Tucks

A Sad moment has come. Clay came out to me when it was time to go to bed and said....."Mom, I don't need any tucks anymore. I am getting too big." Too big to tuck in is what he meant. Which generally means he doesn't want us to come into his room for some reason or another. But I know this trick.... the very same day he had asked me to step out while he changed his pants. I knew from experience this was shady. As he pulled down his shorts to change he revealed that he had a big piece of rag stuffed in his pants. Why do boys do things like this? They are such a mystery to me sometimes. Back to the tucking.... I said that we would be tucking him in until further notice. I don't care if he is the ripe old age of 4.

Pants on Fire

Recently, I have read that a child is actually unable to lie until they are in 2nd grade. This is because they don't have the reasoning... they don't have the intelectual capabilty to decern between truth and fiction. I am here to say... whatever. My child is either exceling in deceit... or he has figured out how to lie. This afternoon.... said older child was no where to be found. I hollered to him.... he yelled back "I'm pooping." Fine. Generally I never mess with this particular act. About 15 min later.... same conversation..... same responce. I decide to check matter out for myself..... as I know for a fact he has already completed this task for the day (I know this because 4yr olds don't always flush). I go in to the bathroom.... and he has knife and is cutting off the tops of Crystal light to go packets and pouring them in his mouth. Why? WHY?? Is this fun? I go to administer punishment.... Biblical Chastisement if you will.... and he says... "No mom, you are not going to do that right now." What? Where is my sweet little claydoh and who has replaced him with this mouthy child? He does however tell me that he lied to me.... which is a start right??

Celery Green

Just got done painting our guest bathroom. This is the first room of this current home that I have ventured in painting.... and let me tell you that it is ugly. Actually.... it is UGLY... but my mom and husband assure me that it is fine. I assure you, that they are LYING because it is the most hideous shade of green I have ever seen. And I am nearly hysterical at the thought that I spent the better part of 2 days working on this project and it looks terrible! So now I will have to spend more time, money and most importantly effort working to fix it. Has anyone else lived this nightmare?? Am I the only one.... you spend hours... days... thinking of it.... you know your not real crafty... but you think.... that would be a lovely shade of green. And then... in the spirit of a Can Do attitude.... you dive on in.... and poof.... you have covered up a lovely shade of blue... with puke.

Enough.

I don't deserve to blog. I should be cast into the island of failed craftpeople.

Homeschool

Currently I have a facination with homeschooling. For some unknown reason it interests me. Which it never has before, in fact I was always one to point out how weird homeschoolers generally were. But now, as I come to the point of putting my children in school... I suddenly have taken up an interest. An obsessive interest. Like, I spend hours after the kids are in bed looking at curriculm, gathering all the facts and info I can. And the thing is..... I am really starting to not care if my kids are weird or not. If you can raise them to be smart, hard workers, and likeable people.... does it matter where they got their education? If and it is a big IF as to what I will decide or not..... If I did homeschool.... I know it would cause a bit of a stir at first. I have been trying it on for size in conversations.... like dropping hints to my family.... who has been remarkably supportive. Mostly because I am sure that they are thinking that this is just a phase that I am going through and it won't last.... we'll see. My husband is supportive....I think that he could jump right on the homeschooling bandwagon..... we'll see. I just wanted to get some thoughts out there about it. Any opinions would be welcome!!

Lack of Supervision

My sister has inspired me to come back to blogging even though it has been 2 months. Blogging doesn't judge. Blogging merely welcomes you back.

Lack of supervision.... is pretty much how I would currently define my current parenting style. This is because my son recently fell off a grain bin. He and his little friend were climbing up... and they had been caught 30 feet up in the air... and told to get down. But do you think this most diligent parent kept up with those boys?? Oh no. He did it again. only this time he fell from and unknown height and couldn't walk. Thankfully he is now walking.. just fine. But I have been reminded again that you must keep up with them! Here are a list of things they have recently gotten into for lack of supervision.

1. Crew eats dog food on a regular basis.
2. Clay hoed up an entire row of beans.
3. Clay peeled the bark off of a tree.
4. Crew dips his binky in toilet everytime he gets a chance.
5. Clay peed on toy because he was "tired of it."

Seriously. These boys are making me tired.

Branding

It is branding time here in the sandhills....yesterday hubby went to one, then we joined him for lunch. This was a really large neighboring ranch.... I was so intimadated when I walked up to eat. Cowboys and girls everywhere. And then there was me... pushing a stroller. This ranch is like out of a movie... complete with a cook, cookhouse.... bunkhouse... and like a gob of people. It was fun.... but they were all so tired from branding that no one really talked that much. When I drove up there were like 30 horses all tied to pick ups and trailers..... very fun.

Today was a bit more fun for me at least. This was our neighbor that is the manager of the ranch from yesterday.... only today we did his personal calves. So this was more people I know... and really laid back. I got some video... but my camera died so didn't get any pics. Clay and his friend Cooper spent nearly the entire time crawling all over the panels. This was so cute because they had on their cowboy hats and jeans and boots and they are both 3ish so they are just funny. Waving to people, yelling at the calves.... then waving their sticks around and riding their stick horses. DH wanted me to learn to wrestle (wrastle) the calves and I was really excited to try. Because this is something that everyone around here seems able to do.... so in my never ending struggle to fit in.... I had to try. So I climbed over the panel.... and got into the ring. For those of you who haven't been to a branding.... there is a corral... and men on horses rope the calves... drag them to the wrestlers and then 2 wrestlers hold them down. Then someone comes and brands them.... and someone else castrates them..... poor little guys. It is a rough day for them. So Ken and various other people tried to help me.... and I did eventually succeed. One of the cowboys said he would try and rope us the little ones so that helped. It was really fun... and I wished I had got to do more. Meanwhile... baby was crawling around... I had to wash off cow yuck with a wipe... doesn't work so well really. Then we all went and had lunch togetherr... which was really fun. People were laying in the grass.... It was so beautiful out.... not hot, not cold, a gentle breeze. A man who I didn't even know asked if could feed the baby some cake.... I love that it is so laid back and fun. The kids just run free and play.

Now if we can get through our branding.... that will require a whole new post of its own.

Whew... it has been so long since I last posted! Was feeling some pressure to be funny, and that was inhibiting my writing. So here I am again, more writing, less amusing, take it or leave it :) My fam has been wanting me to add so they know what we are doing! So lets see... calving is winding down.... now we have to plant corn (of course when I say we, I mean Ken) and brand. There are lots of brandings going on, we are going to 2 this weekend. I am very excited, because I have been to our branding, but not otherones so I am anxious to see how other people do it. Also, since I will be responsible for the branding meal.... I want to see what other people are serving up. Anyone who wants to suggest any yummies that come in mass quantities.... feel free to comment. This is a lot of pressure..... for one housewife. ALOT. But I am trying to not worry so much about what people think.... so we'll see how it goes.

Also, have started my garden.... I have planted... thus far, strawberries, onions, lettuce, and potatoes. Yumm. I bought the rest of my seeds... and will be planting more... but the locals say plant nothing more till Mothers Day. Fine with me. It took me a couple of hours to get the first part planted. My kiddos love it.... Crewy throws dirt around and Clay helps. Good times.

Nothing too much new with C and c. c had a first bday... which he loved. Complete with cake all over his face. Oh to be one! That is not so pretty at my age. Allright... will fill everyone in on how the branding is tomorrow...... Ken said he and I might wrestle some calfs together.... oops... sorry, I know this is a family page!:)