The past few weeks

Dad, being a little self conscious while we sang Happy Birthday to him. He hates having a fuss made over him. 

 

Orianna wrote a card for Grandpa

Walking over to Grandma and Grandpa to do cows on a frosty morning

Geese

Oh geese. How pleased they make me with their noise and v's.

Working cows

Owen just stood around taking pictures. Ahahah. He had to get a picture of me actually working he said. 

Gilbert was quite delighted with helping. The bulls were being castrated, so they needed a tetanus shot and then, some of the calves hadn't been tagged.

Two pals

Elsie looks like she fears for her life

Dirty knees and clean jammy feet

The kids hung out in the feeder wagon

Heading down

Owen is tearing a layer of concrete out of the barn, so he can pour concrete in the gutter channels, making it easier to clean. It is so weird. In my life, I have probably walked in the barn thousands of times. And now suddenly, I am viewing it from a few inches lower. This is probably how I viewed the barn as an eleven year old.  

Before Lily's birthday party, the kids dismantled my hydrangea bush and "decorated." I had had great plans for Lily's party, after reading this blog post about a (small) farm wife with five kids who had such a lovely time decorating for her daughter's party with her daughter. Instead, the alternator on the van went in town and Orianna and I (who had gone in to buy a present for Lily) were stuck there until Justin could load up all the kids and come get us. Then I got home late, was slightly flustered and impatient and messed  up the cake. 

I felt like the whole thing was a parallel universe to the Day That Should Have Been. The beautiful cake, the quiet, gentle discussion of where to place bouquets of flowers, the delight of doing something with my growing-up girls. Sigh. It is much harder to bear the things that are so close to my grasp. A little more preparation and care and I could have had it all lovely. 

But the kids were perfectly delighted with their decorating efforts. 

My sweet eight year old and her delighted brother

Would you like to see what the cake should have looked like, if I had used the right frosting and had more time? 

Yes. This one is more elegant. But again, the kids thought it was a lovely cake. 

The next day, on Lily's actual birthday, we went to Vermont for my sister-in-law's grandmother's funeral. 

I love the farms right on the water. I always think of the two as being seperate, waterfront and farm 

Lake Champlain

Sailboats in evening light in Rouses Point

My pathetic attempt at a picture of the eclipse and the blood moon. I seriously think, judging from Facebook, that everyone else took better pictures with their cellphones than I did with my SLR. I am pretty awful at settings and the like. 

Justin was home one day and did some talking with Abilene. a

(What is it with kids having to take the cushions off the sofa?)

Orianna working on homework outside

While the rest of the kids played soccer

 

Mom bought Lily a soccer net for her birthday, so she has been playing a lot since.

Elsie in her walk-in-the-cold get up

My mums that came back. I am pretty sure these were the 97 cent mums that I bought last year at Wal-mart. I thought they were more an annual, but I had three nice bushy plants return. They start out cream colored, and as the flowers age, they turn purple. 

My camera was on the blue setting. But see my big plop of Mums in front of the shrub? That was just one plant. Good return on a 97 cent investment.

Justin got to do a welding job last week. He loves welding. This is him cleaning up the welds and smoothing it out.