Skating Party and More

 Back to last weekend. Saturday afternoon kids were 4w-ing again. Looks like Wesley was here too.

We won't talk about what happened when the steer spooked in the pasture and rammed the 4w

😑

That night then, we had rented the Pekin Rink and invited a bunch of ppl to skate with us. Lots of smiles and no injuries. That's a win.

Josh was inspired by the NFMS little farm layout. All he needs is some dirt, running water, a few lights, and a bunch of other stuff and he'll about have it.

Sunday afternoon chores.

Sunday evening ppl.

photo cred: Jewel

Monday was about 55d and it was so nice to see snow disappearing. I even walked outside.

On Tuesday, the temp tanked and I was glad for my elliptical bc I did not want to walk outside.

Wednesday morning Dad & Josh got gluten and I watched for traffic while they unloaded. It was freezing and I about froze. I was again glad for my elliptical.

Yesterday some favorites came for lunch.

Sarah and Jewel had their lunch when they got home from working at 360; Sarah had some really cute little boys who were sharing very nicely with her, ha!

thanks Echo for the picture!

And today it is snowing again and I am glad for my elliptical again. And our woodburner!

Thankfully, it didn't snow much and warmer days are coming...

Life Beyond The Pictures - February 2022

 Hello Steiners.

Our main news isn’t really news anymore, but it hasn’t been reported in a Connection yet so guess I better do that. There’s another Mrs. Kaiser in town as Jacob & Natalie were married on December 19. We love having Natalie in the family although with her busy schedule we don’t see much of her or Jacob. That will change with time though so for now we’re just glad she can continue pursuing her nursing degree and we’ll enjoy being with her when it works out. Kaitlyn is enjoying her student teaching in Morton and looking forward to graduation in May. Thankful that so far she’s having a good experience. Not much is new with the rest of the family. Kids are busy with jobs and school; grandkids are busy being cute and growing like wildflowers; and Tim & I are busy with work, here and at 360. Because Jake & Natalie were on their honeymoon over Christmas, we had our Christmas in January; then a few days later some of us left for a week in FL. Good time as usual but also glad to be back home as usual. Main thing since then has been ice skating. Sometimes it’s afternoons, sometimes it’s evenings, and sometimes it’s both; but the three littles have had a great skating season. There were a couple days when they skated five hours. That seems like kind of a lot but hey it’s good exercise when there’s just not much else going on. Sometimes it’s at Wesley’s backyard rink, sometimes it’s at Kochs’ backyard rink, and sometimes it was on the lake (no more of that though, as the lake is toast). It’s been a really good skating year, about the best skating weather I can remember for a few years. And of course every Friday they still do the homeschool skate at the Pekin Rink which has again been thoroughly enjoyed. And that’s about all I know this time around.

National Farm Machinery Show

 Back to last Saturday night. Kids went to tyg, and Dad & Josh & I spent some time with this sweet family.

Sunday evening games.

Monday - Happy Valentine's Day!

Had to take a picture of this to take with me to enjoy in KY.

We left Tuesday morning. Certainly can't go through IN without stopping here 😏

So so much to see at the NFMS. Lots of little things. This spread was amazingly detailed.

Fun to have a preview, as the show didn't officially open until Wednesday. Two young men started working on this Monday morning at 9:00; by the time we saw it Tuesday afternoon it wasn't yet finished.

Find the young man crawling out from under the table, where he was turning on lights and the water pump which gave the stream flowing water. So cool!

Wednesday. Setup complete.

Lots of big things to see as well. This was also Wednesday, when machinery was open for exploration.

We weren't allowed into Freedom Hall where the evening tractor pull was to occur, but we peeked in to watch some of the preparations. Heard a trial run (or something); it was CRAZY loud. You'd have to pay me an awful lot to attend something like that. I don't get the appeal at all. It was deafening.

More machines to test drive.

Still more to see -

Woke up to an all-day rain on Thursday, so, while Dad went on to work the show, Josh & I had a lazy morning, a fun lunch at DQ, then did a little thrift shopping. Josh was very patient with me as we wandered a huge flea market we found. Got a few kids' books but that's about it. 

Back to the hotel then for the rest of the afternoon. I had brought a few things to work on, and Josh was highly entertained by this History channel show about catching huge snakes. Not quite sure how that qualifies as history, but whatever.

So we had rain in KY while back home they got the second big snowstorm of the season hit, to the tune of 8". And we missed out on all of it! Not cool, but it is what it is. Enjoyed px from kids but that's about it. By Thursday night, when we had planned to head home, roads in Central IL were terrible so we just stayed put for another night in KY. 

This from Jewel -

Sarah sent px of the cattle so Dad wouldn't worry. Cattle were fine, and Dad didn't worry.

Friday our drive home was the most interesting ever. KY was fine, of course. IN wasn't bad. IL was mostly good, but we saw lots of evidence of the storm yesterday. I stopped taking pictures after about a dozen such scenes; we stopped counting after about 30. 

This was about as bad as it got as as far as driving. Not super fun but we still made good time and were home by 12:30. And glad to be here too!!

Josh and girls immediately jumped in with Kinsey to skate at Pekin, I unpacked, and Dad dug us out.

After skating, Wesley came over for a little 4wheeling.

Oops.......

And that's it for this time around.