My baby's growing up...

So many words and thoughts have ran through my head with plans of writing a blog post the last several months, but finding the time or getting the words to flow when I have time in front of a computer has been harder said then done.  But leave it to my baby AKA Little Sissy to get me back to blogging.  You see today our little girl turned 5.

It is such a bittersweet moment with each child as they grow older, meet new milestones, and achieve new accomplishments.  But I must admit it is even just a little bit harder with the baby.

When Big Sissy was born over 11 years ago, we didn't even own a digital camera.  Flash forward to when Little Sissy was born, 5 years ago today and essentially her entire life has been documented by some form of social media...

From the announcement of her arrival on Facebook

to the sippy cup wars,

her first swim lesson,

her first day of preschool on Instagram,

and her assistance at Farm Girls Freeze.

It is all there which makes access to quick reminders of the memories a little bit easier.

So here's to Little Sissy turning 5 and my hopeful return to blogging to help document the memories!

Wordless Wednesday - Bubby's Big Week

It's been a big week for Bubby.

Yesterday, he lost one of his top front teeth

and gained a completely new smile and part of a new Christmas wish.

Today, Bubby turned 6 and celebrated all day long.  (On a side note, where has the time gone?  I mean how can my Bubby be 6.)

He took donuts to his class this morning.  My father-in-law AKA Pop Pop picked him up from school and took him out to eat for pizza for lunch.  And tonight, we had an impromptu family celebration at the Mexican restaurant complete with a homemade cake from my mother-in-law AKA Gamma.

So we all sang Happy Birthday and Bubby made a big wish before blowing out his candles.

Here's to hoping all his wishes come true!

Linked to the following Wordless Wednesday parties:

live and love ... outloud

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Project Alicia

What a busy, but fun few days

The last few days seem like a whirlwind.  Big Sissy and Bubby were on Fall Break last Thursday and Friday and we tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could and that didn't end until just a few minutes ago as we just got home from trick-or-treat.

On Friday afternoon, we headed up North for a quick 24 hour visit with my family.  My Aunt S came home from the hospital on Thursday so it was a blessing to be able to spend some time with her.  (Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts.  Please keep them coming as she still has a long road ahead of her, but she is doing much better than she was two weeks ago this time when she was suffering from an unknown at the time drug reaction.)

On Saturday, we had a family Halloween themed birthday party for Big Sissy, Bubby, and two of my nieces, Cousin B and A.  Their 4 birthdays fall within a month of each other between October and November so we have tried to celebrate all of their birthdays together the last couple of years which always is a lot of fun for all involved.

We headed back home late on Saturday night so everyone could sleep in their own beds and be well rested for Sunday as we decided to head to Kelsay Farms after church on Sunday.  You see I just happen to be lucky enough to know those Two Maids a Milking personally so they were kind enough to give us free tickets to visit the farm this year.  Thank you again, Amy and Liz!!

Now I realize you may find it odd that as farmers, we would want to go tour another farm, but we love visiting Kelsay Farms.  You see they are dairy farmers and there is just something about the cow.  I have always been a fan and it appears my kids are too.

In fact, Bubby tells us all the time that he wants to have dairy cows in addition to pigs when he gets bigger so time will tell.

Any way, we had a blast at Kelsay Farms and were even lucky enough to spend some one-on-one time with Miss Liz.

We might still be in the corn maze if she hadn't been with us.

Now Kelsay Farms is closed for 2011 as they are only open to the public during the month of October, but I would suggest that if you live close that you put it on your calendar now for 2012 as it really is a lot of fun for all ages and Bubby highly recommends the chocolate milk.  

Much to Big Sissy and Bubby's dismay, they had to head back to school today, but we squeezed in a little bit more fun as we went trick-or-treating tonight.

Trick-or-treating in the country is slightly different than when you live in a subdivision, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.  My good friend Miss Megan from Gal in the Middle did a great job of explaining trick-or-treat when you live in the country so be sure to check it out.  Let me just say our evening consisted of 2 1/2 hours in the car, 7 stops including one in a corn field, and over 41 miles on my van.

Needless to say, all three kids are fast asleep and I'm not far behind.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Our 4th of July Weekend

I can't believe the 4th of July has already come and gone.  I mean where is the time going!?!

Although time is flying by, we fit as much in as we could over the 4th of July weekend.

In addition to all of our work on the farm, we visited my Aunt S who is in the hospital fighting leukemia.  She still has a long road ahead of her but we got some good news on Monday so time will tell.  (Your continued prayers are appreciated.)

Big Sissy, Bubby, and Little Sissy had fun with all of their first cousins on my side of the family

and spent lots of time in the pool. 

Then when we got back home, Big Sissy checked on her green beans for her mini 4-H project

while Cousin E checked on my mother-in-law's brussels sprouts.

Bubby and Cousin N went fishing

while Cousin E blew bubbles.  

Big Sissy caught a little fish

and so did Bubby.

And then it was time for the sparklers

and fireworks.

What a great family weekend!

Farmer Fridays - It's going to be a busy weekend

Although this year's planting season started off extremely slow due to Mother Nature, it appears we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel but that means it is going to be one busy weekend on our family farm.

As you know, we finished planting a couple of weeks ago and although there is always a huge collective sigh of relief once all of our corn and soybeans are planted; the work does not end there.  We've kept quite busy since we finished planting and our list of activities for this weekend includes finishing wheat harvest,

applying anhydrous ammonia to the final two fields of corn,

spraying our soybeans, and possibly planting soybeans on top of the wheat stubble (the field where we harvested the wheat).  (This is called double cropping because we are going to attempt to get 2 crops out of the same field in the same year.)

So needless to say The Farmer and his dad will be ready to have some down time on the 4th of July when we have our annual family cookout and fireworks show which will probably include some fishing.

Happy 4th of July!!

Father's Day Desserts

For our family's Father's Day celebration this past Saturday night we had some really yummy food as I'm blessed to have a mother-in-law that is an amazing cook and baker.  She really could have her own restaurant.  Additionally, my sister-in-law and future sister-in-law are pretty talented themselves.  So if you go hungry at one of our family celebrations, it is definitely your own fault.

In addition to some great appetizers and sides, we had quite the assortment for dessert.  I made my father-in-law's favorite Robert Redford, tried out a new Gooseberry Patch recipe, and then my sister-in-law, Auntie E, tested all of our taste buds with her new creation... bacon ice cream.  (You might want to check out her blog as I'm pretty sure it will be making an appearance in the near future.)  I can't say I would want to have bacon ice cream every night, but it was definitely interesting and added a good combination of sweet and salty all at the same time.

The new recipe I tried came from Gooseberry Patch's Quick & Easy family favorites and from the 5 ingredients or less section, which is becoming my favorite.

Magic Bars
Ingredients
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 1/3c. graham cracker crumbs
14oz. can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free)
1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate as I didn't have enough semi-sweet on hand.)
1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Stir together melted butter and graham cracker crumbs.

Press into a 9x13 baking dish.

Pour milk over crumb mixture.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until edges are browned and bubbly.

These didn't make it past last night so perhaps they really are magic.

Enjoy!