going rogue

We have cows. 

Two, actually. They're 9 months old and their names are Jeremiah and Jason {I kid you not} and this morning they went missing.

Since I'm here solo with all the kids for the night I'm the one who got the phone call from a neighbor who said they found the cows on their property and which field exactly they were in {we have 42 acres so "neighbors" aren't exactly right next door unfortunately?}.

So, the kids and I took off tonight on "Operation Find-The-Cows... Mission: Bring them HOME."

The kids were stoked. 

I was stoked to be done with it.

I grabbed my camera (because, obviously), threw Fischer in the Ergo on my back, and we went on our way.

Off to save the cows!

We walked our way through our fields and were trying to find where they got through to the neighbors' field when our cows randomly {and thanfully!} came running through a different neighbor's field to the fence line where we were.

I just had to break down a little of our fencing and let them back in.

We'll keep them fenced in the barn area until someone else...Dad and/or Jeff can fix the fencing again.

This is kids when they finally spotted the cows in the next field over.

Sorry, party's over - the cows are coming home.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Gosh, I love these kids!

Carter asked me while I was tearing apart the fence if I liked living in the country now as much as when I was a kid and I laughed realizing that even when things go crazy and the cows go rogue, the answer always a big sigh followed by, "Yep. I sure do."

Heading back home.

guilty

Yesterday morning the kids were crazy hyper. I was upstairs with the baby and I could hear them screaming and jumping around acting like a herd of monkeys. 

It was ridiculous. 

I went to the top of the stairs and whisper-shouted, "You guys! You are being way too loud! If you can't have inside voices then you need to go OUTSIDE!"

My Dad comes out from the living room (where the kids were) and he's visibility sweaty. He just looks at me with a totally guilt-ridden face and says, "Can you believe them? I was trying to calm them down..."

Right.

I'll bet you were. 

Oh how I love my Dad.

Humble Pie

I went on a field trip with Natalie and Carter's classes yesterday to the Museum of Natural History at the University of Oregon. After we were done at the museum we drove to a nearby park to eat lunch and play for about an hour. 

Carter's teacher decided to play tag with some of the students and the kids were all loving it. After seeing his teacher laughing with delight during the game, Carter yells to her, "You probably haven't had this much fun in YEARS!"

And then I died.

Birthday Boy!

So yesterday was Fischer's official first birthday and he spent it with his Grandma and Papa because I was on a field trip with Natalie and Carter. He had a great time (they take GREAT care of our kids and we are blessed to have them!) and obviously he didn't even realize (or care) that it was his birthday. :)

Luckily, we had his party on Sunday and the weather was great as opposed to the pouring down rain we had all day yesterday.

I don't have any official stats for him because his one year check up isn't until the end of June (because his Mom forgot to schedule it - poor fourth child...) but I did have to run him to the doctor on Tuesday for his chronic respiratory/breathing issues (and to get a refill on his inhaler) and he is weighing in at 22 1/2 lbs, which I think is about average.

He's signing up a storm now which is both helpful and freakishly adorable. He signs 'milk,' 'more,' 'please,' 'up,' 'thank you,' 'no-no' (which is sort of hysterical {but not really} because he does it after he pinches and he *knows* it's a no-no), 'food,' 'help,' and a few more but this is all I can think of off the top of my head. He knows a bunch more signs, but these are the ones he's actually signing to us.

He says a few words verbally but not many. He says, 'to-to' (thank you), 'mama,' and 'dada,' and that's pretty much it.

Fischer is so close to crawling but I think it's a toss up whether he'll actually officially crawl or start walking first. He's moving about (scooting) but he's also getting more and more brave and balanced on his feet, so we'll see.

Okay, here's a few pics of the birthday boy. :)

personal day

This Mama needs a personal day and doesn't know who to call.

I'm tired (I know, I know - everyone is tired).

I feel overwhelmed (if I hear that song played on our piano onemoretime I'm going to scream).

My patience is thin and my to-do-list is long.

My best game face got lost somewhere between the gazillionth games of tic-tac-toe and Memory.

I don't feel like cooking dinner (in fact, I'd take sleep at this point over eating dinner at all).

I'm in that place where the opportunity to go grocery shopping all.by.myself. would feel fairly comparable to a vacation. 

When I was sitting criss-cross-applesauce with my face in my hands having a mental breakdown trying to gather my composure (ie: not lose my cool) my son came up to me and asked me if I was praying.

Oh. Right. I should be doing that.

After all, here I am, wallowing in self pity feeling super overwhelmed trying so hard to do everything in my own strength that I don't even realize that through my  pride, Satan has distracted me from the one thing I really should be doing: 

Praying to God for His strength to shine through my weakness! 

I am so thankful for a loving God who has made me NEW in Him and who looks at me in love, even on days like today. He is SO good, you guys!

Suddenly Mama feels like she just got a personal day. 

ONE

Fischer's first birthday is in one week from today. ONE.

I'm not ready.

Not emotionally. 

Not physically (for the party on Sunday OR for how active he's suddenly become).

How did this? It's already been a whole? But how can?

Gah! I'm so not ready! He's my baby for crying out loud! (See what I did there?)

After some tears and a self pep talk I put on my big girl panties, pretended that I was all for this whole turning-one thing, and did a mini-photo-shoot in the yard for our email invitations. I could just sit and stare at this picture for hours.

I'm the Mom who carries the high chair into the bathroom for the baby to finish breakfast while I shower so that leaving the house on time "only" 15 minutes late is even remotely possible.

No need to mention how close to noon it is when this occurs.

Or how often.

There are some days when it feels as if everything could just up and fall apart at any given moment. There are times when I wonder if it all already has and I'm so out of the loop that I just haven't realized it yet.

I am thanking God for the grace he has provided all of us through his Son, Jesus Christ, and for the new life I've been given through my salvation. Life can feel crazy and unorganized and chaotic (a lot of the time it IS chaotic!) but life shouldn't be all about us struggling to avoid those I'm-going-to-lose-it moments - it's not about "having it all together" (and it's especially not about pretending you do!) - it's about being made new in Christ (if you aren't sure what that means - ASK ME!) and knowing who you are in Him. 

I am a child of the Most High God and even in my most humbling moments he views me as nothing less than HIS and that will always be more than enough.

Even if I'm running late. 

And I haven't showered. 

randomly remembering

I don't know why, but this morning I just started randomly remembering stuff that just makes me laugh out loud every time my brain stumbles on it.

Like this:

When I was very first pregnant with Fischer last fall, Jeff and I were in the upstairs loft area of our barn "hunting" (sitting on stools all camo'd up holding our rifles waiting for the deer to come out) and a mouse came running out toward my stool. 

I FREAKED OUT.

Before he even had time to blink I was up on Jeff's lap (who is 6'2'' - 260 lbs and was sitting on a small 3 legged stool) and whispered loudly, "I want to go home! I'M DONE HUNTING!" 

He was laughing (silently) so hard that his whole body was shaking. Apparently he thought it was hysterical that I was sitting there all hardcore with my rifle waiting to shoot a deer and a mouse sends me running home for safety.

I laugh every time I think about that one. Good times, good times.

photo credit