A Return to the Farm

Posted on November 15, 2016November 15, 2016 by Amy

You might remember that I used to blog at least a few times a year about a place called The Farm. I even have a topic category devoted to it. The Farm is my in-laws’ property where our family often spends vacation time. My husband hunts and fishes there. We used to have the big Labor Day party there. My husband and I spent much of our first year of dating there (it happened to be halfway between the place where I did my internship and where he did his transitional residency). We got married there.

We love The Farm.

For the past year and a half or so, The Farm has been under serious construction, so the kids and I have not been able to visit. It’s been strange to be away for so long.

But finally, it’s done enough that we were able to go with my husband for his annual deer hunting trip. We loved being there again and did our best to make the most of it.

Two weeks, we were there. My kids played with cousins, met some new friends, went on treasure hunts, fished, and had fun with grandparents. Here are a few photos to document our return to the place we love:

The girls got to experience trick-or-treating with their cousins in Iowa the way my husband has always said is the “right” way. The kids there have to tell a joke in order to get their candy. It’s quite odd, but the kids loved it. Even my shy girls (Miss and Sis) had no trouble telling their jokes, and it was so fun to watch them ham it up a bit even.

^With all of the cousins except one on my husband’s side of the family^

Two weeks is a long time, and we couldn’t skip school altogether, so I brought some of our work, which we did in the mornings. Then the girls spent the afternoons playing outside, fishing with their dad, and going on nature treasure hunts.

^That is a bucket of dead leaves in water, which she said she was “bringing back to life”^

We took a field trip to the big city to meet some other homeschooling friends (it’s nice to be practically the only kids in the park on a Friday afternoon).

I have been friends with this lovely lady since I was pregnant with Miss and she was pregnant with her oldest, but we’ve never met in person before. It was so delightful to see her face and give her a hug. We had so much to talk about and the afternoon just flew by.

Our second weekend we had more cousin time (they came down to The Farm this time) including some big treasure hunts.

^Bubba got pretty tired out after his first time in the woods^

My husband got two deer, one with a bow and one with a rifle.

^The deer he shot with his bow^

And there was so much more. It was a wonderful two-week getaway to a special place.

I forgot a little how much more involved it is to travel with an infant, and we’re still trying to get back to normal now that we’re home, but it was all worth it to see the joy on my girls’ faces when they spent time with their cousins or fished with their dad all day.

We’re already looking forward to our next trip at Christmas time.

This and That – A Quick Update

Posted on June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 by Amy

Just a quick update on why I’ve been absent for almost two weeks:

This week, our house is going on the market.

So for the past week, pretty much every spare moment was spent cleaning, or fixing, or weed-pulling, or staging (other than the moments when I took my kids to the pool for the first time this summer or when I took my kids for a play date with Super Friend’s kids, both absolutely necessary breaks from the house prep).

My house is so different now. My school room is now a dining room again.

There’s no more paint splattered on the wall or play doh smooshed on the floor. The few things that I kept around for us to do art projects and some finishing of reading lessons over the summer are crammed into that green cabinet in the photo above. If you walked in my house right now, you would have no idea that I homeschool my kids.

My kitchen no longer has brass cabinet pulls.

Before:

After:

Same pulls + a can of metallic spray paint + a little bit of work = cheap fix for ugly hardware!

Furniture has been moved all around. Tons of stuff got moved out to a storage unit. Everything has been scrubbed and dusted and tidied and polished, and I hate this process already, and I’m glad I will never have to do it again.

And I’m really, really glad to be on vacation this week. It’s only Monday, and vacay has been just delightful already. We started out visiting my husband’s cousin and his wife and daughters for a band practice.

My husband’s other cousin (the sister of two of the band members), is getting married in a month and a half, and we are going to be playing for her wedding. No pressure. And also, how crazy fun and awesome is that?? It’s going to be the most rocking wedding reception, and I can’t wait.

And speaking of awesome, my husband’s aunt (the mom of previously mentioned cousins) took me and my girls and our hostess and her daughters to the Grotto of the Redemption on Saturday. What an incredible monument to faith, envisioned and built by Fr. Dobberstein for over 40 years in small-town northern Iowa (it was then nearly completed by Fr. Dobberstein’s helpers and successors after his death, with two more statues now needed for its completion). It has rocks from every state and from all over the world, and depicts various scenes showing the fall and redemption of humanity. It is breathtaking and truly indescribable.

Miss got her first taste of singing with the band. After each song she said, “Can we do another one?” I think she’s hooked.

It was such a fantastic weekend. Now we’re at the Farm, doing all the Farm things.

It’s going to be a good week.

Vacation School

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Amy

A few months ago, when I was planning for our homeschool year, I sat down and planned out our schedule for the year. No, I am not one of those amazing homeschool moms who planned out every lesson for the year in July. Most days I prep what we’re going to do the night before we’re doing it, if I’m lucky (if not, I just fly by the seat of my pants, and that works just fine for kindergarten).

What I mean about planning our year is that I sat down and looked at all the weeks we would be doing school, the days/weeks we would be off, the days Miss would be at her other school, and then figured out how many hours per day I’d need to teach in order to meet our state’s requirement of 875 hours of instruction per year. I don’t actually have to do that many hours this year because formal homeschooling doesn’t have to start until next year. But this is my practice year, so I did it anyway.

This is one of the built-in “vacation” weeks for our year. We’re at the Farm for my husband’s annual week of deer hunting. I knew I wouldn’t be bringing our school work with us, so I didn’t count on logging any school hours this week.

But duh, it’s the Farm. Being here is like having a week-long field trip. I’m definitely logging some hours.

The girls got to see a groundhog in personal after the hired man captured one in the live trap (the groundhog was digging and making a mess in one of the buildings, so he was taken somewhere else). We had a nice impromptu review about groundhogs, while having the benefit of being able to point out, up close, their perpetually growing teeth and long claws for digging.

We’ve had plenty of outdoor exploration, discussing deer behaviors, inspecting scrapes, discovering where they might sleep and what they might eat.

We’ve had discussions about the formation of rocks, and there has been plenty of “gym class.” Balancing, jumping, running down and up hills, etc.

While playing on the hay bales, we found a big caterpillar. It was spiky and rolled into a ball each time we picked it up.

So, obviously, we had a discussion about animals’ natural defenses. And then we tried to guess what the caterpillar might eat, and we made a habitat for it.

I’ve laughed at myself a little bit this week, because we are not doing anything at all differently from what we would do here at the Farm if we weren’t homeschooling our kids. But since we are, I tend to think about everything differently:

“Oh, an animal skull. Science! They’re climbing. Gym class!”

Yes. I’m logging every bit of it. I love homeschooling.

Come Join the Wild for a Moment – A Labor Day Party Recap

Posted on September 4, 2014July 3, 2016 by Amy

It’s a Labor Day tradition for my in-laws to host a great big family reunion for Labor Day weekend, culminating in a rocking party on Sunday night.

It’s also a tradition for Ben and I to sit and debrief/savor/try to prolong the good feelings the party brings by talking about it for hours afterwards. Monday we were too tired/hungover. But Tuesday night, we settled in and rehashed all the things about the party. And then we did it again tonight. The best songs, the funniest moments, the crazy costumes, the hilarious dance moves, the surprise performances. . . All. of. it.

This post has taken several days to write, mostly because I had to sort through over 1500 photos first. But also because it is nearly impossible to put into words what the Labor Day Party is like. I am fully aware that nothing that I write here, even with the addition of lots of photos, will come close to describing the true nature of The Party. It truly defies description.

But. You know I’m going to try anyway. Ben and I decided that this year’s party was one of the best. Here are a few of the highlights of the weekend and the party:

Pre-Sunday Night Party – My brother-in-law brought fireworks for Saturday night. The kids loved them (so did the grownups).

And though it seems like a small thing, it’s the little additions like this, and the thoughtfulness of all the family members to bring their best, to add something to the party in tangible and intangible ways, that make the weekend magical.

And I don’t use that word lightly. Really, it’s like magic. As if a little party fairy comes and puts a spell on all of these regular, hard-working grown ups, and turns us into (in some cases back into) party animals, and creates this place where, for a weekend, and more intensely for about five hours on Sunday evening, there is no limit to the fun that this family can have together, laughing, singing, dancing, and whatever else moves us.

Too much? Right. Obviously there’s no party fairy. But there is this fun-loving, slightly nutty group of people that I married into, who really just know how to have fun and aren’t self-conscious or uptight. So, basically the same thing.

So. Sunday night. The costumes. The theme was “Cartoons.”

Snow White ^^ was a brand new attendee this year (the only first-timer besides some tiny babies). He not only came up with the idea for this group costume, but he made his own dress and the dwarf’s hats and pick axes. Notice that he even included the red insets in his sleeves. Talk about bringing something a little extra. I think he had fun and wasn’t totally freaked out, even though he isn’t related to anyone else who was there, and was exposed to moments like these:

He’s just one of the family now.

I think the dancing and the singing and the wild and crazy and fun hit a new level this year. I’ll let a few photos illustrate this point:

DSC_0509_2

A lot of the increase in wild and crazy seems to have been due to this interesting little creation, dreamed up by my husband and made into reality by my brothers-in-law:

It really ought to have been called the Wheel of You’re-Going-to-Feel-Like-Death-Tomorrow, but it did add a lot of oomph to the antics. When I Instagrammed a photo of my hangover-cure fountain Dr. Pepper on Monday, with the hashtag #thebartendermademedoshots, I wasn’t kidding.

Nearly every time I went to the bar to get a beer, he’d give me a diabolical look and reach to spin the wheel. No matter what it landed on, he’d turn it to “Shot.” I would then proceed to drink my shot like a good little partygoer, and then I’d say, “Okay, now can I have my beer?” Ahem. I was a bit rough around the edges on Monday morning, as were the rest of the partiers. Including the bartender.

So anyway, things got pretty crazy. People were getting drunky-drunk. The bartender (my brother-in-law) got the party going. There was a lot of rapping, which is always interesting in a group full of folks originating from Iowa farm country.

There was some good old 1978 Rapper’s Delight:

There was even a spontaneous “Ice Ice Baby” rap battle between my husband’s old high school buddy,

and the youngsters, my husband’s godson and nephew (I believe they called themselves Dollar $ign and MC Juan, respectively):

I think I can safely use the word Epic here.

You may be surprised, considering the place was full of Iowa natives, to know that all of the rapping was actually quite good. Skillful. Well-timed. Full of flair. In fact, it was only the girl from Detroit (AKA me) who probably didn’t do such a bang-up job on the song I rapped (Fancy by Iggy Azalea). In my defense, I had never even heard of the song until about a month before the party. And I was a little, ah, dizzy from the Wheel of Death. If you know what I’m saying.

But who cares? I rapped.

My husband and I agreed that one of the best moments of the night, which was completely spontaneous and hilarious, was when the band inserted a Biz Markie sing-along into a Toby Keith song, out. of. the. blue. Just a Friend into Red Solo Cup, if you can imagine that. It was bizarre, but it worked, and the crowd loved it and fully sang along, at top volume, while laughing and dancing maniacally.

You can’t make this stuff up, people.

There was talent, both young and old.

^^ My seven-year-old nephew playing the kazoo, alongside his dad.

^^ If you’ve been paying attention, that’s the third instrument he played that night.

I could go on and on. I already have, I know. But one last thing:

The best part about the night, was seeing my girls really get into it, even more than in years past.

^^ Hokey Pokey

They danced and played and had so much fun. They’re still talking about it and about the relationships they strengthened with cousins and aunts and uncles. They are still asking me to play “Sweet Dreams” (Eurythmics), over and over and reminiscing that it was their favorite song of the night.

The party is an amazing thing. It’s wild, and it’s incredible fun.

But at the end of the night, it’s still really just all about family.

7QT In Case You’re Wondering What I’ll Be Doing This Weekend…

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Conversion Diary.

It’s Labor Day! It’s pretty much the biggest weekend of the year for our family. Here is a repost from last year, just in case you were wondering what we’ll be up to this weekend:

**************

Here is Part 3 and Final in my series on the Labor Day Party. Sorry it’s a bit belated, but I got distracted by the girls’ baptisms over the weekend and my parents’ visit this week.

Here are some random observations about the weekend, the Farm, the family, and The Party.

A perfect illustration of The Party in a Walmart shopping cart:

I can’t think of any problem that could come up during the Labor Day Party Weekend that couldn’t be fixed with hand wipes, coffee, toilet paper, and/or a fire extinguisher. Probably should have some beer in there to truly complete the picture, but someone else was in charge of buying that.

Families need to eat together.

My husband’s family is huge. And they love to eat.

My Mother- and Father-in-law are the absolute masters of feeding very large groups of people with maximum efficiency.

There are lots of good ways to do it. Weenie roast and lots of wings/fries are two that are employed every year during The Weekend.

My favorite though, is the shrimp boil.

I don’t know exactly how it works, but it involves boiling lots of corn on the cob, potatoes, hot dogs, sausages, onions, garlic, and shrimp with spice packets in huge pots.

Sometimes it includes lobster. Yum.

The tables get covered with plastic and paper and when the food is done, well, it goes on the table. Literally.

Food. On table.

What could be more fun than grabbing food off the table, eating it with your hands, squirting ketchup and ranch dressing directly onto the paper…? No plates, no utensils, easy clean up. I love it.

Talk about family togetherness.

I love how much stuff there is to do at the Farm. The bigger kids and grown ups do lots of boating, knee-boarding, and playing volleyball. There’s tons of fun for the littles too.

When a family reunion lasts a whole weekend, there has to be plenty to do.

Or not.

Costumes make a party more fun.

The theme of The Party this year was “Jobs.”

After much deliberation, my older girls both decided to be marine biologists. Lass was going to be a zookeeper, but when she saw the wetsuit outfit I was going to order for her sister, she had to have the same one.

A cousin was also a marine biologist.

Baby Sis was a mommy.

The Band (L-R): Fast food worker, rogue accountant, blacksmith, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, trucker, and me, a tattoo artist.

Some of my other favorites:

The clown, complete with balloon animals for the kids

“Mechanic Man”

And, yes, The Lunchlady (complete with the full Chris Farley dance performed during the party)

One of my favorite lines of the night was overheard from my sister-in-law regarding a comment my niece had made about her dad (The Lunchlady), “This is my Daddy’s fake butt that he wears under his dress.” Nice.

Families that rock together, stay together.

Father and son:

Sisters:

Mother and son:

Brothers:

Cousins:

A special tribute sing-a-long for their Grandmother,

Her favorite song, “Lord of the Dance.”

One of my favorite parts of the night was watching my girls have fun on the dance floor.

And the dancing. Oh, the dancing.

Blister in the Sun:

The dance off:

“I ripped my pants!!”

And one of my favorite dance-floor traditions, the “Wipe Out” dance:

An incredible weekend. An incredible party. An incredible family.

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For other quick takes, go here.

Here are links to other posts about the party, its history, and the band.

Have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes – Evidence of Summer Fun and a Couple of Other Random Thoughts

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Jen.

1. I have been a little off the past few weeks. I’ve wanted to write more, but nothing I’ve come up with has been right. I’m starting to feel like getting back in the swing, so I thought I’d start by sharing that, though I have had some rough days, we’ve still been having a fun summer. Presenting, five Quick Takes with photographic evidence of summer fun:

2. Last week we went raspberry picking.

Miss was all about getting as many raspberries as possible so we could make fresh raspberry smoothies for breakfast the following morning (which were awful, by the way). The other two were not super motivated, but I think they still had fun. Either way, they got a special treat afterwards.

I let them have just ice cream for lunch. They were thrilled and thought I was the best mom ever. I didn’t have to make them anything to eat. Win, win.

3. We went shopping for soccer shoes over the weekend. I realized how infrequently (i.e. never) I take the girls to a mall. They were ooh-ing and aah-ing over everything they saw, from kiosks with funky paper light fixtures to the mannequin displays in all of the store front windows. They even had a lot of fun with some president statues outside the mall entrance.

It might have been a tad over the top, how proud I was that they could identify George Washington and Abraham Lincoln by themselves.

4. We’ve had a few cookouts with friends. I already mentioned our first one on the 4th of July. We had another with homemade grilled pizza, s’mores, and movie night (and some trampolining in pajamas):

^^ The chef with his delicious pizzas ^^

and another time with my husband’s grilled ribs, baked beans, and fritters (all homemade), an airshow overhead, homemade ice cream (my sole contribution), and a movie night:

^^ We set the kids’ tables in the yard so they could see the Thunderbirds overhead ^^

My husband loves to grill, especially for company. I love to let him. Win, win.

5. We had a picnic in the downtown square. We listened to live music and danced in the grass.

We played in the fountain.

Summer fun, right there ^^

6. This week we are at the Farm. Always a lot of summer fun to be had here. Yesterday my husband caught a bunch of shad and let the girls play with some on the beach. They were entertained for hours. It was sort of odd and quite fun to watch.

7. And in news not related to summer shenanigans, I finally updated my “About Me” page. I am not entirely sure that it’s finished, but it has been changed quite a bit and I like it so far. What do you think?

For more Quick Takes, see Conversion Diary.

Five Favorites – Little Moments

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Amy

My five favorite little moments of this week.

1. Watching the girls play in this tall grass:

I took the next picture thinking I was going to capture a total “Little House on the Prairie” moment as they were running, slightly downhill, through the grass. Laura and Mary for sure:

2. Our “Secret, Special Snack” up on the platform of the swing set. They thought this was pretty awesome, and kept talking about all the animals that wouldn’t be able to “get us” or take our snack because we were up so high. My arm wasn’t long enough to get a selfie of all four of us:

3. My eldest in a nice display of sisterly love and helpfulness.

4. The other night after I put the girls to bed, I saw several deer right near the house drinking from the pond.

I could hear that Miss was still awake, so I ran downstairs to get her so she could see them. The first thing she said, when I told her there were deer right by the house and I wanted her to see them was, “I can’t believe I’m up so late!!!!” She giggled like she was getting away with something and ran back up the stairs with me. She said the same thing over and over. “I can’t believe I’m up so late!”

Clearly it was much more exciting to be up out of bed five minutes after I had tucked her in than to see four deer up close.

5. The fishing tournament weigh-in.

My husband and our brother-in-law won the tournament.

The girls kept grabbing his plaque and telling their cousins, “My Dad won this.” The pride in their voices was priceless.

Happy Father’s Day to my BFF.

For more favorites check out Five Favorites at Moxie Wife.

A Vacation that Actually Feels Like. . . A Vacation?

Posted on June 11, 2014June 14, 2014 by Amy

Going on vacation with small children has never felt like a vacation. Staying in places that aren’t baby/toddler-proofed, dealing with disrupted sleep schedules, and not being in my own space has always thrown my (mostly) finely-tuned routine for a loop and led me to feel like I’m doing more work than usual, rather than “vacationing.”

That’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed our travels. I’ve just had to adjust my expectations so that I plan for fun on vacation and lots of learning and great times with my kids and family, but not rest or relaxation or leisure.

So imagine my surprise at finding out that, while traveling for two out of the past three weeks, it has actually, kind of, at times. . . felt like a vacation! Two weeks ago we were at my parents. This week we’re at the Farm visiting with my in-laws. Now that my girls are getting bigger, I’m actually feeling a bit leisurely.

Everything is simpler here.

I’m not as caught up in cleaning and school prep and food prep and all the other random daily-grind things that come up when we’re home, so I get to play more with my girls.

Exploring and made-up games are the big hits, as always, but somehow when we’re here it’s just a bit more special.

And now that Sis is getting bigger, it’s a little less stressful to travel with her. I’m no longer worried about her falling down the stairs where we don’t have a baby gate or choking on something small since not every toy has been completely sifted through with all choking hazards removed. I don’t have to constantly hover over her every second (I’m making myself sound totally neurotic, aren’t I?).

I still get a little bit nervous with her around the water, but she’s done a pretty good job so far following our water rules. All the girls are enjoying the water and the fishing.

They’ve been catching lots of fish. Even Sis caught a few crappies, but she preferred fishing for minnows.

Slippery little suckers.

As for me, when not exploring with the girls I’ve been reading and writing and taking naps every day and playing cards with my husband and my in-laws. We played Euchre a few nights ago, which is one of my favorites.

Last night they even convinced me to play Texas Hold ‘Em. I’ve never been a fan of playing poker, so I was reluctant. But I didn’t want to be a party pooper, so I agreed. I loved it! I even ended up the big winner of the evening after an intense hand with a huge winnings pot where the two others betting with me both had full-house hands, but I won with four of a kind!

Ah, vacation.

So, don’t despair moms of little ones. Someday you will again be able to relax a bit on vacation. And it might be sooner than you think.

I love it here.

Now it’s time for my nap.

Treasure

Posted on November 9, 2013November 9, 2013 by Amy

Yesterday we took the girls on a long treasure hunt. It was cold and windy. We ended up with one shell, one piece of shell, and two pieces of hickory nut husk as our “treasures.”

Not much in the way of take-home booty.

But, it was really one of the best treasure hunts we’ve had. The real treasures just weren’t things we could put in our pockets. My favorite was this deer carcass:

It had decomposed enough that it wasn’t stinky or gross. Granted, I didn’t want to touch it, but my Mother-in-law, bless her heart, took care of that when the girls asked to look more closely at different parts. They were fascinated by the ribs and spine and jaw and pelvis, and came up with various hypotheses about how the deer died.

My Mother-in-law showed them the teeth and discussed how old the deer may have been. We talked about the circle of life and how other animals had eaten the rest of the doe’s body.

It was a fantastic science lesson, without really being a lesson.

Then we had “gym class” climbing on this old fallen tree. They have been captivated by this tree since it fell over in the early summer.

The adventure turned out to be a bit of a disaster, because the girls were scared half to death by trying to balance on the tree trunk in slightly floppy rubber boots.

It was cool anyway.

Next stop was the beach. They enjoyed splashing in the water a bit (the whole reason we wore the rubber boots).

We went for a walk along the shore.

And found some deer tracks.

We explored some beaver handiwork too.

Though we ended up with just a couple of small in-my-pocket treasures, the real treasures of the day were the findings and experiences of nature.

One of my favorite things about homeschooling the girls is that I think it has made me focus on and cherish these kinds of occurrences even more than I did before. I enjoy having a new appreciation for how much learning there is to be done out in the world.

A Deer Already and It’s Only Monday

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Amy

It’s only Monday night. This was only my husband’s fourth night of bowhunting. He already got a deer! Woo Hoo!!

I am so excited. This never happens. Usually it is the very last day that he gets a deer. There are several reasons for this, and they basically all boil down to the fact that my husband is meticulous and picky. He will not take a shot at a deer unless he is quite sure he can kill it. He also won’t shoot if the deer is too young, as he wants them to be able to grow on the property here.

In years past, he has waited and waited for a deer worth shooting that was within range for him to get with his bow. This year he got an opportunity at the beginning of the week! And since he had a perfect shot and the deer died almost instantly, he didn’t need to spend all evening tracking it, so the girls and I were able to go out to his hunting spot and watch him field dress the deer.

We found him and he led us right to the deer, just a few feet away.

The older girls had already observed the field dressing of a deer that their cousin shot yesterday, but they were still excited to see Daddy’s deer.

WARNING – There are photos of a dead deer below.

The girls walked with their Dad to see where his arrow landed in the ground. It went clean through the deer.

SECOND WARNING – There are a couple of photos of a dead deer being field dressed below. I am not posting anything too graphic, but the third photo down from here is a little gross.

The girls really enjoyed watching this process and hearing from their Dad about what he was doing and why. He showed them the various organs of the deer and explained what they do. Lass was especially interested in getting up close, though she did say, “No more killing deer now, okay?” Sweet, tender-hearted girl.

They covered their noses when he cut open the stomach to show them what the deer had been eating.

I stood back a little, because I have actually never watched a deer be field dressed up close myself (the last time I was in the field when it was done I stood waaay back). This time I wanted to see what my girls were seeing. But I was a little worried I would get really grossed out, so I didn’t get too close.

Turns out it wasn’t really that bad. At least from a bit of a distance. With my camera in front of my face most of the time.

I love that the girls got to experience this with their Daddy. Miss was so intrigued and kept talking about when she will get to go hunting with him soon. I am thrilled that it’s only Monday night, and I will now get to spend some time with my hubby for the duration of our vacation.

Unless he decides to spend the rest of the week fishing…