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. 

The Decade

A wise woman once told me that when you have children, you lose a decade of your life.  I was a bit taken aback when she first dropped this little nugget of wisdom upon me.  Surely not.  An entire DECADE?  

For all you Lutherans out there...

THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE. 

This is the decade where we live for naptimes and

 if you can't respect the naptimes we probably don't need you in our life right now. 

This is the decade where grandmas can be paid in snuggles and giggles.*  

(*Not from their own offspring, but from the grandbabies.) 

This is the decade where birthdays are a big deal.

This is the decade where memes like this hit a little too close to home at times. 

The decade where you ride a camel if your kid asks you to. 

...Or ride down a super giant slide, even if you really don't like heights.

 The decade where running snap tests (or any chore) takes 100 times longer than it should because you have so many little helpers. 

The decade where you are eternally stuck in a rocking chair with a nursing baby and random creepers feel the need to check on you periodically. 

The decade where you blink and suddenly your kid can write letters all by himself. 

The decade where you tell stories to your great grandma and she plays along like it's the best story in the history of the world. 

This is the decade where you can sing Tanya Tucker lullabies to make your kiddos grin.

The decade where you can wear a straw hat after labor day, a t-shirt and shotgun your boots and no one asks you if you're from Oklahoma. 

I think my friend was right.  Life is such a blur right now that sometimes it does feel like one day we'll blink and a decade will have passed.  

But what a hell of a decade this is. 

A Day at the State Fair

Monday was incredibly... um... out of the ordinary for us.  We took a day trip with Kenyon (leaving John at home with a grandma) and went to the Kansas State Fair.  The day was filled with firsts for Kenyon and it was a blast watching him experience so many new and unusual things.  

You've never seen real pain until you watch a conductor tell a three year old that the train is full and he must wait an excruciating 8 MINUTES for it to come back.  Might as well have been 8 years.  It was an aging experience for us all.

Once he got on the train he waved to everyone like an experienced pageant winner on a parade float.
I realize that is not what his dad wants to hear, but it fits the bill pretty well. 

 

Behold: a tacone.  My uncle used to own this food stand and I couldn't leave without eating one of these again.  Not quite as good as I remembered, but still worth the 5,000 calories.  

If you leave the Kansas State Fair without learning something about agriculture, you were blatantly avoiding 4,000 fun learning opportunities.  Everywhere you turn there are hands on experiences, demonstrations and other fun things ag-related to see.  Which is exactly why we drove two hours to the fair - to see the exact same things that we have in our yard already.  Sigh....

'Driving' a combine with his dad.  

Ice cream.  We were in desperate need of a sugar-induced high to keep up going the rest of the afternoon.

We had to play on all the fancy machines that were on display.

Another must-see at the fair: pig races.  You cannot leave until you see pigs wearing silks and running like greyhounds.  Kenyon had a blast watching but was sorely disappointed there were no betting windows at these races. 

You may have to click on the photo to enlarge, but there is a racing pig at the feet of the funny man that is chasing him.  I think Kenyon wanted that job most of all.

Behold: The world's tallest slipper slide.  (I just made that up.)  This thing was enormous and Kenyon decided he wanted to ride it.  His dad was brave enough to go with him.

Kenyon told the slipper slide attendant thank you for the nice ride and he gave Kenyon tickets to ride again for free.  We conveniently never made it back to this again.  Wes was not thrilled at the prospect of riding again.

He spied a much smaller, kiddie sized slide.
He studied it for several minutes.
(Please excuse the photog's fingers in the picture.  He's not used to a camera phone.)

We discussed him riding all by himself, but decided his mom could sit next to him for moral support...

It was traumatic for all involved.  It was much faster than we anticipated. 

Kenyon's face is priceless.

And a camel ride to end the day.