Cheap Entertainment

There is nothing like good cheap entertainment. On Monday the kids each wanted to play in the toy bins. They kept wanting to sit in them so I put the bins up on the couch, stuck them each in a bin with their blankey's, turned Thomas the Train on, and got a few things done around the house. It kept them entertained long enough to get a few items crossed off my "to do" list and it was also picture worthy.


Another day I let them go play outside. It took a little longer to get ready than it does in the summer but definitely worth it to see Makayla waddle around in a big snow suit!

Where to begin....

I'm overwhelmed...I don't know where to begin to fill you all in on our life. I've come to the conclusion that we have reached the point in life in which it is not going to slow down. People tell me there will be seasons where life slows down but I'm beginning to think not...not with little ones growing up quickly. This should be the slow time in life right....when I'm home all day...when the kids aren't in school yet so we shouldn't be too busy...Yeah Right...uh huh...I'll believe it when it happens.

So what have we been so busy with? Well since its the holidays there has been extra time with family and of course a fun Thanksgiving. There has been lots of extra shopping since Christmas is just around the corner and then both the kiddos have their birhtdays in January. Note to reader: I am by no means complaining about the shopping part here...just sayin thats all...If you know me then you know shopping is one of my specialties. We also remodeled our kitchen once harvest ended. It looks fabulous and I LOVE IT! I know have soooooo much more countertop space, new countertops, more cabinets/new cabinets!! And once again I must say thank you dad and Mark for helping make it all happen!
We are also very involved in our church. This year we started working with the senior high youthgroup. Its been a good thing but has definitely added to the busyness of life. I also teach a ladies Bible Study on Tuesdays. I have a love for deep Bible study and am so glad the Lord has given me this opportunity but let me tell ya....ITS TIME CONSUMING. Although I must say when you are willing to use your gift and willing to minister it does seem that God stretches my time and energy in ways I cannot explain. This year I'm leading a group of ladies through the book of Genesis...amazing study! And I am really blessed with a wonderful group of ladies that definitely put effort into their studying and come with very challenging questions. They keep me on my toes!
And then of course their's the kiddo's, housework, a husband who still works 10+hour days even though harvest is over, bills to pay, breakfast, lunch, and dinner to make everyday, a farm to discuss, a workout to fit in, and hopefully a shower to take,etc etc etc...To be honest I've been really struggling to fit bloggin into the schedule. Any of you regular bloggers have any suggestions??
So now that I've laid all my excuses out on the table for why I haven't blogged in like 10 years, I'll share a hodge podge of pictures:
The kids sitting at our new bar in the kitchen!

A few snapshots of our Thanksgiving down at my mom's house. the kids had a great time with their cousins.



A before and after of our newly remodeled kitchen. The red wall was made into a half wall back in July when we moved in. Then we waited til after harvest to do the rest. The kitchen is now open to the rest of the house.


And a few pics we took last night when the kids decided they wanted to "say cheese" before going to bed. Pretty sure they were just stalling but I didn't mind since they were willing to smile. You can see our lovely Christmas tree in the background.

Cowboys and Indians

My little farmer turned cowboy on us a week ago. A while back Aiden took an interest in horses. He has a few plastic horses he plays with quite often. So one day I told him that his Aunt Becky has a horse and well that started the weekly asking..."Mommy, can we ride Aunt Becky's horse this week." Every week up until last week was "No, not this week but we'll ask Aunt Becky and go soon." Well last week we finally took Aiden for a ride on Aunt Becky's horse. First things first though he wanted to feed the horses a carrot. I'm not really sure where he got that idea from but no harm done...sounded like a good idea to me. He tried hard but only 1 of the horses was interested in his carrots.


When it was time for the big ride Aiden had been waiting so long for he got a bit timid on us and decided to sacrifice his sister instead..."Makayla goes first!" Makayla wasn't so sure about that until daddy got on.

Aiden finally got on though and once he did he LOVED IT! We couldn't get him off the horse. Aunt Becky's friend Dan was kind enough to ride with Aiden until he was comfortable and then walked the horse all over, while Aiden rode all by himself! I loved watching him go from a bit scared and timid to quite relaxed. We even put Makayla on the horse with Aiden towards the end while Kreg walked next to them. It was a fun little family outing. And my little cowboy is already asking when we are going to go do it again!

Morning cartoons

I walked by this morning during Curious George and just had to take a picture...couldn't believe they were both snuggled up in the corner of the couch together.

Harvest!

Well we sure are in the swing of things now. It may feel like summer outside still but to us its already fall. Harvest came early this year. Last year we weren't even started yet and this year we will hit the half way done mark this week! Its crazy how each year can be so different. The kids are absolutely LOVING it, especially Aiden, as always. He gets to ride in the combine, semi, or tractor almost daily and typically for hours on end! And if he's not out farming somewhere then he's here at home farming one of our rugs! I give you exhibit A:

I am not exaggerating at all when I say he will "play" harvest for hours on end. He cannot seem to get enough combining!

Makayla has definitely learned what a combine is and often repeats "I wanna ride combine. I wanna ride combine," when big brother gets to go ride and she has to stay with mommy. She got to ride once but she's too little to ride without Kreg or I so the rides are fewer. If there were such a thing as a "farm princess" then I think she'd be considered as such. I give you Exhibit B:


Today they are actually harvesting the field that Kreg and I own. We have been anticipating this for months now! This time of year is extremely exhausting for the guys (Kreg has been pulling 15 to 18 hour days the last few weeks) and its tiring for me to not have Kreg home much but it is also exciting and we love it. God is so good to give us a crop to harvest each year. I love that we are in a profession in which the LORD God Almighty is in charge of the whole thing!! Here are a few pics from our corn field:



Needless to say Aiden was not excited to have his picture taken. These days I'm pretty much happy if they will both just look at the camera!

And I know I still haven't posted a pic of our new home. Some day that will happen but today I give you the view from my front porch (in sepia...i thought it looked cool)

I love my view!!! This is also the view I have from my kitchen window. So so glad that God saw fit to move us closer to the farm!

Florida!

Lately I cannot seem to keep up with this blog. Granted life has continued to be quite busy but somehow the weeks just keep slipping by. Last night I officially unpacked our last box! That was an exciting moment. I pretty much have the house set up and organized now, except for some remodeling to the kitchen we hope to have done this fall. And let me tell ya, that project makes me super excited!! (more on that in the months to come)
One reason for my long blogging absence is because we went on another vacation. And as you can tell from the title, we went to Florida! Kreg's parents took us and all his siblings and their families to St. George Island for a week. It was wonderful! We truly just relaxed. We all stayed together in a beautiful house right on the beach. And not only were we on the beach, but we had our own private pool as well! I could have stayed there for much longer than a week, that's for sure.
Take a peek at the house:



Aiden and Makayla both loved the beach. Aiden improved quite a bit on his swimming while we were there. And Makayla loved the waves! She is a true beach babe. It was quite windy for several of the days so one day the waves were probably at least 4 feet tall, but that didn't phase her. I got in the ocean but not for long. I love the beach but I am not the biggest ocean person (not a big surprise to some of you).
I could tell you more but I think pictures say a thousand words so maybe I shall just inundate you with pictures. I realized after looking through all the pics that I didn't have too many of Aiden. And then I realized why. He was off playing with his cousins for most of the week! Hard to believe my son is old enough to just go off and play with his cousins. Anyway, I present to you our Florida trip:














And that was Florida! Well atleast some of it. We had a wonderful time and are so thankful to Kreg's parents for letting all of us spend the week together. What a blessing it is that we both have such wonderful Christian families!

Home Sweet Home

What a busy summer it has been! I can hardly believe its August already. Moving really made the weeks go by fast. But we are in our new home and loving it. And last night my father-in-law and my husband got our Internet going so I feel reconnected with the world once again! (awww what a great feeling) We've been in our house since the first of July and are feeling fairly settled now. Kreg's "honey-do" list is getting shorter with each week. I've already painted 3 rooms and just have the kids room and a bathroom to go. This may sound weird but the house is starting to smell like us now too. When we moved in it just smelled like other people. I would walk in the door and it didn't "smell" like home. Now I walk in the door and I don't notice anything so it must smell like us now! haha.
We moved in on a Friday night and by mid-morning Saturday I had my dad put to work on a little remodeling project. Our house is very open concept but it wasn't that way to begin with. There was this very odd wall that separated the kitchen from everything else but the wall was serving absolutely no purpose (it wasn't even touching the ceiling). So we took it down! And we LOVE IT now. Here is a before and after pic:
Before

After!

So I was thinking the other day how life has changed this summer:
-I now use the words "goin into town" when I need to run errands or get groceries.
-I go by corn fields, bean fields, grain bins, and hog barns when I'm jogging.
-I have a great view of the grain bins from my kitchen window (no longer is my view the side of the neighbor's house)
-Kreg can just pop in to say hi now when driving between barns. Love that part!
-We live just around the corner from my in-laws who have a pool so we've been doing lots of swimming.
-The kids have a huge yard to run around in now and I don't really have to worry about cars driving by while they're playing.
-Aiden and Makayla's future school is also just around the corner. I'm hoping to get Aiden signed up for preschool there next year.
-The kids also share a room now. Its going really well too. The only down side is they tend to wake up a little earlier than they use to and stay up a bit later talking (although sometimes thats really cute to listen to).

Those are just a few things I love about our new location. I think we are really going to enjoy living here.
And because I can't resist here is a recent pics of the kiddos:

They were dressed in my shirts.

We also took a big trip to Washington State to visit my extended family a few weeks ago. I'll post some pics from our trip soon.

Almost!

Two more days and we should be home owners once again. We are still living with Kreg's parents and its been going really well but we are really really excited to get our hands on our new home. As long as all goes as planned we should be moving in this weekend!

In the meantime I had a wonderful birthday. I got my hair chopped off!! Aiden is swimming a little without his floaties. Makayla's vocab has continued to explode. And wheat harvest has begun.

So here's a pic of the new hair:


And a few pics we took last night by one of the wheat fields:





Hopefully the next time I post I'll be typing from my new home!