An Instagram Life

I feel like I haven't taken many pictures with my 'real' camera lately.

But at least I'm using my iPhone camera/Instagram like it's my job!  

My past week in pictures....starting with last Friday {since I don't have a picture for today yet}.

Friday: 
I had the privilege of helping the Little Prairie Girl {& Guy} at their booth during Junk Jubilee.

Saturday:

 Day 2 of Junk Jubilee!

 

 Sunday:

Day 3 and final day of Junk Jubilee.
{Sporting my new apron from Just Claudia!}

  

Monday:

Campus visit to Simpson College.  

9th and final day of campus visits for the month.

 

 Tuesday:

I picked up a couple of new magazines to read, in addition to a couple I already had.

 

 Wednesday:A night of kid wrangling during one of the kiddo's 8th birthday, in addition to a Senior & Staff Recognition Dinner at Rube's Steakhouse.

{I think he was a happy boy to have steak for his birthday!}

Thursday:

2nd night of kid wrangling my favorite country kids.   

Both girls wanted braids in after their showers.
2 heads, 4 braids, all completed in about 25 minutes.

What are your weekend plans?

I have another kid wrangling gig tonight.

Saturday will be a fun day I get to spend with Mama Peacock and Little Prairie Girl, heading north to the The Prairie Chick sale!

Sunday I'll be across the River to the east with my family.  

Lots of traveling in my future.

Make it a great weekend y'all!

Turkey Break Recap....

...in Instagram form.

:)

Thursday Daily paper....Black Friday ads on the left, news/info on the right!
Maybe my sister-in-law and I ran to Kohl's and Younkers........for the midnight sales. 
Crazy?  Yes.
We were in and out within 2.5 hours,
which includes about 25 minutes drive time there and back.

The sweetest, new nephew.

He even dressed for me on Turkey Day.   {Bib and onesie were gifts from me.}

Of course we had to play outside the next day.
Lots of time playing with the cats and Kasey, the new dog.
{I couldn't get a good picture of her...she kept trying to get my phone!}

As well as lots of kiddos!
{The niece and all the nephews were at the farm most of the weekend,
my mom watches a boy on Friday,
in addition to 4 kids I wrangled Saturday and Sunday.}

At some point this fall, my brother got himself {the farm} a 'new' Ranger.
Let's just say, I had fun with it.

Taking these boys on a tour of the farm, as well as checking cattle.

Uncle Adam, Dad, or Adam {depending on which kid you are referring to}
in the field with the 'new' strip-till bar

A kid is never to young to learn how to farm!

 

 These kids were a great help in picking up the fall/harvest display
of pumpkins and hay bales for Grandma.
We even got a treat when we were done!

{How many kids can fit on a Ranger?}

The Saturday boys.  Another tour of the farm.

 But more fun, watching Uncle Adam work in the field with his 'new' strip-till bar.

{And it was a windy and chilly day at the farm!}

 

Time to warm up a bit while cruising in the Jeep, in the comfort of the shop.

 

And not that I'm excluding these girls....they were just being girls!

Hiding out in my sister's {former} room, finding fun hair things, make up, lip gloss/stick,

doing make-overs, etc.  Most times intruders weren't welcome.  :)

Thursday, there were 6 kiddos at the farm.
Friday, there were 7 rascals running around.
Saturday, go up another number to 8 pipsqueaks making lots of noise.

And Sunday, let's top it off at 10 whippersnappers!

The farm will be much more quite tomorrow with only 3 boys.

Plus, I'm guessing Kacey {the new dog} and the cats will enjoy the break from all the kids.

What a fun and enjoyable and crazy break it was!

And I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!
{Well, maybe in a few days.}  

Hope you all had much fun with your family and friends.

:)

At the Farm! Friday

  Back when I took some kids I was wrangling to the farm with me,

the boys got to do something else new and fun that they haven't done before.

We loaded up in the truck and headed a mile down the road to our neighbors.

It involved a loader tractor....

 

and a tree full of apples....

  

 and some 'air' time!  :)

 

I went up in the loader with each of the boys separately first.

That gave them some time to adjust to the height and learn that it is fun!

Eventually they both wanted to be up there together, so I let them.

After I could no longer reach any more apples on the tree, I got to take pictures,

Dad had the ladder and is taller, so he got to do lots of picking too.

 

 

Here is some of the apple bounty we picked.

And this isn't even all of it!

 

 To end the apple pickin' time, they rode in the back of the truck from our neighbor's to the farm.

They even 'seat belted' themselves in with Joe's rope that he carried around with him.

 

To date, mom has made:

45 jars of applesauce{will make maybe 9 more today}

a couple batches of apple leather

10 trays of dried apples {using a dehydrator machine}

30 gallon bags of cut up frozen apples {for future crisps and pies and crisps}

numerous apple crisps that have been shared with family and friends

I made an apple mixture for pouring over pork chops and enjoying.  :)

This one apple tree sure has made lots of people happy!

There is nothing like enjoying the 'fruits' of your fun labor!

:)

At the Farm! Friday

The last weekend in August I took 4 kids I was wrangling to the farm with me.

Even though there was maybe a little grumbling from the older boy{s} about how bored they'd be at the farm with nothing to do,
I won.  :)

They had fun.

How many 'city' kids get to do this?

 

Yeah, not too many.

The boys had fun driving both the 4-wheeler and the tractor.

I had fun hanging out in the hay field, {supervising} taking pictures.

 

Coming up for me this weekend....the BIG GAME!

That would be the Iowa State vs Iowa football game...in Ames.

I will NOT be attending the game.

It will be mass chaos in this town, starting tonight!

However, I will be wrangling 2 sets of kids while their parents go to the game.

One set will be getting dropped off at my place around 6:30a,

then we will be heading to Ames to the other sets house by 7a.

I am NOT looking forward to the traffic. 
I will be taking whatever back roads I can for the 10 mile trip there.

Eventually, I'll be loading the kiddos up and heading to Center Grove Orchard.

The Farmyard opens tomorrow!

Then on Sunday, I get to test my tractor driving skills at the Orchard.
I will be the 'chick' tractor driver for the season for the hay rides.

Now where's the lavender tractor when I need it? 

Last year I was in the bakery area.  Somehow I am now driving a tractor.  But I'm looking forward to it!

So...what do you have planned for this weekend?

:)

Wrangling Round-Up

I have been kid wrangling since Friday afternoon. 

This is my longest gig to date. 
In the end, it will be more like 6 nights and 5 days.

This past Friday afternoon, the 3M kids and I headed to Huxley to another friends house. 
We hung with the 4A kids until Saturday afternoon. 
We played outside, played the Wii, watched a movie, headed to a picnic in Ames, took naps/rested, and I can't remember what else.

It was a successful full 24 hours with 7 kids.
Only a couple of arguments, lots of swapping of flip flops, 1 'accident', a quick trip to Dollar General to get some big band-aids for said 'accident', no one waking up during the night {well, no one woke me up at least}, took 7 kids to a picnic, everyone ate the food that was served, they ate all the food that was served, for about 2 hours everyone was napping/resting/quiet time {including me!}.

I know I couldn't do that with just any kids.  So all praise goes to those 7 kids....the 4A's and 3M's. 
They were fabulous. 


While out playing, I got some shots of the kids. 

{There is one kid missing.  #2A.  He was at a baseball game.}

As we started walking down the path, the kids just held hands.  I loved it! 

Picture worthy.

#1A.....I could NOT get a good picture of him.  This will have to do.
Let's just say he was so not a fan of pictures.

 

#1M....this is pre wipeout.  Yup.   She and #1A decided to race on the bikes as we were heading back.  Since she wasn't use to riding on the trail and the rock, she lost control on a curve and took a spill.  But, the wound is looking much better daily.

#2M.....He's a cowboy.  

 

#3M....A sweet gal, who had fun playing with babies and swapping flip flops!

 #3A......She just might be my favorite kid, if I had favorites.  She gets so excited when she sees me.  It's too fun!  She also had fun playing with babies and swapping flip flops!

 

#4A......He can't stop!  He's a funny little guy. 

I told the kids to 'strike a pose'.  This is what you get!

And, this is what you get when I share my camera with the kids.  :)

 

Up next.......my first go at making lasagna without boiling the noodles first. 

A Bug's Life & Garden Fun

During my 5 day weekend last weekend {Yes, I said 5 day weekend!  Vacation day on Friday to wrangle some little boys.  Saturday and Sunday were helping with and attending/dancing my friends wedding.  Monday was a holiday.  Tuesday was my comp day.} I was invited to crash a card party of some friends on Friday night.  :)  I talked 3 of the moms into letting me take 5 of the 6 girls (because 1 was too old for the activity, and the other mom has 2 boys...no girls) to Reiman Gardens for story time.  My ride was almost filled to the max.  Just 1 empty seat...shot gun. We all got loaded up, buckled up, and strapped into any needed carseats.  

Our time started out with the kids coloring a picture of a frog, followed by 2 books that were read to them.

Then it was craft time!  The theme of the stories was about insects and frogs eating them.

The craft was making a plate of insects.

 

We eventually made our way to tour the rest of the gardens, via a quick trip to Target for some sunscreen and stopping by B-Bop's for lunch.

 

Where we saw lots of 'giant' insects!

Who's afraid of a big spider?!

 

Well, one of the gals wasn't a big fan of it.  :)

Checking out the dragonfly in the pond.

Showing their sassy selves!

 

The dragonfly with a couple of ants in the background.

 

Now back inside, we took a quick! trip around a room {that I forgot the name of} and saw some ants on parade!

 

Our last stop for the day, the Butterfly Wing.  Again, this was a quick trip through, because it was so hot/humid.

 

All in all, we had a fabulous time!  I think the ladies were good and tired by the time they got home.  I know I was tired!  

 

Thanks moms for letting me take your girls on a fun girly outing

Let's do it again.  :)

If you are a member of Reiman Gardens or are thinking of getting a membership, there is free story time every other Tuesday at 10am, from April through September. 
If you don't have a membership,  you will just have to pay the admission fee to get in. 

What a fun way to spend a few hours on Tuesdays.