My Baby Cowgirl (oh look I found this in my drafts)

Meet my Baby Cowgirl.

She turns one on July 13.  I am not sure I am ready for this.  I have been putting of planning her party because I am not ready for my last baby to be one.  I have a date and invited people, I am not a mean mom (don't consult my 3 year old on this though one of her first words was "mean Mom") that will not let her baby turn one with out a ho-rah. It just makes me a little sad to think my baby is turning one.  OK enough isn't she cute with her new cloth diaper?  Oh that is one of her birthday presents.  Guess I am a "mean mom" after all since I give diapers as birthday presents.

Update (I am publishing this as is. It will not publish the way I arranged it in the draft, NO idea why!)

Yikes My last post was in June.  It is not that I have not had anything to report, it is just that I have not taken the time to post anything.  So here is a quick catch up course in photos, form my phone... because heaven forbid I actually use my real camera.  Oh well this is what I've got:

Baby Cowgirl turned 1 in July:

I do let her out of here highchair, every now and then, but when she is out my hands are full. (Totally Lame I KNOW!)

Cowboy Z spent 17 hours one weekend building our girls a play yard.  Only about 10 hours longer than he thought it would take :)

Cowgirl KJ loves it:

Oh gosh Mama even got into the action!

So Does Baby Cowgirl!

 I (really don't know what I am doing.  Hopefully this will make Baby Cowgirls picture stay in place.  Every time I preview she moves down below the tractor photo. Sorry for the temporary interruption: technical difficulties I have no idea how to fix.  Who let me start a blog?!?!)

Nope didn't fix it.  Please see  Baby Cowgirl enjoying her swing below.  This is making me so mad.  Now my pictures and words are not together.  This is turning into a disaster!




Then Cowboy Z moved on to yard work. Yes this is how a farmer does yard work. It can be so entertaining to be married to a farmer.  I so love him!








Then it actually rained, and we played in the mud!  Cowgirl KJ loved the mud puddles and gave her mud boots a good workout.














Then my baby Cowgirl KJ started preschool.  This was pretty tough on her old Mama.  I know she has to grow-up and locking her up inside is not the best idea... but I was not really ready for this.  She on the other hand is doing great and loving school.

I am all ready to go Daddy!  Cowboy Z... no we are locking you up in your room till your 20! Ok maybe that was just Mommy's reaction.  But it's my blog I can project if I want.

Oh and this little bundle of joy came into our lives.  We all love her most of the time :)










And you are now up to date.  I will try not to have a long laps again... TRY!

Just one more picture of my little beauty.. I am of course not at all bias!

Lucky girl

Every night when I shut off Cowgirl KJ's light, sneak one more peak at My beautiful Baby Cowgirl CE and tiptoe though our messy house I wonder how we got to be so blessed. I am so thankful for my beautiful family. That's all good night world and thanks for this amazing life.

Show Girls

No, not those show girls... These show girls ----->



Cowgirl KJ had her first horse show this weekend.  It was lead line.  Oh for those who don't know lead line is where someone leads you around on a horse in the show arena.  Cowboy Z Aunt J was the leader.  Sonny Ray was the horse. Cowgirl KJ was the rider.





She did great.  She was amazing. She looked so natural. Her head may have seemed like a bit of  a bobble head, but she is 3, and her horse is 16 1/2 hands tall.  I am so proud of her.  Everyone won and got blue ribbons and a gift bag from the judge.





She had fun and asked before they gave out prizes when she got to do it again.  I was not sure I wanted her to show.  Now I can't wait till the next show.  She did awesome, and I am a proud Mama.  Did I mention she was amazing.

 I can see why soccer moms get so competitive, the feeling you get seeing your baby do so well is a huge rush.  I never thought I would be a show mom... but now I think I might have gotten the bug... YIKES

Did I mention she was amazing, and beautiful, and so natural?

Look at my blue Ribbon!!!

Mommy Helping Cowgirl KJ get her helmet on

Oh I did... Sorry, not really I would say it a million more times, She was AMAZING!

Harvest

What kind of farmer's wife would I be with out writing a little blog about harvest.  Wheat harvest that is.  If you are not from the area you may not know this but wheat harvest was pretty early this year.  There where a lot of farmers who could start cutting the end of May.  This is virtually unheard of in our area.  We usually are closer to mid to late June, even as late as July 4.  So the end of May is pretty crazy.

We (meaning Cowboy Z and his Uncle... I really have almost nothing to do with it beside cook some food and say things like "look at them cut, Cowgirl KJ see that wheat they are going to put in the grain cart.")  have everything custom cut.  Meaning we hire someone else to harvest our crops.  Combines are very expensive, like $400,000.00 expensive, and we flood irrigate corn.  Now this may not seem like good reasons to you but when you figure the wheat needs to be cut the same time the corn needs furrowed and watered (both pretty labor intensive jobs) you start to see why we hire a custom cut crew to cut it for around $30,000 this harvest.  So while our guys where trying to furrow corn (make trenches in between each row of corn for the water to run though) we had a crew with 3 combines, 1 grain cart, 2 semi grain-trucks,  4 South Dakotan s, 3 South Africans, 3 semi-trucks(to haul the combines), and two 2012 Dodge ram pickups to get around town in, harvesting the wheat.  Dont get me wrong the guys watched them cut and helped get trucks and crew from here  to there, for the most part we let them get the job done.

Unfortauatle I did not take any pictures of the crew cutting except this one of them packing up to leave.  Cowgirl KJ loved seeing the semi-trucks parked out her bedroom window.  She told me last night she missed them parked out there... oh well another harvest in the books.


Oh and if you are wondering we harvested about 50-60 bushels and acre 50 is average on a good year in this part of Kansas.  So we cant complain about how it went.


I know I did not do a good job at explaining what all goes on during harvest, so if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I will try to explain it better.

Thanks

TFDW

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DOL my true first blog

Okay, confession I did not just decide to start a random blog off the cuff. It came after writing an organization about my fear of the new dol rules. When I did they asked me to turn it into a blog they could post on their website. I have a fear of writing because of my dyslexia. I told my brother who said "what you have to say is important, you can write it.". So I sent it to him for editing. We emailed it back and forth. And finally I was ready to send it on to the organization. I was going to send it today.


But something amazing happened and the DOL withdrew their new regulations. So I have decided to post it here instead.

The Department of Labor has new regulations for the child labor law as it applies to family farms.  This new interpretation of the law would devastate my farm daughters way of life.  Our family farm is owned by my husbands family corporation and trust.  With that in mind my daughters could not ride in a tractor with their dad, help gather cattle on horseback form the pausture, and many other basic farm activities.

This message may not resonate with you personally, but it will affect our entire agricultural system if it is not stopped completely.   Wendell Berry says " eating is an agricultural act", and everyone eats.

Learning animal husbandry at an early age is essential for life long kind caring for livestock.  On the farm an internship starts at infancy. Farming is a way of life, it is different than other professions.  It requires a very long apprenticeship.  

For example I was raised around cattle, now to you a cow may be something that you simply get milk and beef form.  For me, a cow is so much more, we grew-up together.  My first Cow was Blossom. Blossom is a Momma that I saw born into this world.  Then watch her as a calf bounce around the pasture. I was there when she was weened and heared her cry all night for her Mama.  I feed Blossom each morning before school and I feed and groomed her each night after sports practice.  I showed her at the local county fair. I help decide who should father her calf when it came time. I was thrilled when we found out she was pregnant. I was there considering myself a doula when her first calf was born.  I made sure the calf was health and nursing before going in for the night on a cold January day. 

Now my daughters are watching and learning how to care for her great granddaughters.  Blossom the cow help pay for my college and taught me how to be the best cattle woman I could be.  I want my daughters to have the same opportunities I had working on my family's farms.  

The average age for farmers is raising. We need young farmers to take over.  We need them to learn all of these skills at an early age.  We need them to be allowed to work on our farms.

My husband would not have been allowed to farm had these rules been in affect when he was younger.  Our farm is on my husbands mothers side.  Neither of his parents work on the farm.  He came and started working beside his grandfather and uncle from the age of 3. He was at the farm every weekend in high school. He was able to pay for college with the money he earned working on the farm.  He also fell in love with the farming lifestyle at an early age and knew it was right where he wanted to be when he grew up.

Please help support our way of life.  Find out more information at KeepFamiliesFarming.com.  Please write  your congressman, Department of Labor, and President Obama administration. Let them know this may have been in good intentions but it only hurt our family farms and intern hurts our food  supply system.

Oops sorry Hun

On Tuesday I backed out of our garage and into Cowboy Z's new pickup.  I was mad, he was very mad, and the girls where... in between.  It of course did not do any real damage to my 9 year old Honda Element (that thing is a little tank.)  But it did injure the rear passenger door of our new pickup.  It also ripped off the nerf bar (also called a step if your not familial with the term.)  I did not come backing out of the garage at 90 mph.  I was actually slamming on the brake when I hit it.  I did not look in my mirrors and had forgotten he had parked it back there with the trailer connected.  I still can not believe I did it.  Well actually I can, I seem to always have about a million things flying thought my head when I leave to go to work.  Do I have my phone (make eye contact with phone) check.  Do you have a lunch, check, do you have boots for Cowgirl KJ, check. Do you have baby food for Baby Cowgirl C, check. Did you pack the diaper bag, check. Did you close the garage door, check... oh crap didn't Cowboy Z park the pick CRUNCH... Yep he did and he is going to kill me.

I did find a new door for the pickup, It was in Texas.  It will be arriving today.  At least when the new door is on Cowgirl KJ will stop saying "Yep the new pickup still has an owie, Mommy you backed into Daddy truck and he was going to kill you but your not dead."  Evidently I said the last line in my head out loud and Cowgirl  KJ remembers that best of all "He's going to kill me."

Well he must love me (or at least need me to raise a couple of farmhands) because I am not dead yet!
 
New Door :)

Hells bells tornados in Kansas

On Saturday I had plans. I was going on a girls night out. It was my first since having Baby Cowgirl CE in July.

My beautiful cousin and I

My cousin and I where going to the Miranda Lambert concert.

Last Thursday they started predicting tornadoes on Saturday. Lots of Tornadoes.


I am a Kansas girl, I am a huge Miranda Lambert fan. Tornadoes be damned I was going to the concert and having my girls night out.

So Saturday I kissed my babies goodbye and dropped them off at my parents. Cowboy Z had cattle to take care of and Baby Cowgirl won't take a bottle from him. therefore they stayed at Nana And Papa's. Near Salina. Where Tornadoes where close. They went to the basement 2 times.

By the time my cousin and I reached Wichita tornadoes had already torn though north our home. But not hitting anyone we knew.

We had a fantastic time watching the first two acts. Then Miranda Lambert came on and was amazing. We had completely forgotten about the bad weather outside when someone off stage told Miranda we had to stop playing for a bit. "Bad storms and lighting, we don't want to electricity anybody. So we're gonna quit for a bit But we'll be back y'all."





Of course everyone there got on their cellphones and tried to figure out what was going on. Which meant very few people actually got service to figure it out. We had floor seats and knew we where in the safest place in the arena. After about 45 min Miranda came back on stage in a change of clothes, saying " well hells bells Wichita". Then rocked out a song. The next song was house that built me and I am going to try to link you to the YouTube of it. Very touching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_RPzAW7Teo

Us during the tornado break
Like I said we had no idea

It was not till we got out and talked to our respective husbands that we found out we where right in the tornado's path.  It was not till we got home that we found out that Wichita had even been hit by a tornado.  (being a Kansas girl you get in a tornado's path form time to time.  getting actually hit by a tornado is a much bigger deal.)

All in all I guess I can truly say now "come hell or high water or even tornadoes, I am going on a once every 2-3 year girls night out!"

P.S. I even more in love with Miranda Lambert's music.  It is just so relevant to this gun owning, country loving, Mama of 2 that remembers having my heart broken more than once.  And like Miranda said now that she is married she knows what it is like to be truly pissed off!  (god I love that girl, did I mention that?)

Cowgirl KJ has something to type...

Yhgvvvcvvgvgggggggj

Post written by my 3 year old

New family member

We have a new family member


Yes it's a pickup. I am thrilled.

I am going to miss our good old Duramax.

The Duramax brought both our children home from the hospital.

The new one has 4 doors though. (honestly have you ever tried putting 2 carseats in an extended cab pickup? Not an easy feat.

So I am excited about the new pickup. No, really I am because now my husband and I can talk about other things, like flatbeds, tires, and rims, oh geez it never ends.

Mimic

Cowgirl KJ

I have a three year old daughter. Cowgirl KJ.  She is three and does a lot of three year old things,pretends to ready books, sing songs, run in circles till she is dizzy, pick her boogers out of her nose, eats said boogy,  you know the usual.  She also mimics people around her.  Not in a mean way just the way it goes.

She went thought this phase where she put her hands on her hips when ever she thought she was making an important statement. "I want cheese for lunch, okay, okay." ( and yes she does the double okay.)  I found this quite funny until I noticed myself doing the hands on hips thing, and went oh crap she gets it from me.

I have noticed several things she does like me or my husband.  I can be humorous and intriguing to see yourself thought a child's eyes.

But recently I noticed that I might be mimicking her, or I might be mimicking her mimicking me.  Not sure and that train of thought could go on forever.  I just noticed I am now doing things she does.  Saying things like her, or doing a jester she usually does.

It has me pretty worried.  Am I annoying people around me by mimicking a 3 year old.  Yikes!   In self-defense, Baby Cowgirl CE (nine months old today) has not exactly been sleeping thought the night... unless your count getting up 3-4 times a night a good nights sleep.  And if you do... well your a better woman than me... or man... but seriously woman are pretty tough.

Okay going to think about sleeping now, okay, okay......oops I did it again


..and now I have that Britney Spears song stuck in my head...

The Farmer's Dyslexic Wife

Hello.

Hello.


I am a young farmers wife.  I am dyslexic... not just saying it to belittle myself, it's true. (so dyslexic I first named this blog "the dyslexic farmers wife", Oops sorry Honey)   Anyways consider yourself warned, there will be several grammar and spelling errors in this blog. 


(Not sure who will be reading this, I think it is more just for me.  I don't plan to tell anyone about it, so I guess I am writing to myself.  But if you are not me and reading this... well Hi.)


Back to the introduction: My husband is a full time farmer.  He works on his mothers family farm.  It is just him and his Uncle currently farming it.  He is the 5th generation to farm on this land.  I hope our children will be the 6th.


We have managed to produce 2 lovely daughters.  One is 3 and the other is 8 months old. The older one can talk back now and the younger one only says Dada.  We farm in Kansas. I love Kansas!  I also work full time outside of the house.  you know the saying "behind every farmer is an wife who works in town" that's me!  


I hope to bring the farm and our adventures to you, (or myself if I am the only one reading this. )  I will share my opinions on the day and mommy-hood and the farming lifestyle.  I am a huge Pioneer Woman fan.  If you don't know who that is stop reading this and google her.  Go to her website and enjoy!


  So online journal-ing here I come.




Who you will meet:


Husband: My Cowboy Z'
Older Daughter: Cowgirl KJ
Younger Daughter: Cowgirl CE


My Cowboy Z's Uncle who we farm with: U
Cowboy Z's Aunt who we farm with: A (I am so creative with these names)


Others to follow...