Covered in Snow

Boots, boots, snowy, wet and messy boots cover our mudroom floor. 

 It snowed all day on Tuesday, something like 9 inches or so, and then the temperatures dropped and Wednesday was a COLD day.

 I went out in the morning to snap some photos because I always think the farm is magical when it's covered in snow.

 And then I spotted this Sun Dog! I didn't know it was called that, until I came inside and saw other people posting photos of it on Facebook. There was one on each side of the sun and it was beautiful! Such a welcome sight after Tuesday's cloudy/snowy weather.

 The icicles hanging down in front of my kitchen window are quite something!

 Harold loves to eat snow and icicles, and run around in the snow.

 Feeding cattle in the snow has its challenges - one tractor to move snow, one tractor feed cattle.

 And one happy dog bounding through the snow.

 It was about 2 degrees outside when Noah and I first tried to do some sledding.

 He made it down a couple of times, but then we decided to head inside to warm up. Later in the afternoon we all went out and did some sledding down some bigger piles of snow. By then it was a whopping 7 degrees outside, so we lasted a little while before needing to go back inside. Hopefully, we'll get some warmer weather so we can enjoy the snow even more!

Making Friends

Hi! No, this isn't a post about me making new friends. But since I took a photo of myself, I thought for once in a blue moon I'd actually include myself on this blog. :-) 

 For a little while on Sunday afternoon Levi, Ben and I spent some time outside. The little bit of icy-snow we got earlier in the weekend was melting in the sunshine, and it felt so good to soak it up for a little while.
Gutters are a good thing and I'm looking forward to our new house having them.

 Then we won't have puddles outside our doors anymore!

 We decided it was time to visit the cattle. Ben had just finished pushing up feed so we went out to say hello to the steers.

 They were busy eating until we got close and Harold ran past them,

 then they all ran away.  Levi decided to push the feed up again with his feet. He'd been working for a while when he stopped to say he was gonna take a break and then finish up....then he looked behind him and decided to just give up.

 Hmmmm....yummy feed!

 We walked around to the other side of the cattle pen and Ben lured a few steers in with some alfalfa.

 It worked! Levi even got to pet this courageous steer. He was pretty excited to have gotten so close to one finally.

 Their winter coats look so thick and shaggy! No wonder they just stand out in the open while it snows on them!

 It was fun to make friends with at least one steer!

House Progress

We're in a bit of a holding pattern with the house. Last week we did our first round of picking out plumbing fixtures and windows and doors. But as far as actual building, we're waiting on several puzzle pieces to come together.

In the meantime, I get to obsess think more about my kitchen sink and faucet and just exactly what color shingles we should have and more. I'm actually happy to have time to think about those things. 

And, I know that when the pieces are all ready (like trusses, etc.) we'll be ready to move forward. :-) 

For now, we have some fun sand piles to play in.

Kansas Day festivities

It's become an annual tradition for us to attend the Kansas Day festivities at Kaufman Museum. Ben always has basketball games on the last Saturday of January so it's just something that the boys and I do together. This year the weather was perfect, which made the event that much more enjoyable.

First thing we did was complete a scavenger hunt around the inside of the museum. It was fun to work together, Noah did most of the reading, Levi was on the lookout for the next clue and I made sure to fill in the blanks correctly on our paper so we could get a prize (two free magic markers!!). :-)

The boys had a wonderful time at the drum station. 

 The man in orange was in charge. He led the kids in the circle in a call and response sort of activity. So, Levi would play a rhythm and then the whole group would play it back, and they simply went around the circle doing that.

 They had a blast - especially when the guy in charge showed them they could use the plastic pipes to hit their heads!

 Making clay creations was next and they each had a great time creating pizzas and snowmen.

 They tried out their shaving skills, too.

 It turns out they're both pretty good at shaving!

 And they enjoyed making good, long curls.

 We headed outside then to check out the old fashioned games, rope making, wagon rides and then went inside the old house for a couple more crafts. First up, making their very own Kansas postage stamp.

 And hats! Levi's is a cut out of the state of Kansas and Noah's is a sunflower.

 The one and only Jerry Toews had an old tractor out and running during the afternoon. Jerry's known locally for his passion and knowledge of old tractors and cars, as well as his love of music (he was my band teacher back in the day).

 Noah felt pretty important sitting up on the seat while the tractor engine was puttering. A small crowd gathered around the tractor each time Jerry fired it up - and Noah was happy to be a small part of it.

It was great to see friends, have fun with the boys and enjoy the warm sunshine on a January afternoon.

House Progress

They poured concrete this week! And hopefully there will be more concrete this next week. Concrete takes forever to cure, and then the weather is a factor too. But anyways, we've got a garage floor, a mudroom floor and a safe room/bathroom floor! And a very sandy driveway - sandcastle building may start at any moment.

I know...these photos aren't too exciting....but progress is progress....and that's good news.

Other decisions are starting to be made for the house. I spent a lot of time on Friday with colored pencils and scissors trying to get a better handle on the exterior of our house. 

 I traced the front of the house, made several copies and then colored different colors of trim and shingles. It was somewhat helpful and helped me see a few things more clearly. I did the same sort of thing with garage doors which was very helpful - the one I had been leaning towards looked awful! I've narrowed it down to three, so it's just a matter of sitting Ben down for a discussion to decide what the exterior will look like.

60 degree Sunday

It's January and it's sunny and 60 degrees outside! That's a wonderful, exciting and unusual event (although this is Kansas and the weather is forgetful and crazy most of the time). The past couple of weekends, the boys have wanted to play outside but the curiosity of Harold makes it difficult. So while the boys played basketball outside, I took Harold for a walk! Lucky me!! 

The cattle are terrified of humans on foot. Get in a tractor and they won't budge, try to walk near them and they RUN. They're just as crazy as the weather. 

 Harold and I walked out back through the pasture, down the dirt road and then back through the pasture. I like to walk the dirt road - it's my favorite, forever and ever.

 The pasture is about three hundred shades of brown in winter, but at least all the grasses and weeds have a variety of texture making it interesting to walk through.

 I looked down to see this little one glowing back up at me.

 Harold loves to go on walks. He stays busy the whole time and gets some good exercise, too.

 I love this road. It's quiet, with creeks and trees, fields and pastures.

 There are a handful of Cottonwood trees along this road and they are my favorites. They're huge and old and strikingly beautiful up against the super-blue sky.

 Hey, look! The cattle were anxiously awaiting our return!

And now....we're back inside....it's about time to get the boys back outside while the sun's still shining!