Mom, when you were a girl...

Did you ever go to the post office and pick up baby chicks?  Did you ever have soaking wet baby chicks on your kitchen table warming up?   These questions this morning have me reflecting on how much I love it out here in the country.  I get questions like this all of the time. The thought of growing up in the "city" is foreign to them.  They can't imagine what it would be like.  It's so fun to have little country kids - running free, playing with the baby animals, gathering the eggs, milking the cows, knowing the difference between a combine and a planter, recognizing the difference between corn and beans growing out in the fields.  I don't know that I would have had the courage to pick up and dispose of chicks that didn't survive, nor would I have not even flinched when a chicken used my back to propel herself out of the chicken house while I was kneeling inside of the door in her way.  I assure them, quite honestly, that growing up in the city was not bad at all.  We could ride our bikes on SIDEWALKS, instead of gravel and grass... We could run up the street to the park to play... We had a cat... and a dog... and a yard...  Somehow they're not convinced.  And somehow, I'm pretty sure that now that I'm a country girl myself I'd have a pretty hard time moving back to the city.  The sounds are different - it's not that it's so quiet, it's just a different kind of noise - instead of traffic and airplanes and people, we hear distant freight trains... cows... chickens... frogs... coyotes...  We look out the window and see pasture and fields and animals instead of buildings and cars.  We look up at the sky at night and are amazed by God's creation.  I love going to town and seeing people we know and watching the farmers sitting around visiting while their wives shop. There is a certain wonder to the city.  The lights and buildings are beautiful and amazing in their own way.  The hustle and bustle is easy to get caught up in.  There are stores and stores and more stores and any restaurant imaginable. I'm glad there are people who enjoy living there - I used to be one of them. And I'm glad I can occasionally visit the city and enjoy the sights and sounds and busyness.  But I am so thankful to live in the country!!!

Yep, he's a boy!!

Kid Quotes:

Garrett had us all cracking up this evening as he exaggerated his hiccups, laughed and exclaimed "I Burped!!!"  And he thought it was funny over and over and over again.

Out in the pasture, he stomped on a "clod" and happily yelled "Cow Pie!!!"

At supper tonight he was getting ready to eat his meat and I told him "Hang on and I'll get you some ketchup."  He grabbed my arm as tight as he could and with a question on his face said "Hang on?"

Lincoln's tummy wasn't feeling very good yesterday.  When I asked him how he was feeling, he said - "I feel like I swallowed... a bug."

What another beautiful day today.  Someone from Todd's job offered us their trampoline, so the kids have been having a blast jumping and jumping and jumping.  We have debated several times whether or not to get one, and have always decided against it. Since the price was right on this one, we decided to go ahead and give it a try.  When Abigail broke her arm last fall, the nurse at the orthopedic office told us that trampolines and jungle gyms were about the worst for kid injuries.  So under strict orders to only jump one (she told us that most of the injuries occur when more than one kid is jumping at the same time) at a time and the threat that it can leave as easily as it got here, they are really enjoying it.

Our little farmer made this up while he was jumping - "Put on your hat, put on your boots, put on your coat and milk the cow."

Ahhhh Spring!!

A huge thunderstorm with hail and driving rain woke us up before 6:00 this morning.  Since it was raining and most of our projects for today were planned for outside, we had a nice leisurely morning with pancakes for breakfast.  By late morning, it had cleared up and the temperature kept climbing today so the kids ended up outside all day playing in the yard and splashing in the creek while Todd got the tractor running and mowing done.


We have several new lambs and some chicks ordered, always a fun part of springtime.  Our cows won't calve until sometime in the summer, but we're looking forward to the fresh milk again when they do.


The kids are close to being finished with most of their school books and we're all excited that it is getting near the end of the school year.  I have some projects I'm hoping to get done - mostly cleaning, de-cluttering, organizing and planning for next year, and they are looking forward to getting the pool out and having a little free time.  They have all had a pretty full year of studying, so it will be a well deserved break for them.


Kid quotes: 


Garrett: "My's wash my's hands" 


The other day we dropped off all of the girls for music lessons.  As the last one went into the teacher's house, Lincoln said "Now we're rid of those pesky sisters" - cute and funny, but not really very nice since those "pesky sisters" wait on him and Garrett hand and foot...


Lincoln: "Mommy I need some water" Me: "Why" Lincoln: "To get the snake to come out of its hole" Me: "I don't want you playing with snakes" Lincoln: "It wrapped around me and it didn't kill me" Off he goes and I overhear this ... Lincoln: " We're not allowed to" Heidi "Why did you tell her???"  I was glad to find out later that the "snake" was actually an earthworm...

Mommy to Garrett "Are you my baby?" Garrett "No" Mommy "Are you my big boy?" Garrett "No - I a man..." - This reminds me of something he likes to do when I rock him. He lays down so I am cradling him and says "I a baby" - then he gets an impish grin on his face - sits straight up and says "No I a boy" - and then back down to be a baby again and up to be a boy...  It's hard to believe that he has grown so quickly out of that "baby" stage and really is a little boy now.  It is so funny to watch him imitate Lincoln in everything - from the way he plays to the way he gets in trouble.  You can see him working on screwing up his face to copy the way Lincoln looks when he gets mad.  We have to keep ourselves from laughing at him when he does that.

Brothers and Best Friends (usually)

This was such a brilliant rainbow - across the road from us

Lincoln learning to read

Visiting Grandma B in the nursing home

Grandpa and Grandma F went on a field trip with us to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago

The end of our day at the  Museum of Science and Industry 

Our new mantel - a board from Greg and Sara M polished up  by Bruce

Another picture of the mantel