Barn Cats

Well I have new statement that came out of my child's mouth. I am pretty sure this should be more creepy than funny, but again when you are a country kid there is a different understanding about life.

Barn Cats....they come and go. The really tough ones live long lives. The not so smart or tough ones, well they become a tasty treat for a coon, coyote or whatever other predator there is lurking around the barn at night. 

Any way....Granny's cat has recently had babies which she promised the entire litter to my children when the kittens are ready. I said we could put them all out in the barn, where they would have an endless buffet of mice with the occasional rat (eww!). So as Gwen and Granny were visiting about the kittens, what they looked like and how many were there, I heard these words of complete country kid logic come out of my daughters mouth....

"Granny, make sure you bring me three so that when one dies I will still have two".

Some how this should be disturbing, I am sure, but it is just a fact of life that Gwen has come to realize about barn cats. Not to mention I am proud of the math skills she related to a real life situation. HA!

Things only country kids say

I have decided I need to start documenting the things my children say.
Of course we are country folk raising country folk kids.
This is a truly unique childhood these days. Not many kids get to experience the events that my kids get to experience and for this I am very blessed and grateful.

With that I will try to post the various comments my kids make that in any normal circumstances might make us sound like we are a bunch of crazy people, but living in the country these are normal everyday happenings.

the first comical statement is from none other than E3.

one day he went to the bathroom. After I finished helping him, I noticed in the pot an unusual amount of "stuff" (you know what i mean). Surprised, I asked "did all of that come out of you?"

E3 replied as proud as he could be, "yep, just like an egg"

I busted! of course just like an egg! HA only a country kid.

Next is a story a friend of ours told me
My friend and her husband live in the mountains in MT. They live kind of back country like and butcher all of their own meat right there at the ranch.

One day, at the ranch, they were watching their 3 year old niece .
My friend and her husband tried really hard not to let her watch them butcher their chickens (it can be kind of gruesome for a small child). So as they were going about cutting the heads off the chickens, trying to keep out of sight of the little girl, Carey, my friend did not notice her niece sneak up behind her. As Carey turned around with two freshly butchered chickens, one in each hand, there standing directly in front of her was her niece. Shocked and not wanting to totally scare her niece, all Carey could think to say was "well, what do you think?" With out hesitation or shock her niece simply replied,
"yep, they look pretty good to me"

I am sure this would not be the normal response from a child who did not grow up around this. A normal child might run away scared and crying from the watching of a chicken killing, but notthis one. HA!

I also want to start writing about some of the things that come out my mouth not only as a mother, but also as a mother of wild country children.

Have any of you other mothers out there ever heard yourself say or yell at your child who was in another room...
"NO YOU CANNOT THROW THE CAT LIKE A FOOTBALL!"
"NO YOU CANNOT RIDE THE CAT LIKE A HORSE"


Is this normal mother talk? please let me know.

(PLEASE BE ADVISED, OUR CAT IS HEALTHY AND ALIVE, SHE JUST ENDURES A LOT OF "LOVE" FROM MY CHILDREN)

Tacos

I have to write about my lovely daughters new curiosity into learning a new language.
With that, these past few months we have become good friends with a Mexicano family here in North Dakota. Earl works with the dad of the family so through that we have become friends. Beings this family is Mexican-American they obviously are bilingual and speak both English and Spanish. Gwen has also been learning some spanish at school as well. With all that she very excitedly comes home one day and asks me "mom, How do you say 'Tacos' in Spanish?". I very surly tell her that it is the same, Tacos is Tacos no matter what language you speak. She does not agree and states that I do not know how to speak Spanish and that she is going to ask Sipriano (the dad). So a few days later Sipriano and two of his six daughters (yes that is six girls ranging in age from 15 t0 2!) show up for a visit. When Daizy and Evette walk in, Gwen first makes sure that they are Siprianos daughters and then quickly asks "how do you say Tacos in spanish?". Hand smacks forehead, I close my eyes and shake my head, "Did she really just ask that?" I think. The two teenage girls look at me as if I am a retard and can't teach my daughter that it does not matter what language you say "Tacos" in, it is all the same. Then the girls just giggle and say "tacos" with their Spanish accent and go about playing with the kiddos.

Gwen later on asked Sipriano the same question. I got the same look/reaction from him as well. But he very nicely told her that it was just "tacos".

I love my little girl's curiosity. She is so great, and matureing way too fast. For those of you who read this and have little ones younger than her, please enjoy it while it lasts! They take off like wildfire when school hits.

And remember Tacos is Tacos no matter what language you speak. Gwen did her research and now agrees. HAHAHA.

Merry Christmas!

My Beautiful Family!

I just love these guys (and Gal)

Santa Claus Day in Almont

Hello all! recently we made a visit to the great town of Almont, ND for Santa Claus Day. This is an event the town puts on for the area kids. It is amazing how giving this community is. I love it here! Santa Claus Day consists of yummy treats and Hot Cocoa, meeting Santa, and then getting your name drawn out of a hat for an unbelievable present. I could not believe what they were giving away. V-tech computers, bikes, rocking horses, trucks, barbies, 3 ft dolls. Amazing stuff. my kids were in toy heaven. Not only did each child get a toy they also got a stuffed animal for putting their name in the bucket to begin with. Oh and an ornament for talking to Santa. It was wonderful. Frank got a noisy Helicopter, Earl picked a sem and trailer with three street bikes on it, and Gwen choose a vacuum and ironing board set.

The cutest part of the whole thing was when earl got done talking to Santa, he received his bag of candy and peanuts. upon looking in the bag he looked up and asked "hey where is the monster truck I asked for?" Apparently whatever you ask for from Santa is supposed to magically appear in the brown bag you get from the elves. hehe.

VIKINGS AND DRAGONS, OH MY!

HALLOWEEN UPDATE....
Vikings and Dragon Costumes

little bit of trick or treating

way too much candy!

lots of fun and memories

pumpkin carving

Pumpkin carving was the new step in our pumpkin adventures. Granny came out for a quick visit so carving seamed like a good project for us. However i did not relies how fast they go bad after the fact so please ignore the mold.

If you look closely at this pumpkins mouth you will some a little bit of red. This was quite the scare for Gwen. Granny used a red candle to try to light the pumpkin up. However earl picked the pumpkin up and spilled the red wax. Gwen then screamed in a panic because her pumpkin was "BLEEDING" and she didn't know what to do. I thought my dad was going to wet himself he was laughing so hard.

Earl's pumpkin

Franky's Pumpkin

Pumpkins!

Not real certain as to why my son chose the girl head. He has a confidence where he just don't care what others think if he likes it he likes it and that is it.

Papa's Big Chair

it was Aspens birthday on the 21st. Aspen is our newly adopted child. Her dad and mom ride horses here at our new place and so along with them comes little Aspen. She is a wonderful little girl and we love having her around.
For her birthday we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. It is basically a farmer making a killing off of people like me with kids. It is a giant play ground of carefully stacked straw bales with tunnels through them and with sawed off culverts for slides. And crazy amounts of pumpkins everywhere that you can pick and take home. Don't get me wrong here it is a great place for the kids. We had a lot of fun.

Just some random pics

Here are some random pics I found on my camera to share with you all

This was Easter swimming at the hotel. Earl and I bought the kids hats for Easter. So my son very proudly wore his everywhere!

Gwen doing a nice HI-YA! kick on the trampoline we found at our new home!

Earl 3 fourth birthday party cake.

First day of School

I should have posted these a while ago, but nonetheless here they are...
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PICS!

Gwen started a different day than Earl so there are different pics of her.
It is dark out because we load the bus at 7:05 AM!

Baby Hugh Hefner

Some babies become attached to certain objects. Some get attached to blankets or maybe a stuffed animal. But mine however are always a little off. when Gwen was little she became attached to a remote. It was only a brief amount of time, but we still had to carry a TV remote with us everywhere. Now my Son, Frank, has become totally attached to his robe. He will not go without it. For two days now he has been wearing it....to the school, to the north ranch, in the tractor with his dad, EVERYWHERE. I keep trying to get it off of him but he goes bananas without it. I don't know, I hope I don't have a baby Hugh Hefner on my hands?

Hello?..oh yeah we are still here!

hello every one! I am so sorry about not updating my blog. In fact I am pretty sure I write that each time I make a post because I think posting only happens about every four months. any who...
Here is the latest update on us all....
WE MOVED!
We recently moved to New Salem, ND. Yes the town with the big cow on the interstate. I think it is really comical that the mascot at the school is the Holsteins. Oh yes! We are living at my Dad's and his new business partner's new place. I think we are going to call is HW Cattle Co. Very professional. haha.

Gwen and Earl start school this year. Gwen is already on her second day of school and loving every minute of it. In fact she got up at 5:30 am this morning to get ready for school. I told her she was crazy and to go back to bed. Gwen is in Kindergarten and Earl will start Preschool on Sept. 6. He is having a little of separation anxiety from Gwen. Ever since he was born, because him and Gwen are so close in age, we have treated them almost as twins doing everything together. Now without Gwen Earl has settled for Franky. Frank loves the new play mate however Earl I think still would prefer to have Gwen back. At least she doesn't steal his trucks and cars.
Earl is currently working construction for TAND Construction which is the company that my dad's business partner owns. He is enjoying the change however I think he misses the home cooked meals everyday and night. With him working away from home he is having to Bach it out a bit. Earl will also be doing some ranching on the side as we try to build our own cattle herd together.

Well that is it for now. We are really happy with our choice in the move. New Salem is a really wonderful little town. It has all the needed essentials. and is only about 14 miles away! unlike before when it was 27 or more! we also live next to a country town called Almont (4.5 miles down the road). This town cracks me up. It consists of a tiny bar, hair dresser shop, post office, gas station, and a bank. However you have to get to know the hours because not everything is open all the time. The best part about the whole thing is that you can buy eggs at the bar! Of course Earl loves this idea. He said he will gladly go get me eggs whenever I need them. hahaha

hopefully I can post pictures soon!

Frankie's First Haircut!

here are some pics of Frank getting his first hair cut. He did really well. Didn't fight it. stood there just like a good little man should and got his hair cut. He now looks like a little toe head. Apparently there was blonde hair under all that brown fluff. (the pictures don't show the blonde hair very well, terrible camera and terrible lighting)

A spring Storm

Well calving is almost over (thank goodness! I have never worked this hard in my life, haha) and we have been blessed with a spring storm. It laid about a half inch of slush before it snowed about five inches. It wasn't too bad though, the calves didn't seem to mind and my kids really didn't mind. It was just the right temperature that we were finally able to make snow men this year. The kids were very excited about this. So we made each one their own snow man. They personalized each one the best that a 1, 3, and 4 year old could. Guess who's is who's?




Earls is the one with "strong muscle arms", Gwen's is the girl one with hair, and Frank, well he really was more interested in all of the dogs and taking pictures rather than decorate his snow man.

Calving Season!

Calving season is upon us! It is a very busy and restless time of year. However, this year is unique in that my husband has recruited myself and our three children to be his helping hands. Each morning starts out with Coffee and breakfast, then we are off to tag all of the newborn calves. Gwen my avid animal lover absolutely loves doing any thing that involves the calves. In fact Gwen is so motivated to help her dad that she usually gets herself up and ready to go with out me having to do a dang thing. Earl and Frank need a little encouragement but they still enjoy going with too. Frank loves to look at all of the "moos" everyday. And Earl just loves doing anything his dad does.

Out in the fields we are quite the crew. All five of us stuff ourselves into a standard cab pickup with a manual transmission just to make things more interesting. I am the writer, I write the calve's tags out, Gwen and Earl 3 are the tagger keepers (the tagger is the tool used to put the tag into the calve's ear) they hand their dad the taggers when he is ready to tag the calf. Frank is the "complicater" He feels that it is very important to touch or grab anything that he can get a hold of to make things more interesting for the rest of us. And for a 17 month old little boy he is quite fast. The little turkey. I can't complain about my job, though, my husband has the most difficult. He drives and catches the calves to tag. This is a very dangerous job at times. Some of the "mommy cows", as Gwen and Earl refer to them as, do not like their babies to be touched. And this Gwen feels that the cows need "Spankings" for chasing her dad. One morning in particular the cows were feeling very feisty. After the third cow chased Earl, Gwen quietly leans over to me and whispers "Mom i think the mommy cows are very grumpy today, maybe dad should give them a spanking". Ah, the mind of a child, they just crack me up with the way they think.

We love helping Earl out with the cows. Although it is very stressful at times, it is also the most rewarding part of our job. Getting to know the animals and take care of them gives us all a sense of pride and compassion. It is great family time spent together.

nine lives

OK I now know why they say cats have nine lives. A while back I posted a pic of our new cat, Rosie. She is a very curious little cat that is constantly into things. After about her first three weeks in our home, she got a fish hook caught in her leg. I couldn't get it out so my husband had to use a pliers. This was not so bad. One life down, eight to go. Next she adventured out side at the wrong time and got beat up by a dog so bad that she had to have hernia surgery to get her completely healed up. Bad at first, but problem solved. Two down, 7 to go.

But the happening from this morning has made me realize that this cat will be lucky to live past the age of two. I was changing loads in the laundry not really paying too close attention to what was around me. I threw the wet clothes into the dryer and shut the door. When I turned the dryer on I heard a very loud thump...thump, thump...thump. Now none of the clothes I threw in the dryer were very large. I believe most of them belonged to my children. So i opened the door...AND OUT JUMPS MY DANG CAT! I WAS DRYING MY CAT!

three down, 6 to go.

by the way she is fine.

Happy Holidays!

Well I missed out on the Halloween pics. I accidentally deleted them off of my computer. But here are some random pics of all of us. Just a note about my son in a dress...Gwen so very badly wishes for a little sister! She is very convincing of making her brother somewhat fulfill her dreams of one day having a sister.

Hunting Season!

SO I am officially the world's worst blogger! We are so busy around here lately that I myself can barely keep up. We shipped the calves off last week! Hoo ray! another year gone by with a good "crop". My kids are growing like weeds so I have been sifting through there closets selling stuff on eBay to make a few extra bucks. I just finished making their costumes as well. Pictures to come of those (spoiler: E3 might be mistaken for a Disney terrorist, hahahaha)And Hunting season has now kicked off.

This is some good ole' family time here on the Brown Ranch. Since the ranch is so large we get to take the kids with us when we go hunting. We are spoiled in the way that our kids are able to drive around with us while we are hunting our game. Gwen and E3 are getting very good at spotting. However sometimes their imaginations like to kick in as well and they spot so much more than just deer and antelope. Earl swears he saw a bull dozer and a combine on the side of the mountain the other day and Gwen somehow always managed to spot a Dinosaur here and there.
the picture is of one of Earl's antelope from the other day. We still have three more "prong horn" tags to fill an one Elk. Yes, the elk tag is mine! I am so excited!

pictures didn't post! So here they are.