Clean 'er up boys!

The steers made a mess but lucky for us, Noah and Levi were eager to clean up the manure they left behind. 

 Boots, work gloves, shovels, and my wheelbarrow....I'm not sure that wheelbarrow will ever be the same again.

 They made several trips from inside the barn, to the pit...

 plus there was plenty to scoop outside the barn by the pit...

 but eventually the magnitude of their job sunk in and their enthusiasm dissipated.

 It was time to head home to clean off their shovels, throw in the towel, call it a day.

 Meanwhile, Ben was just outside the barn digging up a culvert that the steers had already halfway unearthed. Thank goodness for that digger attachment, that would have been a lot to dig by hand!

 The steers left these coils of hair along the panels in the barn - kinda cool, kinda gross.

Ben used the skid steer to clear out the rest of the manure, with Levi riding on his lap. Levi thought that was way more fun than shoveling all of it by hand. :-)

Good-bye steers

The steers made their grand exit on Friday morning. For the ranchers it was not exciting, it was simply another day moving cattle. But for this farm girl it was quite an event. 

 The boys wanted to be around for this but an all-school field trip got in the way, so I was assigned to take lots of pictures.

 I was fascinated with the process, the tactics, the behavior of the steers and the ranchers.

 The ranchers, Vern and Grant, were in charge. The guys gathered about half of the steers in the free stall barn, then they worked one small group after another down the alley toward the truck. It sounds simple, but the steers don't understand English and they're super-strong. Vern and Grant were patient and it seemed to be a dance between the steers and the cattlemen. I hid as well as I could to keep from distracting/scaring the steers.

 Ben was on the far end of the alley, keeping an eye on the gates, making sure the cattle didn't get so excited that they busted through it. Did I mention how strong the steers are?

 The chute that my uncle made got put to good use. The wood had been so clean, the bolts shiny...it only took one steer to change that! I heard the truckers and ranchers say more than once how nice the chute was. Suddenly it was making sense to me why such heavy-duty materials were used to create the chute!

 I had never considered how loud it is when steers tromp through a truck. All these things added up to make me very anxious. While I was hiding, my heart was racing!

 Even Grant had to try and blend into the wall to keep from distracting the steers.

 And then....after a while...they were all loaded and headed....

 off to greener pastures (literally).

House Progress

Our house went from a plywood clad monster to a plastic covered monster. 

 All along as we planned this house, I knew it would feel like a big tall rectangle sitting out in a field - a bit monster-like. I'm slowly getting used to seeing it...hopefully my parents are too.

 One evening, while Jeremy worked on getting the roof covered he had our entire family out there "helping" him.

The boys are endlessly enamored with the scissor lift. Thankfully, Jeremy is patient with them.

Harold, was there too, but he didn't get to ride on the scissor lift.

Jeremy lined that entire section of roof by himself before going home and then his crew did the other side in the morning. The wind has caused them quite a bit of grief the past couple weeks. There are some jobs you simply cannot do when the wind is blowing from 20-40 mph.

And this is how she looks now. Plastic clad, and the roof is on the sun room.

The front porch and garage approached are formed and waiting for the concrete guys to show up and pour.

We actually got a little bit of rain (best sound or smell I'd experienced in a long time) so that slowed the concrete work down.

The house continues to be a playground for the children. I keep telling them to enjoy being able to ride their bikes in the house now, because eventually I'm not going to allow it. :-)

Easter

Church and family filled our Easter Sunday, and luckily for us the weather was beautiful too!

 The boys were up early, ready to search for the candy-filled eggs that Ben and I had hidden around the house. They were each supposed to fill their egg carton and while some were super-easy to find,

 they had to search diligently to find them all.

 The one in the washing machine was the last one found!

 Twenty four candy filled eggs!

 After church, cousin Rylee came out to the farm. Levi and Rylee have a lot of fun together but they also get themselves into all sorts of predicaments. Levi was super-excited to show the tree house to Rylee.

 Then it was off to the new house, where Levi had to show Rylee his hammer and how he can hammer nails in by himself. Well, wouldn't you know, then Rylee wanted to try it too!

 But not with anyone's help, she's very independent...most of the time. :-)

 Then we were off to my cousin Megan's house for our Epp gathering. After a delicious meal, the grandparents went outside to hide eggs and Easter baskets for their grandchildren.

 Megan's pregnant dog Shammy (sp?) was just begging for someone to rub her tummy. She laid down right in the middle of us and just waited.

 And she stayed there until it was clear that she wasn't going to get anymore attention.

 The kids had a blast searching for eggs and baskets all over the backyard.

 Please notice the outfits my boys dressed themselves in. The color variety and combinations are truly noteworthy.

 It's so nice that the kids are old enough to be independent giving the adults a chance to visit. We see all the people in our Epp family on a regular basis, but it's rare that we get a chance to truly visit.

 Once all the baskets and eggs had been found we gathered the kids for a group photo. Some of the kiddos were more cooperative than others. Ha! :-)

 And then we asked them to make silly faces to round out the photo session!

Holidays are special for many reasons, but they also come with complications of kids' expectations, anxiety and over-flowing energy. It was a long day, but the beauty and reason that we celebrate Easter wasn't completely lost in the hubbub of eggs, candy and baskets.

Climbing Trees

I remember trying to climb trees on the farm when I was young. But for the most part, the trunks were too large, the limbs too high to reach and my arms to weak to get the job done. 

 Our boys have been working on climbing trees for a while, so we used some scrap wood to help them up the tree of their choice.

 And in less than five minutes, they had a ladder, a rope and a perch to sit and read book on.

 I think the boys call it a "tree house" but there isn't much "house" to it, regardless it's spot of their own that's up and away.