Farm Babies

Calves and Kittens
We have had all but one cow have a calf this year. We only had to bring one into the bathtub and we only had one come backwards. We lost the backwards calf so BJ got a Holstien calf to put on the cow that lost her calf but she didn't want it. She must of seen the spots :) so now we have a bottle calf. The little black calf was a twin and he did okay for a day or so but he was pretty small, so we lost him. Life of the farmer. God is good though and the rest are healthy and strong.

These are Grandma Boender's kitties. They are so tiny and the kids love to cuddle them! If any of them survive they will be nice and tame. Rachel tells me everyday that she is going to take one home when it gets big enough. We will just have to see about that.

She Can Do It !!

Rachel Can Swing!

Mom's and babysitters alike can understand my excitement over the fact that Rachel can now pump and make her self swing all by herself! She is very proud of herself and so am I!
I can now stand in one spot and just push Johnathon instead of having to walk back and forth. Given it isn't that far of a walk it is just the fact that now I only have one child saying "mom, mom, mom I want to go as high as the others, push me, push me now." I am truly thankful. Now we can start working on Johnathon and when he is finished I can just sit on the deck and read a book. Ha ha:)

Spoiled!

Valentines
My wonderful husband had to go out at 10:00 at night on Friday the 13th to go push 3 inches of snow. He got home at 3:00 Valentines morning. I got up when the kids woke up, went into the kitchen and was surprised by the beautiful bouquet of yellow roses and the very nice card to go with it. I really wasn't expecting anything because he had told me a few times that the new kitchen was my Valentines, mother's day, birthday and Christmas present all in one.;)
Later that day I also got a bright daisy bouquet from my Dad and my sister gave me the white daisies. I felt very very spoiled! Thank goodness I had a whole new counter to put all my beautiful flowers on!
Hope all of you had a wonderful Valentines too.

What We Do On a Beautiful Day!

After the power washer bath we parked her in front of the heater and she dried off just a little bit. It is a very good thing I had her put farm clothes and mud boots on before we left the house.(Just in case.)
The Mud Hole
Dad got out the power washer and carefully hosed her down. Thank goodness it was 55 degrees outside and we live only a mile down the road from Grandpa and Grandma's farm!

Rachel, she is more a boy than my boys sometimes:) She came flying around the corner and drove right into the mud. This mud is deep, almost 8 inches. She hit the mud and flew over the handlebars; but she didn't let go. Oops. Oh well she didn't get hurt and we all got a laugh.

Finished Kitchen!

The Bar!
This is my favorite part! We are working on finding bar stools at the moment and now the drywall is patched and I just need to paint it. Those minor details that take a little while to get done.
Okay, this is also my favorite part! The back splash. It really pulls everything together nicely.
It isn't completely finished I guess. They added a shelf above the stove so I have a little bit more counter space. Someday we would like a microwave that goes over the stove but for the time being I just use it for odds and ends.

Johnathon is Three Years Old!!
This is my favorite picture I took for his pics. He wasn't extremely cooperative so I didn't get a huge variety.

Birthday parties are always so much fun. Thanks to everyone who could come and for the wonderful gifts as well. It was so nice to have a open and almost done kitchen to have a party in!

Johnathon wanted a race car cake so I did my best. I don't know it was really leaning by the end of the day. He thought it was cool though! The 21 B is his Dad's race car number and Dad's car will be green and orange too.

More and More Kitchen
Johnathon "works" all day in the kitchen on anything he can get his screw driver, hammer and whatever else he can find to "fix" like daddy. I am constantly having to keep a very close eye on him so that he doesn't pound a new hole into anything. When the guys get home in the evening to really work on things he is just happy as can be to be in the middle of everything!
Here he is sitting on the sink so daddy can caulk around it and make sure it seals tight. He wasn't heavy enough so, Jeremiah had to add his weight too.
This is how the counter top came. (without a sink hole) Jeremiah and BJ measured and measured to make sure that they would cut it just right. They did an awesome job and we all breathed a big sigh of relief when we popped the sink into the hole and it fit perfectly. Way to go guys!!
BJ worked hard Tuesday night while I was at a meeting and put in two new can lights. They are so nice and really make the kitchen look new, clean and finished. I love the warm light they give off verses the florescent light we had before.

Happy 3rd Birthday Johnathon!

Poor Johnathon didn't get much of a birthday party yet because our kitchen is still kindof a disaster. Mom has big plans to have everyone over, I just kindof wanted the hutch out of the hall way:) He didn't seem to mind that he didn't have lots of people to come over; he was happy with going to Grandma Jan's for the day and having Bratwurst, rice and corn for supper. ( His choices.) He also got yellow cupcakes with the chocolate frosting being his favorite. So now I have cupcakes without frosting on them because Johnathon licked it all off. I guess it takes a little more than three years to grow out of that. We are all very proud and thankful to God for our little Johnathon who isn't that little anymore. I am working on his 3 year old pics and will get them up here as soon as I get them.

New Cupboards!




Wow, I thought it would look really big when everything was out of it, but it didn't it looked really small. Thank goodness for cupboard space!

Taking out the Wall
Wow, what a mess! Drywall dust makes a really big mess. Oh well one more step done. We are making good progress!
Poor BJ had to do all the electrical stuff. He only made one phone call to Uncle Bill(thank goodness for an uncle that is an electrician) and did really well.

Counters and Floor are Gone
The kids would be happy as can be with no counter tops:)

We took up the old floor and the under layment. The kids loved pulling nails and tearing up the floor. It went faster than I thought it would. Jeremiah Lamb does a great job and is great help.

Living thru a Remodel.
Wow I can't believe we fit so much stuff in our kitchen. It took up our living room, hallway and basement.


It will all be worth it in the end!

Newest Project
My wonderful husband and Dad have made it possible for me to get a new kitchen. I can not say how excited and thankful I am! Here are some before pics and during pics. I will try to keep this updated more often than I have been:)

Grandma's pond is fun even in the winter!!




Grandpa and the kid taxi :)