Happy Birthday Chip & Hope

We had a busy weekend with the basketball tournaments and also in helping Hope & Chip celebrate their birthdays.  It was a fun weekend though!  Jenae really improved every game she was in.  She had a lot of fun and really looked forward to her treats at the end of the game. Unfortunately they did not win any of their games, but it really did not seem to bother her!

Marilyn made her famous ribs for a birthday celebration for Chip & Hope.  It was as delicious as always!! 

Sunday Kyle, Chip & Jenae moved some of the pairs from Chips place the a pasture to the north of their place.  It was cold, windy & damp.  Not a very fun day to be outside if ask me, but when the work needs to be done it needs to be done.  It is so nice that Jenae is old enough to actually be able to help out. 

We have had cold snowy weather the past several days.  We are all ready for a warm up and for Spring weather to return!

Aubree helping Grammy dish up the cake.

Hope & Chip getting some help opening their gifts.

Aubree really thought she needed to help Hope!

Grandpa helping Aubree with the barrel pattern.

Jenae's basketball game.  She got a lot more aggressive as the weekend went on.  She even fouled someone! 
We were proud of her trying to get the ball!

Aubree having fun with Ziggy.

Chip, Kyle & Jenae moving some pairs off to pasture.

Aubree & I were behind in the pick up & trailer.  She was being her silly self!  We were so glad we were in the warm pick up and not out in the cold, damp wind!  Jenae was a pretty tough little cowgirl to hang with the guys!

Chambers Jamboree Part 1

Well I have officially had my first experience of watching my daughter in a basketball tournament.  I am sure it will be the first of many I will have the opportunity to watch.  The Chambers basketball  players put on a weekend tournament for grades 1-12.  The teams are co-ed and broke down by grades.  Jenae's team is made up of 1st-3rd graders.  It was so fun to watch, especially the little 1st graders who you could tell it was there first game to ever play in.  I laughed so hard that I was crying.  Kyle has been really working hard with Jenae on shooting and she has really come a long way since he started working with her on it.  The game however was a whole different experience for her and the other little 1st graders.  They really had no idea where they were supposed to be standing or what they should be doing.  Jenae's team lost so she will play again tonight at 4:30.  Depending if they win or not they will play either at noon or 4:30 tomorrow.  If they win tonight & tomorrow they will play again on Sunday.  If they do not win both of the games they will be done tomorrow. 

Jenae was so cute and excited about the game.  She LOVED the entire experience and it did not seem to bother her that her team lost or that she did not actually get a chance to even touch the ball during the game.  What made her really happy was that her coaches gave the kids treats after the game.  They could choose between a popsicle or a cupcake. After the game all she could talk about is how excited she is to get to play in the next game so she can have another treat.  She had a cupcake last night after the game and had already decided that she was going to go for a popsicle tonight. 

It should be a fun weekend :-)

Kyle & Jenae before the game.

Jenae during the warm up.



Jenae during the game



Jenae's cheering section.  Chip, Marilyn, Hope, Ben & Trey were all there to cheer her on.



Jenae's #1 fan, Trey!!



Burn Baby Burn!!!!

On Friday Chip had a controlled burn done on one of his pastures.  In our area we do not see a lot of pasture burns, so it was really neat to watch.  Burning a pasture is a great way to reduce weeds and the small cedar trees that grow voluntarily.

It was a big production.  There were 4 firemen there with their firetrucks to help keep things under control.  Kyle and Matt Ehlers were in charge of starting the fires.  It sounds like they had  a great time!  Several neighbors were there to help as well as the guy who actually does the burns. 

The before picture of the pasture.

The start of the fire

Chip, Aubree & Jenae cruising around on the 4 wheeler supervising.

Marilyn and Aubree with the fire in the background.

The fire made its way across the pasture.

The flames got pretty big at times!

These were some smoke tornadoes that formed.  The wind must have been just right in order to get them to form.  They looked like real tornadoes and went really high into the sky.  It was so neat.



The after picture.  Once the burn was all complete. 



Saturday morning I got up early and met up with my Mom, Sister, Grandma, Aunts & Cousins for the annual shopping trip to Omaha.  I of course felt guilty leaving the girls home, but I knew it would not be fun for them or me if I took them a long.  It worked out good since Kyle was home.  It gave him a chance to be in charge  :-)  I had a really nice time.  It nice to spend the day visiting and catching up with everyone.  Kyle said the girls did not even seem to notice I was gone. I left before they woke up on Saturday and I guess they did not even ask where I was when they woke up!  They spend most of the day hanging out over at Grandpa & Grammy's house.  I know they had a great time.  That evening Kyle decided to have some friends over.  He got the house vacuumed and picked up.  They went to the Chambers Corner for supper then all went back to our house to hang out.  It sounds like the kids had a great time playing.  I didn't get back to Newman Grove until 9:00 and I was pretty tired.  I ended up spending the night at my parents house and got up early yesterday morning.  I wanted to be home in time to go to church with Kyle and the girls.  Kyle had them all dress and ready when I got there.  I combed there hair quickly and away we went.  It was really foggy yesterday morning.  When we left for church, Chip was outside in his tractor.  Aubree thought that Chip's tractor exhaust was sure making a lot of smoke!  Kyle had to explain it was fog in the air not smoke!!! 

It was so nice yesterday.  We spend most of the day out and about.  We went with Kyle to check the cows.  One of the cows was prolapsing.  It was so funny to sit back and listen to the girls try to figure out what was going on.  Jenae thought the mass coming out of the cow's back end was the calf starting to come out.  Aubree quickly said to her "no it's not Jenae....it is the cow's water bag!"  Neither of them were correct, Kyle tried to explain it the most delicate way he could! 

Jenae has been working with %'s and fractions in school.  Kyle and I try to take normal life things and apply to what she is working on at school.  Somehow we got on the conversations of percentages.  I asked her "if you had all of something what percent would you have?".  She did not quite get was I was asking her.  Kyle added "If something was perfect what would you have."  You could see her wheels spinning in her head and she finally responded "God...He is the only thing that is perfect!"  Such a deep thought for a little girl!!!  Kyle then said "if you got a perfect grade on a paper what % would you have"  She smiled and said "100!"    It is the simple times that make life so entertaining!! 





A nice day

Yesterday it got up to 72 degrees.  It was awesome!!!  The wind really blew but when it was so warm I really did not mind the wind. 

Aubree & I stayed in the house all morning and part of the afternoon getting things done so when Jenae got home from school we were able to head out and enjoy the day.  Kyle had the horse saddle up and took the girls down to the south pasture to see the baby calves.  Aubree was on her own on Beauty and I think it was a little much for her. Looking back it probably would have been better if Kyle would have had the reins and "ponied" Beauty.  Beauty would have kept up better and maybe not tried to stop and eat as much!  Chip was working down there in the tractor clearing out some trees and when Aubree saw Chip she decided she had enough riding.  They had probably been riding a good half hour before she saw Chip.  So what does Aubree do??  She dropped her reins and swung her leg and was riding side saddle.  Beauty took off (not real fast) and Aubee jumped off.  It all turned out fine, but I had a nice long talk with Bree about never ever letting go of her reins! 

Jenae & the puppies

Aubree & the puppies

Jenae on Speedster & Aubree on Beauty

Kyle & the girls off to check for new baby calves.

Aubree having some challenges with Beauty.

A mama cow licking her calf

Whitaker Cattle

Kyle & Jenae riding.  This was after Aubree got off and went with Chip.  I think this would have
 been  a really cool picture if Aubree would have been on Beauty.

Chip giving Trey a ride on the four wheeler.

Aubree taking her turn on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa

Kyle took advantage of the  nice day and started working with some of Chip's
2 year olds.  He made a lot of progress in one day.

It was so nice out I had fun taking pictures.  I took a lot of them!!

The past week

Well I am not sure where to start.  I try to keep my blog updated twice a week.  It seems much more manageable if I do it that way.  If I wait over a week like I have done it is hard to remember what has all went on!  I will try to recap the best I can.
Last Wednesday Aubree & I got to keep Trey for the afternoon. He was such a good boy,  Aubree had a lot of fun playing with him! They really kept each other entertained.

Kyle left Wednesday night to head to Austin.  He caught a ride down there with the Wakefield crew.  The Wakefield boys were roping at the George Strait  Roping in San Antonio.  Jim thought it was silly for Kyle to drive down by himself.  I think Kyle had a nice time on the Wakefield's little family vacation!!  Unfortunately the trip was not a real productive trip for anyone, but I think they all had fun.  They got home really late Saturday night.

I had lined up for Aubree to go to daycare on Thursday since Kyle was going to be gone and Chip would be handling the calving by himself, but my daycare provider's little one was sick and she could not take kids that day.  I was running the office by myself so I did not have the option to stay home with Aubree.  Thank goodness Grandpa Chip came to the rescue again.  Aubree was his little ranch hand for the day.  I was a little more worried than he was if he got in a jam with the cattle and had Bree to deal with too.  It all worked out good and he was able to take her to school by 2:00.  Chambers let the kids out of school at 2:00, but teachers had to stay until 4:00.  Aubree & Jenae had a great time in Grammy's room

Thursday night after work the girls and I met my parents for supper at L-B in Clearwater.  The food was really good and it was nice to have an evening with my parents.  Jenae & Aubree went home with them that night.  I headed down to Newman Grove after work on Friday.  It had been a long time since we went down for a  nice quiet weekend.  Christmas is always so busy even though we spend a couple of days there we seem that we are always on the go.  Christmas was the last time we were there.  Time just goes to fast!!  It is hard to fit everything in. 

Saturday Danielle and the boys came over to my parents house.  My parents had to go to Lincoln for a wedding so there were gone most of the day .  We spent the afternoon visiting my Grandma's.  It was nice to see them and catch up with them.  I know they really look forward to our visits.  I need to try to get down there more often for visits.  They do not live very far away, I really do not have excuses for not going more often except that I just do not make time to do it. 

Saturday night when we got back to my parents house from our visits, little miss Aubree came down with the stomach flu.  It was a long night and we packed up Sunday morning and headed for home.  We were really bummed because one of the reasons we went to Newman Grove for the weekend was to help my nephew Cooper celebrate his birthday.  Needless to say no one really wanted us there!  My sister went to a lot of work getting food ready and planning the party.  I felt really bad would could not go.  Jenae was really upset!  That is just how life goes :-)  Aubree is still recovering.  I think she is better to day.  Thankfully Kyle is home and he has been able to keep her with him the past couple of days so I did not need to miss work. 
He got a call yesterday from school that Jenae's stomach was hurting.  With Aubree's bug he thought he best go and get Jenae from school.  He picked her up and ran into the grocery store to get stocked up on 7-up and bread.  When he came back to the pickup he found her eating the PB&J sandwich that I had packed for her lunch.  Apparently she was just hungry, once Kyle got her home she was feeling fine.  He ended up taking her back to school!!  No day off for Jenae :-)

Hope has got me started with digital scrap booking.  It is a really neat way to organize pictures and put together nice books for the girls.  As I am working with the books I realized that I do not do a good enough job of taking pictures of the girls with others.  My am going to try to do a better job of snapping pictures of them with family members.  Once these years are gone the pictures is really all that is left to help remember
the memories!

Trey had fun wearing around a pair of Aubree's boots.  They were a little big for him, but he did not mind!

                       

Aubree was into wearing headbands on Wednesday

Aubree & Trey

Jenae reading to Trey when she got home from school.

My Mom & Aubree

My Dad & Jenae

My Parents with the girls before they left for the wedding.

Where does the time go?

I realized it has been over a week since my last post.  I am going to do my best to get my blog updated from from the past week.  It was a busy week and the time is getting away from me. 

It is a really nice day today and they are calling for a nice week.  Today & tomorrow supposed to be in the mid 50's and by Wednesday they are calling for upper 60's!! Can't hardly wait for that!

Puppies & Baby Calves

 

We have had a busy couple days on the ranch.  Between wanting to spend time with the puppies and getting in on some of the calving excitement we have kept busy this weekend.  Kyle was in Valley City, ND for a rodeo last night.  He was sitting 3rd in the calf roping when he left.  He got home at 5:00 this morning and by 7:00 he was off to help Chip pull a calf. 

We were able to make it to church this morning.  After church I got busy making dinner.  Kyle caught an hour or so of sleep and we were just getting ready to sit down for dinner when the phone rang.  Kyle was needed to help pull another calf.  The girls & I went ahead and ate and then headed over to Chip & Marilyn's for the afternoon.  Kyle & Chip had to pull yet another calf right after they ate their late dinner.  The day is still fairly early who knows what the evening & night will bring.  Busy times for ranchers!!! 

We are all praying that the winter storm they are calling for our area will somehow miss us.  They are calling for 6-18 inches of snow to fall over parts of Nebraska in the next couple of days.  If we get snow it adds many more challenges to the calving seasons.  The weather this weekend has been nice.  It has been in the upper 30's or lower 40's with lots of sunshine.  We wish the nice weather would continue for us, but it does not sound like we will be that lucky

Aubree my little fashionista.  All dressed up for a day at the ranch.  She did not let her choice of clothing keep her from playing with the puppies or helping Grandpa check the heifers.




Jenae spending some time with the puppies.  They are getting so big, that 2 of them are a real arm full.




Aubree with a puppy.




Jenae giving a puppy some love.




Grandpa Chip loading up the grandkids to go check the heifers.  He has a lap full!!




Off they go to the pasture.




Trey was very happy to be sitting on the 4 wheeler, even if the 4 wheeler was just sitting still.




Trey & Aubree waiting for a 4 wheeler ride.




Oh my Aubree Joy.




Jenae giving Aubree & a puppy a ride to the mail box. 




Jenae & Chip working on getting the calf to get it to take a bottle.




Aubree taking her turn with the bottle calf.  She thinks we should name the calf "Glitter".