The Lazy Days of Winter ~

First of all, I know it's not officially winter yet, but there are a few kids, two dogs and 14 pigs around here that would argue with you. We've spent the past two days in the coziness of our home with a fire crackling in the wood burning stove and it's been wonderful. I was thinking about how nice it's been and how lazy we've been and started to wonder where the saying "lazy days of summer" came from. I don't know about you but our summers are packed with fun and very rarely do we sit around being "lazy" but give us a few days of snow on the ground and ice on the roads and we do lazy really well.

This was Jack's first snow and from what I could tell, he loved it. Don't let the sad puppy dog eyes fool you, he looks like this all the time. :)

I'm pretty sure if they could talk they would be complaining about the cold. The one on the right is named Thor (we also have a Hulk and an Ironman.) I found Thor in his pin buried under hay; all you could see was a little of his back...smart pig. I woke him up, that 's when he went to discuss the frigid temps with his neighbor, Chester. 

The rest of the day included a snowball fight, being pulled behind the four-wheeler on a disk, frozen fingers, hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows. Here's a little secret...I can't resist a roasted marshmallow and for the next week I'll be detoxing from all the sugar. 

After supper we played several hands of spoons (the Farmer won them all) and a mean game of Farmopoly. K won  and ended the game with over $3000!

Cooking Breakfast ~

I was standing at the stove this morning cooking a nice hot breakfast so my family could start the day off in the right way when I found myself thinking about my grandmother. As I was thinking about her and all the many breakfasts she prepared in her life I realized something: I think about my grandmother alot while I'm cooking breakfast. Maybe it's because she cooked a hot breakfast every day without fail for her growing family of 9 for most of her adult life and then for just herself and my granddad in their later years. Never a day went by that she didn't put a large breakfast on the table. When we were visiting, I would always be woken by the sound of her in the kitchen. There was comfort in those sounds...we always sat down at the table in the dining room and ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, jelly and juice. I can remember it like it was yesterday. She rarely sat down to feed herself; she was too busy waiting on everyone else (mainly my granddad.) :) My grandmother was the best cook; she could make a simple country breakfast seem like a gourmet meal. Not sure how she did it. My breakfasts are made up of the same items, but somehow aren't exactly like hers. Read this post to find out what I think made her cooking so special.

My grandmother posing in front of what we call "The Rock House."

I'm guessing this picture was taken in the mid to late 30's. My mom is the youngest of 7 kids and she was born in 1947; she lived in this house until they moved to town when she was 4. I love this picture. They must have been going some place special because I'm almost positive with that many kids running around she didn't dress like that everyday.

Looking back, life seems like it was alot simpler than it is now. I often long for those "simpler" days. I know they weren't simpler; they were alot harder. I guess what I long for is the innocence people had back then. It seems there was not near as much tragedy and sadness on a grand scale as there is today.

I wish I had interviewed my grandmother and written things down. I did write down alot of her recipes although it was a little difficult because she never used measurements. :) I love to look through my recipe box and find the ones she shared with me. I'm pretty sure no matter how many times I try, my chocolate meringue pie will never taste exactly like hers.

My grandmother was also a farmer's wife. She knew what it meant to have to feed a hungry crew in the field. Her meals were totally different than the meals I prepare. She would make a sit down meal complete with plates, utensils (not plastic btw,) sweet tea, homemade banana pudding and a card table to spread all the food on. My granddad and whoever he had helping him would stop what they were doing and take a few minutes to eat. Our guys eat on the go, so I have to prepare food that can be wrapped in foil and eaten one handed. :)

This picture was taken on my grandmother's front porch the day we had to say goodbye in February 2006. I remember playing on this porch as a child. The pillar we're sitting on was alot taller back then. my cousins, my sister and I would make the best mud pies with little red berries added for decoration and after a rain we would collect tadpoles from the miniature pond at the corner of the intersection. So many good memories of time spent with family in that old house on 6th Street.

I miss my grandmother. I miss that house. I miss how she used to greet us when we pulled into the drive after the four hours it took to get there. I miss how she would wave goodbye when we left...she would keep waving until we were out of her sight.

I know I will see her sweet face again; until that day I will keep cooking those hot breakfasts with all the love I can and maybe someday they'll taste like hers.

Harvest Time ~

One day last week the kids got out of school at noon; just in time to take their daddy lunch in the field. This is a very exciting time of year for the kids. They love going to the field; I mean who wouldn't love being around all that large and loud equipment with dirt and debris flying around everywhere? 

We have been blessed to have a couple of guys who have worked for us for the past several years. They work hard, love on our animals and watch out for our kids ~ they're awesome. Here is one of them bringing a load of cotton in the boll buggy to dump into the module builder. R's favorite thing to do is help build modules. It really bugs him when his daddy is not running the module builder and he's not able to help. 

Here's K helping to pick up cotton and throw it back in the module builder. She certainly doesn't mind a little dirt; in fact, the dirtier the better. :)

Pulling of the module and making sure the tarp lines up...

My farmer tying down the tarp. Let's talk about cotton modules for a second. When I was growing up, I used to see these giant rectangles of cotton in the fields and wonder how the heck they didn't just fall apart. I had no idea how they were made so I didn't know how rock solid they were. I remember my dad telling me if a car were to crash into one of these monsters it would total the car. I've never tested this theory, but I'm pretty sure he's right. Hey, I think I just had an idea for a segment on Myth Busters.

Here's R running to stop the tractor after pulling off the module. The tractor is set to a slow roll (and unmanned) while the module builder pulls off the module. 

Out here in the country, we call this "strippin'."

The cotton stripper dumps all that fluffy white stuff into the boll buggy. It takes about 7 of these big ol' baskets to make a module.

So there you go; a quick little lesson in cotton harvesting in case you aren't blessed to live in cotton country. I'm on my way out the door right now to pick up lunch for all those hungry men in the field. 

Happy Harvest ~

A Few Fun (and easy) Fall Crafts ~

I'm not sure any of you have noticed, but I did something I haven't done since I started my blog; I deleted a post. I've noticed over the last month or so my blog has taken on somewhat of a negative voice. This is unacceptable. Sure, I've always said I don't want everyone to think my life is perfect. If you know me, you know that is just not the case. However, I also do not want my corner of the world wide web to morph into a place where I just go to gripe. We all lead super busy lives and if you happen to take a few minutes out of your day to read my words, the last thing I want to be responsible for is leaving a sour taste in your mouth. You can just watch the news for that. Lol! Anyway, let's move on to something a little more fun...

A few weekends ago the boys went one way (to a pig sale) and us girls went in the opposite direction (a craft show.) It took a little convincing but once we got there K had a blast. Of course she wanted everything she saw and I got a few ideas for Christmas. The hit of the show was the lady selling her instant coffee mixes and fudge. We had so much fun tasting all the wonderful flavors. If there is one thing I've taught my kids it's to love the comfort of a hot beverage. :) I'm pretty sure K tasted the equivalent of a Starbuck's Venti and I ended up making a dent in my Christmas list. Yes, some of you may be getting flavored coffees for Christmas. :)

On our way home we decided we would get our fall decorations out...K thought we needed to purchase more (because more is always better right.) I decided what we have is perfect. Once we had the walls and tables adorned with pumpkins and the fall garland in it's place, we raided my scrapbook supplies and got crafty. K wanted to make some spiders and I decided we would make a candy corn garland.

Her spiders turned out super cute and are currently placed all over the house. The candy corn garland is hanging on the windows that separate the sun room and dining room. I decided to make them two sided since you would be able to see them from both rooms. I pin stitched around the edges with a Sharpie pen and then added the year to the first candy corn. K suggested this and I thought it was great idea; every year we hang the garland we can add the year to the next piece. The wood pieces were handcrafted by me, my dad, mom and sister the year before I was married. We had so much fun crafting that fall. Every year when I get these decorations out, I'm reminded of those special times. That's why I know my kids will remember the time spent together coloring, gluing, cutting and making messes.

So, if you haven't done so already, get your fall decorations out! If you don't have any, go buy a pumpkin or get out your scissors and make a candy corn garland. It really is alot of fun!

Happy Fall Y'all ~

A Little West Texas Road Trip ~

Well, here we are. The last weekend of Summer '12. I really can't believe how fast this summer has gone. 

I have to admit I'm in a bit of a state of mourning right now. This may sound a little crazy because I'm not mourning the loss of a loved one or even the end of summer. I hesitate to even admit it because it might make me sound like a brat. Ok, here it is...we didn't get to go on our yearly trip to Ruidoso. :( This is the first year we haven't gone to the mountains in 15 years. I think I have the right to be sad. In the past we've always gone the last weekend of summer; now that R is playing football and Big R is coaching all (and I mean ALL) of our time is taken. Isn't this just the way life is? As the kids grow, different things will take the place of other things. I guess I never thought our trip to Ruidoso would be replaced by Pop Warner football work outs. Don't get me wrong, I love that R's playing football...I just want to go to the mountains. Ok, I'm a brat. Enough whining...let's move on.

We did get to take a fun little road trip a couple of weeks ago with some great friends. For years we've been talking about heading north to Palo Duro Canyon to see the musical "Texas." How crazy is it that we live just a few short hours away yet have never been. What's even crazier is that I grew up in West Texas; have spent the entire first 40 years of my life in West Texas and have never been. I even had a cousin perform in the musical when we were in college and didn't go. Crazy. 

The food was good. Didn't quite fit into my "plan" but I have a hard time passing up bar-b-q and potato salad.

They had a series of maps pin pointing all the places people who had traveled to see the show were from. The first was a Texas map, the next one was an US map. The kids are looking at the world map. It was really neat to see how far people had traveled to see the show. All the pins in the maps were from this year alone. Pretty cool. During the show they gave an award to the person who traveled the farthest. He was from Japan. 

The boys spent a fair amount of time whittling wood. Just a side note: every time I think of whittling wood, say the words "whittling wood" or see someone whittling wood, I think about the moving "Son In Law" with Pauly Shore. I know, I'm weird.

So there it is ~ our Palo Duro Adventure. The show was great. K had a thousand questions about the stage, the actors, the dancers, the horses, the set. The thunder, lighting and fireworks were awesome. She had questions about those too. It was fun to experience another 'first' together. Cameras were not allowed, so no pics of the actual show. We'll definitely go back in a few years. I mean why not? It's practically in our backyard. :)

July Wrap-up ~

Yes, I'm wrapping up the month of July in the middle of August. And Yes, I haven't blogged in almost a month. Everyday I feel a gravitational pull towards my laptop, but never seem to find the time to actually sit down. We've been busy over the last several weeks and now that the first day of school is breathing down my neck, I'm starting to feel that all familiar urgency/panic that I feel this time every year. Is it just me or can you literally feel a surge of energy or some kind of momentum pulling us into September. It almost feels like a snowball rolling down a hill and I'm stuck in the middle; you know like in those cartoons where all you can see are the arms and legs sticking out. Anyway, in an attempt to slow down a bit and savor every last morsel of summer I thought I would recap what we've been up to the last few weeks...

We've helped Daddy on the farm, watched the cotton grow and prayed for rain...

We spent a fabulous yet exhausting week at VBS (I was suffering from a sinus thing and thought about throwing in the towel many times during this week, but somehow I just couldn't not be there.)

We've played Play-Do. This is K's creation...

And R worked on this masterpiece.

We spent 5 glorious days at the lake. K learned to knee board and ski, R learned to ski and wakeboard; he even started jumping the wakes ~ pretty awesome! We also logged many boat hours pulling the tube around and around and around. K is one little dare devil and once we convinced her there were no sharks in the lake, she was unstoppable. :)

This is what we look like after a day on the water. I know ~ scary.

We came home from the lake on Christen's birthday, so we made our trip to the cemetery the next day. K went with me to buy flowers. She picked out some funky zebra striped daisies that I'm pretty sure her sister would think were totally cool.

So, that's it...July in a nutshell. 

I'm working on a blogging schedule. Still haven't put anything in writing yet, partially because I don't know if I want to limit myself to certain things I have to post on certain days. So far I like my "fly by the seat of my pants" kinda blog, but I feel like if I had a schedule more thoughts would get recorded. Anyway, just a thought. Hopefully you'll hear from me before the end of August. :)

Blessings ~

Our Family 4th ~

This Fourth of July was only the second in 15 years that we haven't been at R's mom and dad's cooking, playing in the water and popping fireworks. The first was two years ago when it rained so much that the road to their house was impassable. Rain wasn't a problem this year, we just decided to have it at our place. R's mom and a few of our nieces helped set up the day before and when they left we had a little lull around here; you know, kinda like the calm before the storm. The kids were restless waiting for the party the next day. I had been battling my inner Walmart demons for a few days...on the one hand I knew I didn't have any 4th decorations and how lame is a party without decorations? On the other hand I didn't want to go spend a bunch of money on junkie stuff that's going to end up in the trash hole (country word for incinerator.) I decided we would drag out my paper scrapping supplies and make a few handmade decorations. I've held on to my paper crafting supplies thinking someday we would use them. Well, that someday finally came. Yea!

Ta da! We got the idea off the Family Fun site. It was the first craft we came to so we went with it. Our's didn't turn out exactly life the original, but that's the beauty in crafting right?

Ribs...yummm! We look forward to this meal all year. R is a whiz at the pit and this year the ribs were the best ever. I had ribs for dessert ~ that's how good they were. :)

This was little R's plate(s); ribs, mac and cheese and fruit; now that's Americana at it's finest.

We had our Ag teacher and his family over for the day. Isn't she the most precious thing you've ever seen? This little girl is the reason K wants a baby sister. :)

We set the water slide up and Bo (R's mom) supplied the kids with water artillery. Little R was very resourceful and kept a steady supply of ammo ready to fire. 

I have to talk a minute about the water slide. We decided about 6 years ago to all go in together and buy one of those blow up water slides. At the time all the kids were little and the slide was huge. Fast forward 6 years...the kids have grown and the slide has shrunk, but it's lasted and has been one of the best $150 investments ever. We've all definitely gotten our money's worth out of this fun toy! If you have small children and have toyed with the idea of getting one of these, go for it! It'll be the best money you'll ever spend.

 I'm pretty sure this was Big R's contribution...

Speaking of...isn't he handsome? I won't show you all the out takes, but it took a few different photographers and several shots to get this picture of us. First Little R took a few, but we (or should I say "I") were taking too much time away from his Ripstick, then I called K over to give it a try. She took a few ok shots, but then Papa asked for the camera. This was a first in family history. I don't think I've ever seen a camera in his hand. He's pretty good! He said something funny (that I won't repeat) and whalha! (How do you spell whalha?) Thanks Papa!

Ok, so I said I was not going to try to take  pics of the fireworks. Because all I usually end up with is alot of frustration, but when that big beautiful moon started rising I couldn't help it, I had to run in and get my camera. Our neighbors' fireworks looked so cool right next to the moon. The moon looks a little wonky (and kinda like the sun) thanks to my lack of expertise, but oh well...

This one is from our yard. Pretty cool.

Holy moly that's alot of sparks.

I'm already looking forward to next year! And whether we have it here at our place or at my in-laws, we will  be making memories surrounded by family and friends. 

Happy Birthday America!

I want to be Hands Free ~

We're having everyone over tomorrow for the 4th so last night I promised myself I would get up and work out first thing before I finished getting things ready. Thanks to my sweet hubby for waking me up at the crack of dawn I fullfilled my promise. After my work out, I cleaned a little and decided to sit down, have a cup of tea and catch up on some blog posts...

I have been sitting here crying my eyes out for the last five minutes. I often share the latest posts from the Hands Free Mama blog on my FB page, so when I saw she had a new post up I told myself I would read it but I wasn't going to share it. I don't want to overdo a good thing right? Well, I get half way through the post and I'm bawling like a baby. This is good stuff people! And I mean in a way that makes me want to reverse time and go back to when R was a baby good.

I can hear his little 2 year old voice in my head just as if he was standing right next to me, "Pay toys mommy. Pay toys wif me mommy." Yes, I played toys, but I also cleaned constantly and talked on the phone ALOT. No, I didn't have a cool phone or an iPad or WiFi back then, but I had a cordless phone and that's all I needed to be distracted from my little guy. I think he's so grown up now and he's only 10. He still wants me to play games, sit with him and watch t.v. Right now we're in the middle of reading Tim Tebow's book together. We do connect, but I feel like there are so many distractions that in the middle of being together that we're still disconnected.

We watched a show on the Discovery channel the other day called "Head Games." It's a pretty neat show that shows how our brains work in different situations. It's scientific and he loves it. On this particular show they were showing how people react when they are listening to one end of a phone conversation. In short, they get annoyed and cannot concentrate on what they're doing for trying to figure out the other person's conversation. What must my children feel like when they are the third party to my one way conversations. Yuck!

I cannot tell you how many times I've heard K say, "Get off your stupid phone!" Alot of the times I'm texting moms of friends setting up sleep-overs for her, but that's beside the point and yes "stupid" is a bad word in our house, but it's still said ~ don't judge me. :) The fact that she says that is proof enough that she is resentful of my phone. Pathetic.

You know how people say ~ When you're on your deathbed you're not going to wish you worked one more day or cleaned your house one more time (I'm ad libbing here.) Anyway, I'm pretty sure we're not going to be wishing we had sent one more text or posted one more status update, but we are going to wish we had spent more time with the ones we love!

If what I've said has resonated with you, you can go to The Hands Free Revolution page on FB and join the many people who are vowing to put down their phones and iPads, turn of their computers and connect with their children.

I just want to be present in the moment. I want my memories to be crystal clear and not muddled by technology. I want my kids to know THEY are what's most important. I want to be a hands free mama!

The First Week of Summer ~

This first week of summer has been busy. Why do we do this? Summer is supposed to be lazy, right? As a mom I think I'm actually a little scared that we (the kids and I) will find ourselves sitting around actually being lazy. So what do I do? The last part of May I start cramming as many camps on the calendar as I can. Usually by about the middle of July we're all so exhausted it's ok to sit around and do nothing until school starts...right? Wrong! Because once August rolls around we'll be heading to town every evening for football. Whew! I'm pooped and I haven't even started sharing with you what I initially sat down to share.

I'm so proud of R & K. They worked super hard and came home with awards for straight A's all year. R is on the brink of the "I really don't want to have my picture taken" stage. Notice the grin. I really dread this. I have had to use the: stop smiling, now think of something funny technique. We didn't use that technique on this photo.

This is what Big R has been doing for the last several weeks. This time of year is extremely stressful for farmers. Putting seed in the ground is like planting little nuggets of gold. There should be a vow farmers and their brides take on their wedding day. It could go a little something like this:

Farmer: I vow to always have a good attitude during planting and smile even if we're going through a drought.

Bride: I vow to always have a good attitude during planting and remind you that no matter what happens, everything is going to be ok.

The other evening I went to feed the animals and was met by a plague of frogs; big giant squishy bull frogs. At first, I was totally grossed out and completely terrified. Sam and Socks were lucky to get fed that night because in my head I envisioned these creatures morphing into giant frog monsters and eating me alive. That's it. Mom's a goner. I know, it's one of the things that makes me so weird. I have the same problem when it comes to mice. Anyway, R wanted me to take pictures of our new frog "friends" so I did, not knowing that a few days later I would come upon the coolest thing. I was hooking up a water hose by the dogs' water bowl when I could sense someone (or something) staring at me. No really, I don't know how I even saw the little fella, but there buried under a bunch of leaves was one of those frogs trying his best to ignore me and (I'm sure) hoping I hadn't seen him either. It was so cool. I even felt sorry for him and during the heat of the day poured a cup of cool water on his hiding place. Wasn't that nice of me? What's crazy is I actually look forward to seeing the frogs every evening. We're up to 6. As long as our bug light is working, they may never leave. And I guess our animals don't like the taste of frog because so far we've had no casualties. Now if Sam would just leave my baby Blue Jays alone...

Last Thursday my sister and her kiddos came and stayed with us for a few days. We had alot of fun. Took the kids to the Science Spectrum and scarred them for life by watching "Tornado Alley." K kept her eyes hidden for the first 10 minutes. And since returning home, my sister and her family have been in two tornado warnings...nice! I've decided that when all the cousins are together K takes on the roll of the middle child. This is not good. We're both hoping they all grow out of this stage and are great friends when they are older. Not that they are not great friends now, it's just...well, after the new wears off they fuss a little. I know ~ they're just kids.

K had a friend over to spend the night the other day. They had so much fun! I mean what can be more fun that a sprinkler and the trampoline really? I know, two 7 year olds convincing me they can drive the Gator. It was terrifying fun. No seriously, they did a good job aside from me having to grab the wheel a few times and yelling "Stop!" I love this age. They giggle alot, love to play school and sing Taylor Swift Karaoke. Man, I could have done some damage if they had made Karaoke machines when I was little...oh well.

I've decided when I get old I'm going to be a bird watcher. I love sitting and watching the birds in our yard, especially the Blue Jays. I've heard they're pretty mean birds, but I don't care; they're beautiful. This isn't a very good picture. As I sat trying to get the perfect shot I began to have an appreciation for those people who film for the "Planet Earth" movies. Those guys are awesome. Me? Not so much.

If you've stuck around this long and are actually still reading, you get the prize. That's right a recipe for this yummy breakfast casserole. I modified this one to fit my low-carb standards. All you need is a pound of cooked breakfast sausage, add one block of cream cheese (if you know me, you know I use full fat everything.) Spray bottom of casserole dish. I buy this awesome coconut oil spray. It's just like Pam only coconut oil. Brilliant. Spread the meat mixture on the bottom of the dish. In a bowl beat about 6-8 eggs and add a little heavy cream. Poor this on top of the meat. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and cook at 375 for about 25 minutes. This is so handy to have in the fridge for a quick breakfast. I know, I've been doing it all week.

A Little Bit of Everything ~

The kids and I went to church with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law this morning. It was a wonderful service celebrating the Seniors in their church. I still haven't quite grasped the fact that my niece is graduating...more to come on this in a later post. Once we got home we couldn't pass up spending the day outside. It. Was. Perfect. Overcast and about 75 degrees; in my opinion it doesn't get much better.

Relaxing on the trampoline.

Meet Bitsy or Little Bit (depending on who you ask.) She became the newest member of our family back in January. Big R and I can't quite agree on her name. Apparently Bitsy isn't a name that my farmer can say and still feel masculine. Anywho, she's a sweetie with fur as soft as velvet, just don't cross her while she's eating a rabbit, or bird, or mouse. Trust me on this one.

You all remember Sam ~ isn't he a handsome fella? I took the brush to him today and brushed and brushed and brushed. I could probably still be brushing but my arm got tired. He is hands down the fluffiest dog ever. That said, the ticks love him. Sam is Tick Hilton these days. We've taken numerous measures to rid our pets and our yard of these disgusting pests, but we are still taking ticks off him on a daily basis. Now that Big R is busy planting the tick removing torch has been passed to me. Yes, I just scratched my head. I have really had to suck it up and be a big girl these last few days. I must say though, I've gotten pretty good at tick extraction.

Cocking the BB gun for a little target practice after sneaking out of the house with Brother's gun. She's determined to prove she is capable of handling a firearm. 

Several weeks ago K came home telling me about this really neat little craft she had come up with on the playground. We were eating supper and I asked the kids to tell me one nice thing they had done for someone that day; without skipping a beat K starts telling me about this wildflower bouquet bundled together with a leaf and wrapped with a stem (I'm paraphrasing of course.) She told us that she had made one and given it to her teacher. Very sweet. A few days later I go in to pick her up and see several little girls walking out with these little wild flower bouquets. She was so proud when she told me she had taught them all how to make them. Fast forward a few weeks to the day of the Teacher Appreciation Dinner. Miss S, our secretary at school, takes me into her office and shows me the cutest little vase holding a withered bouquet. She told me that K had given her one of her creations, she had kept them watered and they stayed alive and made her smile for several days. So, today when K came in with her little dandelion bundle she showed me how she makes them. I said, "K, do you know what this means?" She said, "Yes, I'm a crafter." I love this! I love that she's using her noggin to make beautiful things out of the simplest of supplies. I love that she's sharing her craft with others because she has a giving heart.

I know this thought is totally overused, but this kid is growing up way too fast. The last few times his daddy has mowed the yard, R has been right there taking it all in. Under supervision, he has made a few rounds. Well, today I decided we would surprise Big R and mow the yard. Once we got past my backing the thing out of the garage and running over the dog food container, R did a great job. He mowed the entire yard all by himself including emptying the bags (which is my least favorite part.) When he was finished with the yard, he took the mower out to the air compressor and blew it out just like his Daddy does. Proud of this kid!

I love our yard. It's big and shady and thanks to the recent rains, it's green and looks so pretty right after it's mowed. Here's to an amazing summer and many more beautiful Sundays...