They know...

...when it's time to show.  After paying entry fees....LATE ($$) entry fees I might add since I spaced it off....for the State Fair, we went out to the bunny barn to find this:

 

This is Izzy, T's Castor Mini Rex.  She's the queen around here. She USUALLY has wonderfully perfect soft fur that is the color of a beer bottle.  This moment she resembles a dog with mange.  She's molting or as we call it in the bunny world, "blowing her coat".  Rabbit do this usually once a year and its totally normal. They will end up with a nice new coat afterward.  However, I think ours are doing it on purpose. A bunny protest against showing.   

One of J's Californians is doing the same thing.  We are hoping with a bit of brushing we can get most of it out, but that doesn't meant the new coat will be "in"  and finished by fair time.

Oh well. 

Return Of School

UGH! SCHOOL! The return of frantic schedules, homework drama, stinky sports bags, and  horn practices. However, the boys seem pretty happy....minus the having to actually get up in the morning.
(I *AM* enjoying just having the toddlers and preschoolers here at daycare. You wouldn't BELIEVE how calm and quiet it is here!! That first day everyone was at school was a bit of a shock..we could read books and actually HEAR THE STORY! And NO ONE wrecks our block towers!  ;-) )

J is a...gulp...7th grader.  Gets to play "REAL" football this year.  Totally pumped and loving it.  His mother realized her sweet first born now STINKS LIKE A MAN after football practice.  PPPPHHHEWWW!   Cares VERY VERY much about how he looks/smells. I thought it was bad last year, but it really isn't nothing compared to right now.


T's in 5th.  Loving it.  He decided to play the drums for band this year and is very excited about it. It does my heart good to see him so excited about something.  Most days, it seems that T is just along for the ride. I'm not sure if I can write this to make sense to anyone else, but T just seems to do what he thinks he should do based on what he feels everyone WANTS him to do, not really what HE wants to do.  I guess it may be part of the "younger" brother syndrome or just his personality, but he just doesn't really get too excited about things.  Drums, however, he gets excited about!! Drums and Football...what sort of creature am I raising??
He's playing pee-wee for the 3rd year now, and I was appalled to find THIS while putting sunscreen on him:

The pictures really doesn't do it justice, because the bruises go on up to his upper arm and wrap around his arm. After much eye rolling and laughing after I fussed over him, he walked in the living room, said "Hey Dad..LOOK!" And I heard: "YEAH BUDDY!!!" as they bumped knuckles.

Men are so strange.

MOOOO!

 I told D I was going to blog about this story.  It's not necessarily mine to tell, but, well, when your wife LOVES to blog......;-)


Wednesday was the day our little bull had an appointment at the processor in Dodge.  This has been our goal for the past few years....sending off  our own "homegrown, hormone, antibiotic  free, humanly treated...beef!

This "calf" however, has been a pain in our....necks..for some time now. He's the HOUDINI of cattle, ducking or going through fences like nothing I've ever seen before.  The plan all along was to send him for butcher, but he's attitude and actions just set that decision.

He was not cut, because when we tried, everyone who helped us agreed he was already to big, and it couldn't be done without some medications and a tranq gun.

So Tuesday, D goes out and easily gets he and one of his "ladies" in a small coral.  He leaves them in and later,  he and my brother, sort out the girlfriend out so they can easily load him up on the trailer then next morning.  That's when Party #1 started.  D said the bull realized he was being sorted out and was mad that his lady friend was running up the hill with out him.  Started breathing really heavy, and the next thing the guys knew he broke through some pipe and ran off to chase her.  

Took them a few hours, but they caught him...and a couple of girlfriends...and left them there for the night.  Next morning they would just sort out the cows, load him in the trailer, and head to Dodge.  Sounds easy, right?
They headed out at 7am, and I don't think they got him loaded until after 10:30.  Dan came flying though to get something to drink already ticked off, leaving a trail of cow poop though my living room. Nice.  Said he was heading to Dodge and would be back in a couple of hours.

Time for Party #2

He was talking on the phone with me just past Mullinville, when I heard, " Oh *@#& "  I gotta go."  CLICK. 

Not words you really want to hear your husband say when he has a 1000 lb animal in a trailer, by himself.  He called me back a bit later to tell me that he had looked in the mirror when he felt the trailer start shaking, and that stupid bull was TRYING TO JUMP OVER THE SIDE OF THE TRAILER and was about halfway up when he saw him in the mirror.  How do you fix THAT?  Well, you tap the brakes.  Can you imagine what those people in passing cars thought at the sight of a bull hanging over the side of the trailer?

 The bull had broken through the gate that closes of half the trailer, so he had to stop to fix the gate and get Mr Angry calmed down. He was started to get worried that the bull was going to cause the trailer to flip.  D said this guy continued to try to jump out, ram the side of the trailer at him.  He wanted D out cold and had that "look" in his eyes everyone talks about, but something we had never seen. By the way, did you know that bulls growl? Not snort, or breathe heavy.  Growl.  I would have peed my pants.  He finally got his head/horns tied to the sides of the trailer.  He had seriously considered calling 911 or a friend from Bucklin to see if someone could come out and just shoot him. He was too that point.  He didn't think he was going to make it to Dodge.  All D had was the end of a pool stick.  He also kept waiting for a passing motorist to stop and offer help, but NO ONE even drove by. 

An hour trip to Dodge took him well over 2.5 hours.  He felt nothing but relief pulling into the parking lot.  The owner came out and told D that they would not be unloading him into the pens, that Mr Angry would be stunned in the trailer and then immediately taken in to process. (D had called him earlier to let him know he was having "some" problems.)  D asked one of the guys if they had to do this often. "Well.......uhh........."  D took it as a big NO.

D walked across the street to get a drink, sit on the bench, and call his wife.  I've never ever heard my laid back, calm, sweet husband so amped up and freaked out.  If he was like this, I can just imagine what *I* would have been like had I been with him. It takes A LOT to get him worked up.

So, in a month, we will have our beef.  I know it will taste oh so good, but I think it will be extra tasty to D!
=-)

NEXT TIME D will not go alone....I've nominated my little brother to go along.  Because that's the type of big sister I am! hehe

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Date Day

 Saturday D and I ran away for a few hours for a late anniversary date. We went to Dodge where we enjoyed a very nice and quiet lunch at Applebees, walked around Walmart, and went to see a movie. What movie? This movie:



A movie so manly, not only did my voice drop 2 octaves just from going to see it, I  also had chest hair sprout.  I've drug D to some pretty chicky films so I was more than...ok, not more than happy, but willing, to go see this with him. He's been talking about it for weeks. Apparently, the baddest of all Hollywood dudes play in this film and it's A BIG DEAL.    I was one of 3 females in the theater.  I also observed that men are not like woman in the theater.  We girls, as seen at the Twilight movies, usually scatter around, as not to be overheard while we oooo and ahhhh or wipe drool from our mouths.  Not men.  Nope. Men will fill in the 4 middle rows, not caring if they have to sit by someone they don't know.  D says its because "men know where the good seats are." 
It was a pretty good movie, if you like guts, blood, and guns. The best part of it was sitting there, enjoying it...err...watching D enjoy it, while realizing just how big of a crush I still have on that guy!

The Arrival of HOPE

My family has always had HOPE. Sometimes it feels as though we should give it up, but most days HOPE is all that gets us through until the next day. 

But now our HOPE has a face. And little fingers. And a headful of hair.  HOPE has that newborn smell and little feet that begged to be kissed. She makes her Daddy smile and her aunts squeal.  She also has her entire family wrapped oh so tightly around her finger. 

Welcome to the world,  Miss Catharine Hope. 

13 Years

Today I have been married to D for 13 years.  13 years!! Where has the time gone??

What a ride the past 13 years have been!!  But wow--what a BEAUTIFUL ride.
I married the most amazing guy ever. He really is a gift straight from God. He is so much that I am not. D is strong when I am weak, he is calm when I am a mess. Just his presence in the room can make me feel stronger.  He makes me laugh like no other can, and he's the very best secret keeper in the world...though I think he wishes I'd keep them to myself sometimes! 

(This picture has nothing to do with D and I, but it makes me smile. It was a totally un-posed sister moment I am happy to have a picture of.  We were talking about her shoes while waiting on family to get ready for pictures.  She used to call it our "angel" picture because "we looked like angels". ) BTW- who the heck wears a LONG SLEEVED 500lb wedding dress in AUGUST??

  (D and I renewed our wedding vows around our 5th wedding anniversary. This was the year the Navy was seeing D more than we were.  It was amazing and so much fun because our boys were there with us! J used to tell people his mom and dad have been married twice. hehe) 

And, because he listens to me, wants me to be happy, loves good food....and because I told him I wanted it REALLY bad, this is what he got me for our anniversary:

(Now, some ladies may get a bit huffy about getting a cookbook for their anniversary, but it was exactly what I wanted. =) )

So, I turned around made HIM the chocolate sheet cake from the book. Oh my.  Heavenly!

3rd Generation

My kids are 3rd generation Grandma Katy cookie and cherry kool-aid consumers.  This picture made me smile so much I just wanted to share it with my family.  I wonder what that lady would say if she knew that MY kids were asking for her cookies. =) 

BTW-- this glass is one I snagged from the farm, so it's a glass that I drank kool-aid out of when I was a kid!

You Know Its HOT..

...when ya gotta sit in your water bowl to cool off!

Still Here!!

I am SERIOUSLY behind on my blogging!! The past week has just been nuts!

I go to enroll the kids later today. I have mixed feeling about them going back to school.  I'm sad, but this week I've started thinking maybe it won't be so bad having them back. HAHA (Having the older kids...aka...MY BOYS...here at daycare can sometimes be like having hornets invade a peaceful flock of butterflies! They love to play with the kids and *I* am happy they love playing with the kids, but get them so wound up so fast!)   However, I am just not ready at ALL for the practices and the go go go that come's with having older kid and seems to get worse every year.

Yesterday we went school clothes shopping.  Shopping with my crew is an adventure.  We discovered J's foot grew 2 and 1/2 sizes since this time last year.  Isn't that unreal??  Still need to get jeans, but I am so afraid of buying J's for fear they won't fit in a month. UGH.  J was really into shopping this year...meaning he REALLY cares about how he looks these days.  (Which has to do with the opposite sex.  Girls have defiantly invaded his mind.  I feel like I am living in the Twilight Zone sometimes.)

Monday we were surprised to see our favorite Wichita cousins knocking on our door! They could only stay for a little bit, but T got his "Vic fix" for the time being.  He was mad that she is STILL taller than him! hehe 

Sunday I helped host a baby shower for my sister in law, K.  She's expecting a baby girl any day now! (My 4th niece.  Count is 5 nephews 3 nieces, and one great-nephew at the moment!)    It was a nice shower and I got to try out a new recipe for Strawberry Pie, which quickly made it's way into the keepers!!

 

And--I can't believe I'm sharing this with the world--another task this week is to get rid of the cobwebs in some of my corners.  You know it's way past time when your Nerf bullets get stuck in them!!  I was mortified, but my daycare kids were rolling on the ground.  In my defense, there has been a plant in that corner that I recently moved.....in May. ;-)