Football Fun

The boys enjoyed participating in a football clinic in Goessel this fall. Weston Hiebert, locally famous for being a K-State football special teams starter, helped the Goessel football team put the clinic on for the elementary kids.

Over the course of four evenings, the kids were taught basic skills through simple drills. My boys LOVED it. Levi was very, very hesitant about this before we arrived on the first night but once we got there he jumped right in.

On the last night, as the light was fading fast, I snapped these photos as the big kids put on flags for some flag football competition.

I noticed that when Weston was talking to the kids, everyone seemed to listen. :-)

The younger kids didn't play flag football on the last night, but they did put flags on for some less serious and more fun (for them) football "games."

Thanks Weston and GHS football! It sure was fun for the kiddos to learn from you and play football with you!

Wilbur and the Ladies

Wilbur continues to keep us on our toes. He's a wonderful dog, but he's still young and he likes birds so we continue to teach him lessons on what behavior is appropriate and what isn't. 

He LOVES to explore outside and we've had some beautiful days this fall to be out and about on the farm with Wilbur.

 Like all dogs, he wants to be around us all the time, even if he's sleepy.

 One afternoon I was working on the front porch with some decor issues, and he was intent on being near me but he was so sleepy he just couldn't hold his head up!

 Then a moment later, he got up and laid down right in the middle of what I was working on. Not helpful, Wilbur, not helpful.

 So far, Wilbur has killed three chickens. The coyotes made off with around 15 more of them. Something like that - it's hard to know exactly since we hadn't been counting the birds every day. The good/bad thing about Wilbur is that he doesn't eat the birds, he brings them to us instead. However, that helps us feel confident that he's only gotten three. But still. We're working on teaching him to leave the ladies alone.

 He also LOVES the three cats that call the farm home. I think he would prefer them to be his own size so he could properly wrestle with them. Instead, he tries to wrestle with them but gets scratched, hissed and spat on instead.

 He's learned to behave while riding in the truck. It's rare that he tries to climb from the back seat up to the front like he used to try. Now he usually curls up to sleep.

 Can you see all those feathers littering the ground? Yep. Darn coyotes.

 Wilbur also seems to enjoy the pumpkins that I'm trying to decorate the porch with. Every morning they're scattered around. The small gourds can be found all over the grass, but the pumpkins are rolled here and there.

 On a good day, one of us will take Wilbur for a walk or bike ride - he loves it. He runs and runs and runs and never seems to tire.

 Just a few weeks ago, before the chicken massacre happened, we would collect a full plastic bucket of eggs a day. Now we're lucky if it's half full on a daily basis.

Catching Up

Blogging has become a challenge for me. Can you tell? The posts are farther and farther apart. It's hard to sit down and get photos off my phone and camera, organize them, crop them, upload them to the blog on our super-slow internet....

So, here's a loooooong post to get things caught up...

This was the boys on the morning of school pictures. This photo cracks me up. :-)

In the middle of September I traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas for work meetings. My boss and I took five minutes to visit the beach one morning.

Then at the end of the meetings a group of us went out to Padre Island - however we were greeted with red algae and dead fish all over the beach.

It looked beautiful, but the smell and cough-inducing algae was not pleasant.

MCC rarely uses hotels for meetings - this time we used the Pax Christi Sisters Retreat Center. This is the Catholic church on the property - such a pretty building and the inside was gorgeous.

Back at the ranch, the garden season has ended for us. Thankfully, Ben pulled out the tomatoes and okra plants - I was so done with picking and dealing with all of it. I felt so relieved when they were just done. But the chickens have discovered the remaining fruit!

The plants were so big when Ben pulled them out he couldn't get the plant separated from the cage so they've been slowly dying inside the cages. Lots of red, rotten tomatoes just hanging out.

The sweet potatoes are still out in the garden, looking lush and beautiful. We planted cover crops all around them so it's been fun to watch the variety of plants come up in the past couple weeks.

My basil continues to grow - it's completely out of control but the bees are enjoying it, so I'm content to leave it until it freezes. 

Wilbur out grew his green collar, here he is showing off his new bright collar! 

He's a constant companion while we're outside. Always ready for an adventure, always ready to be near by keeping us company - and let's be honest, sometime creating pure chaos. He's very good at chasing balls, chewing on toys and sports equipment that he's not supposed to get his mouth on. He's also started digging - in one spot only so far. Hopefully our trick of sprinkling the area with cinnamon works to deter him.

My aster plants put on a beautiful show - now their color is fading but for a while they were really showing off.

It feels like my energy level for working in my kitchen is coming back. Canning and other summer preserving activities took lots of time and energy for the past couple months. I worked hard to clean and dry a bunch of wheat that I could grind up to make bread with this winter. However, my first batch of bread with the wheat from our farm was a total flop. I was very frustrated and then Ben explained to me that the variety that I was using wasn't good for making bread. Ugh. So, back to regular whole wheat flour from the store!

This kiddo, in all his just-out-of-bed glory. I snapped this last Friday just a few hours before he flew off with Ben to Illinois for the weekend.

Which left me and Levi to our own devices!We went shopping for pants. Levi didn't have any athletic pants in his closet (the only kind of pants he thinks are comfortable enough to wear to school). He outgrew all of them from last year, and Noah had none to hand down, so off to town we went! He thought he needed 70 pairs of pants, but he ended up with five new pairs.  He lucked out and we shopped for his Halloween costume. I said no to whatever this scary thing is.

Here's a sneak peak at what I did approve - the cap gives the only clue. But believe me, he's VERY excited about it. :-)

Saturday my mom and I made Levi go to the Barn Sale with us - it was a lovely day to take in the event. We may have temporarily lost Levi, but there was a very nice police officer who helped him find us, so it all worked out. Yes, I won the mother-of-the-year award, I've got the trophy on my shelf at home.

Ben and Noah went to the Nebraska vs. Illinois football game in Champagne, Levi and I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Then on Sunday we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch with my sister and niece!

Levi and Rylee had a great time playing,

running, climbing, 

jumping, 

hunting and cutting pumpkins off the vine!

The only trouble was how hot we got out there looking for the perfect pumpkins!

We even did the corn maze! And with minimal cheating Erica and I made it out!! Although all the satisfaction of completing the maze was lost because we cheated. The kids gave up, they saw a way to get to the outside of the maze so they took the opportunity. :-) 

Ben and Noah got home from the airport just as we were pulling in from the pumpkin patch. It was so good to see them again! Then we took off for Fun on the Farm with our church. Hot dogs, 

s'mores

and hay rack rides. Levi is such a goofball. We had a good time on the ride - checking out beautiful pastures and hilly hay fields, laughing at giggling girls and watching the sun set.

And finally it was bedtime...the end of a long weekend.
So there it is - a wrap-up of life around our neck of the woods.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend started and ended with the same activity - corn harvest.

Friday, while the boys were in school, I rode along with Ben to take a couple loads of corn to Canton. It's always an adventure to ride along in a big truck barreling down the road with a cloud of dust behind us.

The elevator at Canton has a nice system, it's just the opening to drive the truck through to unload is teeny tiny. Doesn't it seem small?

That bit of bright daylight is how much space there is between the truck and the concrete walls of the elevator. I was having trouble keeping my breathing steady - it was a bit too tight for my liking.

Saturday our family took off for Beatrice, Nebraska, aka the Good Life, for a wedding. Prior to the wedding festivities most of us watched the Husker football game - and Levi did anything but watch the game.

The wedding was at First Mennonite Church, the same one Ben grew up going to and his dad was a pastor at. It was great to be in that church again and see so many friendly and familiar faces. Rodney and Shana - the lovely couple getting married - had a beautiful and inspiring ceremony. The reception was out at the country club and started off with appetizers - Levi was pumped because he could eat all the bread he wanted. :-)

This is the whole group of friends from Bethel that was at the wedding - a fun group!

Levi snapped the group shot and then he wanted me to take his picture.

The boys were b.o.r.e.d. until the dance started, then they couldn't get enough.

The next morning we went back to First Mennonite for Sunday worship and I couldn't get out of there without snapping a photo of Tim's bust in the church library. All the pastors of the church have a bust in the library, so he's in good company. :-)

Our friend Brett is the pastor at First Mennonite now and it was great to be a part of their worship service. We joined Brett, his wife Cassie and their kids for lunch at Valentino's - one of Ben's favorite places to eat - and look at old photos.

Then we made a quick stop at Brett and Cassie's farm so we could visit, check out their farm and so the kids could play.

Our boys were thrilled with their barn swing,

and zip line!

We drove home that afternoon and then got busy with corn harvest again on Monday.

The boys and I went out to the field in the afternoon to keep the farmers company.

Then we went home and got called back out to help move the header trailer. We're always happy to have a job we can actually handle. :-) The only trouble was that it started raining!

Hard. Noah got soaked and loved it. He's an excellent helper when it comes to giving directions for backing up. He's precise and takes the job very seriously.

And with a little bit of rain, our Labor Day weekend came to a close.