Kissing Cows

The other day when we were playing at the barn, I glanced up and saw this:

Now, I wondered if my eyes were deceiving me so I took a closer look.

I realized that, yes, I really was seeing what I thought I was seeing and then proceeded to laugh with my children over the whole thing. A lot.

The kids thought they were kissing. Maybe they are just REALLY hungry.

Thumb Suckers

Yesterday, rainy and gray as it was, seemed like a good day for a field trip. Plus a good friend of ours just had a baby calf born that night. Why pass up an opportunity to see a calf less than twelve hours old and help with chores? So away we went to the top of the hill to play with the cows. It was my job to take pictures.

"Mom, I'm not real sure about this!!"

"Hey! I told you when I was little that my thumb tasted good!! He likes it too!"

"Bud, stick your thumb out like this and let him suck on it! Trust me, it's cool!"

"It feels weird!"

"SICK! I think it is time to feed these guys!"

"Here I come with their bottle! How hard can it be to feed a newborn calf, anyway?"

Aunt M had to wrestle it to get it to eat...... Must be harder than we thought, I guess.

"She did the hard part, this is fun!"

"See, Bud? You should feed one!"

"Bud, make sure you do it right!!"

"This is cool. Buster likes to make sure that the calf doesn't drip any."

Fighting Words

This is in response to the dear loved ones who have thumbed their nose in this direction. I also need to let them know that when they visit again, they will be taking an additional child back to Italy with them. See, THIS household is a Yankee home. Through and through. We will stick by our team regardless of the fact that they have been eliminated this year. Our dear daughter, though, is suffering from a momentary lapse in judgement and made the statement, "I'll root for the Red Sox." She is feverish and delirious. I am sure of this. She'll come to her senses. If not, she'll enjoy Italy.


I would just like to take a moment to give you a couple statistics. The Yankees won the world series in 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, '37, '38, and '39, 1941, 1943, 1947, 1949, '50, '51, '52, and '53, 1956, 1958, 1961 and '62, 1977 and 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000. That would be twenty-six World Series wins. Those are the years the WON the series. They made it to the World Series on thirteen other occasions.

The Red Sox (aka the Dark Side) however, have only been to the World Series a total of nine times since 1903. Five of those visits they conquered the opposing team. Their last World Series win was in 2004.... their first win since 1918. So, um, yeah... the Yankees will not be in the World Series this year, little brother, you are right. BUT... their record still speaks for them. As does the Red Sox' record. Hmmm......

A big benefit

to being homeschooled is....















...being able to help mommy make cookies, sit on the counter and do your reading all at the same time. Why trade this??

What is going on?

Yesterday marked two weeks since the tragedy. Saturday J and I drove by their house on our way to our friends' home. Road crews had covered over the skid marks in front of the house.... My heart re-broke for the family. Sunday I read about this incident on my brother and sister-in-law's page and last night at class some of my co-workers were talking about this - a couple of them were on the scene responders. Is there a rise in tragedies or am I just that much more aware of it because of my job? My heart goes out to every responder and family member and friend that has been touched by these tragedies that our area has faced in the past couple weeks. Part of me is so thankful that our crew has only been called to one of them and that the other two were in different townships. I am not sure how much direct involvement I could take right now.... each person in each of these three tragedies was too young to go. What is going on??

More Fun Giveaways!!

Julie over at Another Chance Ranch is giving away a very pretty, shiny silver travel mug. For my coffee. I need it. And just to show that I am a good sport, I have included the link to her very cool giveaway here so you can have a chance at it. Plus she has a neat page and I thought you might like to see that, too! This contents ends Friday, October 5th.

Five Minutes for Mom has a great giveaway!! Who wouldn't want some help in getting organized???? This BusyBody Book looks AWESOME!! Go check that out, too, by October 3rd.

The folks at emoms at home, parent product reviews, are giving away TEN copies of "Father Knows Less or 'Can I Cook My Sister?'" and it looks like a great book and that one ends on the 4th.

And.... Stitch Pink has a cool scissors fob and that giveaway ends on the 10th.

AAAnnnd.......... Aimee at A day in the life of... is hosting a review and giveaway for Momspit on her blog. Go check that one out, too. The name alone BEGS for attention. :)

*whew* I'm all commented out, now. What are you still doing here? Go check the stuff out!!

Still Small Voice?

The alarm went off at *shudder* 3:30 this morning and the VERY tiny part of my brain that was SLIGHTLY awake rationalized that if I did not move, J would KNOW I wasn't getting up with him this morning and I wouldn't have to work up the energy to actually say so. Plus, not moving at all was very easy. BUT... I had to... um... pee... and that kept me awake. I argued with myself for a few minutes on the pros and cons of staying in bed anyway. I REALLY did not want to get out of my warm cozy bed. BUT, the knowledge that if I didn't get up right then and go, by the time I did get up (only a couple hours later, give or take one, or maybe two) my kidneys would be screaming at me. So, I got up. Then went DIRECTLY back to bed. And couldn't get back to sleep. *sigh* I would close my eyes and have all these thoughts about having to respond to the scene of an accident and the people involved be my children who were out with their aunt and I would instruct the ALS responders and our drivers to load my two children in my ambulance together so I did not have to choose between them. They could take the sister-in-law that was dumb enough to wreck her car with my babies in it.... Er... Oh.... Breath... I climbed on top of those thoughts, rebuked and prayed protection over my kids, my hubby and extended family. Then snuggled back into the bed, closed my eyes and attempted to sleep.... I then was either thinking (seriously, I can shut my brain off sometimes! I think.... If I try really hard.......) or dreaming about responding to an accident and the driver was not injured, just shaken and wanted to "sign off".

We always have to respond to a car accident once we are toned out for it, but sometimes people just get their car into a ditch, maybe deploy their airbags and are not really hurt, but it is always a good idea to just get looked over. We then advise them of their "rights" (no, not like Miranda Rights) tell them all of the possible things that could happen after a car accident, even if you don't feel bad then. Blah blah blah....

So, back to the thoughts/dreams/whatever..... I was talking to someone who had been in an accident and didn't want to go to the hospital and I was telling him how your brain will slosh around when you are involved in accidents like that. Your body is stopped by the seatbelt and/or airbag, but your brain has room to move (this would be the whole reason for "don't shake the baby....") so problems can become evident later. A few minutes after six our tones went off for a possible MVA and away I went. Half an hour later guess what I was doing? Yep, along with my team, explaining to this guy what his brain is like and what can happen with it. Huh.

One of the things that I have noticed is that many times I will be going about my day and the thought of getting called out will cross my mind or I'll just get this feeling that we will be called out sometime that day. When I do get that thought, we usually do get called out for something that day. So, I am thinking that those thoughts or feelings might be that "still small voice" from God. Now what? Am I just supposed to be prepared or is this something for me to be able to intercede for situations before-hand??