The blessings of being a farmer's wife

After I had posted my previous post we had a surprise visit from a tall, dusty, visitor. Our favorite kind of visitor. I was reminded of the joys of being a farmer's wife.... the pop-ins. I loooooooove the pop-ins. You never know when sweetie will be popping in for a quick minute. This pop-in lasted long enough for lingering hugs and a push on the swing. You can see the joy on their faces. They love the pop-ins too.

I can hardly stand how adorable Natalie is with her blanket and thumb in her mouth.

Happy

    Okay, so I'm not feeling the joys this week of being "the farmer's wife". The farmer's absence is getting to me a bit. I worry about his health, or falling asleep on the often times long drive home. I am always in awe of how one can work so hard on such little sleep. My husband is amazing to me which just make me miss him all the more. It's a nice time of year to be reminded to not take this gift that God has given me for granted. When he's not around I realize how much he completes me and holds me up. Thank you, God for bittersweet reminders of the gifts and love you have poured into our lives.
   I am loving the view from my dirty bedroom window of the boys tromping in their favorite mud hole. this is the sight that inspired me to turn on the computer and record my thoughts. I love this Tuesday morning! Sounds from the open window of Carter barking orders to Alton and Alton's "Okay, Carter" reply. Little boy truck noises, laughter, screams and somtimes cries. They seem to be working each scenario out on their own. Wonderful! I am not going to break into that. :)
     I got all my Costco and grocery shopping out of the way yesterday and I think I may have bought enough food for over a month. Ha, ha. It's a relaxed day of staying home and giving each child unhurried attention. I crave these days and delight in them when they arrive.
   Sorry, no pictures. But hopefully you can visualize... me at the computer still needing a shower, Natalie sleeping soundly on her tummy in her crib with her thumb in her mouth, the boys running back and forth by the open sliding door. Happy... everyone seems to be happy today. :) I shall choose to be too.

Random

Sunday afternoon...
     Lewie is working his busiest day yet and I am missing him more than ever today. Sunday is my least favorite day of the week when we aren't together as a family. But on the flip side, my favorite when we are all together. It's a good time to blog though. :) Here's some random shots.

The first laughing shot of Natalie

My three little luv's :) This picture makes me feel happy

Oh, how precious! My favorite. :)

My favorite Pedicure. Compliments of Mama Mary. Happy Birthday to me :)

    

What an angel girl. I am so enjoying being Natalie's mother. She is beginning to respond and interact with me and the boys. She loves to smile and be talked to. Her and I are already good friends. :) I look forward to cultivating that relationship with her in the years to come. My sweet little girl! Precious gift from above.

We went to visit Grandma GeeGee on Saturday morning instead of the traditional Soccer game. It was nice to see her in such good spirits and to catch up a bit. The boys brought fruit roll-ups, marshmallows, and a couple books to occupy themselves. Alton walked over to the picture by Grandma's bed a million times and asked, "who's that?". It's a picture of my Grandma and Papa Hugh, whom Alton is named after. Papa died before Carter was born so none of my kids remember him. I realized that I need to have more pictures up of family.

showing off the fruit roll-ups

Marshmallows!

When we came home there was a shiny new golf cart in our driveway. Complete with flames :).

Lewie called it the "family golf cart". WaaaaHooooo! That thing is FAST!!! Carter is all about the seat in the back. I think that's pretty cool too.

I strapped Natalie on and we all went for a ride since Daddy said he wouldn't make it home till late. The boys couldn't wait for Daddy. So we "checked the pump" for him.

Happy, happy, happy!

So long!

Popsicles on the porch

Sitting on the front steps, eating a popsicle and watching Daddy load up a shaker onto the trailer. The boys woke up from their nap just in time to enjoy this moment. A glimpse of Daddy is enough to make their day. What is that like to be loved so much that just the sight of you puts another into a frenzy of excitement? I often ask Lewis that. I don't think he even has the words to describe it. I always wish that he could hear and see what I do from inside the house when we hear him pull in. The hollers of "DADDY!" are so infectious and brightens my day. He does get to see their shining faces running at him pull throttle and plowing into his chest. He does see them waiting at the end of the sidewalk where they know they are safe from getting plowed over themselves until Daddy spots them and holloring, "Daddeeeeeee!" until they get the okay to come observe. The relationship between these three is one of the most beautiful things in my life. I love their love for eachother grow in their hearts knowing their closeness will make a hug impacts all three of their lives.

Last week the boys "helped" me make dinner. Completely impromtu and untimely as can be it was such fun and SUCH a MESS! :) It began with Alton pulling up his chair to watch. Watching turned quickley to the "helping" that I mentioned and then Carter joined in with his chair and "helping". I made coconut and panko encrusted tilapia which required four steps. 1) salt and pepper the fish 2) dredge in flour 3) dip in egg mixture 4) roll in crumbs. Alton got a little crazy with the salt and pepper so not every bite of fish tasted the same. :) they both enjoyed the flour but none of it made it on the fish. Only the floor, themselves, counters and any other surface in the kitchen they could find. Even though messes tend to make me crabby this one was such a blast to make that I didn't really mind it. It made me think that this is something I should plan to do with them. I hope that all my children enjoy working in the kitchen and that I can cultivate my love for fixing food in them.

Alton's face says it all. We had a blast!

Alton reaching...

... got it! not good.

Carter loved the mess making too.

But at the end of it all... we had dinner.

The to-do list...

So many things that I wanted to get done today... Blog, make muffins, clean the kitchen, laundry; cleaned and folded, change the sheets on our beds. well, the boys are in bed so no sheets are getting changed today, the muffin batter is sitting on the counter waiting to get baked, the laundry is in the dryer, washer and in piles on the floor and couch, I started cleaning the kitchen and I am now working on my blog. Lewie is working late tonight as it is 10:05 pm and still no sign of him. If he was home I would be sitting on the couch giving him a much deserved back scratch and the blog would wait till tomorrow. But as I sit here and wait to hear the sound of hubby's diesal truck I might as well blog. :)
   So you know all the things I didn't do. Here are some things we did. We did celebrate Josie's 4th birthday with lunch in McHenry Village. It was crazy with Carter, (who was quite grumpy today) Josie, Alton, Brynn and Natalie who almost doesn't count because she didn't make a peep. Crazy but fun. :) Josie is such a sweet little girl and delighted in this being her special day.

Oh yeah. We stopped in at Ragamuffin and Carter was picking out what HE wanted for HIS birthday. Josie was telling him that she would get it for him for his birthday. Carter's birthday is in August. Have to wait a while for that one.

Brynn is still totally in love Natalie

Josie was sharing her new lipgloss with Brynn. That is until Brynn decided to take a big chunk out of it :)

The other thing that we DID do today was get Carter's hair cut. As he hopped down Alton declares, "My turn!" I looked at Debbie and she looked at me and we both said, "why not!" If he's willing let's give it a try. It's not like it will take much time to trim Alton's three ity bity strands of hair. :)

At first he was pretty cool with it...

Then came the clippers.

He was crying by the end but he made it and with minimal tears and wiggling. Good job, Alton and good job, Debbie!

Another thing that I DID do was admire Natalie in her sleep...

...and snap a picture of our brand new baby kitty that just came wandering into the yard one day and never left. Indeed she has made herself quite at home in my pot of now dead and smashed alyssum. Carter calls her "Jax" and I refer to her as "Baby kitty" Whatever you call her you gotta call her sweet.