The Combines

The combine demolition derby is a dying breed.  It's not your average derby, people.  That is why we made the effort to get there at 7:30 p.m. on a Monday.  With 3 machine lovin' kids - it was well worth the trip.  There was a huge crowd.  Now I understand why. 

The massive destruction that takes place when you put 9 of these machines in a small area is a bit mind blowing. The tires were popped on impact and these puppies road around with one or two good tires. Not sure how they do it. Not to mention the noise of the crunching metal.   Wow.

Take it from Sam, it is best to cover your ears. 

What's not to love about machines with things like "Eat Me" painted on the cutter bar?  I mean, it's a cultural experience.  I'm just glad that doesn't make any sense to our children.  Not yet, anyway.  Or the tires that said, "Bad Year" on them.  Get it?   The "Papa Smurf " combine that was painted blue made the fave list for our kids.  "The Hammer" was the winner and made out with some cash.  Lucky guy. 



Without further adieu, the combines:

If you ever get a chance, you better go to one, even just to say that you have. 

Crazy.  Weird.  Sort of ridiculous.  But fun.  Lots of fun. 

Did I mention you could get nachos and funnel cakes for snacks?  What's not to love?  

A Family, Part Deux

After a fun filled day in St. Louis, we headed north to Bears country.  Land of the White Sox, or Cubs if you roll that way.  The windy city - or windy, raining and FREEZING as our week turned out to be. 

Navy Pier was high priced, but a highly entertaining way to spend the afternoon - which turned out to be the only afternoon that it wasn't raining.  It was really beautiful.   

Who doesn't love rides and popcorn and a toddler dancing on the boardwalk?  And by toddler I'm referring to our toddler, who danced like crazy to the piped in music and made people laugh.  But then I tripped him accidentally and he fell on the concrete.  Why does the fun always have to end?   I digress....

There was true joy visible in our children on this outing.  No, we don't need to do anything extravagant or expensive to see that joy.  We see it everyday as they discover new things and play together.  But taking in the Chicago skyline while having cheese popcorn covered fingers always helps. 

About to enter the tourist zone.....

Riding the Ferris wheel

Once again, not afraid of heights like his Mom.

Riding the wheel and looking sweet.

Ella (in pink) gleefully riding the swings

that make me want to puke just watching....

 I think this one is my favorite. 

Owen runs away when I try to take his picture,

but not after playing 18 holes of mini golf with Daddy. 

BEST DAY EVER!!!!

 This wasn't even posed. 

 Adorable.....watching a water fountain.

A Family, Part One

This family of 5 doesn't get out much.  An attempt is always made to have family dinners and work on projects together over the weekends.  But with Jason's busy job and 1 hour commute, there can be a lack of time for good old family fun.  

The first two days of our trip to Chicago were all about us.  We saw the sites.  We went up really high in the sky.  We got a parking ticket.  That part stunk, but I'm over it.  We frolicked in the grass.  We pushed our comfort level.  It was all really great, except that parking ticket part.  And the part where thousands of people playing soccer took all the hotel rooms in the area kind of stunk too.  I felt like Mary and Joseph without the with-child thing and the donkey and the ending was different.  After needing to stop for ice cream to drowned our woes, we found a hotel room.  It all worked out for the greater good.  

Our first stop was The St. Louis Gateway Arch.  A national monument was a great place to start.  We learned all kind of facts like how tall it is (630 feet) and how long it took to build (2.5 years) and that it can sway 1 inch in 20 mph wind.  I had to google that information because I had forgotten the details and my encyclopedia of a daughter is already in bed.  Why does she remember these things and I don't?  I'm old.  

Two fun Sam memories stick out from that day: calling a stuffed buffalo in the Arch museum a "buffamo" over and over; then as we ate dinner at Union Station, he watched a woman who worked in the food court sweep under his high chair and he promptly said, "Thank you!".  This dear woman was shocked and told him that he made her day.  Classic toddler talk is always endearing.  

I am so thankful that my children haven't inherited, or yet developed, my fear of heights.  Thankfully, the camera is in my hands and I had something much more wonderful to view, those little cherubs. Here are some photo highlights from St. Louis:

Owen took this one while standing directly under the Arch.  Yup, we're going up there.

You want me to ride it what to get to the top?  They made me get in this tiny little pod and ride for 4 minutes.  They MADE me do it.  Those kids are so mean.  Don't they look mean? 

 Sam looking out the view windows from the top - watching the barges on the Mississippi. 

The backsides of my children as they lay on the viewing area looking down 643 feet.

Owen thinks it's pretty cool. 

A crazy shadow on the Mississippi. 

 Ella and the monument.  Both are very dramatic. 

Because I like lying on the ground in public places.....

If Ella wasn't smiling, this may look like something out of COPS.

"I promise kids!  I won't make you do that again!  Now can I please have some ice cream?"

Fortunate

I feel very fortunate.  I feel very blessed.

I suffer from trip anxiety prior to any trip we take.  If it weren't for my very sweet husband, we may not go anywhere.  Ever.

The stress of packing up a family of 5 doesn't bother me (I've made a great computer generated list to make that part easy).  But the planning, getting the animals taken care of,  and remembering to unplug every item in the house to prevent a fire when we are gone starts to wear on me.

What if Sam doesn't nap?

What if he won't nap once we go back home?

What if the kids are crabby the whole time?

What if I forget to remove an item from the refrigerator that rots by the time we get back?

What about all the stuff we need to get done at home?  

What if we spend more than our budgeted amount of money?

Blah, blah, blah....

If this anxiety is timed with a certain week during the month then there will be a major meltdown associated with the pre-trip planning.  It can get ugly.

So here we are, sitting in our hotel room on the 11th floor in a suburb of Chicago.  While Jason is off working as a physicist (I can't even spell that word), Sam is on hour 3 of a nap in the bedroom.  I just woke from a nice slumber in the middle of the day - something I don't ever do back home.  Ella and Owen are starring like zombies at the television.  The only thing they have said in the past 2 hours is, "Mom!  Look what happened to the---" when the t.v. lost a signal for about 3 seconds.  Tragedy.  (I figure since they don't watch t.v. back home that it will all balance out.  Right?)  I just ate a piece of Chicago style pizza left-over from dinner last night.  I ate half of it cold and the rest hot just to see how I liked it better.  It was so good that I would eat it frozen.  Well, you know what I mean.

I can't help think of how fortunate we are to be enjoying the luxury of food and shelter.  It makes my anxiety about taking a trip seem really ridiculous.   I feel so blessed to watch my kiddos sail through long car rides, be in awe of big cities and to see their excitement when we first walked in to our hotel room.  Who am I kidding?  I was the one jumping on the king size bed and doing a happy dance when I saw the little kitchen.   That is the same dance I did when I saw a Target across the parking lot and a Costco 2.7 miles away.

These are all luxuries.  They reach beyond our basic needs by a long shot.  I might still have anxiety about trips, but I hope I can always remember how fortunate we are to take them.

Now off to snuggle with Owen and read some books.  It seems he is actually tired of watching t.v......

A Date

Ella loves to write letters to Daddy while he is away at work.  They usually end up being taped to our bedroom door for him to discover.  Sometimes they contain her narrative of our Bible verse for the day.  Other times they are just simple wishes for his day.

This was one he received last month.  Unfortunately, she inherited my gene for spelling.

He said he would love to.

She began planning what they would both wear and what restaurant they would go to.  Here were the choices for food:

Her excitement built each day.  This note was left on the kitchen table the night before the big date.  She was lucky for spell check on this one.

I snapped a photo of them, wearing the outfits Ella had chosen, just before they left. 

They ate at Skoops, a local malt shop and burger joint (that happens to have the best malts known to man), and discussed the drama of 6-year-old life - along with other important world happenings. 

I hope her future husband knows what he will have to live up to.  

On The Verge

This winter has passed by very quickly.

It must be that we live in a climate where we have not been buried in snow since November, or the fact that people here plant potatoes in February.  True, we are 10 days from the first official day of spring.  Yet spring is here, if not just in my mind.  

It seems that the Minnesota winters of my lifetime have poured over in to the spring months and it wasn't until May of each year that I could really wrap my head around the pleasantries of flowers and gardens and walking around without boots.   It isn't like that now on our little hobby farm in Kansas.  I like calling it a hobby farm.  It makes me feel a little giddy. 

We are on the verge of an explosion of events around these parts.  That may be a bit dramatic.  I hope nothing will explode.  But these next weeks and months will be marked by new babies (not from my uterus-thankfully), several significant outdoor house and land projects, not to mention our first attempt at a large vegetable garden.  All of these things could take a great deal of time and should have involved some planning over the winter months.  However, winter didn't really feel like winter.  Where was the down time that was supposed to happen in January and February?  I can't count how many times we could be heard last fall saying, "We can do that over the winter months".   There is a very long list of things that haven't happened.

I need a full-time nanny.  And a housekeeper.  And a chef.  And for Jason to be a stay-at-home dad.  

I really don't need any of those things.  We would have no money and likely gain a ton of weight if we had all those things.  And without money we couldn't do any projects.

All of the things that occur this spring will happen, if truly necessary, in His perfect time.  The feeling of being on the verge of something major happening is exciting and stressful.  There are very few days that I ever feel as if we are just coasting - despite our very relaxed life in the country.  I am thankful for the anticipation of events on the horizon, as long as I can keep an eternal perspective of what is really important - which is one of my greatest challenges. 

If I'm not around for one of the births on the farm, then so be it.  If we don't get the garden to really take off this year, then maybe we will next year.  If Sam skips a nap because of his new found ability to leap out of his crib, he is still really cute.  If we don't cover all the math concepts for home education that I thought we would, my children will still be great kids.   But if I can't get my computer to upload photos from my camera, well, then..... I will be just fine, I know.   

Even if we can't post photos, we will certainly keep you updated on our spring adventures.  We are on the verge of making fun memories - and hopefully I won't need to put my arm inside our birthing goat.  That would really make for an interesting spring. 

Pajamas

We have never had matching outfits in our house, so these pajamas are especially special.  They were handmade by Grandma Sue Tracy!  We love our cozy flannel sleepwear.   

We took advantage of yesterdays bad weather and stayed in our pj's all day.  It was the perfect opportunity for a picture of our matching snow-people covered outfits!  Don't we look happy?  Try to ignore the bad hair and lack of makeup on a certain Mom in the picture......and the baby who couldn't figure out the auto-timer on the camera to know when to smile.  Even the dog had a flannel bow, but she was more interested in eating that than posing for a family photo. 

In the midst of the blizzard we had a wonderful family day.  How thankful we are for a warm home, a full pantry and a job that let Daddy stay home and play Legos, while avoiding the massive snow drifts - at least for one day!    

A New Chance Each Day

My dear friend, Lori, has the most amazing way of finding the silver lining in situations that turn out different than originally anticipated.  Her optimism speaks volumes about her beautiful soul and faith in God's sovereignty over our lives.  

Tonight is not the way we had planned, or hoped, to bring in 2011.  We have a fun tradition of spending time with friends, while eating fondue, reviewing the past year and making predictions for the next.  We have even been known to play Guitar Hero until the wee hours of morning.  We can be pretty wild.  

Instead, we are banished to our house with a nasty bug that has been hanging on for days.  Five days of fevers, coughs and exhaustion has taken a toll on all of us.  I made brownies instead of dinner -since no one wanted to eat anything.  At least I still have my priorities straight, even if they just sit in the pan longing to be eaten.  

The concept of starting new in a new year is always exciting and motivating.  Yet what gets me each year around this time is the opportunity that is given each day, each moment that we live, to start new.  God's promise of redemption and starting clean isn't just in this transition of hanging a new calendar on the wall.  I am in awe of this blessing on my family and need to remind myself that we don't need the perfect tradition to welcome January 1.  We can have the same feelings of excitement and motivation in every breath, in all that we do. 

It is our Christmas present from God that we get to open everyday.

It is our chance to start again. 

So what is our silver lining today?  
Time as a family.  Wearing pajamas all day.  Doing projects around the house. Snuggling with sick kiddos that don't want to be out of our arms......

We look forward to fondue that will be rescheduled, and are thankful for God's promise of new life as we bring in a new year - in a very quiet house. 

A Christmas With Family

It was a beautiful Christmas celebrating Christ's birth with our family in Minnesota.  We had a  whirlwind trip, full of unanticipated moments that only children can bring.  Like the screams of joy that ensued as we could see downtown Minneapolis approaching on the drive up north.  Or sleeping on the floor next to Owen, who was sick on Christmas Eve - but not too sick to wake up and open up his stocking.  

There were many people who were missed in my picture taking over those crazy two days.  But I am thankful for the memories that were captured on film and those that were not.  We are blessed to have so much love in our lives.  We are thankful for Christ's coming and that we can celebrate His presence each day.  

In order of appearance - some of our moments with family:

Reading books with Auntie Christine

 Ella and Mark

 Ryan, Ella, Owen and Mark

 Owen and Mark....don't they look like trouble? 

 Ryan and Ella

 Auntie Christine and Samuel

 Reading the Advent Story with Ella, Auntie Lisa, Naomi and Owen

 I love all of the different faces in this one!  Lisa, Naomi, Owen and Grandma Sue

 Ella and Auntie Megan

 Ella and Naomi

Christmas Photo Shoot

It is 50 degrees in December and I can handle that.  

In my eagerness to take advantage of the nice weather, I brought all the kids outside by myself, despite runny noses and bad attitudes, hoping to get just one nice picture of the three of them.  

I can't say that I had success.  No one wanted to cooperate at the same time.  Such is life.  And it tells a story.....

 

Marshmallows

 Who knew that marshmellows could bring such happiness and not just a sugar high?  

Jason and the kiddos built a little fire pit and finally had the perfect evening for it's maiden voyage.  They made their own roasting sticks and searched for dry wood to make the fire.  I am so glad that I married an Eagle Scout.  

Grandma Sue is visiting from Minnesota and led us in a rousing campfire song.  We burned many marshmallows and had lots of sticky fingers. 

It felt like vacation, except we actually live here.  Love it.

 

Then we devoured the stew waiting in the crock-pot, homemade bread and finished it off with rhubarb cake - recipe compliments of Great Grandma Naomi.  It was a perfect fall day, complete with the satisfaction that there wasn't any snow on the ground (no offense to all the Minnesota residents who are loving the blizzard right now.....do you realize that snow could be there for the next 6 months?).   

Here's to marshmallows and the smiles that happen when they are around.