Grateful

Just a few days ago I started taking care on a little 7 year old girl who has a poor prognosis on life. Her night nurse quit which lead to my phone ringing. Through the end of November I'll be spending my nights with her. Making sure her airway is clear and that what's left of her life is good. I don't know what she was like her first two years of life, prior to her diagnosis. I do know the last three years have been scary for her. If she's even aware of what's going on. I sit by her bed and watch her sleep. Imaging her smile, her giggles and exploring the great world in front of her. I watch her parents stand by her bedside and bless her. I watch them hold her hand and stare at her. They too must be thinking back on their time together.

I sit here and thank the Lord that my children are healthy. He gives her parents strength. Strength to overcome the feeling of helplessness. The sorrows of what has been taken from them. Their sweet little girl.

Detroit Liberty

We got our horses today! We left out on County Road and had a handful of canter stretches.

Liberty is a box horse which means she can't be tied to a post without either untying them self or getting spooked. She's a great horse for Sam.

My horse is Detroit. He's fast, independent, and a challenge. We took off today on an independent canter and At least twice I felt as though I was about to fall off. Once he stopped with a quick turn.

Can't wait til tomorrow!

We're Back

It's our third year back at Circle R Ranch in Long Prairie. We're so excited to be back. I may be more than Sam to be honest.

Sam wanted to keep Amie from last year but we convinced her to try someone new. Liberty was recommended by a few counselors and it took a while to get her to agree.

I loved Huey. He was great last year. This year I got Detroit. He's supposed to be fast, independent, and a good challenge. We'll see.

It's great to be back though.

Rock Lake

Seth and I took off for the weekend to have some us time. We fished a bit without any luck. 

Played some cribbage and 31. I whooped his butt but let him win the last game. We went into Brainerd and played mini golf and go-karts. 

Now we sit on the tailgate of the F150 and reminisce of all our family vacations. Seth liked camping on Hinsdale Island on Lake Vermillion the best. I'd have to agree. It was pretty peaceful.

This weekend has been fun. We're getting some much needed time together.

Oh, last night we were heading into town about 8:30pm to get some dinner and a wolf darted across the road just outside of our campgrounds. Pretty cool. Still not my moose.

Cow licked

Nick and I stopped at the Otte's farm to pay for our quarter beef. While there we HAD to visit the cows.

Adelynn reached out her hand and #602 came in closer. Then the slimy lick followed. She found a feed scoop and spotted the skid loader with some leftover feed. Her eyes lit up and off she ran to get some feed for her new friends.

My family belongs on a farm. Honestly, we do.

Nothing can stop me now!

Noah has been eyeing up the slide for a couple weeks only attempting to climb it here and there. Now he can't get enough of it. He's so proud he made it to the top.

Adelynn will come up by him and they'll giggle at each other. Oh the fun they have now. I hope they keep a good sibling relationship going.

 

She found her sport!

Sam has tried a variety of sports such as soccer, basketball, t-ball, gymnastics, dance, cheerleading and hockey.

Her first season of hockey ended in March. Since then she signed up for an eight week hockey clinic out of Faribault at Shattuck. Now she's going for another eight weeks on a summer team where she plays for one hour every Wednesday. 

We promised her a new and more compact bag if she signed up for the next fall/winter season. Hockey is expensive as a whole but if you think about ice time and refs, it's understandable. If you break it down by the number if practices and games it really isn't that bad of a deal. I'm glad she found something and I'm happy to be back in the ice arena again.

What's for dinner

Sam didn't want to wait for me to make her dinner so she took it upon herself to make dinner for herself, Noah and Adelynn. What did my almost nine year old make?

Cheese roll-ups. Quality!

He's Walking!

Noah has been working on a few steps since the first week in May. Today he took off. We were visiting Great Grandpa Williams and Noah walked across the whole room. It was pretty fun to see and my Grandpa Paul was able to take part in that moment. 

Moobie Time

Adelynn sure does love her moobies. Her first favorite was The Croods. We watched it at least 23 times with a minimum of six of those times on our Florida trip. She likes to relate the characters with her family. "Dats you and dats me. No, momma, dats me."

Her next love is Frozen. Disney movies were all about singing when I was growing up. Then the singing stopped for many years. We took Adelynn to her first movie at the theatre to see Frozen and I thought there was too much singing. Then it caught fire and kids all over we're watching the movie and singing along. It hit me. I too loved the songs when I was little. 

Lasagna Kisses

How can a face like this not make you feel so full of love?

In no time, Noah's mouth will fill with teeth and he'll be running around. It all happens a bit too fast.

Riding Case

Another year in Randolph brings another tractor parade to kick off the planting season. Last year there were 112 tractors in the parade being driven by young kids to seasoned farmers.

I dropped the Bigs off to Krista at 8am for her to bring them all the way back to school and me to follow All for the memories.

I look at my children's lives compared to what I was doing at their age. I never did half the things my kids are experiencing. I hope one day they look back and appreciate all I've given for them. One child in particular tells me frequently how s/he'd rather live with dad because he's nicer and loves them more. Things said can be hurtful, but I know what I'm doing is right. Life isn't all about getting/doing whatever you want. My kids have it good. They'll see that when they are ready.

Brown Chicken Brown Cow

Our friends have a beef farm that we visit throughout the year, especially in the spring. Last year we were a little late and the baby chickens were pretty ugly. This year we made it early enough to see the cute little chicks. The kids are all over them and trying to catch them. A few get the feeling of flight before hitting the bottom of their temporary home.

After watching them eat we headed to the pasture to check out the Holstein calf who came from Krista's parent's farm when they needed a new momma to adopt a calf in leiu of her calf who had the misfortune of being delivered on one of the coldest days of winter. You'd never be able to tell they didn't belong together if it wasn't for a black and white calf feeding off of a brown cow. 

The calf was hiding so the kids lined up on the fence mooing their butts off to call the cattle closer.

Adelynn, Cheyann, Zoey (big Adelynn), Seth and Josh. (Sam was at hockey).

My whole family loves going to the farm. Howard told me we needed one and I agreed. Being covered in manure isn't that bad and the smell is just another smell. If it wasn't so hard to start up a farm from square one, we would, in a heartbeat.

Back to the pool?

The kids celebrated J.A.M. with a pool party. Seth and Sam are fish and i feel really comfortable with their ability to swim. Adelynn on the other hand showed interest in swimming. While in Florida, she sat on the top step and watched the big kids. One slip of her step and she fell in on a deeper step. Sam rescued her but that was the end of her Florida swimming. At the pool party she showed how much more comfortable she was in the water. This summer should be interesting with lake swimming. I better get her signed up before she runs off into the deep.

Pushing Harder

JoHanna signed up for an April hockey clinic designed to push players further than what they are comfortable with. I asked Sam, and she wanted in on it too. She loves hockey. She decided to put some of her Florida money aside to pay for the clinic herself. 

She has come a long way in the months she has been playing. I would love to see her push harder. Although only she can decide to push herself further. I'll sit in the rink and cheer her on.

The last of basketball

Seth's first year of playing basketball has come to an end. He started the season playing less than a quarter of the game to finishing the year playing half of each game.

As a parent you are observant to how often your child plays, how often they sit, and how often teammates pass the ball to your child. 

Since working at the nursing home I've run into conflicts for a lot of his tournaments. The first one I saw, I had to say something. I appreciated the coach listening and saw changes in the very name game. The more he played, the more the ball landed in his hands. He even got some praise from teammates for winning jump balls. Best yet, his last game ended with him scoring a basket. I hope he gives it another try next year.

Next: baseball in two weeks. Same coaches, same teammates, same opponents from miles around.

Gators Galore

I love this girl. She willingly held this three year old alligator yet couldn't believe it herself that she was. 

Seth and I held the gator too. I couldn't believe how soft the underside was. Almost like a soft leather. I was also surprised to learn that they grow only a foot per year.

Seth was loving this time. He'd have a pet alligator or twelve if he could. 

We saw a lot of gators on the Midway Airboat Ride. They take you on the St. John's river which is just behind The Great Outdoors.

There were around 30 sitting here on the bank. Captain Duke told us the water is about 30 feet deep here and there's probably twice as many below us with a plentiful food supply.

I thought the three trunks were pretty neat too. You can see the water lines on the trees with how deep it gets.

Sea World!

I love this place! It's what made me want to become a marine biologist. As you know, that never happened. I looked at colleges but lacked guidance and support in making that jump. Where would my life be had it happened? Who knows...

We rode the Manta roller coaster which has you flying through the air on your stomach. Best roller coaster of the trip.

The orca area was under construction so we couldn't see the amazing show. Instead we did The Orca Experience.

They are so magestic and beautiful. I'm grateful for the opportunity to see them this close as the ocean has never been promising.

We also took advantage of a Behind the Scenes Tour where we touched sharks (ity bity ones), pet a penguin, met sea turtles that would be dead if Sea World hadn't of rescued them.

MySpy

While scrolling through Facebook, I came across a video post from Dave Ryan, DJ for KDWB. He wanted to show everyone the cool thing that came in the mail after what seemed like an eternity waiting. 

You stick a bird house onto a window so you can spy inside the bird house to see what's going on. On the inside of window you adhere a reflective film that is supposed to block the bird from a eeing you. Then over that you hang this nice looking piece of cardboard to let the people know they shouldn't look inside.

I told the kids to leave it be for a week or more. Yet each day I come home from work I see the curtain pulled back. Hopefully I didn't hang it too late in the nesting season.

Florida Bites

While in Florida we stopped at Midway Airboats to see alligators. We met Cocoa there. She's a friendly bird who likes boys the best. Or so they thought. She started to climb up Seth's arm and using her beak to climb up. The loving mom I am, I reassured him it was okay. He put Cocoa back up on her cage and she still showed interest in Seth. She reached down and grabbed his shirt to pull him closer. "It's okay Seth, she just wants to climb back onto your shoulder." Ha, or not. She pulled him closer to bite his shoulder. Thankfully, Seth laughed after he initial ouch.

I dough want chili

Adelynn was helping her dad make dinner tonight. She was pretty insistent that she didn't want chili. 

Dad "Adelynn, where did the onion powder go?" 

Adelynn "I dumped it"

Dad "Where?"

Adelynn "In the bath"

Dad "Why did you do that?"

Adelynn "I dough want chili"

Two bowls later, her tummy was full.

In the pig shoot

For the past hour Adelynn has been running up and down the pig shoot. At the point she started it was already too late. Earlier she was running the front loader and it was full of mud. What's the point?

"You need a bath." Off comes her clothes. 

In the Net

Seth decided to play on his school's basketball team. The season started off pretty rough with little court time. At his third tournament I discusses my concerns with his coach. From that point on Seth was out more often which turned into teammates passing him the ball more often. A few of his tournaments included Northfield, Kasson, Cannon Falls, Dodge Center and Medford.

A few times today Seth played the point guard position. It was great seeing him involved in the game. Within the last 10 minutes of the game he caught a rebound and made his first basket of the season. He also claimed possession of the ball from his opponents. A few teammates even patted him on the back to tell him good job.

I'm pretty proud of him!

We want more!

It has been snowing a lot this winter. More than the last four winters for sure. Nick had to clear his parents driveways with the skid steer so his mom could go back home. The next day, there was only one place the kids wanted to be, and it was up there.

On the other side they had two more tall snow banks for the shop driveway. They better enjoy what they can with all of the polar vortexes we've been having. There have been so many days where the windchill is 40+ below zero. Tomorrow is another one if those days. The big dogs are loving it too. They've moved back indoors again. It's nice having them inside again. Hopefully they can remember where it is they are to go to the bathroom at.

Ah ha you can't git me

This little girl is out of breath after 10 minutes of running between the kitchen and the living room saying

"ah ha you can't git me"

Then Seth catches her and she yells "SETH STOP! Toooop"

She failed to clarify that anyone but Seth can catch her. 

And their off

It's been 13 months since Seth got his braces on. Good fortune has come his way and he was able to take them off five months early. He has been a good sport with avoiding his obsession with peanut butter. Maybe we'll have to take him to Kings in Miesville for his peanut butter burger.

A lot has changed in his appearance over these last 13 months. He's looking more and more like a young man.

Next step in his dental cares is a clear retainer that sits practically unnoticeable over his teeth. He'll wear them 24/7 with the exception of brushing and eating. I sure hope he doesn't lose it. Next Monday he goes back for his permanent retainer.at least peanut butter is back in his life. He's one happy boy again.

Big 10

My baby boy is 10 today, well, not until 10:40pm according to him. Sam woke up close to 6am to make him a peanut butter waffle sandwich. Cheyann made him lunch. He brought cupcakes to share with his class and others throughout school. All of 4th, 5th and 6th graders sang him happy birthday at lunch and he even got some more singing at AppleBees. Jenna, Cheyann, Adelynn, Mason and Nick Estrem joined us for dinner too. It was a fun night. 

He's such a little love bug. I love snuggling with him when he's right out of the shower. 

Favorites:

Remote control things

Boats

Auto Races

Snuggling with mom

Spending time with family

Top 5 in Life:

Family

Cowboy statue from Great Gma Williams

Living in a house and not on the street

Being kind and letting Jenna and kids stay here. 

Going to Florida

3 Things to do by age 11:

I want to go camping in Iowa

Get better at reading and school

Move