Cassie's 1st birthday

Wow, a year has flown by too quickly. Cassie will be 1 this Friday. We celebrated her birthday a lil' early on Sunday. A few snaps follow. I did well, no tears, until I went to bed last night...and then the tears came! All happy tears, of course. Its just that a year can go by way too quickly, when you see the BIG DIFFERENCE of bringing a helpless baby into the world to watching her smile, laugh, feed herself, play, talk and finally, start to crawl. So many first...so many still to come.
AND...you feel a lil' guilty doing things a lil' smaller scale compared to the first child. Not because there is a greater amount of love. You love your children equally, its just that with two kids (and a dog!) and working and a farmer husband, well...your time diminishes quickly.
Awe, Cass, we love you with all that we have...and feel so blessed that we have our lil' girl to complete our family! Happy birthday to you!

Awe, happy birthday to Cassie Ann. Her personal cake. The guest were happy to know this wasnt the only cake to be split by everyone! :)
And...Cassie was happy to hear that too!!!
A new book curosity of Tara & Eric.
Quick fam photo...minus one child...where could he be?
Of course...mowing the swimming pool in his clothes. Of course!

Pretty Girl

Her smile lights up a room, her laugh is contagious and she is as sweet as pie. AND...when I put her in this dress for Scott's cousins wedding...my heart smiled. Cassie is such a pretty girl and for now, we take the compliments, but in 15 years, we'll want her to cut her hair short, put a ball cap on and have her frown to turn the boys away.

Pup-Dog

How could we resist? Tyler's eyes lit up and he instantly fell in love and found a new friend. I was so excited...and then novelity wore off...and it confirmed to me that there is NO WAY Im ready for any more children. Thankfully, the pup now resides at Bohnert Farms and I can try to put my house back in order!

Streakin'

Never a dull moment for this household! The ol' retire neighbors get a peep-show of this lil' stud muffin.

The start of summer

brings a lot of good things...ice-cream, longer days, grilling...but it also can bring on hot, humid days in the upper midwest. this past weekend was 95 and so the swimming hole was the best place for two lil' jersey kids. i think we'll retire this $8 pool that we bought when ty was a baby...found a new one (10 feet long) that will fit the entire family for $17. perhaps the best investment if this summer heat continues...

Martini & Tyler

Tyler is practicing with a calf to show at the county fair. Her name is Martini and so far, so good. She walked pretty good for us...and Tyler seemed somewhat interested...for now....

All tuckered out...

Remember This...

Note to self that somedays Tyler can be PERFECT. This morning he got up, made his bed (well messed it up more than made it, but the attempt was nice!), shut off his night light and shut his door. Then he said "time to go potty, I sit". Fine by this mama! He ate his breakfast, put his dishes in the sink and came upstairs to get dressed. He told me "I need to go poo" and he went and gave me a kiss & hug and said bye and I left.

This was perfect. Note to self, this was perfect! Most mornings dont go this smooth...and Im sure tonight will be a totally different story. So...I write this down, to remember that Tyler does have good moments. :)

RODEO

Pictures tell the story.

Green Thumb...or lack of...

One of my summer goals is to keep up with all the old retires on the block. They are out watering, mowing and grooming their lawns first thing in the morning and they have all day to tend to it. How can a farmers wife, working mother of two keep up? I don't know...but I'm trying. AND...since mother nature has helped us out with an abudance of rain, so far, so good. A few snapshots of my flowers.