1st Baby of the year!!!!!

Brand new!!! Born Tuesday February 18th 

We had our first new baby!  This one was born to a cow(a female bovine who has already had at least one calf before).  The cows and heifers that we have are bred to start calving March 1st.  Just like with humans, sometimes babies come a little early.  This little one is doing just fine, he had already been licked clean and dry and had gotten up and sucked(drank milk from his mother's udder through her teats). This cow is doing a great job taking care of her baby calf.

Including a cute pic of Wally hanging out with Orrin while he took care of cattle.

A new Wally Dog

Back in November we lost a pet, our dog Wally.  Or Sir Walter H****(our last name) the Third.  He was seven and a half and was the only Boston Terrier my kids had known.  

I received a Boston puppy from my future husband a few months before our wedding.  I named him Wally and he was my good little dog. Then I accidentally ran him over.  It was a sad time.  I was newly married, starting new life a few hours from my parents home.  He was my buddy when I hadn't yet made many friends.  He loved me and was my protector.  He liked to eat June bugs.  

So we got a new Boston and named him Wally.  He loved my husband more than me and he acted like a crack dog most of the time.  More than once my husband caught him leaping out the rolled down window of the pickup after he saw wildlife.  He chased deer, turkeys, and pheasants.  He was also run over(not by me).

And so we got Wally the third.  Scooter was nine months old when we got him.  They were buddies and Wally was good with babies.  To him they were "manna from heaven", especially when we got out the high chair.  He always knew to be extra gentle with them and not freak out when they grab him.  He loved chasing bubbles, falling cotton, water sprayed from a garden hose and popping balloons.  Anyone spending time at our home would know about his rocks.  Yes he loved rocks and his stuffed skunk. He ate most vegetables especially cucumbers.  He slept in the mud room closet or on the couch when he snuck in the living room.  He was always up for playing...the kids would get out their play pop guns and run around the house like crazy people with a crazy dog.  The only Boston my kids had ever known.  It was so sad that day in November when he too was run over(again not by me).

So we have a new little Wally.  Wally Quattro or Wally the fourth.  He is sweet and a little puppy crazy.  We love him already.  The kids love snuggling him but don't enjoy being a puppy's chew toy.  We pray he will be around as long as the Boston from MY childhood!

Snow day!

Most people are excited when they get a snow day.  A day to stay inside and cuddle or get out and romp in the snow.  However, those that have to be outside usually don't look forward to it at all.

My kids did get a day off of school and got to spend the day inside playing "county sheriff" and the Wii.  My oldest spent some of the morning lurking behind his father hoping to get to tag along.  What was so fun that he wanted to do?  

Feed bales to cows and scope ice out of water tanks so cows could drink.  Awwww the life.

Another apology

Oh my time flies! I can't believe it has been so long since I regularly kept up with this blog. 

 So now Scooter is eight years old and in the second grade. He loves tagging along with his father, practicing with his BB gun for shooting sports and trying to finagle his way into playing with my iPhone! 

 Crash is in first grade and is six years old. He is obsessed with drawing the dukes of Hazzard car, playing soccer and getting toys out of the toy closet. He loves to dance and has even tried Zumba for kids!

 Little Miss (5 yrs old) is quite happy with her only girl status! She loves to color and draw hearts! She takes a dance class and is one to take practicing seriously! She is in her last year of preschool. 

 Cuddle is almost three. He tries to be a good boy but is finding it hard to obey. He loves to play the "bad guy" and wear his favorite shorts everyday. He tries to make us laugh and is everyone's buddy! 

We still live on the home farm place and are actively involved in farming and ranching everyday! One of my husbands busiest times is coming up soon with calving. He is the main herdsman and is responsible for helping a lot of heifers and momma cows have safe and healthy deliveries. I try to support him by taking a middle of the night watch here and there so he can much needed sleep.

Fessing up.

O.K. it is high time I apologized for putting this on the back-burner for over a year. Last year at this time, Orrin and I had just announced we were having baby number 4 and we kept it a secret for as long as possible (I was 20 weeks when we told my family)! We had a little boy who we will call....well I don't know yet what we will call him on this blog but I promise you we did name him a very appropriate and traditional name. So now I do feel the need to return to the blogging world and I do apologize for leaving you out of our lives this whole time.

Patience, Patience.

Sigh, I remember growing up when harvest began and ended in June....O.K. maybe July. Why does it seem like harvest is getting later.....and later.....and later. We started cutting wheat on June 30th and we are still not finished. The main reason is a storm last night that developed right above us, hung around for a while before deciding to hail and rain, then taking off like a jack rabbit. Seriously. We were on our last field so we still have about 160 acres left to cut. Oh well. We have had a good harvest so far. And the corn that got hailed right across the road WAS our best corn (that we were chopping for silage anyway...guess less ears of corn for the cows). My poor, poor petunias were looking so pretty and full, but just maybe there is enough summer left to let them fill out again. The best thing about the storm was the rainbow behind it. One end was in our corn field! Very cool!

So since it rained the kids and I went with Orrin to check some cows and possibly fix a draw because of a 4 inch rain a few days prior. Orrin did need to fix it and we saw some happy cows and calves and bull. The kids enjoy going on the 4-wheelers, however the handlebars got both Crash and Little Miss in the head due to cow paths/holes. The kids and I climbed on some rocks after stern warnings about snakes and staying close to Mommy while Daddy toiled fixing fence.

Orrin is very proud of his hulking bull. So he asked me to take pictures of it. :)

The boys immediately started to throw rocks at "imaginary" snakes, while yelling "I see a snake!!!" That always soothes a mother's heart.

Little Miss is starting to really be sassy. Anyone have experience with a little sassy 18 month old? She is at the stage where she can't (won't) say Yes but will say No with a please following it.

And she hits her brothers if they are bothering her (which having older brothers I can understand) but I was really hoping I would have a "naturally ladylike" daughter. Another *sigh*. But I still love my onery, annoying, loving, stubborn, sweet kids.

Scooter's T-ball fun

We decided to have Scooter play t-ball this year in town. Can it be that t-ball has changed so much since I played? Here they choose two teams of the same age group and they play each other....every game for four or five weeks. A little different but Scooter liked to go and play with his friends. The very last game, all the farmer dads were absent as wheat harvest was starting. Orrin had come to most of the other games and had helped on the field which Crash took full advantage of to stand on the field with him. Scooter will not wear tennis shoes so in the summer it is either flip flops or boots. So yes we had the child with boots and jeans playing t-ball.

I also had to take a picture of a beautiful sunset! I love how the evenings can become almost magical in the changing clouds and colors.

I almost forgot! Big news! Scooter (this is all about him apparently) is now riding a bike without training wheels! His training wheels look worn out. Orrin is sure they were slowing him down by catching on things and skidding on the ground. Now we just need to get Crash to learn to pedal!