Skidsteer

Several weeks ago, I had a very scary experience with our skidsteer.  It was bitter cold, as in 30-40 below zero with the wind chill, and I went up to the barn to do chores.  I attempted to do start our skidsteer and it wouldn't start.  Engine would barely even role over and then it made a really weird noise.  I got nervous and went to get the cordless phone in the house and headed(ran) back up to the barn.  I went back in and checked the skidsteer and everything looked fine and it was no longer making the weird noise.  It smelled hot but I still could not see any problems.  I went outside and called Luke to find out what he wanted me to do for chores and to tell him about the skidsteer.  I was only on the phone with him for a couple of minutes and when I got off of the phone I went back in and the skidsteer was on fire.  I panicked and could not remember where the fire extinguisher was and had to run back outside to call Luke and I screamed into the phone "fire extinguisher" and he replied "on the feed room wall."  I hung up the phone got the extinguisher and was able to put the fire out. 


As soon as I put the fire out I went back out and called my neighbor Doug (a close friend who live 2 minutes away from us).  Then I called Luke back to tell him I put the fire out and find out what needed to be done.  He told me to disconnect the battery cable, so I got off the phone again and did that.  At this point I was shaking so badly that I could put a wrench to anything no matter how hard I tried and it felt like it was taking forever for Doug to come over.  Mind you it only took Doug several minutes to come over.  Doug quickly disconnected the battery and we called Luke back to give him an update of the situation.  He asked us to try and get the skidsteer out of the barn.  We attempted pulling it out with Doug's truck but the skidsteer wouldn't budge.  We then decided to call the fire captain for out township and ask him if he wanted to come check everything out and see if he would have any equipment to pull it out with.  He came out and said everything looked find and said we shouldn't have any problems with it and that he didn't have any equipment that would pull it out as the driveway in front of the barn was snow covered and icy. 


So, after 2.5 hours working on the skidsteer, we had to leave it in the barn and wait.  Luke was at work through all of this and when he got home he started making calls to get a rental skidsteer and for someone to come and get ours to get us an estimate and possibly fix.  Luckily a dealership was able to come out the next morning to pick the skidsteer up and deliver a rental to us.  After everything, there was quite a bit of damage, but it was all fixable.  It took over 2 weeks to fix it but we now have it back just in time for a cold spell that could possibly be colder than the first cold stretch.  Hopefully only good things!

Decorating the tree and Breakfast with Santa!

This year Josie was very interested in decorating the Christmas tree.  I put the tree up and got it all set for the ornaments and then Josie took over.  Josie did most of the ornaments and Cooper helped with a few.  Every once in a while I would grab a special ornament or breakable one and put that towards the top of the tree but I think the kids did a really great job.  I couldn't get them to stand by the tree together so this is the best I got. Cooper is in the midst of potty training so don't mind his big boy undies!!

We also went to breakfast with Santa a couple of weeks ago and the kids were super excited.  Well, until we actually saw them.  Josie got brave enough to go see Santa and Mrs. Claus after we finished eating. 

Here she is telling Santa that she wanted the big stuffed pony from Tractor Supply.  Unfortunately Santa didn't bring it for her this year.  Although he did bring her a horse stable.

 

I think Cooper was even more excited to see Santa than Josie was, until we got there and he actually had to go talk to him.  Then he started screaming and crying.  So, we went back to our table and Cooper started crying and saying Choo, choo.  I then realized that he was mad because he didn't tell Santa what he wanted.

 

So, we went back up to Santa and Cooper went running up to him and told him that he wanted a Choo, choo.  Then he was happy and willing to take a good picture with Santa. 

Josie's 4 year pictures

We took Josie's 4 year old pictures back in the first part of September and I just realized that I never posted them.  We took them in the backyard against the old outhouse and then on a gate in our yard.  I think they turned out great.  Enjoy!

Lately

This past month has gone by way to quickly.  Corn silage was chopped and the kids loved watching the tractor all day.  Our corn was combined and so we spent 2 very long days in the truck moving trucks around and watching the combine go.  Cooper thought it was awesome watching all of the trucks and the combine.  We've also weaned all of the calves and sorted the young heifers and a few old cows out and got them set up in the barn.  Let's just say the barn is very full this year.  It was also very noisy in the valley for several days after we weaned the calves.  We also had several cows get out multiple times, so I spend a lot of time chasing cows around!

Cooper has been talking up a storm lately.  He is working on putting more and more words together.  He still is not talking in full sentences but he is able to put enough words together to tell us what he wants, most of the time.  He is loving having mom to himself two days a week while Josie is at school and I think that it is really helping his speech improve!

Josie is doing great in school. Her teacher had only good things to say about her.  She is currently average to above average in most things that they test to gage their level of knowledge.  She is really good at writing her name!  Josie loves school and has started teaching us some of the songs that she is learning!

School Update

It's been a while since school started for Josie and I thought I would give a quick update.  Josie had a couple of really bad weeks at the start of the school year where she did not want to go to school at all.  And then all of sudden things have been great.  She wakes up and can't wait to get to school.  She still says that she doesn't play with anybody.  But if I start naming kids in her class she will tell me if she played with them and what she did.  If I ask her about her day she tells me she had fun but doesn't want to talk about it.  Her favorite things to do at school are gym class, library time and music class.  She loves recess.  She prefers to pack a lunch rather than take hot lunch but some days she asks to have breakfast at school. 

This last week was the first time she had an all school assembly because the fire department came.  They got to see the firemen all dressed up in their gear and even the principal dressed up in the gear.  They also got to see a bunch of fire trucks and a tanker truck.  She also had team time on Wednesday where they got to build a scarecrow!  Team time is where all of the classes get intermixed and in each team they have several kids from each grade with a teacher or teachers aid.  They do team time once a month and this was the first time they did it this year.  Josie had lots of fun and her team teacher is our neighbor so Josie really like that.  Josie will have the same team all year so she'll get a chance to meet some of the older kids in school!

Overall school is going great and she is learning lots!

Birthday Party

Last weekend was Josie's birthday party with our family friends.  We all had a blast and Josie got lots of great presents.  Enjoy the pics!

First Day of School

Josie started Pre-K on Wednesday September 4th at Prairie View Elementary School.  Josie's teachers name is Miss Sedlmayr and the teacher's aid is Mrs. Zink.  Josie was so excited to start the day that she couldn't get to her classroom fast enough.  She found her cubby immediately and hung her backpack up and headed into the room.  We had to call her back to tell her good bye and then she started to get a little bit sad but she held it together and didn't cry.  Since it was her birthday last week she was allowed to bring in a birthday treat on the first day of school.  So, when I picked her up from school she was so excited to tell me how everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  She had a great day and really enjoyed herself.