eight and a half acre farm

Wow, I am almost speachless today. I knew I had a million places to run to so I was rushing to get out the door this morning. Hoping not to run into any hungry/tiredness crabiness. Well, that didn't work. I left the house at 10:45. Post Office: Stop number one. Yes, I left my kids in the car while I ran in to mail some letters. Big Whoop. I was in there for a total of 2 minutes. The phone was left with Krischan in case he needed it and I didn't leave the car running. Besides, you might not know this but Krischan is a super black belt ninja. Very deadly child, don't mess with him. Bank: Stop number two. So easy, drive through cinch. But then Jakob says he is hungry. oh no. But wait, ok, it is 11:45. No problem. Super mom has a chipolte card for a free burrito. Chipolte is just down the road and Jakob says, as I am pulling out of the bank, "Go there. Chi•po•weigh." Chipolte: Stop number three. It is always intimidating and nerve wracking to take three ki...

At 3:30 pm on Thursday, I got into my van and drove to a meeting I had scheduled. What is so important about this? It began my 42 and a half hours sans kids. The options of what I could do were bouncing around in my head. Rick had appointments till late so the first part of my time was all me...alone! I headed straight for the salon for a pedicure. It was so nice. I took a picture, but my toes are ugly and I didn't want to submit you to that kind of horror. Then, after that...I went grocery shopping. Yes, you read correctly...grocery shopping. You never appreciate the time in the store that you have. Mindless work of grabbing things off the shelf, checking coupons, thinking about an item before you place it in your cart. Actually looking at prices and deciding on the best buy. When you have to grocery shop with kids in tow, it is never peaceful, you never look at prices, it is actually a race to the end. That is why I wear my jogging pants and running shoes when I go. So I can...

It's Friday. the kids are away for the day. What do I do? Sleep, clean, read, garden... I will start with a shower. One that doesn't consist of little kids coming in the bathroom. One that doesn't consist of hearing screaming and wondering who is killing who. A long one, one that isn't rushed, one where I can stand and close my eyes and take in the quiet. Wow. No kids for a whole day! what do I do?

I love food. I love cooking food. I love eating food. I have what you would call food memories. I remember what I ate on Rick and my first date. When I eat strawberries, I remember being a little girl, picking them off the plant at Doran's down the road. The owner of the farm always asked if he needed to weigh me on his really cool old fashioned scale, since I ate more strawberries than I put in the basket. When I eat hamburgers, I remember the cruise I went on with my parents and the juice from it running down my arm. You get the point. Which brings me to another point. Another food memory that I remember so well, I thought it would be a great snack idea for my kids. Veggie and fruit pizza. When I was in high school, I cheered on the basketball cheer squad. (Yes, I was a cheerleader. I don't know why people find that hard to believe.) We had before each game what was called a spread. (get your mind out of the gutter.) Each cheerleader picked a game to host a dinner for (...

After going out with Rick one night I was plagued the next morning with stormy thoughts and irksome realizations. (Not about Rick of course.) The next morning I wanted to clear my head so I jumped on the tractor and started mowing the front yard. It is a pretty mindless thing and usually allows me to think things through... not this time... my anger was just redirected...to the front of my house. All spring I have been concentrating on my garden and the back yard. That means that the front yard has suffered major neglect. The houses right side flower bed has no flowers, and the left side flower beds are full of Iris'. The flowers are gone on them and so there are dead shriveled petals on the ends of long green shoots. And weeds. Tons and tons of weeds. I need to take my anger out on something, and it is going to be those weeds, and those zombie iris'. The gardening gloves came on, the shovel was gathered along with the wheel barrow and a "claw". I then bega...

As the week ends and I ask myself "What day is it today?" I realize how lucky I am that I find myself asking that. To loose time in this technology driven world is...wordless. Here are some other items that make me wordless... I made this wonderful iced coffee from the pioneer woman website ( http://thepioneerwoman.com/ ). Oh...YUM. I love that I found the recipe and I love that I don't have to pay $10.00 for an iced coffee anymore. (ok, I never really paid 10 bucks for one, but I am sure I would have somewhere in my life.) It is perfect for these summer days, and the drink has made me so happy...I am wordless. Baby birds. So sweet, so little. So high up off the ground. Momma keeps them safe. Having lunch by a waterfall. Talk about peace and making the world stop for a bit. Two little ones dipping their feet in the cold water, giggling. Wordless... Exploring... And the last thing that some married women would never mention...or admit, but I will. The ma...

I am that mom. The one with the loud noisy, screaming kids. The one that is always telling their kids to "come here!" or "stop!" or "sit!" I am that mom that you look at and turn to whomever you are with and say "Why doesn't she control her kids?" I am that mom, that blows the hair out of her eyes, takes a deep breath and picks up the screaming kid and holds on to them until they calm down. (And yes, that involves a lot of screaming.) I am the mom that doesn't get to watch her child play baseball because she is dealing with her two other kids. They don't want to watch their brother play baseball. I am the mom that just shrugs her shoulders and lets them run around in the grass like crazy insane children. Or let's them play in the dirt just because they like it. I am the mom who goes up and down the isle at the grocery store with either a constantly yelling or crying child. One that climbs on and off the cart causing it t...

What seems like a really long battle for sanity, the universe backs off and gives Rick and I a day of peace. The feeling lately has been that it is looking for our breaking point, wondering when we will actually break down and cry mercy. The weather was perfect and the only downfall of the day was that Krischan was sick. Not too sick though to come outside and lay in the hammock while Jakob and Kadence played. These are the type of days I know I have all day to make a most wonderous meal. And after being beaten down, there is nothing more deserving and wonderous than beer can chicken. I had two small chickens to cook since we had to cancel plans to have friends over. Not a big deal, since the meat can be in just about anything throughout the week. Now, to make beer can chicken you need 1.) a whole chicken, as mentioned above and 2.) a can of beer. This posses a problem for Rick and I as we don't drink beer that comes in a can. I know, call us beer snobs, you won't break...

Have you ever driven 45 minutes to a movie theater to find out that the show you wanted to go see was sold out? And it was another 3 hours before the next one started? Yeah, it happened to me. I had all three kids with me and was excited, yet nervous about Kadence and her first movie. Krischan loved movies, Jakob could sit through one also, so I wasn't worried about those two. Kadence was the wild card in this scenario. The universe obviously wanted me to drive 45 minutes, but was saving me a nerve wracking experience probably. ok, I can deal with that. To make up for the disappointment, we got pizza and had a movie night at home. Didn't get to see the end though. A HUGE storm blew through knocking out our electric and left me dealing with three scared kids. I wrapped them all in my bed, told them they were safe, then the electric came back on. So I turned the tv back on and played a dvr'd history channel show. The storm was still going strong and they didn't want t...

Every once in awhile, when the kids go to bed I find that I actually have a couple moments to myself. I sit on the couch (a very rare thing I do) and watch a little tv (another very rare thing I do). I settled in after cleaning the living room and started watching chefography. I love the chef they were bio'ing so I cozied into the cushions and pulled my feet up underneath me and took a deep breath. Then, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimplse of it. A big huge spider. It ran across the fireplace footing with lightning speed, jumped off onto the carpet and was making a dash for me. I jumped up off the couch, looked for a weapon and yelled "HOLY SHIT!!" As soon as it saw me jump, it ran back for the fireplace and hid behind a stone. Panicked that my life was in danger, I ran into the kitchen for some spray I knew was in there. There was no way I was going to to kill it with a shoe, that would bring me too close. I needed something I could use that would keep ...

I often say that I can't wait until I am 40. Why? Because my 30's need to go away, and I am due for a good decade. Now, don't get me wrong, Some pretty wonderful things happened in my 30's. Two great kids were born...um, uhh,ok maybe only two wonderful things happened, but still, I am so ready for this decade to end. Lately, here is a typical day: Get up at 6:00am so that hopefully I can get a shower in before the kids wake up. No luck, Kadence gets up and I sit her on the floor with a book while I shower. Every 2 seconds telling her to get her hands out of the toilet, quit eating the toothpaste, turn off the sink water, don't dunk Krischan's toothbrush in the toilet... Very relaxing shower, I get out and get dressed. Jakob is up now asking for dad. Me: Dad is at work in the shop Jakob: But why? Me: so he can make money and we can eat Jakob: but I want me daddy (whining and crying ensues) Me: but daddy is working, here let's get you dressed Mea...

Kadence turned 2 this past weekend and we celebrated with the grandparents. I had made sure to put her down for a nap so that she wouldn't be cranky come cake time. I didn't factor in Jakob... Who was so excited that it was her birthday, he wanted her to see the birthday cake and present she had to unwrap. So he woke her up She is my daughter, I don't do well being woken up. and neither does she. she didn't want to sit in the chair. so she layed on the floor. Then dad tried to cheer her up and she screamed at him. She eventually gave in and let dad give her a piggy back ride... she was happy for a bit. But then when the ride was over, Jakob insisted on putting his foot on her head. I have to admit, it was kinda funny.(I guess that is why I kept shooting photos.) while she opened presents, her brothers of course were right there entertaining her with her presents. We quickly moved on to the cake since she seemed to be coming out of her mope. ...