Growing on the Farm

What a fun couple of months it has been. I can't wait to catch you up on everything that has happened since mid-February.

Valentine's Day

We don't have strong Valentine's Day traditions, but I had a little extra time this year so we made heart pizzas to celebrate. We even got about 50% of the kids' valentines handed out. Nailed it.

This next story is more for my sake than for yours. I don't want to forget how great Trevin's 1st grade year has been. Trevin brought home a loot of V-day goodies from school from his friends and teachers, but this year he came home with gifts for James and I. His teacher helped the kids get a gift for each of their parents. Trevin picked out a Dr Pepper for me and a Snicker bar for James. Seriously, I'll say it a million times - we love Miss Pope.

Estero Island, Florida

Flying proved to be way easier this year. We didn't have to bring any "baby things" and the kids handled the flights like champs. We flew out of Grand Island on March 1 and came home March 6. We had a layover in Dallas and were able to fly right into Fort Myers from there.

I looked over to see what James was watching on the flight. Any guesses?? It was Fixer Upper. I love vacation.

Back at the beach! We planned a lot less for this trip than we did last year. We knew that we wanted a lot more uninterrupted time on the beach with no place to be. That was our agenda for the week. Relax. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Anyone with kids will chime in with a "yeah right" and say that it's not possible, but I am a firm believer that sand is THE BEST form of entertainment for kids. They will play in it every day from sun up to sun down and never get tired of it. And that, my friends, is how we were able to have a successful, restful vacation with kids in tow.

The first full day (Saturday) on the beach was picture perfect. I fully anticipated having that exact day on repeat for the following three days... but the kids had other plans in mind.. Myla woke up on Sunday with a beast of a fever and acting as though she needed to throw up. I came to the most logical conclusion and figured she was dehydrated from the day before. (We went from the coldest week in Nebraska, with highs in the teens, to an 85 degree, long day in the sun. I had kept their water bottles full, but it made sense that her body was in shock from the quick climate change.) She never threw up, but I kept her inside for most of the day, letting her rest, pushing fluids, and keeping her cool. James and I traded off a couple times so that one of us was always able to take Trevin out to play in the pool or sand. We had stopped by the store and grabbed a thermometer and some Pedialyte to have on hand, but by the end of the day Myla had perked up and seemed to be back to her normal self. Phew. Crisis averted. Or so I thought...

The next morning (Monday), the weather had cooled and James and I woke up and checked on the kids. Everyone seemed fine and so we all packed up to spend the day outside. By mid-afternoon Trevin started to show signs of exhaustion and fever, so back inside we went. Silly me - my first thought was that I am the worst mom in the world to have both of my kids end up dehydrated, especially after I had a warning when Myla went down. I thought for sure I had given Trevin plenty of water and shade time to keep him in the clear. We let him rest the remainder of the day and thought surely by morning he would be feeling better.

But the next morning (Tuesday), Trevin was burning up. He ended up getting a cough with the fever and that was my lightbulb-moment, realizing that it wasn't dehydration.. We had a bug, probably picked it up in the airport. James and I played the tag-you're-it game again with one of us inside with the sick kid and the other outside with the happy kid. As the day went on, Trevin's condition deteriorated. He would hardly get out of bed and his temp continued to get higher. When his temp started to approach 103, I finally sent James to the store to buy some Tylenol and Motrin to help keep his fever within safe perimeters. (Side note: island travel is terrible. Most of the time it is way faster to walk than it is to drive. Slow, slow, slow, constant traffic + pedestrians crossing all over the place... What I'm saying is, you can't get anywhere fast.) It took James over an hour to get to the store and back. In that time Trevin's temp quickly spiked and shot over 104. I had gotten him into the bathtub in hopes of cooling his body down and I basically had a straw shoved into his mouth constantly pushing anything I could convince him to swallow. I was so close to taking him to Urgent Care, but knew James had the car and there was going to be no quick way to get him there. James finally arrived and I gave him a dose of the first bottle I grabbed, which happened to be Motrin. I should have started with the Tylenol, because the poor kid was knocked out. His temp quickly went down and he seemed to be resting peacefully. We tried to wake him for supper, but he was so disoriented. It took a little while for him to come to. Thankfully after that spike, things really started to turn around. He seemed much more energetic and his fever was leveling out. We had one more full day on the beach before our trip was over, so I was eager to get everyone back outside together.

Of course, our last full day on the beach (Wednesday), was the coldest day of the week. Cloudy, windy, and a high in the low 60s. We didn't even care. We bundled up and had the beach almost to ourselves that day. It was actually a great way to spend our last day in Florida. We curled up on the beach chairs and read books, told stories, and kept our toes in the sand.

Regardless of the illness, we still had a marvelous time. It's actually incredible how much fun we had even though the kids ended up sick. There were windows of time that everyone was feeling well and I truly thing we made the most of those moments and that's what made the trip so special.

We typically spend every morning on the beach in the sand, and every afternoon swimming in the pool. Trevin wanted to play "Sharks and Lifeguards" which is really fun in Nebraska at the pool. But suddenly it's a little too morbid when you can see the ocean from the pool in Florida.

We drove all the way back to Fort Myers to get Love Boat Ice Cream one day, and came to find out that they served it at the store across the street from our hotel. And now we know.

I always take a book along on vacation with good intentions. I never get more than a few chapters read... and sometimes the book doesn't even get opened. But, thanks to the sickness and the kids getting older, I read an entire book. I couldn't believe it. It was so restful and I even got a tan out of the deal. I call that a total win.

We got to spend some time with James's aunt and uncle that live in Fort Myers while we were there. It's fun having a reason to go to that area of the US and to get to see familiar faces. I'm sure we'll be back there soon enough.

We stayed at the same resort that we used last year. We LOVED the location and felt that we would only be disappointed if we went somewhere else. And this way we were able to hit up all of our favorite restaurants we had discovered the year before. Like Heidi's Island Bistro that serves authentic German food that reminds me of home and Yo Taco food truck with the best freaking tacos I've ever had. I love being adventurous with food, but sometimes it's too easy for me to play it safe. I set firm rules for this trip - no fast food chains (except Chick-Fil-A, because duh) and order at least one thing I've never had or something I wouldn't normally get. So, at Heidi's I ordered the Gypsy Schnitzel and was pleasantly surprised.

The first thing Trevin would ask when we got to a restaurant was, "Do they have salmon?" The first thing Myla would ask when we got to a restaurant was, "Where is my food?"

Trevin ordered salmon as many times as he possibly could. He's obsessed.

This was the last night of our trip. We made reservations at the Fresh Catch Bistro and ate on the patio overlooking the ocean. It was such a special way to end our vacation.

Florida, we'll be back.

On the flight home, some of our carry-on bags had to get checked because of space. Without thinking, I handed the flight attendant the kids' bags without giving it much thought. Of course, on first flight Myla was in a seat between me and another gentleman. Myla promptly fell asleep and had an accident. She usually does great in undies, but when she naps/sleeps, there's no guarantee. It was then that I realized that Myla's extra change of clothes and pull-ups were in her bag that got checked. We had a another plane to board and a full day of travel left, and no change of clothes until Nebraska. I did my best to clean her up, but the poor girl had to sit in her urine the rest of the day. The nice gentleman next to us was very kind. Thankfully we had a blanket for Myla, so we just kept her wrapped in that as best we could. It was certainly an interesting way to end the trip.

ZOO

It was time for dentist appointments again. It just so happened to be a beautiful day, so we played hooky from school and work and went to the zoo after our appointments. Myla handled her first dentist appointment like a champ.

We've discovered that Myla's favorite animal is an elephant. She asked about seeing the elephants the entire day and when we finally made our way to them, she was so excited.

Trevin loved the aquarium the most, but also liked seeing the reptiles in the Desert Dome and in the Kingdom of the Night exhibit.

Deck

James and I decided it was finally time to add a sliding glass door to our living room and put a deck on the north side of the house. This was the night before construction started.

We hired our friend, Ben McEndarfer, to do the project this time. James and I were both glad we did. He did such an amazing job and was so easy to work with. Plus, it saved James the time and stress of trying to do it himself in the middle of building flamers and getting geared up for farming season.

We decided to get a custom door because the width of our window was wider than the standard sliding door. We could have bought a standard door, but finishing out the gap with brick wasn't realistic. We also thought about adding a full-length narrow window to the side to fill in the gap, but after talking through the options, the custom door seemed like the better choice for the long run and for the vision we had for the space.

Ben was almost always a one-man-show. He got the widow out, hole cut, and door installed all in one day, all by himself. (The only help needed was when it was time to lift the door into place.)

I couldn't believe how much the entire room changed in one day.

Both of our original house doors are on the south side of the house, so any time we wanted to go to the back yard, we had to walk all the way around. This became especially frustrating when I had to check on kids in their fort. I don't think I realized how convenient it would be to add a door on the north side. It has been incredible and I can't imagine going back to how it was before.

It wasn't much longer before Ben had the deck framed up and things really started to take shape. We had measured out the deck many times, even flagging it off to gauge the size. But as soon as the deck was framed up we began to realize just how big the deck would be. It honestly feels like we've doubled our entire living room. We've packed 40 people in our house before, but now I think we could easily handle 60 guests if it's nice outside. Guess we'll be throwing some big parties soon.

After the frame work was finished, the decking started to get laid. We moved our picnic tables onto the deck immediately and started working, playing and eating outside every chance we got.

It took a little time for the railing to come in, but we can say that the deck is officially finished. We added some exterior lights on either side of the door and stair lights as well. When we were planning out the project, we seriously considered doing a covered deck and building our roof line out. But we opted to start with the deck, see how we like it, and made arrangements to the footings and supports to have the ability to add a roof at a later time, if we decide that's what we want.

We also plan to add some pavers off of the steps that lead to a fire pit. Not sure the timeline on that yet, but someday! Hospitality has always been something I've been passionate about and longed to pursue; it brings us so much joy to have people in our home. We love to host gatherings and the deck is a perfect addition to help us do that easier and more often.

Moving on to some random moments from the past couple weeks that made me laugh...

James and I bought Casey's out of donuts accidentally one day when we both went in there 15 minutes apart to bring donuts home for the family. Both of us had planned to surprise the other one. There must have been a serious craving for donuts that morning. Also, I bet you can guess which one of us bought the larger box...

Me. It was me. If you guessed wrong, you really don't know us yet.

We bought a new car! We said good-bye to our beloved first family car and upgraded last month. Our new Tahoe was a rental car so it came with all sorts of dents and scratches. James wasn't thrilled. I was ecstatic. It took ALL the pressure off of me putting the first dents and scratches in this beauty. Of course, James insisted we get all the dents popped out. I begged him to keep at least one, but he wouldn't go for that.

The car is really nice and I feel super grateful for it. But my one regret is letting my kids know that I can play music in the car from my phone. I feel like a DJ hosting request hour. I was tired of hearing the same songs over and over again so I introduced them to some new ones. The first one being Blue (You know, the da ba dee song?) BIG mistake. I can't take it anymore. I wish I could burn it in a fire. If you haven't heard that song for awhile, or if you have no idea what I'm talking about, give it a listen. But I'm warning you, don't listen to it more than once and never, ever introduce it to your children.

The other thing on the car that I'm still getting used to is the power liftgate. You see, when I had to open my back hatch on my old Tahoe manually, like a normal person, I could feel if my groceries had shifted. If something was about to fall out I could usually catch it before it dropped to the ground. But the power liftgate is not so merciful. Just ask my 3 jars of spaghetti sauce that shattered in Fresh Thyme's parking lot. So there I sat, looking like a maniac, picking up as much glass as I could in a massive splatter of red sauce. After that incident I spent an equal amount of time using wipies to clean myself up. I thought, "You know what? After that, I'm going to treat myself to a fancy cup of coffee." It was at that exact moment that James called and needed me to rush home to lend him a hand. I pushed my "entitled coffee" to the next time column and made the trip home, smelling like an Italian dish. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I pulled into our driveway a friend showed up randomly with fancy coffee, just because. She knew none of the events that had transpired, but just brought it to me on a whim. God's funny that way.

A couple other fun things we've been part of recently is small group and Secret Church. It's so fun to grow with our church family. We couldn't ask for better people to walk through life with.

We got to sneak away to see Billy's last elementary musical! He had the lead and he nailed it.

John Crist

Way back in December, I gifted James tickets to see John Crist in KC. The time for the show finally came around, so we snuck away for a mini-getaway before farming season gets hot and heavy. We were part of a small Q&A session and got a meet-and-greet with the man himself. We had so much fun that we already booked tickets to his show in Omaha in August for James' birthday.

Easter

The kiddos had a blast hunting easter eggs and we appreciated being able to wear sandals instead of winter coats like last year.

This was the first year that we took the kids to the Easter Sunrise Service. It's so fun to be in a season of life where we can do things like that as a family. These people are loads of energy, and most of the time I'm just trying to keep up.

Bakery

So much of our time and energy has gone into the bakery in the last 2 months. The final construction phase, buying supplies, prepping food, and getting ready for the open house and grand opening was time-consuming, exhausting, and eventually, so rewarding. We were able to see this place transform from rotten floorboards and completely gutted, into the beautiful space that it is today.

Trevin snapped the picture above and I love it because it was a perfect picture of what life looked like in the last few days and weeks of bakery preparations - tools, scratch paper lists, fast food, and lots of family time. Myla has been a champ through the entire process. She's spent endless hours in this building with very few means of entertainment and no friends to play with. She's pitched in and helped, she's handled herself with a lot of maturity and I'm so impressed by how well a two-year-old could deal with the long, boring days. She's a dream.

Of course, I've joked with people that she's like the bakery cat. (You know those businesses that just have a random cat walking around? It's like that.) She's always there and no one's really sure who she belongs to. And sometimes she meows.

The day of the bakery open house is a blur. We had painting, assembling, cooking, arranging, and cleaning to do. Like a lot. Of all of it. I jokingly told people that night not to touch the wet paint. It was that much of a push to get everything done. Our family, friends, and community were amazingly supportive and we estimated that we served 300+ people that night. (We had over 100 slices of pie gone in 35 minutes!) But we pulled it off, and I think everyone got more sleep that night than any of us had gotten in the several weeks prior.

Being the big sister/mom that I am, I was losing sleep over the bakery for weeks. I would text Ashton at 7:00AM each morning and ask her about this and that... all the things that kept me up the entire night. Ashton isn't a worrier, so she was sleeping just fine. Mom and I were losing enough sleep for all of us, though. Let's just say, I'm thrilled to have my peace of mind back.

Opening day actually wasn't as hectic as the open house. The Makers - Bakers & Builders opened its doors on Tuesday, April 23. I got put on the roster because of a gap in the available start dates for some of Ashton's employees. Thankfully, our first day open was totally manageable. It allowed us to work out some kinks and figure out the system. The rest of the week was insane, but we survived. My barista skills are growing stronger each week and my caffeine intake is higher than it's ever been. Whoops.

Ashton's summer help has officially started, so I'm able to sit down and leisurely enjoy the coffee, food, and pastries for the first time. It has been the craziest and most fun month ever. I'm so proud of my little sis and her and JT's hard work to make their dream a reality. We are all profiting from it with great food and my future of never having to bake again. Even James has become quite the coffee addict. (Their cold brew on tap is remarkable.) Trevin and Myla seem to help themselves to whatever they want and are always willing to push the broom and clean the chalkboard wall.

Briar

It's ridiculous that this photo has snow in it. That proves I've totally procrastinated this blog update. Better late than never, though, right?

Most of you know that we got the kids each a kitten last spring. Trevin's disappeared last fall, but our sweet Briar stuck around and was such a good cat. (And that means something coming from me.) He would jump into the window of whatever room we were in and start strutting back and forth on the ledge. He let Myla completely torture him without ever putting up a fight. He was a good hunter and he was low-maintenance. The perfect cat.

The kids were so much looking forward to warmer weather so they could be outside and play with Briar more. But sadly, a week after Trevin's birthday, Briar got hit by a car. James found him and we were all devastated. We told the kids the next morning and we buried him by Trevin's fort. They wrote his name and drew a picture on a rock and used it for his headstone. It was the saddest thing I've ever witnessed. I think it was in that moment that I swore off cats. But the kids eventually started asking for new kittens. We had planned to get Trevin one this spring, but now they were both scarred from the loss of their first pet and were needing a replacement to fill the void. So... we're picking up two new baby kittens this weekend. I'm stupid for doing this again, but yet here we are.

HLS

Trevin played the xylophone for one of the songs they performed. He must have gotten tired, because he had to rest his head on his arm for the entire song.

Trevin also got to be Principal for a Day. He was beyond excited to hold power over people. He had to dress up, come to school early to greet students, stay after to run the crosswalk, go out for a "staff lunch" with a teacher and another student, and generally just govern the school for that day. But most importantly, he got to make a new rule for the day. We talked the week before to see what his ideas were for the new rule.. most kids chose something like extra snack, hat day, movie party... normal kid stuff.. Trevin's first suggestion was that he would call for a snow day so no one had to go to school. I told him I didn't think that was an option, especially since it was going to be 60* that day. His next suggestion was "I'm going to make everyone do math all day." I told him that was an option, but I asked him if he wanted to have any friends after he was principal or not. He thought some more. "I'm going to fire a teacher." I told him that was for sure out of the question. I looked at him and told him, "You do realize that you don't have to choose something evil, it can be something that is good and fun." It was like that had never occurred to him. He thought about that for a while and decided it would be fun to have an extra recess.

When he arrived at the school that day, he was given a lanyard and keys to the school. I think he even got to use a whistle at recess, which I'm sure was fun for no one else. He got to choose what other student he wanted to invite from school to his staff lunch.. I think everyone assumed he would choose one of his good friends in 1st- or 2nd-grade... but nope. He asked his favorite 5th grade buddy, Porter, to go with. Porter was a good sport and he's really kind to this admiring first-grader.

After I dropped Trevin off that morning, I found out they had a mandatory tornado drill that day that Trevin had to coordinate. The safety of the other students was definitely questioned with this kid in charge. He had the best day ever.

Myla and I ate lunch at school with Trevin one day and then stayed for recess. Trevin came out to recess wearing this wig. I don't know. Some things you just don't question.

I got to chaperone Trevin's field trip to the Lincoln Zoo. Myla got to tag along, too. I couldn't believe she actually touched the snake. I'm not sure if I was proud or concerned.

The girls in Trev's class have a sweet spot for Myla. Every school event they try to get her to warm up to them and play. And each time she plays hard-to-get and is shy for the first half of the day. Eventually she comes out of her shell and has so much fun playing with the big girls. She talks about them often and Myla is quickly becoming the entire class' little sister.

The train ride was a big hit for everyone!

Trevin participated in the softball throw, 50m dash, block shuttle run, 4x100 relay, and tug of war. Tug of war was his favorite event and HLS were even named the champions.

He placed in almost all of the events and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

It was a hit, once again! Not a whole lot of fishing for the kids, but there were a lot of s'mores and playtime.

We made it! I know we're not very far into this whole "school-thing" but this year was the best. It'll be hard to beat.

Trevin has been singing "Down by the Creek Bank" for months. Heck, Myla knew most of the songs before we even saw the musical. We were happy to finally make sense of all of his one-liners that he was always saying and expecting a laugh. Turns out, jokes make a lot more sense in context.

I must say, Trevin's acting ability has dramatically improved since last year. He played it up this year and did such a good job. James is certain that trait is not from him and it's definitely from me. I told him I've never been dramatic and I don't know what he's talking about. (And my mother and father and siblings and cousins and friends all roll their eyes...)

I've got some pictures from the actual musical somewhere, but I've got to track them down, so that'll have to wait until next time.... probably in 2020.

And that's a wrap on the 2018-2019 school year!

Trevin's 7th Birthday

A Minecraft 7th birthday was a dream come true for T. Once again, (and you should know this by now..) Ashton made our birthday cake wishes come to life.

The day started out with birthday donuts before church, friends over for lunch and the afternoon to play, and a big family party to end the day.

This kid turned a corner in year 6 and we've had a lot of fun. He's becoming more and more independent, helpful, able, and confidant. He's been the greatest adventure we've had. We're still learning every day and I tell him all the time that I've never been a mom to someone as old as him. That doesn't seem to buy me as much grace as I'd hope.

He is so sweet to his sister 9 times out of 10. He wouldn't be a true big brother if he sometimes didn't ruffle her feathers. They're really excited to have all summer together and I'm hoping for more laughter than screaming. But I know that's fairly unrealistic.

Of course, Renley quickly upstaged everyone and everything else at the party. She can't help it, she's fab.

+Trev got to pick out a new bike. Don't worry, the training wheels were the first to go. I love to ride bikes and we've fought him for a long time to get him to want to go on bike rides with us. Turns out, when he's riding a bike that isn't too small for him, he actually likes to ride a bike. I immediately bought a bike trailer and we've put a few miles on those new tires already.

+ Trevin worked really hard this year on his Wednesday Night Church memory verses. He completed his level and has earned a fun day trip with the other kids next week. Some of the passages he learned were really long. All it took was reading it and repeating it every morning in the car on the way to school. He can memorize pretty easily and I'm managing to learn a few verses on the way, too.

+Recently, Trevin and Myla have been talking a lot about marriage and babies. (Not to each other, mind you. At least not anymore...) One day, Myla said she didn't want to get married. This was T's response, "Myla, do you want more people in the world?? Because if you do, you'll have to get married and have babies. And it will be painful."

I hope every summer day looks like this - reading on the deck.

+One day there was a song on the radio that said, "you're all I need." Trevin looked at me and said, "That's not true, because you need the toilet."

These two do almost everything together. They play together and they also get the flu together. It was right after Easter and they were down several days. It was like a flash-back to Christmas. And I'm wondering... Why do we only get sick when fun stuff is happening?? Here's the 3 times we've been sick in the last six months - Christmas, Florida vacation, and Easter. How is that even fair? Not cool.

Myla

+This firecracker of a girl always has us guessing. We never know what's going to come out of her mouth or what personality she'll be wearing that day.

+She loves when we have to make a stop at Kelly Supply for Dad. She can smell the popcorn a mile away. (Also, this particular day, the popcorn was her breakfast.)

+She tried to brush my hair recently. With her toothbrush. Including toothpaste.

+Every day after we drop T off at school, she says in the saddest, most dramatic voice, "I'm never never going to see 'Seven' again." I reassure her every day that we will see him as soon as school is over. And then we repeat the next day.

+She is currently all about the fashion statements. She changes her pants every day and is always putting on a princess dress or making up her own outfit from the play clothes.

+She's so precious and loving. She comes up to me randomly and grabs my face and says, "You are so beautiful, Mama!" I'm not sure what James is paying her, but whatever it is, it's worth it.

+She's been calling me "Mamma Mia" and she's been referring to herself as "Big Mama".

+She's gained a lot of depth lately. One night, as I was rushing to get supper together for guests - imagine stuff in the oven, things on the stove, food needing chopped, the works - she came up to me with tears in her eyes and asked me out of the blue, "Mom, am I going to die?" There could not have been worse timing. I tried to comfort her, but the beeping microwave and noise of the mixer didn't seem to help much. We've had lots of conversations since, but James and I still chuckle about that first encounter.

+She's terrified of elementary, middle, high school, and college-aged girls. She thinks they're going to babysit her every time we see one.

+She got her first haircut!

+She LOVES getting her nails painted. Such a girly-girl who also touches snakes and fish.

+The week after we returned from Florida, Myla fell off her bed and started a breath-holding spell. It was the first one in months. But this one didn't end with her passing out peacefully like normal. Instead, her body stiffened more and more as she gasped for a breath. She finally took in air again and held it again, and again. She was lifeless, cold, empty. Nothing will scar me like these memories of her. She didn't convulse and she didn't pass out. It was like a whole new episode of sorts. It was terrifying and hard and discouraging. But, we rest in what we know. We know that we are blessed with a beautiful, healthy, vibrant child. She will not do this forever. It is a phase. It isn't harming her. I had to speak those things out loud to myself for several days following the episode.

+This girl has such a sweet demeanor. She has such a servant's heart, even when she's Darth Vader.

Princess Tea Party

This event might have been the highlight of Myla's month. She had so much fun and even got to be there with her friends.

As soon as Myla spotted Elsa, she was smitten. This shy girl wanted nothing to do with me and was attached to Elsa the rest of the day.

Myla's 3rd Birthday

Our sweet girl requested a pink and purple princess party. We had had a taco bar.. I'm not sure if that's very princess-y but cool princesses eat tacos.

She was telling everyone for weeks that she was going to be three on May 16. When I told her it was her birthday that morning, she was so giddy.

Want to keep this girl happy? Give her a princess dress and chocolate.

It took Myla approximately 25 blows to get three candles out. After she finally got them out, she picked one up and tried to lick the wick instead of the frosting on the bottom. It was hilarious.

I bet you can guess who made the cake. Here's a hint: it wasn't me.

Playdate

We're at a sweet stage of life where playdates are actually fun. The kids can play and play and the moms can talk and talk.

Looking forward to many days like this to come.

Mother's Day

The sweetest Mother's Day with the sweetest people. We had lunch at Fuji with my parents and then spent time together at home. I even got to do my favorite thing - mow. It was the perfect day!

Fishing

With all the rain lately, it's given us plenty of opportunities to get out and do some fishing.

We took the boat out one Saturday and the kids had a blast. I think we're about at our small fishing boat's capacity. Things are getting a little tight with all of us together.

Lake of the Ozarks

Speaking of the rain. It's kept us out of the fields. We've started planting, but still have a ways to go. Monday morning I pulled up the weekly forecast and saw that there was no chance we were getting back in the field any time soon. I sent James a quick text and asked if we should get out of town for the week. I had very low expectations, but when James came home that day he asked, "Well, where are we going?"

We looked on Airbnb to see where we could find a place and wanted to head somewhere that was going to be warmer than the dreary rainy days at home. James and I have talked for years about wanting to go to the Lake of the Ozarks so we looked into it. The forecast showed sunny days and we were able to find a place to stay right on the lake.

We rented a couple kayaks while we were there. We spent a lot of time fishing off the dock, kayaking, and enjoying the sun on the deck. James got up before dawn most mornings and hit the lake. By the time we woke up, he would be working his way back towards our dock. I'm seriously concerned he's going to try to move us to Missouri now. Or at least to the lake. He admitted that he probably wouldn't get much done if he lived on a lake. Thankfully, his other great love is the farm and it's not so easy to pack that up and move.

Trevin caught on pretty quick to kayaking and was able to take a few solo rides.

One morning it was chilly and rainy, so we decided to take a tour of Bridal Cave.

Myla was afraid to go in the "creepy, creepy cave" and Trevin was hoping that we'd see bats. Mostly to see me squeal. (I realized my deep fear of bats at the zoo when there was a bat tornado on the path that we had to walk through. It was terrifying. I haven't gone into the rainforest since.)

It was very interesting. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. Afterward, Myla said that it wasn't even scary, despite what her brother had told her.

Back at the lake house, there were water fights, naps, and lots and lots of fishing. Myla came up to me with a tiny fish and said, "Mom, I got a fish!!" It was from the minnow bucket. I'm pretty sure she killed most of them before we were able to use them for bait.

James caught a couple white bass that we enjoyed for lunch one day. This was James's dream trip. Catch the fish, eat the fish, repeat.

Love this sweet family of mine. We're ready to get home and get this summer started! We're entering a new season of life and I hope it's as sweet as the last one has been.

Hook, line, and sinker, growing on the farm...

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Beaches, Birthdays, and Bait