Vincent's Emotional Day

Today was the last day of school for Vincent.  Brad and I volunteered to help with their field day and it was a lot of fun to get to spend time with Vincent’s class.  As we were leaving Vincent was in tears because he had to say goodbye to his classmates and teachers.  It was heartbreaking!  It was a great year and great experience for us and Vincent.  He had wonderful teachers and we truly appreciate both Mrs. Bocek and Mrs. Wilger!

Last Day of school for Vincent!

Everyone wanted in on the picture

Goof balls, I have no idea what any of them were looking at!

Then tonight at bedtime he was sad because he was worried about all his 8^th grade friends and what they will be doing next since they will be leaving his school.  Vincent’s school is preK-8^th grade.  The 8^th graders helped the preschoolers every Friday morning and Vincent loved them, he has actually invited all of them to his birthday party.  Tonight he was so sad that he wasn’t going to be able to see the 8^th graders anymore and kept saying “but they liked me a lot, they loved me, I will miss them, what are they going to do now?”  I am glad that Vincent had such a wonderful time working with the older kids.  I feel so bad for him that he is so heartbroken over not being able to see them anymore. 

A dog climbs a tree!

Sunday I saw something that I never thought I would see…a dog climb at tree!  We were down in the woods at the farm just hanging out with the kids.  There is a large tree that leans a little bit that works well for climbing.  Vincent didn’t get very far.  Joel climbed really high and Brad could barely reach his leg to pull him back down.  We tried to get Tally to climb it but she didn’t even go as far as Joel did.

 

This is how it started...Vincent never went any higher

Brown blob at the top is Tally climbing up

Look closely and you will see a shiny brown dog near the top

Five minutes later the kids were playing on the Gator, Brad and I were talking and out of nowhere Tally ran up the tree.  She was at least 20 feet off the ground.  She stopped, turned around, sat for a second and then ran back down.  The whole time she was up there Brad and I were both thinking “What if she gets stuck? What if she falls?  No one is going to believe we had nothing to do with this!”  Luckily for all parties involved she came back down on her own and didn’t get hurt. 

Silly Dog

Just to give you an idea of scale...She was right above where Brad is standing

Farming thru the Weekend

Let me preface this with as a general rule we don't farm on Sundays, but when we are behind we do make exceptions.  Sunday after church the kids and I met up with Brad in the field.  None of us had seen him in person for 6 days, we all wanted rides in the sprayer, and Brad wanted lunch.  Brad had been down south farming and that means I am left in charge back home.  It turns out we weren’t the only farming family to not see our husband/daddy very much last week.  I know there are plenty of farm wives that are in the field too!  In the matter of 1 week (May 12-19th) Illinois went from having 17% of the corn acres planted to 74%!  The average for the last 4 years is 77%, so we are getting caught up.  What that all translates to is a lot of people working a lot of long hours in the field to make sure we all have food.  If those families are anything like ours it also means a lot of spouses having to put in a lot more work at home to take care of the animals, kids, house, etc on their own while planting is going on.  I love being married to a farmer, I don’t mind helping in the field or maintaining the home front while Brad is away, but it is not easy.  You definitely get a feel for what it is like to be a single parent.

Cecilia hanging out and eating lunch.  Lunch in the field means eating out of the truck.

Sprayer tender truck

Lee, Brad and the kids at lunch time

Vincent and Brad

I left Joel with Brad while I went to town to get all of us and Lee lunch.  Lee is Brad’s right hand man during the spraying season.  He drives the tender truck, works crazy hours with Brad, and while they are in Farmer City he is in charge of making sure Brad has food.  Joel has never taken a ride in any farm implement for more than 20 minutes.  Unless he happens to fall asleep he just hasn’t been at an age where he could sit still that long and only once or twice without me going with him.  He likes to press buttons and would take one person to drive the equipment and one to keep Joel from touching buttons.  While  I went to grab lunch Brad and Joel took off in the field to spray.  The thing with the sprayer is Brad usually only stops to fill up which means you are stuck for about 30 minutes and more if Mommy isn’t back from getting lunch.  Joel ended up being in the sprayer 45-60 minutes.  Brad was in the middle of a tank when he stopped to get Joel.  Joel was all smiles when he got out of the sprayer and he was mad that he didn’t get a second turn, so I am guessing he enjoyed it.  Vincent also got to take a ride in the sprayer and he loves it!  He is at a great age for riding along for extended periods of time.

Cecilia and Daddy...she was not happy she didn't get a ride

The sprayer filling up

Sprayer going across the field

Cecilia and I didn’t get to ride in the sprayer and neither one of us were very happy about it.  I didn’t throw a fit like Cecilia, mostly because I like riding in the sprayer the best when Brad is spraying fungicide.  The only way we were going to get a ride was if all 5 of us piled into the sprayer and I just didn’t feel up for that.  Brad was working on the far end of the field by then and we would have been stuck in there for a while.  Plus Cecilia still puts her mouth on everything and that isn’t the best idea when you are on/in farm equipment. 

Vincent telling Joel not to go by the electric fence and Joel getting ready to tackle Vincent

Love the expressions on their faces!!

In between fields Brad took a little detour.  I was supposed to be giving him a ride to his car so he could move it to the next field, but I detoured through McDonald’s for ice cream.  Brad, the boys and I all got cones.  Cecilia wished she had her own cone.  I was driving so Brad was on mess control.  He kept trading kids cones and eating theirs to keep them from dripping all over.  He would also let Cecilia have a little bit.  Once he helped both the boys he would go back to his own cone and then start over helping the boys and sharing with Cecilia.  It was cracking me up!  He probably ended up eating more than 1 ice cream cone.

 

Joel and Vincent

My three monkeys!

Momma and her monkeys

Then once we were back at the farm we convinced Brad to give us a ride on the gator back to the woods.  We played around there for 30 minutes or so and then the kids and I headed home while Brad when back to spraying.  If Brad didn’t take some time to see us he would have been home earlier but the kids would have been getting ready for bed.  Since the kids missed him so much we decided seeing the kids while they were awake and happy was the best plan.

Joel and Cecilia stealing the Gator

A great climbing tree...Joel went a little too high

Joel looking at the camera!!!

Blackberry Farm

I was blessed to be able to go on a field trip with Vincent’s class two weeks ago.  We went to Blackberry farm.  They have a mixture of fun activities for kids as well as historical learning areas to teach people about life in the pioneer days.  While we were there we watched a lady spin wool, a blacksmith told us about making tools, and a lady told us about life in a small 1 room cabin.  While the kids didn’t mind that stuff they really liked the train ride, wagon ride, carousel and the new playground area.  I don’t blame them the new playground area was really cool!  There were climbing areas, slides, tunnels, and a zip line swing.  As always it was fun to see Vincent around his classmates and teachers and away from his siblings.  He is quite the character!   

Vincent with his friends

Having fun!

Start of the zip line swing

The end...it was really fast!