A few months back Trevor had bought me a t-shirt that said BRUNETTE'S GO TO HEAVEN BUT BLONDE'S GET LOST ALONG THE WAY. Nikia had asked me what it said the first time I wore it and I told her and thought nothing more about it.

This morning when I was fixing Nikia's hair she was looking in the mirror at my hair with kind of an odd expression and said "So, I guess now, you get lost and you go too."

me: Ummm, what are you talking about?"

nikia: Well, remember that shirt Daddy bought you?

me: Which shirt?

nikia: The one that says you get to go to heaven

me: Oh, yeah

nikia: Well, now it looks like you get lost and you get to go too.


NICE!! I might have caught on sooner, but I wasn't even wearing the shirt. I guess those blonde streaks are a little too prominent!!

Ladies, I'd like to ask you to all pray for my little girl. Nikia is still having a real hard time with her Great-Grandpa's death. Remember when my Grandpa died and how she was there and saw everything? Almost everyday with tears in her eyes, Nikia tells me how she misses him so much. She's asked me if it's still okay to cry about missing him. Yesterday, she described to me the scene of the accident again. The other day I was taking a shower and when I got done I found a note that she had slid under my door. It was a picture of a little girl with tears rolling down her cheeks and it said "I really miss Grandpa". Today, she told me that she wished she was in heaven so she could see Grandpa. I know being at the farm and seeing his empty house doesn't help (I still have a very hard time with it too). She used to go to his house often just to see him and have a cookie and chat with him. About a month before he died he had slipped and fell and broke a bone in his arm, and Nikia was his "nurse" to make him all better. She brought him water, the paper, a Kleenex, his slippers, etc... She had such a special place in her heart for him and now his death and all the visual memories of the accident are really hard for her. I know God knows how to mend her heart and I just ask that you say an extra prayer for Nikia.

Thank you!!

Last Days of School

The last days of school were jammed pack with lots of fun stuff for the kids. Nikia's last day was on Thursday and it started out with her graduation. The kindergartener's program included demonstrating they could count to 100, they said the months and the days of the week, they said nursery rythmes, sang songs and said the alphabet in sign language and they also signed an animal for each letter (that was very cool).

After graduation they traveled to the zoo for the rest of the day and ate their sack lunches in the park. Of course Nikia couldn't resist to touch the snake as it passed by her during the presentation. EWWW!!

On Monday, Kale's class had their "field trip". They went to the the HyVee grocery store for a "behind the scenes" tour and to the Fire Department for another tour and then to the rec. center to swim. Friday, however was his last day of school and they had their "field day". They had various activities to do: three-legged race, dodge-ball, kickball, water balloon toss, 100 yard dash, tug of war, and inflatables to jump in. It was an amazing day and fun to watch all the kids have so much fun.

To celebrate school's end and summer's begin Friday evening, we went to Pizza Hut and then Shreck The Third . The kids and I loved the movie! It was a perfect way to end the school year.

It's The Thought That Counts!

Yesterday my little princess decided to make me breakfast. I usually never eat breakfast so this was indeed a sweet treat. Just how much of a SWEET treat you ask...........

I'm not sure if she dropped the jelly jar on the toast or if she just thought I liked a lot of jelly with a little toast. Either way, she made my morning sweet.

Just a couple pictures from Mother's Day.

It was a beautiful Mother's Day. We went to church and taught a Sunday School class and then out to eat at a delicious buffet. Then we went home changed clothes and headed to the farm. Nikia rode horse with her cousin Lexi. I was going to ride also but I had to help Kale with his homework first. By the time we got finished, the girls were done riding. BUMMER! Trevor helped my Dad work on his boat. Then, we all went driving around looking for carp to spear. (Since we've had so much rain the creeks are full and the carp have made their way to our neighborhood). I really wish I would have had my camera with me. It was a lot of fun. To finish out the evening I went to Spiderman 3 with my Sister-In-Law, my niece and nephew. We went to the late movie, I was so tired I actually found myself falling asleep a couple of times. Oops! It was a good movie - just a little too long.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms!

I hope you have a very relaxing, and enjoyable day of pampering. May your husband take you out to eat to a delicious buffet with all your favorite foods and may your children clean your house for you.

Okay, Okay.....just make mac n cheese and leave the house looking like it does.

It's your day....don't stress over it... enjoy it!!!! After all - it's those people (husband and kids) that qualified you to partake in the "Mother's Day" holiday in the first place.

Have a fun weekend with your family!!

Hauling Pairs To Pasture

We bring up pairs from the pasture to these corrals. Sometimes we get two or three pairs at a time, and sometimes just one pair at a time.....

Once we get ten pairs (because that's all the trailer can hold per load) into the corrals then we sort off the calves from the cows. This little rascal snuck back in the pen with his mama...not for long, we shoved him under the panel........

Bringing the calves down the alley to load them into the trailer......

Once the calves are in the trailer we spray on Dectomax - aids in keeping the ticks, fleas, and lice off of them. This is Shane, Dad and my Sister-In-Law Terri, getting the spray set up.....

Oops, no picture of just the cows - but next we load up the cows into the trailer and spray them as well. Then they are hauled to their new pasture for the summer.....







Then, back down to the pasture to get more pairs. We used three 4-wheelers. Notice the mud flying behind Trevor's 4-wheeler - we had to go through this mud hole every time so naturally we (Trevor, Shane and I) would always try to plaster the others with as much mud as possible. Hey, we try to make everything we do fun!!!

Finally, after hauling around 70 pairs out, we're done.....for now. Once more cows have their calves we'll do some more hauling. (click on this picture - you can see just how speckled with mud our faces are)

It was such a beautiful day for working with the cows - not too hot, not too cold. No one got hurt, and only a couple of cows got a little feisty. I was hoping to get a picture of us all when we got done but my camera batteries died - BUMMER!. We were soooooo muddy. My hair literally had clumps of mud in it - thanks to Shane and Trevor. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that they had plenty of mud clumps on them from my 4-wheeler too. Ha Ha!!! All in all - it was a perfect day!!!

Another Day on the Farm......

Warning! this may not be for those with weak stomachs.

Yesterday I saw something I haven't seen in awhile...... We had a heifer (young cow having her first calf) cow that was having problems having her calf and so after getting her in the barn Dad and Shane tried to pull the calf but it still just wasn't coming so they gave the Vet a call. The Vet (I'm trying not to be too graphic here for those with a weak stomach, just use your imagination on how they do this - it's not just fingers - it the whole hand and arm that goes in) could feel that the calf's head was twisted way back and to the side, also, by now he could tell that the calf was not alive anymore. The doc gave her an epidural to ease the cow a little (even cows get tired of labor pains). After much work trying various things to get the calf's head to the position it should be, a second Vet, with much more experience (whom we would've preferred in the first place) was called in. He tried for a while as well and decided the only next option was a C-section. Now, for those of you ladies that have had one of these, it really is quite similar except they make the incision on the cows side rather than underneath on their tummy. Could you really imagine a cow laying on her back with her feet sticking up in the air? Not going to happen! They shaved the hair on the cows side in the area about the size of a basketball, and gave her a good wash with soap and water (they try to make it as sterile as possible - even for a cow). He numbed her up in that area and then the doc begins with the knife and cuts about a 6 - 8 inch incision. That's all the farther I'll take you on that - it really is the same as surgery on a person. I'd hate to gross you out with the finer details, if I haven't already, but it was simply amazing.

Through all of this the heifer just layed their, wide awake, calm as could be. After they pulled the calf out the Doc dumped an entire bottle (about a quart) of antibiotics into the incision area (don't want a chance of infection). When the Doc was all done stitching her back up (which was about three different layers to stitch), we untied her and she stood up just as perfect as could be (well, she did look a little worn out).

We decided that since her calf was dead that we would put a different calf with her (one that had belonged to a cow that had to be sold the other day). Cows go by the scent of their calf and so to get the heifer to take this other calf we had to make it smell like her calf. Well, the easiest way to do that is to take the "afterbirth" from the dead calf and smear all over the new calf (gross and disgusting -I know - I had to hold down the calf while Shane smeared - EWWWWW). Anyways, it worked like a charm. We put the new "smelly" calf in the pen with the cow and almost 2 minutes later the calf was drinking from it's new mama. YAY! It doesn't always work that smoothly - many times a cow just won't take a different calf.

I've seen C-sections performed on cattle before - but it truly is amazing each time. I guess if you made it through all of that without losing your breakfast or your coffee - you're doing pretty good. I had honestly thought about taking some pictures for you to see, but thought some of you "city" gals just might not appreciate it so much. So, no visuals. I hope I didn't get too detailed for you, but I thought some of you would find it pretty interesting. If not, and you're totally grossed out - Sorry!

Unanswered Questions...

Thought since I really had nothing else to write about today - unless you're interested in picking rock, fixing fence, tagging calves, loading a huge tank into a truck to haul liquid fertilizer, helping Dad make a few changes to the sprayer, bottle feeding calves, hauling a few more cows to the sale barn (except one who refused to let us chase her up to the barn - don't worry, her day is coming).........I'd answer some of the questions you had about our school's prom.

I really should hand these questions over to Miss Frazzled Farm Wife or even Lurker Lauri as they had kids dressed up for the evening event. But, since Miss Lurker doesn't have her own site up YET... and I'm sure Miss FFW is working hard on her farm today, I'll give it my best attempt.

First of all, when you attend as many school events as we do, and you attend a smaller size school, you get to know the students pretty well, and they get to know you and your children as well.

Their evening starts out with a banquet and then they have a Grand March and then the dance and then depending on the year (every-other-year trip) they head to Kansas City for a day of fun.

For the Grand March each couple is introduced (as proud parents, grandparents, and people who just go to see what everybody is wearing and how well they all "clean up") and walk down a very beautifully decorated "red carpet", spot light shining on them as they stop and pose for pictures and show off their date and their selected dress and tux for the evening. Only one couple on the "carpet" at a time so you get a good look at them - and so they're nerves are rattled a little too! After each couple has made their entrance the music begins and the boys find their moms and the girls find their dads and they share a very special dance ( I love that part - can't wait till my boy dances with me someday - for now we dance in the kitchen). Then the lights come up a bit (usually- not this year, they stayed dim and it was a little hard to get the best pictures) and the spectators can make their way to the floor and take pictures with whomever. The best part is that the high school kids are so willing to take the pictures with everyone. After that, they make their way into yet another beautifully decorated room and the real music of the evening begins. Except this time, no spectators, just chaperone's and the couples. Then at 1:00 am they get on a bus and the trip begins.

Hope that covered all the questions. If I missed anything or got anything wrong Miss FFW and LL can feel free to correct me or add anything.

Wahooo!

Only 13 more days of school !!!

....thats all I have to say today.

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY

NIKIA SHAE

I just can't imagine life without my little May Day baby. She is a breath of fresh air with a heart so sensitive it melts often. She has a love for people and animals like no other I've known. She probably gives out a hundred hugs a day with a smile that can bring sunshine to anyone.

Over her tiny little lifespan, she has accumulated a nickname from a few family members...(for real, this is what we all call her)

Mom ~ Princess
Dad ~ Sunshine
Kale ~ Squirt
Grandma ~ Sweetheart
Grandpa ~ Fuzzball
Uncle Shane ~ Hairball
Lexi and Tylor ~ Squeekers
Natasha ~ Bummers

Fuzzball and Hairball - don't ask, I can't even remember how that got started but considering who it is that calls her those names there is no telling what the story is.

These last six years have gone by so quickly. Knowing she's my last baby makes it even a little harder to watch her grow out of the baby and toddler years. I know there is no holding this child back though. The other day she was telling me how she would be moving out soon and going to college and then probably getting married. (What??) I told her I wasn't going to let her go but she said I had to. What is she 6 going on 26? That's one of the hard things too - she wants to be a "big girl" and grow up and do the big girl things. Her two older cousins (Lexi and Natasha) have become quite the role models for her. She can't wait to do everything they are doing. I guess since I can't slow her down any I'll just have to try to keep up with her.

We've decided to hold off on a "friends" party until a little later in the summer. I've convinced her that a party at the outdoor pool would be really awesome. So, we'll have just a little family party with cake and a few presents and call it good for now.