Baby Marshall

Our sweet little nephew is growing fast. Last night he and his Mommy came to see what was going on at our house. Liek most little fellas his size, he was mostly interested in looking at the leaves in the trees and keeping a close eye on where his Mommy was. At the time David and the boys were leading calves and Aunt Beth went in to help, which left Marshall to hang out with Jenna, Seth and I, which of course we HATED, ha! Not!
From Tulip,
KH

Summer has begun around here

Well, I guess I am not going to be good at blogging in the summer months. Will try to catch everyone up. I think the last time I blogged it was mid May. Well since then, we've gotten out of school. Had gobs more rain, won't even go into how David is feeling about that. THe above picture was taken Memorial Weekend. With gas being so reasonable and our LARGE SUV, we didn't go anywhere. So Sunday afternoon we took a short drive. We ended up in Moberly and Rothwell Park. On sunday afternoons there are rides to be taken on this little narrow gauge railway. For a $2 ticket and a few minutes time, we entertained the gang with that. As you can see Cody and Sam were only so so about our choice of entertainment, but we reminded them that 'in the day' they too were big train fans. We are enjoying the 'beginnings' of Summer and all that entails, Strawberries from our Amish neighbors, getting the calves ready for fair. Seth and I are bucking heads with potty training, but making progress. We are sleeping at night with every window of the house open, all that 'good stuff'
Anchor Fest has been and gone. I have to say that I never stepped foot on the square. I worked both night for Dad at the Pool Hall. David took the kids to the carnival, the closest i got was the early morning Anchor Run that the boys enjoy participating in. Rain was an issue for the 'fest-ers' Friday night, but Saturday more than made up for it.
From Tulip,
KH

Aunt Kathy Time

This evening we got a surprise guest at our house, my sweet little nephew. His momma and daddy were enjoying a Cardinal game in StL and a bit of adult time and technically he was supposed to be hanging out with Grandma Linda. Well Grandpa's help at the pool hall fell through, so Aunt Kathy to the rescue. You know I just hated it the whole time, ha! NOT! It is so fast how you forget what each age group does, and it hasn't been that long since I had a 2 and a half year old, like LAST YEAR. It cracked me up how busy Riddick is. He checked out the whole yard in like 30 seconds. He got distracted though at one point, he discovered the cows. Now they were interesting and he watched them for quite some time. In fact I really think his Daddy ought to consider getting him one. Living in town, eh, no matter, Riddick likes those cows. Then he discovered the chickens, little red feathered cows that aren't behind the fence and then look, Sam caught one and he got to 'pet' it, as much as you can a chicken. Yeah that was some cool stuff. We explored the barn and all of the various gates and fences that you can climb up and down in there, while we fed Barbie the bottle calf, at that point, I think looking her face to face, he decided that fences were probably a good invention. He wasn't scared, but didn't stick around long either. We enjoyed playing with sticks, and rocks and low tree branches, does this poor child have any cool stuff at his house, poor little guy! Also rode the assortment of kiddie cars, tractors, tricycles, etc.................. One of the highlights though would probably be the ol' swingset. I could certainly tell that he was a veteran swinger and slider, he knew all the tricks. He had balance down real well, could make the swing go 'high' and was a daredevil like many little boys before him on the slide. Because as you know, sliding on your bottom is for sissies; especially when your agile little body can flip right over at the top of the slide in a nanosecond, give Aunt K a devilish grin and down you go. After a few hours of 'outside' it wasn't too tough a sell to head inside and see what was new in there. Alvin and the Chipmunks were discovered on the TV. Soon enough there was the ultimate in kids feasting available for all interested parties in the kitchen. Macaroni and Cheese and Hotdogs. Ketchup must have been very good as it had the biggest dent. He tried blueberries, nah not so much, licked the ketchup off of the hotdogs and ate maybe one or two macaroni, yeap little brother, being two is all about eating enough to survive and absolutely no more. Not that I thought that you were kidding, but a girl can hope. Instantly reminded me of days gone by, we've been there too and he will outgrow it and as long as food is offered, he won't starve. So we finished up supper with a big cuppie of milk and watched Alvin till Grandma got here to save us from mean ol' Aunt K, how dare she make guys go in the house and eat and wash our hands........................ Just wait till Daddy hears about this.
Love, Riddick's Aunt Kathy

Taking a Minute to Catch my Breath

Hello All~
Let's see since last week, we have, had a track and field day which our 'superman' won all three of his events, which were 50 yard dash, 100 yard dash, and high jump. Wooo Hooo Sam!!! Sam also had an awards lunch at which he received the 'Mr Charming/Gentleman' award and another one, which I can't remember what it was, as I think I am still in shock about the first award! Apparently they didn't get a vote from Jenna, LOL!!! What else?????? The boys are lifting weights with the wrestling coach, more for Cody than Sam, but that adds trips to town for me.
Oh big news, David and I went out on a 'date' something that we don't do very often at all. The kids stayed home and 'babysat' themselves. We came home to Cody, Seth and Jenna all in Cody's twin bed, but asleep. So guess it all worked out. We shopped a bit for Mother's Day. We ate out at a place that had came highly recommended to us, HuHot, Mongolian Grill. It was excellent. You design your own dish, picking meat veggies, noodles and sauce, then watch it be stirfry-ed. Very good, we will definitely go back. We weren't particularly successful in our shopping, I am wanting to tile some in our kitchen and think that we can teach ourselves how. So I want to try something smaller as a first project. I am wanting to tile a wall at the end of our cabinets with mosaic tiles. The big problem is that online, I saw EXACTLY what I wanted, and of course didn't find it locally.............. so now debating about paying the shipping or making a different choice. So the project is in limbo...........
Had a great Mother's Day, didn't have to cook MUCH.............. The men at Tulip cook breakfast for the women, so we started our day that way. With a huge breakfast on our tummies, we 'survived' till supper, which was spent with my side of the family. We ate BBQ and all the fixins'
This week includes, more end of the year 'parties' for the various clubs Cody is in, a farewell to the band director at school bbq, Sam's class picnic, and the birthday party of a very dear woman in our life, Alice Vaughn, and I am not sure what all else.
Seth thinks we all need to go to bed RIGHT NOW, and I am tending to agree with him, so for now,
From Tulip~
KH

Benoit Kids

Here is one of the about 60 pictures that I either took or editted for the Benoit family. My very good friend, Shelley Becker, went along to help keep track that we took the pictures that everyone wanted, she kept a checklist and helped alot. This pose was her idea, I think it's great. We had family members from Bob parent's down to his 2 year old nephew, and everyone seemed to be agreeable to taking the pictures and it went well. Of course I could sit here and critique it all day, but the main goal of a great family day remembered for them was accomplished and I was glad to help them out.

Matt, Senior Picture

Here's one of the pictures I took of Matt, our neighbor boy and hired hand on the farm. This particular one is taken at their house, beside their lake. Matt and I had fun taking these. (well I did, maybe he just indulged me to satisfy his mom, who knows!) This is one of my favorites, but we took poses with one of our tractors, out in the woods with his bow, some in his FFA jacket, some with our cows, his sheep, used a grain bin, his truck and several bales of straw as props, etc............. we were able to take the pictures over a couple of days in between all else that goes on around here. I was thrilled to learn that Rosel, his mom and both Grandmas were very surprised, first off and truly pleased with our results.

A picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I have been doing something new lately...................... Well not totally new, just expanding my horizons alittle. I have been taking pictures of my kids as long as they have been in my life. I got frustrated with the portrait studio thing a few years ago and started taking 'posed' pictures of them with some success. When our good friends, Bob and Margo had a daughter get engaged, I offered to take a picture of two for them, and had a bit more success. Well a bit of time passed and our fifth 'child' and hired hand, Matt needed some Senior pictures taken, I took some of them for him. Had a blast doing that, of course, knowing the subject and being very familiar with the settings helped make the pictures easy to take. Then a few weeks ago, our good friends called again, the Benoits wanted a family picture taken. Last Sunday I took pictures of 18!!! Benoits as a group and as smaller combinations. It was great fun, some decent pictures were accomplished, and now I wonder.................
What will I be when I grow up? I love taking these pictures and realize if opportunity and practice are available, I can get better at that. I love cooking and the catering jobs seem to continue to pop up here and there (two for next weekend) I love sewing and making totes and purses, and that always makes a cute gift, which has in the past lead to some special orders here and there. The baking and candy making are an absolute blast, which covers alot of holidays, and some wedding and baby shower 'jobs' AND I really enjoy adding posts to this blog, which fills a creative outlet for the writing that I find relaxing........................ All of these things, are great 'jobs' for a mom. I can be as busy as I want to be along with caring for our children. I worry that it is jack of all trades, master of none.........
Well don't have any answers this morning, just wondering..................... so I suppose it's off to hosuecleaning, lunch cooking, grocery shopping for the 'orders' of food coming up and burn a cd of pictures to take and get developed later.................... enjoy living our crazy life until the next inspiration pops into my head to bring me back the 'Hasekamps of Tulip' page.
Until then from Tulip~
KH

The Only Thing Consistent About Change Is That It Never Stops

Just when I dare to think that maybe this week will offer a bit of free time, I am always met with a sound HA HA from my calendar. Jenna finished up with preschool last week, and I thought quite mistakenly that THIS week would be a bit quieter, not the case.........
Let's see, last night was 'Kindergarten Here We Come' today Cody has a field trip to Hannibal, Sam has a 'special lunch' that we are invited to, tomorrow night is 4H, Thursday is Parents as Teachers, the Elementary School Track and Field Day and Wrestling, I am not sure what Friday brings, but I am thinking at this point that there is nothing planned for Saturday, keeping my fingers crossed. I bought paint for Jenna's room LAST fall, thought that would be something that I could do after school started, well last fall heralded the beginning of a new era at our house, FOOTBALL, not only football in the middle school for Cody but he also helped the local radio station announcers with the High School Games, so the paint got put away. The second football was over we went from offseason 'open gym nights' with wrestling to full blown wrestling practice, twice a week. Wrestling is over now and we are back to the offseason open gym nights, but like our 'up to the eyeballs' life would lead you to guess, we have something else to fill our time. 4H activities are getting into full swing. David and the boys are breaking calves, we are having a sprinkling of 4H project meetings here and there and currently dealing with the hub-bub of the end of another school year. There are picnics, field trips, Fine Arts Nights, and much MUCH MORE!!! I keep reminding myself that I will look back on these days with the rose colored glasses that more nostalgic times are generally viewed through soon enough.................. but I just have to say, surviving them some days are a challenge!

Jenna and I went to the final event of her 'parents as teachers' enrollment last night, the grand finale, the big one................ yes I am playing up the drama, maybe it will make you weepy too, as it did me. Not sure which thing was more poignant, remembering like it was yesterday taking Cody to these events, remembering when she was barely a little bit in my arms, dreading to think of how much more emotional I will be when I take Seth, (maybe PMS, who knows) but in each and every 'station stop' I kept finding myself choking back the tears. Was proud that I never let one fall, but they were right there all evening. Had them camouflaged with my glasses (yeah maybe the rose colored ones) Reminded with Cody's teacher of his first day, had MY Kindergarten music teacher, say that Jenna reminded her of a little blonde haired girl of 30 years ago, and to many more stories to type especially as I find myself 'pecking away' and wiping the tears now. Jenna on the other hand had an absolute blast. I think she might have a crush on Bobby Reeves our longtime beloved Elementary PE teacher, thinks that the library is a very cool place, bubbling over with excitement about horses to play with in one of the Kindergarten rooms, and "look at all the play doh Mom" in the Art room, and her list of thrills could also go on and on.

I remember loving school also as a kid. Maybe it was because I grew up in town without cows and tractors and 'stuff' to keep me busy all summer. Although I can think of very few weeks of summer that didn't including riding our bikes all over town, the pickup baseball games that just happened, playing at the city park that bring a smile to my face to this day. Maybe I was excited about the new school year because as an innocent child, I craved that change just as Jenna did last night and does. Hopefully I am not just a grumpy old mom, but I certainly don't crave the change as much anymore. I love these days that I was whining about surviving, with my kids all here around me playing, fighting, laughing, arguing, and loving each other everyday.

I love music and so many songs remind of my feelings this morning, 'Blessed' by Martina McBride, ' You're Gonna Miss this' by Trace Adkins and 'Let them be little' by, by, I am not sure who............. and many more. Maybe Cody will let me listen to those on his iPod while I paint Jenna's room this summer, MAYBE..........

Guess we will head into this next chapter of our life, some of us more excited than others, some craving it, some polishing her rose colored glasses so I never ever forget these days of survival.

Getting another klennex,

from Tulip~

KH

Jenna Claire

Here's one of the pics I took of Jenna Friday. We had washed her hair in the morning to get ready for her big program and and we even put 'curlers' in it................ Anything to keep her busy and worrying about something else besides 'When do we go to the Program?' She was very excited! Well even with mousse and leaving the 'curlers' in all day, it's a good thing that I took these pictures pretty quick after we 'styled' her hair as she is related to her mother and the curls were pretty well gone before we ever got to the program. Always the ham, Jenna happily modeled for several pictures. This one is one of my favorites. For those who know how Jenna feels about hair barrettes, you'll all be happy to know she will tolerate headbands, so maybe we've found an accessory that she and I can agree on.
As you see I got my picture program going again, so away I go, blogging and sharing pics with everyone.
Take care and until next time, from Tulip~
KH

Sam's Field Trip, more info

Here's the link to a local newspaper article about the place Sam visited on his field trip:

http://www.showmenews.com/2008/May/20080503News007.asp

Looks like from the article, kind of similar to the 'Science Center' in StL maybe, I am wanting to go there and check it out for myself.

:) KH