What's For Dinner Wednesday

Hello All! Hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas with family, friends, fellowship and food. I have been on a short 'blogging hiatus'. I just had so many other projects going that I didn't give myself the time to blog and I've missed it terribly. (think that next year I will either A. not say yes to so much or B. write some blogs ahead and post them in December) I haven't posted since Dec 6th, totally feels like just yesterday, this month has flown!

Today's post is going only be part of 'What's for dinner?' It's Pear Crisp made from one of my favorite cookbooks. The cookbook was given to me by 'brother from another mother' Brent Gibbons. It's just one of the recipes in a great collection from "Two Chicks from the Sticks" their website Their cookbook is all baked items and I have made several of them, they are all wonderful.
Here's the recipe:  ***WARNING THIS IS FROM MEMORY, MY COOKBOOK IS A WHOLE ROOM AWAY AND I AM FEELING LAZY, BUT HAVE MADE THIS ENOUGH TIMES TO REMEMBER IT, PROBABLY ;)
Filling: 5 cups of pears, peeled, cored and diced (I just sliced, we have pears from FFA fruit sales and we are eating them up, but this is our favorite way to eat them!) 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon (I just shook some)
Topping: 3/4 C oatmeal, 3/4 flour, 3/4 brown sugar, 1 stick of butter melted, 1 tsp each baking soda and powder.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, lightly grease 8x8 pan (you will note from picture my skills at following directions)
Combine filling ingredients and place in pan (or combine them IN the pan, like I did)
Combine topping ingredients with a pastry blender, or a fork, or YOUR HANDS, its whatever, until it forms pea sized crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over filling and bake for 30 minutes-ish or until topping is browned and filling is bubbling. ENJOY!
I think tonight we will be having this with Spaghetti and Meatballs, Bread Machine Basic One Hour Loaf of White Bread and Salads. The oldest invited his girlfriend out to supper, so I will say this dessert serves 7, that's if it no one discovers it before supper!
Enjoying a day of doing what I please with no where to go and glad to be inside as its pretty cold outside,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Thankfulness Thursday---2 of my very good friends

Today I am going to tell you about two of my very good friends. Much time is spent with these friends. They are my therapy. They help me create. Yes they are my sewing machines. Here they are:



We spend LOTS of time together. They know my secrets. They never tell. We make things that make people smile. It makes us happy too. One or the other are generally ready at moments notice to help me make gifts, things for our household, repair things. They've seen Halloween costumes, pillowcases, curtains, quilts, and bags. They've helped me hem pants, patch jeans and so much more.
When other things aren't necessarily going the way I want them to, I just get one of them out and we work it out. They don't judge, they just say, let's meditate on this for a while, what are we going to make that's fun today?
Now granted it's a give and take relationship. While they take care of me, I also have to care for them. New needles, remove the lint, oil them up. But its like a lot of friendships, what one lacks, they other fills in with. With them I can do great things. Without, not so much. I found that out recently when one wa away at the 'doctor' and the other cracked its bobbin, and none around for a quick replacement. A quick trip to the store and we were back in business.
Making lots of Christmas things that will make lots of people smile with my two best friends whom I am thankful for,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

What's for dinner Wednesdays--Baked Tilapia

Okay two nights in a row, three if you count Sunday, but I actually did that post in the 'evening' hours, instead of the wee morning hours of the 'night before' like the last two posts............ By the time I finish typing this post, it will officially be BE Wednesday and the rest of my Wednesday is FULL to the brim, so knocking out my blog post early is the only way it would have gotten done this week. My friend with the blog who also does 'What's for Dinner Wednesdays' suggested I add this recipe one night while we were 'talking' on facebook. So Nicole, this one is for you, sista.
This week's installment of What's for Dinner Wednesday features my current favorite 'quick' main course, baked Tilapia. Now I am a farm wife with likely hundreds of dollars worth of beef in my freezer, but I also say variety is the spice of life and once in a while we eat 'other stuff' :) One of my current favorite, quick foods to prepare is tilapia. What's a tilapia? Hmmmmmmmm, well it's a fish, I couldn't tell you where its from, what it looks like or anything else, but I will mention, it tastes pretty darn good. I buy it in big bags at our local Sam's Club. It comes in a big bag, like this:

Inside the big bag, each portion is frozen and packaged singly. That's probably one of the things I like the best. I didn't know that was how it would be the first time that I purchased it, but it sure makes things handy. I can make a couple for The Farmer and I for lunch, or several depending on who is home and how hungry I guess everyone might be.

The first thing I do is line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, mostly because it doesn't seem to stick to the foil as bad and makes clean up a lot quicker. I try and remember to preheat the oven to 375 degrees right now as well, sometimes that doesn't always happen, but we will pretend I remembered today. The first thing on the foil is about a tablespoon each of Olive Oil and Lemon Juice. I usually make 6 or so filets, if you are making less or more add the first two items accordingly.

This picture isn't very pretty but its oil and lemon juice. I make sure the whole pan surface gets covered and then turn both sides of each  FROZEN (no thawing, bake these guys frozen!) filet in this concoction to dampen them, so the stuff in the next step 'sticks' to the filets.

Okay next step, into a cereal bowl, add about 1/3 cup of corn meal, 1/3 cup of bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and I am really guessing here, worse than the first three ingredients, 1 teaspoon each of season salt and lemon pepper. (Remember I am not a measurer, so these are guesstimates) I think mix them together. I will sprinkle this mixture onto the first side then flip and again onto the second side of each filet. (thinking I will never make money at writing easy to read recipe instructions) It will look like this:

Once you've covered both sides, slide that guy in the oven. It will need to bake for 30 minutes, at 375. While its cooking, you will likely have time from an adult beverage, might I suggest this..............

Tonights selection was a frozen strawberry margarita, from my 'bucket' in the freezer. You have time to sip away OR, time to prepare your sides, at our house, its generally a veggie and some sort of pasta, usually macaroni and cheese. We dont usually have a potato, unless they are mashed, as most of the scallop 'boxed' potatoes or frozen french fries don't go along with the lower oven temp to bake the fish. So drink that margarita or cook those sides, because pretty soon out of the oven will come this:

If you were lucky enough to get the moisture (lemon juice and olive oil) right and a good cover on the 'breading' they shouldn't stick and aren't too soggy, I make this once a week and have for months and about half the time mine isn't perfect, but I have NEVER EVER thrown any out. I am going to pretend that its because of my great cooking skills and not the fact that teenage boys will eat EVERYTHING and ALL OF IT that you put in front of them.
Sitting here moments after midnight thinking that instead of typing I should be sleeping as there's a long day ahead,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Tune in Tuesday--50 Shades Trilogy

No this isn't gonna be real graphic, but there may be a few SHOUTY CAPITALS! ;) Okay so like millions of people in the last year, I have read the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy. Actually I will admit on here, that I have actually reread it, more than once. I have read other blog posts about it, I have watched the you-tube fanmade movie trailers, I am fan of a couple of the pages on facebook. And NO I am not a pervert, well maybe not, LOL.
Do I recommend this trilogy, yes I do. Not for the kinky sex, but the chemistry EL James created between Ana and Christian. While the author will say Christian is a 'fantasy' leading man, there are a lot of things about him that I found to be very believable. Wants what he wants, how and when he wants it, pretty normal. (maybe what he actually wants would make some peoples toes curl, not that, that is always a bad thing either) He works hard, he plays hard. And when he fell in love, he fell lock stock and barrel, throwing out the window all that he knew, for something he wanted more.
Then there's Ana, I almost think that her character is more fantasy than Christian's. How many 22 yr olds, find Mr. Perfect, land the dream job, end up married, pregnant and living their happily ever after within 3 months of graduating college? Oh we all have differing views of perfection, the dream, etc.....
Probably the most unbelievable thing to me in the entire book is the amount of constant drama, I will say at some point, maybe by beginning of the third book, maybe it was sooner, I had the thought NO ONE HAS THIS MUCH DRAMA.
The story is enduring, 'bad boy' with jacked up past, meets, falls in love with virginal innocent young woman. He reforms, they marry, the end......... The dialog in this book was the thing that drew me in. Not to say my husband is 50 Shades of anything and if he was, I wouldn't be posting about it on a blog that MY MOTHER reads. But I have had some of those similar conversations with my significant other. We all have, its the little parts, you are talking and all of the sudden, you say the wrong thing and they react totally the opposite way you expected. The raw emotion of falling in love and breaking down all the barriers with that person you love. And yes the cute little comments back and forth filled with sexual innuendo, we've all flirted with the person we love and the more intimate the relationship, yeap the more graphic the flirting, usually with most people behind closed doors.
I was entertained by Ana's constant 'in her own head' moments where she debates the situation with her subconscious (good angel) and her inner goddess (bad angel) I have no idea how that would be portrayed in the movie, and I don't think it will be part of it, unless its an 'inner voice' other wise the humor within those parts would take away from the real scene.
So if you haven't read 50 Shades, I say read it, yes there are some things that are a bit erotic, suck it up and get over it, there's way worse things, in my opinion. I am looking forward to the movie. I have a million opinions on who  I think should play who. I think that it will likely be unknowns, as this movie has the ability to 'make a star' out of its characters.
Just for fun, here are a few of my picks, although I realize there will never be this many 'bigger names' in the movie. I am torn on Christian. Ryan Gosling, Ian Somerhalder are probably my top two, but I wouldn't be upset with Matt Bomer, and there are several others including Channing Tatum that I have seen in other fan lists, that I would be okay with. Anastasia, I am pretty set on  Alexis Bedel, but again open to other ideas. I kinda like the idea of Kim Cattral as Elena Lincoln, but there are probably 4 or 5 others who seem to fit the part as well. I saw somewhere Mark Harmon as Carrick Grey, like that. Diane Lane as Grace Grey......... I have seen gobs of Jose options, not too picky on that one, same with Kate and Elliot, although someone mentioned Brad Cooper for Elliot, think he's too big of a name to play a supporting role. I can't come up with anyone I think is slimy enough to play Jack Hyde, in other words the picture in my minds eye, I haven't come across yet.
Okay so that's enough about 50 Shades. There are so many opinions about the book(s). I liked them, a lot, think what you will about that, but no judging unless you've read them, maybe more than once, LOL
Earliest I have ever posted a daily post but was still awake and had the idea rolling around in my head,
'Laters Baby' From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Sunday

Seth's Christmas Program



Noah and Cayla's Quilt




Noah and Cayla

 I think we ALL know I couldn't be TOTALLY silent,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Tune in on Tuesdays Charlie Brown Christmas

I remember looking forward to all the Christmas specials as a kid. Of course we didn't have channels like ABC Family who run them over and over all month long, or cartoons available on demand for that matter. I loved any holiday Charlie Brown special, but the Christmas one is probably my favorite. One of the few that features the real story of Christmas.
Home with a sick little guy working our way through our Christmas DVD collection and snuggling,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Sunday

Thankfulness Thursday (a day late)

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. We were blessed enough to not only enjoy one family meal, but two. For lunch we went to my Uncle Tom's. Present were my Grandmother and her best friend, Mary, all of mom's siblings, she has three brothers; my brother and family and 5 of my cousins and their families or spouse or significant other (you get the picture) We enjoyed a great meal. We planned our Christmas gathering, what we would do, where it would be etc. We will exchange ornaments and have decided to help out a family friend who is struggling with health and employment issues. My grandmother has decided that because of her failing health she is going to scale back on some things. One of those things is the decorating for Christmas that she does. She has a rather large Santa collection that she has always said I could have. I have always answered, while yes, I would like to have it, but I want you to enjoy it as long as you want to. This year she insisted that she didn't want it all out. So we went through her Christmas things and put out the basics, a small tree, a nativity set and an arrangement on her dining room table. The rest of the items were passed out to family members yesterday at the Thanksgiving dinner, minus the Santas, which are on my display shelf in my living room.
Last night, probably still a little bloated from lunch, we went to The Farmer's mom's house for round two. There we shared our meal with both of The Farmers' sisters and their families. Although we weren't particularly serious in our 'what are we thankful for' time, in fact we got a little silly, but I think everyone realized that even in our silliness, we all were thankful to be together and for each other.
So my official 'thankfulness' for yesterday is my family. I really and truly wish I could have gotten to see more of them, but was just as truly thankful to spend time with the ones that we got together with.
Finishing up my blog as the kids start picking up and rearranging the living room in order to put up the Christmas Tree,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Tune In Tuesdays-Polar Express

I decided that on Tuesdays, I am going to share a song, movie, or something similar and tell you why I love it. For this first installment, I decided to share 'Polar Express' as its my favorite 'new' Christmas Classic movie. We aren't to far off from Christmas and I am sure that it will soon be on TV, but no matter, of course I own the DVD.
Basic storyline is that boy doesn't think he believes in Santa and because of this and it being his 'critical year' he is invited to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. What he learns about Christmas is absolutely wonderful and without telling the ending, I really can't share much more. It's got what all great Christmas movies have, action, adventure, humor, and heartwarming scenes. It's a movie that any age can watch. This computer animated movie is a masterpiece in my opinion. If you haven't seen it, you should plan to watch it this year, or better yet, buy it so your family can enjoy it every year.
On the eve of Thanksgiving eve enjoying the quiet before the storm but looking forward to the storm that is our family enjoying the holidays,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Fridays on the Farm

In an effort to blog more frequently, I recently decided on several daily writing prompts (to get me started and keep me focused). Based on the day of week it is, I will add posts accordingly. I even thought I figured out how to type them in ahead of time and then I set them to what I thought was a setting that would post them automatically. Silly me, guess I won't be a techie when I grow up. Sigh..........
In my further need for cutesy titles, I decided on Fridays on the Farm for todays post. Since this is the first installment, I'm going to attempt to do a 'history of' post.....or at least as I know it. My actual knowledge, based on being a witness to events of historical importance around our farm spans almost a quarter of a century.
About the time I was a Senior in HS, I started running around with my cousin and his friends, we hung out quite a bit in the neighboring town, as he had a job there. Well, in time, I met and fell in love with The Farmer. First we were friends, best of friends, then by the end of my Senior year we were dating. The next few years were college, wedding, then before long it was babies. I didn't grow up on a farm and worked in town before our kids were born, so my ag education came right along side of my kids. The last several years have been spent in the trenches of parenthood, some of the times depending on the date, it's 'seasonal single parenthood' as The Farmer spends long hours working during planting and harvest.
As our children have grown, my involvement on the farm as evolved. I am sometimes the parts runner, the gal who picks up stuff at many an equipment dealer, parts house or feed store, could probably tell you where most in the 50+ miles radius are located and how to get there. I have slowly (very slowly) became a decent truck and stock trailer driver, but if particularly accurate backing up is required, I am always more confident-----when one of the boys are with me! :) I have done some of the field work, but honestly we have generally always been blessed with many hands who are more capable and I am generally put on 'chuck wagon' duty, which I happily take on. I think I can cook up a hearty meal that competes with the best of them.
During the busier times when The Farmer needed to spend more time in the field, I have been the evening chore girl, feeding what needs 'supper' around here, four legged as well as two. I have been known to dump trucks, pull silage wagons, hay wagons and more. Over the years I have slowly gotten to where I can usually do the requested job without having to have a 'full lesson' and of course now we have cell phones and I can call if I am unsure.
So since I am not a 'back bone' piece of the daily operation, I try to do what I can to make sure everything else runs smoothly. Whether its taking the meal to the field, mowing the grass, or being both mom and dad some days; I like to hope that's a contribution. I sometimes say I am in the 'future employee development' division of H&K Farms. It's gotten to the point as our kids have gotten older that I could manage to add some other jobs to my main one, as mom. I now substitute teach in the buildings my kids attend. I teach sewing and quilting classes. I sew for others. Those are the paid things. I also strive to 'Agvocate for Agriculture' through social media and this blog.
Now that I have gotten side tracked and rambled on about the very minor contributions I make to our farm; I'd like to offer a virtual picture of H&K Farms. The actual farmstead we live in on was purchased by The Farmer's parents when he was 6 yrs old. Before that they lived in Warren County MO. The west bound rest stop near Wright City on I-70 used to be part of their farm. They have lived in Monroe County for 40 yrs.
We have a diversified farming operation. We row crop corn, soybeans and wheat. We bale alfalfa hay. We have a large herd of mostly registered Angus cattle, its primarily a cow calf operation, we no longer feed out many calves, except for the kids show animals and a few we sell as butcher beef. Until about 5 yrs ago, we also had a farrow to finish hog operation with 75-80 sows. We do custom baling. The Farmer sells seed corn, and our partners, his sister and her husband, are ABS dealers; so we do a little of it all.
A typical day changes almost daily for The Farmer. Depending on the time of year, he is likely to be doing almost anything. Every morning, 365 days a year, yes even Christmas morning, there's something to feed. This chore might take less than a hour or most of the day depending on weather conditions, time of year and where the herd is located.
Maintenance is a good job security activity on the farm. There are miles of fence that needs to be maintained. There are hundreds of head of cattle that depend on The Farmer for food, assistance in maintaining their health and require him to provide them with a safe and healthy place to live. There are multiple tractors, trucks, combines and pieces of machinery that need to be fueled, require properly moving parts, might need to be lubricated, repaired or properly stored until their use is called upon next season.
There are acres and acres of land spanning two counties and 4 separate pieces of property. This land, in order to be profitable and take care of our family financially, needs to be productive. On some of it we raise row crops, other parts are set aside for hay production and yet another part is this real estate is home to our cattle. This ground all needs to be fertilized regularly, weeds need to eliminated and the part that is in production requires long hours spent preparing, planting and maintenance and if we are very lucky, it will yield a harvest that will support both our ongoing business and our family. This cycle is in constant motion.
Then there is the 'book work'. This might be paying bills, figuring the pluses and minuses in order to pay taxes, it might be recording information in the herd book, or logging what chemicals were applied into which field. It could be researching for a new purchase, whether that is a feed improvement or more proficient piece of equipment. Its reading about new advances in animal care, an improved computer monitor system for a piece of equipment or the combine.
After writing the rough draft on and off this afternoon while subbing at school and thinking about all that The Farmer does, I truly find it ironic when I ask 'How was your day?' and he says 'Same old thing'

Reading alot of sewing and farming blogs and writing alot of the same and really wishing I was doing more of the things that I only seem to have time to read or write about as of late,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Thankfulness Thursday

I thought I was all smart and had this set to post automatically, apparently I was mistaken. Here it is a day late.


I am thankful this Thursday to be an American. In the last few weeks many examples of why have came to mind. Here are a few:
While I wasn't thrilled with many of the election results and ashamed at how candidates ran their campaigns; I am glad we have the democratic process. I am starting to think that the electorial college is an antiquated idea. It's frustrating to me to look at the 'Red/Blue' map of American broken into counties and you can quickly see the differences in rural and urban. Kinda sad that stating your case either for or against a candidate or issue is like speaking another language when the conversation is had between the two groups. I think that's mostly because our environments are so different, it's just hard to see the other side.
In my endeavor to not make this a political rant, I will continue. I'd like to share some of the other reasons I am thankful to live in this great nation of ours. I think freedom of speech is something to be thankful for as well. It allows me to create this blog. While sometimes on forums like Facebook you can see both the worst and best that freedom has to offer; its still a great tool to freely express our feelings.
Freedom of Religion is an important one in this household as well. While my family considers it to be part of our everyday life to practice the religion of our choosing, we forget how rare that is world-wide. We attend church weekly, pray daily before meals, with our family, in private and in public. It's hard to imagine that this basic part of our day isn't 'allowed' in other parts of the world.
I've been sort of going down through the Bill of Rights, and if I continue, this is likely going to get long, so instead I want to highlight just one more thing from this past week that makes me thankful to be an American.
Veterans Day was a few days ago. I had the privilege to see our district's youngest students honor our local vets. While there were extraordinary events/ceremony's going on throughout the day, this was the one I witnessed. That building had a coin drive. The ultimate goal was to sponsor a local veteran's trip to Washington DC on the 'Central Missouri Honor Flight'. That building has about 300 students. Those kids not only sponsored a vet, they collected enough to sponsor 4 vets! About $1500. Our youngest son was one of the kids involved in counting up the collected money, so  he and a friend presented the 'big check'. Then to see the Marine who received it get choked up by the generosity of these littlest kids, of course also made me cry; this was such a heartwarming example of what is good and right in this great country of ours.
Proud to be an American and God BLESS the USA,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

What's for Dinner Wednesdays

I have a blogger friend who posts one of these every week. I hope to be as consistent. It's also my hope with these posts to offer great tasting meals for families to share, easy for moms to prepare and ones that the whole family will eat. I will be posting 6 star meals, in other words, ones that all 6 of us like.
For my first offering, I'd like to share 'Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings' I am not sure exactly how the original recipe went, but I am going to tell you how I fix it. :) Keep in mind I serve 6 people, two of which are teenage boys, so you might want to adjust for your household.
In a larger (6 qt-oval) crockpot add:
5 or 6 frozen chicken breasts
'Cream of' soup (use whatever you have on hand that your bunch likes, I haven't found one that doesn't work, any will do)
about 1# of frozen veggies (I have used a combo of raw baby carrots and frozen corn or peas, again use your favs)
1-2 boxes of chicken broth (it's do-able with one, but I like the finished product with two better)
1 pkg of Knorr homestyle chicken stock this
salt/pepper
Place in crockpot before work or early in the day. About 1 1/2 hrs before serving, add two cans of biscuits, that you have cut each biscuit into fourths. At this time I generally break up the chicken into smaller pieces and make sure the biscuits/dumplings are covered by the broth. That's all serve later and enjoy.
This is a recipe I found on Pinterest probably a year ago and we have eaten this twice a month since then. Everyone likes it, there's never any leftovers. I like that I can stick it in early and outside of throwing in the biscuits there's very little pre-supper prep, as it seems that later in the day, time seems to be a hot commodity.
Another thing I use that I like when using my crockpot are these. They are liners for your crockpot. We all know how 'cooked on' things get in a crockpot, and these guys make that heavy scrubbing step practically non-existent.
Rough draft blogging with paper and pen while subbing and wishing I had actually put this in before leaving this morning,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Thankfulness Thursday

Well Thursday has rolled around again. This week I am thankful for my oldest son and the proud tradition he has been a part of for the last 6 years. He's been a Centralia Panther Football Player. He's grown up with such a great group of young men and been mentored by an even greater group of men (the coaching staff).

Tonight was the last 'official' game of the season. This one was important. They played in a Bowl Game. There are many traditions in Panther Football, one of the most special is the 'Goodbye Bowl' The boys met on the field tonight for some fun, a little scrimmaging and just to spend time together, one more time, as a team. 
There already have been many 'momma moments' in this Cody's Senior Year, and I know there are several more to come. They are coming faster than I like. But isn't this what we are supposed to do as parents, raise them up into adults? I guess that's what we are doing. I sure wish I could hit the pause button and savor this moment and all of the others a little longer.
I can't even phathom what these young men will accomplish. They are all extraordinary young men. We had the pleasure of feeding the team this year after the away games. Do you know that I don't believe one boy picked up his burger as we served them without saying thank you? Our team consists of about 80 boys. That's 80 sets of parents who are doing it right. That's 80 boys who are respectful and polite. Don't tell me todays youth are 'no good' because I am here to tell you, no shout from the mountain tops, that Centralia Panther Football Players are some of the greatest young men I know.
Boys, you closed the door on an exciting chapter of your lives and I know it's hard to say goodbye. But, this is only the first chapter, there are many more to follow, each holding their own excitement. Just remember who you are, where you come from and what that means.
Wondering if my hands will ever thaw out but glad I attended the 'Goodbye Bowl',
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Sunday (just pics, no words)

Saturday Sewing

Here are a few recent projects. I can't actually sew today, too many other things on the list of to-do's, but thought I would drop by and share a couple of pictures. Lately the sewing I have been doing has been for others and I can't share those pictures till customer gives the gift. So I had to dig back a month or two to projects that were either for me, yes the top one actually is for me, surprising, yes I know. The other project was for a baby gift, gift has been given, baby has been born, so picture of project was fair game.

Not sure if I have shared a couple of great 'free places' to find patterns or learn techniques. The first one is Moda Bake Shop. When going to this website, it sort of looks like just another blog, which it kinda is. But each blogpost is a pattern, or sewing instructions for great quick and easy projects. Just looked on it and there's a 'charming scarf' The company behind the blog is Moda and they sell quilt fabric, BEAUTIFUL quilt fabric. One of their greatest retail products is their precuts. You can get 'samples' of an entire designer line cut into 2.5 inch strips, 10 inch squares, and 5 inch squares, there are others, but those are probably the three most popular ones. The what you can do with them are showcased on this blog. I totally love it, the projects are quick and easy and can a lot of times be done in an afternoon or over a weekend.

Now my other favorite place to learn about quilting projects is You Tube, yes, the place we go to watch funny video clips. You tube is much more than that! The Missouri Star Quilt Company has an entire channel devoted to it. Look here and pick anyone of the videos. They are a Godsend to 'visual learners' like me. If I am wanting to learn a specific technique, chances are I will find something on their channel that covers it, or I can get distracted with something else, us quilters are kinda like that.

Well that's all I have for now. Cody has 'two a day' football practice in order to prepare for Monday night's district championship game, Sam is hunting (youth gun season for deer), Jenna and Seth are 'paying the piper' AKA The Farmer, for mischief they got into with the friends who were over to play yesterday and they are cleaning their rooms. I am cleaning and cooking for the family birthday lunch that is tomorrow celebrating their 10th and 8th birthdays, and The Farmer, I am not sure what he's doing, but looking at the clock, he will be looking for lunch soon, YIKES!

Jumping up and scrambling through the pantry looking for inspiration,

From Tulip~

KH

:)

Thankfulness Thursday

Okay, so like about EVERYONE, except my mother and my husband, I am on facebook. (actually they are both closet lurkers on the facebook of their spouses, in case anyone wondered) And those on Facebook know that with the turning of the calendar page and probably so we won't all delete our accounts because we are sick of political posts, comes 'The Thankfulness Posts'. Thankfulness posts are something that many of my friends do, most do it all month long, I always attempt to and generally don't miss to many and try to add 'make-up' posts when I fall behind. It was so refreshing to get on there today when I got home from work and see so many of these posts. Since its so close to the election, I generally skim the 'news feed' pretty quickly, avoiding all political posts, cartoons, etc........at this point in the game, I think EVERYONE is so sick of those, there would be no changing anyones mind anyway.
To me the Thankfulness posts show us a little window into the souls of our friends. We have so much to be thankful for in this country, in the time that it is so easy for all of us to take for granted what all we really do have. If we can pick out 30 things (30 days in Nov) and say thanks for those things or people, etc........... yay for us.
In my endeavor to be a more regular blogger, I am going to attempt to start posting 'Thankful Thursdays' I will pick something or someone that I am thankful for, tell you what it is and why. So besides the 30 posts on Facebook, hopefully my readers will get 52 more things that I am thankful for via this blog.
Since today is Jenna's birthday, today I am thankful for Jenna.

My little doll baby. You were the first of two surprises to come into our lives. At one point after struggling to get two kiddos, Dad and I figured we were about done having kids, boy were we wrong. You came into this world in sort of a 'whirlwind' and that should have been our first clue, but sometimes Dad and I are a little slow on the uptake. From day one, you have done things your way. Some of the best traits in adults are the hardest ones to deal with in children. I have no doubt that anyone will take advantage of you or ever wonder what you are thinking or how you feel about anything. I always say my boys are physically demanding, and well JH you are mentally demanding, but that's okay, because while somedays I am ready to ship you off to Aunt O or your 'other' momma, MelB, it is pretty great having someone in the house who thinks like I do. I love to be able to communicate 'like a girl' with you. Very rarely do you need the detailed instructions that the guys need. You just get it. Thank goodness. I feel blessed that while The Farmer has 'his boys' I got to have my girl. Even though my girl wouldn't be caught dead in a dress or playing with dolls, I still look forward to the day when we will be BFF'S, like I am with my mom and grandma. I know that we will be that way since none of us have sisters, these intergenerational 'friendships' are the greatest blessings in my life.
I love your compassion. You feel so deeply for so many things, most of them are four legged, but that's okay. You have the most beautiful blue eyes, you remind me of your great grandpa Garrett, yours are the same color as his and just bright.
You are growing into such a great young woman, while I desperately will miss the little girl that stole our hearts, I do definitely look forward to the woman who I know will always be my girl. I love you sis.
Getting ready to have 'birthday supper' with my household to celebrate a decade of 'The Cattle Whisperer,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

PS--this was my 200th post, kinda exciting, had I realized it, I would have planned something cool, sigh, well, keep reading, maybe I will do something at the next milestone! <3>

I love Fall!

After such an intense summer, heat and drought, I have certainly looked forward to fall. I always do. It's my favorite time of year. My babies were all four fall babies, so I have the greatest excuse to regularly entertain, many birthday parties at our house during the fall.
Fall means school starts and YES I was one of THOSE kids who looked forward to school starting. Now as a mom, after the chaos of summer, I like the routine-ness of the school year, but not necessarily the hours, being a night owl sounds like such a good idea until the next morning when I am dragging myself out of bed to get the kids ready and YIKES if I have to sub, start really rethinking that 2am bedtime which is my fav time to go to bed.
This fall, thanks to summer hasn't been as exciting on the harvest side of things. The guys are shelling corn, but they aren't pushing real hard to get the job done. I think the numbers are just depressing them. It does look like there will be some beans though............cross your fingers!

One of my newest fall loves is football. Having a senior this year makes that love affair a bittersweet one. Cody has a group of buddies, some of whom he's been buddies with his whole life, I will miss him next fall and I will miss them. I guess while this year DH is kinda bummed about fall, guessing next year will be my turn.
While some things about fall lean towards the 'end' of something, there are many things that 'begin' in the fall. 4H for one thing. All four of our kids are in the club this year, with it being Cody's last year and Seth's first year. Soon we will get the calves weaned and the kids will start picking out their next beef projects, with that in our minds, as it gets colder, we have the warm thoughts of summer to come filled with fairs and friends.
Seems I have been busy with many projects and haven't turned my home into the 'fall spectacular' that I usually do, thinking tomorrow sounds like the day to do that. Maybe tomorrow night I will add some pics.
Typing while wearing a hoodie and my fuzzy slippers,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Friends

The world is getting smaller all the time. With the help of social media, FACEBOOK, I have made farm friends all over this country. A couple that come to mind off the top of my head, Kansas Farm Mom and Faces of Agriculture. These are blogs that I follow regularly. KFM is just another farm wife like me. She's juggling those same things that I do everyday, farm and family, husband and kids, trying to find a moment to share her passion with others. FOA is put together by two young women who are compiling information shared by farmers all over this country. I have been lucky enough to be a part of both blogs recently. I have posted in Faces a couple of times, first telling our farm story and a second time telling Cody's story. Recently, Nicole, KFM, asked me to share a recipe on her blog. So I did, it posted today. Here's the story, What's for Dinner? Wednesday. While I struggle to get my own blog posted regularly, here I am posting in others......... I have decided that I am going to start trying to add posts, maybe having special days, Nicole I may steal your idea on regular food post, also thinking of an 'Around the Farm' Friday, maybe a kid day, or a sewing day. I have been reinspired to 'rattle on' more regularly........... we will see how it goes! :)
Waiting for the Farmer to come in from the field while listening to kids heading towards bed,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Twig

There's my kid, #83, lining up on the football field, tonight, in the rain. Just another of the things that he gets done in a day. In five short days, he will turn 18. Absolutely and totally mind blowing how quickly time has flown by. It really seems like only yesterday that we brought him home. That he was my little 'Linus' with his blanket (which he called his 'Bobby'---yes he will be thrilled that  I told that little secret!) Didn't he just start school, join 4H, become a big brother, become one again, and again. Wow! This has been a busy week, everyone running 40 different directions, trying get things done. Somewhere in amongst this, I think at the end of last week, I worked on a blog post for the 'Faces of Ag' blog that is a collaboration of some central Missouri gals, who showcase people involved in agriculture from a million different perspectives. Today they choose to showcase Cody's perspective, at least my view of it.
Here's the post:
http://facesofagriculture.blogspot.com/2012/08/cody-of-h-farms.html


Enjoyed digging out some pics of him 'farming' through the years, especially now that most that I am currently taking are in a football jersey. It was a great reminder in savoring the moments, which I am trying to do each and every day. Mother's Day/Graduation will be here so fast!
Just wanted to share the blog for those who hadn't already seen it, oh and BTW the way, we won tonight in double overtime, 18-12. Of course the most important statistic from the game I have to wonder is how much rain did we get DURING the game?
Still trying to warm up and dry out, but loving that rain,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Summers Grand Finale

 Montgomery Gentry Concert---AWESOMENESS!

 Seeing our buds, Hollow Pointe rock the house at Goodtime Charlies, more AWESOMENESS!

 My kids showing their steers, not only AWESOMENESS, but PRICELESS as well!!!! Go Sam!

 Cody is at such ease, with a stick and a steer in hand, so proud of his top 15 finish! Way to go!!!

Even though she struggled some with Red, Jenna had a pretty good State Fair as well, we are blessed!



Okay in case the title didn't offer any clues, we have just wrapped up our 'end of summer' family time/vacation, whatever you wanna call it. We have returned from the Missouri State Fair. So much fun, good stories, good times, good friends, will I get them all in this blog post, quite likely not, but here I go:
This year, 3 of our 4 kids showed their steers, I think Seth felt a little left out, but next year, he's in too! Cody's steer got 5th in his class, but more exciting, Cody made top 15 in the Senior Showmanship. We don't have much control over where the steer ends up in class, but what we've taught and exposed Cody to over the years has paid off, he does such a great job showing and seems so at ease doing it, makes us proud. Sam's steer was in the lower end of the same class that the steer that won it all was in, so to say he had stiff competition is an understatement! Jenna got her confidence shook by Red being such a smart animal and predicting what was next and heading that direction one day when we were leading them before the fair, so she struggled some this getting through that. We were thankful that the steer show team jumped in and helped her out, always great to have others teaching our kids when we can't.
Again this year we camped with the Sharp family. It is so amazing to me that while Christy is literally one of my oldest friends, we grew up on the same block, our families get along so well together, we are state fair family, its way deeper than friendship, and like those relationships, it doesn't matter that we don't get to see each other much the rest of the year, for our time at the fair, we have each others backs, we catch up on each others lives, tell old stories, make new memories, how blessed we are to have such good friends.
At the fair, we have so many friends, walking to the barn sometimes takes an hour, because there's always someone to say hello to, generally there is more than one someone to do that with. Gonna list a few of the friends we saw, I will probably miss some, but here goes, Bagnells, James', Reinerds, Morgans, Edwards, Heaths, Bastians, Curtis', Nelsons, Martins, Hudsons and MANY MANY MORE!
Seeing people from home is always more fun at the fair. Saw Kelly Dickerson at the concert, wasn't Montgomery Gentry great?!?!?! Saw the OBannons, Dycus' Francis' Rhoades' and Schmidts throughout the fair. Random people from my hometown. Saw old friends, like Pam and Scott Breid. Saw family, cousins and many more.
Notice how little of this is actually talking about exhibits? I have to say the fellowship enjoyed with like minded people is probably my highlight of the fair EVERY YEAR.
This year the fair included a concert for the parents, we saw 38 Special and Montgomery Gentry. It also included celebrating the birthday of our friend Andy Hudson. We celebrated it while enjoying the music of some other friends, Travis Petersen and the Hollow Pointe band. Danced and Partied it up with my friend Wendy Cooley. Shows were great, food and fun was great as well!
This year I got the oppportunity to 'Agvocate for Agriculture' probably in the way I know best how to do it! By COOKING! I got to demonstrate a recipe in the Beef Showcase. I made 'Kickin' Cajun Dirty Rice' it was fun, wonderful chance to meet NEW friends! I look forward to doing it again and thinking that I would like to get more involved in the Missouri Cattlewomen.
Saw cousins at the fair and got to tell our kids and theirs how not only David and I have special stories to our past that are linked to the State Fair, so do they. We shared the story of me having car trouble going to college on what would have been the last weekend of the Missouri State Fair 1989. Since my parents had taken my brother and friends to a concert at the Fair and David had the chores to do, since his parents had taken his sisters to the same concert, when I called him not knowing what to do, he made the comment that Dale, his cousin was a lot closer than he was (I was about a hour from Maryville) so not knowing how to get ahold of Dale, I called Kem, my roommate from college. She had to go to Dale's apartment and talk him into coming and rescuing me! Well they drove to get me and after a few hours in the car, well we can say the rest is history, they will celebrate 19 years of marriage this Dec. Okay I know, I know, kind of a stretch to call their story a 'state fair' story, but I am on a theme here and we retold the story AT the fair this year, doesn't that count?!?!?! I love how when we saw them one of the times it was at a Farm Credit customer luncheon, between friends and family we filled a table, there was us, Beth, Jason, kids, Dawn, Darren and Robin Reynolds, Dale and Kem, their kids, Judy, Kem's mom and Sam's friend Dustin, we weren't sitting in groups we were one big group, didn't matter who was sitting by who and we were sort of mixed up, I remember looking up and down the table, watching my oldest talk to Darren and Judy and have something to talk about, Dustin and Sam BRIEFLY playing with Lynzie, Kristin teasing David........ have I mentioned in this post how blessed I feel surrounded by the love of friends and family particularly at the fair? I think I have, but I like saying that over and over.
We all have special days in our family lives, birthday, holidays, etc........ but for our family State Fair just almost tops the list. With Cody getting older, I have had alot of momma guilt lately about things that I wished I had done differently, things we haven't done, but this last week renewed my confidence, I think we are giving our kids great growing up years and I love that the Missouri State Fair is woven into their lives as one of the grand things.
Enjoying the quiet of the house on the night before school starts,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Twig

18 years ago this summer, I couldn't wait to see you......... 18 years later, I am always glad for another day, as I know they are numbered. Your Senior year of high school is upon us. As emotional as I am about it, can't even imagine what next summer will be like, you going away to college. But like everything from the beginning, you will do it all in your own time. I remember wanting you for many months before actually even getting pregnant with you. Then that long hot summer, or at least it felt long and hot. What did you do, showed up on the last 'unofficial' day of summer, 'Labor Day' When you were born I thought he's all arms and legs............hmmmm, I still think that. You used to be scared of the vacuum, maybe you still are, is that why your room is messy? We used to have to hold you down to cut your hair, today while cutting it, I almost cried, nope don't have to hold you down, but you asked me to trim your 'scruff' of a beard, when the heck did you become a man? Momma loves you, but those glimpses into the future make me sad. Tonight begins football season, which for my football player will certainly be among the highlights of the next 9 months. While I will love every minute of it, I will certainly savor every one as well. As much as I will miss being a part of your daily life I absolutely can't wait to see where your mind, energy and soul take you. Your journey will be amazing, there will be ups and downs, easy days and challenges. I know that you are ready for it, even if I'm not. Enjoy these last days of childhood and get ready to conquer the world, because I know you can.
First of many lumps in my throat thinking about Cody being a Senior,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

(p.s. that's another one of his senior pictures)

Honor Flight Update

 Cody presents a 'big check' to Shelley Becker for the Honor Flight

They hug---those two! :)

Our 4H club was able to send $600, enough to sponosr TWO veterans on the Honor Flight. We presented the check last night at our meeting to my good friend Shelley Becker, who volunteers with that program. Always feels good to help worthy causes!

Promise this might be my last entry today,

From Tulip~

KH

End of Summer

As much as I hate to admit it, yes  the end of summer is sort of upon us. Two weeks till school starts, a week till State Fair begins, days away from 2-a-day football. The garden has all of the sudden exploded, well what is left of it. I have watered all summer. I inspected things this AM and decided between weeds and grasshoppers four rows of greenbeans and a row of misc could be mowed down. Will continue to water I suppose since the tomatoes and 2 rows of beans ARE producing. Hopefully next year I will make a better effort to plant earlier, would have been nice to have been trying to can this stuff earlier when we weren't quite so busy. Yes I actually consider some days around this farm 'not so busy' ;)
By this point in summer most years, I have said the words 'WHEN does school start?' I haven't this summer, I am trying to savor the moments a little more. The realization that this is my last summer of having 4 school kids in my house has been a bit hard to swallow, wasn't just yesterday the only summer I didn't go to State fair because I was swollen up like a tick preggers with Twig? I should find one of those pictures, oh my could we smile at that?!?!?!
Well since I am lamenting the end the of summer, I should sing its praises as well, I think. What a wonderful summer this has been. Yes there's a terrible drought, records are comparable to the Dust Bowl years of the 30's. We are thankful that the cows can eat the silage as there's next to no corn to shell at all, questionable if there will be beans. But there have been so many things to be thankful for.
This summer our boys have blown my mind. They have worked hard right with their dad and Uncle Jason basically every day that they could all summmer long. They've hauled hay, they've baled hay, they are helping with silage. Besides their usual summer things like football weight lifting, showing cattle, camps. Kinda have to wonder if they are thinking the school year could offer some 'rest' :)
We've worked hard and played hard. We have our summer grand finale yet to experience and then march into fall and all of its joys. I just wanted to drop in say hey this is whats going on today and wanted to 'write' it down so hopefully I will never forget how blessed our life is.
Typing with the shoulders of my shirt damp from standing in the rain,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

God Bless the Workin' Man

I sat and thought and thought about some cute title, many song lyrics came to mind, from Alabama's 40 Hour Week, to Brooks and Dunn's Hard Workin' Man and many of the popular 'farm themed' country songs............then I thought of ballads, because I do love that man A LOT!
I would like to take you through a day with my husband. His alarm goes off at 5:25am, I know this not because I pop right out of bed with him, I think anyone who knows me, knows that I can get to 5 am way easier than I can start there! He starts his morning off with weather.com and the markets, checking out the auction websites and craigslist while eating a bowl of cereal, I promise you this is his preferred breakfast. His stomach doesn't like bacon and eggs that early and eating cereal promises that no one else has to be involved, awake and talking to him. Out the door moments after 6 to start his day. Animals are fed. Sick ones doctored, currently there's a calf who injured its leg and redresses the leg each morning. Then on to maintenance, whether its a tire that needs fixed, equipment that needs to be adjusted or greased, he gets everything ready for the day. This is of course summer time when he doesn't have to make sure everyone else is up (slightly altered schedule during the school year, he probably doesn't go out till 6:15...... )
Once things are ready to go, and by this time Jason (brother in law) has done his morning chores, they begin their day. This last week it has been chopping silage. By mid morning (this week) Cody is back home from football camp, Sam has drug himself out (he's kinda like his momma about mornings) and they pack some drinks and head out. Several loads are chopped, hauled and packed before lunch. Most of the time work stops for lunch. After the meal a quick siesta is had, AKA 20-30 minute power nap.

(OMG----it's raining outside! YAY! Sorry to get off subject, but wow!)


After lunch its back at it, David does the chopping, Jason does the packing and helps with unloading the wagons and truck. The hauling is done this year by a combination of Cody, Sam, Beth, today me, and Luke helped over the weekend. We are about to fill our bunker silo, so there will be some adjustments to switch over to the upright, the blower will need to be gotten out, etc.......

Today as I helped, I couldn't help but mentally add up all the different jobs David does. He makes marketing decisions, considers upgrades on equipment, veterinary work, shop work, repairs, the 'skill jobs' (makes me think of Cody talking about skill positions in football) keeps in his mind what he planted when and where, the variety it was, everything you ever or never needed to know about all of our tractors, combines and pieces of equipment, what grain is in the bins, whether its been checked recently, when he mowed the alfalfa last and will it be ready to be mowed again, when to move the bulls to the summer pasture, which group of cows have calved, should be calving soon, etc etc........ he blows my mind.

He can fix anything, of this I am pretty sure. We broke a brace on the silage chopper that braces the blower. He stopped, got the pickup, pulled underneath it and monkey-ed up the thing, had it off of there and we were headed to the house before I much more than got asked the silly question of can you fix it? You would think 22 years and 12 days into this thing, I would know better....... measuring tape, piece of scrap iron, cutting torch, the grinder, a chalk mark for the bolt hole needed, another drill, little more grinding, then it was hold this, close your eyes, I am gonna weld............waaa laaa....... he fabricated a new 'end' to the brace and back to the field we went.

I know that when he proposed to me, I knew I loved him, when we got married, I knew I loved him, when we had babies---loved him........... I am pretty sure that I had no idea how that love would grow exponentially, year by year, day by day.........hour by hour. Heck I even drove for him chopping silage and while I could tell from the body language I was frustrating the crap out of him, stupid dirty windows, sun glare.........yeah I have excuses. He called me on his way to a meeting, that he was probably late to, trying to get 'one more 5 minute job' done, to make sure I had everything under control while he was going to be gone and to say he loves me.

(BTW, rain already stopped........sigh)

Waiting up for my sweetie,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Some amazing people.........

This summer as our family has worked hard getting crops planted, hay baled and now silage chopped. We have had the privilege to see some amazing things among the groups of people we spend time with. Our rural country church had vacation bible school in June. For their daily offering, the kids generally pick a charitable organization to contribute to. This year the Central Missouri Food Bank's 'Buddy Pack' program was chosen. This story starts back long before VBS, as many of you know our kids go to church with, are in 4H with, ride the school bus with, etc etc etc the same set of kids mostly. Last fall our 4H club was presented with a program on the Buddy Pack program by a good friend of mine, Shelley Becker. She works at the food bank as their grant writer. While the parents were concerned that maybe the facts and figures were over their heads.........those kids turned around and the next meeting planned to go and volunteer at the Food Bank. One day after school the moms gathered everyone up and we went to the food bank and made some huge amount of Buddy Packs up, I wanna say about 400, in less than an hours time. The kids were thrilled, amazed and ready to go back and help again. The Buddy Pack program is near and dear to the kids' heart. They see some of their classmates helped by this program weekly throughout the school year. It makes their hearts feel good to know that they could help with their own skills in a program that they see working. The Buddy Pack program is a bag of food sent home in backpacks every Friday throughout the school year with nonperishable easy to prepare foods that are healthy for the kids to eat. This helps families who would otherwise struggle to feed their kids. I don't know the actual percentage, but I know as a substitute teacher, in a class of 20-ish students, I have seen as many as 5 or 6 qualify in a classroom. We are so thankful to live in an area that works so hard to help families with kids, get them fed! Now fast forward to summer, with that memory of helping in their minds, when asked what group could we help with our VBS offering, they shouted in unison---Buddy Packs!!! And helped they did!! I takes around $180 per kid to sponsor this program through the school year, and I think at last count its getting close to 9,000 kids that are helped in the central Missouri region. Well 30 Tulip VBS students and their families, raised $740 dollars in a weeks worth of offerings to pay a yrs worth for 4 kids to get Buddy Packs, plus a little extra!

If that was amazing enough to witness, remember how I talked about my kids hanging with the same kids in about everything that they do? Well another project my good friend Shelley is involved in is the Central Missouri Honor Flight, which takes WW2, Korean and Vietnam War veterans to Washington DC to see their monuments and to just honor them and thank them for their service to this country. This spring we had Shelley back to a 4H meeting and another program was shared, this time on the Honor Flight. After watching this program the kids thought it would be great to try and help this group as well. It was decided that we would raffle off a quilt to try and raise money to sponsor a veteran to go on this Flight. Having been given a lot of scraps by my quilting friend Dee and after going through my own stash, I came up with the idea to do a 'Patriotic' quilt, we were selling the tickets around the 4th of July, it was to raise $$$ for veterans, it seemed like the thing to do. After getting the quilt pieced, I sent to another friend of mine Jan who has a long arm quilting business. She quilted it for us. When I went to pick it up, instead of a bill there was a note that said, 'If it wasn't for 4H I probably wouldn't be sewing as a business, 4H was a big part of my life growing up and I am so proud of what you all are doing, so I am donating the quilting at no charge!' What a wonderful woman, she's that anyway, but wow, what a great way to help. During the local fairs, our 4h members sold tickets and the quilt was drawn for at the end of our county fair. The winner is already enjoying it at her house. We added up the ticket sales and found that not only do we have enough to sponsor a veteran (takes about $300) we are just a few dollars short of sponsoring TWO VETERANS..........I mentioned that on facebook the other day and I think that through more friends, we will be ready to send the Central Missouri Honor Flight a check for $600 from our 4H club.
Now as anyone who pays attention to anything at all, you know things aren't good with the economy, haven't been for a while now, certainly this summer's drought has been rough on farmers in many areas. I would guess 90% of people involved in these two projects are rural people and several were involved in both projects, with a little hustle we were able to help two very worthy causes. And what we have gotten out of these experiences have been amazing. So proud of our friends, neighbors and family. Thank you for reaching into your hearts and finding ways to help others even when much wasn't to be found in your own pockets. You are amazing!

Links to the Charities I mentioned are:
http://centralmissourihonorflight.com/       http://sharefoodbringhope.org/buddy-packs/

Wishing the silage chopping would get rained out,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

We're famous! Well sorta! :)

http://facesofagriculture.blogspot.com/2012/07/hasekamps-of-h-farms.html


We are featured today on 'Faces of Agriculture' which is a great new blog that is put together by two Midwestern ladies who are trying to 'fight the good fight' and get our stories out to the world. Keep up the good work girls!

Busy day at our house, sorry for the short post.

Gathering up 'everything' and headed out to tackle the day,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

What's going on in your world?

The Prom, Cody and Sarah, April 2012



Mother's Day 2012, Sam and Cody standing, Seth, Jenna, Riddick and Trinity sitting



Working with calves, summer 2012

First attempt at Senior pictures


What a busy late spring and first half of summer it has been at our house. School no more than got out for summer and the big boys, went right to work hauling hay, for customers and for us. Cody ran a hay crew again this summer and stayed pretty busy till this dry drought of a summer burnt up all the hay in the area. Cody and Sam have both helped David and Jason so much this summer, plus found time to do most of the pre-fair time prep with the cattle. I think David has only had to clip one calf this summer and that was a demonstration for his 4H beef project kids. What young men  I have living in my house. They get up and are in town most mornings before 6am to lift weights in prep for the fall football season, then come home and ask what needs to be done. They blow my mind. Hard to wrap my brain around the fact that in a few more weeks, I will have an 18 year old MAN at my house, wow! And a little over a year from now, Sam will get his learners permit, what the heck, what happened to my little boys, of course as I look UP at them both, I know, they've grown up, but I can still complain a little can't I?

Wanted to share some newer pictures and give everyone a quick glimpse into what's going on with us. It's busy, like normal, and I really have to say, would I like it any other way? Probably not. Big news we will be featured on 'Faces of Agriculture' tomorrow. I will jump back on here tomorrow and share the link, but in case I forget, their website is http://www.facesofagriculture.blogspot.com/
County Fair begins tomorrow and yesterday was one month till State Fair, someone please slow this ride down please!
Praying for rain but otherwise loving life,
From Tulip,
KH
:)