Campfire

We had a little bonfire/weanie roast the other night. It was such nice fall weather & since we hadn't gotten to go camping all summer, we decided to at least have a campfire. It started out great. We roasted hot dogs & Wes was sitting on his blanket. Then...he spit up and we discovered he had apparently eaten a substantial amount of grass. Whoops! He was really upset after that & I ended up taking him to the house & putting him to bed while Molly & Luke finished up with the marshmallows. He was fine the next day, so I guess it didn't hurt him--he's just learning.

Luke whittling some roasting sticks with all his helpers.

Helping Molly with her hot dog. She thought it was too hot to get that close.

September Happenings

September was such a busy & fun month for us. The first big deal was the Knox County Corn Fest where Molly was big enough this year to participate in lots of the activities! First of all was the parade where she discovered that if you wave, you get lots more candy thrown to you. Let's just say she filled her bag for sure!

Enjoying the parade.

Then there was the Corn Scramble. Quarters are hid in a big wagon full of corn and they put all the 3-4 year old girls in there together and see who can come up with the most quarters. Molly ended up with 3, which tied her for first. She won 2 dollar coins and a candy bar so she was very happy!

Find those quarters!

She also participated in the Pedal Tractor Pull ending up 3rd and getting her picture in the paper with her big medal. She was lucky enough to borrow a frog from a friend and got to be in the frog jumping contest also. Her frog got loose just before the competition and jumped really far with me chasing it...but when it came time for it's jumps to actually count it was rather disappointing. Still fun though. She also got to go on a train ride and jumped in the bouncy house. What a day!

Wes & Dad

Wessie was too little to participate in much of the Corn Fest (we refuse to do baby contests), and although he slept through the parade he did enjoy hanging out with Dad.

Other than the Corn Fest, we also made one big trip to Montana for my best friend's wedding and to visit family. It was a very busy 10 days! It was really nice that Molly had her own seat on the flight--so much more room, and Wes was a pretty good traveler. Here is a photo from the wedding. Molly was the Flower Girl and I was the Maid of Honor. It was SO gorgeous!

Waiting for the Bride's arrival.

Now, we are back home and enjoying the little things. Molly & I made our very first apple pie and Wes started swinging in the outdoor swing. Such fun!

My pie helper!

Swinging with some help from Sister!

Great Weather

These pictures were taken today-November 18th! Can you believe how green our yard is? Our yard wasn't this green all summer long and now it just looks great and is growing like crazy. This means more mowing for me, but it also means our cattle can finally get a taste of fresh grass this year-so I guess it's a good trade-off. We played outside today-drew on the sidewalk with chalk, played in the sandbox, fed the cats & cows, and swung in the swing.

Kelly & the cat enjoying the nice sunshine.

It was WAY too warm for Molly to be wearing mittens, but we had gone through her winter wear earlier today to see what still fit, and she was determined to wear her mittens.

Checking Cows

This is Molly's style when it comes to checking cows. She's got her tractor & her baby & she's ready to go.

Busy Girl

 With the nice weather we have been having, Molly has been a very busy girl (mostly outside). She loves being outside so much and has gotten to explore & run wild alot more this month. This great weather has also lead to fewer blog updates, but I'm trying to keep up with it (sorry!). So here are some of the latest Molly pictures so you all know what's new with her!

We spent a weekend in Carrollton with Luke's Mom for her birthday. It was a really nice time. We helped her some on the farm and got to have some family time. Molly checked out the chickens and thought the hens sitting on the eggs were really cool!

Amazed at all the eggs!

Molly hadn't seen her friend Hallie for a long time, but she got to have a playdate last weekend and catch up. They play so well together!

Molly & Hallie

 We have done ALOT of swinging...I mean LOTS!

Swinging with baby & blankie.

 On Mother's Day, the mama kitty finally brought out her kittens and showed them to the world. Molly has been looking for them for a long time. She was very excited to see them, but they were VERY wild--hissing & spitting at us. I guess we will observe from a distance.

2 of the 4 kittens-none yellow!

Well, that's about it for now. Hope everyone else is having nice weather & getting to spend sometime outdoors too!

So Much Help

We mowed the yard for the first time on Monday-without fail the mower broke down and the other one wouldn't start (that's right-we have 2 junky mowers). So as you can see, Luke got to work as a mechanic. Molly was right there "helping" for every second of it. As if one helper was not enough-another joined on in (nothing gets past Kelly). It was back running in a jiffy and the fresh cut grass smelled SO good!

Delicious Bass

We went fishing for the first time this year in the pond on the south end of our property & had a great time. Luke did really well, catching a really nice bass & a catfish too. They were both keepers. I caught a smaller bass that I let go but mostly just enjoyed how much Molly was into it. We taught her how to reel and she had it about figured out in just this one time out. She was really impressed with the fish and although we told her we were fishing-she was so surprised when we pulled a fish out of the pond. She's so curious and really taking everything in!

Touching the fish.

Impressed by Daddy's big catch!

Going for a Ride

I don't even know what to say about this picture-other than it really cracks me up! Finally, Molly got something to ride in the trailer behind her tractor. She has been attempting to get Kelly or one of the kitties in the trailer for so long & it finally happened. All she needed was a little cat food to lure the poor cat in. To her dismay, the kitty jumped out the instant the tractor started moving-too bad for her, but good choice for the kitty.

Tractor Driving

Normally I would oppose, I just don't think it's the safest thing, but Molly had so much fun feeding cows with Dad. It was a fairly warm day & Luke wanted to take her with him, so she got to ride the tractor and pretend to drive. She even cried when they were done feeding and had to get off the tractor. What a little country girl!

Going out to feed the cows!

Molly (20 months) and Daddy on the tractor.

Tea Party

What's a girl to do when you live out in the country and don't have any brothers or sisters to play with? Have a tea party with your best dog/friend Kelly! The kitchen set from Santa has been a BIG hit and Molly has been baking up a storm & sharing with anyone and everyone!

The 2012 calving season has begun and although we don't have any heifers to calve this year, it is still keeping Molly & I a little busier. We like to go out and check the cows first thing in the morning (while the ground is still frozen) and also feed the horses.We had one cow calve on a cold morning and she claimed the wrong calf, leaving her's shivering by it's lonesome. It took a couple days in the barn but Luke finally got them paired up & the cow is now very fond of her calf.

#8020, after she decided she liked her own calf instead of another.

Molly has grown very fond of feeding Cody (Luke's horse) and saying "Hi" to him. She is quite the little helper. She also enjoys chasing the cats-so she's pretty busy while I'm doing chores-ha!

Molly & Cody

First Horseback Ride

Molly's first horseback ride was on my favorite old horse, Doc. Doc was my show horse back in high school and he's also a great ranch horse. We've had MANY good times together & I would trust him with anything-even my little baby!! Although Doc is showing his age, he still gave Molly a nice trip around the corral. Molly, the little cowgirl she is, did not want to get off his back. She had so much fun and after he stopped she kept bouncing on his back trying to get him to go. If Doc's last ride is Molly's first, there would be no better ending.

Look What I Found

The other day, Luke & I were driving down the road along the edge of our property and we noticed something hanging from one of the trees. Strange. Didn't think too much about it; left for the weekend. A few days later I went for a walk to get some fresh air and decided to go see what it was that was hanging in that tree.

It was still there, a white paper box hanging from a very long string. My eyes followed the string up to the very top of a neighboring tree and I spotted what looked like a popped, orange balloon. So I got a stick and finally was able to break the box free from the string it was attached to & this is what I found:

  On the box it says it's a "harmless weather instrument". It's a balloon-borne instrument used by the NOAA National Weather Service to obtain weather data used for forecasting and weather research. It came with a pouch and says that if found, please return. I did some research online about the "Mark IIA" and it said they fly above 90% of the Earth's atmosphere and can travel for hundreds of miles before the balloon pops. Once the balloon pops, an orange parachute (what I saw in the tree) slowly floats the Mark IIA down to the ground. It says only about 20% of the launched weather balloons are ever found and returned so I think it's pretty cool to have found one.

I emailed the National Weather Service to see if they could tell me where it was sent from and when it was sent because I was SO curious. They actually emailed me back with lots of info! It was launched on Dec. 14 from Topeka, Kansas (about 250 miles away). The balloon burst at 103,709 feet and the coldest temperature recorded was -90.6F. The fastest wind it experienced was from the Southwest at 150 MPH at an altitude of 36,830 ft.

Luke asked me if I now want to be a meteorologist, but I don't think I will take it that far. I do think this is pretty cool though!

Did I Mention...

We sold the heck out of sweet corn a few weeks ago! There were 4 families (including us) that went in together and planted about 2 acres of sweet corn this spring. It was ready to be picked the day we got back from our trip to MT, so no rest for us--it was back to work! When you sell sweet corn you have to pick it the same day that you sell it. When it's over 100 degrees every day, this means getting up and starting to pick as soon as the sun comes up. We would pick about 3 pickup loads every morning and then spread out through several of the local towns around here to sell. By my calculations, we sold somewhere between 500-600 dozen ears of corn! That's a lot of corn and we sold it all in 1 week.

It was quite the busy week--and a TON of work, but it was a great little money-maker project and our freezer is stocked with corn for the winter.

Dad's Visit

My Dad came to visit over Molly's birthday weekend, so he got to be at her party and spend a few extra days hanging out with us. Unfortunately, Molly got really sick after her birthday and we spent much of his time here at the Dr.'s office. I don't think he minded too much though because they still got some good bonding time in...



...and Luke took him fishing in our pond and they scored some pretty nice bass and catfish.

Catch Up

Sorry for the lapse in blog posts. First of all, either my computer or the internet (or both) is really slow lately and I just don't have the patience to upload anything. I have several videos that I have been wanting to post, but for some reason, I just can't get them to upload. Also, the weather has been so nice lately I just don't have time to stay inside and mess around on the computer!

So anyways, here is a quick rundown of whats been going on:

Molly turned 11 months old and just gets cuter and more fun all the time. She now weighs 21 lbs and is 28 inches tall. With less than a month to go, it is so hard to believe she will be 1 year old!

We continue to be harassed by this psychotic robin that flies into the window over and over and over again. Surprisingly enough, we have actually gotten used to it's annoyances now and even Molly can sleep through the constant crashes at the window.


We have a new batch of yellow kittens that are just too cute! Molly got to check them out the other day and she really likes them--although she is a little rough...



I had a wonderful first Mother's Day and even got surprised with flowers and a 6-pack of Blue Moon. Nothing says love like that!
Most recently, Molly had her first haircut. I loved her long crazy hair and didn't really want to get it cut, but she was just getting really hot and sweaty with all that hair. Plus, she's big enough to "un-fix" it all the time and then it was always in her face. She sat very still for the entire haircut and was a little freaked out, but did very well. Before:

After:
Well, I think that about covers it!

We Miss You Grandma Leila!

Newsflash--Molly loves attention and she's wearing Luke & I out now that Grandma is gone! She doesn't sit still for even a moment!! She is crawling like crazy and pulls up on everything--nothing is safe. We are so thankful that Grandma was able to come stay with us while we calved our heifers so that we were able to spend more time outside without worrying about Molly. Now that it has warmed up considerably, Molly is able to come outside with us more and it's not such a big deal. But...we were just thinking about Grandma today and missing her--and wishing she could feel the 79 degree weather we had today!!

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.

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.

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: