Random kiddie photos

This post is one that only grandparents could love...it's really just about our kids.

And lest you might think that Jonathan and Anna play together beautifully all summer day long, I should disclose that at the moment J is sobbing because A is playing with a doll. I don't even want to know why.

Jonathan consults the plans to fix the firetruck, while Anna holds the nail in place with her toes.

One morning Jonathan made a beeline for the tractor catalogs, found this poster he remembered, and we hung it up as a poster in his room.

If you look really hard, you might see the wee little dollhouse TV they're "watching."

Lounging in their cousins' chairs, playing with their cousins' toys.

New hitches for all the tractors.

Waiting for company.

Waiting for church (pretending to ride the horse and buggy there?).

Anna models her new dress made by cousin Noelle and Grandma Schrock.

Anna pulls Jonathan's ear.

Too good to be true, obviously.

 A little more like it.

Tarts I made for a good friend's baby shower.

If at all you like tractors...

...this post is perfect for you.

In fact, that's pretty much all it is.

 Standing while mowing, like daddy and Opa do.

[These tractors all belong to our landlords, who kindly let these monkeys climb all over them.]

I've been negligent in posting pictures about the main activity around here for the last month: hay baling.

Almost 3000 bales have been made from ditch hay so far, and Ramont has stacked almost every one of those twice! Luckily he really likes the work.

I help out when I can -- which is not nearly as much as I'd like to, for whatever reasons. Mainly, though, I just pose for pictures.

Seven years

Seven years after getting married, we can both say we couldn't be more content with life. What a match!

Another cousin visit

I must say from the outset that all these photos have been heisted from my sister-in-law, Rachel, who is also the mother of the two youngest cutie pies in most of them.

They and my brother Dave came from Kansas last week for a much-anticipated visit. What fun to see how the twins have grown...they're walking! And (almost) talking!

Our kids had been looking forward to this visit so so much. I don't know if it fully lived up to their expectations (does it ever?) and there was a lot of parallel (rather than together) play, but all told they do love their cousins a LOT.

(They just don't like for their cousins to ride this particular trike/tractor.)

Drew especially seems to be a farmyard kind of kid. Those sheep were like a magnet to him. Is he the son of a vet or something?

Playing with water was a special treat.

As were some fancy toys we had on hand just for the occasion.

 This cannot be other than David's son.

Fingers getting nipped.

The line-up of Russian Swissys.

 With Opa.

Yerba-slurping was a common refreshment, as usual.

Riding in Opa's big tractor.

Learning to share. And color-coordinate.

 This is definitely Rachel's daughter.

 Here's to many more summer visits from twin cousins!

And a final round of Reere gret, reere gret... for the road.

A dream come true

About a month ago, Ramont told me during morning mate that he really didn't NEED that chainsaw he's been hankering for since we moved here. This after my Father's Day gift to him was that he could buy it (we sure know how to express love through gifts around here, ha ha).

That very night, a storm blew over no less than five big trees in the pasture. Luckily none of them hit the machine shed, the cows, or even the fence. But it was a mess back there.

And that was definitely reason enough for Ramont to finally go buy that chainsaw.

Let's just say he put it to extremely good use over the next many days and many, many hours.

Next on the wish list?

A wood burning stove.

Around the yard: June

One of the first things we did when we moved here was kill a fourth of the apple trees. Which is to say that one of the four beautiful apple trees died a somewhat slow, painful death under our watch.

This week we finally got our act together. Ramont (and Jonathan) pulled out the dead one and we planted a self-pollinating apricot tree in its place. We also planted another dwarf honeycrisp apple tree at the end of the row, thus almost doubling the orchard :)

The Juneberries are in full swing now, appropriately, since it is June. The other afternoon I came out to see Prairie Girl and her dictatorial brother picking them with gusto.

For those who don't know, Juneberries are tiny with lots of fibrous material, and a little pop of juice. They take a looong time to pick and, to be perfectly honest, the payback is not huge. But its a great activity for the kids.

And the chickens loooove them.

Here's a quick look at the industrial garden. Which is never as big or bountiful or beautiful as I wish it was. I get serious garden-envy when we travel past other farmyards. I'm definitely still in the learning years.

A new thing we're trying this year is growing tomatoes on/through cattle panels. So far it's working very well. This freed up the cages for the peppers (which are not doing as well, but look like they might come through). The raspberry bushes are LOADED, and yesterday I found the first pinkish one, so we'll soon be in berry paradise here.

And finally from around the yard, I'd like to show you what was quite possibly the best "invention" of the week: hooking up the bike wagon (which Anna always wants a ride in) to Jonathan's trike. Excuse me, his tractor (he is tireless in correcting us on this).

Motivational speech for the journey ahead.

Heave, tug, PULL!

And that's a bit of what it looks like around here. I forgot to add the photos of all the trees that blew down a few weeks ago, so I'll do that in a future post (spoiler alert: Ramont has a new chainsaw!).