March 10 (+2) on 10

She's getting braver. I don't know if it's the super-awesome fish treats, or if the kids have learned to be quieter around her, or if she's going senile. My vote would be for the fish treats.

Fish, Ellie? FISH!???



He's the mechanical-minded one - asked for a toothpick and went and got himself a light. Then he announced that if he spun the wheels backwards all that junk caught around them started to unwind itself. Not too bad for a six year old. Then again, he's always had an interesting connection with cars... ahem... having been born in one.



Our drive to church. Kind of bleak. Kind of still winter. Endless month of March. I'm totally okay with it this year, which is unusual.



Ye old styrofoam cup, always begging to be mutilated.

Peek:



And a peek back:



You have muddy pawprints on your sunroof too, right?

See the reflection of the little girl feet?



This was right before his head smashed into my lens... which smashed my camera into my glasses. My new glasses. My only-four-days-ago I got'em glasses. My I-gotta-go-back-and-get-them-adjusted already again glasses. My this-is-exactly-why-I-got-two-pairs-of-them glasses. I win, dear readers. I win.



She's three. But she's almost four. And when it gets deathly quiet, it's still a dreadful thing. Blue sand dunes all over the kitchen floor? True story. I lose.



Just try, ladies. Just you try coming through that door.

WHAM!



And there's most of the menagerie. What should we add next? Turkeys? Goats? Emu?



The spoiled floppy purring one. And there. All the cats made it into one blog post.



Did I mention she's still a handful? Some nights this is the only way (without tears) I can convince her to head into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

February 10 on 10

He's creating a masterpiece drawing on the iPad. What kind of masterpiece, you ask? The kind with a rocket ship that suddenly lights on fire so all the frogs have to jump out and then you draw parachutes on them, of course, because frogs can't fly very well on their own. Mouth open concentration required. Cute sister optional.



We were in a blizzard warning, or blizzard watch, or prepare yourself HERE COMES THE WIND, or church and 4H cancelled or something like that. I was confused. But then I saw Marshall hunkered down in the chicken coop and figured something must be brewing. The critters always know.



More creative concentration in full swing...



Then, instead of a blizzard, the sillies arrived. What else do you do on a so called Snow Day when someone "accidentally" smashes a plant?

Mom: "Hey, all you need is a toga!"
Kid: "What's a toga?"



I call this one: "Brave children onward through the snow"
Alternately titled: "Mom kicked them straight out the front door"



Kids outside, peaceful house inside, my Ellie slinks out of the attic temporarily.



Two hours later, he's nowhere near ready to come in yet... and by the way, for all my Southern friends, it was so warm out the dog was panting. True story.



Prelude to bedtime. How do you comb a Dad's hair when he hasn't got any hair to comb?



It's obvious what this is, right?

What, you can't tell?

Hello. It's a Christmas Tree.



The commute to my virtual office is a short one. Blowing snow and ice has Interstate shut down? Whatever.

Not all online chat agents barely speak English and live in India. Sometimes they live in the middle of North Dakota. Some forward-looking companies want their customers to have someone knowledgeable to walk the aisles of their online stores with them, except, in a less creepy way. And if you (by some act of God, or perhaps lack of regard for normal safety standards that most humans have) smashed your Nikon D90 at an off-road race in SoCal... I'll promise we'll get along okay, even though I love Canon. And I'll tell you the Mack Diamond warranty might be nice for "normal and abnormal wear and tear" but it's too bad it'll only cover your gear and not your personal injuries. And then I'll sell you a sweet new Nikon camera.

I am really loving this job, it's such a perfect fit for where I am in life right now.



Oh, and dual monitors? Kicks butt.

An Afternoon

We have the teeny tiniest bit of snow. It's almost comical. Last year at this time I'm pretty sure we had five thousand inches stacked up and blowing all over the place. I could probably dump a bag of flour on the ground and make a picture similar to this one. Except the dog and chickens are rude, and flour is edible. So, actually, no. I couldn't do this with flour.



I might have to try, though. Since I brought it up and everything.

Yet another January day that did not feel like a January day. I could so get used to this. Yet another weekday afternoon with merely an hour remaining until the school bus returns and I have to face the music. Four o'clock frightens me.

The singing competition between our two roosters became more interesting than drawing in the snow with naked corn cobs. We wandered that direction. Dust and I'd-rather-not-know-what-that-is sparkled in mid-air, caught by beams of light streaming through the barn. He was fascinated.



Sometimes I daydream about a vacation where I just sit in front of the barn, in the warm sunshine, with some of these fuzzy critters. The easy life. That's what this is. Especially when January is wearing March temperatures. Especially when you have a South-facing barn with white paint that creates a practically tropical micro-climate right there.



Did I mention planning my garden? I have big ideas for last year's sunflower stalks.



Did I mention how much we looooooove Arnold? We do. So much. Arnold, on the other hand, does not appreciate how much we admire his adorable little self. At all.

Run Arnold! RUN!!!


It looks like he's just standing there, but that is one of his legs up behind him. Running for his life.

A few things

Way too many orders of business for one blog post. But what the heck, here we go. Feel free to bail out at any time.

1. Scavenger Hunt at Ashley's
I've *ahem* lost the battery charger for my big camera. Tragic (or fortuitous?), I still have my old camera. And after falling off a 100 year old chair, which earned me a 5 inch long dandy of a bruise on my thigh, and tossing that XTi across the room where it left a quarter inch deep gash in the table... it seems to be working better than ever. Lucky, lucky me.

Stacked up:
(this was taken with my full frame)


Winter Wonderland:
Look! We got some snow! What a bizarre winter.


Sweet:
I think Arnold has a girlfriend.


Hole:
Hey Bean, were you trying to get that cupcake into the big hole on your face? You missed.


Frozen:
I mean, not really.... frozen. That hen could be in my freezer, you know. Not that I would do that, or anything.




2. Clickin' Moms

Friends, that button on the side of my blog, the one that looks something like this...


That's an affiliate link. If you decide to become a member, and if I have been the one to introduce you to Clickin' Moms, please... please. For the love of all things photography.... click through my button when you join so I can receive credit for referring you.

If you have questions about the forum, email me. oldnicholsfarm(at)yahoo(dot)com

I'll convince you that your photography will become fabulous overnight, and you won't have to put any work into it whatsoever (at all). Ha. Hahaha! But really, it is an amazing resource.



And, yes, they have a week-long trial membership for only $10.


3. Flickr

I thought it was obvious by now, but apparently not.

I. am. on. flickr. Add me as a contact, friend, whatever. Really, it's okay.

When left-clicking is enabled for a photo on my blog, it'll take you straight to flickr to see activity/comments on that image over there. If you care about such things.


4. Project 52

There is a tab (button thing, click!) under my blog header that says Project 52. This is my little year-long photography project for 2012. Just something to keep pushing me. I'll update that page with a new photo weekly - probably Saturdays since I am a master procrastinator.


5. Carsen's Courage

I love this beautiful lady. I love her sweet family. I love her adorable kid. Her selfless determination to give him the very best of every opportunity is inspiring to say the least. Life isn't easy for Carsen, but what he has overcome already... brings me to tears.



I'm not only lucky enough to know them in real life, but to be related.

Kelly is hosting a Thirty-One bag giveaway - a great excuse to check out her blog.

If nothing else, read this post: Carsen's Courage.
(if you click, read the entire page, and have a box of tissues handy)

Christmas poem - part 2

I warned you there was a chance of a sequel. If you need a reminder, click here.

Twas the day after Christmas,
and all through our land
a deep snow had fallen.
I, with my camera in hand,

looked out through the window
at this most wondrous sight,
trying my darnedest to get
my camera settings just right.

When what to my wondering
eyes should appear?
Someone braving the blizzard,
my husband, a man of no fear.


All through the night
it had snowed and snowed.
And every time that happens
there's one spot on the road,

where a snowdrift grows
to such an enormous size,
that to leave with the car
would certainly be unwise.

Without a question I knew
my husband was going to see,
just exactly how large
that drift had gotten to be.

Then I saw our dog
prancing around in the snow.
Wherever her master went,
you can be sure she would go.

But the longer I watched,
something didn't seem right.
That dog had something in her mouth,
and she was holding it tight!


My husband was trying
to get her to come,
but it took quite awhile.
That dog isn't dumb.

He wanted to take it,
whatever she'd gotten.
Back at the house I was hoping
it wasn't stinky and rotten.

As I watched with my camera
through a gap in the trees,
finally the snow beast came to him,
although I doubt my hubby said please.


As he then headed back to the house,
my curiosity nearly killed me!
In just a few short minutes I'd know
what in the world it could be.


A pheasant!

It had flown up in front of her nose,
and that dog leaped into the sky!
She'd grabbed it real quick,
and in only one try.

Often that dog is a pain in the rear
but on this day, she was a winner,
for in catching that bird
she gave us our post-Christmas dinner.

My Christmas

Beth cancelled You Capture this week for reasons beyond her control. However, I decided to put my photos up anyway since I had them ready.

My Christmas this year didn't feel much like Christmas. We cancelled our travel plans also for reasons beyond our control, specifically, snotty noses and because of this...


...which is a heck of a lot more snow than it looks like. Really fun snow too, for boys of all ages. Following in the snow tradition we have established for ourselves, Daddy uses his snow blower until it breaks. Then he uses the plow on his truck, which thankfully did not break (this time).

It also didn't feel much like Christmas because one by one, all our Christmas decorations were attacked by small children, taken down and put away. By the time Christmas rolled around, we were left with nothing but the tree. The only reason the tree survived is because it's locked away in the sun room. Kid proof.


The boys opened their presents, the little bean ate the wrapping paper, and there was much rejoicing.

Please excuse my on-camera flash, it's been so long since I used it, I just wanted to be sure it still worked (or else my kids get up soooooo darn early I didn't feel like using my brain).


It was a quiet Christmas at home, just the five of us.


Well, quiet except for the kid noise, which alternated between fighting, and happily playing at the speed of boy.

Meltdown

This kid has moments like this all the time.


A twig stuck in his hat, snow in his boots, wet socks, snot pouring out of his nose, a bit of food stuck in his teeth... He was too cold, and that was just too much.

On the other hand, all of this might mean he had a very good time. But we know all good things must come to an end, especially when you're three, and have so little control over your emotions life.

If you look closer, you'll see that there is the tiniest bit of perfection to all of his chaos.


It will melt down quickly, just like he does.

A Christmas poem

Christmas morning as I watched
the snow swirling around on my farm,
I was confident once again
that it could do me no harm.

See, I married a real
do-it-yourself boy,
who even came with
a big four-wheel-drive toy.

Just yesterday he figured out
the corn burner could go
if hooked up to the car (what the heck!)
so I say, "Let it snow!"

We've got heat, we've got eggs,
we have all that we need.
As long as we don't run out of toilet paper
we'll be doing just fine indeed.

We spent half of the morning
eating cinnamon bread,
and the sugar went straight
to the littlest boy's head.

Our dog is curled up
all warm in her den,
while the cat lost his marbles
and slept in the nest of a hen. (really)

Day one of our blizzard
and the snow drifts are already a sight,
but I can still see the barn,
so I think we're alright.

But the wind hasn't yet
hardly started to blow,
so thank goodness we've got
not a darn place to go!

The only problem we have
is that I decided to cook beans,
and when we're all stormed in the house
I fear what that means.

And there's lots more snow coming,
they say that it's true.
So perhaps I'll continue later
with Christmas poem, part two.