A pleasant visit...

We had a lazy morning, then enjoyed about a 3 hour long visit from Lauretta and Sarena.  We had them here for lunch and showed them the garden/greenhouse; swung on the swings for a while; played a round of "Taboo"; and just visited for a long time.  Fun times!

I was so happy to see that several of the lillies Sarah K. gave me had bloomed today.  They are a BRIGHT orange color, not tiger lillies, just bright orange ones.  So pretty.  :) 

I'd better get to bed right away though, as I need to get up at 5:00 so as to be able to be over at the Mochs to babysit at 6:00.  Andrew said it's going to be a hot day, so the girls and I will probably be spending some time in their little pool, or running through the sprinkler!

What did we do today?

• Dad hauled grain again for a farmer
• Mom, Jacob and I mowed all the lawn (and Andrew did a little trimming)
• Andrew baled the ditch hay
• Watered the garden and strawberries
• Transplanted a few tomatoes
• Weeded in the greenhouse
• Tilled a little
• Cleaned the house---tidied up, dusted, vaccumed, swept, scrubbed, polished and shined.....
• Made 2 pans of Shepherds pie and 1 chocolate cake
• Did chores x2
• Watered all the house plants
• Andrew worked on cleaning up the basement even!
• Moved Dad's swing under the trees, after pruning off branches that were in the way
• Added some kitchen scraps to the compost bin
• Washed, dried, and folded several loads of laundry and put them away
• Changed around the sticky traps in the house to catch more bugs that have a way of getting in
• Mom had a client here, so we had to set up the massage table, then take it down again
• Mom and I played a few songs in our new patriotic piano duet book
• The boys went over and stacked bales by Hazelton this morning
• Set the table this evening---the fancy way (with my mom's grandma's china)
• Ate our feast
• Watched a movie
• Said our prayers
• Headed for bed

That's all.  :)

  We give thanks to the Lord often for keeping us safe as we do our work.~

First Aid...

Our day was full of doing odd jobs around the farm (digging out the very tall sprinkler and getting that working; Andrew raked the hay in the ditches by our farm; doing laundry; rebaiting fly-traps outside; starting a batch of compost in the tumbler; Dad hauled grain all day; etc...).  Then this evening, Mom and I took a class to learn basic First Aid techniques.  I wanted to have the training, as I work with small children a lot and Mom took it again as it had been a long time since she'd taken the class.  We learned a lot, although our teacher kept repeating herself, so the class lasted 3 1/2 hours and we got out of there at nearly 10:00PM.  

 We are getting excited about our second cousin, Hristiyan's upcoming visit.  (See you in 5 days!)  :)

A fun day!

It was warm out, so Johanna and I splashed and splashed in her little swimming pool this afternoon.  I think my skirt was nearly as wet as she was!  Little Tracy bounced in her bouncer while we played, although she did enjoy getting her feet wet also when I held her.  Johanna was having so much fun that, even after an hour and a half, she wanted to play some more, but by that time, Tracy Jo was hungry, so it was time to get dried off and head inside for a bottle of milk. 

After Tracy (their dad) got in for supper at 6:00PM, I headed over to visit my newest friends, Lauretta and Sarena.  I had thought to be there just a little while, but we got to talking and looking at pictures, and I actually just got home a few minutes ago!   We shared stories over cups of home-made Sassafras tea.  :)    *Giggles*    Just so you know who I'm talking about, here's a picture Mom snapped of us at Prairie Days....  (I'd only just met Lauretta 2 days before this picture was taken, but we met Sarena a couple months ago, when she came to buy a computer from Andrew.)  They grew up similarily to how I did and have many of the same beliefs, so we have lots to share about.  I'm just so glad we met!!!   My friend/boss, Paula had also told me about these young ladies (as they're neighbors), but I'm not sure if I'd have met them if it wasn't for the computer deal?   God truly does work in mysterious ways.~

The worst weeding is finished!

 I spent most of this day pulling weeds.  Now almost everything is completely weeded.  Hope it stays that way.  ;)  I also made a batch of ice cream when I was hot and tired, so everyone appreciated that at the end of the day!

Millie was barking at something this afternoon, and kept barking, so I went to investigate.  I found her at the bottom of the light-pole, with a squirral "Treed" up there.

OK, so here's what the garden looked like when I still had a few beds to weed: (Yes, the sweetcorn is knee-high already.)

...and from another angle:  (I didn't take any when I was finished.)

I was so delighted when my yellow/peach rose bloomed today! (It smells so good!)

...and one of my mini-rosebushes bloomed too!

That's all for now....

A full day spent with little girls...

After getting up and doing morning chores and watering the greenhouse and the strawberries, and changing clothes and getting cleaned up, I headed over to the M's house to watch their cute little girls once again.  I spent 11 1/2 hours there, playing with them; reading to them; coloring with one of them; feeding them; changing them; going on walks and playing in the grass with them......   I got home just in time to visit with my family for a little while before family prayer-time and now it's once again bed-time.  Busy!

Mom was away in Bismarck again.  The boys finished cutting down the last hay field, so are now finished with the first cutting of alfalfa.  My dad hauled grain for a farmer.

Tomorrow sounds like it will be just as busy!  

Oh yes, if you would, please pray for my aunt  LV, as we learned that she has to have open heart surgery now.  Also, our hunter friends are very sad today, as one of them (Tom) who's been battling cancer just passed away today.  We'll miss him...

Killing weeds...

Dad and I did major weed demolishing today---his was in the cornfield and my destruction zone was in the garden.  (Then later this afternoon, my dad headed over to Hazelton to bale and he's still over there now.)   The boys worked on one of Andrew's cars for most of the day, then this evening, we had some acrobatic fun on the swings/wooden bar.  Oh yes, I also made bread.  My mom was class-coordinator (for a friend from GA) in Bismarck, so was gone all day and will be gone during the daylight hours through Wednesday. 

And that was how our day went, in a nutshell.

Fun times!

We took pictures of our visit with the Keister family here, but alas, they are not uploaded anywhere yet....   We did have a very enjoyable time though, visiting, eating, swinging, playing Koosh-ball, showing them the animals and the garden/greenhouse, and just getting caught up on all that's happened since they left last Fall.

After eating our noon meal and before they arrived (at 4:00PM), Dad, my brothers, and I went up to a lake that's in our pasture and splashed around for a while.  My dad actually stayed dry, as he was in the duck boat, paddling around, but the rest of us got soaked through and through!  We started out on our inflatable paddle-boats, but ended up swimming around.  That was so fun and good exercise too!  Mom stayed home to get the chicken in the oven on time and to do a couple other last minute preparations (maybe even took a nap?).

I'll try to get some pictures up soon (of our friends' visit.  We didn't have a camera along while on the water....)

The house is clean; the food's prepared; the garden is cleaner...

...more hay is baled and stacked; and we're ready for company!

"Hello, is there an Andrew Bornemann there?"

....asked the person who called and talked to Mother today.   They wanted to know why Andrew still had his car in the Prairie Knights Casino parking lot and could he please come get it?   Well, it's probably because it is NOT Andrew's car anymore (he sold that one several months ago)!   Don't people get their titles transferred over anymore these days?  Hmmmmm....

I spent the morning weeding/tilling in the garden, then went over to babysit for the afternoon.  This evening, the boys and I put the boards on the ropes to make our swings.  This time, there are several sizes of swings (for all heights) and, in place of one swing, Andrew put a wooden bar to swing/do tricks on.  We'll have to swing on them a while now before cutting the ropes off so we can readjust them as the ropes stretch out. 

Dad baled hay all day and the boys cut hay for most of the day.  They might be able to finish the first cutting tomorrow!    Mom kept busy with laundry and getting odds and ends done, trying to prepare for company on Saturday (the Keisters, who now live in SC, are coming to visit friends in ND!).  Sarah already has green bean to put up from her garden and peaches too!  Occasionally I think it would be nice to live somewhere warmer.  :)

We went to a baby shower...

Mother, myself, and "My" little girls did, that is.   It was in Napoleon at the park, so I stopped by at our place and picked Mom up to ride with us.  It was the first time she'd met the little girls I care for, and suffice it to say that she liked them very much.  :)  (I do too.)  Johanna had a lot of fun at the park: swinging, sliding, and riding on a bouncy duck!

When we got back "Home", I made a half-batch of Monster cookies, which made several dozen cookies. 

Later, when I got to my home, I drove out to the far end of the pasture to get Andrew's cow in for milking, then milked the goats.  As Mom had a client here at 7:30, I headed out to the garden.  Andrew mixed up some gas/oil for the small tiller and I putzzed around the garden until nearly 10:00, at which time I made some supper... 

The guys got the bulls moved up to pasture today and cut down some more hay.   My dad had a dentist appointment in Bismarck this morning, so he was gone doing that amongst other things.

It was a good day.

Prairie Days photos #2:

Before sharing the photos here, I just thought I'd say that I've been busy with babysitting the last couple days and my family's been working on the farm.  If you would, please pray for Andrew to have wisdom now, as in the last week, he's had several calls from people (having to do with farming and politics) asking for his help and time and now he needs to decide what he wants to do!

Oh yes, after a pleasant day of work today, I stopped in to visit my new friends, Lauretta and Sarena and they gave me a tour of their house; garden; and their animals.  I even got to see a very new foal---born this morning and to scratch several horses and cows.  I'm thanking the Lord for having us meet!!!  They're like us in many ways, AND, they only live 15 miles away---only 2+ miles away from where I work. 

And now, I have more pictures to share:

Charity B...   Can you guess who she was pretending to be?   

 Watching the gunny-sack race...  (Sarah? in red; the Rose B, myself, Lauretta and Sarena)

 A how many-legged-race?

 Getting ready for the Relay Race...  "Line up by height."

 Stilt races...

Tug-O-War... (With a rope made that morning)

 Tim & Louisa S. and Jonathan S. sang several songs....

 Enjoying the music....

Would you like to trade places with Nate?

 Our host and hostess:

 Mother (dressed up in her "Guess who" costume) and Lauretta (in yellow) and Sarena (in blue and brown).

Yes, I have more to share another day too!   That will have to do for now though.  :)

A post about Prairie Days 2012~

This is just a start.   We have over 450 pictures between the 3 of us photographers!

The 3-legged races were very fun!  (I'm way on the right in a green dress, paired up with my new friend, Lauretta in the yellow blouse and green skirt---and no, we didn't win, as we almost ran over somebody when we turned around to head back!)

 Andrew and Michael tied in the gunny-sack race!

 Here is a picture of "The big floppy feet". (They're not actually floppy so much as awkward, but that's an inside joke, so you'll just have to wonder).   When you work as a team, this isn't so hard to do...

 ...But, if you don't:

Freshly squeezed Lemonade anyone?

 Lining up for a relay race....   We split up into 4 teams.  When "Ready, set, go" was called out, one person from each team filled a cup with water, then ran to the other end and dumped it into the pail on the other end of the playing field, then ran back and gave the cup to the next teammate so he or she could do the same, the goal being to get your teams' pail full first.

Needless to say, there were probably a lot of young people with aching leg muscles today from all the running we did between the 2 days! 

To be continued another day.......

It's been such a BUSY day!!!!

I need to get to bed right away, so as to be refreshed for a full day of fun and busyness tomorrow, so I'm just going to post all these pictures and, if you have any questions about the pictures, just leave me a comment and ask....  ;)   I won't be blogging tomorrow, as my dad is staying home to DO ALL THE CHORES so the rest of us can go to Prairie Days and camp overnight!!!!!!   How nice is that? 

We'll have a special treat in that 2 young ladies (sisters) who are kind of neighbors to us are going to go along.  We just met the one sister today and have talked to the other one a couple times, so it will be really a nice way to get to know each other better!

I'd best be off.  I still have a little packing to do....  Until after Prairie Days then~