How About Some More Snow

As if the 20+inches we have on the ground now isn't enough, we're getting another 4-7inches as I type this. Where are we go with all of this??
Not only is it just us that has the snow and BITTER cold temps but all over the country. It'd BETTER warm up by Monday in FL or I'm going to be really cross. Of course the 63 they are having now will be a heat wave to us.
Some news highlights in our neck of the woods:

Yep, it's snowing again and there will most definitely be enough to shovel, plow, and snow blow. This strong Alberta clipper will bring an Arctic front through the region this afternoon and this will lead to 25-35 mph winds this evening and Thursday. The snow should lighten up tonight and tomorrow morning, but that's also when 40-45 mph gusts could cause a ground blizzard. We'll end up seeing 4-7" of fluffy snow, afternoon temperatures below zero for Thursday and Friday, and -20's by Saturday morning. I am increasingly confident that a warming trend will begin Sunday and we should be closer to average, if not above freezing a few days next week.

Today: Snow likely. High: 15 Wind: SE 5-10/NW 15-25 mph

Tonight: Lt. snow, blowing snow. Low: -3 Wind: NW 25-35 mph


How about this extended forecast! Minus FIVE for a HIGH?? Are you kidding me????? Our tires are going to freeze to the road driving to Des Moines!

Being that right now is probably the nicest it's going to be, the kids and I headed outside. Me to scoop paths, altho seeing that the wind is supposed to pick up I'm quite certain you won't be able to even tell I scooped. Here's some snap shots.

I am standing on the snow. That is the door BELOW me!

That would be the kitchen window. Look how happy he is. He is our snow boy. He could stay out till it's to dark to see. Miss A?? She came in after 20 min deciding that a nap was better then staying out in this! This 2nd picture I heard him yelling. I turned around to see he had fallen, literally:) And yes that is the stroller on the side. In effort to clean it before leaving for Disney I decided to put it outside. Right now it's tipped over being cleaned.

The tractor wondering it it'll EVER see Spring and dirt!! It wants field work, not snow moving. BTW that would be my chicken house in the background.

Keep at it kids. Only 15 more inches left. Break for 20 but you'll have 5 more inches to clean off. It's going to get dark soon. Getta move on......(just kidding of course) Now if I could just get them to put the shovel AWAY so that when I walk and it's covered in snow it doesn't come up and smack me in the head!

Why am I not suprised that HE is pulling HER!!!

Need I say more:)

I'm Back

Sorry for my absense. I guess I downloaded to many songs to my IPOD and as a result used almost more then we pay for in internet service. If we'd go over the overage is like .25 megabyte. So yeah. I pretty much checked facebook and email for well over 2 weeks.
During my time away not a lot has happened. Well actually something has but I can't quite share yet. I'm in full preperations for Thanksgiving like the rest of the country. It will be a small gathering this year. Just my parents, gpa, in laws and niece. That will be just fine too, I guess. Although my rule will be NO COMPLAINING about what's going on in your life. Only reflect on the positive. I look at my inlaws and see that they only see the negative. The doom, dispair, gloom, etc and while they, no the ENTIRE family, have been thru a lot the last 6 months, there still is much to be thankful for. The same goes for my parents. Seems like conversations revolve around the neck surgury my dad will be having and how mom will take care of him. Actually dad doesn't complain, or at least to me. So yeah, it goes both ways. I, generally, am not a complainer. OK so maybe DH may think otherwise. I may not reflect as often as I should in the good, thankful things, but generally speaking I'm by no means a doom and gloom, glass 1/2 empty kind of person.
That's our plans for the big day. How about you??

In closing, we attempted family pictures awhile back. They didn't go well at all. Miss A fell 5 min into shooting, the wind was horendous which meant my eyes watered non stop and my hair was everywhere. The only one that did excellent was Mr C'man. Below are some of the 'better' shots:

It's a Balloon Ol' Time

***************sorry for the absence. All is find ACCEPT that we have almost reached our maximum 'space' for our month. We only get so much and we're inching closer and closer. Therefore that means limited blogging. But here's a post I had written earlier.*******************

Remember the Barnstorming For Governor event we held?  The decorating was fabulous. There was hay bales of which boards were put on for people to sit on. The candidates 'stage' was a hay rack and there were balloons everywhere. We had them on the floor, bad idea they kept popping and I HATE popping balloons. I about wet myself every time one popped and while setting up Sunday there was lots of popping. At any rate, there was many helium balloons tied together to make like a column. Very neat!
So when operation clean up went in to effect after the event, i said I'd take home the balloons for my kids rather then popping them all. Another lady that i'm on our committee with, her husband was thrilled to get those balloons in to my van. When I re-thought my idea, i realized he might be easier to pop them. Not Virgil. He was going to get 'er done. I was just about rolling on the floor during the entire process.

Then we got them in my van. Shots of that:

Yes the bad part is they are hilium so they float to the top and the kids can't reach them. Needless to say I have balloons in EVERY ROOM OF MY HOUSE!! That's 6 rooms and not including the bathroom and laundry room which i'm sure there may be some in there by now. As I type this in the piano/computer room there are 10 floating on the ceiling and 5 tied to Miss A's stroller. The ceiling in my kitchen:

This is most of them together. They now are floating EVERYWHERE. BUT we are having fun. If I could figure out the video downloading I'd post a video of last night in which the kids would run around the island chasing one another. All you could see was the trail of balloons floating above them as they ran. Then they'd freak out when they ran in to one another. DH and I would then start batting at the balloons like cats batting a toy. OH MY GOSH speaking of 'batting' remember my post about the chickens?? One of them had a dead bat in there beak!!! They wouldn't let it go. It was running around with it in it's mouth with me chasing it as DH said they couldn't eat that! That was one of those moments I commented outloud to him, seriously...look at us. We're chasing a chicken with a BAT in it's mouth around the yard. How can you NOT laugh at this!.

OK back to my story. The balloons. We are having great fun with them:)

Operation Christmas Child

How many of you have heard of Operation Christmas Child? This is the first year I have, and I'm excited about doing it. Will you take a moment and watch this brief video? It speaks more then I could ever put in to words. The website has so much information it's amazing. They have everything figured out for you. You want to do it in church? They have fliers, speaking ideas, even a prayer you could just read when you give the blessings on the boxes.

This year our MOPS group is going to participate. Maybe your MOPS group could do it? Or how about a group of you co-workers put some boxes together? If you don't belong to a church maybe you are on a committee, or how about a book club. The possibilities are endless and I'm sure if you watched the video you will see the joy on the faces of the children.

I plan on showing the video to the kids and talking about it. We are going to go shopping then for items. I think someone, maybe that should be plural, are going to have to get new shoes for the boxes of course:) I keep none of that and I can already hear DH saying 'see that's why we should keep boxes!'

So go shopping for a reason and buy items that can be sent over seas to children in need.

NEW UPDATE:) When time allows I draft up some posts for times when i don't have time:) This is one of those. Well the update is that we did NOT get to go shopping. Monday was our appt with the Family Therapist we're seeing. DH couldn't come b/c he had to work at the Post Office. So the kids and I went. Everything was going fairly well till Miss A was told, by me, that she couldn't get another game out till she put the other one away. WATCH OUT. What followed was an at least 30 min fit. Thank goodness we were there and Dori (therapist) was able to coach me thru it. Without going in to great depth Miss A said she had to go potty. Her ploy to get me to let her go. She ended up wetting herself and me. Not much, but just enough to let me know that she's still trying to call the shots. Needless to say after it was all done we had to go home. There was no reward for us. I felt the worse for C'man as he didn't understand why we couldn't go b/c after all he wasn't naughty. BUT I also think he was relieved to just get home. So home we came. What followed for me was disappointment, exhaustion and migraines. It was a LONG afternoon. Very long. More FIL issues arose that I had to help deal with and i could barely function myself. Thank Jesus that the kids were great. They played together and eventually ended upstairs rockin to 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' and I was able to rest on the couch.
So yeah, long hard day yesterday and I hope/PRAY I don't have one like that for a long time. I had had about all I could handle from every direction that day. But today is a new day. God is amazing and he's working in us/me all the time. Maybe we need days like that for us to the enjoy the good ones, or even the ok ones!
Take a look at the Operation Christmas Child and see how you can help, or even your family!

Frustration

I'm beginning to HATE that word. It's becoming a normal part of my way of feeling. I'm typing this while waiting for my in laws to come watch the kids SO DH and I can go to our church for the 'Fireproof' Marriage Study. I'm beginning to think this is not a good time for us to be doing it.

During the night Miss A was up with another one of her screaming fits yelling 'I WANT MY DADDY' at the top of her lungs. We've been putting a gate across her door otherwise she gets out and wonders here there and everywhere. Last night I just let her scream it out, eventually she got back in bed. Well @ 630 AM she started up again by saying to me 'mommy I get dressed?' I said in a little bit. And she followed with screams which woke C'man up and got DH and I against one another. I don't have a problem letting her scream it out UNTIL she started kicking and kicking the gate across her door frame. Or the constant screaming after 15 min. I think she should have been told, by DH since he rarely gets on her in any form, that this was enough screaming and it has better stop now. DH said that by even going in to her room or talking to her is going to give her the satisfaction that she got our attention. I do not disagree with that approach entirely just after 30+ min of such behavior is to long to not get SOME sort of attention.

What I got was a bunch of tears, crying on my part and DH saying he knows what he is doing. Me crying that she is disrespecting and while I agree with letting her 'work it out' letting her kick endlessly at the gate, screaming, etc has got stop.

I've read Dr Dobson's book, The Strong Willed Child, I've talked with other moms and I know that if we don't nip it NOW it's going to continue to get more and more out of hand.

Eventually she kicked the gate down and DH went in there and told her enough and that she'd better get in her bed. When she is quiet he will come back and get her, but only then. Well GUESS WHAT!! she cried a little longer and then went back to her bed and was QUIET!! But then DH went and got her and our day carried on. No talk about why that behavior is not acceptable. Nothing. 0!!

I don't want to turn this in to a DH bashing post. I do agree with some of the things he did, little as they may be. What I want to know, hear about, etc are do you and your partner have these kind of discipline issues?? Do you know someone who does?? Or most importantly, do you know a counselor that could help us in dealing with Miss A. And honestly I don't think distance is an issue if we can communicate via video, emails, etc. I just need help. I'd prefer a Christian counselor and looking on line via Focus on the Family, there aren't any in our area. Not even in Omaha that are listed on there web page.

So Much So Little

So much to blog about, so little time.

We are back from our long weekend away. Glad to be home. Grateful for the chance to get away and my parents paying for everything, but frustrated with the way family members acted and how my kids behaved. That my friends, my kids, is what I'll blog about. I seriously would covet any suggestions, support, etc you may have.

Those that have kids, do you ever feel like it's YOUR kids/child that is driving everyone nuts? Or those that don't have kids, ever have a child, or more, you really just can not stand? That's what's going on with me. I feel that Miss A drove everyone batty this weekend. She has this terribly annoying grunt she does when things don't go her way. Or she says 'I don't NEED TO', or NO or you pick her up to avoid a full blown fit and she screams. And while she screams you RUSH to your hotel room as to not wake the baby and all the way there family members are saying 'A QUITE' or 'SHHH baby O is sleeping' Or how about 'A share your baby with O' (o is my nephew).

You want to just shout out that you know this is frustrating but we are doing the best we can, where we're at. I don't know how many times I wanted to just crawl up in the fetal position and wish it all to go away. The nasty looks, rolling eyes, hushed sounds, or worse yet the talking that probably took place when you left the room. I often wondered who was the victim, Miss A or her parents.

The child hates being told what to do, or no. I just don't know what to do anymore. In fact I'm waiting for an email from a friend to see if she has any recommendations of who we could go to. Child/Family Therapy, Psychologist, etc just SOMEONE that can work with us. I feel that our relationship as mother/daughter is severely suffering. Especially when DH is around. She REALLY hits my buttons then b/c DH will give in to her requests/demands and wham there I am the bad guy.

Take note, I'm totally willing to hear what you recommend. In fact many times this weekend I said 'what do you want me to do?' 'How would you handle it?' mainly to my mother. But seriously you think you know something I don't, tell me. And while we're on the subject let me give you some tips too!!

So yeah, the weekend was frustrating for me. I felt hurt by my family members, and totally like a thorn in everyone's arse. I wanted to just pack up and come home and I'm quite certain others would have had more fun without us there. And also, how in the world do you keep a 3 and 4 year old quite while baby O is sleeping. I gave them my fan to run to drowned out noise (DH says we're getting them a traveling fan for Christmas). We stayed away as much as we could. Tried to keep play to a quite, and aside from any fits Miss A could have, they were VERY quite.

There you have it. Our weekend highlights if you could call it that.

I Could Vomit

The sight of corn I swear is going to make me vomit. I am so sick of corn that I thought I was covered in it during a dream. I did enough ears of corn to get me thru the entire year, if not next year. Below are pictures:

Before:

After:

During. Miss A and Mr C were playing restaurant. A was 'the customer' altho she repeatedly said 'i'm the princess' Oh does she ever have THAT right!

Cute I thought!!

What doesn't help during the process is Boji. He LOVES corn. I would think he'd be as sick of it as I am.

Please may I have a piece???

You think she'll notice??

GET A WAY!! MINE MINE ALL MINE!!!!

Ahhhh piece and quite!!

Really the next picture should be the first picture of him b/c he's right back for more. Silly dog!!

Here's a video of what the kids do while momma works! They only last so long 'helping'.
This was taken @ 1030PM! I had been doing corn for 3 1/2 hours STRAIGHT by now. That didn't include the 2 hours I did earlier in the afternoon. DH kept asking me questions about do you want more corn? Is there a box to put it in? I was just crosser then a hornet. I was like I'm armed with a knife, corn stuck to the bottom of my feet, blew up the electric knife cutting the corn, my back feet and other areas of my body are aching, and the heck with you! STOP ASKING questions that you can answer yourself.

I just started tossing bags of corn. After we took this I said boy this doesn't look like much. To which DH says AGAIN: You want more?? I about came after him with my knife LOL JK!!

NEXT YEAR, assuming I come out of the corn induced haze, I am NOT doing it alone! This job is meant for at least 2 people. I don't care if I have to HIRE someone to help, I'm not doing it alone.

That being said, after looking at corn for a week straight some of the corn starts looking....well....pretty interesting and your mind starts playing. So what do you think this looks like:

My next project is these pears as soon as they turn ripe. I will can them. They are THE BEST!!

Canning

Phew....we've been busy over here at our farm house. Besides the constant drama/issues with FIL I've been working on canning and freezing. Here are pics:

BTW as I sit here typing, YES in THE AM!! the kids are playing so nicely beside me. Some of what I'm hearing:

C'man asking Miss A if she's going to play at school with him

C'man telling Miss A 'sorry I just can't play with you right now' (ouch! That must come from hearing me??)

C'man is working on building a test track. That is a result of our trip to DSW. He/WE LOVED that ride.
Miss A must have drawn a picture and she's telling C'man: this is my brother, my daddy, my mommy, etc but now Mr C'man is saying no THIS is Daddy. (I'll have to see this picture)

Miss A is signing: This is my commandment that you love one another.....

C'man just yelled: The bus is here!! (he must be getting excited for school, but he's going to be disappointed b/c he's not old enough to ride the bus)

Obviously C'man is doing all the talking around here, unless Miss A disagrees then she loudly speaks up.

OK they are on to the kitchen now doing god knows what. Back to my original post:

Already to be blanched.










Was able to get 2 pots going. Goes much faster but only if you're doing this with two people.












Soaking in cold water. Next step is cutting if off. I'll have to post pictures of that after my session today:)

End result was 88 ears got me 20 bags. Needless to say, that's NOT enough to get us thru the winter. There is probably over 100 ears sitting outside right now. Will get better pictures today.

I guess I don't have any pictures of the next stages of the process of freezing corn.

My Children Praising God

I just have to share these videos with all my blog readers. Ahh yeah, plural. I think there's a few of you who check in on a regular basis right???
C'man went to Bible School in my home town back in May. He LOVED the songs. As a matter of fact, so did I!! We are still singing them thanks to the music director emailing me the songs. If you like them as much as we do, feel free to contact me and I'll forward them on to you. There's even actions to do!! I'm sorry you will have to endure listening to my voice both in singing and talking oh and my messy house/kitchen. This was during supper. Oh and why can I not hold the stinken camera STRAIGHT!! oh well who cares, we're all praising God!


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Hope you enjoyed and of course I'd love to hear/read any comments my lovely readers would have to say about my lovely children. (yeah things are going a little better with miss A so she can be lovely)

Momma Said....

Ahh yes another post about 'momma said there'd be days like this'. I know I've posted about this in the past but here I am again. Struggling a lot right now with this daughter of ours. Seems it's time for an attitude adjustment for both mom and daughter.
I can no longer think/remember a day, heck even an hour (when she's awake) that there is not some sort of struggle. She screams/fusses/had tantrums on average at a min, 1/hour. I know she knows it's getting to me but trying to ignore it is becoming impossible. Disciplining her however I can think of, time out, swat, no stickers, etc, has no relevance to her. I really love it when we're in the car and she wants to watch a DVD. When I tell her no an all out fit breaks out. C'man covers his ears even. It's just getting to be like a broken record with her. Tell her no she'll make your life hell for a couple minutes. She'll regroup then an hour (if I'm lucky) we're back at it. Can't tell her to go to her room b/c she will and then fall asleep (if it's close to nap or bed time) trust me that doesn't always seem like a bad idea.
She loves it when we're out in public. She will scream her ear shattering screams so that EVERYONE within one mile will gauk at you. Although I'm quite certain many of them are thinking 'ahhh we too remember the days'.
So that's we're I'm at today. It's been a tough couple weeks with her. I wonder if she's not feeling well, ear ache? maybe her back is out? Or something?? or are we going thru another 2 almost 3, stage of life.
Or is it MY attitude?? I often times find in hind sight that maybe my attitude towards her isn't good? She sees and hears me getting ever more frustrated with her.

I did get some comforting words via my facebook and texts letting me know I'm not alone. I'm not sure if they help or not!? I want someone to come walk beside me. To give me advice on what I should do. How I should handle the situations. Someone that is far wiser then me in age and experience. Not sure where i'll find that but it's worth praying for. Speaking of prayer, I did pray last night OVER Miss A. As she laid asleep I knelt beside her bed and prayed over her. I must do that more often.

God please help me in dealing with my blessings. I'm struggling and really could use some encouragement.

Post With Pictures

So this is what's watching me sleep at night:

That's right a coon. It's hiding up in our tree. Seems the last many summers we've had a coon in our tree. Each Summer we think the dog(s) got it but it always returns. I think the coon is cute from this distance but oh my gosh, those things are UGLY! The way they walk all hunched over freaks me out. So with an angle like this you'd think we could shoot the darn thing. I don't like guns and would probably end up shooting the house or something way off target. Then there's the fact that DH nor I really have the heart to shoot it. That being said, it's been a couple weeks since we've seen it. DH says she probably has babies up there?? Oh lovely!!! I have visions of the coon, or it's baby's, falling out of the tree on to my kids heads! Yeah DH said highly unlikely.

In other pictures. About a week ago our small town had a Crusin Night where people brought in there old cars or tractors. My parents were visiting so we all went. It was quite fun for my parents. I'm sure our time will come too when DH and I will say 'ahhh remember that '99 Honda Accord we had?? Oh the memories. In the mean time we share no memories of these cars, but my parents sure do.

My mom would love to buy one and her and dad tool around in it. I wish they would. They need a hobby. BUT i find it highly doubtful it'll happen. Dad is to tight, the car he really liked was my Pastors' Husbands. It was worth $45,000. Dad thought no way, mom thought why not?? I think too why not. My gosh you have the $$ and you deserve it. Even if they did get and old car it would be to hot, or to windy to take it out. Or dad would be to busy with work, yada yada. Or as mom says where would we drive it?? Go get flippin ice cream in it:)

This picture is our dog Boji and this is what happens when Miss A decides she wants to play:

And then there are the 2 kittens that bring much fun to the kids and torture to the kittens. Here's C'man giving 'Henry' a kiss:

Dreary, Rainy Day

Why can it not rain during the night. I tell you the weather here in Iowa has felt more like March then June. It's been very rainy and cold. We have yet to be to the pool and my garden is growing lousy. Today, Friday, it has been raining since 1030 AM. Prior to that it was drops here and there. We still managed our play group at the park, at least the kids got some exercise in.

On our way to the park, I noticed a sign for a tractor ride. Ever heard of them? Bunches of old tractors go on a tractor ride through out the country. They started coming by our house @ noon and at about 3 was probably the last time we saw a couple. It was really a lot of fun. Just wish it wouldn't have been raining. Those poor guys (and some women) on those tractors were just soaked. Rain gear or not, they were soaked. C'man and I did watch about 10 of them at the end of our driveway. Otherwise we just waved from our front door.

Here's some pics:

The best was the green tractor pulling the red one. I thought it was a John Deere, which is what we drive. DH later informed me it was some other kind of green tractor. I thought green = John Deere. None the less, it was a fun time.

Tonight, if it stops raining, we're going in to a nearby town where there is a tractor and car show. Just something to do more then drewl (how the heck to do you spell that!?) over them:) We may meet up with another family for supper. BUT it has to stop raining.

Saturday I'm selling my purses in the park where a kids day will be going on. I hope to get rid of MOST of them! Heck I'd love to sell them ALL but that's not possible. I'll be offering $5 off, have a large bag of 1/2 price ones, and then my facebook fans get an additional $2 off:)

I hope to do really good.

OK well I guess this is a wrap.

May Is Foster Care Appreciation Month

Please take a moment and listen to this. Actually it's about 30 min. I know I have readers who are foster parents and/or adopted thru Foster Care. My hats off to you!!! Know you are appreciated.
Broadcast Summary
The Rev. Bob Coy encourages listeners to consider how they can help orphans as he describes a program his church has begun which ministers to foster care kids. I hope this link works. If not here's another link.
I have tears in my eyes listening to this. Rev Coy does an AMAZING job of connecting with the listener! WOW!!!

IKEA

How many of you have an IKEA nearby?? We don't!! But my sister was able to stop at the one in Minneapolis and pick of these plates, cups and bowls for me! I had gotten some years ago but it was time for new ones. Thanks to the Katie and a post she did about these awhile back, I decided to get more. They are BPA free which is GREAT! AND they are supper cheap. Think my sister said they were $1.99 for a pack of 5!!

Those of you have an IKEA nearby what bargains do you get there?? I think this summer we're going to make a trip there!! Oh by the way, they don't ship!! Therefore why i couldn't just order them online!

Who's Idea Was This Anyway

On Tuesday I came home to THIS in my KITCHEN.

Don't bother counting. 30 yellow and 45 BLACK baby chicks.

Don't worry, I knew they were coming BUT oh my gosh. They are loud AND our cat already got one! You should have seen me. I was chasing her on our deck with a water bottle trying to get her to drop it. She jumped off the deck (no stairs on our deck) I jumped off, she went under the deck, I continued to yell and THEN she went down a hole in to an old septic tank!!! I could hear the poor chic squawking and I could do NOTHING. Oh I was mad.

Before that saga we did get to play with them outside. May I add I am NOT a bird person. This is a HUGE step for me. I'm wondering if getting them from just little chicks will make me 'OK' with the entire getting the eggs process. Miss A expressing my thoughts:
There is a chic in b/w her legs.


Of course Mr C'man loved them. He talked gently to them and repeatedly told me they miss their mommy.

After about 2 hrs of them chirping ENDLESSLY,I called DH and asked him to please get home NOW I'm going NUTS! I couldn't leave the room b/c one time the cat got one and the next time they were jumping OUT of the box. OH and someone let the cats back in and I found a chic in the dining room, still alive.

This is where the are now:

In a baby pool, in the garage. I can't hear them now thank GOODNESS! Oh and then one of our dogs, K-Dee is obsessed with birds. Can ya tell??

The yellow chicks are ours and the black are my BIL's. Those black ones are MEAN!!

I can't believe I have chickens and I hope we can keep them around. We have so many people that will buy farm fresh eggs and I want the kids to experience farm life as much as they can! Next on my list is a bottle calf:)