4th of July Parade

This year our kids program at church walked in the parade to advertise for our VBS. I took a pic of the Sundrop monster truck to remind everyone that we have always known how awesome Sundrop is. It is our claim to fame, as it comes from Cabarrus County.
We lined up at the middle school and went down main street handing out icee pops. Yeah, it is as hot as it looks. I would like to add here that it is not cool for an adult to walk up to one of my kids and ask for a WHOLE bag of icee pops.
Some kids started out in the wagons, but we ended up trading them out for the coolers of icee pops. How cute is she? Couldn't you just eat her up? When I asked her she told me NO, lol.
The line of people at the start of the parade. We had allot of fun, and I saw many people that I haven't seen in a while. Several kids were shouting to the buddies so I made G get out of the truck and walk.....since they were all there to see him, haha.
P.S. I will be taking a week off from blogging to drive out to California with my two sisters. We leave in an hour, so I should probably be loading the car. ;)

100th Day

School has celebrated the 100th day. A little later than the norm since we missed an ENTIRE week of school for the snow that we had. I should be posting pics of each child in the doctors office. This time of year is brutal in the South. The weather is all over the place. Yesterday it was 75 here. We have had a stomach virus, the flu, two cases of strep, a sinus infection, and an asthma attack. Oh well, this too shall pass.

Snow, snow and more snow

Well, after much speculation it came. The snow that is. Powdery white stuff. No school.
Let the playing began. Snow people, sledding, hiking, riding the 4 wheeler and Gator.
Feeding the squirrels and birds.
Guess what? I think we are all over it. Snow...go away. Back up North. Please. Tomorrow....day three of no school.

Signs of Spring

I was so excited a few weeks ago, when the first daffodils started coming up.

Even more excited to see these daffodils blooming. They are my special ones.
Aunt Patsy gave all of us girls bulbs, from Grandaddy's home place, last year before she died. I planted them separate from all of my other ones, around a tree, that I can see from every window in front of the house. Every time I see them, I think about her and how thoughtful this gift was.
The others are along the side of the yard where the fence used to be. They were planted by Landon's grandmother and have spread quite well.
I love it when they bloom, because they signify a new season. The only color in a sea of leafless trees.
And the most favorite part? Having them inside. Heavenly.

Weather

Not allot going on around here. Just the usual homework, feeding the chickens and cows, and making feed for across the street. The biggest news is the weather. After weeks of temps below freezing, we had two weeks of low 60's. Glorious as it was, it thawed out the ground and made everything a darn, muddy mess. Then the rain started. Of course, flooded land followed, as did school closings, and delays. One of Levi's friends had to ride in a canoe to dry road with the firemen, and then get on the bus. Levi himself was on the bus for an hour and 20 minutes that day, driving around all the flooded bridges. The massive wind came right behind that. The boys told me that the power kept going off and on at school the other day. Now the biggest news is the temps are dropping again. Friday they are calling for snow mixed with sleet. Saturday the chance goes up to 80 percent. Oh yeah, I am "super" excited. Those whom know me well, know that I don't like the white stuff at home. Do you know what happens after cold, then two weeks of short sleeves, followed by white stuff? SNOT! Colds, coughing, ear infections, oh my. Can't wait.

Packing

6 toboggans

10 pairs of ski gloves

6 coats

6 snow pants

6 sets of long underwear

Extra socks

Crocs

Blankets

Snacks

Lunch

8 DS games

4 iPods synced

Carmex

Camera

P.J.'s

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

I feel like I am forgetting something.

Winterplace, 80 percent chance of snow and 16 degrees, here we come.

Thanksgiving

Wow, I can't believe it has been one week since I posted. The kids only had two days of school last week, so y'all can imagine how it has been around here. ;) Anywho, last Monday Levi was baptized with several other kids from our church. Thanks to everyone who was able to come. I wish it was like that at church every Sunday. I really miss sitting with the whole family, like we did when we were little, everyone went to Grandmama's church together and then went to her house for Sunday lunch. Thursday we had two Thanksgiving meals to go to. Friday I went shopping with my family. Not really any huge deals as we just went to a mall. I hate that I missed out on Old Navy, Target, and Best Buy. Oh well, there is always next year. I did hit Walmart that night, and they still had allot of sales going on. Saturday we had another Thanksgiving meal to attend. The buddies stayed with Landon's mom from Thursday evening through Saturday. They had a blast with her, saw Planet 51 and ate homemade doughnut holes. When she called Saturday morning she said they had talked her into a trip to Krispy Kreme. Too cute! Sunday was the first time in MONTHS that Levi didn't have to be at church at 4. Let me tell you it was NICE! We even got the sidewalk raked Sunday afternoon. Still harvesting beans, but they are calling for rain today so it will get delayed even more. Pray for a week of sunny weather so we can put the 2009 soybean crop to bed. My husband is STRESSED. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!

Farm Fridays

Uncle Blake has been square baling this week. Wednesday Levi baled some. It was his first time, he had a blast.
As I was taking this shot, the buddies were talking. "Who do you think is gonna win?" they both wondered. Then busted out laughing. The bale wagon flies.
Landon and Levi. If we are lucky, the cutting will get through today and the planting can get into full swing. Cross your fingers. We also need rain because the corn is tasseling (hubs says tosseling). Very dry around here.

Farm Fridays

Still going strong. NOAA is calling for 97 degrees today with high humidity. (what else is new...right?)

Countdown to go to the beach on the 4th:

200 acres of wheat left to cut

450 acres of beans left to plant

50 acres of oats to cut

Cross your fingers because everyone, including the hubs, has beach fever.

Farm Fridays

The ground is so wet at the Eudy Place, that it is not closing behind the planter.
You can actually see the seeds laying in the slots.
So, the hubs decided to try out the spiky wheels from the old planter. As you can see, it works. The spikes force the dirt back over the slots.
Now we have a new problem, remember how short the old planter was? Yep, we need more wheels. This is going to be expensive, lol.

Memorial Day

Sunday, the Coca Cola 600 was cancelled for rain for the first time in 49 years. This was the 50th anniversary running of it at the Lowes Motor Speedway. It was postponed until Monday. (I,we, are NOT Nascar fans. Have never been to a race, etc.)
Sunday night, five free tickets for the tower fell into our laps. Landon and I decided that he and the big boys had to go. At least this once. He took Jason and Clay for the other two tickets.
A friend from up North was here, and had the tickets because it was his sons Make-A-Wish to go to the Coca Cola 600 and meet Junior. If you are from the South, you know who Junior is. His dad was simply, Senior, lol.
He had to fly back home on Monday to start his treatments for his cancer, so they gave us their tickets. Guess what? It was called for rain again.
So this no name won. Why? Everyone had gone in for a pit stop when they called the race. So, the boys didn't get to see the most exciting part of a race. The final 50 laps where everyone really starts racing and passing each other. And a wreck or two takes place. Oh well, at least they were dry, right?

Marshmallows

This year we are trying something new with the round bales. We are wrapping them in plastic. This makes the round bales "haylage" instead of regular hay. Translation=candy for cows. They love it.
The buddies think that the bales look like huge marshmallows. When you are wrapping them like this the hay doesn't need to dry out in the field before bailing. You simply cut, bale and wrap. One day and you're done. Nice when rain is coming.
Also no need to move from point A to point B and cover with tarps. It is already weather proof as is. (this is a rake for those of you whom may not know what Crystal was talking about)
This is the buddies favorite part. We watched for a few minutes when S exclaimed, " Mommy! Daddy is backing up! He is getting ready for a DROP!" It made me chuckle, because it sounded so dramatic and military.

Easy?

Finally, it stopped raining long enough for the hubs to get that Kinze into the fields and plant some corn. Can y'all believe the sky in these pics? I don't know if it should be a John Deere commercial or a Kinze commercial.
This thing is just so huge. Remember the old one was just a lowly six row planter.
This isn't your grandfathers farming folks. It is quite complicated now. The screen is a type of GPS, if you will, to keep the rows correct. Precision farming to make the most out of your seed and fertilizer. One wrong calculation in overlapping can add up to hundreds/thousands of dollars lost.
This pic is for the people who say, why is he home so late? It is dark. Newsflash. We have this little invention called LIGHTS. Only, this year instead of straining to see his makers, he just used this little gem.

Ready

We are ready to plant corn. Now if it would dry up a tad, so I can go to Stone Mountain for Easter with my sister and brother-in-law. Because, if the corn isn't in the ground, we aren't going anywhere.

More Snow

More snow pics for the family.
Some of you may or may not remember, but it poured down rain the whole week-end before it snowed the other week.
This probably hindered what we could have gotten in the snow department. It was allot fluffier and deeper, but it was melting very quickly.
Not that I am complaining, y'all know I don't function well when the temp drops below 50 degrees. (this is how we "farm folk" sled, attach anything slippery to the Gator or 4-wheeler, and let it rip)
BUT, the bottoms were flooded from the rain. The hubs has never seen them flooded during a snow storm. (note: this is the other side of Teeter Bottoms for those of you trying to figure it out)

It feels so crazy to be posting these with my sunburned face and arms. Oh, and did I mention that the AC is running. It was 78 degrees in the house this evening. Whew!

March Madness

Last week......
This week....... Need I say more?

Who else thought about turning on the air conditioning last night?

Weird Weather

There are some pics the hubs took of the kids in the snow, I just don't know which piece of equipment his camera is in. Anywho.........

Where else can you live where one week it is 72 degrees outside, followed by a week where it snows many inches and is so cold at night that records are broken, followed by two days of missed school, Saturday school, and THEN 80 degree weather? AAAAHHHHHHH! WE BETTER NOT GET SICK FROM THIS!

Allergy season, here we come. I have my Claritin D and I am ready.

What snow?

Last Wednesday morning my mom called.  

Mom- Hey, I guess school was cancelled in your county too?

Me- Yeah, but I don't know why... we have had heavier frosts than what we got last night.
Mom- Really?  Bethany, David and your Dad are out sledding in the snow.

Me- What snow?

Mom- We got several inches.  More than last last time.

Me- SERIOUSLY?
Mom- Yeah, are your boys playing in it?

Me- We didn't get anything worthy of donning three layers of clothes.  But, Levi did get to go to the Farm Show with Landon this morning, since there was no school.
Me- I might bring the boys over there to sled.

Mom- No, don't the roads are pretty bad around here.

Clearly we aren't going to get a good snowing this year!

What do Farmers do in the Winter?

They usually build something.  Right now the hubs is helping a buddy build a new shop.  What do you think?  Nice isn't it?  It is like a "man club" over there.
We also have wheat in the ground.  So, PLEASE, if you live on the edge of a field DO NOT let your children ride their four wheelers all over it.  Just because you can't see a crop does not mean there isn't one there.
What else.... they shop.  We are looking for a Kinze planter, if anyone knows of a good deal call me ASAP.  And, yes, he will drive to another state for one.
Umm, oh, paper work.  Does it ever end?  There are also the many seed catalogs and chemical companies.  Planning, planning, planning.  What was where last year, what needs to go there this year, what seed had the best yield, best drought resistance, least bug problems.  You place your orders and then hope you got the correct amount and don't need to replant anything.  The seed companies only order what you need with a few extra and then it is gone.  That is when Southern hospitality comes into play.  We have sold extra seed to fellow farmers as they have to us also.  

This is late because we had a two hour delay for our non-snow related vaca yesterday.