Agate Fossil Beds

Grandpa Dan took us in his mobile home to the Agate Fossil Beds north of Mitchell. The kids had a great time looking at the various things inside the visitors center and then hiking the 2+ mile trail!

We also got a good view of E's two sides:

The ornery side and the angelic side!

Thanks grandpa for a wonderful day away!

Fair 2014 Pedal Pull

Fair Results 2014

Here is the UPDATED and FINAL Fair 2014 Results for the kids.  We are SO proud of them!  They did a great job, not only talking to the judges but helping each other out as we had fevers and upset stomach throughout the whole fair.  (Not to mention, Mommy's little mishap that put her in a sling, but that is a story for another time.)  Our first 4-H Fair definitely was a fair to remember!

Abi:

Foods: 

Morning Glory Muffins:   Purple; Jr. Grand Champion

Cherry Jam:         Purple; Jr. Grand Champion

Trail Mix:             Purple  

Brownie:              Blue

               

Meat Goat:         Under 60 lbs:     Class Grand Champion

               

Garden:              

Carrots:              Red

Cucumbers:        Red

Beets:                 Red

Misshapen Vegetable: Purple; Reserve Champion

Beans, Green:   Blue

Potatoes:            Blue

               

Photography:   

Jr. Misc. Print:    Purple

Jr. Enlargement Color:  Blue       

Jr. Animal:           Red

Jr. People:           Blue

Jr. Building          Blue

Jr. Landscape:    Blue

               

Fiber Arts:

Latchhook:          Purple; Reserve Champion

Nate:

Entomology:      Purple; Jr. Grand Champion

Garden:              

Misshapen Vegetable: Purple; Jr. Grand Champion

Carrots:              Red

Onions, Red:      Red

Cucumbers:        Red

Potato:               Red

Beets:                Red

Peppers, Serrano:  Red

Zucchini:              Blue

               

Rooster:               Red

               

Pedal Pull:          Third Place Medal

               

Bucket Calf:        7-8 Year Olds:    Reserve Champion

               

Foods: 

Trail Mix:              Blue

Pumpkin Muffin:    Blue   

               

Rabbits:              

Sr. Doe             Red

Sr. Buck           Red

               

Rocket: Blue

               

Woodworking:  Birdhouse:  Purple

               

Self-Determined:  Three Little Pigs Display: Purple; Reserve Champion

                

Jonny:

Garden (Open):               

Beets:   First (Blue)

Tomatoes:          First (Blue)

Summer Squash: Second (Red)

Cucumbers:        Second (Red)

Beans, Green:   Third (White)

Carrots:                First (Blue)

               

Bucket Calf (Open):   Purple       

               

Pullet (Open):   First (Blue Ribbon)

               

Kitten (Open):  First (Blue Ribbon); Best of Show

Pedal Pull:          First Place Medal

               

Misc. Craft - Rocket (Open):  First (Blue)              

               

Woodworking (Open):  First (Blue)         

               

Wheat:   First (Blue)

               

Rabbit (Open): First (Blue Ribbon)

Ethan :

Garden (Open):               

Onions, Red:      First (Blue)

Potato, Irish:      First (Blue)

Cucumbers:        First (Blue)

               

               

Hen (Open):      First (Blue Ribbon)

               

Pedal Pull:          Participation

               

Sr. Doe Rabbit (Open): First (Blue Ribbon)

Copyright © 2014 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

Ethan's Birthday

Here are the pictures I promised of Ethan's Birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Schlatter came to have cake with us.

After singing Happy Birthday, Ethan leaned over and blew out his candle.

That was about the most interaction he had with his cake...

because he wouldn't eat any of it!

After cake...we went to open presents.  Grandma Makey sent a homemade card, Bob the Builder Coloring Pages and crayons.  Ethan was so taken by it that he had to color a picture before he opened any of his other presents.  You can see here that he has a present waiting, but he is busy coloring.

After he colored a bit, he opened Abi's gift...

a homemade pillow case she made with Grandma Schlatter.

Oh...here is a picture of the card Grandma Makey made him.

After Abi's present, he opened Grandma & Grandpa Schlatter's gift...his own farm quilt.

He didn't want to put it down...and after Nathan got his pillow from upstairs, he made himself  a little bed and laid down on it...it was quite adorable.

Next he went onto Aunt K and Uncle M's gift.  He barely had a chance to look at it as the other kids swept in and took over, but later he had a great time exploring the magnetic barn with all its doors and animals.

Finally he got to the presents from the Farmer and I.  

The farmer thought Legos would be the best gift for him, so he got several sets and a carrying case to keep them in.  Again, the older kids had a hard time keeping their hands away from all of Ethan's news toys!

The next morning, the older kids all went to Grandma's house to play with the cousins who where visiting and Ethan had a great time playing with his Legos all by himself!

Overall, I think he had a good day...thanks to all those who called or sent cards.  

Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

Ethan's Cake

This year for his 3rd birthday E requested a Bob the Builder riding Thomas the Train because those are his 'favits'. Thinking both might be a bit over the top, I told him I would do Bob the Builder as we have already done several Thomas'.

As usual, I looked around on the Internet and Pinterest and I found a couple of inspiring pictures. Below I have included those as well as the finished product. The fondant I used was indeed soft and didn't hold the shape as long as I would have liked, but it still looks cute. I hope you enjoy!

P.s. I will try to post other birthday pics after the cake eating tomorrow.

Meet Blizzard (aka calf 449)

With all the snow and freezing temperatures, one would think a cow would NOT want to have a calf...but unfortunately, that is not the case.  Early the next morning, the Farmer found this calf freezing in the snow.  

The kids immediately named it Blizzard and helped to warm him up with the heating lamp.

I only got pictures of Ethan helping because the others were already done and gone by the time I thought of taking pictures, but it is still very adorable to see Ethan helping out with his cow gloves in his jammies!

I am happy to report that calf 449 is doing well and is growing beyond recognition!  

Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

The Cutest Little Boy

Granted, I might be a bit prejudice...but seriously...you'll have to agree after watching this video:

So, now that you've seen it, let me explain.

After church last week, we dropped the Farmer off at his parents place to get the hay bale pickup.  This is the pickup they use to feed cows with.  E got to ride along with the Farmer and he was VERY excited about this.  When he came into the house he started telling me all about it!

Between his expressions and his froggy throat...I just thought it was too precious to resist, so I grabbed the camera and began prompting him to tell me all about it again.  (That is why he is a bit disintersted...he had already told this all to me once before...hehehehe).

Still...you have to admit...there are some absolutely precious expressions when he excitedly says "yeth"!

Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

An Ethan Mess

Why is it I never remember to take pictures of blog worthy messes....oh, maybe because in the moment I'm trying to clean up the mess!

Well, we had a doozy of a mess today. Ethan decided to get into the finger nail polish that was in the bathroom above the toilet. Not only did he try to paint his own nails but he managed to dump the entire bottle of my favorite color all over the toilet!

Yes indeed! I surely should have taken a picture to share with you all, but it didn't happen.

As Elizabeth attempted to clean him up, I attempted the toilet. How do you clean finger nail polish out of the water in the toilet...it doesn't dilute or flush. I ended up flushing and then before the water got high enough I was able to wipe up most of it. I had to use quite a bit of my polish remover to get it off the seat and surrounding walls. But, even though it was a dark maroon, I think I got it all so the next time you visit, hopefully you won't notice the pink undertones :0)

I did get a few pictures of Ethan after we got him cleaned up as much as we could.

2012 Fair Results - Jonathan & Ethan

Okay...so I'm going to put Ethan and Jonny together in the same post because well...I'm just gonna ;0).

I have one more fair post of just miscellaneous pictures that I'll get to shortly but here is what Jonny and Ethan were up to at the fair:

Jonny

Big brother showing him how it's done!

helping keep the hay in its place

Jonny had one entry in the fair - Cuddles Lightning Schlatter - the kitty!

Waiting to show his kitty

We have NO idea what he is actually telling her....
It might be a very LARGE tale!

our charming Jonny!

Obviously the judge was smitten with our charmer, because Jonny got Second place with his kitten!  We can't imaging that it was because he was the most informed and capable showman there!  If we heard him right, at one time he told the judge that he never brushed his kitty, only fed it once a day, and when she asked about a litter box he responded "no, they just poop in their cage".

Nevertheless, the kitten must have earned some credits of its own.  It was a very nice looking kitty!

Ethan

Ethan did not have any entries at the fair, but he was enamored with going with the Farmer and Nathan to tend to the bucket calf.

Walking through the beef barn.

keeping track of the calf while Nathan went to find something!
(the Farmer was 'right' there to step in)

The funniest thing that happened while at the fair was when Ethan decided he wanted to take the calf for a drink.  He got the lead chain that the Farmer uses to help Nathan, and went up to the calf to untie it from the rail.  Then he tried and tried and tried to figure out how to get the calf loose.

Here is is getting ready to hook up the calf.

Look at that expression!
He was trying VERY hard.

I managed to get a little video clip before he gave up:

Can you hear the Farmer..."Are you getting this?"  He asked me that like six times before I actually videoed E's efforts.  And yes...the calf next door was RIGHT there to give Ethan a kiss when he gave up!  A most adorable video clip!




Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

A Dirty Little Boy - Enjoying Summer!

So, I couldn't refuse taking these pictures the other day!  

Ethan had THOROUGHLY enjoyed the spaghetti dinner that was delivered to our family that night 

AND 

He had THOROUGHLY enjoyed escaping the house and playing outside!

Gotta love those boys!!!

Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

Ethan's 2nd Birthday Party

Due to the flu, Ethan had a very small birthday party this year.  

Marion said that it was probably the saddest birthday we'd ever had, but as you can see...there were still smiles too!

You can see Abi made it for the blowing out of candles and singing,
but then she retreated right back to her bed!

The boys enjoying the cake!

Presents came next:

I just didn't have it in me to wrap the presents...sorry E!
So he got to open the BOX!

A Melissa and Doug Train set....he loves to hitch things up and put things together
this toy offers him both things in one!

He also got his own dump truck since the big boys don't like to share!

Though it was a small affair, I think he still enjoyed his birthday.

Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Our baby boy is TWO today!

Can you imagine that!  I know...he's not our baby anymore, but it is a hard habit to break - calling him baby!

Still, it was two years ago today that Ethan William Schlatter joined the M&M family.

We can't imagine what life would be like without his rambunctious little self as a part of our family.

Though we will be having a small family celebration this year because of the flu and wanting to keep it isolated to our family, I will try to get some pictures of him enjoying his cake and opening his presents.

Blessings to all - I need to go rest now!  :0)

Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved MMFarmlife - Melanie Schlatter

Not the same little boy

We will try this and see if it works.

Marion felt the boys needed haircuts, so we did that last night. I learned a long time ago that Jonny just doesn't look like Jonny if his hair is cut too short. So, it was easy for me to cut his hair longer than the crew.

BUT, I had not learned that lesson with Ethan! I'm so sad I could cry! But after the first cut, I couldn't go back...so he will just be a different little boy until his curls grow back! (I pray his curls grow back!) and I will never cut his hair crew short again if I can help it.

Before

After