Preston is 17!

Preston is 17 years old today.  We celebrated with his favorites - pizza and brownies.  And then he loaded up the car with his sisters and off they went to sonic for milk shakes.  This kid is smart, opinionated, well informed on current events, caring, a smart a$$ occasionally, but he always redeems himself.  He is also an incredibly hard worker, an emphatic soul, and amazingly helpful.  We are so blessed that he is our son.  Happy birthday Preston!  We love you!  

Today I was thinking about Preston.  I remember being on vacation in South Dakota, and telling Jim 4 kids was definitely not enough.   Jim being Jim, said he needed time to think about that.  Then I reminded him that he promised me a big family.  A few months later, we found out we were having a boy.  The day I went into labor, we still could not agree on a name for him.  If you come from a big family, and then have multiple children yourself, the name game gets difficult.  I can’t imagine our lives without Preston, and I cannot think

 of a more suitable name for him.  Our family is blessed because he is a part of it.  

A fun Sunday

Yesterday, while we were at the rodeo, Evelyn got to go pumpkin picking.  She is very excited about Halloween this year!   I love these pictures so much!   When she was here today for lunch, she was telling me she cut her pumpkins. She said the seeds are gross.  

Harper and Saige participated in the children’s mass at Scranton today.  I always enjoy this.  I love the people at Scranton, and was happy to see them!   I love where we go to church, but Scranton will always hold a special place in my heart.  I sincerely appreciate them including  our kids in Religion Ed there.   

Since the boys (and Spencer) were back in town, we had Sunday lunch instead of Sunday dinner.  We enjoyed an easy afternoon of watching football and visiting.  This week is going to be busy, so having an easy, fun Sunday was appreciated by me.   

rodeo day for Colin

A few weeks ago, Colin called to tell me he was going to be competing in the international Lineman’s rodeo in Bonner Springs.  He was pretty excited and told me to bring the whole family.  I told him we would definitely be there!   

Backtrack a moment, yesterday, Jim was in an enormous amount of pain.  The plan had been for me to take him to the chiropractor when I got home from work.  The kids were off school yesterday, so I wasn’t even in a time crunch to get back to drive the bus.  By the time I got home and it was time to leave for the appointment, Jim was laying on the floor howling.  We ended up calling an ambulance and going to the ER instead.  They said it was his sciatic nerve.  They gave him a lot of pain meds and sent us home.  He is feeling some better, but a day of walking and standing was just not in the cards for today.  So Grace went along as a substitute dad, and Jim stayed home and  got text updates.  

Colin competed in 4 events today.  We missed the first one, which was knot tying.  We were able to watch him while he “rescued” a dummy off a pole, and when he was doing an obstacle  course.  He did a great job!  We are so proud of him!  

They also had a lot of stuff for the kids to do. They enjoyed riding bucket trucks and getting crazy amounts of free stuff.   They even snagged some free shirts and  hats.  

Cameron was able to drive over from Manhattan as well!   Colin’s work fed us all a great lunch and I enjoyed spending the day with some of the kids, and Grace.  

Cameron also got Preston a ticket to the KSU game for this evening and is having Preston stay over tonight.  Preston was pretty excited.  Enough so, that he agreed to wearing masks and capes with Cameron and his friends.  We even saw them on tv!  

Since the boys are all gone, and Quincy is at work, the girls were entertaining us during the time outs.  The game was not really worth watching so I was happy to have the distraction.   

This was a great day!  I am happy but exhausted!  

How in the heck

 

Today is my birthday.  First, I would like to thank Jim for the extra special gift of gob’ment cheese.  I sincerely don’t know how that will ever be topped as a birthday surprise.  

Second, I would like to ask a question….what the heck happened to the last 10 years?   Seriously, I have lost track of a decade. I remember telling my Grandma as a young adult how fast time was flying by, and she responded “oh honey, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”   She was a wise woman.  And third, I was super happy to hear from all of the kids today.  If I accomplish nothing more in my life, at least I know I have some amazing children.  My heart is full and happy tonight.  

And who wouldn’t be happy after having an almost perfect day?  The weather was near perfect.  The beans are my favorite color. The bus kids sang to me.  Jim and Evelyn treated me to lunch at Los Vaqueros, complete with wearing the birthday sombrero and fried ice cream (thanks a bunch to my cousins).  I got cupcakes and brownies!   My mom treated us to breakfast.   I am incredibly blessed.   And the best part?  No school tomorrow!   

It’s going to be a great 3 day weekend!!!   

Three day weekend

Because the 4-H was having a crazy day of activities, we had Saturday dinner.  Evie discovered that the karaoke machine gives her an edge on her ability to be heard when singing, as well as bossing people around.  She makes us all laugh.  I am glad that the kids come over on the weekends and hang out with us, it is a blessing to have the time to spend together.  

This weekend was 48 hours of 4-H, which is a national event that encourages clubs to participate in community service, or doing some other project together as a club.  Our club participated by removing some mulch that was left behind after stumps were ground up.  When we were asked to do this, I thought oh that is a small cemetery, it won't take too long.  There were 21 stumps.  I was expecting 2 or 3.  It was a lot of work.  The people who live across the street from the cemetery paid the kids to place the mulch around their fruit trees.  I was not expecting that the project would take us a few hours, or that it would be quite as warm in October!  We did get it finished.  I was very proud of the kids.  They all worked really hard!  

We also had our fall party after the work was done.  The whole party was planned by some of our senior members, and they did a really nice job.  I think the kids who were there all had a lot of fun.  

Holding these events during this weekend means we can say we participated in a national event, which helps our club when it comes time for the year end paperwork.  It was a fun, but exhausting day!

Which means I am super duper happy that the kids (and Jim) had today off.  No school means I got to sleep past 5:00 am and that they are all available to help me with a couple of projects that we need to finish today!  They might not have been quite as excited about pool winterizing, and pear processing as I am!  :)  We had over 5 inches of rain overnight.  I had to work this morning, and had a hard time getting to work.  One direction had a tree down in the road, so I turned around.  The bridge the kids like to fish off of below our house was roaring.  The creek was nearly to the bridge.  It honesty hurt my stomach to drive over it.  I did make it safely!  It is crazy how much water was flooding everything, and it is about 45 degrees cooler!  Welcome October weather!  I have been wondering when you would arrive!  

A week of unsure

Have you ever gotten to the weekend and you are absolutely bone deep exhausted, but you can’t even remember what you did that would cause such exhaustion?  That sums up my week perfectly.  I feel like we ran a marathon. But I am pretty sure I have had busier weeks before this.  Anyway, the weekend was much needed and I am happy we arrived here unscathed.  

Monday, we had 4-H, I had a bus safety meeting and Jim had a town hall meeting.  Preston was “hired” to drive the girls and I would meet them after my meeting.  He was not happy about it, but he did it anyway.  They had installation of officers, Preston is the Vice President and Saige is the club reporter for this upcoming year.  

Hard to tell from these pictures, but they were harvesting the corn behind our house.   This was a huge source of questions from Evelyn.  She was very worried about the cows needing their food.   

We still have the goats, and we have been letting the graze the yard. I’m about tired of them pooping on my front steps though, so I believe after their debut in a petting zoo a couple of weeks from now, they will be going to the auction.  Dale Pink loves eating the dead leaves off the deck.  He is growing into a beautiful bully goat, but since his new hobby is head butting us, he will also be going to the auction.  

Last night, Preston and Quincy performed at the football game. Mallory had Evie and she was the band’s biggest fan!   

This weekend we have a lot of weird stuff to take care of, and some fall 4-H activities.  Luckily, it is a 3 day weekend for Jim and the kids.