A Snowy Day and My House

What a beautiful snow we're having today!   I love the weather we've had so far this winter - not too much snow, not too many cold days...

Clifford and I are sitting here eating lunch...Clarence is at school, Clancy's taking a rare nap, and Adina and Matt just left for town to bring her to preschool.   I thought I'd take a moment to update, since it's been a month now that I've written again.  Here are some pictures of what's going on at our house: an addition!  We decided in August or so to add on quickly before winter.  Thanks, Mark, for your awesome help!  It's a family room with a big deck on the east and south sides.  The old living room will just be a piano/play room for now with hopes of someday turning into my kitchen...all in due time, I guess.

Matt ripped the rotten deck off the house with the tractor.

No more deck.

Getting ready for cement

Putting plywood up on the outside...can't say that I helped much...I just made a lot of meals for the guys.

Came home from hockey practice one night to find this...it was sure cold in the house that night!

This is Matt and Mark shingling on a warmer day in early winter.  Now it's all closed in, all the windows are in, and it's opened up to the old part of the house.  I'll post pictures of what it looks like on the inside some other day.

Other than working on the addition, we've been feeding cows every day, Matt's gone fishing a couple times, we're running to hockey practice and a few jamborees, and just enjoying being home with our fun kiddos.

Have a wonderful day!

Yep, I'm Already 4 Months Old!

Hi, My name is Clar.....er Cliff.....er Clancy!  Ha.  Mom and Dad do that a lot, it seems.

My name is Clancy Lowell Robert and I was born September 8th...4 months ago, and Mom hasn't written a word about me.  She's pretty busy, usually busy holding me and doing something else.  That's why you haven't heard much about me.  Well, in honor of me turning 4 months old, she's doing it...writing about me... and, guess what?  She even had me weighed this week.  She's trying to stay on top of things. ;)

Here are some facts about me:

• My siblings love me
• Adina does everything she can to help Mom out with me...she pushes me in my swing, talks right in my face, sings to me, bounces me, holds me  (for 10 seconds max), etc.  She's a great big sister and I love her a lot.
• Clifford loves me too. Sometimes he shares his cows with me. Sometimes he gives me a fast, hard ride in my swing.  Sometimes he pushes my bouncy seat all the way to the floor, then lets go to see how high I bounce.  Mom keeps a close watch on me when Cliff's around.  He's a fun brother and likes to hold me (2 second max) a lot, too. 
• Clarence is really busy...He loves me and he loves his farm life. He talks to me and hugs me every once in a while, and tells Mom, "Clancy's really cute."  However, Clarence is busy with life.  He goes to school every day, then when he comes home, he plays outside or with his cows up in his room, or he's hungry, or he has to be read to, or he falls asleep REALLY early...like at 6 or 7 pm.  
• I weigh 17 lbs. 9 oz. 
• this means that I love mealtime.  
• Mom notices weekly that I don't lose weight, I gain it. I'm wearing 6 and 9 month clothes.  I'm really happy that Auntie Nikki bought me some new clothes for Christmas because the clothes my brothers wore were looking a little stained and ragged.
• I like to be held
• A Lot.
• Because I like to be held a lot, Mom's noticed that I've used all the baby accessories we have way more than the others (in an effort to distract me from being held)......the johnny jump-up (which I can only be in when Clifford's sleeping), the swing (my favorite), my bouncy seat (which I like less and less each day, unless Adina's playing next to me), and my Bumbo (my least favorite...I just feel stuck).
• I have slept through the night
• a month or so ago...not recently, though.  I miss my mom during the night, so we've been pretty close lately.
• I like to smile a lot....

Here are a few pics of me:

I worked really hard this day!

Yesterday...4 months old!

Have a nice day!

Love, 

Clancy

Tired and Pregnant...

Ha...these are the only two words that describe me most days.  I love being pregnant, but I'm more tired this pregnancy than I've been with any of my other ones.  My only guesses why are:

• it's summer
• we're busy
• Clarence
• Adina
• Clifford
• yeah, I don't know....

So anyway, I've thought about my blog and writing fun things, and then I think about a nap while Cliff's napping and that always wins.  Except today...today I missed his nap.  And the past few days.  Oh well...

Matt's busy cutting CRP hay and some random little oats fields we have close to the house.  The fields are all too rough, so I'm no help for him.  That makes me a little sad - I love helping him in the hay field.  So he's been recruiting help when and where he can...Laverne, his brother Mark, and Clarence (only as a tractor companion).  He's almost done baling for now, and then he'll be working on hauling everything home, which will take a few days.  

The kids are great.  I'm sad that Clarence is starting Kindergarten soon. I know he'll have fun, but I'll sure miss him during the days.  He's fun to talk to and so helpful.  He's always randomly bringing in eggs and tomatoes and green beans (7 at a time) from the garden.  He tries about 3 times a day to convince me that his kitten, Elsa, should be a housecat.  I say no.  And he's always talking about making random pastures and paddocks for his two calves, Lettie and Ralphie.

Adina's busy too.  She likes to play with Elsa...for about 4 hours every day.  She still likes movies a lot.  She's been practicing her letters...well, her favorite ones anyway (AHPL) ...She writes them in random orders and says that's her name.  It's cute.  She's also pretty helpful when she wants to be.  Sometimes she'll surprise me and tell me she's cleaned her room or the bathroom...I'll go check, and everything's picked up and arranged neatly in a row.  She's going to be a great big sister again in 3 weeks!

Cliff's great. We cut him off from his bottle at the beginning of July thinking it'd be the hardest thing possible with him.  Not. At. All.  He adjusted after one night.  Now he's happy in the mornings and eats almost as much as Clarence instead of drinking 24 ounces of whole milk every night.  And he's slept through the night a few times since we quit his bottle, too.  Wonderful, I tell you. Wonderful.  He has no idea what's going to happen when we have a new baby in a few weeks.  Hopefully he'll adjust quickly since Adina will be home with us and only going to preschool a few afternoons a week.  She's usually really good to play with him.

And me...well...I'm tired and pregnant. :)  I am 36 weeks today.  Baby's coming September 8th.  I can't wait.  Seriously.  Being pregnant in the summer isn't that fun.  I have let my garden go completely...Clarence searches through the weeds to find me tomatoes.  He's so cute about trying to help.  One day he told me, "Mom, someday you're going to come home and I'll have the whole garden weeded for you."  I loved the thought from this, although I know it's not realistic. 

Hope you enjoy the last few weeks of summer before school starts! We'll be busy with VBS and camping!

My favorite kind of night

Last night, we headed over by Lake Bronson to my pasture to check cows and get the paddocks ready to start rotating the cows.  It was so much fun...We've been thinking that it'd be hard to get us all out to do that because we don't have a trailer for the ranger.  However, we found out last night the ranger fits in our new trailer.  Yay!  More fun for all of us.

Clifford gets the most work done when he's got a sorting stick in his hand. 

 P.S. Don't touch it!

Matt's getting the waterers working; Adina's scouting for wild animals.

So cute!

The Fam on the ranger.

Hey, helpers!  Clarence had new insulators ready to hand to Matt if one was broken or missing; Adina just enjoyed the ride.

We found him a shorter stick.  He didn't let go of it once.  And he smiled like this the entire night.

Handsome husband!

The cows running towards us...they want new grass.

]

Inspector Cliff checking/watching as they come closer.

Ready to go and move them.

Coming into a new paddock...ready for tasty new grass.

My favorite cowdog...Rhubarb America Przekwas. :)  (named by Matt, of course.)

She's tired...she had run all over the pasture by this time.

Matt getting another waterer going;  thirsty for some rusty water, anyone?

Clarence took our picture.  

Poor Adina was cold, so I gave her my sweatshirt; she fell asleep soon after.

And Clifford was ready for all the work in the world.  

Totally out.  Cliff put his head on her lap a couple times pretending to sleep with her.

He found an eartag (a new, clean one) that he chewed on and wouldn't let anyone touch.  Notice he's still holding tight to his sorting stick.

Poor Clarence was getting tired, too.  

He had no smiles for Mama.  He fell asleep on the way back to the pickup.

Clifford, on the other hand, was ready to keep doing farm work.

Such a pretty evening!

Well, that sums up our night.  We fixed fence, prepared all the water tanks, shut gates, and put all the cows into one paddock to start their summer rotation.  The kids were all such good and cheerful little helpers...I'm guessing the ranger ride had a lot to do with that. :)

She's 4!

On June 9th, Miss Adina turned 4 years old.  The day was spent hauling our last 30 or so pairs out to pasture.  That night, we celebrated that night with grandparents, some aunts and uncles, homemade pizza and a cake.  Then the following Sunday (Father's Day), we celebrated again with extended family.  We had a great big party and lots of fun visiting.  Sorry, but I didn't get many pictures of the people who were there....just of Adina with her cake and opening her presents.

Here she's helping load the last of the calves into the trailer...

She's so cute doing this, waving her little arms in the air and trying to be quick. :)

Cute little 4 year old.

Going through her new coloring books and reading books from her grandma/great-grandma.

I made buns for the big family party...I was busy in the kitchen and turned around to find this...I was mad at him and he just laughed at me.

Nearly a whole pan wrecked...I had to reshape and let them raise longer.

Then the day of the birthday, we couldn't find him and he was into the buns again...he was ripping holes in the bags trying to get one.  

Ha...he messed up a few.

Clarence helping unload the dishwasher the day of the birthday...what a good little helper.

Auntie Mary decorated her little cake.  She's been planning a "flower cake" since winter some time...

Opening presents.

More presents...

Pictures with her grandpas because it's Father's Day and her party...

Haha...Poor Bob has trouble keeping his eyes open.

She was getting tired of the pictures.

After she blew out her candles, she loved licking off the frosting.

She had a great party. Thanks to all who came out and celebrated with her!