Type 3

This spring has become increasingly difficult with Dalanie.  After all, she is so much like me and it's hard to parent yourself.  My second born, a definite type III.  I started reading and learning from Carol Tuttle's book, The Child Whisperer.  There was no question which dominant type Dalanie is.  

As a type 3, she has a forward movement that can be felt and interpreted as pushy.  She is project oriented, wanting to accomplish something and move on.  She is an entrepreneur and loves to be challenged physically (i.e. competition).

So here were are looking for a baptism dress and starting to plan for it back in early spring.

She has a special talent where she can suck her nostrils in and hold them.  It makes me claustrophobic   but it has become her trademark.

She doesn't want to wait for an explanation, she just wants to get busy doing something.

She is generous and thoughtful.  Carefully deciding what to buy for Ruby from the ice cream truck.

She has achieved the Presidential fitness award for the last two years.  But at the assembly, she always wishes it was a different award that she won.

LPM Finale

Just like that, another year of LPM comes to an end.  It's hard to believe that we've put 2 kids through the program and now a 3rd one is on her way.  

It's fun attending class with your child.  By the end, you have become friends with all of their classmates and their moms.  What a great group of kids!

Ruby was so jazzed to finally be a part of LPM.  She really looked forward to her classes, especially those parent weeks.

Dalanie's group of 3rd years was the biggest.  They had a lot of fun together.

When asked to brainstorm for their composition inspiration, they were asked what they really like.  And since I thought writing music about painting fingernails would be too tricky, she decided that Grandpa's swing and chewing bubble gum were some of her favorite things.  She spoke clearly and loudly to introduce herself and her composition:
"My name is Dalanie Hillman.  The name of my song is Come Swing With Me.   I invite you to ride my Grandpa's merry-go-round swing while I chew and pop my bubble gum."

During her song, she clapped to emphasize popping her gum and she finished her song off by popping a balloon. 

Dalanie is ready to be heading on to private lessons, in her mind- bigger and better.

Cows

You must know that I am a fair weathered cowboy.  With hired help, my cattle responsibilities are overshadowed with caring for my own offspring.  The good news is that we can still be involved when moving, sorting, and branding cattle is involved.  We had to move patures, so the girls and I hopped on the 4-wheeler and Hudson and Brent took the horses.  Hudson and Dalanie held all the cows at the edge of the hay field for a long time.  I was impressed with their skills.

There was one baby that tired out not too far into the trip.  I threw it on the 4-wheeler with  us.

Once the cows were where they wanted to be, the girls got their turn on Shorty.  Ruby got a faster ride than she bargained for when Dale rode by on his horse.  Shorty is not one to be left behind, so he took off running.  Once I realized what was happening, I took off running after Ruby.  People were hollering and got Dale to stop before something bad happened.  I was just grateful it ended the way it did.

It was a crazy day of branding with girls having to go to gymnastics in the middle of it.  As usual, the weather was beautiful and the kids had fun getting dirty and doing their jobs.  Hudson and Hailey were the only reliable ones that stuck with it all day long.

Back By Popular Demand

I tried turning things over to the FFA chapter for Farmer for a Day (FFAD).  Let's just say. . . not all chapters can execute things like the good ol' Burley one.  It was a little disorganized and a bit embarrassing, but I spent the day down at the elementary school helping things along.  Next year I'll organize it and just give the FFA kids assignments.  (Not much for leadership growth and personal development but at least then it won't be a joke.)

The staff in the office assured us that the elementary kids were so excited for FFAD.  There is so much potential for the event.

Corn station:  Focused on teaching the three types of corn; sweet, field, and popcorn.
Played a popcorn game, planted a corn seed, and popped popcorn.

Farm safety:  The object was to educate kids on the potential hazards of sharing the road with farm equipment and dangers associated with machinery.

Petting Zoo:  This is always a favorite with the assortment of animals the FFA kids bring.

an angora rabbit

The farm bureau brought in their milk cow again.  This kids love milking her and making butter.

The FFA kids did the judging on the coloring and essay contests.  I loved watching the deliberations.

Dalanie was selected as her class winner with the nice black cow pictured above.

I felt a little awkward when Hudson was selected as the top essay and awarded the prize for the second year in a row.  What can I say, he's an eloquent farmer.

It's safe to say that FFAD has become an annual event.  I love the interaction with the kids and promoting agriculture, something I'm passionate about!

Spring Fever

The weather this year has been quite mild.  The weather felt like spring long before I was ready to come out of hibernation.  Such a warm March. I was in denial long enough.  When the calendar finally indicated if was time for spring I decided to play along.  But as soon as I did, I remembered why I was dragging my feet.  Spring is a lot of work.  There is always so much to be done in the yard and garden.  Pruning:  

Planting:

Random stop by the ice-cream bus in April.  How can the kids hear it miles away and they can't hear me when I'm in the same room as them?

Ruby's frog friend.  It kept the girls entertained one afternoon until Trigger got ahold of it's habitation. It's life was spared and I didn't have to be the one they were mad at for turning it loose.

The trampoline has gotten lots of use this spring.  I love that I can watch them playing from my kitchen windows.

Weenie roast anyone?  Holy Toledo, that was a big fire.  A year's worth of yard debris up in smoke.

Cleaning her rocks because they were as dirty as she was.

Delsie's way of planting peas.  Heap 'em in one big pile.

As soon as birds start chirping, the kids are begging to turn the waterfall on.  It's always a long-anticipated cheap thrill/chill.

This year's resolution: eat out more!  Eating outdoors make dinner so much more enjoyable. . . until it's time to clean up.  The kids are getting better at pitching in and bringing things inside.

She'd be lost without him and he'd be lost without her.  They're quite the combination.

My egg gathers and washers.  I've lowered my expectations now that Delsie is washing the bulk of the eggs.  We just hope we have enough for breakfast that managed the process without being broke.

It's always fun when the bouquets of garden-grown, fresh flowers make a come back.