GotchaBaby

August 13, 2013October 14, 2013

Celebrating Catherine with a “C”

My family did something this weekend we’ve never done before.

We celebrated my Grandma’s 100th birthday. My dad’s entire extended family came from all over the country to celebrate his mom, my grandma.

When you tell people that your grandma is turning 100, they tend to delicately ask how her health is. Fortunately, she’s as spry as an 80 year old. She walked into the party on her own steam, and spent the entire evening visiting with people who came to see her.

We got to meet long-lost cousins, who last remembered me as a toddler. The kids played with cousins they knew, and cousins (first cousins twice removed?) they just met. It didn’t matter- they were all there to party. Everyone did take a little time out to get pictures with the birthday girl.

The photo on the top right of this collage is my Dad (tall guy in the back) and all of his cousins. My grandma was one of five, and this crew grew up together in the 50s and 60s. There was a great slide show from days gone by, that was really fun to watch.

We even managed to get our portion of the family together!

Technically, she doesn’t turn 100 until October 17th. But at this point, no one’s really counting. She’s earned the right to say she’s 100.

August 6, 2013August 6, 2013

Table Talk: The Year of Popcorn

In 1981, my family moved to Indiana. On the day my parents showed us the house that was to become our home, we made popcorn. My dad had been to the local popcorn festival and had purchased a brand new hot air popper. What I remember is that my parents didn’t know that hot air poppers didn’t come with a bowl, so we caught the popcorn in paper lunch bags. Well, we caught some of the popcorn. The rest was scattered around the kitchen.

Little did I know, popping popcorn was the perfect introduction to living in Indiana-Indiana is the nation’s second largest popcorn producer. Suddenly mottos like “There’s more than corn in Indiana”, make sense, right?

The Indiana State Fair is paying tribute to popcorn this year, and has declared it “The Year of Popcorn”. The word’s largest popcorn ball is on display. How big is the world’s largest popcorn ball? Well it’s 5,000 pounds and 9 feet tall, thank you for asking.

The Indiana State Fair run through August 18^th, and there is so much to see and do, I’d plan for at least two days to see it all. In addition to the World’s Largest Popcorn ball, there is the brand new Glass Barn, which is an interactive experience bringing Indiana’s farms to the fair.

The DuPont Food Pavilion features many items produced by Indiana Family of Farmers farms, and there are food activities and presentations happening every day of the fair.

In addition, there’s the Indiana Family of Farmer’s Recipe Trail, which will take you through many of the Fair’s buildings and expo halls. For every person who completes the Recipe Trail, a pound of food will be donated to area food banks.

Happy State Fair Season!

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I wrote this post as an Indiana Family of Farmers Table Talk Contributor. As always, opinions here are 100% my own. I love Indiana popcorn, I won’t lie.

Connect with Indiana Family of Farmers all over the Internet: www.indianafamilyoffarmers.com @FamilyofFarmers On Facebook

June 22, 2013October 14, 2013

FIVE.

Last week I mentioned to Andrew that when it was finally June 21, when he woke up he would be five. Being born at 2:29am has its privileges, right?

Every morning this week he woke up and asked, “Am I five yet?”

Friday I finally got to say, yes, yes indeed you are young man.

We spent the day with grandparents and friends at his birthday party. We swam. We ate his favorite foods and of course there was cake. There was also present or 13.

As he was falling asleep last night he asked me, “When I wake up tomorrow, will I still be five?”

I was so happy to say yes.

Yes, we have one entire year of all the fabulous that is five.

One entire year of being old enough to reach things, but still appreciate some help.

One entire year (well, 180 days) of the magic that is kindergarten.

One entire year, I hope (and I’ll take longer) of still liking Thomas the Tank Engine and Chuck Trucks.

One entire year of being able to handle a full day of activity, but still falling asleep on the way home.

One entire year of kisses on the mouth and hugs so hard I might burst, and not being embarrassed to give them to me in front of his friends.

One full year of five.

I love it already.