Easter

We spent time each day talking about the events of holy week. We discussed scriptures and characters and thoughts. We also enjoyed some not spiritual parts of easter. Filling eggs to donate to the community easter egg hunt. Andrea taste tested a lot!

Addie coming home from her FFA interview for officer elections the next week.

We dyed/painted easter eggs on Saturday evening. 

Eggs are super expensive so kids got two a piece to color. 

Anna was winding up her spring break and Harold was up for a quick trip to resolve some pick-up problems. It was nice to have everyone here for 24 hours or so.

I'm very thankful the younger kids know these two. They enjoy when they are here and speak of them with familiarity. 

Iti s the repetition of the effort that makes the difference not the impressiveness of the effort. So we tried again this year to discuss and learn the why, who, and what of Easter. Like we have been trying for at least the last three years if not five. I asked Millie what she learned about easter last night and she said nothing. I don't know. Maybe next year she will internalize something. I learned easter means look to the rising in the east. And I really enjoyed the tender story of Jesus coming to raise Lazarus from the dead. We try try again and again. Life is good. 
 

Z Repair

While Harold was working on leveling the mounds the pivots push up as they pass repeatedly through the fields he spied a water leak. He reported to the guys and after looking closer they found a hole the size of a quarter had rusted through the pipes. They began digging and found several more pin holes. They kept digging apparently about 5-6 feet down to the connection point and removed the broken Z. 

Merle adores time with his brothers he looks forward to when they come home so he can do boy stuff. 

Merle's number one job after bringing snacks is flashlight holder. This took a while to get out. 

He wears his new safety shirts everyday. I scrub the off one a lot to get it semi-clean for its next round of work. 

And his other present electrical tape. If you have a problem that needs tape he is your man!

While the guys were digging and digging we did water. The sky was so beautiful. The camera never catches all the colors but we have beautiful big skies. 

These little ones love to be up high on the truck. 

 I do love spending time with  my kiddos and am so thankful for their young strength that they can indeed dig all that dirt and concrete. My arms would be paralyzed with all that work and it would take me two weeks not 6 hours. They are such a blessing. And so nice to have a team not just one doing all that digging and figuring. Thankfully we have a full crew still. We are blessed. 

FFA elections

The much anticipated, worried over, and discussed FFA elections happened last week. Addie is always so concerned with anything FFA. i had strongly encouraged her to let someone else be president but the slate was set and her peers voted her the next president. The voting continued and a new team was selected. I think she will enjoy the group and fresh personalities. 

Mark as a senior was part of the nominating/interview committee. He is a lso a strong leader and voice of reason to Addie's constant fretting. This young man gained an office I'm excited for his growth and acceptance. 

After the meeting carrying another freshman friend. 

Addie president, tht stripped tie guy Trent Vice president, The Teagan as secretary, Elle as treasurer,  Taylor reporter, Jackson sentinel, Sean historian, and Taylor Social media. 

This young man was sad that his friend didn't make it on the team and wondered if he should quit, Reed and Mark both assured him he should not quit but work to include everyone and learn how to be a team player. Kids need reassurance and friends. I'm thankful my tough guys can also support and encourage those around them. Men need men to lift them up. 

So the path is set and now on to another full year of FFA and responsibility. Life is good. 
 

Prom

We ordered the dress in early April because the world is on fire and I had no idea how long it would take to get product from China. It arrived and Addie still hadn't been asked. This was a disappointment. Her teacher suggested this classmate who is a friend of the family. Addie added it to the last slide of her book report. It took him a while to read through and process he was being asked to Prom. He said yes and was happy to get cookies and chocolate protein milk. 

After two busy weeks of work, school, FFA, life in  general the day was finally here. They went bowling and to dinner at a Mexican restaurant then to our house to get ready.

We had worked for two days tidying and cleaning the outside and inside of our house to be presentable. It was amazing how much we got done when everyone pitched in. The kids were mostly willing and mainly stayed focused on the job at hand. 

Addie's date was so nervous about how to put on a the flower. He didn't have anything to attach his flower to but Addie managed. 

Mark's sweet date Jane. He has been waiting two years to take her on a date. I was so glad to meet her. Note the heads in the background watching and soaking up all the excitement of being old enough to date. 

We took a few pictures I'm not into full on photo shoots I took about  pictures shared with their parents and picked the tree parts off the girls dresses when they came back inside. 

They ate some brownies and ice cream and headed to the dance. This is one from the dance. Friend Greta is on the left. 

 They had an enjoyable evening. Another milestone checked off for each of them. I'm thankful for Grandma Sue's alterations to make Addies dress fit her nicely. I'm thankful for the clean house and yard and the almost 40 acres of corn we planted on Saturday. It's good to see things work out. We are blessed.

Skills USA

Mark left for the weekend. I really didn't think much more about it than making sure he had enough clean clothes to pack and be on the bus on time. But I realized when he texted on Saturday that he had won I should have remembered what was actually happening. He has been a strong contender since his freshmen year. Technically he skipped auto 1 moving into auto2 as a freshman, then auto 3 as a sophomore no auto as a junior- so he could take college level science classes and in turn spend time or grow his friendship with his best friend JEB, then auto 4 this year. He's pretty smart and has a lot of hands-on experience of course he was a contender. Not to mention the last several months he has also been teaching Livy mechanics and that final step of teaching another is where mastery comes in. 

First he won the diesel tech competition. 2nd place is last years winner fellow teammate Joe.

For Automotive technician he also won with friend George placing 4th. 

He sent me these pictures of his nice heavy gold medals. 

He won these tools he was very happy to have these complete and new tool sets. Mostly that all the pieces are there. 

He was literally slightly blown away by the black hawk helicopter taking off. He was impressed how powerful it was. 

His friend and way too much personal contact nemesis Megan also placed in the small tools division. She loves to invade his personal space just to make him squirm. She is also a good friend of Alia's or the high schooler that Lia most looks forward to seeing when we go to events. 

So Mark had another great weekend. Proving that work and smarts get the job done. Bruce told me he didn't have any medals yet, I told him and Livy you will be able to earn your own in a few years if you just keep learning, working hard, and paying attention to what you are doing. While Mark was gone Livy did a tune-up on a pick-up. Life is good and full of opportunities for the willing and ready. We are blessed. 
 

Grandma had another birthday and a house full of family to celebrate with. It was good to see everyone after several months of winter. We were singing happy birthday and the faces were so cute I had to snap some pictures. 

Grandma, Beth, Marcus, Lia, Embree. 

Natalie, James, Afton, Cambree, Livy, Anna, Bruce, Millie, Greg, Sarah, Jenna, Papa, Jim, Ruth

Its always interesting to see how the cousins interact and get to know each other. We really don't cross paths much with the local cousins as we are primarily working or at home but we enjoy time together when we do. And cake with strawberries and cream are always a win! 

 The younger kids picked the low hanging flowers from my moms one flower tree... no children were yelled at and everyone got a bouquet of flowers from well meaning children. They all grow from year to year interests change but hopefully they all feel loved and welcomed into the family group. We are thankful for time together and for grandmas example of daily exercise and making good choices to live a healthy independent life. I took her to lunch for her birthday and we talked about caskets and funerals. I reminded her that was a ways away because she works to take care of herself. Activities and people contact are a huge part of healthy aging. Hopefully we can all think of reach out to each other as we each continue to grow and mature. Life is good. 

Growing food.

Back at home we harnessed some of the girl power and planted some seeds. These are peas. Reed rototilled the garden for me and these sweet girls laid out lots of peas. Little fingers are really good at planting seeds if given space and time. It would be amazing if these all came up. 

Millie planted potatoes. We adore peas and potatoes but it is a lot of work to get those plants grown in a garden setting. Watering, hilling up protecting from mice and chickens it's a battle to get food on the plate! Farmers make it all look so easy but really gardening teaches you how easy it would be to starve without modern agriculture. 

One of the kids left this beautiful picture on my phone. The big skies are often blue these days with marvelous sunrises and sunsets. 

After the abundant early rains and late snow the daffodils have been as vibrant as ever. I'm making mental notes to maybe add some colorful tulips to the mix. But oh these happy flowers make me smile everytime I see them. The weeds are not competing with them yet and they just shine with the promise of spring. 

Anna came home and cleaned and mowed. My daughters energy levels are amazing to me. Age is a thief and also a gift. I'm thankful for another spring to be able to teach my kids about growing food and the joy of self-reliance. We are blessed!
 

Going to a play - Frozen

Local high schools have been putting on spring plays. The older girls attended another schools the week before. They really enjoyed the performance. The topic was Anastasia the last grand duchess of Russia. As I was explaining the story the kids were shocked and kept asking why would people do that? All I could say was people are sometimes very bad. 

After their innocent responses I decided a different school offering Frozen would be more their level. They waited excitedly asking is it today?, many times throughout the week. Finally the night arrived. We headed over to find many little ladies in their Elsa costumes complete with snowflake wands also attending. Since loosing out Disney subscription due to their vile marketing we haven't watched many animated shows. I'm not sure how familiar Andi and Lia are with the show but these three were old enough to remember their sister Aliza singing them songs often to go to sleep. We missed her as we watched and were thankful for powerful memories of her love of music and animation.

In the back of the gym were photo opportunities. The girls had a good time posing. 

The girls really enjoyed the performance. The actors did a great job bringing the animated favorite to life. I was impressed with the costumes and vocals. Andrea was very bummed the didn't offer ice cream cones at intermission. The Beauty and the Beast play we attended had ice cream for sale. She remembered well and asked about a hundred times, never did that make the ice cream appear though.

But she's still pretty cute! She loves all the dandelions and picks them often to share with me.  

She also poses which I thought a bit odd but also a sign of having many older siblings. 

It was another enjoyable weekend spent with my family doing stuff that had to be done and finding a bit of time to relax and enjoy others work. We are blessed with many talents and opportunities around us. Life is good.