Mmmm BACON!!!

February has come and gone faster than any month of the year. That's not an opinion; it's a known fact. February only has 28 days, 29 on those "other" years that no one likes. (Leap years = election time. BLEH! Don't get me wrong, I'm passionate about our nation and it's heritage of democracy, but election time brings out the worst in people. Ignorant people say too much, and smart people are stupid enough to argue with the ignorant people...chaos....) Moving on. The fact is that February is short, and maybe that's ok. February is my birthday month and pretty much everyone who's anyone has a birthday in February. No offense to the rest of you, but my calendar is filled with February birthdays, and it rocks. Party all month long. So why would I accept the fact that it's shorter? Well, the obvious reason, I have no control over it, and it will always be shorter...(unless they pull a "Pluto planet" thing on me, which will get riled up once more.) Next reason that I'm alright with February being short: IT'S TOO STINKIN' COLD! Honestly winter can hit in October and last until April. At least it feels that way. So by the time March rolls around, everyone is trying to get a gasp of fresh air and begging the Almighty, Powerful God to crank up the heat. So, to help ease our minds, God made February a few days shorter. What an epiphany I've just had!

Like I said, I celebrated my 20th birthday this month, on the 11th. James also celebrated his 1/2 birthday on the same day! It happens every year. I was excited for this one.  No longer would I be considered a teen-mom. Laugh all you want, because I did. The day was so wonderful. It was a Monday, so I had school that day. I went to my first class, then to the lab to work on my online classes...well... I forgot my flash drive at home. We can't save work on our school computers, so it looked like I was out of commission for the day. I can honestly say that I did not plan this, I wish I could take the credit, but I can't, it was sincerely an accident. So, I was left with only one choice with 4 hours to spare in Grand Island... I went shopping.  Treated myself to a couple of new shirts with birthday money that I knew would be coming. (Yup, that'd be counting my hens before they hatched.) Anyway, I had fun. After my last class, I headed back home to get ready for my supper date with one hunk of a man. I came in the door to this bouquet:

I actually cried. Like bawled. I hadn't received flowers since we'd been married, and I had missed that giddiness I felt when he surprised me with something so beautiful.  A few minutes later, James came home and I cried again as I thanked him. Then he asked the question, "Did you find the rest?" Rest? There was more? He pulled a jewelry box from a hiding place in the kitchen, (If I was in there enough, I would have probably found it. I'm not a good woman. Insert woman jokes here_____)  So I undid the bow and unwrapped the box. And yes, I cried again.  I opened it and it was so gorgeous. (At this point you are probably thinking, "So much crying. Is she pregnant again, or what?!" NO I'm not pregnant. I just get emotional about everything now-a-days.)

He put it on me and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. He spoiled me so much. So we go to pick up Trevin from my parents' house, and we headed to supper.  Nice, quiet, romantic restaurant with a 10-month old = Not so nice, quiet, and romantic...for anyone within 3 blocks of the place. :) But it was so much fun and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  We got home and ended the night with a little Bachelor... (Don't you dare judge me.) Unfortunately my all-time favorite went home that night. Saddest part of my birthday. --But I didn't cry. I was close, but I didn't. Later we went to bed and stayed up talking for a bit, when James reaches under the bed and pulls out Bananagrams. Currently favorite game. So that was my day. 

Trevin update: 

*We are crawling faster than was known to man-kind. 

*We climb on, under, in, through, or over anything possible. Example:

*We throw actual tantrums. Arches back, screams, and thrashes around. Glorious. 

*Yesterday, he stood up in the middle of the room by himself, without something to pull up on. 

*He cruises from couch to chair to coffee table to anything else within arms reach, while standing. So close to walking, but thankfully not quite there yet. He has taken 1-3 steps at a time, but nothing extreme.

*For some reason, he's trying to cut back on naps... Haven't figured out why he would want to do that! 

*Sleeps 11-12 hours each night, and it rocks. 

*Enjoys eating weird things: bark from logs for the fireplace, sheetrock from entryway construction, and fuzz from any and all blankets

*My husband is a stud:

Oh wait...how did that get in there?

*Trevin fake laughs and coughs. Hysterical.

*He has started lifting up James shirt to tickle (pinch and scratch) his belly, and he's actually tried blowing on it, like he was giving him a raspberry. 

*He says MOM! and dad... It was official in mid-February. He usually just says Mom when he's crying. For example, I'll be working at the counter and he will pull up on my leg and start whining like a dog to get picked up. If I don't pick him up, he will start this pitiful cry with a heart-wrenching "mama mama" in between. And I fold. Just like that. But seriously, you tell this face no. 

*Our new favorite game is chase and tickle.  Half the time I don't even have to touch him when he crawls away just make a noise like I'm chasing him and he starts laughing so hard he can't keep crawling. That's when I attack. I absolutely love administrating tickle torture. His cackle is adorable. 

*Bathrooms have become an issue.  He started playing in the toilet. Totally disgusting and potentially really dangerous. And he also learned how to unroll the toilet paper roll. He thinks he's so funny. So we keep bathroom doors closed, but that's usually his go-to place. He loves taking baths and will usually head straight for the tub if he gets a chance. 

*He loves carrying things around in his hands and/or mouth while crawling. Bottle, toys, spoons, and socks... It's kind of weird, his obsession with socks. 

So James' parents went on a 2 1/2 week vacation, stopping and visiting family on the way to FL to take off on a cruise. So, we decided to have people in for brick oven pizza at their house. (With permission of course! :)  James and I sat down and made lists of people we could have over. Well the lists got longer and longer...so we had to cut it down to three nights of partying. This was a huge deal for me because I did all the cooking. I had helped Dori many times, but had never done the entire process, and certainly had never done it alone. I was so nervous. The first night we had 3 couples from church over, hoping that they would be the most forgiving because they know and love Jesus. :) I knew that if my crusts didn't turn out, that we would have no food to eat. The pressure was on. Well to save you from all the details, everything turned out fine and I actually had a lot of fun doing it. The company was wonderful and we enjoyed the entertainment of all the children. A week later we had some of my family in for pizza, on Valentine's Day. We thought that it would be a nice way to get out of the house and have a special dinner, but not have to wait in lines, or find a sitter. (James also surprised me with a rose. It made a nice table decoration for the evening!) I had a blast. I love spending time with my family and I was glad so many could come. Unfortunately, that was the only night that any pictures got taken, but at least you can get a feel for what the event was like!

Pizzas cooking in the brick oven. Usually takes 3-4 minutes to cook! Fastest time: clocked in at 50 seconds! The oven is usually 600-800 degrees at baking time. Such a cool experience! Fire started night before, or early that morning. 

The ashes, coals, and logs are pushed to the sides. Then we take a wet towel on a long rod and wipe the surface of the bricks.  The pizza cooks right on the brick! 

We had 5 babies under the age of one. Enough said. :) 

Scott and Billy found the chalk board. Billy wrote "I luv yuo Magan" It was the sweetest thing ever.

Aunt Brooke was enjoying some Trev time while I worked on food. 

And of course Grandma did too!

The night was fun, but unfortunately we had an issue. So the night before Trevin woke up about 4 times in the night. Totally unheard of for him. I knew something wasn't quite right, because that just wasn't normal. When he woke up in the morning he sounded happy through the monitor so that put me at ease, but when I walked in his room... It was nasty. Vomit smell was everywhere. I looked at him and he had it in his hair, and the bed was covered. I quickly stripped him down and pulled the diaper off when I realized that he had a full load of diarrhea in his diaper. So I cleaned that up and threw him in the tub. I tried not to gag at the smell and feeling of washing out the chunks from his hair. So yucky. But he was as happy as could be. He was completely fine the rest of the day and I blamed teething for the episode. (He had started drooling more and his cheeks were redder than normal.) So the party went on, no issues from Trev the rest of the day. The next day, we had out last group of friends in for pizza. Only 2 other couples could make it that night but we had a lot of fun. So much fun that we (the 6 of us) are going to Omaha this weekend to go go-carting at an indoor track. I'm so excited. Details and stories to follow.  --Anyways, that pizza party went wonderfully, but about the time that I was getting ready to crawl in bed for the night, my stomach started to feel off. (We stayed the night at his parents) The entire night, I tossed and turned constantly. Feeling sick to my stomach. Finally at 4:00AM I ran to the bathroom, and I won't go into details, but let's just say that I was sitting on the toilet with the trash can on my lap... After that spell, I went back to bed and was able to sleep for a couple hours. Now, I still had a messy kitchen to clean up and it had to be done that morning (James' sister was having people over that evening) When I got up I felt miserable. I was so weak and got nauseas when I stood. James was so helpful. He basically did the entire kitchen for me. We made it home and I slept another couple hours and felt much better when I woke up. --Turns out about 2/3 of the family ended up with this curse. I felt so terrible. Then I felt awful because we exposed more people to it the next night and then left those germs in the house for a whole new round of people! His sister did a little extra cleaning to ensure that it wasn't still hanging around. --With all of that said, I'm glad to be through my first spell of baby with the flu.

So, while I made food all 3 of those party days, I was on my own with Trevin. He was really good for me, and super goofy:

I was at the sink at James' parents' house when I realized that I hadn't heard Trevin for a while, so I went running around the corner and saw Trevin climbing the stairs, already 4 stairs up. Now remember, we don't have accessible stairs at our house, so I was shocked that he had figured this out. I stopped him, grabbed my camera, and let him go again. He went all the way to the top. He did it 3 more times that day. 

Another huge event that has happened: Hog butchering. We take those bad boys live and turn them into sausage and bacon, all in a day in a half. Never tasted something so good in my life than fresh pork personally processed by hand! It's a huge process that we seem to perfect a little more each year. It's actually more like a holiday, now, in my family. "Hey do you want to go skydiving with me this weekend?" "No, sorry, I can't. We're butchering." Everyone takes off work to come out and make it happen. Good time. 16 hogs are now safely in freezers around the area, soon to be fried up and digested by real Americans. True freedom and awesomeness. 

Other than all that, life is just normal. 

Ok, so Trevin has many expressions, and some look like he is filling his pants, but he's not. People ask me all the time, "Is he filling his pants?" Not usually. But this. This is a poop face. Now you know. 

                                                                                                                           

I'm so proud of this man right here. He is so incredible and I don't think he will ever realize just how amazing he is. Recently he has been given an opportunity to rent a small amount of farm ground for the next four years. This is something we have been praying about for a couple years. We have had several potential rentals fall through and they have left us discouraged, but now God is answering prayer. James is so excited and so deserving. There's no one that would do a better job with a better attitude. I can't wait to see how God will use him through this experience. We are incredibly thankful for his provisions. And I'm incredibly thankful for such an inspiring husband. 

Trevin's friend Anna, in matching overalls!








On entryway news, all the staples are pulled. Hallelujah! The contractor came to look at the floor today and will be back in a month or so to sand and refinish it.  I forgot to show you what I did. I put a hole in the wall. Oopsie dasiy. I was using a crow bar and I got carried away. Good thing I have a forgiving husband!

 Love this little bug! 

throwing parties, growing on the farm...