RaRa Robin

Wrex bought an old, bred milk cow that Wryder really took a liking to.  He named her RaRa Robin (after his grandma).  She’s the sweetest ole thing…and she really loved him, too.

Wryder and RaRa
Wryder and RaRa

We all waited so patiently for her to have her baby and prayed and prayed that the kids would be able to watch see that baby born.

In the days before she calved, Wryder took such great care of her.  He’d walk to the corn stalks south of our house and grab a couple of partial ears of corn, bring them home and shell them for her.

Shellin' corn
Shellin’ corn

We’d been watching her and checking on her every few hours every day.  Wrex was even getting up in the night to check her.  One Monday morning, they went out to check her and then Sawyer came runnin’ back to the house telling me that RaRa’s water bag was hanging out!

I threw some shoes out and sure enough, a baby was about to be born!  Wryder brought a lick tub over outside the fence and within 10 minutes, the kids got to see LIFE!

Good momma!
Good momma!

RaRa had a sweet little heifer calf that Wryder has named – are you ready for this?  Betty Harbor Baby Whanny Kroeker Phipps.  Ahem.

Wryder and Betty
Wryder and Betty

Despite that big ole bag RaRa has, there’s not much milk to be had so we all made the decision to sell her so that Wryder could buy a cow to really get his herd started, just like Sawyer did at four.

My big boy was so brave!  He loved sweet RaRa but understood that it was the responsible thing to do.  He didn’t cry at all…and I bawled all day!

One last goodbye
One last goodbye
Love this sweet boy
Love this sweet boy

He took her to the sale barn with dad on Monday and got her sold.

Watchin' her sell
Watchin’ her sell

This boy is just one of the sweetest, funnest, brightest balls of energy I’ve ever met!  Saying goodbye to a good friend – even when that friend is an animal – is never easy and he did it with such grace.  So proud of my brave boy.  Here’s to finding the next great one!

Random Rambles

We’ve been fighting off the ick around here.  It started in the kids as (what I thought were) just little allergies.  Now, they both have full blown upper respiratory infections.  BOO.  We’re going to see some VERY important little people next week so we must, must, must be well!  Pray for us, would ya?!

Cutest sick guy around...
Cutest sick guy around…

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My to-do list to be able to leave and see those VERY important little people is a little extensive, ahem.

Just a few things...
Just a few things…

This is it.  It’s taped to the bedroom door.  It touches the floor.  And doesn’t include the basic things such as packing/snacks/cleaning/baking.  Come on supernatural mom powers!

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Wryder hasn’t had much appetite lately thanks to the ick.  He did, however, master some fork skills yesterday.

IMG_4973Green beans on a fork are way better than green beans with your fingers, just sayin’…

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We have a new bucket calf around the place.  Sawyer named him Fuzzy and he is doggone CUTE!

Sweet helper
Sweet helper

He may have to find another place to live thanks to our cross country road trip but for now, he’s a lot of fun!

Cuties
Cuties

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In the past two years, our yard has gained some pesky little visitors.  IF we had sod everywhere and IF they weren’t so cute, we’d have already eradicated these little boogers so they didn’t completely destroy the place.

Ground squirrel
Ground squirrel

They’re quite fun to watch but they sure don’t let you get too close.  I’ve tried to sneak Sawyer out there several times with no luck.  She’s set up a spy shack in the playroom to catch a glimpse of them out the window.  We’ll see how it goes. 

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Sawyer is in looooooooove with the story of Cinderella.  She recently discovered that we had the book and I can’t count the number of times we’ve read it.  She now has it memorized, voices and all.  It’s pretty impressive!  I’m thinking her Goo Goo is gonna think that’s the bees knees…

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July is one of my favorite cow-buying months…because they don’t buy a lot of cows.  🙂  We get Wrexy to ourselves for 14 out of the next 16 days.  Well, I mean we’ll share him a little bit with the rest of the fam, including these sweeties.

Awwww
VIPs

The boys are doing soooooo well…miraculously well!  I can’t even begin to tell you all of the ways the Lord has poured out His favor on these five.  We can not WAIT to officially meet them and cuddle them and physically witness the miracle they are.  He is good and what He does is good.

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We’re headed up to pack Sawyer’s suitcase.  Poor kid has only asked about it everyday for about 10 days now.  She’s a little excited.   So we’re gonna pack and clean house and hopefully sneak in a nap…and pray that the tornadoes stay away for the day.  Then we gotta tackle the rest of that to-do list.  WE CAN DO IT!  (said in the voice of the mice on Cinderella)…

Moooooove Over Monday

Mondays always kind of make me blue.  I love weekends with my family and I dread Wrexy going back to work for the week.  This weekend was no exception…we had a really fun time celebrating him.

Sawyer is kind of like her mom and gets really excited about events and functions so we decorated a little for daddio.  Surprise, surprise, I know.  She wanted to throw him a cow birthday party but we were in Denver that weekend so we decided to throw him a cow Father’s Day!

IMG_4853
Moooooooooo

The cards at the top are bidding cards they use at the sale barn and then I just found a cow template I liked and made the bunting.

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Cow gift tags, too

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More bidding cards turned into silverware holders
More bidding cards turned into silverware holders

IMG_4857He was so cute and appreciative of all of our hard work.  I went to take everything down last night and he asked me to leave them up one more day.  So many reasons to love that man…

On Saturday, we did a little shopping and then ran to town to celebrate the birthdays of two sweet friends from church.  The second party was a pool party and we got in a few good minutes of swimming before the storm clouds started rolling in.  The kids are both little fish so it was a lot of fun.  If we lived in town, we’d be at the pool every day, no doubt…

On Sunday, the kiddos surprised daddy with sweet shirts that we ordered that said, “I love my daddy.”

Wryder was still a little tired from the parties the day before and was none to excited about having his picture taken.

I am not loving mommy right now...
I am not loving mommy right now…
That's a little better
That’s a little better

He did, however, take seven steps on his own!  YAY!  He might just walk yet!

Beautiful girl!
Beautiful girl!

All in all, it was a great weekend.  We took daddy to eat a yummy hamburger, got a root beer float and then let him take a three hour afternoon nap.  What’s better than that?!

IMG_4870IMG_4876We sure love our {cow buying} daddy!