Spent

Spent - used and no longer useful;  very tired.

Yep, that's me.  The one word above is the perfect word to describe how I have felt a good majority of this week and exactly why I have been so late in making any new posts.  It's a good spent, don't get me wrong, but it is a feeling I can't seem to shake at all.

The new schedule at the farm, getting up a little before 4 am and most of the time going all day, whether at the farm or at home without a rest until hitting the hay around 9 pm and then adding all of the fun and activity of the Holiday season has really kicked my butt.

Like I said above though, I wouldn't change it.  It's been a good last couple of weeks.  Nothing beats spending time with family and friends and I cherish every single moment I have with them.

My three gorgeous kids with the mini pillow pets Jeff and I got them.

Although I have been tired, this has by far been the best Christmas break I have had in a long while.  Oh sure, I'm still working an average of 9 hours each day at the farm, but at the same time I am able to be home with my kids throughout the day while they are off of school, something I haven't done in a very long time and it feels damn good!!!

One day the kids and I cleaned up our house, not by their choice of course, but it was completed nonetheless.  My simple rule was, "You want to do anything fun this week at all when you are off of school, you are helping to clean the house".  It worked.  Hurray!!!

One day Sam went to a friend's house overnight so I took the boys and one of Zach's friends to see the new Alvin & The Chipmunks movie, and to my delight and surprise, Luke actually made it through the entire movie with only two periodic exits to go to the bathroom.

A different day little Luke came to chores in the afternoon with us, which is always a handful, but still nice at the same time as it just gives me that much more time with the little guy before he is older and flying the coop :(  He just basically rides his tricycle up and down the barn aisle about 100 times and it's all good.

And then this morning Zach came with me in the morning to help Jeff and I do chores.  I love that!!!  Good old family bonding time.  And for a young guy at the mere age of 10, he does a pretty darn good job, although I noticed and he admitted on the drive home, he was moving a bit slow for chores this morning.  I guess I can't blame him, afterall it was very early when we left.

Along with these other activities, the kids and I just basically chillaxed at home, sat back in our jammies a lot, watched movies, talked and just acted goofy.

My underwear head dudes!!!

I feel blessed once again.  Blessed for these new opportunities life has brought to me.  More time "spent" with my kids and more time "spent" with Jeff.

Okay I'll admit, there have been a few naps throughout the last few weeks on the couch with the hubby too.  We haven't been able to do that together for a long time and it feels damn good!!!

Christmas Pasts

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Well that time of year is approaching again, Christmas, and I have to confess, I have very mixed emotions about the whole ordeal.  Over the course of the last few years I dread the shopping (as it costs too damn much) and deciding what to get our children is a daunting task in itself.  Oh sure, Luke is easy, get him anything resembling a tractor, car or truck and he's set, but the other two are at those ages where everything they want is "techy" crap that we don't understand and also costs a ton.  I get so stressed out by all of this, really I do.  Every year we say we are going to spend less but then we buy the stuff at the store and when it's all wrapped it never looks like much that I end up going back and getting something else.  The idea of my kids waking up on Xmas morning with looks of disappointment on their faces would break my heart.

I do look forward to getting together with family, I love them all, but even that isn't what it used to be when both of our Dad's were still alive and never feels quite "right".  Between my Dad's "red robins" (a special drink we always had on Christmas Eve) and Jeff's Dad's smart ass comments at Christmas (well, now that I think of it, he had those all the time), there is a definite void.

So, with this hum bug sort of feeling I have going into the Christmas season I decided to pull out some pictures from past Holidays seasons to help put a smile on my face and remind me of those "moments" during every Christmas season that bring joy, happiness and smiles to our faces.

Opening Presents.  Now what season would be complete without the smiles on everybody's faces when opening gifts from friends and family?  I can never get enough of looking at photos of my kids and loved ones opening their gifts.

Me as a young girl with the black rub-a-dub-dolly I got.  Apparently my parents waited until the last minute to do their Xmas shopping too and they couldn't find any white ones in the store so they got me a black one instead, knowing it was the one thing I really wanted for Xmas.

Zach opening a gift on Xmas morning.

Sam watching Zach open one of his gifts on Xmas morning.

My Mom and Dad opening gifts from us kids on Xmas.  I believe this was the year they took up golfing and we got them clubs and things for their new sport.

My nephews Collin & Dustin with their new bowling balls. 

Pictures by the Christmas Tree.  I don't know about you, but I always have to take pictures of the tree with the kids by it to show how the kids looked that year at Christmas, along with how the tree was decorated.

Samantha by our tree our very first Christmas in our house.

Samantha and Zachary in front of the tree.

My nephew, Derek, in front of my parent's tree at Xmas.  He is a Daddy now himself.

Your famous professional Holiday photos. 

Samantha dressed so pretty for one of her Xmas picture sessions.

Another Samantha picture, she was so darn cute!

Samantha & Zachary one Xmas.

A family picture one Xmas.

Group family photos taken at get together.  I'm not sure about your families but I know with mine we are always taking a ton of photos at each Christmas get together.  One of the whole family, some with just the grandkids, some with the grandparents and kids and everything in-between. 

Jeff's Mom with our niece Nicole, Samantha and Zachary.

The Degnitz cousins in 1999.  Derek, Collin, Dustin, Colton and Samantha.  Even with the addition of some more now, Samantha is still the only girl on this side of the family.

Christmas 2010 with the Dahms.  Lukas, our niece Nicole, our nephew Blake, Zachary and Samantha.

Infamous Santa Claus pictures.  Oh man, you gotta have these right?  Some turn out so precious, like the very first one below.  You can see Zach is somewhat apprehensive, that is why I am sooo close by, but at the same time he wants to make darn sure that Santa knows what he wants for Christmas so his house doesn't get passed up.  And meanwhile, Samantha waited so patiently to tell him her wishes as well.  And we all have the pictures like the last one, where the child is completely horrified at his presence (I honestly think it is hilarious when that happens).

Zach using his interpreter (Mom) to tell Santa what he wants.

Zachary & Samantha with Santa.  There aren't too many Santas that actually look good if you ask me.  This one looks like he is drunk on this picture?

Last year's picture with Santa.  As you can see Luke is not happy.  I have a very similar one from the year before too!  Maybe this year he'll finally be okay with sitting on his lap?

I guess now, looking back at all of these, there is a little inner child in me that does look forward to this year's activities.  I cannot wait to do my annual cookie baking with the kiddos (even if they do lose their interest usually after two recipes are completed).  I look forward to spending some time with Jeff alone to go shopping for the kid's gifts and fight the crazy crowds as we always wait until the last minute.  I am excited to wrap the gifts and place them under the tree so the kids can wake up nice and early the next morning and wait and wait and wait until we get home from the farm and morning chores to open thme (Man that would kill me if I was a kid!).

And last but not least, I look forward to our church service on Christmas morning where we will celebrate the true reason all of this is happening in the first place, the birth of our Saviour!!!!

Matthew 1:21And she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.

God Bless all of you, and may you all have a joyous Christmas!!!!!!!!

Hot Showers

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.  Frederick Keoning

Wow!  I know I'm a tad behind with my most recent post but it has been a crazy last few days for me and getting the hang of my new daily schedule and routine has made other things higher on my priority list.

Last week was my last week at my previous job and this week I "officially" started working alongside the hubby on the family dairy farm.  Along with that comes a new start time to my day of 4:00 am.  I know...that sounds crazy right?  And I'll admit, initially when I roll out of bed I'm not overly thrilled to be getting up, but by the time I leave the house to head to the farm and get to the farm it's surprising how easy it is to get going and find energy.  Maybe it's the one cup of coffee I pound down before heading out of the house, who knows?

My first job when I get to the farm is to feed hay to all of the empty stanctions for the cows we are yet to bring in the barn for the morning milking.  By doing this they are more cooperative when coming in the barn as they never seem like they want to stop eating.  Once I have that done I start hanging the milkers in the first few stanctions to await the start of the milking.  I also have to scrape out the calf pens in the barn (two of them) and bed them with straw when that is complete.  It is about that time that Jeff is done doing what he needs to outside with his feeding that he comes in and we start bringing "the girls" in.

It is quite amazing to me but for the most part the second you open the door they come walking in and the majority will go exactly in the same stanction each time and know exactly where they belong.  There are the occasional "bad apples" who just always seem to go in the wrong spot and mess things up, or maybe they are really blondes or something, who knows, but it does make for an interesting morning on occasion.

Once the cows are all in the barn the real work starts.  I have helped at the farm for quite some time already outside of my other job but I'll be honest, I didn't milk really.  I usually fed calves and did a bunch of other miscellaneous work but this week I have been doing the milking thing in the mornings and well, it's going okay I suppose, but I wish I would be catching on and finding a rhythm sooner with the cows on my side.  Wiping the cows down and putting the actual milkers on is for the most part going well.  I haven't gotten kicked across the aisle yet so that is a good sign I'd say, but each cow milks for different amounts of times and just when I turn my head to start prepping another one to be milked the cow down two from where I am is done and I have to get that milker off asap as its not good to leave them on too long.

And...some of the cows aren't always too cooperative and don't like to move over when I'm trying to make my way into their stanction with the milking unit and well, cows are obviously quite larger than I am, so I pretty much squeeze my ass through and hope they don't get too pissed off.  This morning by the time I was done milking my half of the barn, I was pretty darn dirty.

I am so hard on myself, so of course I hoped I would be able to get a hang of the milking thing better, I suppose I'm probably not doing too bad considering.  Thank goodness I have Bobbie Jo there to help "train" me and lend an extra hand when I fall behind and Jeff seems to be patient for now so once again I'll count my blessings. 

So yeah, this first week has been going pretty good so far.  Every day is completely different once the milking is over and I'm never quite sure when I'll be done, but Jeff has been letting me leave pretty early for the most part and the latest I got home this week was about 10:00 am so I still had a large portion of the day to hang out at home with my little Lukas and finally have a little time to catch up on the housework that needs to be done before heading back to the farm at about 3:15 pm or so.  Lukas loves to help me with vacuuming.

I've learned a lot so far this week.

1)  I am way stronger physically than I ever thought I was.

2)  Cows, although rather large, are for the most part very calm and cool animals with a lot more personality than one realizes.

3)  Work around a farm literally never ends despite what a lot of people think, there is always something to do.

4)  When it is getting cold out and you get filthy doing chores and milking, nothing feels better to me than a nice HOT SHOWER!!!

See?  Always something to be thankful for :)