Sugar and Spice and...

 

Now that the boys have gone back to school it's just the girls and I at the house.  People often fawn over the idea of two girls in the house.  Oh, you can teach them to cook and clean and you'll just have so much fun! 

Yes, they will know how to cook and clean, but so will our boys.  I'm not a huge feminist; rather, I'm a huge advocate for knowing a bit of everything to be self sustaining.  I don't do the damsel in distress bullshit and I don't have much tolerance for boys claiming ignorance in the house either (just ask my husband).  

So.... long story short.... even though there are only two girls left in our house right now, life hasn't changed much.  Most of our conversations still revolve around dinosaurs and cattle, we still enjoy wrestling, running, dirt and all things outdoors.  

I'm thankful that all the older kids are such good sports and allow Reese to continually body slam them.

It's been oh-so-hot this week while we've been taking lunch to the silo.

The girls ran up and down the hill time and again yesterday and had the best time.

This evening Kathryn ran down this same hill at a slightly higher rate of speed, tripped and busted her face open.  Her lips are now as swollen as Lisa Rinna's.  (If you don't know you must google.)

It's been so odd this year to have such a small group for our picnics. 
Not entirely sure I'm comfortable with it yet.

She loves to watch the bulldozer, just like the rest of her siblings.

No one wants an unsightly tan line, am I right?!

A New Adventure

I wanted to start this post with some sort of deep, meaningful quote regarding life, comfort zones and curveballs; but everything was much too deep and serious for this post.  I just needed some sort of cute meme that stated: And then I had a baby girl said holy cow.  But alas, Pinterest failed me.  

Never overestimate the brain power of sleep deprived mama. 

So, long story short, we had a baby recently and it was not of a gender that were were so accustomed to.  After having two boys I now find myself browsing Pinterest during the wee hours of the night for 'little girl hairstyles' and the like.  

I'll admit, for the first few minutes after meeting baby Kathryn I wasn't sure quite what to think about the situation.  And then I saw my husband cuddle with her and I decided maybe God did know exactly what we needed all along.  Funny how that happens all the time (the God knowing thing) and yet I still find myself amazed.

Auntie snuggles

No good can come of these two when they look like this.

Kathryn has already had her first 'slumber party' with her much older cousin, Madeline, who is a whopping 20 days older.

All of our children have very intense, deep blue eyes when they are little.
I hope hers stay that way. 

We've already logged several miles in the stroller while attempting to chase her brothers.  I have a feeling that she and I will be doing this quite a lot in the future.

...And snap tests.  I got to have a lovely eight day maternity leave before the neighbor called and asked me to run some snap tests for him.  Sigh...

Shipping calves one morning

Kathryn never lacks for attention.  We had to implement a rule that hats must be taken off or turned around before sticking your head into her carseat for a kiss.
Kenyon loves to turn his hat backwards and then state, "Look, Mom.  I look like a thug!"

See?  I wasn't lying.  These boys are constantly on the go.  I've always wanted to purchase a step tracker such as a FitBit.  I'm curious to see how much ground we cover in a day.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.  My mother came to spend several days with us.  By the time you have your third baby, it's not that she comes clean or do laundry for a sleep deprived mom, it's that I needed her to snuggle babies so I could go sit on the lawn mower by myself for a few hours.  Funny how priorities change with each subsequent birth.

Although not a slumber party this time, Kathryn was able to meet her newest other cousin who is oh-so-much younger... by a whopping six days. Someday I'm sure that will be very important to them, this crucial six day difference.  For Kathryn in their younger days and Asher as they age!

Stylin' and profilin'

Our trusty steed for the turtle races at the town festival this past weekend.

A little pep talk between heats from Dad.  Kenyon's turtle came in second and John's was third.
Both boys were happy with their results.  Both turtles were relieved when we released them at a pond in the hay field this morning. 

John loved riding the mechanical bull VERY SLOWLY.  

Kenyon would have ridden all night long if we had allowed him.  He had an absolute blast. 

All this blogging is making me tired.  If only I looked so sweet and peaceful while dreaming.  Just add 30 years, three kids, a messy ponytail on the top of my head and drool running out the corner of my mouth and we're almost twins.
Almost.

A Week in the Life of a Ranch Kid

Continual apologies regarding my tardy nature.  Y'all should expect it by now.  It's been busy around here lately.  The weather has had some serious ups and downs so you'll notice the extremes in fashion choices when viewing the photos.  

John is getting to the age where he is much more interactive and engaged with all the happenings around here.  Although he doesn't talk much, he definitely is quite expressive and lets you know what he's thinking through facial expressions and gestures.  

Since he's down to mere days until he's bumped into middle child status, I'm feeling rather sentimental towards him and decided to focus primarily on the current 'youngest child' for this post. 

Watching the calves come to the feed pickup.

A little light pond dam work on the bulldozer. 

National Take Your Kid to Work Day
...or...
A normal Tuesday.

Rainy day reading with his big brother.  Kenyon was so good in explaining the differences among various implements and equipment in the tractor book.

We went to a spring show.
I got tired of chasing him.
I locked him (temporarily) in the calf scales.
(No children were harmed in the making of this photo.)

The boys, and friend, jumped off the pig loading chute hundreds of times that day.

See the bottom of his pants?  That would be an accumulation of soggy juices from playing in the feedbunks where silage had collected and then gotten rained on.
John smelled delightful after playing in this mess. 

Bath time was guaranteed that night. 

A quick trip to the hospital to see our new baby cousin...

Approximately 3 hours old, after approximately 2 hours of nursing.
She is quite possibly the world's best snuggler.  And eater, according to her mother. 

Playing on the swingset.  Over and over and over and over...

Working a little ground with Dad one evening.
I love these trips when both boys ride with their dad.  It guarantees me at least a half hour of quiet time to relax in the car by myself.  

These tomatoes aren't going to plant themselves. 

I love this photo.  It was such a fun morning planting the garden with these two. 

Feeding chickens.

I feel the need.  The need for speed.
This does not bode well for our future. 

He's exhausted?  Think about his mama trying to keep up with him!

I can't get enough of this little devilish grin.

And there you have it, folks.  As you can plainly see, this kiddo covers some serious territory during the course of a week.

Shipping Memories

It's that time of year again, time to ship cattle.  Some neighbors used our pens the other morning to load out and things went less than stellar.  Like, my yard and flower beds are rather decimated after everyone decided to run through them over and over and over again.  As I watched all that unfold from the kitchen window I tried to go to my happy place in my mind and thought back to happier times of shipping with my dad growing up...



My dad is crazy.  Not in a 'oh, my fraternity brothers and I had quite the raucous soiree one evening' type of way but in a 'OH MY GOSH YOU STOPPED FOR BEER ON THE WAY TO THE HOSPITAL???' type of way.  (And that's a true story.  Not the fraternity part, the other part.)

Once upon a time, we were chasing a few stray steers that were pretty waspy and trying to get them back with the herd.  These calves may or may not have come from the southeast and had a touch of ear to them.

One calf darted away from the others and slid down a sheer embankment into a creek.  Dad never skipped a beat and chased after the steer, sliding down the 15 foot embankment like it was nothing.  I let out a little scream as I watched him drop.  I rode over to the edge of the ridge and looked down into the creek.  I remember him stopping his horse in the middle of the creek and turning around to look at me with a grin that stretched ear to ear.  "The man from Snowy River ain't got shit on me!" he shouted, and then he ran off to continue chasing the steer.



My older sister and I were helping my dad ship once with a big group of people.  In this group was a husband and his pregnant wife.  She was far enough along to have a protruding belly, but she still worked right alongside everyone else just fine.

The wife (who I am not naming for security purposes) had been using a hot shot, helping push cattle through the alley and up the loading chute onto the cattle pots.  In between loading two trucks she took a moment to really study her hot shot.  "I bet it doesn't hold a charge that long.  I bet it doesn't even hurt all that much."  She walked over to her unsuspecting husband and barely touched his leg with the long, yellow stick.

We all heard the familiar POP of the hot shot and watched as her dearly beloved instantly lost all feeling in his leg and hit the ground.  He glanced around in an attempt to figure out what had happened.  When he saw his wife holding a hot shot he slowly started to limp towards her like the villain in every horror movie that's ever been made.

She had tears of laughter in her eyes as she backed away from him, holding her belly.  "Remember the baby, honey.  Remember the baby!"



I definitely remember the food.  When we would get done shipping by mid-morning there would always be a feast waiting on us at whomever's house we were near.  As a kid I definitely appreciated the meals, but now as an adult I feel awe-struck when I think back at what those women could accomplish.  Brisket, beans, potatoes, salad, pies, and cookies filled those tables.  My husband definitely is getting the shaft these days.  Poor fella.  Good thing he never reads this blog.