About Time

I had to walk to the barn one evening last week and happened to see this calf standing at the water trough with one of God's great sunsets framing him.  I'll never tire of seeing a great sunrise or sunset.

During this parenting adventure I find that I am constantly either looking forward or backward, but not relishing in the moment nearly enough.  

For instance, if I leave the house with all the kids now and feed them at 11:30, I have enough time to pick up parts, groceries and run to the bank and be home just in time for naps so I can run snap tests on cattle while the baby sleeps and then start supper during snack time.  Perfect.

Or planning for the week: We can help work cattle these three days and skip naps, and then schedule me picking up feed on Thursday afternoon at 2.  It's a 45 minute drive which will work perfectly for the kids to nap in the pickup. 

Or, you can plan everything perfectly, lay exhausted kiddos down for a nap and then your husband decides to dry fire his implant gun in the house multiple times to test it and now everyone is awake and cranky.  (I cannot even make this stuff up.  That happened as I was typing the previous paragraph.) 

As you can see, my life primarily revolves around working for my husband and then fitting the children in around the cattle and crops in our life.  

***

I feel like this is how we operate in agriculture as well, always looking forward or backwards but rarely taking a moment to enjoy the now.  The kids were helping me grocery shop last week and I grabbed a package of multiple cans of wasp and hornet spray to throw into our cart.  Kenyon asked why I was grabbing that already as technically this is still winter.  My answer to him?  "It's about time to think about shipping calves."  

From his perspective I was being absolutely ridiculous, but in middle-aged parent math I feel this timeline checks out.  

It's about time to start calving, which means its then about time to turn cattle out on grass, then about time to burn, then about time to work calves, about time to bale and haul hay all day, then play baseball all evening, then about time to finish projects for the fair, then about time load trucks at all those pens with angry hornets and wasps.  

Yes, sir.  About three good blinks and it will be the end of summer.  Then it'll be about time to chop sileage, wean calves, preg check cows, survive the dreaded holiday season and BOOM.  It's 2025.  I feel like I should say Happy New Year, but at this point I don't know if I'm dreadfully late for 2024 or incredibly early for 2025.  

...And Just Like That

And just like that, we blinked and summer was over.  We played our hearts out in baseball, had weeks of swimming lessons and vacation bible school, survived the fair, sold our animals, spent countless hours in the hayfield and one day in town buying school supplies.  

That is a completely accurate recap of our summer.  

It was exhausting, but we seemed to manage very well.  The kids were up and out the door early each morning to walk their animals or ship cattle and then spent their afternoons in a myriad of activities - swathing, raking, baling or hauling hay mostly, and then we'd eat a light supper and head to the ball fields or work with animals again.  We had three children on two different baseball teams this year and it went pretty smoothly.  Everything this summer seemed to go smoothly even though it was incredibly busy.  Last summer each breath and each activity seemed to be a torturous struggle but that weight was somehow lifted and things were rather delightful these past few months.  

After spending so many years at home with small children I am now meeting more parents through all these activities and truly loving this little tribe we've created.  It is refreshing to find another soul that shares similar values and standards, not only in child rearing but their own work ethic and mannerisms.  Conversations are easier when you don't want to beat your head on a wall.  

The kids are getting older and starting to be really helpful with activities.  Some of them can even read, so now I can leave for short periods of time and leave them notes with instructions or lists of chores to accomplish.  (Funny, the first few times I left chore lists they always seemed to mysteriously blow away.  Hmmmm.)  

It's an exciting new phase of life, one where I can walk away from children, take a deep breath and be fairly confident they'll survive for a few moments.  We can skip naptime and the entire world does not end.  (Close, but not quite.)  And we are thisclose to being done with diapers FOREVER.  It's a thrilling time around here, let me tell you.  

John found a shell with the live snail inside.  He was so proud.  This was our exciting Father's Day.  The girls rode in the air conditioned tractor with Wesley to bale hay and the boys and I picked up logs from the edges of fields since a recent flood had carried them in. 

We are a filthy little family.  But I'm proud that they spend so much time outdoors on adventures.

Kenyon designed a replica of Big Brutus and took it to the fair.

Again with the filthy kids!

Oftentimes it feels like we eat as many meals in the shop as we do around our kitchen table.

Horrible picture?  Undoubtedly.
But this was my view repeatedly this summer -
three kids running out the door long before the sun came up.

She loves to drive the dozer, dinosaurs and the color pink.  Such a funny little one.

Everything can be made into an obstacle course, especially pallets of mineral.

She's kinda like her momma and has a soft spot for sweet little old men.

Reese is an excellent cattle counter, just like her dad.

She does a nice job of keeping herself entertained in the tractor while we move hay together.  
Also, I highly recommend the $11 writing tablet she's holding.  She can draw for hours with her finger and be perfectly content.  

*I should have mentioned that she enjoys almost all reptiles (like turtles) and not just dinosaurs.  My apologies. 

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Our children certainly have their own little personalities and many of their statements make this blatantly obvious.  

*****

Kenyon (eight years old) is very analytical and math minded.  Anything worth doing is worth doing correctly, even if it is during playtime.  More than once I've caught him diving across the living room to tackle his brother because his toy trailer was not loaded correctly.  

"I told you to load six head in the nose!  WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!"

"So you say I can only have two donuts for breakfast, eh, Mom?  That's still fourteen donuts a week.  I can live with that." 

*****

And then there's John, age six.  He's sneakier than most and he has a quiet vindictiveness that may take him places (but hopefully not jail).  And we've firmly established that his predilection for retaliation means he should, at this point in life, not be in a leadership position.  

He and Kenyon were hauling cattle throughout the house one evening and had been arguing a bit more than normal.  Kenyon drove cleeeeeeeeear into the kitchen and then hollered across the house.  "John - I just drove clear to North Carolina and you mean to tell me there's no load of cattle here???  Are you kidding me?  Why did you do that?"

John continued to drive his pickup and trailer throughout the living room and haul cattle much closer to the pens.  Without looking up, he never missed a beat when he calmly replied and smirked, "Because you made me so mad." 

*****

Kathryn, four years old, is super sweet (most of the time) and her strong faith will hopefully help lead the rest of her siblings down the straight and narrow as they grow up.  She has a mind like a steel trap and will recall minute details from the past three years of her life at the drop of a hat and then become exasperated when I can't recall the same moment in time.  She talks about heaven allllll the time and while some might think it is a bit morbid to be so obsessed with death I find it rather comforting that she's very confident in her eternal home and anxious to get there someday.  

"Hey, Momma, do you think Penny the cat will die this winter???  How cool would that be?  Then she can go to heaven and she and Grandma Curry can be a family again!"  

"Momma, I'm kinda excited to go to heaven.  Then I can have my piano lessons and sing songs with Grandma Curry again."

"Momma, is my heart prepared?"  I frantically searched my memory for any conversation in the past year she may have been privy to for the word 'prepared' and finally recalled the children's message at church a few weeks ago.  "Do you mean is your heart prepared for Jesus and the Christmas season?  Yes, kiddo, I think you're prepared."

*****

And then there's Reese, at one and three quarters years of age.  She's absorbed everything from her older siblings (for better or worse) and is sharp as a tack.  She says several words and is putting small phrases together like I found it!, Where he go?, and I don't know.  

My hands down favorite, however; is when she does something naughty and I ask her if she needs a swat.  Without fail her eyes will become wide, she will shake her head no vigorously and adamantly proclaim "Good girl, Momma.  Good girl!"

Photo Dump

That doesn't sound very nice, now does it?  Photo DUMP?  That's the sort of thing that would make my grandmas cringe.  

My apologies.  Please clutch your pearls and prepare yourselves for a photos OVERLOAD instead of an unseemly DUMP.  

This kiddo has learned how fun a slide can be (thanks HF) and now makes a beeline for the swingset each time the door opens more than an inch.  I love to see her face each time she says 'READY, SET, GOOOOOOOOOO'. 

Good babysitters are hard to find and this will one day be it's own blog post - but today I'll give you the abridged version and just tell you to find a 4-Her.  It's as simple as that.  4-H kids make amazing babysitters 99% of the time.  We've been fortunate to have some of the best girls love our babies.  

Did I mention that Reese loves the slide?  Just to be clear - REESE LOVES THE SLIDE.

Can I get some feedback from other rural mamas please?  Is this a real thing, the tortuous game of timing before church?  Yes, I got the babies ready and now it is time to do my own hair and makeup (hardy har har) but do I let them go outside and enjoy the most perfect day ever, or do I turn on a blasted cartoon so they sit still in front of the television?  In my experience, it is a no win situation.  My thanks to everyone at church that puts up with our dirty little hot mess of a family. 

A teacher gave us a mere stick this spring that we all assumed was dead.  We planted it and it has thrived and given us the most beautiful rose of sharon blooms I've ever seen.  It's been one of the great highlights of our flower beds this year. 

My little tag along dominates the majority of my photos these days it seems.  She's the slowest moving of the pack and thus I can capture more photos of her.  

Kenyon had one evening football game and it was MAJOR.  Lights on the field and everything.  It is fun to see him grow and experience these fun, new things. 

Like I said, this chick dominates my photo feed these days...

The boys and I have some quality bonding time each morning while we wait for the bus.  We live in the most beautiful place on earth and therefore get to witness some of the most beautiful sunrises each day.  It's a rough life, but someone's got to do it....

The kids are so good at cramming into a feed pickup and tagging along for whatever adventures we're sent on by their dad.  Thank goodness Reese's behind fits into the pickup console perfectly. 

Dear school: please excuse my children for being late to school.  They were shipping cattle with their great grandpa.  

Great Grandpa: Hey! Crawl into the cage on this lift and I'll see how high and far I can lift you! 

It's been a whirlwind of a September, but looking back it has been pretty good for us.  

Seven

Sometimes we forget he's only seven.  

He's gotten up at 5:30am multiple times this week to ship cattle.  I often ask him to babysit his three siblings while I mow, or run to the field, to deliver lab supplies or a whole host of other things.  

He has his own pocket knife to cut hay bale strings.  (I, too, thought this was a bit much when our neighbor gave their son a pocket knife at a young age, but now I totally agree with them.)  

He enjoys taking photos with a 'fancy' camera.  After a brief tutorial he was cropping and editing photos like a pro ('pro' meaning poor misguided housewife that taught him).  

One of his first female loves will undoubtedly be his heifer.  He does a good job for his size and age at handling her.  I enjoy watching their bond.  He teared up just a bit this morning when we discussed turning her out to pasture after the fair. 

He's a good role model for his siblings..... most of the time.  They enjoy going to 4-H meetings as well and are chomping at the bit to get their 4-H careers started as well. 

He is a creature enthusiast and can provide some sort of fun fact for many different creatures.  (Major shout out to the nature show Wild Kratts on PBS.) 

He's beyond excited about his projects for the fair (as am I).  I cannot tell you how many times I've openly bawled this week when he told me 'Mom, I've got it.' 

His western wear outfit melted my heart. 

There are a whole host of things that make me forget he's only seven.  Which often seems silly because so many of his friends are country kids as well and they are held to the same unusual set of expectations.  It is so terribly cliché, but I remember just yesterday when we had him.  We finally were wheeled back into our suite around 3am and the nurses helped us get settled in.  The sweet woman swaddled Kenyon, laid him into his bassinet and then smiled as she said goodbye, shut our door and headed back down to her station.  Wes and I stared at each other with terror in our eyes because neither one of us knew anything about birthin' babies. 

And here we are, seven years later.  We know quite a bit more about babies and we're all learning to roll with the punches as this oldest child grows up.  It's been quite an adventure and we're excited to see what the future has in store. 

Life in Photos

Sometimes I get really down about life around here.  Lots of work, little play (or so it feels like) and lots of same ol' same ol' with the daily grind.  But then I look at the photos I'm able to capture and maybe life isn't so bad after all....

This was after church last week. 

I lost the kids last week.  I told them to go to the barn and do chores.  Thirty minutes later no one had come home yet so I walked down to the barn to check on them.  They tried to throw a bale of hay down from the loft and it got stuck on the ladder.  Thus, they were stuck as well.  Hmmmmm..... 

This one.  Oh..... this one.....

I went grocery shopping last week.  A man though I was funny enough that he pulled over, stopped his pickup, rolled down his window and laughed loudly at my precarious situation.  One of the checkout ladies had helped me out with my two carts and was proud to tell him that 'Oh you have no idea - normally this lady buys waaaaaay more stuff!'

I'm sorry, doesn't everyone have to plan their grocery trips around when the heifer needs feed???

Will my father kill me for this photo?  Yes. 

Does it melt my heart when the kids trade silly faces with their grandparents?  Yes. 

It's worth any beating I might have to take. 

Cake, Batter, Batter cookies are the best! 

Nothing to see here, folks....

I love our little family.  Kids, work, mud, love. 

Meet our newest pet.  Mikey the micer.  You have to look up in the rafters to find him.  

No..... this was not my choice.  I tried to kill him (don't tell my husband) but he's a quick little buggar. 

 

Trivial but Necessary: An Autobiography

So many of the tasks I complete these days are... less than glamorous?  Menial?  Pretty basic?  Any of these descriptions would suffice.  Let's be honest, I'm not out here curing cancer.  I'm a professional diaper changer and fire-putter-outer for my husband. 

For instance, this morning I had to drop everything and run out the door with all the kids so I could drive my SUV and lead trucks filled with cattle to their summer pasture.  It's way out in the middle of nowhere and difficult to give directions to someone in hopes that they'll end up at the right pasture.  'Turn at the tree that burned down a few years ago.'  'Go past that pasture with the pens and turn west at the next pasture with a similar set of pens.' 

You can see how things could south rather quickly.  Sometimes I actually get my own pickup and trailer.  Today was not that day. 

I'm trying to get better at finding the joy in this season of life.  Today I grabbed my camera and managed to snap a few pics.  We are very fortunate to live in this area and that is never lost on us.