The Silence is Deafening!

I have been more than a little stir crazy with the kiddos gone this week! So let me tell you how excited I was to open my email this morning and see pictures of my babies! Ah, I was so excited even if they were just pictures! I cannot believe how quiet a house is without them here. You remember me saying how our house is the neighborhood house where everyone wants to hang out at, well it's true and I'm not use to having no noise! I cannot believe I am admitting this, because I think if you ask me in a week I might say otherwise, but right now I want chaos! I want screaming, fighting, laughing. wrestling, barking anything and everything children do together! I have even thought about asking the neighborhood kids to come over and jump on the trampoline, just so I could hear laughter. Hey, if anyone is in Iowa and wants to drop their kiddos off for an hour or so, just let me know, lol!

James and Claire spent the first few days with their grandparents and now are off to see other relatives. James was so in his element being out on the farm with his Grandfather. He couldn't wait to get to work. This is the farm where my husband spent 4th grade and on working his tail off every morning at 4 doing chores, before hopping on the school bus. As we handed over the kiddos to Jim's parents, I heard James ask if he would have to get up early every morning and start working. We laughed because Jim's parents are retired now and they rather enjoy sleeping in! I think I heard James sign a huge sigh of relief that he wasn't going to be asked to get up at 4 like his dad!



My in-laws have a fantastic old farm that the kids love to run around on. They have horses, ducks, and a dozen farm cats. They also have a huge garden that takes up a ton of their days. They plant everything from carrots, lettuce, garlic, spaghetti squash, all kinds of peppers, hot and sweet, peas, tomatoes and so many other wonderful things I can't remember. They also have many fruit trees so my mother in-law makes jams and pies. They are huge into canning. Their cellar is equipped with tons of shelving, so if you went down there you might see how set they are if anything bad ever happened.

This little red shed is getting a face lift and James was so excited when his grandfather asked if he wanted to help.



James was prepared with working gloves to lift the broken up cement flooring out of the shed and toss in that wheelbarrow!



He has already changed his shirt, so maybe he is working so hard he soaked right through it! Ooh, look at those muscles!


















Oh, aren't they cute? Claire sure does love her big brother!




Proud yet again to hold that sledge hammer!



Well, they do say, "Two are better than one!" Or is it, "Why have one, when you can have two?"



Ok, my dear father in-law, what's with the axe?



I think Claire wishes she could get her hands on that! Claire, I know that sneaky face you have, Mom says, "Walk away from the axe, now!"



As you can see, they are having a wonderful time and that's all I ever wanted, but hey kiddos, give your Momma a call once in a while, she misses you!