Big Green Tractor

Welcome to our front porch.

See the rows in the field out front?

Everyone who knows us and has driven by our house recently has one question…  WHAT is going on out there?

WATERMELONS, that’s what…

As long as we’ve lived here, and for many years before that, the pasture in front of our house has been just that… a pasture. Many a cow has called it home in the winter and spring months, and many a hay bale has been baled on it in the summer months. But this year, the farm is growing watermelons out there.

The land was plowed and fertilized and nearly-perfect rows were laid out, just waiting for the drip tape and plastic to be laid, too.

Annabelle has been over-seeing this watermelon deal from the beginning. She stands in either my office or her playroom window or occasionally at our front door and sees about the melon patch EVERY day. She watches the tractors and loaders and gator and trucks as they work their way down our drive and through the field, all the while giving me the low-down. Ironically, EVERY truck and tractor that passes is “Ah-um.”  Our girl has a Texas-sized tender spot in her heart for her Uncle Adam.

He knew she’d been watching him all week from inside the house, so on Saturday, he promised her a tractor ride.

Not one to break a promise, on Saturday mid-morning, we heard the tractor pull up and the horn beep…

Miss Priss was all ready to go. Decked out in her water “doots” (as she calls them) and Whitehurst Cattle Company T-shirt. She looked like she was born to be on the farm crew. Except for the pink and red boots and hair bow. :)

This big green tractor is so fancy it even has a “buddy-seat”… AB wasn’t interested in sitting in it, though. She thought “Aunt Nen” needed to sit there.

So off they went. Adam was doing something that needed done (in other words I don’t have a clue) and the girls were along for the ride. DW and I watched from our front porch and laughed every time the horn beeped, which was  A LOT. Uncle Adam was probably regretting showing AB where it was.

After making it down one row and back up another, AB was ready to clock out…

But not before paying Uncle Adam with a kiss for the “cack-ter” ride.

I love this pic. Up close, you can see both DW and Lauren smiling from ear to ear. A certain curly-headed, blue-eyed girl does that to ALL of us around here.

So what did little miss think of her tractor ride?

She was walking taller all day. Big, big stuff…that’s what she is.

~amw~

The day of LOVE…

I’ve been thinking about love a lot lately.

Three weeks ago, when I had to spend a week training every day for my new at-home job, I was almost overwhelmed by love.

I was feeling especially dramatic and emotional, because every day that week, I had to leave our girl. Add all the changes that were going on into the mix and I was almost at my limit. I don’t really do “change” very well.

I was driving to my training that day, and I realized we’d made it half way through! I celebrated silently and then started to think about how I’d been loved through that week.

I am surrounded by so many people who love me, DW and our children so well.

My momma spent a day she had off work, and even took an extra one off to help keep AB during my training. Both nights I came home to a spotless house, laundry that was washed, folded and put away, and dinner on the table. Momma & Daddy took turns alternating calling and checking to “see how it was going” the whole week. I don’t know what it would be like to be nearly 30 years old and not have parents who still check on me, and I DON’T WANT to know!! :)

My MIL, Kellee, kept AB the rest of the week. She came to the house early on the mornings that AB was still asleep so she wouldn’t have to wake up early. She’s thoughtful like that. DW would go to my in-laws’ every day for lunch and soon after I’d get a text that said, “Kellee said she’s cooking! Don’t worry about supper!” One less thing to worry about that week? YES, PLEASE!!! :) My in-laws are the best and they are so good to us.

On my first day of work that week which was a pretty rough one, my BIL & SIL, Adam & Lauren, showed up at our house, with a prize for me. Prizes are one of my love languages. I think everyone should get one once in a while. So of course it made me feel so very loved and how could it not, since it was the “Glee: Love Songs” CD?!?!?

Then there’s the guy I call, “Honey…” The one who, when I came home crying after my first day, said, “you can quit tomorrow!” --- the one who’d do ANYTHING (and has) to make me feel loved and appreciated. With a husband like him, every day feels like Valentine’s Day…

As I drove down the interstate that morning, tears stung my eyes as I thought about how well I’d been loved that week and that was the reason I’d almost made it! :) As I thanked God for these people in my life, I thanked Him for HIS love that they had shown to me. I love it when God works through others to show His love, and I hope that I do that for others. I thought about all the people who may not have parents and in-laws and a better-half like me. People who may not have family who show them love like I have. That’s the awesome thing about having a Heavenly Father…we ALL have access to Him, and He loves us all the same. We may not all have awesome mommas, daddies, spouses and in-laws, but we can all have Jesus.

While I’ve gotten a good taste of some pretty awesome love, the only perfect love is the Father’s.

 

Today, I’m sure thankful for the love of God and the Valentine He made just for me. Being DW’s wife is one of my life’s greatest joys…the others involve him, too, since he’s the Daddy to my two other greatest joys. :)

I sure hope that today, everyone has a Valentine this side of Heaven, but if not, how sweet that we ALL can have one Who’s on the other side and the greatest of all.

 

I saw this on a friend’s blog and loved it…

(Taken from the Dayspring Website)

A Valentine may play a love song for you, but God sings you the sweetest love song in the universe.

“The Lord your God... will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” - Zephaniah 3:17

A Valentine may give you flowers, but God sent you the most beautiful rose of all. Jesus.

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” - Song of Solomon 2:1

A Valentine may bring you chocolate, but God provides you with something even sweeter, His Word.

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” - Psalm 119:103

A Valentine may love you for a lifetime, but God loved you before you were born and will love you for all eternity.

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love...with loving kindness I have drawn you.” - Jeremiah 31:3

He really is the BEST Valentine any of us could ever ask for!

Happy LOVE-day!

Love,

~annie~

Tradition

Where do the years go.

I mean, seriously.

Have we REALLY been doing this for three years in a row?

When the girls were babies, Carrie and I started a few little traditions with them, and I hope we always keep them up.

The very first, was our annual trip to the Picture People for a BFF Valentine portrait. We’ve always done individual shots of the girls, too, for their own valentine cards, but the pictures I treasure most from these trips are the ones of the two of them.

They were 2 & 4 months old on our first visit.

A year later, so much had changed… they were both walking, and Annabelle had HAIR! :)

Every trip has been colorful, for sure. This year was no exception. In fact, as Carrie and I sat and wrestled our two two-year olds while trying to choose a picture, I think we both wondered WHY we do it to ourselves.

Getting a decent picture of two small children TOGETHER is not for the faint of heart, I’ll assure you.

I was pretty certain it wasn’t going to happen for us yesterday. Especially when Allie laid down on the floor, through her hand over her face and said, “I don’t want to share”--- we’re not sure where this came from, since no one was asking her to share ANYTHING except a smile with the camera. While Allie was having her moment, Annabelle was having one of her own, with the two bottles of hand sanitizer she’d managed to lay claim to. She was way to busy making sure her hands were clean to be bothered with being in a picture.

Somehow, someway, we got one that kind-of worked.

It’s not the picture I had in my head. But I still think it’s precious. And hilarious. Funny how kids make things that way.

Here’s to traditions and best friends.

~amw~

Farm Chicks

Don’t let the hairbows and ruffles fool you.

These girls have farm-roots a mile long.

Yep, they do both love the color pink (which AB pronounces, “tink”), baby dolls, and makeup, but they also love a tractor. In fact, Allie Claire even asked Santa Clause to bring her one for Christmas this year. AB happens  think that EVERY tractor is “Ah-um” (Uncle Adam).

I like to think it’s in their blood, and I’m certain it will be in their raising.

Saturday, we met Carrie, Adam, Allie Claire and her cousin Gus, for some lunch and then a local Tractor & Farm Toy Show.  Carrie had to take some pics for the paper and we all tagged along…

There were lots of old restored tractors on hand and proud exhibitors showing them off.

Inside, there were TONS of farm toys. Everything from old toy tractors to new toy tractors, and everything else a kid would need to play farm.

I’m not sure what ever happened to my brother, Beau’s, extensive farm-toy collection, but we logged many a mile with those metal tractors. We’d set them all up on the fireplace in our living room and “farm” for hours. The grout lines in between the bricks were our perfectly laid out rows of peanuts and watermelons and we’d plow them until it was time to bale hay. I remember him even having a toy hay baler that had a tiny plastic round hay bale that would plop out. The farm toy show had ALL of it! It was so fun seeing all of those toys again, and so many different ones, too. DW was loving the walk down memory lane, too… with three little farm boys in his family, they really did have ALL of the equipment back then.

Of course, one certain little farm boy, who is never far from my thoughts, was filling them that afternoon. Coopie loved his toy tractors and I can only imagine how fun he would have been at the toy tractor show. I know we wouldn’t have gotten out of there without buying several things! :) How sweet to see something with his name on it… and in his favorite colors, too.

Annabelle was enjoying seeing all the “cack-ters”, but didn’t want her Daddy to put her down. She wasn’t sure about the crowd.

She finally warmed up in time to watch the antique tractor parade outside.

 

These next pictures are hilarious… Allie Claire is seriously one of the most fun children I’ve ever known. She is always excited and you never know what she’s going to say or do. It’s always a hoot. One minute she was waving to the tractor drivers and the next she was a planting a big kiss on AB’s cheek…such sweet little friends…

     

 

After the parade it was time to head home. As we were walking back to the truck, we all spotted this black beauty which was a 1927 model, I think…

We stood the kids in front for a photo op, but they were too busy admiring the car (or their reflections in the shiny paint job) to be bothered with a picture.

AB was screaming, “Up, Up!”…she wanted IN that car! The owner, who was close by told us to put them in it. Of course we did, because what a cute picture that would be!

 

After Thelma & Louise took a spin, Gus decided he wanted in on the action, too… I’m not sure when they’ve ever thought they were bigger stuff…

Lord, help us all when they are old enough to drive and they’re riding around like this… I’m not sure the Tri-county area will ever be the same.

~amw~