Where The Green Grass Grows

Nebraska Harvest 2010

2010-11-11T12:17:00.003-06:00

Corn and Soybean harvest this year only took five weeks. I know many people are thinking that sounds like an eternity, however, it was rather quick, considering how long it has taken in years past. I believe we only had a little over a day that we couldn't pick due to rain. Otherwise, it was warm and sunny. Great harvest weather!

We made many trips to the field this year taking suppers out in the "supper van" as Maddie began to call it. Her and Ben both loved taking out supper because that also meant getting rides in the combine with grandpa, and the truck with daddy. Ben even managed to get several rides in the tractor and auger wagon with Uncle Brad. (Thanks Uncle Brad!)

Maddie and Daddy after supper one evening.

This is how Jay Dee spent his time during bean harvest while waiting for the truck to be filled. Thank goodness for technology!

Daddy explaining all the up's and down's of farming to Madalyn.

Our cute little Maddie standing on daddy's truck so she could watch the combine.

This was on the last day of harvest. The guys were close to York, so my sister-in-law picked up lunch for them in York, and they sat on the tailgate to eat. We all managed to get to the field about the same time for one last ride for all the grandkids.

I also happened to only have one daycare child that day, so I brought her along. She is the same age as Maddie and loved seeing all the trucks and combine. Grandpa Royce was nice enough to let Riley have her first combine ride as well. She really liked it. And surprisingly, this is the only photo I have with Ben in it. I don't even have any combine photos this year. Guess I was preoccupied with keeping Maddie in one spot.After harvest...its cleanup time! I don't usually help with this, but I thought this year we would, so I got Ben and Maddie to help me wash the supper van. As you can imagine, that only lasted for about 10 minutes, and then they were cold and tired of it. So I washed the entire thing myself. It was a good harvest, and we're happy its over.

Mrs. Handy

2010-11-04T14:26:00.002-05:00

I have always enjoyed working with wood and taking old things and making them into something new. So when we decided to get rid of our large bedroom furniture, and go with something different for when we move, I decided I wanted to attempt DIY-ing (do it yourself). Mainly because I thought it would be fun to see what I could come up with, and it would be a lot cheaper than buying something new.

My first idea was to figure out what we wanted for a headboard. I have watched lots of HGTV over the years and have realized you can make anything look like something else. So I started by looking at Craigslist and I got lucky. Very lucky. Someone close by was selling several old solid oak panel doors out of an old house. All we had to do was go pick out what ones we wanted and we could have them all for $100. We ended up coming home with 6 or 7 panel doors, and a matching pair of french doors. I picked out one I wanted for a headboard, and the rest went into storage...to be used some other day. So this is what the door looked like to start. My great brother-in-law agreed to cut both ends off for me and I was able to use some of his scrap molding to finish off the top of the headboard. After a coat of primer and 3 coats of black paint.......this is what we ended up with! I am so excited to get this all put together and see how it looks. Probably my favorite piece so far.Then I was on a quest for a dresser, and one again I went to Craigslist. I had to travel about 30-45 miles to get this one, but it was worth it. Very clean, only one scratch, and clean lines...just what I was looking for. So once again, a good sanding, primer, black paint, and some new hardware.......makes for an updated modern dresser.

Then for one more dresser. I was looking for a possible chest of drawers, but never found anything I liked. So I went with another dresser, this time with a mirror. I lucked out and found this one in York at Goodwill! It is actually the same brand as the other dresser and also had simple lines, so it matched well. I did the same thing again, sand, prime, paint, and new pulls. I don't have a finished picture as it is already in the new bedroom at the farm. Once we get everything put together and are living there, I will post a finished photo. Total cost of my COMPLETE bedroom upgrade: $200 (that includes a new bed frame because I couldn't find a used one.)

Hauling in pipe

2010-11-04T14:17:00.002-05:00

I know I'm really behing on posting, but this is just one that had to be talked about. This year, at the age of 4, Grandpa told/asked Ben if he would like to help haul in pipe before harvest. And of course he jumped at the chance. That meant he got to drive daddy's big 4 wheeler all by himself. I was a little nervous, but since daddy and grandpa were there, it sounded like it went really well. On one of their final days of picking up pipe, Maddie and I headed out to meet them and take a few pictures. Maddie crawled on the 4 wheeler with Ben to "help".

Look at that load! Way to go Ben! I think he's ready for next year.

Kansas City Getaway!

2010-10-16T16:40:00.004-05:00

At the end of August, Jay Dee and I had planned a quick trip to Kansas City, mainly to use one of his christmas gifts. He received a Nascar Ride-Along from my parents and there was only two weekends in KC that it could be used, and so we decided to go on August 21. About 2-3 weeks before that, I unexpectedly won tickets to a KC Royals baseball game! So we did some looking and found out that there was a Royals game the same weekend. So very suddenly, our quick family vacation turned into an "adults only" weekend away with friends! And boy was that the greatest decision we ever made!!!! So we asked our best friends, Nate and Amie, if they'd like to go with us, and they were all for it! Yippee! ( I think I needed this more than Jay Dee did!!) A great photo of our great friends!

So we all made arrangements for our kids for the weekend, and we took off around 1pm on friday for KC. It was a nice ride to KC just visiting and catching up. The Royals game was on friday night, so it worked out perfectly. Our hotel was right across the street, which was nice so we could just walk to the stadium. Even our walk over was quite eventful, with me falling and sliding down a hill. I'm not sure if anyone else fell, i just remember the grass was wet and slick.

We had amazing seats right under the awning off of first base. Awesome!

This photo is zoomed in at home plate, pretty amazing.

We had heard there was a possible chance of rain, but were hoping it would stay away. Well before the game even started, the clouds rolled in and it got darker and darker. We only made it through 1/2 of the first inning when the rain started. Lucky for us, we were under that awning, and so we were able to stay in our seats without getting wet. At least for awhile.

Then...it started downpouring! For an hour and a half if poured!!!! The most remarkable thing was to watch the guys get the big white tarp put over the field. They had a system and it was pretty cool.

So, after the 1.5 hours of rain, they postponed the game. We were told we could use our tickets for any other game the entire season. Luckily for us, there was another game the next night, and due to the rain, they were going to be playing a double header. So we headed back to our hotel...and this is where even more eventful things started to happen. As we were walking up to our hotel, we suddenly realized that it was awfully dark...like no lights at all. And then when we walked up to the door and noticed it was propped open and we were greated by a hotel employee with a flashlight, we knew what we were in for. No electricity!

So we managed to climb the stairs (no working elevators) with a flashlight. Keep in mind it had been raining, so the stairs were very slick with water from all the people trying to get to their rooms. We got to our rooms to find we did have a bit of light. Very dim lights. Then the beeping started! Our smoke/fire alarms batteries must have been low because they started beeping constantly due to no electricity. So the handy farmer and police officer did what they do best...take care of the situation. Unplug it and hope because it was a wired in system that it didn't set off the whole hotel! And it didn't. One problem solved.

Next...what do you do at 8 o'clock in the evening in a hotel with little to no electricity? Well, the guys headed out to find a store that might have power so they could buy some cards and snacks. They were gone for awhile and when they came back, they had exactly that. So we started playing pitch. We did that until probably midnight and had lots of fun. It was a bit hard at times to see the cards, but we managed.

The next day was Jay Dee's Nascar Ride-Along. So we dropped Nate and Amie off at Cabela's and we headed over to the racetrack.

We got to see things that most people don't. We drove right into the garage area to park and walked up onto pit road. That is where Jay Dee had to register (sign his life away!) and get ready. I believe he stood in line for 1 1/2 hours before it was finally his turn. It was a hot day, so I was getting sunburnt waiting for him, but it was worth it. He had a great time!

All suited up and ready to go. He had to wear a fireproof suit and headgear.

Climbing into the car -- a real Dukes of Hazzard moment. And you might notice the number on the car... MY favorite driver! He didn't live that one down for awhile.

Getting all buckled in.

And just that quick, it was over. 3 laps around the track and he was done. Quite a wait for 3 laps of excitement.

Then we ate lunch at IHOP with our friends and did some shopping. We discovered the Legends shopping area, and have decided that me might start making an annual trip there every year. Then it was back to the hotel for a bit, hoping we might have electricity. And we did, finally at 4pm. Then is was off to the double-header ballgame. Not as great as seats this time, but it was still a lot of fun.

One quick photo of us.

We had such a great time with our friends. We immediately started planning for next year and decided that we need to make this an annual thing...just for us adults to get away and enjoy each other's company and relax! Thanks Nate and Amie for coming with us!!!!

Another school year

2010-10-16T16:34:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of September, Ben started his second year of preschool. He was very excited to get going again. Mainly because he would get to go 3 days a week this year, and for a longer amount of time. His class is on monday, wednesday, and friday, from 10:45 am to 1:00 pm. Because of this he also gets to start eating lunch at preschool. Another new element that he loves! Ben getting ready to go to preschool. Last time in front of this door!

Ben and his beloved teacher, Gina.

Summer Fun

2010-08-19T15:59:00.004-05:00

Our summer is about to come to an end with Ben starting another year of preschool right after labor day. So I thought I would do a post of a few of our summer activities. Just recently, my parents traveled to Sturgis with a group of friends, and on their way back home, they stopped by for a couple of days to visit. The kids were delighted because they got Papa to take them for motorcycle rides. Maddie did a lot of begging Papa everytime they went outside. So he gave them both one last ride right before they headed back home to Kansas.

Ben is big enough now to ride alone with Papa. His feet his the pegs, which is good. Maybe we should invest in a motorcycle helmet instead of a bicycle helmet! Maddie patiently waiting her turn with Nana.

Another activity this summer, was Ben took swimming lessons for the first time. He did really well. He sure isn't scared of as many things now. He goes down the big swirly slide all by himself, and he has jumped off the board a few times, as long is someone is there to help him.

There was a lot of swimming or playing in water this summer as it was hot. One day I found this when I went outside. Maddie had taken her snack and lawnchair and climbed in their little pool to cool off. So Ben joined her!

Ben also got to play T-ball for the first time this summer. There were only 6 games, but that was enough. It was fun to watch...ready for there to be more coordination and maybe a big more practicing on our part!

One other things we did for Maddie's birthday was to go to Lincoln to the Children's Zoo. We invited Grandma Carol to go along with us. We had a great time. They enjoyed seeing all the animals, and even got to ride the train when we were done.

More swimming pictures of Maddie:

Playing in a sprinkler that Nana sent to the kids.

What a great summer! Hopefully we'll have lots of beautiful weather yet to enjoy the outdoors!

Madalyn turned 2...

2010-08-19T15:43:00.003-05:00

IN JUNE!!!! How bad of a mommy am I for just now posting this? I've been enjoying my summer what more can I say. So on June 5, our little Maddie turned 2. She was so excited to eat cake and ice cream and open presents. We invited grandparents, aunts, and uncles and cousins over to celebrate one evening in the backyard. It turned out to be a beautiful night. We had a Bolt themed birthday party. (For those that don't know, Bolt is a Disney movie that she fell in love with awhile back...about a puppy.)

The cake I made for Madalyn.Opening her doll house that mommy and daddy gave her. I think it was an instant hit. She immediately opened it up on the patio and started playing with it.More fun presents. BUBBLES!A black kitty that she named "Becky". Enjoying cake with Grandpa Royce.

Wheat Harvest 2010

2010-08-17T09:55:00.004-05:00

In June, the kids and I got the opportunity to take 2 weeks and go to Kansas to be with my parents and participate in wheat harvest. I thoroughly enjoy this time of year, always have! And we've never gotten the chance to spend 2 weeks with Papa and Nana so the kids were beyond ecstatic!!

Of course there always has to be a little bit of fun along with the work. On our last day there, Ben asked Papa if they could go fishing, and of course, Papa couldn't resist. So they went fishing in the few deeper holes in the creek by the house. I think a couple of small perch were caught. Relaxing time with Papa.

When in Kansas in June, only one word comes to mind....HOT! So what do you do on the farm with two little kids, let them play in the water. This particular day, they decided clothes were optional...actually Maddie got in the water with clothes on and then took them off. So I thought, okay let her play in her diaper...

...she had other plans...

...that is my dad's new puppy checking her out. Can you say "blackmail picture" someday?

Ahh...now to harvest. How can you resist a beautiful setting like this?

This is Maddie taking her first trip in the wheat truck to the elevator with me. She had to bring along her kitty for the ride. She wasn't so sure about the hot truck (no AC) and the loud noises. (its and old truck).

When we arrived at the farm, it was a bit wet, so Ben had to have his mud boots on to help Papa with chores.

Checking out the new puppy.

Somewhere I have more harvest pictures, but I'm not able to find them right now, so when I do, they'll probably be another post.

My favorite past time...

2010-07-19T19:32:00.007-05:00

has got to be sewing! I hear a lot of people say that it seems to be a very stressful hobby, and not one that they would choose. I however find it to be very stress-relieving. Over the last year I have completed several projects, some for fun and some for others.

Below is a quilt I made for the Nebraska MCC Sale. I found the pattern in a magazine and fell in love with it. All the fabrics are polka-dot and the back of the quilt is a brown bubbly fabric, very soft. It is a large log cabin block. Very simple and fun to do! This is another one I made for the MCC Sale. All of this material was given to me and I just started cutting squares and then put them together in this pattern. These were both baby quilts and they sold well.This is a project I was really excited about. I decided to make a headboard for Madalyn's new twin bed. (that is when she finally decides to sleep in it). I found some great fabric online and it was clearanced, so I went with it. All of my supplies: First you start out with lots of batting and you staple it to the plywood. Then you do the same with the fabric. It is really a quite simple project.

The finished project! I am so excited about it! I hope Maddie enjoys it as much as I did making it.

I also added a piece of fabric to the back just to cover up the ugly plywood.

Now on to my next big and fun project! I decided that since we will be moving and Maddie will have her own room, I wanted to make her a quilt to go in her "big girl" room. I found a pattern in another magazine that I loved and it looked simple for my first twin size quilt. Jay Dee even went shopping with me for the fabrics and he actually picked out most of them. Below is what we came up with.

There were several more fabrics that I added as I went along. Below is a photo of part of the quilt top before I had it quilted. I have yet to hand quilt anything myself. Maybe some day I'll get addicted to it like my two sister-in-laws, but so far I'd just rather pay someone else to do it. So after I get the binding on, I will show you the completed project. These are just pictures of some of my trusty supplies...all the beautiful colors of thread.

my trusty sewing machine...

another trusty friend...the hot iron.

On to the next big project...and it was a BIG one!!! I agreed, more like volunteered to make a prom dress for my cousin Kara for her senior prom. She has been dealing with some health problems over the last few years, and I wanted to do something for her, so I thought this would be fun, and it was...but it was a bit stressful too...which before I know I said that sewing isn't stressful to me. But since I had never done anything like this before, the stress levels increased a bit. Thanks to mine and Kara's wonderful Grandma Burford though, we got it done just in time for prom. If it wouldn't have been for Grandma's help with ironing and just talking through things, I'm not sure if it would have gotten completed.

I found this material while Kara was in Michigan so she knew nothing about it. I just had a hunch she'd like the colors and I was right. The green was like a kiwi green and the black was sparkly.

And the completed project... BEAUTIFUL!!! If I do say so myself!

A picture of Kara and her sister Sondra on prom night. Just a side note, I also picked out Sondra's dress from a catalog. I told her about it, so we ordered it, and she loved it! Guess I know what these girls like! Aren't they both just so pretty?

Grandma and I with Kara. I'm surprised we didn't have bigger smiles. We were SO relieved to be done with that dress! But I must say I loved every minute of making it. Memories with my grandma that I will never forget!

Traveling AND moving...

2010-05-03T12:47:00.002-05:00

You will notice the AND was in big print...because those two things are going to be happening at the same time. For those that don't know yet, Jay Dee and I are planning a trip to Indonesia from December 28 until January 12. We are going to visit our good friends, Jeff and Dana Selzer and their family, and we also hope to do service while we are there. The kids will be staying home with grandparents, or that's the plans as of now.

Now also during this time, it has been decided that we will be moving to the farm. We are very, VERY excited about this!! Especially me. I have always been on the farm, and 10 years in town has been enough for me. I am NOT a city girl...just ask Jay Dee. I'd rather be playing in the dirt on a tractor than making sure my yard is perfect like everyone else's. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind mowing at all, its just annoying if you're one or two days behind everyone else, because then it looks even worse!

So by December 23, I will have our entire house in boxes in storage, and we will probably head to Kansas for Christmas and then off to Indonesia. While we are gone, Grandma Elva is moving to our house, and Royce and Carol are moving to Grandma Elva's house. So when we get back, the hope is that our "new" house will be empty and waiting for us! I can only imagine how exhausted we are going to be and how overwhelming all of this is going to be. We will be having extreme jet lag - a 12 hour time difference, 2 kids that haven't seen us in almost 3 weeks, and a house to move into...which means lots of boxes to unpack. So you may want to start saying some prayers for us now!!

So now you know the exciting news in our life. Our summer as already began with lots of busyness. There should be many posts to follow!

Easter 2010

2010-05-03T10:36:00.004-05:00

We had a great Easter weekend with lots of egg hunting and Papa and Nana visited, which is always a treat! I managed to catch Ben and Maddie in a loving moment.

This would be Maddie's "ouchie". I was starting to think this might be a permanent feature for her, as every time it was just about healed, she would fall and break it open again. Now though it seems to be all cleared up with no scar. Hopefully we can keep her injury-free until her 2 year pictures later this month...I'm not betting on it though!
Papa and Maddie were having fun before the city easter egg hunt. Notice the stocking hat. It was a very chilly day!

Ben with all his "loot"!

Easter Sunday morning. What a handsome young man he's getting to be. Might need a longer tie though next year!

My pretty little princess! (She wasn't liking the dress because it was too poofy!)

A family photo on our front porch, next year it will look different! (More on that later!)

Egg hunting at the farm.

A quick picture of the 3 Janzen cousins.

Our good friends Brad and Carrie, who I also do daycare for, had baby number 3 the end of March. His name is Mason, and Madalyn has become quite taken with him. One day when they stopped by, I was holding him and as soon as Madalyn was done eating she wanted her hands washed and away she went. I heard her yelling at me, and she had gotten up on the couch and put a pillow on each side of her and was sitting with her hands out, waiting for me to give her Mason so she could hold him. She did an excellent job! She was also trying to tell him to say Cheese for the camera.

More randomness...

2010-04-20T11:24:00.003-05:00

So once again, I am playing catch up. Hopefully I can get back to blogging more often. Life has just been super busy lately. Below is a picture of Ben with cousin Kara. She was in Michigan for awhile at a headache and pain hospital and while she was there, Ben made her this picture of a caterpillar going to the park and we mailed it to her. So when she got home, she brought it over and wanted a picture taken with him. He was in heaven!

This following picture is of our little trouble maker. Apparently one evening she found some markers in her room and decided to color on her leg. Daddy found her and she got in big trouble, so she ran to tell me all about it. She was crying and when I asked what she was crying about, she sat down and pulled up her pants and showed me her leg. I of course just started laughing, which didn't help what disciplining Daddy had just done. I thought it was funny. Hey Aunt Christa - Can't you just see the artistic ability in her? Maddie's other favorite thing to do these days is play with play-doh.

A couple different weekends in February/March we traveled to Salina and met my parents for an afternoon. On one of our trips, we stopped at an arcade/fun center so the kids could play for awhile. They had a great time climbing around and playing in the ball pit.

This is just a funny picture of Maddie that I took. I have a feeling I'll be getting some comments from this one...that she reminds people of me at this age. Silly girl!

It's been awhile...

2010-03-03T09:08:00.007-06:00

...so be prepared. There are lots of pictures to follow. Quite some randomness too, sorry about that. And there is a REALLY good reason for why I haven't blogged in almost 2 months. I'll get to that a bit later.

So this is Maddie enjoying her new car that Grandpa and Grandma Janzen gave her for christmas. She enjoys giving her dolly rides. On New Years, we finally got to travel to Kansas for Christmas. Because of all the snow, we weren't able to make it down sooner. The kids don't get to see Papa and Nana very often, so when they do, all they want is Papa or Nana. I absolutely LOVE this picture of them.

Christmas with my parents was a lot of fun. We got there on a New Years Eve just in time for supper and then we opened presents right away. After all the presents were opened and played with for awhile, the kids were ready for bed. So as soon as they were asleep, Jay Dee and I took off and went up to my old church for the annual New Years Eve party. We had a lot of fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Then we were back to my parents and in bed asleep by 12:20. I know, we're getting old.

Maddie had more fun laying in the bed herself, than putting her baby in it!

The big gift this year was a COOP elevator that my parents built. It looks just like the one my mom works at, which Ben loves visiting every time we're there. They even made one of the elevators so that the kids could dump corn in it, and it would flow down and out a spout into the trucks. Pretty amazing. They love playing with it!

Then when we returned we had another Christmas with my Grandma Burford.

Ben got a play-doh set which he loves.

Maddie got a new rocking chair.

One day when it was a bit warmer and the sun was actually shining, I sent some of the older daycare kids outside to play on the drifts in front of our house.

One evening Jay Dee's brother Brad, wife Kara, and son Braden came over to visit, bringing pizza for supper. It was a nice evening since we really don't see them that often, which is strange, considering they only live 2 miles away. But anyway, the cousins had fun sitting together and eating.

Papa and Nana sent some new overalls for the kids. They were pretty excited. Cute little farmers, right?!?!?!?

One of the days when I wasn't well, Grandma Carol came and got the kids and they played outside in the snow at the farm. Seems like they had a great time.

Now we're going backwards a bit. This is how I spent many days over the last several months. Sick, and laying in a chair or in bed. This picture is actually from Ben's 4th birthday on December 16. Thank you to everyone who came over and made the day special for him since I wasn't feeling so well and couldn't do much for him.

He wanted a Thomas birthday cake, and thanks to Uncle Brad and Aunt Kara, he got one.

Everyone singing Happy Birthday to him. He loved being in the "spotlight".

This was his present from Maddie. A Cars umbrella. He has been wanting one for quite some time and we had to just keep telling him to wait. I think this was probably the happiest he was all day.

He also got a guitar from his Papa and Nana. Another very exciting gift that is about to drive his parents crazy some days.

Now to a couple of pictures I will always treasure.

A picture of Ben and Great-Grandma Elva when we celebrated Christmas back in December.

A picture of me and my daughter at Christmas.

This was at Christmas. Uncle Brad got ahold of both Braden and Ben and tickled them. They loved it!

So back to me... the reason for all my sickness this winter has stemed from my gallbladder and a bacterial infection called C-Diff. I found out finally in early December about the infection, and it is a nasty infection. I can't count the number of times I ended up at the doctor's office and ER over the last 3 months. The medication for the infection is just about as bad as the infection. It makes you very nauseous and causes you to not be able to eat. So then I was on meds for that as well. Also during all of this I found out I was allergic to an antibiotic which landed me in the hospital for a day and a half due to a severe reaction which caused hives from head to toe...even in my ears.

This is also when I discovered that my gallbladder was not working well. I had wondered about that for quite some time, as I have a family history of these problems. However, they could not do surgery until my bacterial infection was cleared up. So, after two rounds of antibiotics, I finally got the C-Diff under control, and a little over two weeks ago, I had my surgery. They removed my gallbladder, appendix, and did an upper GI scope to check for ulcers. Everything came back good, except by gallbladder. It was not so good, which we expected.

So as of today, 12 days after surgery, I am feeling unbelievable!! I am still tired, and have noticed I have to be careful with some foods, but it feels so good to be able to eat again. During the month of December I lost 12 pounds. Not a great way to lose weight, and frankly, I didn't need to lose any. So if all of a sudden I start looking a little chunky, you'll know why...I'm eating again!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. And if wasn't for my WONDERFUL husband and mother-in-law, and Grandma, I'm not sure what we would have done. But now I'm on the road to recovery...and hopefully Spring. I need some sunshine!!!

Winter Wonderland

2010-01-14T11:09:00.003-06:00

So just a few more snow pictures. These were taken after being snowed in our house for two days, December 26 I believe. It was actually quite pretty, but I don't think I ever need to see that much snow again.
Somewhere here is our driveway. Jay Dee is back behind that large drift blowing snow. It took him almost 2 hours to open is just wide enough for the vehicle to get out, and sometimes the mirrors would still hit the drifts. He would use the snowblower for awhile and then stop and knock down more snow with a shovel and then hit it again with the blower.

Taking a break for a bit. This is me.

Jay Dee completely covered and looking a bit frozen.

We got Ben to run out long enough to stand by the tallest part. That is our neighbors house in the background.

A Snowed In Christmas

2010-01-11T15:15:00.004-06:00

After spending Christmas Eve day with Jay Dee's family at the farm, we attempted to come home during some really bad blowing snow. Not sure if it was the best decision we ever made, but we figured it would be nice to be home Christmas morning. And we couldn't figure out how to explain to Ben that Santa forgot to come to Grandma's, if we would have stayed there for the night.

So we made it home and got everyone all snug in their beds, and attempted to fall asleep listening to the howling 40 mph winds. We woke up on Christmas morning to find that we were indeed snowed in! Somehow though, Santa and his reindeer did manage to find our house. I'm guessing Rudolph and his bright red nose helped out a bit. The kids were extremely excited to see what Santa brought. Especially Ben. And he got exactly what he wanted...a Kerplunk game and a Toy Story coloring book. Maddie got a new stroller to go with her new baby. Then we had a great time of opening gifts for and from each other. Ben would open so fast and then ask where the next one was. Madalyn really got into opening too. Actually once she took a present from under the tree and opened it and luckily it just happened to be for her.

This is Ben showing Daddy all the pictures he had drawn on the wrapping paper for him.

And now for why we stayed inside for the next 2 days! This is a view of our driveway. Yes, our driveway is somewhere amongst all that snow. When it was all over, the drifts were 6 feet high just in the driveway.

The front of our house. You can see the windows were pelted with snow.

And this is looking across the street at the clinic and hospital. At times it was blowing so hard, we couldn't even see the clinic.

MCC Meat Canner

2010-01-08T09:54:00.004-06:00

So I'm a little behind in updating the blog, and I'll get to the reasons why in future posts. But for now, I'm going to try to update a bit each day.

Right after Thanksgiving, our church is the host for the MCC Meat Canner truck which travels through the country to can meat for world hunger. It is quite an amazing thing that everyone comes together to do. This year they canned 29,000 pounds of turkey in 4 days. This is the kitchen area, where the cans come after being cooked. They are washed, dried, date stamped, labeled, and boxed.
This is the canner truck set up right outside the kitchen door. There are four men that travel with the canner for a year. Jay Dee has always thought that this would be something he would enjoy doing.

Jay Dee, and 2 other men from our church are in charge of getting everything organized and making sure the canner runs as smoothly as possible while it is here. So this means, that for a week, we don't see Jay Dee. He was leaving every morning by 4:30a.m., so they could start canning at 5 am. They aren't usually done for the day until around 9pm. This year, some people volunteered to stay later, so these guys could come home to see their families and get to bed. So Jay Dee was home by 7 most evenings. The following picture is of Jay Dee washing one of the big pans they put turkey into after grinding it.

Another highlight is that people of all ages can helpt at the canner. Ben was and still is so excited about working at the canner. We've been hearing about it since last year already. So on the day he had preschool, his teacher took his class to go tour the canner, and then after preschool, he was able to stay for the afternoon and help. So for 6 hours, he helped slide cans around to people to label, and he put them on the conveyor belt to be date stamped. He was one tired boy when he got home. But like all 4 year olds..."Mom, I'm not tired!" This being said with tears in his eyes.

This picture is of just some of the boxes of canned turkey that will be sent around the world to relieve hunger. Quite amazing!

Also, during this week, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in Henderson at the school to visit the children, so we made a trip over to see them one evening. This is the first year that Ben didn't cry and was excited to see Santa. Madalyn however, didn't care for them too much. That would be why I had to be in the picture.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-03T10:55:00.002-06:00

This photo was just before Thanksgiving. Maddie has seen Ben play with Play-doh numerous times so I thought I'd let her try. She did lots of watching Ben and trying to copy everything he did. However, when it started going into her mouth, we had to put a stop to it. We spent Thanksgiving in Kansas at my parents this year. We were able to go down on wednesday night and stay until Sunday. It was nice to not have to rush back. I didn't take a lot of pictures this time. Basically just this one on my mom reading to Madalyn. We also went to my grandma's for our traditional noodles. They were wonderful. Then another evening we went over to my Uncle Steve and Aunt Caroline's to see all my cousins. My aunt hadn't seen Madalyn yet so it was a treat for her. Jay Dee got pretty involved in a game of Apples to Apples with my cousins and their husbands and girlfriend. I think a great time was had by all.

Then on Sunday we made plans to stop at some of our friends house in Bennington on our way home. These were college friends that we've kept in contact with. We actually haven't seen them in almost 2 years. They just purchased a new house, and they have a new little girl we haven't seen yet! And they haven't seen Madalyn yet either! The last time we saw Jay, Angie, and Connor, I was about 6 months pregnant with Maddie and Angie had just found out she was pregnant with Olivia. So we had a wonderful time of seeing each other new little girls and visiting. We stayed and ate supper and after about 2 1/2 hours we were on the road again. It was a wonderful break in our trip, basically the half-way point. We might have to make that more of an occurrance.

Angie and her daughter, Olivia.

This is Connor, he'll be 7 in January, and Ben. They had a great time together.

Thanks again for supper Alexander's! Hope to see you again soon! You're welcome to head North at any time. We'd love to have ya!

What we've been up to

2009-12-03T10:45:00.002-06:00

Well since I last wrote, Ben was sick with a cold/strep throat.

Then the mom, ME, who is NEVER to get sick...well I did. And it was a big one. For 8 days, I was down and out. This eight day timeframe included two trips to the hospitial for I.V.'s/fluids, anti-nausia meds, morphine for pain, and then some other med for pain. All my bloodwork was normal, but I was one sick mommy. (And no I'm not pregnant...for all those who are skeptic.) Jay Dee said he'd never seen me so sick and he didn't ever want me to be that way again. After further thinking and talking with friends, I think I've come up with a diagnosis....E. Coli. Or some form of food poisoning. It was nasty and I hope I never have it again. And here's the sad thing, I think I figured out where I got it. From sauerkraut. It is the one thing that I love that the rest of the family, especially Jay Dee, can't stand. So during harvest I always make sure I have some. Well it was the last day of harvest (the thursday before I got sick on friday), and I remembered that I had had my dose of sauerkraut yet. So I pulled out a can for lunch along with a hotdog. I thought it tasted different, but figured it was the hotdogs because we had changed brands. Well it wasn't now that I think back. I KNOW it was the sauerkraut. And that's a big bummer for me. Not sure I'll ever be able to eat it again.

And now, both the kids are sick. They both have coughs and fevers. We're headed to the clinic today to try and figure out what's going on. I think its just the good ol' winter cold, but we'll see.

All About Maddie

2009-11-14T13:12:00.004-06:00

A little over a week ago I took Maddie in for her first haircut. I was a bit worried...this is the little girl that can't sit still for anything. So we went to Headquarters where our friend Lori works. Ben got a haircut first. (My thinking was if Maddie saw Ben sit still, she would too.) So this is Maddie before her haircut. Her hair had gotten so long in front that I had to put it in a pigtail every day just to keep it out of her eyes. So the plan was to just get a trim of her bangs.

This is Lori getting ready to cut Maddie's hair.

We were AMAZED!!! She sat perfectly still and NEVER moved! I'm not sure if she was worried about the scissors or if Lori just kept her attention so well. I also think she liked looking in the mirror at herself.

And here we have the finished Maddie! So nice to see those pretty blue eyes again!

Other things Maddie has been up to...my shoes. She likes to attempt to walk in them when I haven't put them away.

Okay so this picture needs a bit of explaining for some. This is a piano that I got for christmas when I was about 3 years old I think. Maybe 2. There are lots of pictures of me playing it wearing my cowboy boots. I have had it out in the basement for awhile now, and the other night Maddie was pounding on the basement door, so I opened it and she went down the stairs, grabbed the seat and starting crawling back upstair with it. I think she was trying to tell me to bring the piano too. So I did. And now every day we get some tunes played by both Maddie and Ben. Not sure how long I'll be able to handle it, but for now, it's okay. One more thing about the picture, it looks just like me. I should figure out a way to put the one of me on here for you to compare.

Pumpkins, Pirates, and Pretty Little Dancers

2009-11-03T16:32:00.002-06:00

Our Halloween this year was definitely different. An almost 4 year old carving his first pumpkin, a 1 year old who could actually walk this year to trick-or-treat, and stolen pumpkins! The night before halloween we arrived home to find that our pumpkins had been stolen. It's a tradition I guess here in Henderson to steal people's pumpkins. Not a tradition that I'm at all fond of! Especially when you have a little boy who looked at his pumpkins daily, and they were pumpkins from Grandma Carol's pumpkin patch. Pretty special to him!

So that evening this mommy was a tad-bit upset to say the least and I got on facebook and made some statements about how I wished that whoever stole them would think about whose house they were standing in front of next time and who it would be effecting by stealing that pumpkin that they thought they needed so bad. (Let me interject here, that over the last 2 years or so, pumpkins have been stolen, but nothing ever seems to happen with them. Usually they get smashed on mainstreet.) So after my little rant, I felt a smidge better. However, my rant must have struck a nerve with someone or some parent because the next morning to our delight, almost EVERY single PUMPKIN was back on our front porch!!! The smile on Ben's face was so big. I'm so glad we didn't have to go through those tears again as to why someone would do that.

So here is Ben prior to pumpkin-carving: During: (I thought he would like scooping out the seeds and the "gunk", but he thought it was pretty gross and a good "mommy job" he said.)

After: I had to help him cut out the face, but he did do some of it. I think he had a great time!

And now to the pirates and dancers....TA-DA!!! Ben has said he wanted to be a pirate since last halloween and so that is what he did. And Madalyn, well, you try to get her in a costume! She managed quite well in spite of the skirt being a little big. It didn't take her long to figure out the trick-or-treating process. Pretty special Pirate and pretty cute ballerina, if I do say so myself. :-)

Kids

2009-10-29T10:34:00.002-05:00

Just some random pictures of the kids. Ava (a little girl I keep), Ben and Maddie playing with buckets on their heads. Or at least Maddie found the closest thing she could! He-he. Our cat, Prince, who is usually outside, got in on a little storytime one evening. He's Madalyn's buddy. Boy does that cat put up with a lot!

It was getting close to nap time...and this is what I found. Apparently Ben looked like a good bed to her. I really hope they will continue to always have this type of relationship.

Water for Christmas

2009-10-26T11:45:00.002-05:00

I just read about this amazing Etsy Shop and Idea on another blog.
Please check it out! http://water4christmas.etsy.com/
all of the money goes to build wells with CLEAN WATER in liberia.
ALL OF IT.

here is the write up on their profile page...
"There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." (Denis Waitley)

At Water for Christmas, we've allowed the existing conditions to break our hearts and spur us to action.
* We want to join others in solving the world's water crisis, where 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water.
* We don't want to accept the conditions where unclean water and the lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
* It doesn't make sense that 4500 children should die every day from the lack of access to clean water.
Water for Christmas is partnering with charity: water (www.charitywater.org) to build wells in Africa. All proceeds from items sold in this shop will go directly to building fresh water wells in Liberia, West Africa. We believe that a small group of people can work together to change the world. Visit us at http://water4christmas.com
*If you would like to donate a hand-crafted item to Water for Christmas, to be listed on this site, please send us a message. As with everything else, all proceeds will go directly to building fresh water wells in Liberia.

SO PLEASE GO CHECK IT OUT AND BUY SOMETHING!

Catching Up!

2009-10-21T14:44:00.005-05:00

So I can't believe its been 3 weeks since I last posted. So sorry to all of you that read this. I guess it just means we've been incredibly busy! So this post contains a lot of pictures of what we've been up to. Harvest has been a big part of our lives these days, and we try to get out to the field a couple of nights during the week so that the kids can see Daddy. Maddie got the chance to ride in the truck one night and she really liked sitting on Daddy's lap while we waited for the truck to get filled. Then she decided she liked this spot better:

The first weekend in October Jay Dee was able to get away on Saturday to head to Bethel College for his 10 year class reunion. We had a great time seeing a lot of our old friends and surprisingly most of the ones we wanted to see did show up. There was a lot to do there that day, including riding in this neat little firetruck. Ben was so excited, he didn't care what size it was.

Then when we left Bethel, we headed for the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita. My mom had purchased tickets earlier and we needed to get them used, so we met my parents there. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for a day at the zoo.

Ben was pretty excited to see a camel, "just like on Diego!"

Madalyn thought the penguins were pretty cool. They kept coming under the water towards her so she could see them.

Ben with his new friend.

After the zoo, Jay Dee headed back to Bethel to watch the football game and the kids and I headed to my parents house with mom and dad. We made a stop at Braum's to eat and Madalyn decided it was time to snuggle up to Nana. Pretty sweet picture I think!

On Sunday morning, the kids were up early to help Papa with chores. That is always one of Ben's favorite things to do when we're in Kansas. However, now that Maddie has gotten bigger, he now has to share his time with Papa. Not so sure he's liking that idea. So this time Maddie went along to help feed the sheep.

While we were at the barn feeding the sheep, I helped my dad do some sorting of the ewes because it was time to get them ready to breed again. So the kids sat in the trailer with my dad's dog, Sid. This is Maddie giving her some loving. She's such a great dog.

Next it was off to feed the cattle. As you may notice, the cows are pretty tame and can't wait for their pellets.

We also got in on a little milo picking while we were there.

Jay Dee watching my dad pick milo.

I ended up taking a little walk back to the house from the field and decided to take some pictures along the way. Within a quarter mile of my parents house is an old train track. I think the train still runs at least once a week. I thought the photo turned out pretty cool.

This is my parents house. We moved here when I was a freshman in high school. My mom grew up here and so did her dad. The house was 100 years old in 2008.

Before we left to head back on sunday evening, Ben had to get in a game of Kerplunk with Papa. Probably also one of his favorite things to do.

Now one final random picture. I walked outside the other day to find this. My Maddie up on my bike. She sure thought she was a big girl!

Soybean harvest 2009

2009-09-30T11:32:00.002-05:00

We were out at the field a few nights ago and a storm looked like it was rolling in, so I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the beautiful blue sky. I don't think we ended up getting any rain which was just fine.

Madalyn gets pretty excited these days when I say we're going to see Daddy. Last night after Jay Dee ate supper, he and Ben took a truck to the elevator and so Maddie and I stayed at the field. Apparently Maddie didn't realize daddy had left, because she took off walking up along this truck and the entire time all I heard was "Da". When she got to the front and looked up and no one was there, she turned around and looked at me with the most puzzling look. It was rather quite cute. She's definitely her Daddy's girl.

She's the little purple blob by the back trailer.

Prince and Sparkle

2009-09-30T11:23:00.002-05:00

We had a sad day in our household last week. One of our cats, Sparkle, didn't run fast enough, and met the 4-wheeled monster over by the school. So Ben is telling everyone that "Sparkle died and went to heaven". So now our other cat, Prince, has become somewhat of a nuisance. He's just so tame, and now he's very lonely, so the kids seem to be spending extra time with him. He also has become quite good at sneaking into the house when the door is open. However, this has proven to be quite helpful. When he is in the house, Madalyn is completely enamored with him and stays out of my way. So last night when we got back from the field, I let him in for a few minutes while I unloaded the car and never had an issue with Madalyn bothering me. It was wonderful! And when I came around the corner, this is what I found: He had found a comfy spot in the bottom of the bookcase and Ben was petting him. And I think I had mentioned once before how much Maddie likes her kitties. THIS is how much:

And he doesn't even care!

Pumpkin Pickin'

2009-09-24T10:58:00.002-05:00

After getting back from the field Ben asked Grandma Carol if her pumpkins were ready yet. And she said they were, so we had to do a little pumpkin pickin' before we went home. Ben was having a blast and I think we ended up with like 12 pumpkins and 6 ghords! Madalyn was really liking the BIG pumpkins!

Ben with his pumpkins!

Then Madalyn settled on one that was just her size...

Harvest...FINALLY!

2009-09-24T10:46:00.002-05:00

On Monday night I finally got to take my first harvest meal to the field. It seems so late in September to me, so I'm sure it seems late to the guys. So I loaded up the big blue van (maybe a picture at a later time) that we serve meals out of, also loaded up both the kids ( a new challenge this year), and headed out to the field. Last year usually only Ben went with me and Carol or someone would keep Madalyn because she was only a few months old. We had a good meal and miraculously Madalyn did quite well.

After supper, Jay Dee didn't have to head out right away in the truck, so we hung around for a bit and let the kids get some excerise. Madalyn was quite intrigued by the little hills, or rows as we call them. But to her, I'm sure they were big hills! Ben enjoyed stomping down the bean stalks that were still standing.

At one point I told Ben he should walk to the pivot. In my mind I was thinking, "oh, good idea Mom, that way it will wear him out and he'll sleep good." I really didn't think he'd even do it. But Ben's thought, "hey mom, how about I run!" And away he went. He kept trying to get Maddie to come with him. She made it a little ways and then turned back. Ben didn't end up going all the way, because he said he got tired, but he made it almost there. He is the little dark blue blob in the middle of the road below. One of I'm sure many pictures to come of the combine and harvest. This is where Royce will spend the next 5 weeks. I also took the picture because of the pretty sky. Harvest time and fall are always such a pretty time of year.

Relaxing and Rejuvenating

2009-09-21T14:18:00.004-05:00

This picture sums it all up:

I just spent the weekend at Swan Lake Christian Camp in South Dakota. I went with a group of women from our church for a Women's Retreat. The weekend was centered around a book titled, The Too-Busy Life. A couple of friends went with me and so we had a lot of fun catching up. What a great weekend to relax and unwind. Too bad it didn't last a week!

This is the cabin we stayed in. Funny enough, this particular cabin was built by Jay Dee and some other men from our church last February. Nice job guys!

My BFF, Amie. We've known each other since we were 11. Thanks Aunt Penny! Whoever thought we'd end up living so close to each other...now if we could only spend even more time together. Maybe when our kiddos are a bit older. (by the way, this picture was taken after we had spent an hour doing our makeup with the help of Mary Kay consultants...something that never happens in our lives now!)

Another view of the lake, from a deck that was built onto one of the new cabins.

Amie, Carrie, and I before we left to head home. Can you tell the wind had picked up a bit? Thanks for coming along girls. I had a wonderful time!

Husker Football

2009-09-21T13:54:00.002-05:00

So a couple weeks ago I got a chance to attend my first Husker Football game. I must say I was pretty excited to get away for a day with my hubby and enjoy the beautiful weather. What I didn't plan on, was that the sun would come out and it would get hot! And that I would be sitting so close to so many people!!! I ended up having to purchase a t-shirt because I had on long sleeves and was about to faint. And I'm also not a huge football fan to begin with, so by halftime, I was pretty much done with football. We stayed for the entire game, and it took us a good hour to get back to our car and get out of town. It was a good, good day! Thanks to the Goertzen's for thinking of us and letting us have your seats. Below is a picture of where we sat...90 rows up!

Here come the HUSKERS!!!

After the first touchdown, the fans release balloons. Not sure I've ever seen so many balloons in one place before.

This picture was taken at the end of the game when the stands had cleared out. You can see the wall behind us that was the skyboxes. That's how close to the top we were.

The day FINALLY arrived!

2009-09-08T13:35:00.004-05:00

Not sure who was more excited, Ben or his Mom! Actually, Mom was excited that Ben was getting some much-needed time away from Mom. Today Ben started Preschool at Bethesda. I still can't believe he's that old. Next it will be Kindergarten, and then all of a sudden, he'll be off to college. He was so ready this morning that by 8:30 he had already gotten dressed, eaten breakfast, and brushed his teeth. These things usually take up until 10 to do! I think about every 15 minutes he'd ask if it was 10:30 yet. That's what time he had to be at preschool. Of course, I had to do the typical "first day of school" photos. Ben was pretty pumped about it.

I loaded 3 little ones into the wagon and we walked Ben to preschool. Jay Dee even made it home in time to help us and to watch Ben go to preschool. I think Ben was pretty happy that his Daddy came with him. This is a picture of Ben with his teacher, Gina Mestl. We're looking forward to getting to know her better through preschool.

The only thing Ben was upset about was when I picked him up. He had it in his head that he was going to get to walk home by himself, like the "big kids" do after school to our house. Why does he think he needs to grow up so fast?

Lincoln Children's Zoo

2009-09-08T11:36:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, August 29, we took the kids to Lincoln to the Children's Zoo. We've been once before when Ben was about the same age that Madalyn is now. It was fun to see their faces as they saw all the animals. Ben got pretty excited at the following: one of Santa's reindeer!

We also decided to eat lunch at the zoo. It was such a beautiful day and while we were eating we kept having a friendly visitor who would pick up everything that everyone dropped. I loved watching the peacock, but we never could get him to show all this feathers. I really wanted Ben to see them. I remember my great uncle having peacocks on his farm and I always loved looking at their feathers.
The Children's Zoo is also a great place for the kids to play and experience things they don't normally get too. One thing they have is this giant rope spider web. Ben was so worried that a big spider would get him if he crawled into the middle.
They also have a new butterfly pavillion that wasn't there the last time we visited. Outside it is this BIG caterpillar. It took Ben several tries to get up on the thing, but he finally did. The only bad part about the butterflies is that it got cold a couple days before we went and so they weren't very active. Actually, I think several of them had died. But we managed to get at least one good picture of a monarch.

Another area in the zoo they have a "hands on" exhibit. This time they had out a rabbit, and even Maddie got in on the action. He was pretty soft!

Another great area is the petting zoo with all the goats. Madalyn just loved watching them stick their heads through the little feeding holes. She would stick her hand up there and as soon as one would get close to her, she'd yank her hand out and laugh. I also think she liked the noises they made. Her favorite thing to say is "baa" thanks to Papa's sheep. It was a great day!!

4-wheelers and Jet skis

2009-08-25T11:10:00.002-05:00

We've had some outdoor adventures lately. Ben wanted to ride his 4-wheeler the other night, and to everyone's surprise, Maddie beat him on it, so he was forced to give her a ride. He wasn't excited about that, because he couldn't go as fast as he wanted to, but she enjoyed every minute of it.

We also spent some time at the Stauffer Pond on last wednesday evening. It is between here and Lincoln. We are part of the youth group leadership team for our church, and we are planning a campout for our youth this weekend, so we had an evening at the pond to make final preparations for our event. Mike and Kelsey got the jet skis out so we could ride and ski. Ben was pretty excited for a ride on the jet ski with Mike.

Madalyn however, wasn't so excited! I think she just hated the lifejacket. Because when we took it off, she just stood at the side of the pond and enjoyed the water hitting her feet.

I also managed to get in a little skiing, but we have no pictures to show you, sorry! Let's just say, I hurt for two days after that. Not sure when I'll do that again.

Birthdays and Reunions

2009-08-25T10:22:00.004-05:00

Our days have been busy, which explains why I haven't posted for awhile. Lately they have been filled with birthdays and reunions. On Saturday, the 15th, we helped Jay Dee's grandpa, Walt Rempel, celebrate his 80th birthday. His children planned a party out at the "home place" for all the family, friends, and the neighborhood that they grew up with. It was fun to see everyone, and to meet new people. Below is a picture of Ben and Maddie with their great-grandpa Rempel.

This past weekend we spent with my family in Kearney, Nebraska. We had a Phillips family reunion. Phillips is my grandma's maiden name. I was 13 when my great-grandparents passed away, and I haven't seen most of the relatives since then. So we had a good time telling stories and getting to know everyone again. The kids also enjoyed and indoor waterpark area. Ben was just a little too young yet to really enjoy it, mainly because he couldn't go down the two big slides.

This picture is of my mom pushing Maddie in her swing on friday. Can you see the smile on Maddie's face? One of her favorite things to do.

Ben, Grandma Joyce, Mom (Pam), Sondra, and Bert playing a mean game of Rummikub. I don't think Grandma's score was very good, because her 'helper' kept putting her tiles back in the draw bag. Oops!

This is my family picture. If you can't tell, we were a bit lazy and didn't feel like standing up. My mom (Pam), Dad (Gary), Ben, me, Jay Dee, and Madalyn.

My Grandma Joyce Burford, and her two brothers, Don and Jerry. Don lives in Kansas on the 'homeplace' and Jerry lives in Colorado. Grandma's other sister who lives in Kansas couldn't make it.

A picture of our extended family, with the Bullers, Ron, Kara, Penny, and Sondra.

My mom Pam, Penny, and Grandma Joyce.

This was after we got back home, and Ben and Papa were having some cookies before Papa and Nana made the trip back home.

York County Fair...and trouble!

2009-08-14T12:04:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we headed to York two different evenings for the county fair. The plan was to only go for one, but on our way there, we got a phone call from my parents that they were headed our way, so we decided we go back for a second night so they could watch the kids ride rides and look at animals. These photos were all taken from the first night.
Ben enjoyed driving the big blue semi.

This was the only ride that Madalyn was able to get on as well. We wondered if she would last very long and she did quite well. She started being ready to get off right when the ride stopped.

So the rest of the train story goes like this...

The second night Ben wanted to ride the train again, so we let him. Instead of getting to go around 8-9 times, the train stopped after 2 times around and Ben had to get off. Our son had been kicked off his first carnival ride!!! I was a bit upset (Jay Dee would say overly upset!) Here's what happened.... Ben was in the caboose this time and as they went around he was sticking his head out the side of the car to look at the front of the train. The first time they came around, I leaned over the fence and gave him a thump on the head and told him to get his head back inside. Well it wasn't two seconds and he was sticking his head back out again. This time the train stopped and he had to get out. I was not happy that the carnival person didn't give him at least a warning. I think that if someone besides me would have told him, he might have listened. Although we've been struggling with that A LOT lately-listening. So if anyone has any parenting tips, I'd gladly take them!

On the way to the car, our sobbing son informed us of why he did what he did. He told us that the person in the caboose is supposed to help the person in the engine. Well he's right. You see we read him a book about trains on the average of once a week, and in that particular book it talks all about a guy in the caboose helping the engine driver. So our son was right...to some extent. Now if we can just get him to understand rules! I'm starting to worry about preschool.

Ben also wanted to ride the ferris wheel, so his daddy braved it with him (Neither Jay Dee or I enjoy rides anymore). He had a great time and loved it. He just didn't like it when daddy rocked the seat, or when it stopped at the top and rocked a bit.

August Already!

2009-08-06T09:27:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I just realized that its been awhile since I posted, and now its already August 6! So where does the time go?

It seems that once again our lives have been busy. We actually got rain last weekend, and stayed home. Aren't you supposed to go somewhere when it rains? The one place we want to go is the Black Hills (I've never been), and this is not the time to go with Sturgis going on. So we didn't go anywhere, and instead we just spent time together which was wonderful. Plans for this week include baking bars for a Bethel Golf Tourney here in Henderson, a chiropractor appointment, and of course a trip to the York County Fair. I'll try to remember to take my camera and get some pictures. I'm sure there will be rides involved since Ben is getting bigger. The only problem is that I can't ride anything because I get sick, and he informed me that "maybe there will be a ferris wheel. I've never been on a ferris wheel!" Maybe this Mommy can manage that one...we'll see.

The only other thing we've done lately is go to the pool. That hasn't happened as much as I thought it would this summer. I'm already looking forward to next summer when Maddie is older and I won't worry about her as much. Watching two kids who can't swim is crazy! Ben will definitely be taking swimming lessons next year! So below are some pictures from our trip the other day. Maddie enjoyed playing in the little fountains, and she's not afraid of anything. Several times I pulled her up after she had fallen face first, and it never seemed to bother her.I FINALLY got Ben to go down the little slide by himself and realize that he can actually touch. He walked by it all the time in the water but it didn't click that he could touch I guess. The first time down this slide earlier this summer he didn't wait on me and was "sunk" as he puts it, and so he was scared to go down again. Now he can do it by himself which is a relief!

Maddie also likes this slide. We called Aunt Kara and Cousin Braden to go with us and so they met us there. So this is Aunt Kara helping Maddie up the slide.

The newest Allender...

2009-07-29T15:56:00.004-05:00

and a new American!!! Meet Sophia Allender, daughter of Brian and Dunia Allender. Brian is my cousin, who I spent a lot of time with growing up in Kansas. He has always felt more like a brother than a cousin, and I think part of that is because we were both an only child. Brian and his wife just recently adopted Sophia from Russia and we were able to go meet her when they made the trek back to Kansas to visit. (They live in Miami, Florida). I was extra excited because Sophia is only 1 month older than Maddie. They didn't do a lot of playing together, mainly because Sophia was too busy taking EVERYTHING in that she saw on the farm. But it was so much fun to just be around them. My parents hosted a get-together, along with Brian's parents, at our family farm for any of our family that wanted to come see them and meet Sophia. We had a great time just relaxing in the shade and visiting.

This is Ben, Maddie, and Sophia together. I wonder how big these 3 will all be the next time they see each other?Of course, Dad couldn't resist holding little Soph. What a sweetie she is!This is Brian and my grandma, Nora Ellen, having some time with Great-Granddaughter Sophia. Grandma turned 80 this past year.

Siblings

2009-07-22T17:15:00.002-05:00

Well this is a department that I don't know much about. I am an only child, and I always knew I would have more than one child just because I wanted them to have each other to play with. What I didn't expect was how well they get along, or at least they do right now. This is what I found in the living room the other morning. I'm guessing Ben helped Maddie with her blanket, and they were both watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Now here is where the disagreements start to come in. Papa and Nana gave this car to Ben, and I don't think he's quite ready to pass it along yet. However Maddie doesn't seem to think that there is any reason why this can't be a two-person vehicle! I think I have a lot to learn yet...

Family, Food, and Fun

2009-07-22T16:25:00.004-05:00

The past several days have been spent at the farm enjoying time with all our family. Jay Dee's youngest brother, Scott and his wife, Christa, came back from Indiana for several days to visit. So we had a great time enjoying each others company. Below are several pictures from our weekend. We seemed to cram a lot in and it was a joy!

This is Madalyn and her cousin Braden who is about 3 months older than her. They have a wonderful time playing together and are constantly on the move, so its rare for me to get a picture of the two of them.One of the projects for the weekend was to paint Royce and Carol's house. Scott actually broke his finger and had to have surgery a couple weeks ago, but he managed to paint most of the house on his own with only one hand. This is a picture of Ben helping him out by washing all the shutters.

I had made arrangements with some friends for some sweet corn and got a call that it was ready. So on saturday morning we decided to put up about 200 ears. Maddie and Braden both enjoyed sucking the very juicy corn. Except Maddie seemed to find an ear, chew it for a bit, and then move on to another one.

This is a photo of Ben and his Great-Grandma Elva Janzen cleaning the corn before we cut it off the cob.

Okay, this picture I just had to take. This is Maddie and her Great-Grandpa Walt Rempel. I have this same picture with my Great-grandpa Allender, except that I was a year older. So next summer I'm going to make sure I get another one.

This was Ben and his Aunt Christa playing a game while eating some delicious yummy fruit!

Every year since I don't know when, the Janzen boys have always taken a Father's Day photo in front of Royce's Camero. Of course, these days it rarely happens on Father's Day; just whenever everyone is actually together. And now, the grandkids get to get in on the action too.

An extremely rare photo of the two of us. I honestly think the last one I remember taking was at Brad and Kara's wedding and that was 6 years ago! Thanks Christa!

I think Ben was a bit upset that Uncle Scott couldn't play more with him, and so he managed to get him roped into reading books one night. Thanks Scott!

Another interesting thing that happened was that Madalyn took a book to her Uncle Brad and wanted him to read to her. This NEVER happens. We've been trying and trying to read to her and she can never sit still long enough. So I'd like to know what's so great about Uncle Brad? Of course, she didn't last for the whole book, but longer than she ever has for us.

We had an absolutely wonderful time with Jay Dee's family over the past several days. The girls even managed to get in and evening and part of a day of scrapbooking together which we haven't done for a couple of years. Thanks Scott and Christa for visiting. We miss you guys so much already! The morning you left, when Ben woke up, the first thing he asked me was when do we get to put up the Christmas tree. I asked him why, and he said, "because that's when we get to see Uncle Scott and Aunt Christa again!" I think you both have a very special place in his heart! :)

Patience is hard...

2009-07-16T10:42:00.003-05:00

when you're a 3 1/2 year old waiting on the parade to begin! Because you know there's going to be firetrucks, and horses, and CANDY!!! Don't forget about the CANDY!!

So we were waiting for the parade to begin at our annual community days in the terrible heat and we were quite surprised at how well the kids did. Especially Maddie. She just sat in her little chair like a trooper. However when she started noticing kids running into the street after things she decided she needed to run too. She wasn't sure what she was running for, but she could run, that's all that mattered to her.

And when parade time is over, you relax with Daddy!

Columbus 09

2009-07-15T16:00:00.003-05:00

For six days at the beginning of July I traveled with 12 kids from our youth group and 3 other sponsors to Columbus, Ohio for the Mennonite Church USA Conference. This is my third time going and every time I love it! I will say it is terribly hard to be away from my family for that amount of time, especially the kids, but I am so rejuvenated by Christ at the end of the week that it is always so worth it! The days are long, but its amazing how you just keep going...like the Energizer Bunny.

A lot of our time was spent at worships in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, so the first night we all took a picture at the Nationwide sign. As you can tell, we had a goofy group, but I loved every one of them. Its always so much fun to get to know the youth better, and two of them were my cousins, Kara and Sondra, so I got to spend a lot of time with them, which rarely happens these days. A couple of times during the day we would meet as our own little youth group to discuss what we had heard at worship and our plans for the rest of the day. This is picture is from that time. That is another sponsor, Bennett Friesen. Always a great friend!

We had the opportunity to celebrate the 4th of July in Columbus watching an awesome fireworks show. I think they said it was 27 minutes long and there were 1250 fireworks. Probably one of the best I've ever seen.

After many hours of travel and little sleep, we arrived back in Omaha before driving another 2 hours home. This was our last group photo. What a GREAT group of kids and sponsors. Thank you everyone for such a wonderful time, and I hope the Holy Spirit was renewed in you as it was in me.

Irrigating with Daddy

2009-07-10T15:22:00.003-05:00

Last night we had an adventure...all FOUR of us went irrigating with Daddy. It was a nice time in the vast sea of green for Mommy, a little too long for Maddie, and well Ben, was just in heaven! We even managed to get all four of us on the 4-wheeler to go check the pivots. I'm sure that was a site for those that drove by us. You will notice that Ben is wearing his "irrigating boots" even though it was 90 degrees out! I don't think he ever did really need them, but he informed us that that is what they are for...or so his Papa told him when they bought them.

You will notice that Ben had to get right in there with his Daddy to find out what he was doing. Then he also informed us that his Papa has different grease because Daddy's is black and Papa's is yellow. Isn't it amazing the things kids pick up on?

This was a picture from before we left to go check some pivots. By the end of this trip, Ben was riding in front, I was on behind with Maddie trying to keep her from jumping ship because she was not happy. She had lost her shoes and her shorts because she had found a mudhole, and her diaper was soaked as well. Next time we might have to call Grandma....

These are just a couple of fun pictures we took while waiting for Daddy. Don't you just love the look on Maddie's face? She didn't like Mommy putting her in the rows of beans because she couldn't get out! He-he.

Madalyn Kate Janzen

2009-07-10T14:17:00.003-05:00

Madalyn just turned one year old on June 5. We had a great day celebrating and I'll try to post some back pictures of that some other time. She is such a hoot and keeps us on our toes! She jibber-jabbers all the time and we're starting to figure out some of her more common noises and associating them with objects. For example, she loves our cats, so when she sees one, she does a really high-pitched shreek which also sounds like she's saying "kit-eeee".

On wednesday, she had 3 major accomplishments for the day. I think she was pretty proud of herself. She figured out how to drink out of a straw, which was a shock at first to her when she got Dr. Pepper out of my cup, but it didn't take long for her to want more. She also started going to things she would want, point at them, and say "that". It was very clear. So at least now she can tell us a little bit what she is wanting. The other thing she accomplished that day was the following:

This is what I found when I walked into the kitchen. She had managed to push the chair over to the window and climb up on it. She spent a lot of time that day just looking out at the backyard. I think she was looking for her "kit-eeee's". She also managed to climb up onto the couch, the recliner, and the glider rocker in her room. So needless to say, we have a climber! Watch out world!

While at the farm the other night Maddie got her fair share of wagon rides from Uncle Brad and Great Aunt Becky. She was in heaven. Braden also got to join in on the fun. They look pretty cute together if I do say so myself.Then when Brad, Kara, and Braden were getting ready to leave, they had put Braden in his carseat but hadn't strapped him in yet. Next thing we knew he was crawling in the front of the car and Maddie was crawling into the backseat. We all got lots of laughs as we stood outside the car and watched the two of them "play" in the car for a bit. Can't you just see the two of them cruising town some day? Although, this could be the biggest fight....deciding who gets to drive!

Benjamin Thomas Janzen

2009-07-09T16:53:00.010-05:00

Benjamin is now 3 1/2 years old and everything a little boy should be. Fun, curious, loveable, energetic, and much more! He continues to amaze me with his comments and curiousity of the world around him. One day his favorite thing will be playing with a new airplane, the next a tractor. His newest adventure though is firefighting. Yep you heard right...not a farmer, but a firefighter. He recently asked if he could take some of his own money out of his piggy bank to go to WalMart and buy something. We agreed and so a couple days ago we headed to York. His original plan was to purchase a plastic trumpet that you could play with in the bathtub that would blow bubbles. However after looking at it every time we go to Wally world, this time they didn't have ANY! He was a bit disappointed, however I was able to convince him to look for something else. And this is what he came up with -

we now have our very own firefighter in the family!

Also, last night we had a nice evening out at Jay Dee's parents farm with a BBQ and then the highlight of the evening was watching Ben ride a little 70 three-wheeler that Jay Dee rode when he was little. Ben was so excited he couldn't hardly eat! I was hoping this event wouldn't take place until he was 5 or 6, but I think Daddy won.

I think my little boy is growing up faster than I'd like. Here is also a little video clip of him. Not sure if you can see the excitement on his face or not, but it was there!

A little about our title...

2009-07-09T15:02:00.002-05:00

Where the Green Grass Grows...

I know what you're all thinking...why wouldn't she put something about 'where the corn grows'? Well I was trying to be creative, and this is as far as it got me. One of my favorite songs from my college years was by Tim McGraw called, Where the Green Grass Grows. I always liked the melody and actually hadn't listened to the song in many years. I heard it awhile back again, and it struck me how much the chorus was like my life right now. So that is where my blog title came from. Here are the lyrics from that chorus:

I'm gonna live where the green grass grows
Watch my corn pop up in rows
Every night be tucked in close to you
Raise our kids where the good Lords blessed
Point our rockin chairs towards the west
And plant our dreams where the peaceful river flows
Where the green grass grows

Basically, all we're missing is the peaceful river and we'd be set. Maybe someday...

Blogging...Here I Come!!!

2009-07-09T14:53:00.002-05:00

So after much coaxing from family and friends, Blogging...Here I Come!!!

I have enjoyed reading other peoples blogs for a long time, but just never thought I had the time to sit down and blog like others do. Well I soon realized that sending photos over email is not the way to go anymore, and blogging is! We have also had changes in our lives and staying updated with others is getting harder to do. So my attempt in this blog will be to update family and friends of our "happenings" here in Henderson, Nebraska. With most of my family living outside the Cornhusker borders, I hope this will keep them updated, if they so choose to read my posts.

Please do not expect me to post every day! I do have two young children, plus a daycare, and numerous other responsibilities. So if I manage once or twice a week, I'll be happy. Happy reading!