Farmers in the making...

I've always been a farm girl, having grown up on a farm, but rarely drove a tractor unless my dad let me drive while I was with him. Now, I can officially say I'm a "farm girl" - I've been helping in the field during the day until I need to pick the girls up from school and it's actually been quite fun! I am driving the tractor hauling the grain cart to catch on the go and then dump it into the semi to haul to town. I was probably more nervous dumping it in to the semi than anything. I've done pretty well though and think I'll probably be able to keep my job!!! The funniest though is Kale - he's always been OBSESSED with anything tractor so he's in absolute heaven and asks every morning when we will be heading out to the field. Getting him to go to school on Monday and Tuesday morning was a challenge but we got it done! I picked him up from preschool on Monday and he turned to his teachers and said "see ya later, I gotta go combine" as if it was literally HIS job!!! Like I said in the title, we're farmers in the making...

Fall Soccer Season

(Mia redirecting the ball towards goal)

(Mia score)

(Ana stealing the ball)

(Ana's corner kick)

Fall soccer is underway for us - what were we thinking letting the girls play soccer in the FALL??? We will soon be in the field so it will make for some busy weeks for a while!! They really enjoy it though and had been asking to play in the fall for quite some time which makes it easier to allow them when it's something that they WANT to do. We're off to a good start though, 2 wins and 1 loss. Dance has also begun but doesn't take as much time committment now that it's in Emmetsburg - no more driving to Spencer...although I really do miss my Walmart hour!!!


It would only figure that once we want to get harvest started, we would FINALLY get some rain!! I haven't mowed in almost 2 weeks because our grass was almost dead - but boy has it begun to green up since yesterday!! I'm gearing up for my first harvest in the tractor - I'm a little nervous since I'll be driving the grain cart and catching "on the go", so hopefully Chad and Nick are patient with me!! I'm looking forward to it though and glad I can help out.


We have a small sandbox under our slide but Kale got a digger for his birthday and we've been TRYING to find time to get a bigger sandbox built so he can play with his digger before snow starts flying, but time just isn't cooperating with us!!! As you can see by the picture below - he desperately needs one!!! Enjoy this rain!!!

And he's off...

My little boy is growing up!!!! Look at him, so proud to be walking in to preschool!!! He's been very excited about school starting because as he says "I'm a BIG BOY, mommy, just like you're big!" I knew that it would be tough for him when I left though, and indeed it was. His teacher brought another little boy over to build blocks with him and she sat down to preoccupy him so I could sneak out...I was sad to do it, but know it was the best thing to do. Now, I'm just trying to get used to having such a quiet house!!!!! I can't wait to hear how it went.

Picture fun

I finally got around to taking the kids' yearly pictures yesterday after school. With the weather being a little cooler and beautifully sunny, I thought it was my best chance of getting some good pictures. I've probably said it before, but I absolutely LOVE the camera Chad bought for me - it allows me to take such wonderful pictures of the kids and catch moments I may not have gotten with a smaller camera that you have to wait for the flash. It's definitely been a great investment for us.

If you'd like to view the pictures, the site is http://fankfamilypage.shutterfly.com

A little chuckle

The past 4 years that we have lived at our house LOTS of hunting has been done by many people. I always chuckle and give them a hard time because they go out in freezing cold weather, sit high up in a tree right along the river, and most days come back with NOTHING... yet I probably saw 8-12 deer in my yard or turkeys in the field just south of our house while they were sitting in those trees. My advice has LONG been to just set up your hunting tents on the deck in front of our house and I'll even bring you out some coffee now and then if you'd like!!! My case in point - check out the picture I took the other morning, from my kitchen window RIGHT NEXT to my deck:

(some day people will listen to me!!!)

Birthday Bash

What a great birthday weekend!!! My little man turned 3!!! We enjoyed celebrating with cousin Matthew again this year...but this time we did it at his house in Ankeny on Saturday! Kale's cake was a tractor and trailer carrying a load of cows! TOO FUN! I always go crazy with the kids' cakes, but it's the one fun thing that they will always have pictures of so I like to try to make it memorable!! We'll be celebrating with the Fank family during Labor Day weekend since schedules allow everyone to be together that weekend but had supper with Grandma and Grandpa Fank on Friday to celebrate. I think all stores were sold out of tractors/combines/trucks/bob cats (or bob bob's as Kale calls them) etc. as Kale got many of them and was SO excited about every single one - especially since that's the only type of toys he likes to play with. So excited that he has YET to even touch the bike we got him!!! Now he'll be getting ready to go to 3 year old preschool a couple mornings a week for a couple hours starting the middle of September. I think he's excited about going, but not excited about ME not staying there with him!!

What started out as a cold for Kale has officially spread to EVERYONE in the house!! It's not much fun feeling miserable on these beautiful days we've been having. Hopefully no one at the party caught anything from us. Enjoy the wonderful week!!!

Big girls

(getting ready to head out the door)

(Mia's locker!)

(Ana's locker...with her sidekick, Kale)

It's official, the twin towers are now grade schoolers!! They started 1st grade this morning without any hesitation at all...there was probably more from Kale and I than anyone!! The girls were up bright and early to get themselves ready for school. It helped us a lot that we had the opportunity to go in to the school last night to meet their teacher, get their lockers, and find their desks. They made sure to point out to their teacher their lost teeth, tell her all about their American Girl dolls, and many other things that they thought the teacher should know!!! It's still just so hard to believe that they're this big already.

I decided to celebrate with Kale that it was "our" time again by taking him to McNally's bakery here in town and we've spent all morning cuddling and watching cartoons - I felt I needed to celebrate with him to let him know he's important too!!! Kale and I plan to take the girls to Dairy Queen for ice cream when we pick them up at 1:00!!!