My baby. My little squishy face, you did something on the 5th. You turned 6. When you were born I was so sure it would be FOREVER before you were "big". Forever wasn't long enough. Not. Long. Enough. I was listening to the radio today and "You're going to miss this" by Trace Atkins came on. It's all well that I was already shut in the bathroom painting and you kids were outside doing kid things. I sat down and bawled like a baby. It goes like this... Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater Dog's barkin', phone's ringin' One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin' She keeps apologizin' He says "They don't bother me I've got two babies of my own One's thirty six, one's twenty three Huh, it's hard to believe, but You're gonna miss this You're gonna want this back You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast These are some good times So take a good look around You may not know it now But you're gonna miss this You're gonna' miss this Yeah You're gonna' miss this 5 to 6. Where do I start. This year you were in kindergarten. Dad and I opted to homeschool you guys for awhile. I wouldn't have changed this decision for anything. NOTHING. For one who can't sit still and would rather be outside digging holes, "shooting" at things, helping dad or ANYTHING really that doesn't involve just sitting, you sure did great. You have learned to read. We did that kiddo! You excel at math and LOVE math, you sure are your daddies boy. We got bottle lambs this year. We've had lambs before but always weened lambs. They were never overly friendly. You have a BLAST with these guys. Couldn't have been a better year to get bottle lambs. Now where to go and no place to be. We have tons of extra time to spend feeding and playing with these fleet footed little creatures. You are awesome at helping feed them and taking them out of the pen a few times a day. You sure are a hard working farm boy who has a soft heart. A week before your birthday you broke your arm. Huge bummer. But Isaiah, I can't count how many times I have told people that you are handling it so well and that you are one of those people who always sees the good in a situation and makes things good. You are such a happy child. You are a roll with the punches kid. You are you and nobody else. Well except your dad! You want to do everything just like dad. You want to dress just like dad. When dad is home you want to work right along side dad. I give you options for supper and you ask dad what he is having first THEN tell me the same thing that dad is having. Every single time. We got you flannel button up shirts for Christmas this year. You wore them pretty much every day until you broke your arm. Then you COULDN'T wear them because they didn't fit over your cast. Luckily, I raided the "grow into tote" and found one 2 sizes to big and just rolled up the sleeves. You were as happy as a clam in mud. Gosh you make being your mom easy, except for your messes. Your messes make my job BUSY, oh so busy. (just don't break any more bones please- now go wash your face because we both know you probably need too) You may be the baby of the family and Josiah and Kaitlin are the twins but Zaz, you are the glue that keeps them from fighting all the time. JnK are such opposite people, two completely different souls. You are that piece that keeps them on a balance. God sure knew what he was doing when he loaned you to us. He chose US to be your family. I will never stop thanking Him for entrusting you to us. Some highlights from your last year, you graduated preschool, onto Kindergarten! You still love your huge stuffed elephant you bought with your own money at a garage sale 2 years ago. You now have 3 or 4 stuffed elephants but Ellie is your favorite. We homeschooled you 3 for the year. Our house and barn getting struck by lightening in Aug. Us moving into the garage and not starting on the house until May. Our house was demoed on your 6th birthday. What other little boy gets to watch an excavator take your house apart one claw full at a time on their birthday? It was cold and rainy that day so not much else to do anyways (thanks Covid-19 for that) Covid-19. Global pandemic created chaos and fear. Good thing we had toilet paper and hand sanitizer on hand already ( I hate shopping kiddo, so I was already well stocked up on lots of stuff) We couldn't go anywhere really. Most places were shut down. At the time I'm writing this we can't really go anywhere, large groups are frowned upon, the virus is still out there, kids aren't allowed in many stores, some stores you must be wearing a mask, no Church services. Restaurants just started opening with limitations. Your dad is starting to look like Chewbacca (look it up, or think "Burkholder cat") either way he has GOT to get a hair cut :). You boys (and Kait too) get hair cuts from us, your parents. You too probably could stand to see a barber but your hair isn't 6" long either, so I consider that a win. Dad took a new job, same company new job. This broke your heart. You cried. I think it's mostly because he wouldn't "be in his office" in Mason City when we go shopping anymore. You always loved stopping in and seeing him. It probably had nothing to do with the quarters they would give you for the vending machine I am sure. One good thing though is he will have set hours. Hopefully no more crazy hours and phone calls at 9 am Sunday morning. You are my blue, green, gray with a streak of brown eyed boy. Love what has been, looking forward to what will be. Happy 6th Birthday buddy! I love you!
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Reality sank in after my last post in January. 52 places in Iowa in 2020 was a bit far fetched for this household. If I had thought of this in advance and had some posts stockpiled from last year I could have maybe made it work. SO lets just say it's 12 places in Iowa in 2020? That sounds more feasible. Right? Nothing like setting the bar to high.
During the last cold snap, my sanity was about to snap so we decided that morning to take a fieldtrip. I wanted to go SOMEWHERE other than local places that we have yet to visit. I was restless and needed to see a bit of the road. This ultimately lead us to the National Mississippi River Aquarium and Museum in Dubuque, IA.
www.rivermuseum.com
If you have not had the pleasure to visit the Aquarium and Museum yet, you must.
The kids LOVED it and I didn't hate it I actually rather enjoyed it. Normally when we go to places like this the kids are running a muck in all different directions, all wanting me to follow THEM and all yelling "LOOK MOM". My head spins. Here there was enough in almost every area for all 3 kids to enjoy and look at. They weren't all running in different directions, most of the time. 2 buildings with outside spaces (which it was to cold to explore, so obviously we MUST go back, lol) (This has been sitting in my drafts since the 25th... opps… )
I honestly didn't get to many pictures taken. I was to busy reading, learning and participating in activities that they have. I wish I could publish a few videos, but I am not paying to get that feature and I guess you could say I am to lazy to upload to youtube and post a link. But you should seriously go check this place out! I couldn't possibly write about everything they have there.
Kait's favorite part was the upper floor where it is all "Sid the Science Kid". Kid sized replicas of Sid's house, class room, tree house, play ground and grandma's car. Dress up stuff, interactive stuff. She loved the dress up stuff (I tried not to think of all the snot nosed kids who had been playing with all this stuff) I think Josiah's favorite part, was almost all of it. I have asked him a few times what it was and it has changed every time. Petting the sting rays was way cool, the water table was fun, the ducks living in the raised pond with the turtles and fish, seeing the otters, the microscopes in the lab, touching cray fish..... For my friends who live near Cherokee Park, did you know Craw fish/Cray fish? are very sensitive to water pollution? The guy said if they are living in the water its clean and they are great eating??? My mind is blown. Isaiah's favorite part was the water table. He loves water. (He is currently outside playing in mud and water making dams) Already working on the blog for March, we will be sheep sitting for some friends and hopefully heading to WI to help make maple syrup. Also, started Zaza's SiXtH BiRtHdAy post. SIX PEOPLE. I love these posts because I LOVE to reflect back on them but I hate writing them because gosh they just get to old so darn quick. Time is cruel. Well, until my next post. The 52 Iowa Project Well, this is off to a wonderful start. Not. Ben got sick the week after Christmas. Isaiah got sick New Years Eve. Kait got sick on the tail end of Isaiah and then RIGHT when they all had their energy back and were on the mend, Isaiah got sick again. As I write this we have some residual coughing and congestion. Lets hope the 2nd half of January is better to us.
So, for week 2 of 52 we visited.... our creek. After dark. And had a bonfire with hot chocolate and cookies. We rang in the new year. Well, it rang itself in, we were all in bed. I could write a long blog post reflecting on our 2019 but I will spare you the sappiness. A lot of bigger things happened in 2019. We started homeschooling. It doesn't suck (every day). Ben went to the ER (his Guardian angels working overtime again). Kait went to the ER (she won't help make French fries anymore). We went on vacation (we loved it). Kittens were born on the farm (Twice). We raised lambs (they are tasty). The house and barn got struck by lightening (things exploded but nothing burned down). We moved into the garage (we aren't living in a camper so I won't complain) 2019 had some pretty great stuff, and some not so great stuff. BUT we all made it through it unscathed. Our calendar for 2020 has little planned out. Only thing I can commit to is building a house! We hope to carve out some time for a mini vacation or two this summer. Hopefully all goes well so we can make it work! 52 Places in Iowa Ok, I need to come up with a better title but this idea came to me literally today. I'd like to take the kids SOMEPLACE in Iowa each week this year (hence 52). Off the wall places. Not the ones EVERYONE knows about. Ok well maybe a few of those but for the most part no big name places like Living History Farms, or Iowa State Fair (although it is our year to go). This idea came to me today as we were walking the trails at Twin Ponds Nature Center not to far from our home. We have been here before. Attended a fun workshop on Turkeys this fall and we have visited the pond but never walked the trails. It was 37 degrees and amazing. Twin Ponds is located 2 miles South of Ionia, IA and 3 miles East and is located on 157 acres along the Wapsipinicon River. As you can see they have a good length of trails broken into different paths. We walked PART of the 1 1/3 mile path. I enjoyed the "quiet" as much as one can with a 50lb 5 year old on your shoulders for a chunk of the time! The kids enjoyed the water, the ice, the trees, the climbing trees... it is safe to say they loved it all (except the 5 year old who didn't love the walking). We knew the kids wouldn't make it the full length of the trail today so we amused them by letting them climb ALL the trees and we played a few "games" one included standing like a statue on a log. The last one standing won. It was a kids only game because we all know if Ben and I played too, I would have dominated. On our hike back to the truck the kids were getting restless. It was a bit wet when one played in the snow. So I took a deep breath and let Kait take my camera. I was amazed. Now, she doesn't know how to change the settings or anything so she was shooting in auto the whole time. But how she would see what she wanted to get a picture of and position herself for the shot and frame it. Blew my mind. SO I see letting her use my camera more often in the future. All in all I say today was a great day. The sun was shining in the morning, we worked AND we played. (We may even gotten a little school work in) 1/52
We are almost 1/2 way through our school year. I finally coordinated having my camera stuff set up with hair cuts so we now have "school" pictures. You'd never know I got home from the gym at 7am and the kids were already fed, picked up and dressed for the day. You also can't see the boys' old clothes still on under the button up shirts!
I never much cared for school pictures, I always just purchased THE SMALLEST package available. The chances of getting GOOD pictures are minimal in my opinion. I purchase only because of obligations to grandparents. Now I wanted them so we aren't missing them. Weird how things like this messes with my brain. I find myself asking if I need these pictures because society says I do or because I want them. J- 2nd grade K- 2nd grade I- Kindergarten PS Grandparents, if you want a copy it may be quicker to hack my pixieset album and print them. I am trying to not procrastinate but some things..... A dear friend mentioned that I should start blogging again, seeing as I actually have reliable internet now. This is for you! Over a year has passed since I last posted a blog. That little guy who turned 4 is already 5 1/2. JnK are almost 7 1/2. Our house and barn got struck by lightening. We moved into the garage and plan to build a new house in the spring. Not to mention we started homeschooling. There has been a lot of change in the past 1.5 years. It's all good. Our lives are crazy but it will get better/easier/different..... or at least that's what I keep telling myself. Living in the garage. It's..... cozy. Let's stick with that, COZY. We (and by "we" I mean my hubby and f-i-l) built a dividing wall (per my request/instructions/insistence to separate the south garage bay from the other two. We have a small kitchenette and a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower. The lofted space has all our beds, dressers, and school stuff (with room to spare). What else could we need? I just found out today a "neighbor" (2 miles away) is living in their camper (Granted it is a BIG camper) with their 4 kids while their house is getting built. It's December 2nd and their house isn't insulated yet. I will take the garage and all its "coziness". I have a feeling it will be a long winter for us and even longer for them! I am slowly figuring out how to keep this small space organized. And the kids are not learning how to keep their stuff picked up. Pray for my patience people! Homeschooling Not going to talk about homeschooling actually. This bookshelf railing was something I had our builder come out and build around the stairwell in the loft. I had all these plans of wallpapering the back of the shelves. IT WAS SO CUTE until it all started falling off. Nothing will keep it on. Not even spray adhesive. I'm dying. Now back to the drawing board to make it cute again. Not sure where I'd keep all their books and school supplies if this wasn't built in the loft though! Homeschooling has been a blessing for us. It isn't all sunshine and roses. JnK "competing" with each other and the frustrations one has when one isn't "as good as the other", K misses seeing friends all the time, I miss time away from it all, I struggle with if I'm doing enough, is this what is REALLY best for the kids, would they be better back at the catholic school, PUBLIC school? So much of the struggles are really myself, questioning, myself. Oh the headaches!
But there are so many blessings! Getting to work around our schedules, spending more time with dad, going to WI and visiting grandparents more often (Unless they break me mentally and I go to WI by herself), being able to teach them at their own pace, being able to teach them beyond the content in the books when they are interested in something. The list goes on. Crossing my fingers I can keep this up and continue on in the spring as the house building starts! As I am getting ready to hit publish, the kids are sword fighting with solid wood yard sticks (the square ones that are more like a walking stick) I am exhausted from protecting them from themselves today...... “You must learn, you must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid of your past is to make a future out of it. God will waste nothing.” Phillips Brooks 4. It is a big number. For one who is 4 you have a big personality. An old soul. Isaiah, Zaz, Zaza, Izzy, ZazMcGeorge. Isaiah Benjamin you will FOREVER be my baby. 60 years old or not. You are still my farm boy, dirt covered, cow milking, chicken chasing, water boot wearin, sassy pants, has a girlfriend, to big for his own briches, needs to stop getting older, gray/blue/green with a streak of bown eyed boy. This past year you experienced "Day Care". More like "home care". While I worked at school this year you got to go to Burkholder's. You had a love hate relationship with this. You LOVED playing with Lemar, baking with Katie, visiting with ALL the kids that came through, going to the sale barn, garage saling, horse rides, jumping out of the hay mow, hunting for kittens, playing in the creek... the list goes on. BUT you hated spending so much time away from us. You and Katie also had a love/hate relationship. You two are two peas in a pod. She loved to push your buttons, you called her "My naughty". Love your butt and so do the Burkholders. I know I wouldn't have made it through the year if you were anywhere else. You have so much personality packed into one little person. You are sweet, funny, stubborn, caring it is hard not to like you. We have gone to a handful of garage sales now that school is out and I swear you now know all the Mennonite families in the area. Isaiah you are a sponge! You remember the craziest things. You never cease to amaze me. Ever. I laugh at things that come out of your mouth on a daily basis. Smart. You know all your letters. Both capital and lower case. We are working on all the sounds but you know at least half of them. You can blend sounds to make words like "Cat" "Dog" "Wet" etc. You can easily break words up into parts. Your sister loves to quiz you on these! Math I think is going to come easy for you also. A few months ago, if I asked you what 5 plus 2 was you'd hold up both hands in front of your face. One hand you would count 5 then the other you'd count 2. THEN you'd tap each finger you had held up on your face counting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Now I just ask if you have 4 and you get 4 more how many will you have? In no time at all you have the answer. No finger tapping. Loving what has been, looking forward to what is to come.
Make the next year the best it can be Isaiah. We love you to the moon and back! Some day I wouldn't mind owning this hidden piece of God's beauty. Today, I will just enjoy it's beauty.
The boys LOVE getting their pictures taken almost as much as they love getting shots. By the time my kids are grown I'll have 30 good pictures of the boys and 30,000 of Kait. She loves to pose and is apparently ready for her senior pictures. Stay little precious girl.
We ventured out to Twin Ponds Conservation this morning after errands in town. We will defiantly be headed back for a nature hunt soon! I grabbed my camera as an afterthought as the kids headed down to the creek to play today. I'm going to make an effort to use my camera every day. I may not post pictures every day (Because lets be real here, I have crap for internet and it takes FOREVER) And we may be lacking a dog pal around this place right now but we had 2 kitten's follow us along the banks the whole way. I noticed last night that the kittens have an attachment to the kids. I started a bon-fire and the kids ran down to the end of the yard and back (its not a short run for a 3 and two 5 year olds) and the kittens just meowed watching the kids getting further and further away.
***Not a great photo but they all but got into the water to keep up with the kids. |
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