Farming

The gorgeous fall weather is resulting in lots of harvesting, such a good thing!  For Lucas, this means lots of tractor and combine rides.  He's been talking about harvest since August!  Last weekend, we packed a picnic lunch and ate in the field (the back of my Tahoe, really).  Lucas ate his whole lunch plus two pumpkin bars!   He hadn't even worked up an appetite. 

After lunch, we rode in the combine with Great Pa. 

Great Pa sure enjoys the "help."

Then we switched and rode with Daddy. 

When we got restless, we checked on Grandma's flowers and found lots of corn chaff.  Oh boy, was it fun to play in that stuff!  It was soft and blew around a lot in the wind. 

And it made Lucas cough when it blew back at him. 

Then we headed home for a late nap...someone didn't make it very far before he was asleep. 

I do have to confess that being on the farm isn't just about Lucas... I love it, too.  While riding along isn't nearly as fun as driving myself, I just love being a part of it.  I've logged plenty of hours driving tractor and this time of year I do miss it.  My dad had a lot of trust in me to help with the farm and it felt great to help him accomplish a harvest that farmers work so hard for.  Harvest isn't over yet, so I know Lucas and I (and baby) will get several more rides this fall.

Puzzled?

You may be puzzled by the blurriness of these photos... I apologize!  Lucas was just so excited to show off his finished product, that I had to hurry with the photo (on my phone). 



We had some really dreary, cold, rainy days last week so we played inside a lot.  Lucas received this puzzle in a goodie bag at a friend's birthday party.  He loved putting it together!  He had some help from mom, but he really did a good job of maneuvering the pieces to snap together and recognizing different parts {barn, house, corn,  tractor} of the puzzle. 

I wonder how long it will be before we lose pieces? 

Laundry surprises

I find lots of interesting things in pockets when I do laundry.  I've found toothpicks, receipts, zip ties, pliers, pens, business cards, paper clips, tissues, screws/nails/bolts, pocket knives - oh, the list goes on!  And this is only in Brent's pockets! 

Once in a while, I get a nice $20 bill just for doing laundry. :-)  I have an ice cream bucket sitting on top of the dryer that I fill with my monetary goodies.  

Brent isn't the only boy in this house who fills his pockets with treasures.  I don't normally check Lucas' pockets but I know I need to start. More than once I've found some rocks in the bottom of the washing machine.  I'm pretty sure those weren't Brent's. 

The other day this was sticking out of Lucas' pocket...

It was a big piece of bark from a tree. 

Thankfully, none of his pocket treasures have been alive.  Yet.

{Look at that worn knee - I think we got our money's worth out of these jeans!}

Another football weekend

Lucas joined us at the football game on Saturday.  It was a night game, so he had a long day to look forward to it.  Before we even left our house he said several times, "Cy not take me away."  I'm not sure where this thought came from, but we kept telling him Cy is a character, like Mickey Mouse, and that Cy is our friend. 

He did great at the game; he clapped and cheered when we did and yelled, "Go Cy!" a lot.  The people around us thought it was great to have such a young fan.

Our best attempt at a family pic during the game.  Lucas was mesmerized by the helmet shuffle on the jumbo screen.  At least he was looking towards my phone! 

Flashback Friday

Our First Home

September 2004

Brent and I bought our first home in September of 2004.  We had been living in a rental farmhouse since we married in June of 2003.  It was a long house hunt and we were confident we could turn this house into a home for us.  We knew it was going to take a lot of work, though!

One of our first discoveries was that our intuition was right... there were beautiful hardwood floors underneath all of this old, yucky carpet. 

We spent lots of hours {lots!} on sanding and refinishing the floors, but it was absolutely worth it.  Brian and Jen spent a weekend helping us, too.  For the next week, we drove from our rental to the new house at 4:30am and put a coat of polyurethane on the floors.  Then, we went home, got ready for work and after a full day of work came back to the new house to put on another coat of poly.  We did this for three days straight. 

Final product. Beautiful!

Kitchen - before.

We tore out the cabinets, flooring and spent many laborious hours tearing off wallpaper and contact paper.  There was sticky, baked-on contact paper on the walls!  Jenny and Teresa hard at work.

Ryan and Brent examining the damage.   

Kitchen - after.

Living room - before. 

Living room - after.

Bathroom - before. 

Bathroom - total gut. 

Bathroom - after.



Bedroom #2 - before. 

Bedroom #2 - after. 

Bedroom #3 - before.

Bedroom #3 - after.

Master bathroom - before.  The word "Ewww!" doesn't even begin to describe it. 

Master bathroom - after. 

Master bedroom - before.  This had sweet, red shag carpet.  The two things hanging down in this photo are pull chains for the light and fan... yes, they were each about five feet long!

Master bedroom - after. 

We closed on the house on September 27, 2004.  We spent four weeks gutting the house and creating our first home.  We had lots of wonderful help along the way but our dear friends Heidi & Ryan were there for all of it.  They spent many hours helping us think through plans, tear apart, reconstruct and paint.  It was such a fun project!

Moving day. 

There are some funny stories about this moving crew... the boys were giggling like junior high girls and it ended with broken glass and a new door on our house.

Oh, how we loved this house... we made it everything we wanted and loved it... we had the best neighbors in the entire world.  Sometimes I miss this house, but I wouldn't trade it for all of the wonderful blessings we've had since we moved.  What a fun Flashback Friday!

Speaking of hats...

Daddy bought Lucas a new hat.  This hat is known as "deer huntin' hat."{anything with camouflage is referred to as deer hunting}

He had to wear it today.