Hello March!

Behind doesn't even begin to describe how I've been feeling about my blog lately...it makes me so sad that I haven't been keeping up with it, and I decided to just pick back up in real time and fill in the gaps later.  Fingers crossed I can get it done because I love using this blog to keep track of all that we're doing as a family.  Here goes with an update about our March so far...it's been non-stop, and has gone from snow on the 1st to 70's this past weekend...gotta love it!

March is a busy time for us since we have spring calving cows, and we've spent a lot of the month so far dividing our time between our jobs, working on our house (yes, still) and helping at the farm on the weekends.  On top of that, we've both been traveling a lot for work, and we haven't had a single week since January with both of us here every night...talk about stressful! When you don't have the weekend to re-charge, clean and do laundry, it means a lot of week nights with little sleep trying to get laundry and house cleaning done, grocery shop (yes, I'm the person that's in the 24-hr Dillons at 10:00PM on a weeknight...), plus getting caught up on work and keeping everything else afloat.

Our current house projects include finishing our master bath, cleaning out the basement so we can start the remodel down there, and getting the outside of our house ready for landscaping.   I sometimes wonder if we'll ever get this place finished, but I just pray for patience and perseverance and realize that we'll get it done when it's done :)

We started the month with a snow storm during the last weekend of February that stuck around for a few days.  We're so thankful we were able to buy a tractor this past summer so Chance (& Henry) can clear our driveway when it snows.  Henry is obsessed with Daddy's tractor, and finds a way to talk us into a ride, or at least time to sit in the seat, almost every day.  When we go outside, he heads straight to the tractor and just walks in circles around it.   It's so cute!  He says a word for tractor, but it's hard to make out...we're working on that :)

Here's a handful of pictures from our afternoon of playing in the snow.  This was the day after I'd been gone for a week for work, so we didn't stay out too long - we were all ready for some snuggle time on the couch after playing in the cold!

 

 

  

 

Henry has started talking like crazy this month!  It seems like he says at least one new word every single day...sometimes more!  Just since Sunday, he has said "cow" with the "k" sound, "Cinchy" (our dogs name), and "Patches" which is what we call his puppy pacie.  All have been clear and enunciated...and he's continued to get better at each word as the days have gone on.  Blows my mind how fast he's growing up! :(

Henry is also getting more and more stable on 2 legs...he's worked his way from wobbly walking to all out running in the last couple of months.  He uses that to his advantage and runs from us at every opportunity lately because it's super fun!  He can also open the doors in our house quite proficiently, and we have to latch the dead-bolts on the exterior doors or he opens them and out he goes.  Henry's new favorite thing to do in the mornings is open the door when we're loading the car and go out to explore while we're busy running around.  This picture below was how far he made it dragging his car while I was loading my car one morning.  I have no idea where he was headed, but he told me "bye-bye" a couple times haha!

 

All I did was load the car, and he was gone! 

Henry is doing so much better sleeping through the night (mostly) but occasionally he wakes up too early in the mornings and we aren't done getting ready for work.  It makes for a much more stressful morning, but thankfully, he's starting to be able to sit and watch TV for a few minutes on the couch like a big boy :)

 

Cheerios & milk and watching cartoons

 

Lazy weekend morning with mommy while daddy's at the farm working

 

Helping mommy with chores

Since the middle of February, our cows and heifers have been calving, which means lots of weekends at the farm for us.  The 1st weekend in March, we managed to get away for a couple of days while Henry and the dogs stayed with Grammie & Grandpa.  We went down to OK City to surprise one of Chance's best friends for his 30th birthday.  Rodney and Sadie live in Western KS so we don't get to see them often. It was so much fun to get away and enjoy some fun in OKC.  The weekend included going to the Timed Event Championships in Guthrie, OK and it was a lot of fun too!

 

Been too long since I've had a night with my husband!

 

Living the good life...disregard all of the clothes strewn about!

 

Henry and Aubree hanging out after the annual McCurry Bull Sale

 

We're having lots of issues with climbing these days...we have a little dare devil on our hands!

The next set of pictures are from a Saturday visit to the farm.  Chance and his dad sorted out the heifers into two groups - one set we will keep and the other we will sell.  Some of them have already been sold (just this week) but we still have a few more to sell.  The remaining heifers we will keep and breed back to calve next spring.  The breeding is happening soon, so stay tuned for pictures and stories from the next phase.

 

Family selfie - checking on the heifers together

 

Looking at the ones we're keeping

 

(L) Grandpa feeding with the fur grandbabies riding shotgun; Henry taking a ride in the feed truck (R)

 

Trying to drive the feed truck

 

Riding the gator with mommy - he runs straight there when we get out to the shed

 

All cleaned up for church on Sunday morning

 

Another reason to wake up earlier in the morning to get ready - this is what happens when I go to get dressed for 30 seconds...

Every time I make a Pioneer Woman recipe, I forget that she has 4 kids and it makes a TON of food!

 

He's hard to catch for a picture these days. 

Getting extra snuggles when daddy was out of town for work last week :)

   

Now I know why people with kids don't have coffee tables...

 Helping with chores - finally able to keep his rubber boots on his feet

The weather this past weekend was so beautiful!  On Saturday morning, Chance got up super early and went down to the farm, but Henry and I decided to stay home so I could get some things done around the house.  My goal was to make a big batch of breakfast burritos and I hoped to be done in an hour or so.  I had already fried the sausage the night before to speed up the process, but Henry had other plans for his Saturday morning.  He was super clingy and didn't want to eat much, so it took me closer to 3 hours.  By that time, I didn't want to bother with us changing clothes, so we headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and play in our pj's! 

  

Someone loves their swing :)

Chance came home that afternoon and we all got ready to go to a wedding reception for one of Chance's friends.  Grandpa and Grammie were there, along with Hope, Tyler and a lot of Chance's cousins and friends...but Henry only had eyes for Grandpa.  He cried when Grandpa got out of his site and didn't want anyone else.  The only time he didn't make Grandpa hold him was to shake his tail feather on the dance floor and he was the star of the show! 

 

Grandpa's Mini Me

On Sunday morning, Henry was up bright and early, and Chance got up with him so I could sleep.  That lasted about 10 minutes before I heard Chance's panicked yelling to "come here" followed by "Henry just threw up everywhere".  Needless to say it was the start of a very long, gross day of cleaning up vomit and taking care of a sick baby.  

 

Caught a selfie just as the throw up was about to come out...oops

 

Trying to get some fresh air and help Daddy mow the grass

 

While I cleaned up vomit, Chance worked on the front landscaping -

at least one of us got something accomplished on Sunday!  More pics soon!

I have to say, March has been so full of fun and craziness, here's to hoping we have a calmer April!  Stay tuned for more about our house remodel and the rest of March happenings!