Trying not to blink.

Life these days never seems to slow down.

There never really is a dull moment when you are a wife and mama and teacher and sister and daughter and friend and the list goes on and on with the many hats that fit on my head throughout the day.

I feel extremely fortunate that I get to wear all of these "hats" and I try to give each one the best part of me while I am wearing it.

If I am being completely honest however, it is very difficult to juggle all of these roles and give each one all that I should.

The other day while I was in the midst of one of those harried moments, (you know those moments when you want a magic fairy to come and take you far, far away because life can't possibly get any more stressful) Travis reminded me that we only have a few short years left with these crazy kids before they 'fly' away.

At that moment as I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth and told him, "I know," I didn't really know.

I wasn't thinking about it because I was so preoccupied with my grumpiness I didn't let it sink in.

Later that night after whatever craziness had long been forgotten and the kids were snuggly tugged into their beds I laid awake letting those words in.

He was right, of course.

We don't have many more years left with them.

'With children, the days are long but the years are short.'

These long, stress filled days are turning into very short, blink and you miss them, years.

So, when it became apparent that little man and I would be the only ones home I stopped.

The computer was shut, my phone was put away, and my complete attention was on him and what he wanted to do.

This is the total JOY that followed...




I may just have nightmares sneaking into my slumber tonight...

I don't know if he will remember this day or not, but I know that it is a day that will forever be written on my soul.

Thanks for the play date Ty..I had a blast!

A Secret Hideaway.

My two littles have been busy little worker bees the past few days and I haven't seen very much of them.

'Busy with what?' you ask. 

Well, up until last night they wouldn't say too much. 

All we knew was that they were in the woods behind the spot where their calves are kept all summer long. 

They finally allowed us to come and see what they had been keeping secret for those long days. 

Welcome to their secret spot...a little place I am now dubbing 'Terabithia'. ..

This is the stuff that dreams are made of...

As the sunlight filtered through the trees and I sat there on one of those pails, I couldn't help but be transported back in time.

Back to a time where I was no longer their 30- something year old mama, but more like a kid myself.

I suddenly had the urge to use my seemingly dormant imagination to help them create this new world...

How could I not when I was surrounded by so much beauty and possibility?

'With a mind like yours wide open, you could create a whole new world.'  

This is one of my favorite quotes from Terabithia by Katerine Paterson.

I am savoring moments like this and cherishing these kids of mine and their wild imaginations.

Summer is nearly over but when we are in our Terabithia, it seems to last forever. 

in the home stretch...

Summer is fading fast and I am caught between wanting to savor every minute of vacation I have left or getting ready for the upcoming school year in 3rd grade instead of 2nd! 

I am trying to lean toward the first option but it is becoming harder and harder as we count down the days we have left! 

Here is a glimpse at our week...

And look at what this guy has coming up soon...

It was a little tough for me when he tried it on today and I kept thinking....'if only your Grandpa was here to see this.' 

Tanner, he would be your #1 fan and would teach you so much about the game! 

My big, little tough guy is growing up way too fast for this mama! 

Proud to be a raising FARM kids!

This past week there was a story in our local news about a little boy who died while riding with his dad and brother in a tractor on their family farm.

My heart breaks for this family and although I believe that it was the right thing for the news to report on the story, it was not ok for the newspaper to write a front page story about kids and farm safety so soon after this families horrific tragedy.

I believe that those of us who are raising our children on farms know the risks and dangers they might face when they help out or tag along.

We have taught and continue to teach them about safety every single day.

But I want a story to be told about the BENEFITS of raising your children on a farm, and it is my belief that they by far out number all of the risks and dangers the public likes to report on.

Accidents happen every single day whether it be in a car, an airplane, home, work, school, or on a farm...we can live our life in constant fear of the 'what-if's' or we can choose to live each day to the fullest and allow our children to see all of the beauty that this world offers!

This past week, we brought the kids to the West Ottertail County Fair where we all had a great (albeit HOT) time being together.

We met new friends, spent time with family, and took care of a couple of very cute farm calves. 

I am so PROUD to be raising these farm kids of mine! 

All three participated in the tractor pull....

And Ty even took 2nd place in his age division (he told me later he was happy he got 2nd because he got a "boy" colored orange trophy and not the other one that was purple)...silly boy!

This was Madi's first time pulling and she did a great job against some pretty stiff competition!

Tanner improved from his last tractor pull by about 20 feet and came in 3rd.

See the girl on the far right in this photo? She ended up winning and we found out later that she had qualified for nationals in tractor pulling twice in the past...Tanner and the other boys didn't stand a chance, you should have seen her go!!

All ready to show his 4H dairy calf, Sweetie, on Friday morning. This year their 'city girl' mama got it right and found some white pants at a thrift store...apparently this is the required showing outfit for dairy....I learn something new everyday!

She lives for this stuff and had a blast!

Her calf, Squiggles, is pretty spoiled and eats up all of the attention it gets from Madi and her friends (as well as other fair go-ers).

Madi made a lot of new friends this year.

This is her friend Erica who showed a dairy calf and was right next to us in the barn.

They are still cloverbuds (which means they aren't officially judged yet) but I was pretty proud when they wanted to show their calves by themselves (usually a grown up has to go in with the kids). They did great!

Ty had a fun week with his buddy Jack.

These two are going to be trouble at the fair in a couple of years...they liked to run and spy on the girls (their sisters) a lot this week and seemed to be happiest when they were getting into some kind of mischief.

It was their idea to jump in the straw pile behind the calves...

And pretty soon the girls followed suit.

We loved the shake shed and had lots of wonderful shakes (it was a bonus when we were served by our fellow Pelican 4H friends!)

We even took some time to ride the rides on the midway.

This was the first year that we have participated in the 'Barnyard Olympic Games' and I have a feeling we are going to be doing them a lot in the coming years...it was a TON of fun!

Tanner and his friend Hunter won the egg toss in their division (kids 5th grade and under) and were pretty pumped!

Check out the distance on that toss...can you see the egg in the air?

Getting ready for tug of war.

PULL!!

Although it looks like they were competing with each other, thankfully they weren't, or we would have had some tears!

The girls are all from our club and they had a guy from another club join in.

We even added a new member to our family when Madi adopted a kitten from the children's barn. She is trying to convince us to let it live in the house...I'll keep you updated on who wins that battle.

I know that they would agree with me when I say that they are LUCKY to be a farm kid!