Events of the weekend!!!

Tate and Tana were fantastic this weekend and for the first time Tate beat in me in a game of pig. He's been playing basketball all the time and we have so much fun. Tana met a cactus for the first time on Saturday, with tons of pricks down her legs. She will recover and probably watch more carefully for them. The grandparents are here, they made it from Nebraska and we are looking forward to the time we get to spend with them. And we started it off with an evening sitting in our chairs in the yard like Ryan and I always do. More to come later I'm sure, it's a Monday!!!

Feline Friends

Tana loves animals, all of them...and bugs too. But yesterday when I picked her up she showed me just how much she loves these kittens. Mind you, there are many that run as fast as they can when she walks out of the house and there are two suckers that let Tana haul them around. Here is the cutest picture. This poor cat was over her shoulder, under her arm, rubbed against her face and finally when Tana tripped, this kitten broke her fall. Good thing is they are all going home with us, maybe today. Not that they will remain friendly kitties when they meet our barn cats, but maybe at least one will still let Tana haul them around.

And this morning when dropping Tana off...we were met at the step with all of the kittens, their mother and older brother......and a good size rat. Not a mouse, this rat was bigger than the kitty in this picture. So I'm glad to say we will also be receiving wonderful hunters!!!!

Hope you have as wonderful a day as I plan to!!!

Let's Play Catch Up!!!

First - It's amazing when you fix spaghetti and then spaghetti casserole and the kids like the casserole better....it's the same thing.....oh well, at least it was a hit.

Next - Tana interacted with many people she did not know last night and I'm very proud of her, she was stuck on my like glue, by the way, have you heard that song. I'm stuck on you like glue, I've kept telling Ryan that lately, he just looks at me funny.

Next - IT WAS VERY COOL THIS MORNING. For those living to the south you have no clue, but we just got the best wake up call that winter is coming. It was a great break to all the heat.

Tana's latest habit is taking her diaper off all the time. She will get all of her clothes off just to take it off, so I'm thinking we need to work on asking if she needs to go. I checked on her last night and she was peacefully sleeping in her crib....with no diaper.

Tate is still enjoying school, he read two books to Tana and me last night. I was so proud that after a summer of me reading, he had no trouble with the words!!!!!!!

More will come in the next few days, it's busy right now!!!!

Celebration Weekend

This week has been full of a ton of fun activities, great job you all. Next year Tana will be a year older and will allow us to participate in more...instead of being worried about what bed she's going to sleep in. We got really close to sleeping in her big bed last night!!

Tana with Her Cousin Bree

Two Meals at One Time

When I make spaghetti I make a ton of sauce, but we don't like eating leftover spaghetti for a week. So last night I made spaghetti and made a casserole for tonight. I first layered the sauce in a foil pan.

Next I covered with the extra noodles and a lot of cheese!!!!! All I have to do tonight is stick it in the over until the cheese begins to turn brown. I've got leftover bread too and it won't feel completely like leftovers!!!!

Not in Your Hands

When things are not in your hands, let it go, you can't control it.....or be like me stress and do a lot of praying!!!!

The Weather is Changing

Yes we might have had several days in the 100's but don't let that fool you...we are on the downhill slide. With several beautiful days I've gotten a taste of fall. A cooler breeze and lower temperatures, one night we didn't even run the air conditioner. All is well in the Panhandle!!!

You Know It's Hot When....

...This is the first thing you see when you show up to feed. These poor guys are hot!!!! My favorite calf out of the whole bunch is the charlois standing being the trough. He's so cute.

Tana didn't seem to miss me too much, it was back to touching and doing everything she's not supposed to. Today will be better. She loves her child size broom that I bought, maybe this way she'll leave mine alone and still learn how to help clean house.

Tana & Bunk attack the Grasshopper

So after watching Tate get Bunk to chase frogs, Tana figured out how to get the dog to chase a grasshopper. They made it half way into the arena watching the grasshopper jump around before I was able to call them back to the house. While Tana is not saying many words, she was speaking complete sentences in her language to Bunk and amazingly Bunk understood exactly what Tana was saying.

Away from Home.

No matter where you are...on vacation, at work, anywhere, nowhere is like home. I miss the grass that we've worked so hard on, I miss all the animals and I've not been gone long. Honey, I love you, kids I miss you, and I'll be home soon!!!!!

More Stories...

After hand-washing the truck on Saturday, Ryan and I rewarded ourselves by creating the most delicious appetizers off the grill on Sunday. Wow, who knew you could grill tomatoes will all sorts of toppings, and have such tasty vegetable skewers. Plus, almost everything came out of our garden. I will be picking tomatoes today, Ryan will have plenty to eat while I'm gone.

All of the cows/calves/steers/bulls are doing well...we think...one was playing hide and seek, so we are waiting to locate him!!! The youngest bull is growing like a week, we look forward to bringing him back to the house in a few months and he'll get breed a few next year. In the mean time, Bubba is being Bubba, he's learned many manners at our school for cattle discipline!!!! We are looking forward to seeing what his calf crop looks like next year, reminding everyone he was 5/5 on producing heifer calves. If he produces all heifers next year we may look at going into the replacement heifer business. Ryan thinks we just got lucky because we were trying to build our herd, but at some point in time you might like a steer to either put in the freezer or sell!!!

Tana was a joy as usual, she now thinks she's big enough to move the sprinkler just like Ryan and I do, she's miss independent all the way.

I'm a little late on this photo, but here's the brakes...on the left if a brand new one, and the right is what came off the truck.

Ryan is so very talented and saves us a ton of money by doing many projects himself...with me in tow. We only had one mishap during changing the brakes, I was in charge of measuring how much air was in each tire, and filling them if they needed it. The first tire I get to, put the gauge on, and the air would not quit shooting out. Ryan fixed it then told me to go in the house because we couldn't afford to fix everything I touch!!!! I didn't though, I finished my job and was his helper! If only a fly was on the wall to tell all of our stories.

End of the week....

Well for some of you, lucky me gets to work tomorrow too!!! It's been so busy I can't even remember everything there is to write about and at this moment don't have much funny to say. Tana is exploring more and is very independent and Tate so wants Tana to sleep in her big bed!! Those two have a pact or something, they love to play together!!! Tana picked tomatoes with us and mainly the orange ones, then proceeded to take a bite out of each of them and throw them down. No wonder, they shouldn't have been picked anyway.

Latest experiment (besides how long the trash can stay in the container) - making refrigerator pickles. So many wonderful people have given me cucumbers and Tana and I can only eat so many, we attempted to make pickles last night. We will try the first ones next weekend and if they are any good will give some away. I don't want to take my chances though!!!!

Birthday Money

So can anyone guess what a normal person would use their birthday money on??? Hum, how about a new set of brakes and babysitting. This might be the saddest thing I've ever posted!!!!! But at least the truck has new brakes!!!!! And I finally heard the best comment ever from Ryan. "Go back into the house because we can afford to fix everything you touch." Well I didn't go back into the house....just helped him put on the new brakes, thank you honey. And (so proud of myself) I did not break anything!!!!!! I will post a picture later of just how worn the brakes were and a picture of the cute little screwdriver we had to use!!!!!

Monday all over again.

It's Monday again, but the best thing about Monday...I always have new stories to share. First, our bull tried to play with Ryan, like toss him around and butt him into the ground, as Ryan says, he's never loved my dad more, my dad saved him. It could have been bad...we'll leave it at that. Next, had a great birthday, got to spend time with my mom and dad and received lots of neat things that I needed...ps...wearing a new outfit and put meat in my new crock pot!!!! Tate practiced shooting, he's getting sooooo good!!!! He might have a future in it. Feed cattle and chase Tana, two daily occurrences.