I know if you asked Dave and I what family traditions we would like to pass down to our kids, you will get entirely two different answers.  My mom always jokes when she goes through our childhood pictures, Dave is in pictures with lots of dead animals, fish, deer, coyote, rabbits, squirrels and I am pictured with live animals, cattle, sheep, and dogs :)  I think with what we learned growing up we can teach many new (and old) traditions to our kids. I will share pictures later of our earlier years, everyone needs a good laugh now and then anyway!

Tonight Macie had a 4-H meeting, and it brought back memories of many, many 4-H meetings my brother, sister and I attended on Saturday mornings.  Since C.J. is the youngest, he probably attended more, just by default, because he had to tag along! On the way to the fairgrounds, Macie said, "Mom, we need to start our own club." She must think her mom doesn't have enough to do! I assured her there were plenty of 4-H clubs in our county, we didn't need to add another.

Macie left the meeting tonight with an arm full of record books, project books and enthusiasm. She left the fairgrounds saying, "I didn't know I would have this much homework! "  She may have signed up for a "few" projects, but by the interior light in the truck, she read two chapters in her swine project book before we arrived home. The countdown begins! T-5 months! Time to get started on those projects!

2014 will mean a new start for my blog. First, I changed the name to Kellner Farms.  I pondered on the name change for a very long time.  I even asked the family one evening over supper what they wanted to name our "Farm".  Right now, it's a dream, with livestock, and a barn, and pasture. We will talk about that dream later.

Other things we are working on in 2014, house plans.  I'll show you our building site, and this blog will keep a timeline of the progression of everything here.

Kids are busy with sports, Macie is playing basketball now. In the spring, Macie will be in Softball and Ryan will be in baseball.

Macie is also beginning her first year of 4-H. We have lots of projects to start on, and I think there are some  piggies that have just been born, and she is waiting to pick them out!!!

Our family spends a lot of time outside, that is where you will find my husband, fishing, hunting, scouting, gardening, playing "pig" at the hoop, or catch in the yard.  It's great that our kids love following  him around!

During their winter break, kids spent time outside, trapping with Dave and Papa Jack.






I think Ryan is very interested in trapping next year. What's in season next??

More to come in 2014, maybe a few recipes and how we are working on creating a menu every Sunday, it is working great for us! When we have dinner plans laid out at the beginning of the week, Dave starts dinner, and we are eating "in" more!!

Mason had his 18 month doctor appointment today! He's a growing little boy!!

Tonight we went to the Tri-County School Board Meeting. Macie was recognized as one of the Students of the Month in the Primary School. Her Teacher, Mrs. Ingram recognized Macie and another student in her class. When they were presented the award at school, the Principal, Mr. Ulrich asked Macie was was her favorite thing about school. She said "Art!" Mr. Ulrich said "Maice seems creative, look at the way she dresses." Mr. Ulrich also asked Macie what she likes the best about Tri-County school, she said "The teachers are very nice!" That answer led to an "awwwww" from the people attending the meeting! She recieved at special "Student of the Month" pencil, that Mr. Ulrich said "had all the answers" and a gift certificate to Pizza King! Macie said she was going to drink her $3.00 in coke!!

Life is easy for a four year-old. But even better when it includes candy!!! And we also let our country kids play in the streets when we go to town!

This is Dave and Nathan working on setting up the Kiddie Tractor Pull at the Little Cousin Jasper Festival! I will take a moment here to reflect on a few quotes from Ryan this weekend.
"Mom, do you like my underware? I have been wearing them all day!"
"Mom, I lost Macie!!" (Macie was taking a shower, and Ryan noticed her absence!)

Macie came home today from school with a very special suprise! She recieved Student of the Month award! She was very excited. She said she was called out of Mrs. Ingrams room, and she thought she was in trouble! :) Then they told her she was Student of the Month and she will get to go to a school board meeting. I told Macie this is the type of example she needs to set for other students for the rest of the year! I like to remind my kids daily that they need to behave in school!

I keep telling myself it's time to start blogging again, and I think I will do it "tomorrow" Now "tomorrow" has turned into MARCH! I will take this time on Spring Break, and start to blog everyday. I can do this, I am sure. Dave is watching NCAA Basketball right now. Odd to see him do this, most basketball in our house is only watched during tournament time.

Today was spent waking up to Meme cooking breakfast! We then headed to River Island for a few laps around the "river". One lap is 1,200 feet, so we trekked about 3/4 mile today around the river, and there is a current, so naps were in order for the kids after the lazy river!

It is so hard to get the kids down for bedtime during vacation, but Ryan's good night kiss included him saying "See you at Breakfast time".

I am sure the kids are dreaming sweet dreams, anticipating their trip to the Magic Kingdom on Monday!

Oh, don't tell Kate the Little Guy fell on her hostas. Why do her hostas look so much healthier than my hostas I made the kids stand in front of when we took pictures the other day in the fog?
Look how cute they are, She joined Little Guy, in the rocks. Oh what girls will do to sit by a boy :)

Tuesday wake-up call same as usual, but when I woke up, I noticed the fog was bad, I couldn't see any of the neighbors lights. About 10 minutes before we were out the door, we received the phone call that school had a two-hour fog delay. Kids and I stayed a little bit longer at home than normal. Just spending a few more minutes with them in the morning was nice since I have been so busy with work. Before we left we picked gourds for the teachers, and took pictures with the kitty Ryan named "Blackie" You can tell in these pictures how foggy it really was. On our way to town, I got another phone call that school was canceled, and that meant Ryan's preschool was canceled for the day.

So things were running a little late this morning. Things? If you want to call my cold a THING. Keeps me up all night and doesn't want me to get out of bed. But I am trudging through this thing!

Ok, I was running late this morning!

I am not going to complain about my late hours at work during harvest, but it does take a toll on the kids, too. They were home before me, and still wouldn't go to bed until I got home. They have no problems going to bed when daddy works late!

So I decided to take them to school today since Ryan has preschool in the morning and they needed to be at the school at the same time. Macie stopped in to see her preschool teacher, Mrs. Beth. Then Ryan went down to Macie's room to see where she sits in the classroom. Mrs. Hageman changes their seating chart around, and that is a great idea! She sits by some handsome little boys, too! What a lucky little girl! She made sure she gave Ryan a hug and kiss before he went back to his Preshool class, and as I was walking out of her door, I heard her say "MOM" I turned around to see her standing there, and she said "I love you!" Today was just as hard for me as the first day of Kindergarten to leave her there at school.

This picture is from March, 2010, at the Orange Lake Resort in Orlando, Florida.

If you can believe me that by the end of the day, the kids (and I) are exhausted! The ride home, in the dark seems longer than on the way home, in the dark!

Tonight, Aimee helped watch the kids, took Macie to soccer practice, and then took them to McDonald's afterwords for supper.

I went a different route home, after I picked up the kids from McDonald's, and this totally threw them off. First because they know every landmark between here and home, and because they were really tired!

I always get the famous question, "Where are we going"

After that question, I answered, "Interstate" Ryan asked "Are we going to Florida???" Seriously! "I will take you to Florida, just not tonight!"

MM piped in and said, "Mom you are not allowed on the interstate without dad, you will get lost!"

"Macie, dear, how do you get to gymnastics?? By Interstate, in Mom's Truck!!"

Ryan told me, "Mom, you get ticket if you are speeding." No, Ryan, that wouldn't be me.

The ideas that run through their head! And when we got off the Interstate at the next exit, everything was familiar to them again, even in the dark.

"Oh, how did we get here!" Ryan started in on his own questions, and Macie told him, "I can't close my eyes when you are talking! "

Things were quiet until we got home, Macie was tired after soccer practice.

Did this weekend really happen? Or was it a continuation of the previous weeks, that never end? I had Sunday off of work, but those days off seem like a blur. The million things on my to-do list, don't get checked off. They just stack up!

Kids are sporting new jammies from Nana. She came over for the weekend, watch Macie play soccer on Saturday, but it was too cold and rainy on Saturday Morning. She took the kids to Nanny McFee Saturday night and they liked the movie!

Now it's time for the kids to head to bed. Rush around and come home, have a snack, do homework, go over classroom work, read a book, and head to bed.

On my way to work this morning, the kids were full of questions for me. In the morning I could drive all the way to work with the radio on, even though I change the station again and again, looking for a song I like, and not wanting to listen to any news. Depending on the morning, the kids may sleep all the way to town, especially during harvest. But today, they had lots of questions.
Ryan asked me "Where does God live" Before I could answer, Macie answered for me, "Somewhere between here and the North Pole" That answer worked for Ryan, because the next question was, "How does God get to work?" That requires a tougher answer. I know God works through my kids everyday! It's the simple things they say, or the tough questions they ask, it's God speaking to me through them.
One day on the way home from work, Ryan was thoughtfully looking out the window asking "Where is God?" I may not be looking for God everyday, but he is looking for us, protecting us, and making sure we get to work.

Macie recieved her mid-term report. M = mastery, P = progressing and N = needs work. I remember my report cards were graded with S+, S, S- and U. Macie had "straight M's" besides needing to learn her home phone number and home address. She knows our mobile numbers, which I think are more important, since we are never home and mobile numbers are the best way to get ahold of us ;)

Macie said she was on the letter Z, but she is not done with school!!