Tuesday, April 19, 2011

It's a boy! It's a girl! It's calving time.

Spring has arrived at the farm and calving is in full swing. Jim's Dad was called out to North Dakota for work, so we have been more actively involved in the daily calving work then we have the last few years.

My involvement has always been limited to watching, taking pictures and giving the calves names - much to the disapproval of the men.

This year, I'm getting a little muddier...but still taking lots of pictures. I'm not much help - should I be boiling water? getting ready to cut the umbilical cord? catch the baby calf? (what?! the newborn calf just free falls down to the ground?)

I obviously have a lot to learn.

On Friday, this little baby was born. Welcome Bluebell. (yep, I'm still naming the calves.)



Ethan spends most of his time climbing fences. It's a great activity for a little boy.


This cow was very vocal about her displeasure of us messing with her baby. I can't say that I blame her.


 This calf welcomed the sunshine by scampering and prancing all around the field. Following two horribly windy and cold days, I felt like dancing in the sunshine, too.


 Another Mama keeping a close eye on my actions.


A tip of the hat to you, Mama. I've certainly felt like a milk cow at a certain point in my life.


And maybe this is the real reason that I enjoy hanging out at the farm...


Sorry about that...I apologize for my lack of tact.

We did have one stillborn calf on Saturday morning that Ethan witnessed. He did a good job of asking questions and handling the situation. He has mostly enjoyed retelling this fact to anyone who will listen and it hasn't led to any nightmares.

The calving process has also led to many other interesting questions from Ethan. I wasn't expecting to have the Birds and the Bees talk yet, but we've been venturing into that territory a lot lately. sigh.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Bunny Pancakes

I saw these adorable bunny pancakes featured on Spearmint Baby, posted by the blogger of With Two Cats. The original pancake directions can be found on Muffin Tin Mom.

I had originally planned on saving these for Easter morning, but I had to make them the very next day. So much for patience.

My only tip, make sure you keep the heat low and don't cook them too long or the pink and white just turns out browned from the griddle. As you can see from the picture, my griddle surface was a little too hot. I also replaced the M&M nose with a dried cranberry.

Ethan enjoyed his bunny pancake, especially the ears.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Taking it to New Lengths

Wow, I sure have neglected my blog recently. A lot of changes have taken place the last couple of months, but I'll try and catch up on those in upcoming blog posts. The change I want to update you on today is my new haircut.

I don't tend to cut my hair very often or place much importance on my hairstyle, but I was ready for something a little different. My hair had gotten to about chest length and it was weighing me down and had no style or shape left to it. Even wearing it in a ponytail while running was causing problems with it getting matted and tangled.

Saturday, I headed the The Hair Company and Shelli chopped off about 10 inches of hair. I got a shoulder skimming haircut with layers to allow for the waves to come out when I want to wear my hair in its' natural texture.

Here's the finished result:

Wavy

Blown out with a round brush:

I took these from the built in camera on my work computer first thing in the morning the past two days. Welcome to my office! :)