Cotton Harvest and Other Things Keeping Us Busy

It is that time of year again - we are in full swing of cotton harvest - praising the Lord that we have a crop for this year of a horrible drought. Kegan, to say the least has enjoyed this year so much - understanding more and more of it, and making me play LOTS of cotton picking, harvest time, at home with him on his tractors! Ty, too, seems to be pretty enthralled by all the BIG pieces of machinery that move and dump and turn...wow - so much for a little guy's eyes! (ps - we have all enjoyed riding together in the cotton picker, each evening, but I am thinking next year it is going to be a tight squeeze to get Matthew, Kegan, Ty and I in there - we shall see!)

Saturday, August 1, 2009 - First Day of Cotton Harvest

My men are ready to ride - Kegan in his working pants, hat, and ultra-cool sunglasses...he made sure he had all those on to be ready to go!

Ok, so I know Ty looks thrilled beyond thrilled...but he really was enjoying the ride and just looking around.

Tuesday, Aug 4
We went swimming over at Mr. James's house with Aunt Stephani to beet the heat!
Doesn't he look just too cool for the pool here...haha...

Ty really enjoyed himself, too just splashing around and being in the water. Hopefully I will have another little fish on my hands....it makes swim lessons so pleasant!

Ty just playing around with some toys...isn't he getting big!




After Kegan woke up from his nap he wanted to hold Ty...so of course I had to capture it on the camera...isn't this such a sweet shot of them! :) (BOTH looking at the camera and BOTH smiling! - one in a million chances of this...and I take about that many pictures trying to get it...haha)

Tuesday evening Matthew had to bring over the truck part of the 18-wheeler (taking in to town to get something put on it the next morning) - well needless to say Kegan was THRILLED to have this sitting in front of the house...and almost had to be bribed to get off it to come eat dinner! (ps - I am just wondering if the neighbors were so happy once he found the horn....)


Random shots of some little - messy - friends living on our porch...I looked up on my way in and saw these 4 little heads peaking out. I found out later from James that they have attacked him numerous mornings on his way into the house. Cute, but not so sweet, then.

Wednesday, Aug. 5
Aunt Stephani had called and asked if Kegan would like to go with her, Uncle Josh, and Josh's side of the family, nephew, Mason to see some baby pigs at a barn of a friend of theirs. I dropped him off at their house on my way to choir practice that night. Gramma joined them, too, for the evening. From the pictures I saw and what they said, Kegan seemed to really enjoy himself. Of course - what boy wouldn't - a barn, dirt, smelly animals, getting dirty...life is great for a boy in those circumstances - ha! :)
Who needs a barn when Aunt Steph and Uncle Josh have a great dirt pile in the back of their house!

Doing a little work at the barn...haha...

Uncle Josh, Kegan and Mason looking at one BIG pig!

Feeding a calf


playing in the hay - one happy kid!

Thursday, Aug. 6
Waiting around at the farm...his shirt was off b/c dinner would have steined his shirt...anyways, I just thought he looked cute in his boots, jeans, and tan top!

Just chillin' and waiting around for the men to stop so we can all eat

Cute faces, brought to you by Ty!



Friday, Aug. 7
Aunt Steph, Kegan, Ty and I went to the store in Alice to meet Gramma for lunch - Kegan enjoyed the lunch but LOVED the tractors at the store! :)
Ready and set to go!

Something a little more his size
(ps - Court that would be the face we get when he now says, "queso" for pictures - thank you ma'am)

Aunt Stephani helping TY drive the gator...hehe...he looks surprised, huh!?!

Umm....do you think someone doesn't want to share the seat with a certain little brother?

Saturday night, Aug. 8
Another day, another dinner brought to the fields, another day to run around the fields!
Yo mom!

Some certain set of little hands REALLY want to grab a hold of that bright orange thing...

TY taking a ride with daddy and Pampa

Now all the men are ready to go!


Ready to go on a trip up the rows with Gramma, too!

Kegan was "reading" the words on the side of the module

Oh -what fun! Playing around on top of the module!

Well, at least someone is watching close (thank you Gramma and Nathen) while neither of his parents are near by as he runs around about 10 ft or so above the ground!

Monday, Aug. 10
Mornings - we go full speed from the get go!
I thought this was a sweet picture of the boys...Kegan loves playing with Ty and emulating what he sees Matthew and I do. (I love kissing Ty's little toes...so Kegan decided to give it a whirl)

Haha...this made me laugh - Kegan is excited about something and Ty is just looking at him like, "What are you doing?"

Tuesday, Aug. 11
Karsyn, this one is for you. Boys like accessories, too. Kegan wanted his hat, and 2 bracelets on before we could head out - all we were missing in this picture were the sunglasses.

TY doing what all things tell parents not to do - enjoying hitting around the balloons - he loved it (and was supervised the entire time...hehe)

Hey!

Once again, another dinner, another night at the fields, and another day to ride a picker...and on this special day, work a module builder too! woo hoo
left to right - module builder, boll buggy, and the cotton picker

Umm...I don't know if he is quite old enough to drive the picker on his own, yet...haha...but I think he would like to think so!

Waiting to eat some dinner out of the back of the car - our table of choice lately... ;)

Oh, now Ty is thinking he ready to drive the picker, too!

(ok, to get this picture, I was having to pound on the window to get Ty to look up and away from all wheel and all the knobs and buttons...)
It ended up cute, though!

While Ty and Matthe drove the picker, Kegan took a whirl opperating the module builder - and got a pretty good hang of it. (It doesn't take much just pulling and pushing levers...but still, I was pround he figured out which one to lifet the press up and down and wich one to move it back and forth)
Taking it seriously

Pausing a moment to smile for mom

Then back to his very serious work (I told Nathen I want him to show this much dedication when I see him working the builder...haha)

Peeking through the levers

Wednesday, Aug. 12
Tractor play at our house has become quite intricate - between Kegan understanding more and more when we go out to farm, and his growing imagination we have a full farm production going on when we get out tractors to play. He has a job for everyone and everything. It is fun to see what all he is comprehending and understanding from our trips to the farm.
TY joining in on the action with a front end loader - we are working on sharing well. This is the one Kegan was willing to give up to let Ty play with...hmmm....this should be interesting at Ty gets older and wants to play with even more of the tractors.

Flying with the tractor

Hey mom!


Well, it has taken me about 3 days to get this post together and put up - needless to say we have been off and going. I have really enjoyed this year of harvest. I love making food for all the guys and taking it out there. We have actually been able to spend lots of time with Matthew - riding with him on the picker every night - and the boys have enjoyed the time with their daddy and being around all the equipment.

You know you have boys when:
1. Now, whenever Kegan toots he laughs and says, "I just tooted in...." - if we are at the house, he says, "in mommy's house"; while in James's pool "I toot in James's pool" - which he had to tell James about when we saw him at the farm); if he is sitting in your lap "daddy, I toot on your leg"...ohhh...nice
2. Ty, my sweet little 6 month old, Ty - the other night Matthew was holding him and I was talking to him and making silly faces. Ty proceeded to gently grab my chin area and pull me into his face, then BURPED right in my face, pushed my face back, let go, and then LAUGHED - not kdding...ask Matthew, James, or Nathen - they all saw and then laughed!
3. You spend your days with cotton, grain and corn fields growing in your house...with tractors all aroud harvesting it all.

Things Kegan is doing:
1. He loves to "read" - he will "read" the directions and ingrediants for me while we cook; he looks at randomewords on signs and says they say, usually, Kegan...sotimes other words...but he says it like he really is readying it; he "reads" real familar books with me...and sometimes will not let me trun pages till he has "read" certain words.
2. He counts everything, all the time - which is great and we are getting better at the one to one correspondence concept...but still working on it.
3. We talk about time, clocks, time left, etc... a lot, so now when we cook he will tell me something like "cook for 15 minutes"...haha...; he will look at clocks and name off random times like saying, "it is 6:15"...well it is on the right track - atleast he is getting the concept...kind-of
4. He is pretty much fully independent on going to the batheroom - well pee-pee. He can pull his pants up and down (if no button or zipper needed), go with out needing us at all, flush, and wash his hands - yeah!!!

Ty -we go to the doctor on Monday for his 6 month doctor visit (he turned 6 months on Monday)...so I will write all about what he is doing now, after that visit - till then I know I am keeping you in extreem suspense....haha! :)