Amanda and Winston

Brad’s cousin Amanda lives in Connecticut with her husband, Matt, and her son, Winston.  They were in town for a week to visit family.  We were able to see them a couple times.  Once at my in laws and once at our house.  Vincent loved Winston and had a lot of fun showing him around.  Joel and Cecilia had fun with him too.  At the farm Joel showed Winston how to climb in the rabbit cage.  They both ended up in there, it was kind of funny!

Joel and Winston in a rabbit cage.

At our house the kids were happy to give Winston a tour of the house and all of their toys.  Winston had fun but at first didn’t know what to think about these 3 kids that kept hugging him and wanting to be by him and drag him around and show him everything!  Vincent is already planning his next trip to CT to visit Winston!  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Vincent and Winston.

Cecilia and Winston.

Cecilia, Joel and Winston playing piano.

Church Movie Night

The Bible study group that I am a part of had the idea to host two movie nights this fall/winter.  We would have some snacks and a craft and have a free will offering.  We would then use that money toward Vacation Bible School.  The first movie was Robin Hood.  I wanted Joel to enjoy the movie with all the other kids and people there and not throw a fit because he didn’t like the movie.  No one owned the movie so I volunteered to buy it because I wanted Joel to watch it.  We mostly kept the movie in the car and watched it many times, so much that Joel started to really like it.  During the movie Joel was one of the few kids that sat and watched the whole movie.  The movie night went well, I don’t know how many of the kids actually watched the movie.  A lot of them did crafts too.

Kristy, Cecilia and Luke working on making sheep.

Our second movie was The Polar Express.  I never got around to forcing Joel to watch the movie because we didn’t have it on DVD only on Netflix.  I tried putting it on once and he told me to turn it off that he didn't want to watch it.  He managed to pay attention for 2/3 of the movie at church.  The last 1/3 he sort of watched and ran around checking everything out and ate cookies!  Vincent sat so still through the movie, he only got up a couple times and that was to get snacks and to tell me the movie was making him nervous. Once I told him that the ending was good he was fine!  I had never seen the movie before and I thought it was really good.

The movie nights have been a great family time for us and hopefully other families too.  We get to see friends and pretend like we are at a movie theater without the stress (and cost) of bringing three small children to the movie theater!

Farming: A spill and driving during rush hour.

One of the things I worried about when I was filling grain trucks this fall is that I would spill.  No one would ever let me forget about it if I made a mess and who really wants to clean up a mess in the field.  I have never had to help in the past when there had been spills, but I have had to hear about it and it didn’t sound fun.

I was filling Brad’s truck this fall, toward the end of harvest and as I moved from filling the front hopper to the back hopper I noticed that the hopper door was open and I quickly shut off the PTO.  There was a nice pile of corn under the truck.  Brad was in the tractor talking to me at the time.   I quickly pointed out that it wasn’t my fault and he should have made sure his hopper doors were shut.  He said I was supposed to double check.  Which may be true, but I didn’t.  He grabbed a shovel and started throwing corn up and over the side of the trailer.  He made it look easy and I decided I better start helping.  I told him I would agree to help if he agreed it wasn’t my fault we were shoveling corn.  He mostly agreed and said it was 95% his fault, which to me rounds up to 100%!

I grabbed a shovel too and started shoveling corn up and over the side of the trailer it kept raining back down on me.  Brad thought it was hilarious!  He said “don’t you know how to shovel corn?”  I told him clearly not!  It turns out there is a proper technique to shoveling corn and you stand parallel with the trailer and basically lift the shovel straight up and over your shoulder and the corn nicely falls into the trailer.  It works so much better than what I was trying!  It is pretty easy too once you get the hang of it.  Brad and I had fun shoveling corn together, as much as that is possible.  It was quite the workout!  I am glad I didn’t wait longer to shut off the PTO.

A big mess!

We were trying to hurry so nobody else noticed what happened, but they finished the field while we were shoveling and they all (Bob, Craig, Efren and Randy) saw our mess.  Bob and Craig walked up with smirks on their faces and I quickly told them it wasn’t my fault!  I thought they would give us a hard time, but they didn’t.  Craig just started helping us scoop up the last little bit while Bob got the combine ready to move to the next field.

Driving to the next field was quite the test on my road driving skills.  I had a general idea of where the field was and how to get there, but I wasn't 100% sure where the field entrance was.  It was 5pm when we were driving and we had to drive on some busy 2 lane roads to get there.  I was following the combine, but Bob drives faster than I do and with all the traffic I ended up far behind him.  At one point as I was sitting at a very busy 4 way stop, where no one thought they should actually let the large tractor turn left, I lost sight of Bob.  Right about then a nice older man let me finally turn left and off I went to find the field.  I have never been so happy to get to a field!  When you see a tractor on the road please remember they are trying to feed you and don't get so upset that they are slowing down your travels.  We don't love driving on the road with you, but we have a job to do!

Kennidy's Play

Kennidy was in the play Pinocchio at her school.  She wasn’t just in the play she was Pinocchio!  We took the kids and went to see the play one Sunday afternoon.  There were actually two plays and the first one was Rumpelstiltskin.  They were all at Kennidy’s high school which is also where I went to school.  Kasi was kind enough to watch Joel and Cecilia during the first play and then they joined us to watch Pinocchio.   All the high school students did a great job!  I liked the Rumpelstiltskin play the best.  That being said I thought Kennidy and Annie did a great job in Pinocchio!!!  I just didn’t like the story of Pinocchio as much. 

Kennidy!

The cast!

Vincent did a great job watching the plays.   Cecilia did pretty well but got restless toward the end, but that was understandable.  Joel did really well until  the end when he was just tired of the whole thing.  He was crawling under our chairs to the row behind us.  Luckily it was Candy and Zack back there and he knows them.  After spending 15 minutes crawling on the floor under my seat and Brad’s seat Joel tried to just crawl out toward the aisle.  In the process he said “I gotta get out of here!”  I didn’t think it was that loud, but Kennidy heard it up on stage!  My mom left with Joel since she had already seen the play twice.  The high school kids did a great job especially Kennidy! 

Annie.

The cast!

Fall Colors

I have enjoyed fall so much this year!  October was so beautiful by us with all of the fall colors.  Our house is surrounded by trees and the color was amazing.  I just couldn’t believe it.  I took a lot of pictures by they didn’t do the color any justice.

View from the back door.

View from the back patio.

Somewhere in the backyard.

Looking from the front door toward the road.

Joel's climbing tree in the backyard.

Front yard.

With a lot of trees, comes a lot of leaves and our yard was full of leaves!  At first it was so much fun because you could easily make a pile for the kids to jump in.  At our old house it was a struggle to get enough leaves to make it fun, especially when it was windy.  At our new house I made 5 very large piles in about 20 minutes!  We had piles under the tree that Joel likes to climb.  Brad even made a big pile at the bottom of the slide.  It was a blast falling into it!

Cecilia, Vincent, and Joel and a lot of leaves.

Cecilia, Vincent and Joel in 1 of my leaf piles.

A pile of kids in a pile of leaves.

Vincent.

That pile is huge and there are so many more leaves!

After a good week or two of having fun in the leaves Brad and I realized we had a big problem.  The leaves weren’t going to leave on their own.  Even the windy days we had were not moving many leaves.  They were so thick that you couldn’t find the grass or see the bricks on the patio.   Brad used a leaf blower and mower and made a good dent in the yard.  It is definitely a new experience for us!

Looking from the road toward the house.

View from the pasture toward the east.

The trees in the pasture.

The magnificent color toward the east.

Somewhere in the pasture...I just love the yellow.  It was so much better in person.

Bath time

Our children are spoiled when it comes to bath time.  We frequently let them use the big bathtub in our room.  Sometimes I let them because they ask nicely, sometimes because I know it will motivate them to take a bath, and sometimes because I need to put my laundry away and I can do it will I watch them take a bath.  It is one of the benefits of not having any walls separate your bedroom and bathroom.  Once in a while if they have been really good I will even let them watch TV while they take a bath.  It is another benefit of not having walls.

A movie and a bath...spoiled kids!

In the summer when I would give them baths in our big bathtub I would just step in the bathtub to scrub them up and rinse them off.  It was easy and it worked.  Then cold weather came along.  At first I would take off my pants and stand in the bathtub, but after a time or two I decided that wasn’t a good plan.  So now I stand on the bathtub by the window and use the sprayer to hose the kids off.  Brad thinks it is hilarious, but it works for us!

Notice the plant ledge to the left...seriously why is that necessary?!

I have also been known to put all three kids in our shower.  I then climb on the plant ledge (why do we even have a live plant in our bathroom…it came with the house) and hand them soap and direct them from the ledge.  The way our shower is designed if you open the doors while the water is on you will flood the bathroom.  If we are in a hurry I put them in the shower, throw soap to them and Vincent washes everyone up.  It isn’t the best job, but it works when we are in a hurry. 

Shower time.

Halloween Fun!

In previous years Joel didn’t care about Halloween at all.  He didn’t like it actually.  He would sit in the stroller with the shade down a hat on his face and ignore the fact that anything was going on.  This year he was looking at a catalog and asked what something was.  I told him it was a batman costume that you can wear for Halloween.  He started asking to “go to Halloween.”  We talked about Halloween a little and he was pretty excited about it.  It was then that I knew he would probably go along with my idea of everyone being superheroes for Halloween.

My 3 superheroes!

Their very cool capes!

The superhero family!  Vincent, Brad, Joel, Kelli and Cecilia.

Grandma Diane made us all capes (Vincent already had one) and I made sweatshirts that looked like superhero shirts and masks for all the kids.  I made a sweatshirt for myself too, but not Brad.  He told me he wasn’t going to be able to go because he would be in the field.  It ended up raining that afternoon so he was able to go with us.  He was a little disappointed he didn’t have a cool sweatshirt to wear.  I knew I shouldn’t have listened to him and just made one.

I love Joel's expression!

Joel with his teacher at the Halloween Parade.

We had all be wearing our capes around well before Halloween Day because the kids loved to wear them and pretend we were all superheroes.  Many nights (and days) we would run around the house in them and race, wrestle and pretend to save people and things.  In the morning Cecilia and I went to Joel’s school to see their Halloween Parade.  We were then invited to stay for the class party.  Cecilia was so excited to stay and play with Joel and Joel was pretty excited to have us.  There are only 4 kids in his class and Cecilia was happy to be number 5 for the morning.  I really enjoyed seeing how he worked in his classroom.

Joel and Cecilia waiting for a snack.

Cecilia loved getting to go to Joel's school.

Already to go trick or treating.

After School Diane, Brad, the kids and I went to a nearby nursing home that offers trick or treating.  It is a very popular spot!  The residents are all lined up in two very large areas and hand out candy to all the kids.  It is indoors (except for the long line you stand in to get inside), safe, the kids love it and the residents like seeing the all the children dressed up.   Brad was helping Joel at the nursing home and he said that about half way thru Joel realized what was going on and no long had to be prompted to say trick or treat.  He really seemed to have fun.  Cecilia figured out the routine rather quick but kept just throwing her candy toward the bag and missing and moving on to the next person.  I spent my time picking her candy up off the floor. 

Super Cecilia.

Super Joel!

Afterwards we went to Aunt Linda’s house to trick or treat.  The rain was letting up by then so we went trick or treating around her block.  Vincent and Joel were running from house to house.  Joel wanted to go in everyone’s house at first because that is the normal thing to do after you ring a doorbell.  We had a lot of fun.  Before we got back to the car Joel spotted a very large puddle and managed to jump in it before we could stop him.  He was in heaven!  He loves puddles!  After Aunt Linda’s house we drove to my godparent’s house to trick or treat.  Aunt Kathy offered them fruit just to tease them and my kids were more than happy to have fruit instead of candy.  

The bag was as big as her!

Vincent and the dog.

Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I really enjoyed it this year!  It was fun that all three kids enjoyed it and I didn’t have to feel like I was torturing Joel by taking him with us.

Joel, a dog, and Vincent.

Carving Pumpkins

I enjoy carving pumpkins with the kids.  I enjoy it a lot more when Brad is around to help.  This  year we only carved 3 pumpkins.  My grandparents bought the kids pumpkins and I never ended up buying Brad or me a pumpkin.  The kids all decided how they wanted their pumpkin’s faces to be.  Vincent wanted a Frankenstein pumpkin.  The other two just picked different shapes for the eyes, ears, nose and mouth.  I started off carving them with a knife because Brad wasn’t really acting like he wanted to help.  Then I think I made him nervous with my carving skills and he went and got the power tools and started carving everyone’s pumpkins.  He does a really great job!

A little pumpkin chaos.

Brad convinced Joel to touch the pumpkin guts!

Vincent cleaning his pumpkin, Joel watching and Cecilia too close to the edge of the table.

I think Joel was hugging Vincent.

Vincent watching Daddy carve the pumpkin with power tools.

This year I decided I was going to cook the pumpkin seeds.  I sorted them, washed them, put them in the oven, forgot about them, put the kids to bed, and smelled burnt pumpkin seeds!  It was a huge disappointment.  Vincent cried the next morning and wanted to go get more pumpkins so we could try again.  I told him we would do better next year!

Much easier to make fun shapes.

Vincent and his pumpkin.

Cecilia and her pumpkin.

 

Post pumpkin wrestling match...Brad looks like he is losing.

Our pumpkins lived on the dining room table, until they got moldy and gross.  Joel loved them.  He would sit and he meals and talk to the pumpkins.  He would talk about what shapes they had on them, which pumpkin belonged to which kid.  He even pulled them in close to his plate and had lunch with them one day.  He just really enjoyed the pumpkins!

Our 3 pumpkins.

Joel having lunch with his friends.

He really loved having the pumpkins on the table.