Monday, February 28, 2011

Hello 57

So we finally had a heifer that calved just fine on her own-in the barn-and everything was great when I checked them at 6 a.m. Well, we went back at about 9 a.m. to check on them and the calf had somehow fallen into the water trough and was just about frozen. We had to get the calf warmed up, so into the basement it came. Once it was next to the furnace and dried off with my hair dryer, it was doing WAY better. Molly had to come downstairs and say hello to little Miss 57.She just loved the calf. She was able to pet it without being barked at (like Kelly's reaction to her petting) and Molly just kept grabbing it's hoof and smiling.

#57 went back to Mama in the barn and is now doing just fine.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Grandma is Here!

My mom arrived in Missouri on Wednesday and will be visiting for a month. Molly wasn't the most friendly at first, but they are getting to be good friends now!

It has been such a blessing to have her here to help me with Molly. Luke & I have been really busy with the heifers calving and have had to spend a lot of time out in the barn.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Best Friends?

While it's been so cold and nasty outside, one of my good friends & I have taken the time to stay inside and work to complete the Masters of Beef Advocacy program through the National Cattleman's Beef Association. This has worked out well for Molly and her friend Hallie to have play dates.


Hallie is almost old enough that she can start actually playing, but Molly still looks gigantic next to her (they're about 5 months apart). The last time Hallie was here, they did the cutest thing ever--they held hands while sitting next to each other! We thought "best friends for sure!" Everything was great until Molly decided she didn't want to hold hands anymore, and Hallie wasn't letting go!

So, we'll see if they become best friends or not. It's kind of typical of little girl friendships--one minute they're inseparable and the next they're pulling each others hair--you just never know!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Cardinals

We've had a ton of birds around here lately. The Cardinals & Blue Jays are just so pretty and they come and sit right under the tree outside the living room windows. Molly likes to stand at the windowsill and pound on the window at the birds. Here are a couple of pictures I got the other day-they aren't very afraid of people:


Friday, February 18, 2011

Daddy's Girl

Well, it's official: Molly first word was "Dada". At first we thought it was just another new noise she was making, but after she said it directly to Luke, numerous times, we knew it was for real. "Mommy" is proud of our little girl but slightly jealous!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

Molly's first Valentine:

Hope everyone's day is full of love!!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

28

So this is what 28 looks like.



Yesterday was my birthday and I spent all day with Luke & Molly, which made it a wonderful day.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

First Calf


Yesterday we officially started calving season when #8020 had a nice little heifer calf. #8020 is the cow we bought last fall at the Gerloff Sale. She had it just fine-right in the middle of the day, so it was a good way to start off!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

First Sewing Project-Complete!


I used to wear this Abercrombie shirt all the time. That was back in college. For the last couple years it has been in the closet & for some reason I just never got rid of it.

Well, it has now been re-purposed into a cute little sundress for Molly. Now, don't look too close or you might see all of my little mistakes...but for my first sewing project, I'm pretty proud!

Here it is on our little model:

Turns out she doesn't cooperate the best for the camera, but you can basically see what it's like. Now...let's just hope she doesn't grow out of it before it's warm enough for her to wear it (Luke says it's already a little short!).

Snow!

February 1st brought us quite the storm--a blizzard actually. In Missouri, they always make such a big deal about every snowfall, so we weren't too concerned. That was until the storm hit. It started about noon and by the next morning we woke up to HUGE drifts. The wind blew so hard and for so long--I have never seen anything like it. The official measurement was 17" of snow, but it's really hard to tell. Some places have over 5 feet of snow and in some places its bare.

Here are some pictures we took yesterday to give you an idea of what it's like:


Snow over the top of the fence.


The view from the county road towards the front of the house. Kelly-posing in a low spot where she can still get around.


This is the very center of the county road - measuring in at 14".

This is the backyard-measuring in at 35".
This is not a drift--just the level all the way across the yard.


One of the largest drifts - must be around 5 feet - between the garage and house.


As of now, we have not seen a snowplow. We've heard that they can only plow about 1 mile in 1 hour...so if that is the case, it will take MANY hours to make it by our house. We have plenty of food, diapers, etc. so we should be fine until they make it. Luke is anxious to be plowed out--I think it makes him nervous to be stuck here, but I enjoy it. There is no reason for us to HAVE to go anywhere right now, so why not enjoy the time together and the beautiful snow!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

8 Months Old

Molly turned 8 months old yesterday. She is now 25.5" long and 19 lbs (according to my measurements). She is getting closer and closer to crawling every day, but so far she has had to settle for scooting backwards and rolling.



The rocking chair was one of Molly's Christmas presents from Grandpa & Grandma Miller. It was Luke's chair when he was little and he even carved his initials in it. The funny thing is that he carved his initials backwards--and where did he get the knife to carve them with?? The chair is pretty small, so he had to have been pretty young when he did it. Anyhow-Molly really thinks she's a big girl when she's sitting in her rocking chair!

In other news, we are supposed to be getting a record breaking snowstorm today. So far it's mostly just really windy, cold and lightly snowing. The worst of it is due to start around noon, with a predicted snowfall of up to 20 inches. We might be snowed in for a few days!!