A Little Slice of Heaven

I am kid free until tomorrow night. I am also a farm widow unless it rains today. It's like a vacation without having to leave home!

The boys took off with Grandma and Grandpa for a wedding in St. Louis. I would love to have gone, but such is life on the farm. I am thoroughly enjoying being alone. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and will be happy when they are home, but everyone needs a break.

So what did I do on my first night off? I mowed the lawn (heavenly, I know). Then I sat down and read a book, WITHOUT interruptions! That's a very rare thing.

My plan today is to run errands, BY MYSELF. I have to go activate my new phone (thanks Sam!) and I thoroughly look forward to going to Verizon without having to corral my kids every 30 seconds. I'm also washing sheets since I don't have to worry if Blankie will be dry by nap time.

Speaking of washing sheets. I went up to strip the boys' beds this morning and discovered the Farm Industry News in my son's bed. I guess if we keep with those kinds of magazines as he gets older, I'll be a happy mom ;)

Myth Busters: Dairy Edition

Myth #1: Only bulls have horns.

Ok, so I'm going to embarrass my sister with this one. She was under the impression that only males have horns. In fact, all Holsteins, male and female, are born with horns. However, we dehorn them at a young age. Horns can be very dangerous, to us, and to the other cows. Dehorning isn't full proof, and occasionally you'll get a cow with a bit of a horn or two, and they know how to use them. That is why we dehorn. There are breeds of cattle that do not grow horns, but most Holsteins do.

Myth #2: We have a calving season.

I get a lot of comments and questions about how our calving season is going from family, friends, etc. Those who raise beef cows typically have a calving season in early spring. However, in the dairy industry we need to supply milk year round which means we need to have cows calving year round. There are a few dairy farmers that can time their calving so that they have time off from milking, but it's tough to do. We tend to calve heavier in the spring and fall, but we have baby calves year round. Ideally, you milk a cow for 10 months after calving. We try to breed them 2 months after calving, so they should have a calf every year. That's ideal. Of course, like humans, cows don't always get pregnant as planned. It takes some longer than others and some cows we decide not to breed anymore. Once a cow is pregnant we milk them up until 2-3 months before their due date. Then they get a vacation where all they have to do is sleep and eat. We've had cows that we didn't breed back that have milked for years before they dried up. So we always have calves and we always have milking cows. That way you always have milk to drink!

Random Ramblings

Ok, so here's our life update, in bulleted form:

• I finished student teaching and it's been really nice being home, mostly.
• I did not pass my licensure test, so I have to wait until July to retake, which means I won't be able to get my license by the beginning of the school year, so no teaching job for me next year (I wasn't planning on getting one anyway, but I was hoping to go through the interview process this summer). I missed by 9 points, which is like 2 questions.
  
• Tate is potty training. Any suggestions on how to get a kid to poop in the potty?
• Cole is super excited for his birthday (June 10) and the houseboat. He tells EVERYBODY about it.
• We've had way too much rain, so much that our sewer backed up in our basement. Fantastic! It also means we need a new septic tank, to the tune of $10,000. Just when I thought we were starting to catch up again with $!

I've been in kind of a pessimistic mood lately (if you couldn't tell). It's not been a fantastic couple of weeks, but the sun is shining. The boys and I are heading up to help plant the rest of our garden. Maybe a little dirt will lift my mood!

Nebraska...the good life

If you've ever been to Nebraska, that is the sign that greats you as you enter the state. I always loved that. Nebraska is where I really found myself. Sounds cheesy, I know. The 2 years I spent in college there are the years when I came out of my shell and met some of the most awesome people.

This weekend, we got to go back. Ironically, it wasn't for friends I knew in Nebraska, but for a wedding of one of Pat's NDSU buddies. It was a blast. As is typical of Farmhousers, the wedding party consisted almost entirely of FH guys, nearly all of whom are married with kids or expecting kids. It's kind of nice that we are all in the same place in life. One thing that struck me this weekend is that of all the FH wives of Pat's pledge class, I've been around the longest. Apparently, as usual, I'm the trend setter :) We got married first, and had kids first. It just strikes me as odd for some reason. At any rate, it was a blast to be together, dance, drink, and have fun.

This morning we headed to church nearby. The pastor there was my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade teacher. His wife also taught with my parents many years ago. It was fantastic to catch up, even if it was brief. They have a very friendly church and I'm sure we could have spent all morning visiting. Instead, we had to head for home. Getaways always seem to be too short. Such is the life of a dairy farmer. Off to chores...

Surprise! It's Triplets!

It's Monday. I only have 2 more Mondays left! The weather is finally a little nicer out. When I got home today I asked Pat how his day went. His response: "you'll see when you feed your calves." So I wandered back to feed my calves and discovered these:


Not just one...
or two...or even three...
but four new baby calves.

Two sets of twins, or so I thought. Turns out, we delivered our first set of live triplets today. Two bulls and a heifer, so not quite Dairy Star newsworthy, but still exciting.

Here they are, about 5 hours old.

My Perfect Child

I often wonder how God decides to give us the children He gives us. Sometimes I wonder if He was so unconfident in my parenting skills that He gave me Cole. Then I look at Tate and think He must not think we're total failures and decided to challenge us a bit.

For instance, how many of you have children that put themselves down for a nap?

The boys have had a little more (ok, a lot more) screen time than I would like. Cole is constantly asking to play the iPod and Tate knows way more cartoons than he should at age 2. I'm trying to limit it, but sometimes it's just hard.

Sundays are typically nap days. For me that means a nice long nap curled up in bed. For Pat that means sleeping in the chair in front of the TV. We've tried the whole "go play downstairs" thing, but Cole will typically hide behind a chair and sneak a peak at the TV. If the TV is on, he cannot focus on anything else. He's starting to be able to tell time (the hour anyway), so we're working with that. Last Sunday he was watching cartoons while Pat was sleeping and I was ready to head in for a nap myself. We typically make him lay down for an hour on Sundays. I realize this won't last forever. So I told him after his cartoon was over to go lay down until 3, and HE DID IT!

I'd love to say it is all due to my phenomenal parenting skills, but I'd hate to make you laugh so hard milk comes shooting out your nose and ruins your computer. All 2 of you are drinking milk while reading this right? Anywhoodle, I do not know where this kid came from. At times like these, it's fantastic raising a 60 year old in a 4 year old body :)

Goodbye March!

Look! An update! From me!

Amazing, I know.

How is it that time can seem so slow, yet go by so fast? I only have 4 weeks of student teaching left. 4 weeks! I'm still teaching a full load, but am hoping to drop a class next week. I am so ready for life to return to "normal."

I've missed being home. There are days when I wonder if I really want to work full time and at this point, the answer is no. I enjoy teaching, but being a farm mom is a full time job and one that won't go away just because I have a "real" job. We shall see what life brings down the road.

My farm chores have gotten a little bit easier. My Kubota calf feeder is up and running. We're still working out the kinks and trying to figure out the most efficient way to feed calves, but so far, so good. Right now my biggest time consumer is washing my pails. That used to be the quick and easy part of feeding calves. Once I'm done student teaching, I'm hoping to adjust the routine a little bit more.

The boys are doing great. We had Cole's parent teacher conference last week. He's made steady improvement throughout the year, which is great. He loves going to Mrs. O's room. She's the special ed teacher and pulls out 5 kids from his class. He does well in the small group and they also see it as a special treat since they get to go during rest time.

Tate is still 2. He's full of stories, most of them not understandable. His favorite phrase is "but, Mommy..."