Spring, Signs of Life and Sewing

Well after a long dark winter, I think I can safely say that Spring has sprung. The winter was harsh in so many ways. Bitter cold, lots of snow and saying goodbye to one we love so dearly. Maybe it was appropriate that Bob left us in winter, at the end of the life cycle. Now as we look towards Spring and its renewal, we realize the cycle of life just keeps turning. Renewal and revitalization are wonderful things to look forward to. With Spring has came, little calves everywhere, a new niece, the beginning of the spring planting.

Some things are wrapping up that were what kept us plugging along through the winter. Wrestling concluded, a little before we were ready for it too. Sam ended up qualifying at the Regional Tournament, but his 5th place finish, while considering the competition was good, wasn't high enough to advance him to State. Seth tried wrestling this year, thinking he's maybe a little young, as he wasn't particularly interested in the actual wrestling but loved running during the conditioning part of practice. Everyone has to have their own thing, right?

With Spring the school starts coming to a close with all the hub-bub and activity that entails. Cody is playing golf. Shooting in the mid 40's.........golf ability must skip generations, Dad loves and Cody does, I used to like to play, but this thing called, life and kids have made it a near impossible activity, but I am glad that they have a sport that they can play together and enjoy doing it. The schools are getting ready for MAP testing next week. I have been subbing quite a bit so I have seen firsthand the work the teachers and students put in to prepare for it.

Sam got to try his hand at turkey hunting this spring with my Uncle Steve. They didn't get one, but enjoyed the time spent together. With the abundant wildlife on our farm, I wouldn't be upset at all if my boys want to continue on this new adventure. This year after deciding not to participate in the County Fair Sale (so for us, no ham curing this year) Cody and Sam took shooting sports through 4H. They each are trying a different discipline, Cody with archery and Sam with rifle. They both got their Hunter Safety cards and are looking forward to time in the woods.

For my littles life isn't quite as hectic, thank goodness I say! Jenna is our resident Barn Diva and out checking on the show stock and keeping track of new calves. She loves them all, thats for certain. She has a show heifer and potentially 2 steers, depending on how many we get broke to lead. She's taking part in the 'calming down process' and can get a hand on most of them and has starting combing them most days when Dad and Uncle Jason remember to tie them up, I know with her it won't be long and she will be tying them herself.

Jenna got picked for a special local honor this spring. My Mom has worked at Shelter Insurance for many years. In front of the home office is a fountain that every year some child or grandchild of an employee gets picks to turn on the fountain. Mom says that every year when she has had a child or grandchild between the ages of 5 and 10 she's put their name in and this year was the first time one of us had gotten picked. So at a little local mini celebration of Spring, Jenna got to turn on the foutain.

Seth is still getting used to life as a fulltime school student. By the end of most weeks, he still takes a nap when he gets home, and bedtime is never a hard sell to him. I think that he likes school and loves his teacher almost as much as she loves him, I worry about that woman, ha ha, love ya, Laura! :) The Kindergarten has their Spring Musical performance next week, where Seth will be Tikki tikki timbo, no sa rembo.....etc etc, I can't remember the whole name, bu the has his lines and the rest of the kids' all memorized, so we look forward to that.

Spring means graduation, and for me that means sewing. We have some kids who are special to our family who will receive quilts, if I get them done, and amongst the million other things that go on in my day, I am making progress, one almost complete, two others in the progress, but two more to do, YIKES, that stresses me out, putting that on paper....... :/ I have big plans of curtains and quilts for the kids new rooms that are finally getting closer to completion. I keep thinking I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on this remodelling odessy we have embarked on.

My pictures long kind of jumbled at the top of my blog in this edit mode and I never know how they are going to come out in the finished project, so I will explain what they are, hopefully you can make heads or tails out of it all. There is a picture of Jenna holding a quilt (yes she's standing atop a ladder!) There's one of her in front of the fountain (they had facepainting that night as well) A picture of Sam after winning a match. Never get tired of seeing the referee raise their arm in the air! There's a picture of my baby holding a baby, Seth held Lynzie, with Uncle Jason's help. He was so cute that night at the hospital, he wasn't satisfied to only hold her once, he needed to hold her a second time. And the last or maybe the first, depending on how they come out is of our neighbor Leonard Armontrout. He is a World War 2 veteran and got to go on this Spring's Central Missouri Honor Flight, which means that he and a plane full of vets, got a trip to Washington DC to visit the nations war memorials. Quite a neat honor.

Well its a rainy Friday morning and I have already worked on the new rooms and got laundry going, but that's only a start of what is ahead of me today.

Sitting in my downtown office,

From Tulip~

KH

:)