Priorities

The other morning I looked outside my kitchen window to see one of the most beautiful foggy mornings ever in the history of the universe.  I'm sure of it.  At least one of the top 10.  

I neeeeeeeded to take a few photos of this morning.  My soul wouldn't let me rest until I did.  I was torn - do I stay in the house and feed and clothe my beautiful children or do I capture God's beauty? 

I took a moment to assess my priorities.  I rushed to turn on some some Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood cartoons, set up the baby gate in the kitchen doorway and outside I ventured.  

Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.  And please note, I'm not claiming that my photography skills are stunning.  In fact, they are seriously lacking in most of these when I review them, and they could use some serious editing.  However, ignore my ineptitude and focus on God's handiwork.  Not. Too. Shabby.

All these views are from our front yard.  *cue happy dance*

Focus near...

Focus far...

I love the way spiderwebs stand out during the morning dew.

And one photo of Laurie.  Because I love her.

And him.  I love him too.  Especially since he didn't completely tear up the house during the 10 minutes I left him unsupervised. 

Candles

Lately, it seems that we've been burning our candles one of two ways:

• We've been burning our candles at both ends - weaning, cutting beans, cutting corn and drilling wheat, or....
• We've been so sick that we've been trying to keep one candle dimly lit in a very small room with little to no breeze lest it extinguish the candle permanently. 

Hopefully we are soon done with the latter and return to the former. 

This would be evidence of poor, sickly days I described.

The weather has been great, so on days when we feel magnificent we soak up all the crisp air and sunshine we possibly can.

Doesn't everyone wrinkle their nose and smile with glee when they finish a field of beans?
If not, you should.

Perhaps this is part of the reason our allergies are attempting to kill us this year.  This is the grill on the front of Wesley's feed pickup, covered in bluestem seed.  Actually, this is a trifling amount compared to just a few weeks ago.

Getting ready to move to a new field and cut more beans tomorrow.

"Mom, I got some work to do."
Kenyon has morning chores, both real and imagined, but all incredibly important.
Feeding the dogs: important.
Kicking out mineral to his imaginary cows in the shop: more importanter.

Bumper cars.  It gets more vicious as they age.

Work, work and more work.  They rarely take a break.
Their great-grandparents got a workbench for them to play with and it was nearly impossible to pry them away.

A pasture picnic.  I love these days.  This is a post in and of itself. 

Yes, he eats off the ground.  Sometimes I feel fancy and call it 'organic' when he eats grass and sticks.

Learning how to operate the hydraulics on the tractor.  You're never too young to learn.

Have Smiles, Will Travel

The boys and I traveled to see my family this weekend for some much needed snuggles and good food.  I'm always slightly embarrassed, slightly proud when I see the boys eat my mom's food so well.  Yes, they do try to eat her out of house and home, but it's not all their fault.  She cooks REALLY well.  

In the event you do not have a proper teething ring available, just throw a stick of celery at this kid.
He enjoys it just as much.

Mom's mums are enormous and gorgeous.  These were knee-high on me, to help you put it in perspective.

 Yes, I see cattle every day.  Yes, we live in the middle of beautiful grass country.  Yes, I drove hours away so I could see the exact same things with my dad.

Now that John is one year old it was high time he had a proper hair cut.  My Aunt Chelle did the honors in her beauty shop.  It warmed my heart to see John wear the same little cape that I wore countless times when she trimmed my hair growing up. 

Before: little baby

After: big man

The boys read lots and lots of books with their Great Grandma S, and Kenyon was kind enough to sing her the ABC's as well.  She's a great audience and fawns over their accomplishments like a dutiful, well seasoned great grandparent should. 

Books, books and more books.  Kenyon has memorized so many of his grandma's that he reads to her these days.

I love John's laugh when he's with them.  He was such a ham all weekend.

His mustache may be a different color than Dad's but it feels the same.

Grandad had a coconut cream pie for his birthday.  We used to say that everyone in the family (besides Grandad) hated coconut cream pie.  That is now amended to say everyone (besides Grandad and Kenyon) hates coconut cream pie.
YUCK.