Our Aweful Beautiful Life

A while back, Jason and Seth embarked on a business together raising cattle. They bought 4, and kept them up on Margie's pasture. I didn't feel "close" to them, as Jason often did the chores and I didn't honestly interact with them much on a daily basis. They bred them, and when they were closer to calving, we moved them out to our pasture.  Once on our pasture, they became a part of our family. We learned their tag numbers, and watched as each one came nearer and nearer to becoming a first time momma cow! A nd then, Jason planned a vacation. He left me home alone, with all three kids for 2 nights, and 3 days. His final words as he left for that fun fishing weekend with the guys...."hey, you know, I highly doubt it'll happen, they aren't due for a few more weeks, but just keep your eye out if any of those heifers go off by themselves....it might mean they are going to calve."  I didn't ask any more questions, and he didn't offer more ...

So April's fun, because it's my birthday month, and we see the end of the school year coming, and baseball is kicking off, and it's finally warming up........and then MAY hits. And honestly, by the time I even really realize it's actually May..........it's June. 11th. I'm not even kidding when I say May stinks, and I have absolutely zero memories from the month. Okay, I do, but only thanks to cameras and photos. Don't get me wrong, we had a LOT of fun in May, but it came and it went and now it's June, and I'm already dreading that summer will fly by as fast as May did. So let's recap May. Shall we? The first week alone had 2 field trips & a Mom's day at school. I was blessed to take the time off work to enjoy each of the field trips with the kiddos.  First up was Emmalyn and her preschool class to the Columbian Park Zoo. Highlights? Mom getting peed on by the tree-frog in the classroom animal meet & greet, but the "educato...

I think I've started posts like that before. Have I? I mean, the kid is sweet. Like when he comes BARRELING across the room when I walk into Pam's in the evening, or how he dashes for me first thing in the morning. Surefire lover, that kid is. And he still snuggles at nearly 22 months, which is a feat compared to his siblings. Perhaps though, our dear Keaton is a smart one. He knows that in order to save his life, he has to be a lover. For, if it weren't for those sweet snuggles, kisses and neck hugs.....his trouble making would WAY outdo his love. (If it doesn't already....) Grace. Thank the good Lord for grace! In a short 24 hours with Keaton....two catastrophes happened. The first, was actually pretty innocent. We're blaming Dad. He's the chief "trash removal officer" in our house, and he had overslept Wednesday. So therefore, our trash can was FULL. And Keaton was just trying to throw something away. Until the trash can LANDED on him...and spew...

As a proud College of Agriculture graduate from Purdue, I feel like it's my duty to return there, year after year, for Springfest. However, Saturday was just too nice to fight a crowd with three small kids. I'm glad we waited......kind of. By mid-morning Sunday, the rain was holding off, and Jenna & I made plans to head down to take the kids. They do enjoy it, and we knew that early in the morning, there owuldn't be much of a crowd. We were right, which is good, but we weren't there 15 minutes before the rain set in. We still had a bit of fun. The kids ate pumpkin bread with mealworms in it. They watched some fencing. We saw the barnyard animals and Emmalyn & Sawyer even got to milk a cow with my cousin Laura as the "student assistant"! A fun treat indeed! Sawyer & Laura Emmy did great! Rain & hungry babies!  We ditched Springfest after a quick tour an about an hours stay....to head for lunch. Hungry kiddos and ...

I realized we are insanely blessed to have a beautiful small creek running through the woods behind our house. Ours kids will hopefully make many memories there through the years. We already have, as they've each dipped their toes in the water and even done a little swimming from time to time, but there seems to me to be nothing more peaceful on a warm, early spring afternoon than that first dip in the water. This weekend proved that true, once again. This time, I was lucky to have my camera around my neck to capture some great pictures. Love the little mud-slinging, rock throwing rednecks!