresh pineapple, homegrown bacon, spinach, and HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE DONUTS.

It. was. amazing.

Then, or course, came the annual tradition of last-minute cheesy valentine sending to all our nearby church family. 

2.17.14 - 2.27.14

Me enjoying my wholesome studies.

Elsia lost her first two teeth in the same day!

And then, for Mother's birthday, I made a AIP chocolate pie that was to die for. 

The Ryan guys finally finished up the railing! We were all rather ecstatic. 

And we installed a new microwave/convection oven. Isn't it beautiful???

Another tooth!

Hi.

Again with the food and school- but what can I day? I'm a big fan of both. 

We also started up our church's Etsy shop, Bell Tower Boutique! To kick it off and get it stocked up we made a bunch of adorable infinity scarves. All the proceeds go to the building fund for our long-desired sanctuary.

It took us a good hour just to figure out how to sew the things...

FOOOOOD!!! I do believe this is some delicious homemade vanilla (or peppermint) ice cream with chocolate chips. :)

There was one day that the other girls all went into Nashville and left me with the guys. It was this day I proved to Seth and Jo that Pinterest is NOT useless. ;)

Part 3 is coming soon!