Happy New Year

It's already the new year where my parents, sister, and two of my brothers are right now. It's just me and my other brother who are now waiting to ring in the new year. What is your plan for midnight? I hope to be sleeping. :)

Last year I was in Jakarta watching fireworks to ring in the year 2007. Fireworks are illegal in Jakarta. That's probably why everyone has them and sells them on the street.

The year before I was snuggled in my cozy bed sleeping as the year 2006 rolled in. Ahhh! Now that is the way I like to celebrate the new year.

Blessings to you this new year!

At the TownHouse

We are now hanging out at my parent's house. My parents don't live here, though. My brother lives here, but he is at a conference this weekend, so for now, just my family lives here. It's quite a spacious house, so the kids have really enjoyed running and playing in these big rooms. They also like all of the toys here (my mom saved most of the Little People that my siblings and I used to play with).
I've been able to scrapbook a bit - as of this moment, I have both of the kids' scrapbooks caught up. I am planning on working on my Christmas album - the album that I put all of the pictures I receive from friends over the holidays. After that one, I will be fairly caught up....for a little while.

Trains

Trains have been big in our house lately. "Santa" (at a Christmas party) gave my son a bunch of new train tracks this December, and I have been stepping on them ever since.

Rock climber

Last spring, we decided to have our basement finished. This involves jackhammering out the whole basement floor and hauling it out, laying a whole new floor, and then doing the plumbing/electrical/carpentry part. The jackhammering has been done, so right now my basement floor resembles that of a rocky stream, covered in cement dust. There are piles of big chunks of cement, stacks of little chunks, and just chunks all over. I feel like a mountain climber when I carefully cross my basement to get meat out of the freezer.

Wedding

My brother-in-law is getting married in Vegas this weekend. I was explaining this to my three-year-old, telling him about the wedding. I told him that his grandma and grandpa and his aunt and uncle and cousin are flying down to see Uncle Layne get married, and we get to watch the wedding on the computer (over the Internet - pretty sweet!). When I was done with my big, long explanation, he had one question:
"Mom, can we see a picture of the airplane?"

The Condo

We are currently staying at The Condo. It's the place where two of my brothers live. My other brother drove to the condo with us, so four out of five of "us kids" are here.
We had lots of relatives come here for Thanksgiving. We packed the place. It was loud and fun. I hope the neighbor was away for the day....but I guess she's probably used to the noise, so it probably didn't matter. We ate lots of food and played some games and did a puzzle and talked - our traditional family Thanksgiving.

Some things we've done here:
1) Attended an art show to see some of my relatives' wares.
2) Spent 25 minutes in line at the checkout counter at Old Navy, only to find out that I've left my wallet in the car.
3) Went swimming at the hotel pool with my uncle and cousins.
4) Made four pies and watched them vanish.
5) Went grocery shopping with a two-page list, two tired kids, and a patient husband, at 10:00pm.
6) Found a Christmas gift for each of my kids and even one for my husband.
7) Bought much needed snow boots for my rapidly growing son.
8) Took my daughter shoe shopping for nice dress shoes.
9) Dealt with a screaming daughter in Target - she WANTED the bright RED patent leather boots. NOW! No other shoes would do.
10) Left Target with no shoes.

Stickers

Stickers are very popular at my house. So popular, in fact, that Grandpa noticed and donated a huge stack of stickers to our cause (many of those address labels you get in the mail; along with lots of other holiday stickers). The kids spend many minutes putting their stickers to good use. They decorated an old Schwans chicken patties box.

Exciting times!

Can't See Me

My daughter is hiding. Can you find her in the picture?

If the picture had sound, you would hear giggling.

Earthquake!

My mom e-mailed me this site that lists all of the recorded earthquakes measured each day. I am amazed at the quantity and magnitude of earthquakes that happen on this earth. What a lot of rumbling!

Still Ill

My son is throwing up again this morning. Poor little guy - he just isn't able to keep anything in his tummy. At least he has his smiley moments.

Icky 2

Read post below first.

My husband came down with the tummy bug this afternoon. The kids are both doing much better. They are almost back to normal, so I guess it was my husband's turn.

Icky

We've had some icky stuff at our house. My daughter had the tummy flu on Friday afternoon. She threw up about ten times on Friday, plus once on Saturday morning (all over my bed). My son came downstairs covered in puke at 1:00 am last night. He threw up a few more times last night and hasn't eaten much at all today. He seems to be doing better, but he has a ways to go to get to 100%.

Family

I have quite a good looking family. In fact, I think they are the best looking family in the whole word, but hey, that's just my opinion.

My great aunt says I have a great looking family, too. She's over 80 years old and probably doesn't see too well.

My husband's great aunt once told me that my family was pretty good looking, too. She has macular degeneration. :)

The Quad

We call this tractor The Quad; and here is a picture of me and the kids.

Don't we all look "farmy" in our plaid flannels?

Meow

The other day my son and I walked out to feed the horses. We were pitching hay under the fence when our tom cat came wandering over to check things out. Kernal (the cat) jumped up on the hay bale and MEOWED for some attention. This cat has a LOUD, l--o--n--g, and rather sorrowful attention getting meow. I petted Kernal for a while, but it must not have been enough, because as we were walking away, he was MEOWING loudly, probably attempting to call us back to give him some more TLC.
Anyway, as we were walking away, my son looked up at me and stated, "Mom, we forgot to turn that cat off."

On/Off buttons for a cat - that would be great!

Update

A few things happened today:
1. We are done with harvest. Yeah!
2. Some guys came and cut a hole in the cement/rock wall of our basement with a really powerful saw.
3. My daughter tinkled on the potty. She finds boxelder bugs and puts them in the potty and thinks it is really exciting to tinkle on them. I think it's exciting that she is tinkling in the potty.
4. I did three huge loads of laundry.
5. My daughter changed clothes 3 times.
6. My husband demolished an old shed and hauled it away.
7. My son changed clothes 2 times.
8. I got a check in the mail. Very exciting.
9. I made poppy seed muffins. Mmmmmm.

Last Field

My husband is combining our very last field; a sunflower field a few miles from our house. He won't finish it today, though, and harvest won't be over until that field is done, but we are very close to Officially Done With Harvest Status. I look forward to ODWHS every year. My husband will still be busy with various tasks: cleaning up and putting machinery away, board meetings, hauling grain, machinery maintenance, etc, but his hours are so much nicer when we reach ODWHS. It's also nice to pay off the operating loan for the year!

My Man

I thought this might be fun to fill out - I got it off another blog. Feel free to copy it and fill it out on your blog.

1. Who is your man?♥Bryan
2. How long have you been together?♥Dated for 3 years , married for 7 years
3. Dating/Engaged/Married?♥ married
4. How old is your man?♥34 years


You or Him
1. Who eats more?♥ Me right now
2. Who says “I love you” first?♥ Him
3. Who weighs more?♥ Him, thank goodness
4. Who sings better?♥Me
5.Who’s Older?♥Him by a LOT
6. Who’s smarter?♥Him, but he's REALLY smart, so I'm still smart, just not as smart. :)
7. Who’s temper is worse?♥ Neither one of us have a huge temper, but I like a good argument and he doesn't
8. Who does the laundry?♥ Me
9. Who does the dishes?♥ Me, he usually plays with the kids
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?♥ Depends on which way you look at it
11. Who’s feet are bigger?♥His
12. Who’s hair is longer?♥ Mine
13. Who’s better with the computer?♥We both are about the same
15. Who pays the bills?♥I pay most of them, he pays the big, honkin' farm bills
16. Who cooks dinner?♥ Me most of the time
17. Who drives when you are together?♥ Depends on the season - if there is a crop growing in the fields, I try to drive because he just looks at the crops anyway (not the road), but he usually drives in the winter
18. Who pays when you go out to dinner?♥ Him, but it doesn't matter, the money comes from the same pot
19. Who’s the most stubborn?♥ME
20. Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?♥ Me - I can't stand to have something between us so I want to get it over and talked about right away
21. Who’s parents do you see more?♥ His, they live way close and mine live a bit far
22. Who named your dog?♥ He doesn't name animals, and if he did they would be named "roadkill" or "steak" or something like that
23 . Who kisses who first?♥ Both, but for the record, he kissed me first!
24. Who asked who out?♥ He asked me out, of course
26. Who’s more sensitive?♥ Him
27. Who’s taller?♥Him
28. Who has more friends?♥ No idea, i've never counted
29. Who has more siblings?♥ ME
30. Who wears the pants in the relationship?♥ Him, but I keep trying to take them, so he has to hold on to them really tight :)

Climber

My daughter gets a pacifier when she is going to be sleeping or traveling. Sometimes she's not too happy with that arrangement and wants one more often.

My daughter's pacifiers are kept in a glass rose bowl on top of the microwave. They used to be kept on the counter top, but they were moved up when she figured out how to get to them. It didn't take long for her to problem-solve her way to pacifier access once again.

Backhoe

Another round of home improvements has just begun (and will hopefully continue promptly).

We are putting an egress window in our basement so we can someday have a bedroom down there. The guys (my husband and a friend) dug the hole yesterday so the people can cut a hole in the cement for the new window. They had quite a cheering section. Our friend's two boys and our two kids were quite impressed with the backhoe, even more impressed with the BIG hole, and totally enthralled with the new "hill" of dirt to slide down.

Promotion

My husband was promoted from Great Dad to Amazing Professional Father at about 4:00 this morning. Let me share the details…

My daughter woke up a little before 4:00, so my husband went upstairs to tuck her back into bed. He almost had her asleep when my son woke up crying. This is odd; my son rarely wakes up at night. My son sat up in bed, cried a little bit, and then started throwing up. SuperDad to the rescue! My husband caught the puke in his hands. Yes, his hands. He then used our foot-pedal garbage can to dispose of the nasty stuff. He cleaned up his hands and then made sure our son was tidy (a small spot on his leg needed cleansing) and carried both of our children downstairs. He made a bed on the couch and threw a small, soiled blanket into the washing machine. He then slept on the couch/bed with our son for the rest of the night, just to make sure he would be close in case he was needed.

What a man!

Forget the flowers and candy; this is what makes him incredibly sexy!

Bumblebees

I have many fun childhood memories that involve the "Dress Up Box," so I decided to start a dress up box for my kids. So far it's only made up of old Halloween costumes and some thrift store items.

Their favorite of late: the bumblebee costumes. One was bought online out-of-season for a few dollars, and the other was found at a rummage sale for around a dollar. Cheap entertainment at it's best!

Guitar

This is a picture of my son playing his new guitar. The brand of guitar is Zucchini, I believe.

Underwear

My son came downstairs yesterday and told me that he had two pairs of underwear on. One pair was on where you normally wear underwear. The other pair, well, you can look at the picture.

Sunday Snooze

My husband has been working really hard recently. He always works hard, but lately he has put in extra long hours. So I wasn't too surprised when he said he was going to lay down on the couch and take a quick snooze. He was out in a matter of minutes.

The kids were playing nearby and, after they tried a few unsuccessful times to wake their daddy up, decided to play with their stickers. They stuck them all over their slumbering daddy's back. LOTS of stickers. The best part is that he had NO IDEA what was going on. No idea! He slept through two giggling children sticking massive amounts of stickers on his body.

I sure was entertained.

A picture of the culprits in action:















The end result:

Skinny(er) Legs

I combined today, but not for as long, and I wiggled my feet a lot and propped them up on the brake pedals for a while. The result: not very swollen legs.

This afternoon, as I was driving the combine down the paved county road near my house, I had to pull over (several times) because I met a vehicle. Pulling over involves slowing down and driving one tire of the combine into the ditch, which will get me off the road enough so an oncoming vehicle can squeak around the header. Well, one vehicle I met was kind enough to pull over into an approach so I could stay on the road and drive right by. My daughter was riding with me today and she was standing in the cab waving at all the cars we met (she waves at about every vehicle she sees). An older (older meaning they looked mature enough to possibly have grandchildren) couple was in the car and they got huge grins on their faces as they pointed to and waved back at my daughter. It's fun to meet people on the road who take the time to pull over and wave back. Most cars are just in a hurry to get around and get going, so this car was a pleasure to meet on the road.

Fat Legs

I combined today, from around 1pm until almost 8pm. I only got out of the combine twice (once for a potty break, the other to help move to the next field). My son sat on my lap to help me drive for a bit of the time. He likes to push the buttons that work the auger.
Anyway, when I picked up my daughter I noticed that my legs hurt, so i inspected them to see what the problem could be. I found out that my calves are swollen, quite swollen. Ouch!
So what did I do about it (multiple choice):
1) I went home, put my feet up, and relaxed.
2) I went home and, after I showered, bathed the kids, fed them their snack, called a friend, cleaned up the bathroom, read a story, tucked the kids into bed, changed a poopy diaper, and tucked them in again, I put my feet up.
3) I went home and showered, bathed the kids, fed them their snack, called a friend, cleaned up the bathroom, read a story, tucked the kids into bed, changed a poopy diaper, and tucked them in again. Then I sat at the computer typing and e-mailing while I sort-of had my feet in a somewhat "up" position.

Cute Kids

A few days ago I looked at my peacefully playing children and I had a thought.

The thought: "I have the most beautiful and most precious children in the world."

I hope every parent has that thought.

Another One

We were at our same friend’s house last night. We spent the evening there helping them stuff newsletters for their ministry. Anyway, the adults were working away on the newsletter and chatting while the kids played and ran around the house. My daughter spent most of the night “helping” with the newsletter while cuddled up the lap of a lady she has claimed as one of her grandmas.

Towards the end of the night, I heard Grandma giggling. I looked up to hear her say “I think she took her diaper off.” I then looked at my daughter. She indeed had taken her diaper off. She probably took it off because it was full of poop. However, when she took her diaper off, the large lump of poop flopped out on the floor of my friend’s kitchen.

Thank the Lord they have hardwood floors that are easy to wipe up.

I hope this is the last of my poop stories for a while, but chances are there will be more.

Maybe I will put the collection of poop stories into a book. Any ideas for the title?

Corn

More corn, except this time she is eating it raw. Fresh, straight out of the garden. She was supposed to be bringing it to the house so I could cook it for supper, but she decided to try it before it was cooked. She seemed to really like it and ate a bit. It tastes ok, but it sure is crunchy.

Today

Today after church we were invited to a friend’s house for lunch. They had their baby dedicated today and were having a celebration meal with us and lots of their family. We’ve known this family for a long time, and it is always fun to get together with them. The kids all enjoy playing and the adults can hang around and talk for a long time.

Anyway, today, my husband and I were sitting in their front yard with the other adults, talking away and enjoying our full bellies after the quite filling meal. I happen to look up across the yard and noticed my son. He had his pants down. He was squatting in their front yard. Pooping.

My husband moved quickly and got him into the house to clean him up.

My son has been combining with his dad a bit lately and obviously gotten used to “taking care of business” out in the field.

We have a bit of learning to do in the “what is appropriate” and “what is not appropriate” categories.

A Story

On Thursday of this week I was extra busy. The farrier (the guy who trims my horses’ toenails) was coming, so I had to halter the horses in the morning before I went to work. My daughter was dressed and fed already, so I took her outside with me to call the horses. My son was getting dressed and would hopefully be ready to go when I returned to the house.
The horses were easy to halter, as usual, and I was back to the house in just a few minutes. My son, standing at the top of the stairs, announced upon my return:
“I pooped in my shorts and it flopped out on the floor, but it’s okay because I put wipes on it.”
“Oh.” Was my reply. “Don’t move, I’ll be right up to clean it up.” I said as I headed into the kitchen to grab some gloves and a bucket of water and disinfectant.
“It’s okay.” He said, “because I put wipes on it, and when we are gone it will melt.”

Wouldn’t that be great! Poop that just melts away. That would have saved me a bit of work that day.

Hot

My kiddos found their winter mittens several days ago. They decided to pretend it was winter and put the mittens on with their jackets.

Never mind that it was over 80 degrees outside.

Maybe I need to turn the air conditioner up.

Corn

My daughter likes corn. On the cob. And she's in luck, because we have lots of corn in our garden and have eaten more than our share of corn in the past few weeks.

She like to eat corn. Cooked. Or raw. Crunchy fresh from the garden.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Sunday afternoons are known for their naps. I remember when I was little, my dad enjoyed his afternoon nap on Sundays. I think he still takes a nap on Sunday afternoons.

Today my kids and my tired husband all laid down for a snooze. Enjoy the pictures!

Helping

My daughter enjoys helping her parents. She runs to get her daddy a new pair of socks when he comes home. She puts her shoes on all by herself. She can undress herself before bathtime. And she loves to help with the dishes. Just loves it. She gets into it, too, and usually has to have a whole new set of clothes when she is finished.

The Little Things

Arg. It's been a challenging day so far. My son has been really pushing his limits lately, which means I have to discipline him often. I don't enjoy disciplining him at all, but I have to do it if I want to enjoy him for the next 18ish years or so. Ick.
I think my daughter is getting her eye teeth. She's been irritable for the last week or more, and I just spent about 2 hours trying to get her to take a nap. She's still not sleeping.
They are both a challenge.
I guess that's okay in the long run, but today it's kind of tough.
I'll make it.

Ice Cream

Yum! The kids are eating Schwans Ice Cream Sandwiches and enjoying that cold, creamy taste of fresh-from-the-truck ice cream.

This post was created for the benefit of those parties currently residing in Indo where a serious deficiency of quality ice cream exists. Look what you have to look forward to in a few weeks!

Mud

Archives

I was looking through some old (last year) pictures and came across this one. Yup, that's my house behind that flowering thing. I like to take pictures of my house and yard and then look back to see how things have changed since we bought this place.

I also found a picture of things being changed - the destruction of an old building dubbed "The Skunk Shed." Yes, it was called The Skunk Shed for a reason.

A Story

Yesterday morning my daughter and I were cuddling in the lazyboy waiting for my son to wake up. I heard some pitter-pattering upstairs in his room and assumed he would be down for breakfast shortly. On his way down the stairs, he said "I'm bringing this to you, Mommy." I asked what he was bringing to me. He replied, "This poopy, poopy diaper." Oh! Well, that got me out of the chair and halfway up the stairs in a fraction of a second - to see my son holding a neatly folded and very smelly diaper.
He had changed his diaper, all by his very independent three-year-old self. He didn't quite get an A+, though, Diaper Changing Procedures. He has a few things he needs to work on before he gains official diaper-changer status. For example, instead of using baby wipes to clean up his bottom, he had used a Kleenex, which is not quite as effective as a moist baby wipe. Also, he forgot to throw the soiled Kleenex away and had left it lying on the rug in his room. However, he had done quite well (there were only two poop smudges on the floor and one on the bed), considering it was his first time.
I'd give him a B-.

Hide 'N' Seek

My family likes to play hide'n'seek, especially my son (although I get quite a kick out of playing, too). This particular day my husband was the one hiding, and my son and I located him jammed between the couch and the filing cabinet. I had to take a picture.

Horses

I have been thinking a lot about my horses lately. I have three horses: a retired old gelding named Wyatt, a 18ish year old mare named April, and Moonshine, a large young horse that I have had since he was born. I used to ride Wyatt, but he is getting so old that I don't like to ride him much anymore. He is starting to get some joint pain (at least that's what it looks like). I will still put kids on him occasionally, but I like to just let him just eat and hang out. April is okay to ride, but she is a pain to worm or spray for flies, and she can be a bit skittish. Moonshine is great to have, but I don't like to ride him because he is a constant challenge. We don't usually agree on the same destination, so it's a fight to get him to go where I want him to go. Not very relaxing at all. I rode him for a little bit today and it was a challenge.
My plan is to keep Wyatt until he dies. I don't really know what to do with April and Moonshine. I am thinking about selling them and looking for a horse that has better manners (and one that has been worked with a lot), but that would not be a very profitable venture at all. I don't get much time to ride, so should I even have a horse? I really enjoy them, though, even if I don't get to ride them.
But if I didn't have any horses, we would have this empty pasture - and I might just get stuck with some stinky cows. Hmmm, maybe if I named them Hamburger and Steak...

Farm Kids

My daughter enjoys mud puddles. She was playing in the middle of one right before I took this picture.

My son likes to ride his bike, but I think the bike is getting fairly small. We ordered him a much bigger tyke, but it hasn't come yet - so he is still riding the small one. His legs are too long for the pedals so he usually scoots along with feet on the ground.

Daycare

I stopped by the daycare that I used to work at and inquired about taking my kids there one day per week while I go to work. The lady that runs the daycare is very nice and great with kids, but I still wonder if I am making the right choice. I want to raise my kids. I don't want someone else to raise them. But I also am challenged (in a good way) by my job and would like to keep it. I am blessed to have a very flexible part time job, but my kids are WAY more important than a job. So I am looking for the line between being a mom and working outside the home. I believe that this is an good decision (backed fully by my husband), but is it the best decision?
We are going to try the daycare thing for a few weeks and see if the kids do okay there. And see if they like it. And see if I do okay with it.
Wish me well!
And pray that I make the best decisions.

Movie

The kids like to sit on their little stools while they watch a movie (which doesn't happen very often). I think they were watching Veggie Tales when I took this photo. My daughter will watch a movie for about 2 minutes, then she moves on to her next activity. My son will watch a movies for a lot longer, depending on his interest in the movie.

The Fashion Queen

The Fashion Queen!

Enough said.

Kentucky

This is a picture of my family standing at Churchill Downs. For you that don't know where that is: it is the track where the Kentucky Derby is run. If you have never heard of the Kentucky Derby, then you probably need to do a little research.

Anyway, we took a little jaunt to Louisville last month and did a small tour of some horse country. It was very interesting - I learned some interesting things about the horse breeding and racing business. We had the privilege of seeing some Derby winning horses and visiting some very posh horse farms.

The kids did very well on the tour. My son ignored the multi-million dollar horses but was fascinated by the barn cat that followed him around.

Birthday Party

It was time for another birthday party at my house. We had cakes and ice cream! We had friends over! We had balloons and presents! We all had a great time. I even had "helpers" lick off the spatulas and spoons when I made the cakes before the party. It was a fun day.

It's been a while

Whoa, it's been a while between blog posts. I guess that means I've been a bit busy, and I don't think things are going to slow down for a while. Awana is coming to a close this month, so I have lots of planning and ordering and double-checking to do.

I am going to a scrapbooking day this month and I'm excited! All day, just to scrapbook...I sure hope I can get a lot done there. I just finished a scrapbook of my family's trip to Indonesia, and now I would like to get caught up with my Christmas scrapbook (a book of all the pictures that friends and family send us at Christmastime). I also want to get a bit more caught up with my kids' scrapbooks.

I made an appointment with a recommended optometrist (next month) to get checked to see if I am a good candidate for eye correction surgery. I am required to wear my glasses (NO CONTACTS) for two weeks before my appointment. I'm sure they have a good reason for this; it probably has to do with my eye health or something. BUT, I personally think they do this so you are tired of wearing your glasses - so that makes you really want to have the surgery. Just my theory. I'm a little bit nervous about this whole process, so I would request some prayers for wisdom for me - I want to make a wise choice.

Winter Storm

The wind is blowing and the snow is falling today. It's a "Winter Storm" according to the weather professionals. I don't mind the storms, as long as my house is warm and cozy. In fact, I rather enjoy them if I'm inside and don't have to travel anywhere. They make me want to sit at home and drink hot coco in my bathrobe, then take a long, warm bath with bubbles. Hmmm...
In reality, I have two kids and probably won't get to do those things, but it is nice to think about them. And it is nice to be able to stay home all day with my family.

Dart

This is what happens when someone (my husband) tries out a blowgun in the house. Yes, the dart IS sticking into my hardwood floor.

Mr. Fix-its

I recently had to strip all of the wallpaper off of my bathroom walls because it was torn quite badly (by a certain two-year-old member of my household). I primed and painted the walls, which was quite a project because we lived with no mirror, light, or back of the toilet for a few days (it is our only bathroom). My son likes to help, so he "helped" me paint the walls with a pencil and later with my makeup brush. In this picture he is helping his dad put some trim up. I'll be glad when this project to totally finished.

Birthday

We recently celebrated my daughter's first birthday by giving her a cupcake, all her own! She enjoyed it - both eating it and smearing the crumbs around on her tray. She licked the yummy crumbs off of her hands. She gets excited now when she hears the word "cupcake."

Drummer

One of my daughter's favorite things about Nana and Grandpa's house was the drums. She loves to play the drums, and has a nice beat for a one-year-old. Maybe her uncles can give her some drum playing lessons.

Washer

We recently returned from visiting my parents and one of my son's favorite things about their house was the bottom washers. He would sit on the potty and sing into the washer, pretending it was a microphone. It took him a long time to use the potty because he had to sing a song before he was finished. It's a great potty training tool, though, because it sure made potty time fun!