What You Can Learn From Our 5-year old Cattle Rancher

1. He can tell you the difference between cows, bulls, heifers, steers and calves.  In detail. 


2. He knows the numbers of the 2 cows I brought to the Kittson County Fair 10 years ago when I was still in 4-H. He can also find them out on pasture.

3. He's learning how to write all our cow numbers. He's learning how to write all of Grandpa Lowell's cow numbers. He's learning how to write numbers of random cows we find on the internet.  He's obsessed.

4. Why do we keep the heifers and sell the steers? Ask Clarence.  He'll tell you that heifers make you money because they can have more babies and steers make you money because they can't have babies.

5. He can tell you what you should feed his little calves in the barn. He can tell you what you should feed the pigs. He can tell you what to feed each of the pens of cows we have in the yard...not in great detail, but he'd be very helpful if you needed to come over and do chores for us. :)

6. Do you know the difference between a hay bale, a straw bale, or a corn bale? Clarence can help.  He can also tell you the difference between beet pulp and corn silage.

7. Clarence can tell you all about preg checking...you know, checking to see whether the cows are bred or not. That's all I'll say about it. Yes, I know he knows too much about some things for his age.

8. He can tell you the numbers of his cows out in the pasture. Sure they have orange ear tags and we don't, but he can write down their numbers for you. Pretty cute.

9. Ear tags. Who has what color? Ask Clarence...Grandpa Lowell/Uncle Chuck; Nathan; Nikki and Mark; his Daddy; his Mom; him. 

10. He can show you how to run calves down the chute.

11. Clarence is too brave for being 5. It scares me sometimes. He can show you how to sort heifers... the bigger ones. The other day, he came into the tractor and told me he had some heifers sorted out in the barn that we should keep. I asked him if they were fancy,  and he said, "Yeah, they're really nice. I have two black ones and two with white faces." And he did...they were all sorted out and stuck in a little pen in the back of the barn.  Ahhh!

 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed a little insight into the life of this little cattle rancher. He's a fun kid to have around!

Back in the Swing

Hi there...it's been a while.

We're just busy living life, I guess. We've been going to preschool, feeding cows, trying to do more work on our addition, running here and there, teaching piano, etc.  It seems like we never slow down.  Matt keeps asking why I haven't written in a while. Partly it's because of the stuff I mentioned above, and part of it's because I just don't have the heart to write anything right now. I know that I like having these memories of my kids to look back on, but at the same time, I guess I just want to live it and not write about it, too. Am I making any sense?

Well, little Spiffy Cliffy turned 1 on Wednesday. I can't believe how fast that year went.  He's such a fun, happy, busy little boy.  He wants to be anywhere Clarence and Adina are. He puts more things in his mouth than they ever did, though - I feel like I'm always doing the finger sweep to see what he's got in there...marbles, money, styrofoam, paper, whatever he can find. And so far I've been lucky...no chokes. Thank you, God! Another favorite thing of his is climbing the stairs really fast if I forget to put the baby gate up and digging in the toilet if I or someone else forgets to put the lid down.  We're always keeping an eye on him! Adina and Clarence are big helpers for that, though. They let me know what he's up to.  He's also a good little helper in the tractor. I've been helping Matt the last month or so with chores every day and the kids and I drive the mixer wagon.  Adina's good if she brings a bunch of treats with; Clifford's just good. He jumps around and barks at the dogs and moos at the cows if we're sitting still, but when we move and head to a pen to feed, he sits still and just watches. He's so good...and I remember that's just how Clarence used to be in the tractor.

Adina's been busy coloring, watching movies, helping me and just growing up. She likes to help with most chores around the house like scrubbing the floor, vacuuming, and cleaning the bathroom. I really don't have to beg her for help in those areas...it's more when I ask her to pick up toys that she just looks at me and lets Clarence do all the picking up. 
 It's crazy how much older she seems lately. She uses manners when she talks and just seems to have a sweeter nature than her "terrible two" days.  She's still as stubborn as ever, though, so I'm trying to find ways to creatively deal with that. :)  All in all, she's so much fun...

Clarence has been up to the same as usual...cows. He has five or so little calves out in the barn that he works with/feeds/leads, etc. on a daily basis. He's trying to train one of them to lead right now. I guess he wants to get a jump start on the fair.  When we feed cows, we dump a pile of silage/beet pulp for him and he scoops it up in his little buckets and feeds to his calves. He's so helpful, too...when we're feeding the heifers by where he works with his calves, he's always waiting with the gate open for us so we don't have to jump out and open it ourselves. What a great little kid!

Since his birthday, he's been drawing, coloring and painting pictures. Right now, I've got about 15 taped to my kitchen windows that he wants up for Clifford's birthday in a few weeks. He's going to sell them to whoever wants to buy them. He charges a dollar or a quarter, whatever you want to pay (his words). It seems like he's always looking for a way to make another dollar.

Matt's been up to his usual...no good. Just kidding. Ha. He's feeding cows daily (we try to help nearly every day) and doing little projects here and there. We've worked cows and calves a few times with Clarence's help. The other two kids head to the babysitter's house when we're out in the barn...it's tough to have their "help".  Yesterday, he built me a nice big shelf for all my canned stuff in the basement. Clarence helped him, and it's awesome! They organized all my stuff and made it all look so nice. I love it!

Well, I guess all I've done is update on the family, but that's ok. We're just trying to slow things down a little to enjoy our winter.  As I wrote that, I thought about Adina. About two times a week, she asks me, "Mom, when's it going to be summer?"  I think she's mostly just waiting for her birthday...it's been hard for her to see both her brothers have birthdays and she doesn't get one until summer. Oh well, she's being more patient about it now.

Have a fabulous day and weekend, friends! 

Things I Love

Well, I was trying to think of something fun to write, so I'll talk about things that I love and make me smile...lately anyway. :)

• Adina sitting on the floor with Clifford right now playing quietly with all his toys.  She's so nice to sit and play...and dig through his box of baby toys.  He loves the attention.
• Conversations with Clarence Matthew.  What a kid.  We talk about cow numbers, fencing, his store, insurance, whether his heifers will have heifer or bull calves (he's hoping for heifers so he can keep them), cows breeding (truly), writing letters, etc.  I even picked him up from school last week to find out he'd been trying to sell his teachers insurance and he'd been telling  them all about the cows and bulls breeding.  Yes, I know he knows too much for an almost 5 year old.  But what are we to do?
• Hockey started last night (for my kids).  We didn't go, though. Clarence didn't want to because he said he needed to come home and fence for his calves.  He never even got to fence though, because he and Matt were baling corn stalks all day. 
• The weather.  I love fall. I love winter. I love spring, and I love summer (everything but the heat).  My favorite thing about this time of year is waking up in a warm, cozy house and seeing the frost everywhere.  It's so pretty.  I also love waking up to snow coming down (or rain in the summer).  It's also so cozy and calming.
• Having all the cows home for the winter.  Yes, it's a headache when they manage to get out, but it's so nice to know they're all close by and easier to take care of. It's also fun working them and bringing the kids out to get them safely involved.
• My morning coffee.
• Being home with my sweet kiddos (and husband).
• Watching Clifford try new foods and like them.  He had spaghetti for lunch today, with real milk in a sippy cup.  He ate a whole bowl full of food.
• Reading my books....I've been reading all Tracie Peterson's book series.  I love them.
• Baking.
• Listening to Chris Ledoux's music while I'm busy around the house.  It motivates me.
• Christmas shopping online. I've got so many good ideas and I don't have to leave my house.  Awesome!

Well, that's enough of a list for now.  Just a little hello on this beautiful fall day!

Fabulous Fall - Flying By Too Fast

I absolutely love fall. The changing leaves, the cool, crisp air, the fun activities we do...I love bringing the cows home, working them, harvesting my garden (which, thankfully, is done), seeing the frost on the ground in the mornings, etc. 

We are busy here. Matt especially. He's been doing many last-minute projects around the farm to prepare for winter.  He's been hauling a lot of manure, combining beans, fixing the combine, hauling cows home, chasing cows back in the pasture...oh, it goes on and on.  He's cut a load of wood...we need to do a few more. :)  Hopefully I can help him.  I always liked cutting wood with my dad growing up.  I like helping Matt do it, but it always seems like it's hard to find the time to get out there and go with him.

Yesterday we took a few hours to run down to the appliance store in Stephen.  My microwave quit on Wednesday...or fried itself or whatever.  When it was plugged in and the door was shut, it would keep going, no matter what.  Probably not real safe.  Off we went.  We were also in dire need of a fridge. What we were looking for is an old thing someone traded in/something he fixed up and wanted to sell again for all the cow medicine.  What we came home with was a nice new fridge for me; Matt can have my old side-by-side for the cow medicine.  I think it's a fair trade...well, it's not really a trade.  But anyway, I like my new fridge. :)

My title talks about fall flying by fast.  Well, speaking of fast, you should see how fast Spiffy Cliff can move around the house these days.  He's crawling everywhere; the baby gate goes up, he pulls himself up on it, and pretends he's in jail.  He's fun like that.  He stands behind the kids' stool and pushes it around the room.  (Please stop growing so fast, Clifford! Mommy wants you to be a sweet tiny baby for a while longer!)  He goes into the living room and pulls all the movies off the shelf.  He's trying to organize, I guess. 

He's a fun baby.  And he's definitely a momma's boy.  But I like him that way.

 

And he's so good at organizing.  He wants my books in alphabetical order.

 

 

Adina's adjusting to her new hairstyle.  We're finding that it looks best if her hair is pulled up in the back. Otherwise she seems to have a mullet.  So, I've been braiding, putting it in a bun, and putting in barettes.  So far that seems to help.  She's really liking school. She sings songs regularly - ABC's, Zaccheus, Twinkle, Twinkle, I See the Moon, the Itsy, Bitsy Spider, etc.  We sing them over and over.  She loves it! She can write an "A" (upside down), among other letters.  She only wears pretty dresses with tights and sparkly shoes to Wendy's, school and church.  I have to really beg her to wear pants of any kind.  Oh well...she's sure a cutie!

 

 

 Cliff was feeling sad and neglected, so I asked Adina to play legos with him.  He liked the attention.
She's trying to build a castle.

 Don't mind the messy face...Halloween candy will do that to a person.  Like her bangs?

She's such a nice big sister.

 

 This guy makes my heart melt. :)

My helpful, handsome husband.

He's taking the doors off my new fridge so we can turn it sideways to get it in the kitchen.  He's pretty handy that way.

 

 

This guy is my sweetie, too.  He was all ready to go help Matt on Tuesday when I left for school.  They had a busy day of hauling manure, moving the combine, and who knows what else.  He doesn't miss a beat, though.

 

Last night, Clarence spent the night at Mom and Dad's. He'd been hauling cows home with my dad, Nathan, Mark and Nikki all day. They were having supper at Mom's last night. Clarence and Harley were watching Little House.  Mom brought supper in to Clarence and found him asleep on the couch.  She couldn't wake him...he was out cold for the night.  He spent the night there, and woke up early with my dad this morning.  My mom woke up to find them leaving the house. She said, "Aren't you going to stay here with me for a bit, Clarence?"  He replied, "Grandma, you know I have work to do.  We've got a lot of cows to haul today."  Haha...what a cute little worker.  He's so full of information and things to talk about.  I bet he's given Dad many ideas as to how to run the farm better.  I miss him.

 

At home these past few weeks, he's been trying to round up his bottle calves; that entails finding ropes, finding the calves, putting the ropes around their necks, finding his dad to drag/lead them to the barn, penning the calves up, feeding them, accidentally letting the calves out, and starting the whole process over again.  He's also been carving the pumpkins we've had decorating our deck.  Not to make pretty faces on them, though. He's trying to get hundreds of seeds that he's washing, drying and saving to plant next spring.  He wants to sell pumpkins next year. 

 

He also sets up a store in the living room. I have to pay him if I want toilet paper, paper towels, or jars of any kind.  He's always looking for a way to make a buck.

 

He talks to me about insurance, cow numbers, ideas for the farm, things he's doing on his own (play) farm upstairs, how to write his friends' names, how well he's been writing his own numbers (most of them are backwards), and many other random things I can't even think of right now. 

 

 

I took the kids trick-or-treating the other night.  Most of you have probably seen this picture on facebook, but I thought I'd share again. They were so well-behaved that night! I love when they're so sweet and happy. :)   We had a great time together.  And I arrived home with three sleeping, worn-out kiddos.

 

 

 

Adios, my friends.

 

Eat some beef today!

 

 

 

 

Family Camping Trip

I hadn't taken pictures for a while. The last pictures I took were when we went camping at Hayes Lake a month ago.  It was spur-of-the-moment.  We left at about 8 pm on a Thursday night and drove there in the dark.  The next morning, we woke up to rain...it stopped for a few hours so we could go on a beautiful bike ride by the lake.  Then it rained some more.  We loved it despite the rain!  It was so private, cozy, and fun to be together as a family.  Here are a bunch of pictures of it.

All set up in the dark.

Adina helping daddy set up our new camp stove.

 

Spif playing....he's so cute!

Clarence fell asleep on the way and just kept on sleeping....as usual.

 

We had one campfire after our bike ride complete with smores.

Oh, s'mores are sooo good!

Even Cliff liked the mallows.

 

Sweet and happy.

 

Yum.

Marshmallows are good plain, too...

Adina on her bed.

Making forts or playing puppy....something like that.

Always crazy, busy and wild!

We had so much inside-camper time because of all the rain.  We played, colored, and took naps.  Fun!

My sweeties.

 

 

We love camping!

Moving cows home

Helpful: giving or rendering aid or assistance; of service
             synonyms: useful, convenient; beneficial, advantageous.  (dictionary.com)

Yesterday, we moved cows home.  The kids were....helpful. :)

Clarence mostly because he understands when I'm telling him something that will help us.  For example, he was helping push the cows into the trailer. I told him to walk right up to the trailer, then walk along the chute back towards me shouting a little. He followed my directions to a 't'.  He truly was helpful.

Adina....convenient, maybe?  Matt had spilled a bucket of bolts/washers on the ground. It was convenient to have her with because he had her clean them up, which she willingly did.  Other than that, she was off on her own...climbing under fences, climbing rock piles, finding treats in the vehicles, etc.

Clifford...all of the words above. He's SO helpful.  A few of the times we loaded I was lucky that he was napping, so I left him in his carseat and checked periodically.  A few other times, he wanted to help.  When the weather was still nice and the grass was still dry, I tried to find a place to put him that didn't have too may cowpies nearby.  He crawls now, though, you know.  That made strategically placing him anywhere mighty difficult.  After it had rained a little bit, though, I found a sweatshirt and set him on there. He did pretty well sitting on that and watching us herd the cows into the chute.  He had a huge smile for me whenever I looked his way.

The cows were happy to be out of the trailers and home.

 

Me and my boyfriend.

 

 

Hey, Mom!

Hard at work, loading cows into the trailer.

Showing me the new baby that was born 2 days ago on pasture.  In case you're wondering, the mom's number is 595.  I had to write in on three different single pieces of paper for him yesterday. I don't think he remembered to keep any of those papers, though.   He likes to have records of all things going on.

The helpful little princess...without bangs.  At choir practice at church the other night, she came upstairs sans bangs.  Cute, huh? 

 So sneaky.

And happy.

And helpful.

And cute.

And squishy.

 

So adorable!

I have a picture similar to this one of when they were 2 1/2 and 1 years each.  Now they're almost 5 and 3 1/2.... I can't believe it!

They love each other.....most of the time.

 

 

 

 

 So there you have it...our day from my phone.  It went so well.  Uncle Chuck came to help. Clarence and he had a lot of fun together.  Chuck kept giving Clarence lots of treats. 

Now we have all our cows home and we can worry about other things....like them getting out. :)  Ha...hopefully not!

 

Until next time.....have a super day!

 

Remember to eat some BEEF today!

 

 

The Farmer and The Princess

This past week was a busy one. We baled over a thousand bales, mostly straw.  I'd bale during the day while some kids could be at the babysitter, then Matt would take over and bale into the night.  Clarence went to the sitter one day, but then decided he'd like to come with and help me, too.  So I spent the next four days with company (3 of them with Clarence).  Yesterday, Clarence and Clifford went to the Finney's house to play.  Cousins Ruthie and Brooke took such good care of Cliff - Ruthie told her mom that she didn't want to put Clifford on the floor because then he might not like her.  I think it's safe to say he was given plenty of attention yesterday. :)  The boys had a great day.  Adina went with Megan in the morning to Megan's house for the day.  Megan and Mark brought me fuel for my tractor yesterday about 5. Adina said she wanted to stay with me.  I figured that'd be fun since I hadn't spent much time with her all week.  We baled a little straw, then headed up to Humboldt to bale up our third cutting of hay.

Yesterday was crazy.  All around the field I was in farmers were hurrying.  Some to finish combining, some to haul grain, some to finish baling, and some to haul the bales off the fields.  So busy. It was fun watching all the activity from my field. I love all the hustle and bustle, even though it stresses the farmers out (I don't like that, but I love this time of year).  And everyone was in even more of a rush because it was supposed to rain this morning.  As of almost 1pm, there's still no rain.  I wonder when it's coming?

Anyway, my post is about my farmer and my princess.  Having Clarence in the tractor is kind of the same, steady pace.  He's predictable. He sits still. He talks about cows, bales, dogs, gardens, and cow numbers.  He sits and thinks for a long time, then he'll ask some questions. Then he'll want to eat a snack and visit some more. He never changes positions. He never turns around or stands up.  He takes a nap when he's tired, usually sitting up.  Like I said, he's predictable.

 

Here's my sweet farmer boy napping. He slept over an hour this day. His head would move forward and he'd swing it back.

 

He's so cute!  After this I let him lay his head in my lap.  There aren't many good napping options in the tractor!

 

Adina's not a still child for tractor work.

She's wild. One minute she's singing. The next she say, "Mom, I need hompin." Then she's standing on the seat. Then she's laying on the seat. Then standing on the floor. Then back jumping on the seat. Then she'll remember she brought stickers, a piece of paper and a pen with. She'll write her name and put stickers on paper for a minute or two. Then she needs a drink of juice. Then she turns around and hides her stuff under my seat. Then she's standing again playing with my hair. Then she's reaching over me trying to get her bug juice.

 

 

She helped me for about 5 hours - not bad for a little princess.  She had about 5 field-potty breaks, ate most of my lunch and brought a lot of excitement and company to another day in the tractor.

 

 

And here are the farmer and the princess sleeping in their sleeping bags last night after a LONG week.

 

And sweet little Clifford had such a fun day playing with his Finney cousins. Thanks, girls!

 

Have a great day, and eat some BEEF today!