October Recap

Well, we're smack dab in the middle of harvest right now, and what is usually the busiest of busy months for us. Mark is either at work or in the field many days from 7am-8pm, although this is a change in the positive direction from years ago when he would be out significantly later.

The boys and I have developed somewhat of a new "normal" on those nights, and it's oddly not nearly as overwhelming as it might have seemed a couple years ago with one less kid in the house. Some nights, anyways. There have been plenty of nights like this one in particular that leave me ready to check myself in to the looney bin. So we certainly still have our fair share of really rough evenings, but I attribute that way more to the fact that both of the big boys no longer nap than that harvest is to blame. (Or maybe it's a huge combination of both.)

It helps that the big boys now know where Daddy is when he isn't home, and it also helps that we have taken significantly more trips out to the farm this year than previous years. Even if it feels like a "waste" of an hour in the evening just driving down there and back, it's an hour where the boys are behaving, sitting quietly watching a movie, and where I can have a little peace without having to entertain them or break up roughhousing or fighting.

I was thrilled to finally chop all my hair off early in the month, which has been a MUCH needed change as far as daily prep time!

In Daddy's absence, we've been staying very busy around here! We've spent every weekend in Worthington, whether at Grandpa's Fun Farm (which would be different from the farm itself), at local parks, enjoying time with Grandma Pam and Aunt Jess, or going for numerous tractor rides.

We spent a ridiculous amount of time "farming" in October (and well into November).

We attended our church's annual Fall Fest this year, and the boys sure enjoyed the lake as well as the fun hayride and roasting marshmallows :)

The boys and I took a day trip down to visit my Mom in Humboldt on the 15th, which was nice - and a BEAUTIFUL day weather-wise.

We celebrated Mark's Dad's 68th Birthday with him over pizza and cake at their home on the 18th.

We started working on potty training with Kendrick this month, which ended up being a pretty exhausting part of the month for Mama. To say it started off completely unsuccessful would be an understatement. I won't go into detail, but let's just say that single-mommin' it during harvest while potty training is not something I would recommend to anyone. Ever. But when she's ready at daycare, it's time, I guess. I will say, though, it didn't end up being too bad by the end of the month. Those first couple weeks were kinda killer, though.

We ended the month with a bang, filling one single weekend with pumpkin carving, birthday celebrating, the Schwalbach ACE Hardware Fall Festival, Halloween Trail, and then rounding out the weekend on Monday with Trick or Treating.

That's pretty much it for October! We've been busy, but definitely having fun :)

Lately in Windom (October)

Waiting for a tractor ride is the MOST fun!

For those of you who aren't from farming backgrounds, this is what an "elevator" looks like. It's where Mark hauls "loads" of either soybeans or corn in with the tractors. It's really interesting how it works. You pull into the building, then after handling paperwork and such, they open the floodgates and let all the grain fall out onto the ground through these grates, and then you close up the hatches and finalize the paperwork and leave.

This last fact, I thought, was very interesting...

The farm where Mark grew up, and now still farms with his Dad.

Painting pumpkins a few weeks ago, Kendrick apparently thought it best to just paint the stem.

I swear these kids could wash their hands all day long and they'd STILL be dirty. #boymomproblems

Cashel decided to paint his pumpkin orange, so it was super obvious he had painted it. :)

It makes me kinda reminiscent that this is probably the last time Kendrick will wear his dinosaur t-shirt. By next year, he will have grown out of it. I'm having a hard time with this one growing up. I mean, I am with all of them, but Kendrick seems sandwiched in between the baby and big kid stage in my head, and all of a sudden he's more big kid than baby, and I swear my heart stops sometimes with that realization.

There isn't a night that I fall into bed where I don't say something along the lines of, "Ryan is just the sweetest little guy, Daddy". It's very, very hard to wrap my head around him being our caboose, but he definitely is. I feel like I miss him already, and he's still little even.

I usually end up having about a 2 month mourning period when I finally chop my hair. This time around, however, I did not. I LOVE this new 'do!

On the top of Ryan's Christmas list is his own recliner. I swoon thinking about three little heads in three little chairs all snuggled up watching a movie together.

We hung these cute little pumpkins in our tree this year. They were 97 cents at Walmart, and you just fill them with newspaper and tie them with the twisty ties included.

We pretty much swarm the swings when we visit the park these days.

My heart can't hardly handle this one!

There is just something about a picture of leaves that does my soul good. I can almost hear them crunch and smell the crisp air!

We've discovered a new happy place where I can take the boys by myself without worrying about them getting lost or run over. ::cue the happy dance here:: This harvest is suddenly do-able.

For some reason, this goofball refuses to keep socks or shoes on when he's outside, even when it's in the low 40s! I'm trying to stay positive, so let's just slow clap at the fact that his socks aren't getting ruined?? ::sigh::

We had Ryan's baby dedication ceremony at our church. Judging by this picture, you would think the boys were well-behaved and we have such a sweet family, right?

The reality of it was that Cashel was all over the stage, and Mark had to hold Kendrick to keep him from doing the same. #embarassing #boyswithtoomuchcuriosity #andenergy

This is pretty much how it goes most of the time these days.

Big brother Cashel takes so much joy in taking care of his baby brother. He is going to be an awesome Daddy someday.

I wish I had taken this photo with my DSLR, as I would love to make a canvas out of it, but the quality is a little shoddy from my phone :(

These theme nights for AWANA have been fun!

Poor Ryan can't ever get his crib to himself. Also notable about this picture - these minky sheets, I swear, are the key to getting this kid sleeping in his crib. They don't get cold, and they're super cozy, so when his face touches down, he feels like snuggling in.

He's always "Ready for Action", this one.

These two are just so sweet together :)

Keeping leaves out of his mouth is a full-time job this time of year.

When we were at the farm last, that big rooster ended up going after Kendrick a bit.

Cashel's favorite job while helping me bake is to crack the eggs. He tends to crush the shells, but miraculously, never gets egg shells in them. To assure we don't end up with crunchy cookies, I have him crack each egg into a separate prep bowl first, then he gets to put it in.

Love these guys :)

Cashel's favorite part of baking cookies is the big spoonful of cookie dough he gets as a prize at the end :)

Grandpa is another year older and wiser! Cashel was super upset that he couldn't pull the candles out just yet.

Since Grandpa Kent doesn't (probably?) read this blog, I feel safe to say...I'm super giddy about his coming Christmas present to accompany this :)

I finished a six week study "Entrusted" by Beth Moore at the end of October, and I can't quit it. I missed a few days on account of the kids waking up during my Bible study time at 5:30am randomly, and I just feel so blessed. I'm anxious to try another study sometime soon!

I'm excited to be starting a video chat with one of our missionaries in Japan once every other week in the early mornings (for me, which is about 7pm for her). Karen is such a blessing, and we miss her dearly! On a side note, I feel so grown up what with being EXCITED about chatting with a missionary. That sounds like something my parents would be excited about as a kid, and well...I guess I'm now the parent, huh?

My little pumpkin patch :) See that adorable pumpkin picture Cashel did for me? When he gave it to me, he told me to take it to work so that I "wouldn't forget him". It made me really sad to realize that he actually thought that when I wasn't with him, I would ever forget him! ::cue the sniffles::

Can I just say: I am SUPER giddy to be ready to give this up!! I love my babies so much, and I'm glad I've been able to keep up with pumping and breastfeeding as long as I have. My goal has been to be able to give them the best start possible, but that never seems to last longer than about 9-10 months. Well...we're getting closer and closer to that point. I always miss the nursing so much when it's time to stop, but the pumping I could do without forever and I won't miss that one bit.

Ten years ago when we first got married, I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined how much love our family would have for farming. Watching it through the eyes of my kids makes all the difference in the world.



There will be a day when he won't look so tiny compared to that tractor tire.

#farmfamily #harvest2016

Just missing one!

The boys couldn't wait for all the leaves to fall off the trees, so they took the rakes to them. Cashel had Kendrick raking the leaves out of the tree while he caught them in his butterfly net.

I bought this hat for my nephew Ben when he was born back in 2007, and my sister-in-law asked if I wanted it when she was going through his baby clothes to get rid of. I just love it, and it keeps my babies' heads so warm!

We started potty training with Kendrick halfway through the month. I did a LOT of laundry at that time. This was ONE day's worth of underware.

The boys and I spent a LOT of time together this month. I had to get creative to keep them occupied. We visited a LOT of parks. This particular day, we decided that instead of fast food, we would do a picnic at Centennial Park in Worthington. The boys picked pizza lunchables from HyVee :)

This is what makes up for living in a part of the country where it's freezing cold and we're unable to get outside for a solid chunk of our year. Minnesota sure is beautiful!

Sometimes I wonder why it is that my back is sore a lot. Then I realize, I've got 3 little monkeys ;)

One of the most amazing discoveries of this fall is the wetlands conservation area. It's so awesome to visit with the boys, and the views are incredible!

I have SO many fond memories of making these paths in our back yard as kids living back in Indiana. I was thrilled that my kids enjoyed it as much as I did :)

This guy lives with SO much passion. He absolutely wears his heart on his sleeve. Seeing him smile like this just makes my heart so happy :)

It takes teamwork to clean out the pumpkins ;)

Admittedly, we've had a rough harvest this year. It's hard to feel connected when you so seldom see each other. For my birthday, we had a sweet time to reconnect when we took the day off work to spend the morning in Mankato.

Halfway to 70! Let me note here that I think the box cake mixes have drastically less to them these days. I used to be able to get two cake rounds out of a box, but this is one cake mix, and I really do think I almost have to do two of them to make a legitimate cake anymore. Anyone else??

I love birthdays with our little family these days :) Also notable: These pictures are courtesy of a good tripod and a remote control for the DSLR. ;)

This birthday gift made it all of 2 weeks before it got broken. I still haven't quite gotten used to this phase of life in that regard. It used to be that you could set something somewhere and expect it to stay there.

I realized after taking this sweet picture that Kendrick had the lighter in his hands.

While having a picnic one day, I got this awesome shot of a woodpecker! What a beautiful bird! The boys were enthralled.

This picture is a good representation of why we miss Daddy so much this time of year. When Mark is home with us, he's so good with the kids. We tune out sometimes for sure, so it's not all the time that he's as hands' on, but when he's not with us, there's a huge void. He's so great at engaging with the kids, and when he's not disciplining them, he's just a big buddy.

My heart is not going to do well with this phase ending. I will SO miss these sleeping baby snuggles.

It's fun to see Cashel's progression with coloring this year! Six months ago, he would just scribble everywhere, but now he's coloring pretty close to in the lines, and he's very vocal if you try to color something the "wrong" color.

The only decent part about

Seriously - THE happiest baby :)

This little trio!!