How do we do it?

The topic of this post came to me after I was on the phone with a fellow hockey Mom today. We were talking about what we were keeping busy with that morning and of course calving came up. We are in the thick of calving right now. Between 6 and 10 am this morning we had six calves!

I mentioned that in addition to chores lately I've had a couple of calves to help everyday. There is always the odd one that doesn't get sucking right away and it is crucial that they get colostrum within the first four hours of life. She asked me how I manage that with the kids? I didn't really know how to answer the question right away! I just do.

Another reason I thought to write this post was because of a conversation we had with some friends a couple weekends ago. They made the comment that they could not do all that we do with our kids. Meaning chores on a daily basis, taking them along to whatever it is we are currently doing on the farm that day, checking pastures, fieldwork, tagging calves, processing cows/calves and the list goes on and on.

So these comments and questions made me think...

How do we do it?

We really have no choice. Here on our particular farm, it takes ALL of us to make our world go around. All hands on deck. That's just the way we roll. Our kids have been coming to the barn quite literally since they were born. Our youngest is two. I remember when she was just days old (born on January 9), bundling her up in a carrier and blanket, putting one of my husband's coats on over top of her to trudge out to the barn.

This time of year when we are calving, the barn is not particularly a safe place for kids... that being said, there are dangers year round on the farm. I have been known to use many different methods of containment to keep our kids out of the road.

Strollers (the bigger the wheels, the better), old high chairs, mangers...

Our kids grow up knowing what they can and can't do in the barn. I'm not saying that they don't ever do things they shouldn't, because they do. But they are learning common sense on the fly. This Momma also has eyes in the back of her head.

Either the kids follow us around and do what we are doing (forking hay, filling pails with grain, gathering eggs, filling water pails, etc.) OR they play. They is lots of space in our barn for the kids to run and play out harms way. This time of year the cold weather can also be a bit of an issue. Our barn is quite warm all winter. We have to keep it warm with all the cows, horses, pigs and chickens so that the water doesn't freeze. So quite often our kids have no toques or mitts on inside the barn. Or else they are riding in the tractor feeding cows and it's warm in there too!

If we did not tag along with my farmer and help with what's going on, we would not see him very much. Plus the things our kids are learning along the way are so valuable. It is very important to me that our kids know where their food comes from and that they do not become removed from the farm. Whether or not they choose a farming career or a career in Ag, they will take with them all the lessons that are only learnt on the farm.

I believe we can do anything we put our minds to.

Ashley

Yesterday...

Yesterday...

...I woke up stuffed right up! I guess since I was the only one who didn't catch the cold this time around it had to get me too...

...I'm sitting drinking my morning coffee thinking about my day. I needed to send text reminders to all my fellow nursery school board members that we had a meeting at 5 pm. As I'm texting, I had this epiphany that it was actually Wednesday today and that I totally missed the meeting. (Which is supposed to be on Tuesday!!) I couldn't believe I totally forgot the meeting. This means that the teacher would have come all the way to the school and wasted her time! Not to mention the other ladies as well. So I send an email out apologizing and stating that we would plan another one for the following week. It was bugging me so much that I forgot about it I needed to chat with one of the ladies. So I phoned Christina and as I started telling my story she started laughing at me! It was indeed Tuesday, not Wednesday. I had not missed the meeting at all! Talk about scatterbrained! They all got a good laugh out of me anyways...

...I got all my floors washed...

...I got my bathroom cleaned...

...I made chocolate no-bake cookies...

...I got a tater tot casserole in the oven before I left for my meeting at 5pm...

...I came home, ate supper and nursed Whitley...

...we went to my Aunt's for haircuts for 7 pm...

...8:30pm we're back home and getting everyone ready for bed...

What a day!
Ashley

I bring to you: the most hilarious days of our life.

Five weeks have gone by since our dear Whitley has come into our lives!! Five weeks. I'm not sure where the time has gone?!

You know, after our second baby I remember saying that going from one to two kids had to be the hardest transition. Anymore than that you would just roll with the punches...it would be no big deal. And yet as we approached our due date with #3 I couldn't help but feel very overwhelmed. And...rightly so!

This time around we're dealing with a four and a half year old that I swear has zero ears. Literally zero. There are days -- wait-- who am I kidding, every day I could open the door to the veranda and punt him right out into the flipping snow bank. I could go into much more detail but perhaps I'll save that for another blog post ;-)

We are also dealing with a two year old, the same as the first time around. Oh my bad - a two and a half year old. Would it be the six months difference in age that makes it so different?? Ali is a totally different two year old than Tanner was! She never stops, she's like a little tornado. Climbing on stuff, eating stuff out of the garbage, not sleeping at night, which means she sleeps in our bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, throwing fits over anything and everything, constantly pestering her brother, and on and on!!

Then you throw a new baby into that mix and life just gets hilarious.

Like when the kids decide that they want something to eat or drink RIGHT now (insert whiny Voices) always when I've just sat down and started nursing. Which takes roughly 45 minutes.

Like all the things that happen while I'm nursing... The fighting, the screaming, getting into things because they know I can't get up real quick (believe me, it's possible to get up and keep nursing baby and pillow in tact...lol), etc.

Like trying to get out the door. Just literally trying to leave the house is nearly impossible!!!  Suddenly it's time to be goofy and do fifty million laps around the house before going to the porch to get jackets on. Thank goodness my hubby has been off work, he's taken Tanner to nursery school for a month now.

Like listening to my hubby bath and or shower the oldest two...all I can do is sit back and laugh my head off. It sounds like a waterfall, a very large one, it sounds like someone is dying in there, it sounds like a circus, one minute we're bawling and then they're laughing at the top of their lungs, screaming, poking eachother, splashing eachother and in mix of all that is what sounds like a giant grizzly bear dishing out threats of spankings and all I can do is sit in the living room and laugh histarically at how hilarious it all sounds.

Like how our four year old gets so upset because his sister told him to {insert very whiny voice} 'Quit!!' and 'He's not even doing anything!!!' lol. Then commences the screaming bloody murder at eachother! Seriously you have selective hearing 99% of the day and you can't just IGNORE her???? Sigh...

Like when our two year old thinks that she needs to 'see' her baby sister when she is so peacefully sleeping and forcefully peels her eyes open.... There goes the 5 or 10 minutes I thought I had to accomplish something while she slept.
Like how our two year old just wants to help, which means whether Whitley likes it or not, that suckie is going in her mouth and staying there!!

Like how lately I feel like it's all I can do to keep my head above water, here I am, doggy paddling for all I'm worth. Trying to at the very least keep my dishwasher running. I've never been someone to keep my house spic and span. I've learned long ago that especially when you have kids, a lived in home is just the norm. But with a baby in one hand and trying to make the other two happy with the other hand, we're on the verge of drowning in laundry, dishes and everything else in between!! 

So, this is not me complaining, this is not me be being ungrateful, this is not me burnt out, I'm just simply stating things that happen on a day to day basis here. And I have learned to laugh histarically at them all!!! Sometimes I can't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of it all that tears are streaming down my face. 

I love this new life of three kids, I love it so much that I really cannot describe it in words to you. It's crazy, it's so hard, it's fun and it's challenging. It has shown me yet another side of my husband that I love so much. He is such a great daddy.

So to sum it up, all my frustrations, the no listening, the things not going the way I'd like them to, just make me laugh. A lot. What else can you do??

Ashley

Perfect Snowman Making Day

 This was a perfect day to make snowmen...although I really do not want to see the snow leaving. I always seem to miss the snowman making window. So I was glad I got to make one with the kids finally, and even a nice big one!

And this is my new to me wheels! I'm loving it. Grand Caravan this time with Stow N' Go.....So handy.

Ashley

What's been happening

 We are still plugging away with the combine. My hubby was saying last night that we have been combining for 5 months....LOL. Which is true but not full-time by any means. We are still working on sunflowers. Our remaining field will not dry down for us. Last time we checked (quite awhile ago) they were testing 15% and we'd like them to be under 10%. Preferably 9%. These pictures are from last week, we are harvesting Dad's sunnies for him. He does not have a sunflower header for his combine. Even his were only testing 12% but he has aeration for his, we do not.

 It was a cold, windy day. Of course everything is last minute around here, so Corey was able to get off of work that day so off he went. They had a pretty good day but when they stopped for coffee and Corey got out of the combine he could hear a loud hissing sound...there was a sunflower stalk stuck right through one of the BIG tires on the combine. Then he went to park it in Grandma's yard and her gate is not quite wide enough for the header on the combine and he bent something. So not a great end to the day but they did manage to stay in the field for most of the day. For lunch I made a huge pot of summer borsht and muffins along with sandwich fixings and hauled it all to Grandma's with three kids. I was tired that day.

 We went to visit a new cousin a couple weeks ago. Meet Mr. Sloan Dacey. He is technically like a 4th or 5th cousin to our kids. He came two weeks early and then spent two weeks i the hospital till he could come home. He is doing great now and is so cute! Ali loves him, she can hardly wait to meet our new little baby!

 The other day I was in MCC thrift shop and I spotted this cute little Christmas tree for $5!!!! Tanner has been bugging me for a couple weeks to set up our tree and because we like to set up a real one we don't set it up too early. So this was the perfect opportunity for the kids to decorate a tree and it's all their own! They love it.

 My new mat for my bathroom.....I love it! It's hutterite made. I wish I new how to make such things.

 My little project, I bought a used cork board awhile ago at the MCC. I wrapped twice with burlap and then I took jute string and wrapped it all around the board randomly. I will use this to display all the beautiful Christmas cards we get! I was pleased with how it turned out.

 On the weekend Friday through to Saturday we received our first big snowfall. It was even enough to take the snowmobile out! So while Daddy and Grandpa did chores, the kids and I putted around the yard. They were thrilled! And since then it has got beastly cold (-38 in the wind) so we have not been out much.

Anyways, other than that, I'm trying to finish getting ready for Christmas and baby. Tomorrow I'm going shopping with NO kids (yippee lol) and hoping to finish for Christmas. Today I'm exactly one month away from my due date...so technically next week I'll be considered full-term. Yikes, yes I am freaking out.

Happy Tuesday my friends!
Ashley

The Last Time

 

This is so true. We are always trying to make sure we document or make a big deal of all the 'Firsts' so thinking about things from the opposite point of view puts things into perspective. Reading this makes me take a step back and treasure some of the things I may have found 'annoying' that my kids do. Enjoy each and every day with them. You never know when it will be The Last Time.

Ashley

My 'me' time

On a normal day, I wake at 6:45 am. I usually have a few little things to clean up before the rugrats show up but I always make sure I spend some of that time before my crazies wake up on the verandah with a coffee. Just sitting there listening to the birds and the wind blow through the trees is so calming. My favorite part of my day. Now don't get me wrong,  I love my kids to the moon and back. But. They are crazy (as per normal......they're kids after all), and we just cannot seem to get on the early bedtime routine. It's ALWAYS for sure 930-10 or even 1030-11 before they hit the sack and are out....plus we have to lay with our daughter to go to sleep. We had to do this with Tanner too, so I do know there is an end coming, they do grow out of this!!!!! But. This also means that while laying...mommy also falls asleep. So I don't really have a chance like normal people lol, to get any chores in after the kids are sleeping or to just sit and do nothing. Hence, first thing in the morning being my favorite part of the day. Sitting out here, I can reclaim some of my sanity he he.

So with all this talk about sleeping, sleeplessness, and limited mommy /  me time I feel it makes sense to tell you that we are expecting baby #3!! Ha ha. Yep. Now who's the crazy???

Ashley

This is me...

Random Five Friday

1. I'm soooooooooo excited to  plant a garden this weekend! It was tilled last night. I didn't get to plant a garden last year because we built the house where I always had a garden. And with lots to do in and around the house I just didn't bother with one. Tanner is pretty excited to help.

2. It's Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wooooooooooo! I'm so ready for the weekend.

3. This morning Tanner had to go for a pee so off he went. I thought he seemed to be taking awhile just to go for a pee. Finally he comes out. He comes to me and tell me that he filled my toilet paper drawer back up because it was empty! I had bought a new pack of tp the other day and just left it sitting in the bathroom, apparently Tanner thought it needed to be put away! Ha ha.

4. It's May 30 and so far all we have in the ground is about 8 acres of silage corn and maybe 15 of sunflowers. It's getting to the desperation stage now. Not mention all the cows are still home! They will start to leave tomorrow and hopefully by Monday night they'll all be gone.

5. One more day and it's June! It's our birthday month in this family, with three out of the four of us having June birthdays. Hubby on the 1st, Tanner on the 9th and Ali on the 27th! Busy busy month. Two wknds will also be camping trips. And trying to seed and spray!

You'll probably be laughing at my weird random picture of my nice, CLEAN, TIDY counter! I consider it to be quite an achievement these days... It gives a big sigh of relief!

Happy Friday!
Ashley

I won first prize!!

I won the first prize of a local raffle draw! It's a handmade quilt made by a local quilter. I love it! I wish I knew how to quilt.

Ashley

Bit & Pieces

 This is what I wished for a couple months ago, right??? Puddles, muddy clothes and more laundry to do..... ha ha.

 This is a road not far from us, it's closed all winter but they opened it to help it melt.

 Our one and only snowman............LOL.

 Love this view!!

 Good morning!

 Mmmmmmmmmm coffee. (on my deck I might add!)

 Our new bull.

 Two batches of kittens in the barn, about a month apart.

 The kids love them!

 Have a GREAT day!!!
Ashley

Totally random Tuesday

Here are some things about me you may or may not know. There will be one thing that is not true...can you guess which one?

1. I actually love doing laundry.
2. My favorite appliance is my dishwasher.
3. I don't really enjoy holding other people's babies.
4. I worked at a cattle/horse ranch for a summer when I was 16. I was so homesick but I don't regret it one bit. Learned lots and made some lifelong friends.
5. I miss riding a lot.
6. My son can say Grace at the table all by himself. 
7. I'm terrified of what my daughter will be like when she's old enough to, well do anything she puts her mind to...!!!
8. My cat Louie has six toes on each of his front paws.
9. I love working with horses and cattle.
10. I tell my hubby that when I grow up I'm going to be a Vet. (soooo, never!)
11. Our new house is leaking water in my living room.
12. I love having coffee on my verandah.
13. Once we had the best most spontaneous party in the middle of a pasture on a fenceline. At 3 in the afternoon..... ;)
14. I love digital scrapbooking.
15. I love me some coffee. Just slightly discolored with milk. Mmmm.
16. I will take chocolate over chips anyday.

There's my very random post for the day. I will reveal the false fact in 24 hours time.

Ashley

A little perspective goes a long way...

This has been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe because I'm trying really hard not to take anything or anyone for granted. And even as I type that last sentence, I know darn well I take so much for granted.

Let's be honest here, lately my kids have been driving me nuts. Not going to lie! Let's rewind about three years. I'm a new Mom, just loving life on maternity leave. And as I'm sitting there rocking my very content little baby boy I'm thinking, this is easier than I thought it would be! (once we got nursing down and a c-section out of the way that is ;)) Not saying that looking after one baby is a piece of pie but man oh man do I wish I could go back to that more often than not lately.

But. This is where my perspective comes in.

My son. Oh my beautiful, chubby cheeks, soaks everything in to the max, son. He loves to take his sweet time.

There I am,  blowing my top because he is so painfully slow to even GET to the porch, never mind the getting dressed part. Just to see that he had to give sister a hug first before continuing on his way.

There I am, steam coming out both ears when all I want him to do is Get. In. The. Van. and there he is gallavanting in the waist high snow, because it's so beautiful out Mom, just look how nice it is!

He will do the pee dance like no other, I swear!! Unbelievable. Play dough is just way more important than peeing. "I don't want to pee right now"! So when I finally convince him to go to the bathroom he pees alright. Everywhere but the toilet!!!!!!!! Oy. I'm telling you, whatever you do, do not read newspapers/magazines in our bathroom.

Not to mention he fights with his sister constantly! Siblings fighting is going to be the end of me.....lol. And I know it's just the beginning!

And Miss Ali, precious, devious, coniving, breathtakingly adorable little whirlwind that she is, just about pushes me over the edge!!!!

Just when I think I have her beat, I find her on the kitchen table.

And then there's a toothbrush in the toilet!

And then there's a toothbrush in the scentsy pot!

And then she's flying past me with a grilled cheese crust in her hand from the garbage can!

And she dearly loves the poke the bear aka Tanner!

And then she's pulling someone's hair!

Then she's dragging someone around by their shirt or teething necklace!

Then she's outright slapping people.

And last but not least she is shoving peas up her nose!  (definitely not the last story in my books of either of them!!)

So, your probably wondering where I'm going with this? I may sound like I complain a lot. And perhaps I do. But know this, I LOVE all of the above. ALL. Of. It. I would not trade it for the world. Yes my kids drive me nuts on a daily basis, but I HAVE kids to drive me nuts! That's pretty friggon awesome. Yes my son likes to take his time but there is a reason for that and that quality will help him excel at something, someday in his life. In fact I should follow his example more! My daughter is going to be a beautiful woman who will stand up for herself and be exactly who she wants to be.

To wrap this post up, when you feel as though all your doing is complaining, take a step back and really look at what's going on. And if you have to, look up the definition of perspective. It's not always as bad as we make it out to be!

Ashley

Ps. People with no kids, give parents a huge pat on the back! It's so so hard to be a parent and I don't think we get enough credit for what we do! We are trying so very hard to make our children model citizens for this crazy world we are in! Cheers!

Today

Today:

I Made a lot of butter tarts.
Had three extra kids.
Received a Christmas present from one of them, it made my day :)
Repaired the same Christmas present that is sitting under the tree, twice. (bet you can't guess why?)
Found Freddie in the fridge!? Lol.
Received lots of Christmas cards in the mail, also made my day!
Had Subway for supper.
Did one sink full of dishes and two dishwasher loads.
Dipped into that delicious Christmas tree cake of Tanners!
Found my daughter walking around with her brothers dirty gitch on her head! Wishing I thought to take a picture...
Found Tanner and Caleb making snow angels on the floor, it was cute.

Happy Thursday everybody!
Stay warm!
Ashley

How long will dishes be exciting?

Washing dishes with Grandma! Thought this picture was so cute, especially the little sawed off person in the middle. No way could she be left out!

Five things

1. Lately my little boy is calling me 'Momma'. He has never called me that, usually just 'Mommy'. I don't know why the sudden change but I love it! ...except when he thinks he has to start every. single. sentence. with it all day long. Not sure if thinks it's cool or something? Ha.

2. It is amazing how uplifting sunshine can be. I'm dreading winter mostly for the cloudy, dreary days.

3. I'm really looking forward to getting away for a week soon! It means coffeeing (that is a word on my vocabulary fyi) all day long with my sister-in-law, cousins playing together all day long and me getting to raz the heck out of my brother-in-law!

4. I have an idea for a big blog post that I feel very strongly about, stay tuned.

5. I really want to pack two shoe boxes for kids less fortunate this year. This is something I'd like to make a Christmas tradition.

Ashley

Getting ready for winter

This past week I have had no internet due to my hubby trenching our water and sewer lines in. He had to disconnect it bc the line was in the way. So I been using my mediocre MTS signal. The day Corey started digging for the water trench he found the power line that comes from our pole to the house......needless to say we were out power for a couple hours. :( Had to call an electrician and we did not get water done that night. It had already froze on us once the night before. Anyways, our water and sewer are complete now. The trailer and porch are gone. I have a beautiful view!

Yesterday we brought more cows home. Fall cows w baby calves. Still have mares to come home from that pasture too, they were not keen on coming in yesterday morning in that raw wind.

Plus I got my lawn mower put away! And it's snowing here right now. Oh yes and it's Halloween this week!

Anyways, that's all for now. - O yes, I got new glasses, what do you think??
Ashley