Our last Thursday together

Today marked the last "Daddy Day Off Thursday" trip, since Isaiah will be going to school 5 days a week.  So today we took a trip to a local "farm".  The kids were so excited to go to a farm, it just broke my heart a little bit that they didn't ever get to experience what I had growing up.  I tell them stories but I am not sure how much actually sticks. 

Anyway, we walked in to find the chickens pecking their corn and the rooster making some noise.  We ventured into the chicken coop where the kids learned where eggs actually come from! 

Looking at the chickens

 

Then we moved onto the turkeys.  If you gobble really loud, they will gobble back.  It was really fun!

 

Brielle Gobbling at them.

 

Feeding the chickens

 

Trying to get more corn to feed the chickens

 

Just thought I would add these because I can't get enough of this face!

 

Next we fed the sheep.  Neither Isaiah or Brielle were that excited when it was time to actually feed them.  The thought was more exciting than doing it, but with Daddy's help, Brielle went first.

 

No, this wasn't a punishment. 

And after the first time, he couldn't get enough.  These are the goats that we also fed.

 

And he wanted to feed each one.

 

And finally the food ran out!

 

 

Then we stumbled upon the best attraction.  Well, at least for me it was!

 

Daisy May, the fiberglass cow.

 

 

 

They boys.  Brielle didn't want any part of this.

It took awhile for us to convince Isaiah to just give it a try.

And he loved it!

 

So did Collin.  I think we may have future farmers on our hands! 

 

The possible new owners of Seitview dairy.  Grandpa would be proud.

 

Brielle decided she would like to feed a goat, so we finally made it all the way to the back to feed the goats.  She wasn't so sure when we got there, but she did it!

And yes, I was actually there too!

 

 

The pedal tractors....I think that they were meant for kids.

They had watering cans for the kids to water their gardens.

And cool tractors to sit on!

 

Grandpa would be proud!

 

And this is what a 1 year old does while the big kids are watering the garden.

 

Another stop was the kitten house.  I wasn't sure how the kids would react, but I was so surprised that they just walked up to the kitten and pet it.  I wish I would have had audio or a video of Collin's reaction.  He just started talking away!

I think Collin was going to try to pick up the cat here.

She is the definition of a Daddy's Girl.

 

It was a great day at the farm.

Just another day.....again.......

Well, you all seemed to enjoy the last rough, or normal as I like to call them, day so here is another good one for you all.

It started off so nice.  Steve got up with the big kids, so I slept until 7.  Collin slept until 8 something.  Beautiful!  The kids and I went out to water the plants, since it was the  "coolest" part of the day.  Collin joined us after his breakfast.  We were finished and I asked Brielle to get up and pick up her bike.  She replied, "no."  "Did you just poop your pants?"  Brielle, "no".  "Are you sure?"  Sure enough she pooped.  Since she still had jammies on, the poop was not contained in undies....it was rouge and could escape at any moment.  I sent her inside to wait for me. 

Meanwhile Isaiah has just discovered the joy of driving the jeep.  (a battery operated toy jeep that he can actually drive....YIKES) He almost hit Collin while we were getting cleaned up to go inside. Great.

So back, inside I take Brielle and clean her up.

Whew.

So last night a conversation sparked between Steve and myself about cleaning and our house.  (I had the same conversation with my Mom earlier in the day.)  Steve noticed while he was in the shower that the ledge above the shower was really dusty.  So he told me it was gross.  I replied with a guess it needs to be cleaned.  His reply....."yeah, guess you better get busy?".  Now friends, he says (and said) this all in good fun, but it made me think again how I need to clean more often.  So today was the day I was going to clean the house.  The kids even like to help! 

So I lay out the plan.  I tell the kids.  Ready, set, go!
I am gathering the cleaning supplies when Collin starts crying.  I go over to see what is going on and my nose sniffs something.....poop.  "Who pooped?"  Both Brielle and Collin had pooped.  Sigh.

Brielle goes to wait in the bathroom while I change Collin.  I hear to toilet lid clank up and ask Brielle if she has to poop more.  Yup.  Great.  I am in the middle of changing Collin.  She is still dirty.  Great.  I ask her to hold it and I will be right there.  I quick finish and run into the bathroom. 

Whew.

So now I start again.  The children are in the living room playing peacefully together, I am in the bathrooms scrubbing away.  I put the toilet bowl cleaner in the hall bathroom and walk back to my bathroom to put it away.  I return with the brush to find Collin up to his armpits in nasty blue toilet water complete with toilet bowl cleaner.  YUK!!!  I wipe him off and wash his arms with soap, which he thinks if totally fun and funny. 

I powered through the rest of the cleaning.  (only the 2 bathrooms were cleaned this morning)  Now it was lunch time.

You have to know something about my children......when they play quietly, it means that they have taken ALL of the toys and moved them to a new location.  Today it was the dining room corner.  I explained that lunch would not be served to them until the toys were all cleaned up.  They of course took their sweet old time.  Steve came home for lunch and I shared this story.  I looked at him and said, "I'm exhausted.".  The kicker is ONLY 2 rooms are cleaned!!!!!!

I know cleaning while you have small children is like shoveling while it's still snowing, but seriously 2 rooms!!!!

I sit and write this as they are all "resting".  But I really have to get up and keep on cleaning.  You see while my Mom was here this weekend she was kind enough to peel and cut up all of my tomatoes so I could cook them and freeze them.  So that's what I did on Saturday night before I went to bed.  I woke up on Sunday morning to find my whole freezer COVERED in tomato sauce.  UGH!  My Mom helped me clean up half of it, so I guess it's time I clean up the other half. 

I really just want to eat a piece of cheesecake and get a foot rub while watching some kind of smutty TV. 

Camping Trip

Isaiah and I (Calie) went on an overnight camping trip to Devil's Lake State Park.  It went better than I anticipated, and brought back SO many memories from my own childhood. 

We left on Wednesday after Steve got home from work and made the hour long drive to the park.  We stopped at the ranger station, checked in, bought some wood, and off we went to find our camp site.  Isaiah was beyond excited to say the least.  I found it very weird to only worry about holding one hand through the parking lot!

We arrived at our camp site and began the process of unpacking and setting up.  I have to admit I was a little nervous about setting up a tent that we received for our wedding almost 8 years ago, for the first time by myself!  However, Isaiah helped a lot, and just when it got tricky to try to get 3 poles up at the same time, a nice man stopped by to help.  I still think I could have gotten it by myself, but it was nice to have the help!!! 

After the bed was made, we made some supper and ate it together.  After always handling 3 kids and a husband, 1 kiddo was.....well a little too quiet at times!  After dinner Isaiah was so excited, he washed all the dishes himself! 

 

 

We made a campfire, smores, and enjoyed the rest of the night cuddling and talking.  Oh we also tried glow in the dark bubbles, but it was a failure. 

 

The next day we woke up had breakfast, had another fire, and popped popcorn before we headed out to go on a hike.  Isaiah was so excited every time we saw big rocks he wanted to climb on them and then have his picture taken!

The beginning of our hike

 



 

The view from the first major clearing

 

The two of us

 

After many dark photos, I finally remembered that I have a "nature" setting on my camera....boy it works like a charm!!!

 

Just taking it all in

 

The view from the highest point we went

 

 

At this point we had been hiking for about an hour and a half.  We both would have kept going, but I knew if we would have gone any further Isaiah wouldn't have made it back down. 

 

 

I asked him to put his hands down at his side.  He took me very literally!

After all the hiking, we went back to our campsite, had lunch (where Isaiah did all the dishes again!) and packed up.  Then we headed to the beach for some fun in the sun.  We swam, built a sandcastle, and hung out for another couple hours before we packed up. We made a quick supper and took another hike before heading home. 


This time the hike was a flat hike along the lake.  But don't worry there were plenty of rocks to climb!

 

He says, "Oh Mom, you should take my picture here." 

 

 

I had such a fun time with this guy.  I can't wait to take the whole family someday.