It only sounds like an air raid siren.

This is only a test. Do not be alarmed. If this were an actual emergency, instructions would be flashed across your screen. This is only a test.

In actuality, it's Bitsy screeching at her brother to share his apple. Ear piercing doesn't being to cover it. How can something that small make such a horrifying sound?

Yesterday we picked the older FarmHands up at school & headed to Busha & Bucka's to visit with the Aunties (a quick refresher: The Aunties are Busha's sisters. They come to visit a few times a year). One year, when we went to visit, B.B. saw them and promptly hid in the trash can closet for 20 minutes. Yesterday he just refused to talk. We walked in, I sat down, and he immediately said, "Can we go home now?"

The Aunties are yard sale junkies. They LOVE to bargain hunt & yard sales feed that need perfectly. When they come down to visit, they always bring treasures. One year it was bags & bags of trashy romance novels with the steamy parts marked clearly for me. One year it was enough brand new pantie hose to last me 15 years or so. One year it was an almost new patio set for the kids. This year the loot is a box full of cookie cutters & canning jars. I'm in heaven! Quite a few of the cutters are ones QM had when I was a kid!

When B.B. finally decided to stay & visit, the kids played blocks & Little People while the rest of us laughed at Bitsy's antics & chatted. I have a cousin (Auntie J's granddaughter) who is currently a surrogate mother for a couple her mother knows very well. The wife had 16 miscarriages. My cousin, who has 4 children, told her mom, "I can do that. I have no problems carrying." She & her husband discussed it & approached the couple with their offer. The twins are the couple's biological children. My cousin (as she puts it) is only the oven. The babies are due in January. Some how none of this was mentioned to Auntie J until this past Sunday. She's telling me this yesterday & I said, "How is it I knew about this before you did?" I haven't seen cousin in YEARS! Apparently cousin's mom had told Busha, but forgot to tell her own mother!

When cousin & her husband were telling their kids about their plan to surrogate, their 8 year old son said, "Mom, this kid isn't staying here, is it? We don't need any more kids here." They assured him that this was not their baby, they were only growing it for the other family. He said, "OK, as long as it's not staying!"

QM & Daddy are on their way here. I called Daddy's cell at 8 this morning to see where they were (they're leave-at-4-am kind of people). Daddy answered & said, "Hi FarmWife." I said, "Hi. Where are you guys?" "We're at IHOP in Evansville. As soon as the phone rang I told your mom, 'We're here, that's FarmWife.'" I told him my radar kicked in when they hit town.

They're headed to Grandma M&M's for a funeral tomorrow. I have to get the kids Spring school pictures out & cut apart to send with them....before it's time for Fall pictures next week. Never hesitate to procrastinate is my motto.