Blue Sky Tag

Paige from Paige's Pages tagged me for a blog interview. 😊 Thank you, Paige!

1. Who is your best friend?

My mom and my sister

2. What is your household chore? If you have one.

Hm... Pretty much everything! I wash the dishes, clean, do laundry, cook...

3. What do you day dream about most?

Oh, boy. Probably having enough money to do necessary things and not having to scrimp every penny.

4. What would be the hardest thing for you to give up?

My family!

5. Something you've achieved that you are really proud of?

Finally creating a dress pattern that actually fits well! 😜

6. Something you regret?

I regret not getting braces on my teeth when I was younger and had insurance. Now I have to pay for them out of my pocket. 😁

7. What scares you the most and why?

Going outside in the dark and June bugs. Why? We have creepy critters around here, not to mention the mountain lions that show up sometimes. June bugs... Please don't tease me with them or I will actually have a melt down, they creep me out that bad! I mean it. I'm not just being funny.

8. Skirts or pants? Why?

Neither, I guess. I prefer jumpers or dresses, unless it's pajamas, then I prefer pants. 😉 Why? I find dresses or jumpers more comfortable than skirts and more modest (unless it's a windy day) than pants.

9. What's something that makes you cry?

My hair falling out, watching others suffer and onions, lol

10. What state do you live in?

Iowa! 💝

11. What are your dreams for the future?

Going back to Ireland, again... and again... 😄 getting married, Lord willing; having my hair grow back; playing harmonica

Ryan's Birthday

Ryan's birthday was March 6th. Just a half hour before we went over to Ry's house for his party, a big thunderstorm blew in. It was a long band of storms spanning a couple states. This particular storm spawned multiple tornadoes, hail and strong winds. Thankfully, we didn't get any tornadoes here!

I took the littles up to a window by the roof to get a handful of hail. They were fascinated by it!

The storm only lasted about 20 minutes. If you look closely, you can see piles of hail.

A favorite pastime, marching around singing at the top of their lungs. This time, Katelyn made up her own song from scripture that she'd learned: "Don't let the sun down upon your wrath." 😂

The sunset was gorgeous after the storm!

Crazy grandma driver!

Lil' Tups was tired

Lynna wrapped her presents for Ry all by herself. 😊

Gram got him a fire pit.

I think we have another Beethoven in the making... 😂

I saw that Abi changed her blog background. I had to keep up with the Jones' and update mine!😜

Babysitting

Ryan asked if we could watch the littles while he and Kels went away for their 5th anniversary. Of course we said yes!

They love making faces at themselves in the phone's camera.

They had fun helping Grandma break up bread for breakfast casseroles.

They liked eating it, too!

Tired Derr...

Usually when we watch them, I keep them fed, clothed and clean. Everyone else helps too, but I'm quite selfish with taking care of them. 😜 I love it! 

I stayed home with them Saturday morning while everyone went to Bible study. We snuggled for awhile before getting dressed. It was very cold that weekend! Our bedroom got down to the lower 50s. Burr!

There's nothing more precious than hearing little ones sing!

Doughy was hamming it up Saturday night after I gave him his bath. 😂

He looked hilarious!

Looking at stuff on the computer with Grandpa.

Sunday morning... They're both kind of wild sleepers. I didn't sleep well all weekend because I kept worrying that they were cold or had scooted off their little beds. Oh well, I love watching them, discomforts and all!

All ready for church!

Since we were gone over KK's birthday (we were in MO for Brianna's wedding), we celebrated it a week late.

Laina's coat is too big for her, making her even cuter! (If she can get any cuter than she already is!)

Amen!

Miscellaneous Events With the Grices

Life is crazy, but wonderful!

A couple sows at the pig barn up the road had babies when they weren't supposed to. Markus (one of the hired hands) gave us a few of the piglets to try to raise, but they all ended up dying. They were so tiny, so weak and helpless... It was so sad! 😢

Sam and Abi have been halter breaking Gus. He's gotten pretty tame!

Our cats are quite spoiled. 😋

Abi was able to get Talitha's hide from the butcher. She salted it well, boxed it up and sent it to a tannery in Florida. It'll be interesting to see it in about six months.

So true.

KK and Dawse took a rest after helping Abi in the barn. 😆

The cats have a fixation about walking with muddy paws over newly cleaned vehicles...

It snowed one Friday awhile back. Abi and I cleaned Zooks that day. The Grant/Elliot road was really bad so we ended up taking gravel all the way home. Even the gravel was scary sometimes!

We cleaned a new house last week. It was pretty gross as the owner is a smoker and they hadn't cleaned for a long time! The stove was covered in built up grease in some places. You can see where I had cleaned already.

All done! I had to scrub the knobs with hot water and soap. They had layers and layers of old, gunky grease on them. 😝

Mom and I have been saving for a Shark Lift-Away vacuum. I found a nearly new one on Craigslist, so we went to look at it. It was really nice, so we bought it! We got it for about $50 less than what they go for brand new. Now we can clean our wood floors without stirring up tons of dust!

The sunset one evening...

Whenever we make molasses cookies, we always save some for Ben. 😉

We had a chicken massacre one night... Something got in and killed 21 of Abi's chickens. Almost all of them were laying hens that were gotten last fall. They were almost ready to start laying. 😩 The picture shows the culprit's tracks in the snow.

The survivors...

Abi and KK left one dead chicken in the coop to see if the murderer would come back. Sure enough, when they went out the next morning, a mink was there feasting on the carcass. 

 The bad guy got his due reward!

My view while cleaning last Saturday. 😂

Abi bleached the barn in preparation for a new cow. Hopefully her new one won't get Staph A!

Abi defrosted one of our freezers the other day.

I know, this is conceited, but...

Gus during another training session.

Thanks for the laugh, Annetta! 😂

Josh helped Abi animal proof the chicken coop.

Zooks hosted their 12 year old birthday party for Nathan on Sunday. His birthday was in November, but due to the extremely busy couple of months everyone has had they had to keep putting it off.

Joseph's silly face

Doughy had to eat his broccoli before he could eat his chips. Uncle Joshie helped him get it down.

We played foursquare later that evening.

 The march of the iPhones...

You shouldn't leave your phone laying around in this crowd...

Alaina is so precious! 

The boys thought this would be funny...

The Case of the Headless Saints

Mom and I clean for an elderly lady who is a devout Catholic. She has statues and pictures of saints all over her house. These two particular saints have seen better days... And, no, I didn't break them!

The sky was gorgeous the other day! You can tell that spring is right around the corner with how the sky has been looking and how the air smells. Ah... I can't wait!