A Visit to a Barn...

Even though we farm and now live "in the country", (I use that term loosely as it feels almost in town since we are so close to a highway and about a mile only from town) our kids are such City Slickers! If I am honest, I probably am too!! :)

We had a little extra time a couple of Friday nights ago, so we went over to visit some Bucket Calves at our "neighbor's house" ( I use this term loosely too as it is hard for me a town girl to get used to saying someone is my neighbor when they live up to 3 miles away...:))
So, if you know about bucket calves, you know they like to suck...these pictures perfectly show how my kids reacted!!

(BTW: I think this picture of the calf sucking the bar should be an entry in the State Fair Photography Contest don't you think?)

Emily was afraid...What if they have teeth?

Funny story, this barn and the calves reminded me of a time when Al and I were dating and he took me over to his cousin's dairy operation one evening in the summer before we headed out to The Fair. I don't remember if I wanted to see the cows or if he was just enlightening me, but dairy cows are big and they were in the parlor eating or getting milk or whatever (city girl here) and anyway I walked down the center aisle trying not to get too close in my white pants no less! And all of sudden one of the cows poops on me!!! Of course I screamed and Al and his cousin laughed. They probably still laugh about it today!! :0 Oh how far I've come...

Here's the true farmboy going for the "big" cows instead of the baby bucket calves....All for a picture for his wife :) and of course shock value for his kids...

Casey wouldn't even try it! We had to go back in the barn before we left so he could get brave enough to try...

Then there's little W. who has each hand in a different calf's mouth holding on!!! You can tell he lives here and does this, unlike our kids...

We had a lot of fun visiting our neighbors and their calves!!

I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short....

and today is no different...

Al's birthday was December 18th and the kids and I tried to make it fun....it's hard having a birthday so close to Christmas and of course when you have a wife who turns 40 the same year....well, you know what I mean...

Casey is convinced that birthdays mean hunts (although I think his opinion is changing to all presents...)so anyway, we did a scavenger birthday hunt for Daddy. Casey probably loved it more than Daddy! Casey actually got his first hunt last February on his 5th birthday and I remember him opening that present and saying, " But Mom. It's just a piece of paper." Emily heard that and she perked right up and the hunt was on. When they finally found his present, Casey handed it to me and said, "Again!" At my birthday this year, he insisted that Al help him hide a picture that he drew for me because it was my birthday and birthdays mean hunts after all.

So, on Al's birthday, while he was outside working, the kids and I planned a hunt, each of us picking hiding places. When it came time to open presents, we couldn't find that one...Casey pipes up, "Daddy, we have to find that one so we can send you on your hunt!" Eventually, we all remembered that Casey had wanted to hide that present too and we found it in the refrigerator!!

We had a steak lunch and watched the latest Pirate's of the Caribbean movie that we gave Daddy for his birthday in our "movie theater." We even drug it out to birthday week and all went to the theater this last week to see Sherlock Holmes 2 for his birthday!! Hope it was fun turning 39 Al!! We love you!!

Purple Potatoes??!!

This is Al's favorite thing about a garden: Harvest! I didn't plant much (some of which that I did plant got washed away since I put the garden in the middle of a waterway!! Al told me it was a waterway, but I didn't listen very well...). The other thing I didn't do much of was weed! UGH!
     One thing we did plant was purple potatoes! Only because they were purple and that was intriguing to me! The other night I looked out my deck door and saw Al and Carter digging my purple potatoes without me!! So Emily, Casey and I headed out to take part in digging potatoes!

Since I have a funny quirk that I don't like to touch dry dirt, Carter did all of the "digging" around for the potatoes and I took pictures!

They weren't very big and there weren't very many, but this was our first year in this spot, so we'll see what next year brings!! They are fun anyway!

Emily is getting quite creative when she takes my camera...maybe we'll have 3 photographers in the family yet!! Now if I could just get them to love reading as much as I do, I'd have a book club right at home!!

They actually are purple through and through...

They turn a little bit gray when cooked, but still fun and intriguing and tasty!

A pic of everyone taking a bite of purple potatoes! Except me; they were all hungry so I just snapped these quick and sat down to eat with them!

Try something new today! It's kinda fun!

Cake: A Funny Story about Al...

So, I haven't blogged in a while...

The flu has run rampant through our house. All 5 of us got one form or another of the "fun" flu this las week. I ended up being home almost all week with one sick person or another. Anyway, my funny story:

There was annother time when Emily and Carter were both quite small where we all got the flu. It was at the point that the kids were marginally better and Al and I were miserable. The kids went to Grandma's for the day while Al and I took turns at the toilet. At one point, right after Al is done. He says, "Mmm. Cake sounds good. I think I'll have a piece." Of course, you all know what happened shortly thereafter. Only Al would eat cake minutes after throwing up and enjoy it. No matter the consequences. He still enjoys a piece of cake even though...

Fast forward to a week ago. On Saturday, Al was miserably sick. Carter had a basketball tourney so Emily, Casey, and I went to watch and left Al home to suffer (get better), you get the idea. We stopped at the store on the way home and picked up stuff to make some supper. I couldn't resist the Little Debbie Valentine Hearts and sat down and ate one as soon as we got home. Carter's tournament was actually split with a two hour break in the middle. So we headed out again later.

Lo and behold, this is what I found when we got home. Cake. Al couldn't resist either. Lucky for him, this time he kept it down.
Just a funny little story I wanted to share and remember. Hopefully the flu has avoided your houses...and you can safely eat cake too!!

Non Sequitor

Warning: The following items are non sequitor!!

Last Sunday Al rolled his ankle....

This is the job to have. He is putting rafters on my house as we speak!

Max, the poopy puppy, who is currently eating a hole in my garage: out of boredom.

Finally, my new home with rafters! It's a beautiful thing!

Happy Easter a week late!!!

Emily took this photo of me and Al. She did pretty darn good!! We even color coordinate!! ha ha! That was totally unplanned and there was no time to change!! Al's just not into matching!! Ha!! I think we look good!!


Casey in our Church garden next to the statue of St. Francis. He started out with a vest and tie, so handsome, but soon went for this more relaxed look!! Still adorable!!! Carter posing in his cool duds!! Love my good looking boys and their fun poses!! Life wouldn't be complete without all of the craziness!!
Side note: Emily made this dress mostly all by herself with a little help from Grandma Lucille!! She wanted to make her Easter dress so there you go. And she is planning on taking it to Fair this summer for 4-H!! Go Emily!! It was beautiful and perfect just like you!
The Iowa City Cousins were home for Easter and went to church with us!! Actually, we were late, go figure, and the kids sat with them and Al and I sat alone!! That was different!! And then this morning we heard a funny story...When Father Brunkan was dispersing Holy Water on the congregation he saw Carter was not with us, but on an end, and he walk up and thumped him on the forehead!!! So funny!! We just love him!! I wonder if Carter didn't catch the joke at first, because he never mentioned it!! Maybe he thought he was in trouble for something???!! Too Funny!!

We had some 4-wheelin fun on Easter and I'll put some pics of that up eventually!! What an awesome day!!

Me and Al

15 years ago on the Saturday before Easter, Al and I went on our first date. I paid because I wanted to feel in control. At the end, I walked him to his truck to borrow his Tim McGraw CD; I was nervous he was going to kiss me and I was playing with his windows and door locks. He did kiss me and then the door to the truck shut and his keys were locked inside with the truck running at 1 a.m.!! We had to find a hanger to get him in his truck, thankfully it worked as I lived 30 minutes from his home and spare keys. I never did give the cd back.

These pictures are so totally me and Al - circa 1995...

My Family melts my heart

I work until 8 on Wednesday nights and when Al is not in the field, he and the kids spend time together.

A week ago, I came home to these sweet faces....



I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures. My family melts my heart.

Beans

We've FINALLY started to make a dent in the bean harvest!! All the rain hasn't really been helping much, I must say...

For whatever reason, I haven't felt much like taking pictures....I think the rain has had an affect on that too...Anyway, with harvest getting going more now, the kids and I went to the field to take Daddy some supper and visit. Of course, I took my camera.
The sun setting was just making everything glow an nice golden color and it sparked my photography.(It doesn't hurt that next year's theme for the Iowa State Fair is The Iowa Family Farm...)

This picture is the start of practice for a picture Al would like to see me take...



This one's because the two times I visited the field this weekend something went wrong and Al told me I jinxed him!! Ha! Really it was a minor fix...

Iowa River

A couple of weekends ago, Al and I went on a float trip down a 12 mile stretch of the Iowa River with Crawdaddy Outdoors. Just Al and me. The kids want to float but most of all they want to float in the water not the kayak. Not a good combination for going along on a sponsored float. So we left the kids with Grandma and their cousins and Al and I and his sister spent the Saturday on the Iowa River.


I just thought all of these bubbles on the water were cool looking. There was a lot of foam too, that looked like a root beer float.

24 boats went on this trip so there was plenty of camraderie and fun.

It took Al and I a couple of hours to get used to paddling with each other as we are both accustomed to being in charge of kids in our own kayaks. Floating is a lesson in getting along and cooperating and working together...We both missed our coffee that morning....

Some leaves were starting to turn...
There were some cliff like spots and sheer walls... Very cool and pretty area.
Lunch break after we portaged the dam.


This picture of Al is because the whole time we were floating he was behind me so I didn't get any pics of him, just the scenery. Also, it seemed, whenever I got my camera out of my dry bag to take pictures we'd get stuck because the river was so low and we'd have to get out and walk a little ways so I didn't take as many pictures as I should have.
We actually camped this weekend too. I love floating camping and the outdoors, but I also really love my toilet and a/c and heat. *smile*

This was likely our last hurrah for the season as the crops will be wanting out soon...It was sure fun!