This Old House

This is my dwelling place, my home sweet home...

If the walls of this old house could talk, they'd tell you:

1. That toys cover half the living room nearly all the time

2. There are piles of laundry to fold...it's neverending!

3. Jacki is stressed out because she's sacrificing housework to help Matt...not that Jacki loves housework; in fact, she despises most of it, but tries to do it once in a while...things have gotten a little outta hand, though.

4. That Clarence loves watching borshows...specifically, Little House or cowboyborshows...

5. That Clarence only likes his animals and anything that has to do with them...he has other toys, but he doesn't use them for what they're supposed to be used for; he uses them to put his animals in, on, or under.

6. Adina loves watching Clarence

7. Adina loves collecting little random toys and placing them in odd spots; it's very funny to watch

8. Adina has started having temper tantrums...she even needed a timeout to calm down tonight...it really helped her.

9. Matt likes staying up late...really late...sometimes to work, sometimes to play on the computer, and sometimes to watch movies...

10. There aren't any closets on the main floor of this square old house, and this frustrates me...how do I organize and put things away when there are no hiding spots? 

11.  We love playing outside our old house...Clarence collects clumps of grass and pulls them around in his wagon; Adina trains her cats; Matt hauls hay straw, unloads it and starts all over; Jacki mows, weeds, collects eggs, feeds outside little animals, gets fresh garden produce, etc........

12.  This old house is small (trust me, it really is), and we hope to add on...maybe soon...maybe not so soon...we'll see!


Tomorrow, we're making salsa and freezing sweet corn at Nikki's house...I'll be sure to take pictures!

Harvest

Well, wheat harvest has been completed, as has baling straw! (I think...unless Matt finds more and decides I should bale more...I kinda hope not!) 

We baled and baled and baled.  Matt found a guy down in southern MN who will pay us for our straw, and he'll come and get it.  It's a quick and pretty easy way to make some money (that is, unless it rains, a baler starts on fire or just stops working; thankfully, that didn't happen to us.)

Today, we're going to start hauling it off the fields and putting it by a crossing so that guy can come and pick it up at his convenience.  So, I get to haul straw for the afternoon.  At least the kids are at the sitter and having fun playing with friends instead of sitting in a tractor having their mom entertain them...maybe I can even bring a book with!

Here are some pictures I took during harvest...some of the hundreds of bales we made, some of us baler people, and a couple randoms...
Now you know what we've been doing the last 2 weeks!

 Clarence and "Dikki"...he loves to ride with her...probably because he can raid her lunch box!


They also just love hanging out together...it's fun to be with an auntie!

Grandma Muriel and Adina the cowgirl...they both love harvest time! Grandma Muriel was out for like 7 hours on this particular day, taking pictures, giving rides, playing with the kids, etc.  She absolutely loves it!  And Adina...she's so much help!  Enough said.

 This one is kind of far away, but it's the people who baled this year on our straw project...with a bunch of our bales in the background.

Pictured are: Mark, Nikki holding Adina, Matt holding Clarence, and Me

 The three balers heading towards me...Nikki and Clarence on the left, Mark in the middle, and Matt and Adina on the right.

 Mark the Shark hard at work...he's really concentrating!

 Matt with his gorgeous cowgirl helper...the one who likes to sit still in the tractor...

NOT!

Clarence and Dikki

Hi, my name is Adina Cecelia, and I love to help in the tractor.  I also like to wear dresses and braid my hair like Laura Ingalls...(you can tell, right?).

Update:

I wrote this post this afternoon before we went to haul bales...

Now I'm back, the kids are in bed, and I have a messy house to contend with.  Wish me luck!

We're hauling more bales tomorrow...this will be wonderful because I can read my book! Yippee!

Our Cousins Came To Play!

Today Clarence and Adina's cousins, Tucker and McCall, came over to play.  The kids are having so much fun together.  Usually when Clarence and Tucker get together, they wrestle and fight some; not today, though.  They've shared pretty well and have been playing very good together (most of the time).  They're both  still 2 and don't like to share that well, so that's been the biggest problem.  It's fun for Clarence to have another boy his own age to play with, though.  When he goes to either of his babysitters, he's very outnumbered by girls his age. 

McCall has been such a good boy today.  We've played outside, he's taken a couple naps, he loves his bottles...he's so mellow and easy-going.  Adina's loving having him over...it gives her a chance to practice her babysitting skills.  She also likes to chase the big boys around and play with them, too.

Here are some pictures I took this morning of them playing.

Deciding who can play with what...

 Tucker likes the trucks, pickups and farm machinery...Clarence likes the animals and the things that go with the animals (the pickup to haul them, the semi to haul them, the tractor to feed them, etc.) It was cute when Tucker came, Clarence was telling him which side of his barn the animals are supposed to go in.  But Tucker wanted to play with the machinery.

 We filled the pool up this morning.  The kids had so much fun!  They played in it all morning... and it really tired them out! They fell right asleep at nap time! Yay!

 Clarence and Tucker were trying to drink it, I think...Adina's really brave, don't you think?  All she'd do was put her hands in it (it was cold, but I think she was scared of the boys...)

 Little Mr. McCall...he was my helper.  I put him in the stroller and we wandered around the yard.  He's so happy and easy! 

Peeling corn for dinner...we feed the peelings to the horses.  They were really good helpers.  :)

I had plans of getting a lot done today since this is the only day I've been at home for longer than sleeping in over a week.  However, I had forgotten how much time a little baby takes.  While he's an easy baby, it's just different having extra kids around, and I haven't accomplished as much as I'd hoped.  However, my goals for the day may have been a little far-fetched.

Here's what they were this morning:

1. Mow the lawn (while the kids are playing outside). I mowed for a little while, but that was kinda hard (I'll finish tonight, I guess).

2. Can tomatoes...I have to get this done! My free-grazing chickens are eating them, and this angers me.  So, I have 7 jars ready to go in the canner.  I guess that's been a pretty productive naptime.

3. I wanted to make bread/buns/rolls...we're out, and it's nice to have them in the freezer for when we come home late...we can make a quick sandwich.  I'm thinking of starting it soon...it really wouldn't take long, I just need to find the motivation.

4. I need to fold a lot of clothes!  I've decided to do this tonight after I put the kids to bed...I'll watch a movie andd fold clothes. 

During my thought process earlier, I thought about folding clothes during naptime, but decided it would be better to be standing in the kitchen right now rather than at 10 o'clock tonight (when I know I'd avoid it completely!).

5. I have beans that I still need to do something with.  However, I don't know what, and it takes so long by myself and when I've got so many helpers. 

6. I need to clean the church (probably this evening when we go get groceries).

7. Get groceries...

The list goes on and on...and I've only completed a few chores off my original plan.  However, since I've got two extra kids, I have to call it a good day when they have fun playing outside all morning, ALL eat a good dinner, and ALL take a good nap AT THE SAME TIME!  That has to fit in somewhere. 

Tomorrow: Back to the baler (I'm kinda excited, though...Matt fixed the air conditioning!)  and Ruthie (my cousin) is coming with to help my mom with the kids.  She'll be a great little helper...she's so good with kids!

Have a great day and a great weekend! I can't believe it's already the weekend! It seems like just yesterday I wrote that we were going camping for the weekend...oh well, I guess. 

It's Our 4th Anniversary Today

Wow...time flies when you're having fun...haha.  It's our fourth anniversary today. I can't believe it.  It's gone by so fast.  I remember on our first anniversary, I was pregnant with Clarence, and we spent the afternoon going for a 4-wheeler ride and having a date at home...pizza and a movie.  Today will be a little different, I'm thinking.  I'll be baling straw, and Matt will be hauling hay.  Hope we can celebrate when things slow down a little.

I love my husband, I love the life we've chosen, and I love our two children God has blessed us with. 

Here are some pictures from our wedding day.

  Happy Anniversary, Matt!

My Little Farmer

(This picture was a couple days ago when we were playing outside...he was making pizza and eggs out of mud. :)  )

Clarence woke up this morning ready to get to work.

Matt was headed out to cut a little hay (by himself) quickly before we have to go bale straw.  Clarence heard Matt was going to leave and he wanted to go with.

"I want to cut hay, mommy."

"Ask your daddy."

"Please, daddy, cut hay?"

(No response...he was looking up the weather and can only concentrate on one thing at a time...)

"Come and get dressed, Clarence, and we'll get your breakfast and you can go with," I told him.

We got him all dressed and ready to go (wearing swimming trunks because he's going to his friend, Esther's house, this afternoon and they get to swim)!  I got his breakfast ready.

Matt walked to the door and tried to sneak out...

"I go cut hay, daddy," Clarence told him.

This is when Matt broke the news..."It's really bumpy out there, Clarence . I just want to run and cut it quick, so why don't you stay home?"

Clarence started crying.  That just about broke my heart...

In the end, he got to go...it may be bumpy out there, but he'll stick with it.  He's such a trooper, and I'm so happy he likes to ride with his daddy (or mommy or Nikki or Grandpa Lowell) in the tractor.

So, they're off and it's Miss Adina and I home to make lunch...she's ready.  She's bringing me a bunch of utinsels from the baking drawer and setting them on my lap.  I hope she will always want to be my kitchen helper the way Clarence likes to be daddy's helper!

 And here's Adina with one of her cats.  I ran over this cat yesterday.  I felt so bad! He was finally tame and nice and the kids could play with him, and I ran over him.  Matt keeps calling me a cat-killer.  When I told Clarence that his orange kitty died, he said, "Go buy orange kitty."  He got over that one quick...he told me to just go buy another one.  I don't want him to be indifferent to death, but I also want him to know that things happen and we just have to deal with them. 

Have a super Tuesday!

Camping

We went camping this weekend.  We had a fun time, although we weren't able to spend much time at the lake...the baling kept calling our names...
The time we did spend out there was fun, though.  Clarence didn't want to leave today.  Here are some pictures I took over the weekend...I finally put new pictures on my computer from my new camera! Yay!

 The Friday night sunset....just beautiful!

Saturday morning we stayed out until after lunch...the kids had fun eating snacks, going for walks, and playing with the animals.

Clarence loves his animals - they're by far his favorite toys!  He has them all set up in this picture eating rocks...

My beautiful, cheesy, gap-toothed, chubby, happy sleeping beauty.

She's such a great camper - if she's awake...getting her to sleep is another matter entirely...and I'm no good at it...only her daddy would do.

Jake, my friend Taryn's baby, was our camping buddy.  He's a darling, happy, chubby little boy.  And he loves to sing to his mommy.  :)

My friend, Taryn, with Adina at the beach today. 

Clarence playing at the beach...we've never really gone to the beach before.  I suppose I'm paranoid my kids would just run into the water and drown or something...not the case, though.  They're kinda scared of the water and just waded in up to their ankles.  Clarence used that purple pail in the picture to pour water on his entire body; hence the reason for the missing clothes.  A little girl at the beach told me it was gross he was wearing underwear....I wonder if she knows it's totally the same thing as wearing a swimming suit. 

The princess with the pail...she just walked around the beach and played with the sand toys. 

I hope to go to the beach again this summer.  The kids had way more fun than I was expecting, and I think if I brought some of their own sandbox toys with, they'd really enjoy themselves for a while. 

We had so much fun, but now we're home and back to reality. The kids raked hay with me this evening...I was worried it wasn't going to go well.  They did awesome! I brought their supper with and a book for each of them, and by spreading things out, they were occupied most of the time. 



The Kids

You may be sick of hearing about my children and what they do all day, but they're my favorite people (next to my husband), so I love to talk about them...

Adina, Adina, Adina:

• She's been gathering random toys and carrying them around in an ice cream pail...(random like half of an easter egg, unused q-tips, ripped crayon boxes, etc.)
• She's been taking Clarence's animals out of his new big red barn and showing them to me...she loves this; he doesn't.
• We were at mom's house last night for supper; Clarence fell asleep, and Adina was busy with her dollies grandma Juli has for her.  (One's a baby cabbage patch and one's a hard doll with long hair and a swimsuit...kinda random, but she loves them).  Mom has a cradle in her living room that Adina slept in when she was tiny and didn't move that is now reserved for Adina's dolls (at least until baby Linden Larson comes along...don't worry, she doesn't know what she's having...she's just nicknamed it Linden).  Adina laid her dollies down for a nap, picked them up, brought them to mom to hold, grabbed them again, back to the cradle.  She did this over and over; it was adorable!!
• She's been thinking about hairstyles a lot; she likes 2 long braids down the side (like Laura Ingalls), but she also likes ringlets and simple ponytails...
• She's been training her cats; She has 3: Sally (who is Clarence's, but she claims him, and, who we found out is a boy), Pumpkin (who we found out is a girl), and Orange.  They follow her all over the yard and don't care when she carries them around by a back leg or something.
• And, Adina has stopped sleeping 13-14 hours a night...she's down to 10 or 11...poor me, I know! :)
• She's also got more of an eating schedule down...she'll only eat 2 real meals plus a snack; She just doens't seem hungry that often (it totally depends on how much she ate at her last meal...like I told you before, it's a princess thing).
• She's been riding in the tractor with Matt and me;  She behaves better with him (at least that's the impression I get)...so, he can have her in the tractor, and I'll enjoy my peace and quiet!

Clarence, Clarence, Clarence:

He's busy, busy, busy.

• He's doing great after his concussion last Sunday...totally himself again, eating, not throwing up, nothing hurts...just awesome!
• He loves playing with all his animals (you know, the bigger ones they have at TSC by the checkouts).  He's got tons of animals...they fill up a barn I bought him last weekend; it's really cute; I'll post a picture when I get a USB cord for my new camera.
• Little House - it's his favorite show by far; not that he has a lot of options; we've got an elmo movie, a couple sing-a-longs, a couple disney movies, and lots of cowboy shows.  Little House and the Cowboy movies are his favorites.  He tells me often "I wanna watch borshow - yil house", or "I wanna watch cowbow borshow".  At least I know what he wants.
• He loves pulling his wagon around outside;  he goes and picks cherry tomatoes, he pulls it up and down the ditches, he fills it full of his sandbox toys...it goes everywhere with him.
• He's much better about playing outside; he knows his boundaries, and where he can and cannot go;  That's something we're working on with the princess now.
• He loves his new little pool. It's tiny, really tiny; but, he loves filling it up with water, then with grass clippings...? just being a kid, I guess. 
• He's a great eater and willing to try almost anything.  His rule at supper, especially with veggies, is that he has to take two or three bites before he can be done.  He's very good about it.
• Potty training is complete, I guess...He still wears a pullup for nap and bed, but he wakes up dry a lot, and hasn't had an accident in a couple weeks.  Yay, Clarence.

So, now you know all about my kids these days and their favorite things to do. :)

We're going camping for the weekend. I'm very excited...We've only been there one other time this summer.  It's really busy right now...Matt won't be able to get out much, but I'll be able to visit a lot with my friend, Taryn.  I'm looking forward to that. 
Have a super weekend; I'll update again Sunday night or Monday!

Things I Love

Working cows (most of the time)

and my husband!

My darling, squishy, happy, smiley little princess.

My wild, happy, energetic, sweet little boy.  And camping...I love camping! It's so peaceful and relaxing!

My handsome husband!  (I know I already said that)

My family and hiking the Grand Canyon (if you've never done it, I highly recommend it!)

Matt's crazy family. :)

Being a mom who is fortunate enough to stay at home with my kids.  I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Our farm.  We're so lucky this fell into our laps and we were able to buy it!

Skiing with my family.  It's so fun and always entertaining!

My husband's sense of humor (most of the time).  This was my dad's birthday present, only he had pulled his pants down and skiied in a speedo.  Go, Matt!  This particular year, a ski school happened to come down just as he started.  I wonder if those kids were ruined for life? :)

The Grand Canyon.  It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth! I hope we'll be able to take our kids many times throughout their lives.

Ruby as a puppy...she was such a little furball and such a good puppy!

My high school friends...I miss not seeing them often.  I suppose it's all part of growing up, but I still miss them!

Watching Matt demo.  I don't love the getting ready part...it totally consumes him for a couple of days...but I do love watching him in the actual demo. 

Ruby now...she's the best dog we could have ever hoped for.  She's so patient with the kids...Clarence loves to lead her around by her collar, and she just follows him;  Adina pulls her hair and lays on her and chases her around the house, and she just puts up with it.  She's an awesome dog!

I also love reading, mostly fiction novels, cooking, baking, trying new recipes, riding horse (although that seldom happends these days, partly because I don't have time and partly because I'm nervous to ride by myself a lot), the cattle drive, and blizzards (when I'm snug in my house).


Have a super Wednesday!