Hay!

If you’ve read my blog for long (or know me in real life), you know I have a love-hate relationship with the cows who call the pasture in front of our house, home.

For part of the year, we have cows out front. I love them, especially when it’s baby-season. My Father-in-law always makes sure he puts some momma cows and babies out there and I love them…for about two days…then my garage starts to stink, because the “gifts” they’ve left on our driveway are unavoidable, and SPLAT!, in the garage it comes via my car tires. Nice. Not to mention my car is always the one in the parking lot with splatters on the side… not kidding…

ANYWAY, I DO love those cows (when they’re aren’t crazy and chase me down the drive way while I’m walking) and I love having to cross two cattle gaps to get to our house and I love looking out the window and seeing them in the field, but after a few months of it, our driveway gets a break, and it’s a nice welcomed one.

When the cows are moved and the break comes, it means hay season is coming soon. The grass in the field grows and grows and GROWS. The once eaten-down-by-the-cows green grass is greener than ever (thanks to the summer sunshine and rain), but it also gets almost as tall as Annabelle. A field of bright green hay grass is pretty, don’t get me wrong, but to me, nothing compares to the clean-cut look of a freshly baled field.

We’d been grocery shopping a couple weeks ago, and when we pulled into our drive I nearly sang the “Hallelujah” chorus when I saw this…

You can see where they’d cut and how tall the grass had gotten…

AB was even excited!  (Thanks, Publix for the free sugar cookie she was still munching on!)

She spent the rest of that week at our front door or in the windows of the office looking out and watching her Pappy, Uncle Adam, Uncle Van and the other men who work on the farm cut and bale hay. She’d wave as their tractors passed by and she’d have to identify whoever was on the tractor… amazingly, they were all, “A-UM” (Adam). I still don’t know how he was cutting, fluffing, raking AND baling at the same time…but according to AB he WAS! :)

Last year, when the guys were working in front of the house, I volunteered to cook them lunch one day. My Granny always cooked a big lunch for the people who worked on their farm and my FIL said DW’s Grandmother used to do the same thing for the men out here. I like some tradition, so it’s one we’ve started! When the guys are working in front of the house, one of the days, I’ll cook lunch for them.

In an attempt to redeem myself, before I tell yall what we had this year, let me tell you what we had LAST year… I made stew beef and rice, peas, biscuits, corn casserole and chocolate delight. Granny would be proud.

Alright, here’s what we had this year… sandwiches.

Yep, I served sandwiches. I was too busy working on my acceptance speech for Domestic Wife of the Year to cook. ha.

I didn’t break out the light bread and bologna, though, yall… I at least bought some good sub rolls! Ha…

I had to make a photo collage to make it look a little “fancier”!  :)

I did Italian subs and to make them look a little cuter and taste a little yummier I topped them with a Greek (Pepperoncini) Pepper. I have recently become obsessed with these things! They’re the kind that come with a pizza at Papa Johns and are on the salad at Olive Garden. My Granny always had a jar at her house, and I’d never even tried them until a few months ago…and now I LOVE THEM.

After the hay was baled, I tried to get some pictures of AB on one of the round bales. She would have NONE of it. 

I did get her picture on the hay trailer though, with her brother’s boots and hat… they’re kind of cheesy, but still cute…

At first, she didn’t want anything to do with that either…

Then we saw someone driving across the field…

It was Uncle Adam!

Little miss was full of big smiles after that!

One night, we were riding out to the lake, and DW and I let AB sit in one of the tractors, too. She loved having them in the front of the house for the week!

Now all the hay, tractors and equipment are gone, and the field sits empty…waiting on some cows! (Preferably cows that are going to have some babies!) :)

~amw~

A new season…

I know I’ve said it before and we all know it, but I’ll say it again…

Florida has two seasons. Hot and cool.

and our family has 3 seasons. Beach, football and Christmas.

DW took the last part of last week off from work and our little trio headed over to my in-laws’ condo for one last “horrah” at the beach before the season is over. The countdown is on around here for the next season to begin and the man of the house (like most people we know) couldn’t be more ready!

But before THAT season begins, there was still a little more beach fun to be had!

The beach, or any vacation for that matter, is not the same once you have kids. Don’t get me wrong, they make it tons of fun and even better than before, and as a parent, I can’t think of anything better than seeing my child have a fun time, but once you have kids the “relaxing” part of vacation is much different…especially when you have toddlers!

Last year was totally different at the beach than it was this year. Little Miss wasn’t walking and was even content to nap on the beach under an umbrella. She’d float in her baby float in the pool and compared to this year was really “easy”…

I want to remember how she was this summer, so I’m writing it down! (Mixed in are some pics from last week)…

 

Annabelle~

We had so much fun at the beach this summer. We have loved seeing you “priss” around in your different swim suits and the ones with ruffles nearly send me over the edge.  

You are an absolute doll in all of them!

You are pretty good about keeping your sun hat on, and for that I am thankful. We have had a few meltdowns over it, but you were easily distracted by some seagull chasing. Speaking of chasing the birds, it’s one of your favorite things to do at the beach.

Last summer, you ate the sand. It still gives me a chill up my spine to remember it! This summer started out with you HATING the sand, and while you’re still not a big fan, you will actually play in it some now! We’re proud of the progress. We have high hopes of some serious sand castle building next year, little miss!

You love the ice cream truck, and have all summer. You look for him when you hear the music. I feel horrible that on our last trip this week, we couldn’t catch him. I blame the grouchy, mean, driver…Daddy blamed me…he said I didn’t even try to flag him down. Oh well, either way, you ended up with no ice cream, and I’m sorry! Next summer, baby, next summer!

Daddy has started to bray (is that the word?) like a donkey…he’s dubbed himself the official pack-mule of the beach. Ha… It’s okay, though…he knows you NEED all the buckets, cups, shovels, toys, sippies and snacks…we can’t forget the SNACKS!

You are just like the rest of your family, and feel like you need to “snack” when you’re at the beach.  Every trip, for most of the day, you’ve had a snack in one hand and your drink in the other.

You are happiest when we give you your very own baggie of Goldfish or Cheez-its.

We did have a serious snack discovery this summer at the beach…and you and I have come to the conclusion that the only thing better than a Golden Oreo, is a Double Stuffed Golden Oreo. DOUBLE YUMMMM. I love that you love them, too! It’s “our” thing…that and Peanut Butter M&Ms! We can polish off the medium sized bag in 3 days at the beach! I’m not just saying that, we’ve actually done it this year!

Another favorite of yours is still “ICE” (although it doesn’t last as long on the beach!) … you’d have a cup with you at all times. You are crazy about some ice, girl! The rest of us have fallen in love with the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker this summer… it shaves ice and we couldn’t love it more. It makes great snow-cones, smoothies and my favorite, frozen limeades! On our last trip to the beach, we had then every day! It was definitely a favorite for me!

You love to fill  buckets, cups, ANYTHING, with water from the ocean. You usually like to have something in each hand to fill, unless one hand is pre-occupied by holding said snacks…yes, you insist on taking your snacks to the water with you. We tried our hardest to get you to leave them in the chair with me, but you’re smarter than that…you know Mommy might eat them before you get back!

You LOVE the waves. You love it when Daddy lets you “ride” them and swings you up high. We loved hearing you laugh and squeal while doing that this summer!

You like having your own chair. You’re in the throws of toddlerhood and you’re not big on sharing anyway, but you REALLY want your own chair by the water. Particularly your Daddy’s chair. Even when we smartened up towards the end of the summer and started bringing you your own, you still wanted the one he was sitting in. He’s decided you’re such a GIRL, but he always gave you his chair. No one is more crazy about you than Daddy…and believe me, there are lots of us who are CRAZY about you!

You have been pretty content to play with the buckets, shovels, and sand toys for a little while, but you love the spend most of your beach time in the water. You are ready to head to the water as soon as your Daddy sits down. The entire summer, it never failed…every time he sat down, you were grabbing his hand and pulling him up,

or running toward the ocean and stopping to see if he was following you! He loves it though. Daddy’s not a “sit and sun” kind of person either, so you and him are two peas in a pod. I think you’ll both have a blast when you’re old enough to go way out in the water and play in the big waves! 

I’ve never been one to like being in a bathing suit. I like to keep my cover up on, take it off right when I get to my chair on the beach or by the pool, take it off, sit down as quickly as possible, and lay flat, while trying to conceal my flab. If you lay a certain way, you can do it…but you can’t move. You have to lay still. Things change, though, because laying flat and still is not an option anymore! … I think you know right when I get my suit adjusted and get in “position” because you run toward the ocean forcing me to jump up without even enough time to make sure all my business is covered before chasing after you! And there’s no more “laying out”… how could I watch you and all the cute things you do if I’m laying??!  Yep, I’m a sitter and sun-er this year! That’s okay, though… I wouldn’t change one thing. We’ve had some serious fun this year, sweet girl! 

 

Of course, Daddy and I (along with your adoring grandparents, aunts and uncles) think you are the cutest girl on the beach. I’ve got a feeling that won’t be changing next year!

I can’t wait to see what you are like next Summer!

I love you-

Momma

Since this trip wrapped up our beach season, and we’ve got a couple weeks before the next one… it only means one thing… getting ready for it…every year, we have to make a special shopping trip for our Gator gear! Here’s a picture after last year’s shopping trip…I think I need a minute after seeing this picture…she was SO little!!! I cant believe how much she’s changed in a year!

We’ve already got AB a couple of things for this season, including this dress her Daddy and I got her on our South Carolina trip last year for the game… I’d forgotten about it, because it was hanging in the back of her closet, but I found it a couple weeks ago when I was packing away some of her summer clothes. I tried it one her, to make sure it will fit this year and it does, perfectly! I think it’s just darling and I love it! 

We do still want to get her a  cheerleader uniform for this year…it will be hard to beat last year’s… I may get that one again for this year, if they have it in her size since I love it so much!

~amw~

DW’s Birthday

Last week was also DW’s birthday.

Tuesday night we had dinner at my in-law’s to celebrate.

DW’s Daddy wanted to do something “different,” so we had Japanese at home! They’d set up two big grill/griddles in the garage and Adam & Pappy cooked everything out there… DW had to get in on the action, he just can’t help himself…

All they were missing were the tall white chef’s hats and accents, of course..although Adam had it down pretty good!

We had steak, shrimp and chicken, along with fried rice and veggies. It was REALLY good and something “different” for sure!

My little sister-in-law even looked up how to make the “Yum-Yum” sauce and they’d made that, too. We even had little bowls for our teriyaki and yum-yum sauce, but AB thought crushed up peppermints would be better in hers…

We celebrated early (on Tuesday) this year, because on Wednesday DW, AB and I were heading to the beach for a little family time/mini-vacation.

DW took Thursday (his actual birthday) and Friday off, so we had a few extra days to soak up the sun and enjoy being together…more on that later, though! Back to the Birthday…

We were at the beach on his actual birthday (Thursday), and he was feeling some good Mexican food for his birthday meal… (we were so multi-cultural in our food choices last week)!

I was just as excited that he chose Mexican, because I was looking forward to this:

chips, salsa and the best queso ever! Even AB agrees… After our meal, we had to order a birthday dessert! Fried ice cream was the winner:

 

Daddy was a good sport, and shared his birthday treat with baby girl, who was taken by the cherry on top!

I hope DW felt as celebrated as he should! I don’t really have adequate words when it comes to him.

I’m just thankful he’s ours.