One down, sixteen more to go...

One year down, sixteen more to go until all 3 kids are out of 4-H. Not that I am counting down, just looking forward! Kaylee had another amazing night of strutting her stuff (her stuff being her two Angus calves, Abby & Emily.

Here she is pulling leading Abby around the show arena as the judge looks on. 

 

The next picture is of Kaylee setting Abby up, just right.  I have to brag on her a bit here.  When she was showing Emily, the judge originally placed Emily 3rd in her class.  Kaylee led her into the 3rd place spot and continued working with her, setting her up, getting her into the perfect stance.  She did such a great job of this that the judge ended up changing his mind and moved her up into 2nd place!

Proud girl with her Champion Angus Heifer!  Great job!

Then Kaylee had to go back in the arena with Abby for Grand Champion Heifer.  She was competing against all the other Champion Heifers of each breed.  He picked out four that made "his cut," Abby being one of them.  He kept going back to her and looking at her and said several times that it's very difficult to judge a young calf like her against a full grown heifer because with her, you THINK you know the cow that she will become, but you really can't give her Grand Champion based on that.  Here she is.  She is the 3rd one there in the front row, just behind the white cow.

Here is Kaylee & Abby, pictured with Justin.  Justin raises Angus and is who we bought Abby from in March.  He was very proud as well and wanted a picture with her.

Kaylee is on cloud 9 today!  She has come so far!  She worked very hard, got beat up a bit, but stuck with it.  She's already looking forward to next year!

Here's some more pictures from the fair...

Here's Jacob on Monday morning in the Pre 4-H Goat Show.  He showed one of his cousins goats.

Kaylee didn't take any goats to the fair, but her cousin Emma had two goats in the same class, so Kaylee showed one of them for her.  That's Emma, right behind Kaylee.

Jacob and his buddy Mason.

I think this little calf was as entertained with Anden as what Anden was with him.

Here's Jacob showing in the Pre 4-H Swine Show.  Jacob showed his cousin's pig.

It was pretty wild in there.  The kids literally chased their pigs around the arena, bumping them with their canes to TRY to get them in front of the judge.  It was pretty entertaining!

Here's Jacob showing Emily for Pre 4-H.  The judge is asking him about his calf here.

My Little Showman doing a great job with Emily!

Shaving cream fight this morning.  Here's Kaylee with her cousin Isaac.

And Kaylee with her cousin Emma.  Such sweet girls!

Got a picture this morning of Jesse & Anden walking through the Cattle Barn.

4-H Fair Beef Showmanship

Big day today for Kaylee.  She showed her calf Abby in the Beef Showmanship at our 4-H Fair.  She did AMAZING!  Prior to arriving at the fair on Saturday, Abby had given all of us a run for our money.  She'd gotten away from Jesse a few times out in the barnyard, jumped onto the hay wagon while we were washing her, literally drug Kaylee through the gravel a few times.  Since getting to the fair though, she's been a baby!  Our other calf Emily who was a breeze to work with at home, got to the fair and decided to take over where Abby left off.  She's been a stinker.  Kaylee had planned to show Emily for Showmanship because she had such a calm demeanor about her.  I think she made the right choice though when she decided to show Abby instead.  Hoping Abby keeps this up and Emily calms down a bit for Wednesday evening's Beef Show.  Kaylee will show both of them in the Beef Show and Jacob will show one of them.  He'd originally planned to show Emily as well, so we shall see!

Doing a good job keeping her calf calm and eyes on the judge.

Here's 1/2 the class she was showing in.  She is to the right of the brown and white cow.

She's looking so calm and cool here... much calmer than her Mama!  I was in the stands shaking like a leaf.  Not sure how all my pictures aren't one big blob of blur from me shaking so much!

Proud Papa looking on from just outside the show arena.

Again, so calm and cool!

Kaylee with her Grandpa and Grandma and her Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa who all came to cheer her on.

And my FAVORITE picture of all...

Kaylee with her calf Abby (and her Blue Ribbon!)

Goats and Pigs and Cows OH MY!!!

It's 4H Fair time and that means lots of time spent in the barns with the animals.  This is Kaylee's final year in Pre-4H.  Next year will be the real deal!  Both of the kids spent a lot of time over the last few months working on their Exhibit Projects.  I need to get some pictures of them and post them here at some point.

This week was spent helping their cousins Emma & Isaac with their animals.  Emma & Isaac are both in 4H so Kaylee & Jacob showed some of their animals for the Pre-4H shows.

Here they are at the goat show talking to the judge about their goats...

Jacob had named his Caleb and Kaylee named hers Prancer.  They had worked really hard the last couple of weeks getting their goats used to them.

Such a great Showman!

Jacob said from the get-go that he wanted to show a pig.  He'd say, "All you gotta do is hit it in the butt with a stick!  It's easy!"  He'd not seen anyone show a pig since last summer, but he did a GREAT job!

Finally, the Beef Show was Wednesday night.  Jesse talked with a farmer of his who said it would be fine if the kids wanted to show one of his daughter's calves.  They went out 2 different mornings and several evenings to work with the calf.  She did great, but the evening of the show she was a little spunky and got away from Jacob.  She came around the back of him and he got tripped up on his own feet and went down.  He got right back up and was ready to get a hold of the rope again.  Unfortunately because of all the excitement, I didn't get any really good pictures of him with the calf.

Here's Kaylee.  She did an AWESOME job!  The judge even said to Jesse, "She is going to be a heck of a good little showman!"  She had control of her calf the whole time and even when it was trying to pull her a bit, she got her hip into it and pulled back.

Hanging out in the cattle barn.

After the Pre-4H beef show, Kaylee insisted that she stay with Jesse for the entire beef show.  He does the announcing for the show.  She loved it.  When she got home later that evening, she ran in the house telling me how a GIRL won Grand Champioin and Reserve Champion!  She was so excited!  

Jacob on the otherhand wanted to ride a few rides.  Can't say I blame him... he's about a hair too short to ride the swings at Holiday World.  He was loving the swings at the fair though!    

All in all, a hot week, but a great week.  Memories in the making, that's for sure!

Times have changed

Fifteen years ago, I spent my Friday nights hanging out with my friends,

going to ballgames, cruising "The Strip", going to the movies...

Let's just say TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

This was my Friday night tonight...

Oh gosh no... that's not me in the tractor... that's Jesse. 

I'm behind the camera, doing what I do best...

STAYING OUT OF THE WAY!

Oh and manhandling 3 munchkins who wanted to take turns riding with Jesse.

And guess what...

I wouldn't have it any other way!

My father-in-law might though... when we came past his place, he asked me which field Jesse was in. You'd think by now he'd know not to ask me such questions... I told him, "The one with the purple flowers." Never mind the fact that nearly all the fields in the county have purple flowers in them. He loves me!

Here are the kids playing with Grandma & Grandpa's baby goats.

Happy Birthday Grandma Mary Lee!

Today is my Mother-in-law's birthday.  We spent yesterday afternoon with her, Denis, and all of Jesse's brothers, sister, and their families.  It was the perfect day to get out and enjoy the sunshine! 

But first, we had to do a little photoshoot of Grandma and her pride and joy...

Oh wait, that's not right, let's try that again...

Much better!!!  :)

Kaylee on Skippy & Emma on Blaze.  Jesse walked with them for a bit and then let them ride alone as he watched from a far.  Good thing I knew nothing of this until they were back, safe and sound!

Jesse & Jacob riding together. 
This was Jacob's first time riding without someone leading the horse. 

He did GrEaT!!  True cowboy!

Anthony, Jacob, Anden, & Isaac playing on the rockpile.

Feed the Lion

This post is dedicated to my Dad (otherwise known as "Pa.")  I sent him an email the other day and his response was,

"Been missing your blog posts." 

Uh oh... Grandparents are kind of like lions... if you don't keep them well fed (with updates about their grandchildren) they get a little cantankerous!  Just kidding Dad!

No really, other than being busy with projects around the house, I have no excuse for being away from this blog for so long!  Sure I could have posted pictures of us power-washing and resealing the sidewalks and patio around the house and installing the new basketball goal, but didn't think anyone cared.  :-)

We've finally finished the bonus room.  This has been a  L...O...N...G work in process, but 2 years after we started, we can finally say we're done!  I am married to the tightest (squeaks when he walks) man.  He won't pay anyone to do anything around the house.  "No, we can do that ourselves," is his catch-phrase.  With the exception of having it plastered, we did everything ourselves.  For now, it's a playroom for the kids... when they outgrow that stage, who knows!  I'm waiting on some barstools I ordered to be delivered and then will be moving a table up for them.  We're also going to be putting a television up there and then will be moving all their movies up.  Here's a few pics:

Don't know if you can see this picture really well, but I wanted to be able to display some of their artwork in the room.  I found these frames that you can open up and not only display it, but also store a few pieces as well.  I glued some funky letters on each frame then to spell out their names so they each have their own frame.

And finally, here's a picture of Kaylee & Anden with Pipsqueak.  He's been in the house since late last week after we had him fixed.  Other than shredding up a kleenex, he's been such a good cat and surprisingly Jesse hasn't even complained much about him.  The kids love him and he's so good with them.

Pipsqueak

Just wanted to give a little update on Pipsqueak (aka Kitty.) 

His name really is Pipsqueak, but I can't stop calling him Kitty.

Anyhow, he's been hanging out mainly in the garage...

until today. 

I was in the basement and saw a mouse scurry across the floor.  I didn't even freak out this time... instead, I marched outside and brought Kitty in.  Kitty and I are getting along just fine!  Jesse on the other hand sneezed one time and gave me THE LOOK.  Too bad for him... I've been telling him for a few days I thought we had a mouse... he didn't do anything about it, so I DID!

He's hiding from Anden here... Anden's never done anything to him, he just likes to chase him around.  I think Kitty actually kind of likes it because if Anden stops chasing him, Kitty comes looking for him.