Dairy Farm

I grew up on a dairy farm. Yes, the kind that milks cows 365 days a year, rain or shine, on birthdays and holidays. My childhood was amazing. I played in mud, climbed on hay bales, swam in Red River, fed baby calves... we didn't walk out the door without our "play clothes" on!

This past week I took a day off work and went to visit my parents for the weekend taking Jordan with me. Ali couldn't go with us because it wasn't our weekend with her--she was so mad at me. I shouldn't have even mentioned that we were going down there but me and my big mouth... We kept her Wednesday night and as I was tucking her into bed she started crying. I said, "Ali what's wrong? Can I get you something?" She said, "The only thing you could do for me is to not go to Gigi's without me!" Ouch... I almost cried too. :(

Thursday after work I gathered up our things and headed to the dairy. It's almost a two hour drive but (lucky for me!) Jordan slept the whole way. Friday morning we helped my dad (the grandkids call him "Daddy Coy") with all his chores. Jordan loves the fourwheeler. "Beep beep! Beep beep!" is what he calls it. He cried every single time we got off it.

I took a ton of pictures on my camera but, of course, I can't remember how to get them off the camera. So here's a few I took with my phone:

This kid is a BED HOG. And he kicks me in the face a lot.

Two bowls of mac and cheese

Gigi, Jordan, and Daddy Coy

It was an awesome weekend!! Now we'll have to write Santa Claus and ask him for a toddler four wheeler... Thanks a lot, Daddy Coy!

***Updated Photos!!***
I know this post was weeks ago but I finally got all my pictures off my camera! Yay!!

Mmm.. bananas (Notice he's sitting on a case of chili??)

He loves being outside... We have to lock the door to keep him in.

This is the facial expression he made when he first saw the cows! HA!

Mommy and Jordan riding the four wheeler.

I can do it myself, Mom.

Watching Daddy Coy fill up the babies' bottles

My favorite pic... 

I challenged the bull to a headbutt and he backed down, HA!

Big bull

I wanted to know what a honey dew melon tasted like.

It was gross. Peanut wouldn't eat it, either.

My horse (actually Ali's horse, now!): Ty Altivos Mongolio. 

If only Jordan had his eyes open!

Jordan wanted to have his blankie on him exactly like Carter. So cute. 

My name is Jordan and I do what I want cuz I'm cute. 

Ali Weekends Are the Best

So as anyone who reads my blog probably already knows, my daughter isn't technically  my daughter. She's my stepdaughter and so we don't see her a whole lot. Our schedule in a nutshell is: Every Friday night until Saturday at 9:00 AM, every other weekend (Friday after school through Monday morning), and the first Wednesday night of the month. Other than that... we rely on holidays and summer visitation to see her.

Because of this our weekends with her are sacred to us! We try to make the best of them and this often leads to spoiling her rotten, I'm sure! This past weekend one of her friends came and spent the night with her.  We went to the park Saturday afternoon and then to the movies that night (Wreck-It Ralph was SO good!). Then the girls got to stay up late playing games and watching TV. We basically let them do anything they wanted (shun the bad parents) including eating almost a dozen chicken nuggets each, a giant tub of popcorn, a king size box of Skittles, and soft drinks. At 2 AM Sunday Ali comes into our bedroom crying. "Destiny," she says in between sobs, "I threw up in the floor!"

Awesome.

So I cleaned up the puke and then rubbed her forehead until she fell back to sleep.

The next morning the girls woke up super early so they could play. Ali felt fine and we blamed her midnight sickness on eating too much junk food. They played in the backyard before church for almost an hour. Jordan, who has now figured out how to open our front door, joined them for about 3 minutes before we caught him. He had went outside, in the COLD, in nothing but a diaper and one sock. It didn't bother him one bit and he screamed bloody murder when I carried him back inside!

After church Kris took Jordan home for a nap and us girls went out for lunch. I let them order whatever they wanted (as long as it came off the kids' menu!). We then went to Hastings to look at books. Ali's Gigi got her a $50 gift card for her birthday and she hadn't spent it yet. The girls were obsessed with the Junie B. Jones books. I'm not really a fan of Junie B. Jones. She's mean, selfish, and has horrible grammar! But when your kid wants to spend all her money on books... you let her. And so I did, all $50 went towards 10 different Junie B. Jones books. You're welcome, Barbara Park. They spent the rest of their time together reading and harassing Jordan. :-)

When Ali's friend went home Ali said, "But I don't want her to go. Having her here felt like I had my very own real sister!" Was that a hint?