Watering Flowers

Spoiler alert: There probably won't be a single picture of flowers in this post.  

I read a devotional some time back and it talked about how folks spend too much time watering the (figurative) weeds in their life.  It really stuck with me and this year has been a great opportunity to weed out things that aren't so healthy and water the things that matter.  

Now, please don't take this to mean I'm suddenly an advocate for more 'me time' in the world.  I'm not.  Living a God filled life doesn't mean making yourself the biggest priority, but I think living a more God filled life does call for tuning out more of the noise and watering the things that bring you closer to Him.  

In keeping with this theme, we've scaled back on many obligations (also due to covid) but in the meantime we've focused on some pretty cool things.  Our neighbor drove by last night and absolutely hit the nail on the head.  "Mom. Dad. All the kids.  Whole family's together, must be working on a 4-H project!"  He was right.  Kenyon has a heifer to show and he's pretty serious about it.  Actually, he's pretty serious about most things in life.  I really appreciate that about him.  He thinks like, and talks like, a 70 year old man most of the time.  He gives directions to the substitute bus drivers using directions like 'east' and 'west' and uses them correctly.  He likes to talk about cattle and crops and what the forecast for the week is.  He told me the other night that he couldn't wait to grow up and be a hard worker every day just like his dad.  He's a cool kid that has a lot of priorities right we feel.  We pray that he doesn't lose sight of them.  

He's assigned a book to read every evening and the two middles enjoy listening to him.

John still absolutely loves Reese and considers her to be his baby.  Her happiness is his greatest joy in life.  He takes after me in that he considers Halloween to be rather ridiculous and he was dead set against dressing up.  I finally convinced him to wear his nice church clothes and pretend he was a presidential candidate.  He went to three grandparents' homes and said "Vote for me" and called it good.  

Vote for me!

Kathryn is at such a fun age right now.  Her sentences are getting longer each day and she loves to attempt big words.  I like it that she's learning reasoning skills and starting to put together bigger pictures in life each day.  She thoroughly enjoys being a big boy just like her brothers and running alongside them as they ride their bikes up and down the road.  Also, she enjoys picking out her clothes to wear each day.  If you see her in mismatched whatnot it is probably because I made her wear something.  If she looks awesome, it's all due to her.  For being a 'big boy', the kid has some fabulous taste. 

And then there is Reese.  Our dear sweet cheeks Reese.  She is such a light in our lives.  I do not know how we ever lived without her.  Her little dimples are insanely adorable and she loves to laugh unless she's hungry or has a dirty diaper.  I try to keep up on both and thus we are endlessly entertained with deep belly laughs and high pitched squeals and songs.  They are endearing.  Even the ones at 5am.  Because we needed to get up anyway.  She's like our personal alarm clock with no off switch.  

I made a conscious decision this week to ignore the mountain of laundry on the couch that needs folded and instead work in my wood shop.  This particular bench will be a surprise for some friends (so don't tell) and I can't wait to give it to them.  It was just one of those weeks when 'watering flowers' was necessary for my soul.  Again, not literal flowers.  I had to give up on my garden this year.  It was beautiful until we had a kid spend several days in the hospital and then it rained and BOOM.  Weeds everywhere.  Sigh.  Next year we will do better for sure, if only because the bar is incredibly low at the moment.  

A friend posted this picture of me and I'm eternally grateful for it.  1, it proves that I exist and 2, it showcases me in my natural habitat.  Outside and with a baby in my arms.  I don't enjoy having my picture taken, but I just love that I have this one of Reese and I together.  

I was so excited to have one picture of me, but then there's this guy.  I have thousands upon thousands of pictures of him.  The kids will have photographic evidence galore of Wesley to look back on someday.  Sunday afternoons and evenings we try to spend together, just the six of us, and we had a ball last night getting this heifer haltered and smothered with affection.  We've no grand dreams of 'winning the state fair' as John suggested, but rather, we'd just like Kenyon to have a good taste in his mouth after this project and hopefully the other kiddos will be inspired by him too.  

So there it is, in a nutshell.  These are the flowers we've been watering lately. 

Intensity

 Whew.  Just..... whew.  

Life these days is beyond wonderful, but..... it's a lot.  Like, A LOT.  And we knew that when started this mess.  A friend told me once that having several kids very close in age was fun 'if you survive it'.  I mentioned to her that she in fact got divorced, so did she actually survive it?...  I loved her response.  "Oh yes" she laughed.  "Besides that part it was so much fun!" 

The kids enjoy doing puzzles, so we try to squeeze in one or two a week.  

This one.  This one.  There is a reason she's the last one.  She's pretty wonderful and I'm trying to soak up all the wonderful little baby snuggles I possibly can.  She's a little ray of sunshine for us all. 

Poor Grandma C.  Like it or not, we bother her nearly every morning and regale her with stories of chasing chickens, chasing bucket calves, dead racoons in her yard, live opossums in her trashcans.... there is no shortage of stories to tell her ever.  We don't go into the house, but the kids knock on the door, peer in like creepers until she come out and then berate her with stories over and over again.  The lady has it rough I tell ya'.  

Seriously.  This kid.  She's too much. 

My momma tried hard to teach me to cook and I didn't fully appreciate her efforts until I started cooking for a crew of my own.  Maybe I can break the curse?... 

The kids are starting to be great help when it's time to load out cattle.  If we can keep them from sticking their head or hands in the panels and just stay alive then we'll have great help someday.  

Sure, Reese looks cute in this picture, but I love seeing my husband's smile.  Pure joy.  

***

I read someone's blog several years ago and she apologized for her lack of blogging but added in the caveat 'if you don't have a 3, 5 and 7 year old then you probably don't understand'.  I didn't understand then, but I totally do now.  I am currently forgoing a much needed shower in order to get a few of these pictures recorded for posterity.  I feel poorly about letting this blog lay idle as it serves as my kiddos' defacto baby book as well.  I also feel poorly that there are no current pictures of our oldest child, but he is now a full-time student and much too busy to pause for the camera. 

This past week my husband and I celebrated a milestone anniversary and it was simply wonderful.  My mother-in-law watched the kids for 24 hours and I was simply in heaven.  I was able to SIT.  BY MYSELF. AND NOT FEED ANYONE ELSE. NOT BATHE ANYONE ELSE. NOT ROCK ANYONE ELSE. It sounds incredibly superficial and shallow to brag about this, but I cannot tell you how refreshing it was as well.  On Sunday morning when I picked up the kids I felt like I was returning from a one week vacation in Jamaica.  It was heavenly.  No wonder folks get addicted to this 'me time' thing.  

Here's to hoping that I make it a priority to blog a bit more often... showers be damned.  I love looking back on these pictures years later and wondering how in the world we survived.  It is intense these days, no doubt. 

A Decade

Ten years ago today I left Texas and moved back to Kansas to be a Greenwood County girl for the rest of my life.  I remember leaving College Station and I began to get a bit teary eyed.  Wesley glanced over at me and instantly got mad.

"Nope.  Not gonna have it.  I just spent two years on the phone with you every night, listening to you bitch about how much you wanted to leave.  You're not gonna cry now."

Although I was taken aback, I knew he was right.  I was done with Texas.

When I moved here we lived in a house we now affectionately refer to as the 'snake house', although that's another story for another day.  Wesley was the quintessential bachelor and thus had NOTHING in this house besides his clothes.  No food, no cleaning supplies, nothing.

The next morning I drove to the nearest Walmart 45 minutes away from our little house in the hills armed with a shopping list a mile long and his checkbook.  I filled that shopping cart to the gills with all the essentials for our new life as we played house.  Food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and the like.  Every item on my list was something I would consider 'essential'.

On the drive back home I kept noticing the ditches were filled with the most beautiful orange lilies.  I pulled that old chevy feed pickup over and picked a huge bouquet that I then balanced precariously on the mountain of supplies I'd stacked in the passenger seat of the single cab pickup.

Upon returning to the house I worked feverishly to create some semblance of a home.  Cleaning was towards the top of the list - especially the kitchen.  I found a mason jar in a cabinet, arranged the ditch lilies and placed them front and center in the middle of the kitchen table.

It was official.  I was the perfect housewife.  Wes would come home, see his beautifully clean house, eat a gourmet meal courtesy of Hamburger Helper and undoubtedly ooh and aaahhh over the flowers that I'd so lovingly picked for him.  This day was perfect start to our perfect little life.  Everything was PERFECT, I tell ya.

I made supper and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And nearly two hours after he'd said, he finally walked through the door.  Now, I was no stranger to this lifestyle having grown up in a ranching family, but I was always the one WITH my dad... not the one waiting on him.  Turns out, it is terribly frustrating.  Who knew?

When he walked through the door I was a bit disappointed that he didn't scan the room to notice how much time and effort I'd put into cleaning and arranging things nicely.  He walked into the kitchen, grabbed the store receipt off the counter and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the total.

"$323???  WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU BUY?!"

It was then that he started to scan the room, trying to find the gold plated accessories I surely must have purchased that might justify such an expense.  It was then that he noticed the ditch lilies.  The lilies that I lovingly picked and arranged.  The lilies that were supposed to serve as icing on the cake; the cherry on top; the crowning jewel of my master homemaking skills.  This was supposed to be the beginning of our most perfect little life together and instead things were headed downhill rather quickly.

I remember him shooting daggers as he stared at the bouquet.  "How much did THOSE cost?"

***

Things are a bit different these days.  I don't drive a feed pickup as often anymore.  The perfect housewife/perfect life thing went out the window loooong ago.  I can cook more than Hamburger Helper these days, but the kids enjoy it so it's not totally off the menu.  Now, every time I drive down the road in early summer and see the familiar orange lilies lining the ditches I get nostalgic.  We get a laugh and still tease each other every time the kids or I pick a bouquet of wildflowers and I make a pretty arrangement for the kitchen table.  "How much did THOSE cost?"

Marching Into Summer

It seems we blinked and now we're suddenly in the middle of summer.  Although, our too-smart-for-his-own-good six year old will remind me that 'technically it is not summer yet, Mom'.  Touché, kiddo.  I've not posted lately, and for a plethora of good reasons. 

1. I had a baby.  Again.  A little girl this time, named Reese.  For those of you keeping track this makes four kids in a little over six years.  It is rather intense at times, but we would not have it any other way.  

Our little ray of sunshine, baby Reese

2. We've been busy.  Like, legitimately busy.  (Refer to reason #1)  When I still had my office job I would roll my eyes when one particular man would stop by MULTIPLE TIMES A WEEK to tell me just how busy he was.  He'd take 45 minutes listing out all the busy things that kept him so busy and that's why he had to be leaving soon because he was so busy with the busy work.  Since then I've come to the conclusion that the number of times someone claims to be busy is often inversely proportional to the actual busyness of the very busy person.  I often wondered if he bragged incessantly because he was trying to convince his audience how awesome he was, or if he was just trying to fool himself.  

One of the house projects that kept me busy for a few naptimes - 

sliding shelves in almost all of our lower kitchen cabinets.  

I highly recommend this feature.  It's been a game changer for us.

3. We're not that exciting.  Seriously.  Who wants to read a blog solely about ways we've been beating the summer heat?  For your information, we beat the awful heat last week by reading books in our underwear as well as sorting and wrapping coins to take to the bank.  It made for a great lesson on the value of different coins, discussion about pictures of presidents, buildings and especially state symbols on the quarters.  I highly recommend if you're looking for activities that are out of the box (while you relax in a refrigerated box).  

4. A little mystery in life is a good thing.  You don't need to know every little thing we do around here (see reason #3).  I like to touch base every few weeks to document happenings around here, especially since this blog serves as a crappy replacement for our children's baby books.  

I'm glad someone laughs at my jokes.

 5. I told myself that I couldn't do something fun like write a blog until I finished several items on my to-do list.  Thanks, Mom, for ruining my life with this rule from my childhood that I cannot seem to shake.  I finally finished writing thank you's for all the thoughtful new baby gifts and foods and thus could write a blog without feeling a massive load of guilt.  (Actually, I ran out of thank you cards so it's more of a 'pause' on my guilt until I run to town and purchase more.)

A screenshot of a typical conversation with my mother. 

We keep it real with the tough love around here. 

Now that I'm out of reasons why I DIDN'T write a blog, here's the actual meat of the blog.

And more pictures of cute kids.  Because I know why you keep coming back to read.

There are many periods when we only see my husband for a few minutes each evening or else the kids would go days without seeing him.  Last week during many evenings we played in the wheat field and each kiddo took a turn in the swather with him.  This wheat was purposefully planted to be swathed and baled, not combined.

I absolutely love this picture of my husband, son #2 and his great grandpa.  John turned his feed cap backwards and asked his great grandpa if he could turn his cap backwards too, and look like a silly dude.  We all got such a laugh out of them looking so goofy.  Simple laughs are the best.

 When it is not hotter than blazes outside we try to walk a few miles in the morning.  I consider this to be my 'alone time' as the kids like to run ahead of me by a few hundred yards at times and I'm left to enjoy the quiet as I push the stroller with Reese.

If these kids learn nothing else from their childhood, they will know how to skip rocks.  Kenyon is especially good at it, and also good at casting when fishing from all the side arm throwing practice.  This makes it difficult to get him to throw a baseball correctly, but a challenge we're working on.  I'd love to have photos of the boys playing t-ball to share but I'm helping coach their team again this summer.  I enjoy working with the herd of kids, and I figure I should serve my time volunteering before our summers get crazy in a few years with the addition of 4-H livestock.  (Assuming the kids hold this currently level of enthusiasm to show livestock when they join 4-H in a few short years.)  

What a fun week this was... kind of.  During this week the men worked calves out in the pastures and I took them lunch every day.  Making a meal every day for a dozen people with a one month old baby is a special kind of pressure.  Then Kenyon fell off the top of a stock trailer one day and needed his head glued shut and then the next day John contracted e coli and spent four days in the hospital.  Good times, good times...

There were several storms that moved through our area a few weeks ago.  Also, a friend from church gave us a pair of mudboots that Kathryn finally grew into and I allowed her to wear.  She felt it was her absolute duty to test out the mudboots in each and every single mud puddle within one square mile of our house.  Well done, child.

So there you have it.  A little slice of our lives during the past few weeks.  Heaven only knows what adventures we'll embark upon before it's time to write the next blog! 

What Else Ya' Got?

It's been a spring to remember around here.  Even six months ago we knew it would be a crazy spring to remember.  We knew the baby was going to be due at the tail end of calving, in the middle of burning pastures, dumping calves on grass, tornado season, yada, yada, yada.  Spring is a busy time around here and having a brand new baby on top of it all makes it that much more difficult.

Then life began to throw 'extras' at us.

A global pandemic.

Schooling at home.

Friends with cancer.

No birthing coach at the hospital with you.

The doctor is in quarantine for visiting Florida.

You're mom can't spend time with you after the baby is born.

It just seems like one thing after another.  Sometimes you feel like breaking down, but what good would it do?  Answer: absolutely none.  I come from one of the most pragmatic families I know, and we just don't play into hysterics or dramatics.  So sometimes I allow myself a few moments to shed a few tears and then you just plow forward and think of things that are manageable and going right.

Calving is (knock on wood) going swimmingly and I haven't had a calf in the house yet this year.

No one I know is actually infected with this blasted COVID-19.

Friends are getting the best of care and making strides in treatment and we couldn't ask for more right now.

It's my fourth kid, so while I WANT someone to coach me through contractions, surely I can manage without.

Same with my mother not being able to come up after the baby's birth.  While I most certainly WANT her here, I've prepped meals and filled my freezer for the past several weeks and stocked up as much as possible and I will survive without much outside intervention in my kitchen.  I tried to have a small pity party last night and sent my mother a text telling her as much.  Her reply?  Millions of others are in the same boat and separated.  We'll manage.

Every time my husband calls and needs me to cook lunch for a crew of men and take it out to the pasture and I'm right in the middle of homeschooling and a million other things I say the same thing to him: we'll manage.

Every time I feel a bit overwhelmed about having 4 kids in a little over 6 years I remember that many women have managed to have more children in less time, and manage life with more children total.  I just remind myself, we'll manage.

Like I said, we don't do dramatic.  I am fortunate to have my mom, in laws and friends only a phone call away when so many don't.

Sooo…. the crib is built, the laundry is almost caught up and I have a few meals of leftovers in the fridge right now.  I'm ready for this baby to get here!  I have a picture in my mind.  Five years from now this child will sit on my lap and while we rock I'll tell them about this crazy spring and they'll never believe it.

In the meantime I'll just keep my big girl panties pulled up, look the devil square in the eye and ask what else ya' got?

Changes to Everything... and Nothing

Life seems a bit surreal at the moment, doesn't it?  I read the news about this pandemic and my chest tightens and I feel anxious and then I finally must shut off the television, shut off the computer and shut off my phone.  You can make yourself crazy and overwhelmed with all the madness.

Then I look out the window to our reality.

The grass is greening up.

Flowers are sprouting up.

Baby calves are being born.

Feed pickups still run feed routes.

Our kids are filthy muddy from playing outside.

We still drive down to skip rocks in the creek.

The wind still howls over the hills.

The laundry is still here.

The sun still rises.

We still make our beds every morning.

We still say our prayers every night before bed.

So yes, in some ways everything has changed.  In some ways, nothing has.

Bunch of Nothin'

The standard opening to nearly any conversation in the Midwest either involves the weather or 'whatcha been up to?'  I like to quote a favorite saying from my then five year old son.

Whatcha been up to?

Bunch of nothin'.  

And there you have it.

We read tons and tons of books.  I love it that we can go an entire day without watching tv and no one dies without it.  Kathryn's newest obsession is bursting into the bathroom when I am otherwise occupied puking and reading a nice book to make me feel oh so much better.

Laundry.  Oh my goodness there has been so much laundry.  We've had snow and rain this winter, which is nice (kinda?) but then it is just a constant battle with the mud and water and dirty clothes and filthy kids.  

Can you see her wet pants and muddy jacket? She's been in heaven.

The snows have been fun for the kids.  Great Grandma C has a perfect hill in her backyard for sledding and we took full advantage of it.  All the kids napped hard that afternoon after partaking in the fun!  

We also like to climb trees down at the creek.  John is quite the daredevil and I'd imagine by next year he'll be jumping off limbs into the water.  His first broken bone from two years ago will undoubtedly not be his only with all the risks he likes to take. 

On nice days we spend as much time outside as possible.  One fine afternoon we cleaned up the garden and pulled out all of last year's tomato and pepper cages.  I'm not sure just how much time we'll have for gardening this year, but we'll still plant something for the kids to have pride and ownership in.  They loved picking produce last year and it makes my heart swell to see them have pride in their work.  

On many of these long winter days we've walked over to visit Great Grandma C and spent lots of time at the piano.  Although she swears that she 'can't even play anymore, dear' she still never hits a wrong note and I've actually never seen her open either the book or the hymnal on her piano bench.  

I'd say she's doing just fine. 

Our kids are not normal, which is another blog post in and of itself.  But here's a little taste for you.  I'm glad we don't have neighbors, and I'm glad the men in our life don't seem to mind these odd little people that wander around the yard and sheds.  They have these old baseball helmets and on certain days decide it is imperative that they wear them.  Who am I to tell them no?  Safety first, that's our motto.  (Cue massive eye roll.)  

And in between chasing the kids around we find time for a little bit of this and that.  A little bit of bible study with a great group of ladies, a little bit of social media activism (follow Greenwood County Cattlewomen on Facebook and Instagram, please), a little bit of cooking, a little bit of working calves or being the gopher for the hubs, a little bit of bookwork, a little bit of woodworking, a little bit of grant writing, a little bit of baby prep work, and a lot of dang snap tests for cattle.  I feel like the female version of 'Jack of all trades, master of none'.  Like most, I just feel pulled in a million different directions each day and if I manage to cross one or two things off the list each day I feel like I've won the lottery.  

So there you go.  What have we been up to lately?  A bunch of nothin'.

Good, Clean (?) Fun

The longer we participate in this 'parenting' gig, the more we realize that we are in the minority when it comes to raising children.  They don't have tablets, ipads, ipod, iwhatevers to keep them busy.  We do, however, have dirt, and sticks, and rocks, and mud!  And occasionally snow.  We've thoroughly enjoyed snow the few times we've seen it this year. 

Although we don't seem to accomplish much, we sure do seem to stay busy. 

Soooooo cold! 

Don't worry, the chute wasn't even turned on.

I suggested he wash his face.

He was thoroughly offended.

On nice days we like to sneak away to the barn and have little beauty brushing sessions.

It is becoming painfully obvious that 75% of my photos include the back of the kids' heads.  

They are busy! 

I built the swing set this spring and the kids have thoroughly enjoyed it the past nine months.

And yoga.  The kids are obsessed with yoga.

I wish I was better at braiding.  Apparently I need to take lessons from my younger sister, who did this work.  

I'd just be happy if I could get Kathryn to set still for 30 seconds for me to make a proper ponytail! 

The perfect chore for two year olds?  Picking up ear tags laying all around the chute.

I am thankful that my child loves school and has sweet friends. 

I don't get to spend as much time in the feed pickup these days, but I sure do enjoy it when I actually get to. 

He just enjoys being bounced to sleep when he rides in the feed pickup. 

If you don't know how to play pool before kindergarten then you really haven't lived, have you? 

This is us living large.  At bedtime the other night they read a book, said their prayers and then Dad showed them a photo on his phone of a combine that we'll never be able to afford.  Sigh....