Geeking Out

Last weekend, my lil’ family and I joined 12,000 people to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of John Deere Harvester Works (and also the 175th for the company).  The factory tour, speeches from leadership, machines on display, and THIS VIDEO (I seriously squealed when I found Deere shared this video on youtube) left me spilling over with pride to work for Deere.  Addy officially thinks I go to work to play in corn mazes and bouncy houses, while I inhale watermelon slices and cotton candy and plan my next airbrushed tat.  The point is, sister totally understands why I’m excited about my job. J

Last week, I was lucky enough to head to Saskatchewan, Canada for Deere.  I got to run our biggest machine (the S690) to harvest canola, watched some functional testing, talked with dealers, met some amazing customers, and learned more about our product than I ever have.  It makes me all mad-crazy-excited about my job.  Bleeding green over here.  Honored.  Like totally geeking out to be a part of this company. 

Here’s a windrow of canola…

And the precious grain we’re after…

I found a random youtube video HERE of a S690 running a belt pick-up in canola (thanks “plowboy73”) in case anyone is curious.  I did this! 

I didn’t take a photo of Elmer (the farmer I rode with to harvest wheat who was on his 50th harvest), but I truly wish I had.  It was an honor to meet him.  Pretty wheat field, eh? (you know I had to throw in some Canada-speak)...

And this was something that struck me…

I’m used to seeing the machines all shiny, straight from the factory or on a display floor.  It’s not often I see this.  And this is why we’re there, because we’re “committed to those linked to the land.”

And then I got to go home to a boy who has learned to say “yeah, yeah” before he’s learned to say “no, no”, a girl who wants to rub my back while she falls alseep, and a husband who chases me around the house until I almost pee my pants.  I.am.grateful.  Confession:  I’ve been creepily watching each of them sleep (yes, this includes Jason) because they aren’t going to look like this even tomorrow. 

We headed to Stone’s apple orchard (where I forgot the card for my camera…boo!) to stock up on some autumn must-haves:  cider, apples, a basket perfect for a certain someone’s costume, and firewood.  The first day of fall had me saying, “Bring on the pumpkin patch!”

And yes, you heard that right, I’ve started the costumes (remember how much we love COSTUME-MAKING?).  Based on this pile of scraps, any guesses? J 

Happy Autumn!

**As always, these are my own opinions and views and may not represent or reflect the opinions or views of John Deere.**

Chucks!

We did Cohen a major solid today and bought him his first pair of Chucks.  I'm so excited about this purchase that I literally have nothing else to say. 

OK.  So I have one other thing to say.  I'm bursting at the seams with thoughts about the recent political conventions, but I'm deciding to keep it safe.  "Yes.  I am better off than I was four years ago.  So thanks, Obama Addy and Cohen." ;-) 

Happy Saturday!

magic

I’ve never had my cards read.  I pay little attention to sidewalk cracks (as evidenced by the amount of scars on my knees).  I’ve literally broken every hand mirror I’ve ever owned, and I’m not unnerved by it.  But, I read my horoscope each week.  It started because an amazing friend introduced me to Rob Brezsny (check out www.freewillastrology.com if you’re curious).  His writing is witty and full of the-universe-is-smiling-on-you sort of sentiments.  So I look to his horoscopes for entertainment, motivation, and sometimes to take pause to notice what’s going on around me.  Here’s an example, “Grace emerges in the ebb and flow, not just the flow. The waning reveals a different blessing than the waxing.”  That’s the kind of tidbit we can all see some value in, right?  So back to my point, I don’t typically allow my horoscopes to change my behavior (I know, it’s rather non-Pisces of me to not believe in all things mystical, but I digress).  Last week was different.  I read my horoscope and thought instantly that my ol’ pal Rob couldn’t have been more right…He said, “You need more magic in your life, Pisces. You're suffering from a lack of sublimely irrational adventures and eccentrically miraculous epiphanies and inexplicably delightful interventions. At the same time, I think it's important that the magic you attract into your life is not pure fluff. It needs some grit. It's got to have a kick that keeps you honest. That's why I suggest that you consider getting the process started by baking some unicorn poop cookies...” 

So we did it.  We made the unicorn poo cookies. 

Addy’s unicorn appears to be doing well on fiber…

And that was just the start.  We had munchkins from Dunkin Donuts.  Ask Coey, they’re full of magic.

Addy had gymnastics and a special guest came 2,000 miles to witness how excited she is to do stretches and jump on trampolines and do her first, unassisted I might add, back pullover on the bar.  2,000 miles, now that’s magic…OK, Molly might have come home for a wedding…but it still felt like magic.

The kids played in my mama’s garden, where you don’t need shoes, you can sit on top of picnic tables, the landscaping rock beds hold surprise sea shells, and you can get as messy as you want.  Any kid would tell you a visit to their grandparents’ typically feels like magic.

We took Addy to the circus for the first time, where, after her squeals and exclamations of "beauuuutiful" and "amaaazing" she was magically transformed into this lil’ tiger cub…

The Labor Day parade delivered a sense of community for me and a boat load of candy for the kiddos.  Again, say it with me now, Magic.  I mean, hello?!  The weinermobile! 

~~~

Maybe we should call it magic that I found the time to upload some photos and write a darn blog.  Anyway, here’s my challenge.  Make some magic of your own kind this weekend.  We’re only 2 workdays away, and I promise it’ll be worth the effort. :)

♥Jessica & Bobby♥

So this cake post is a little late because I had to wait for the awesome photographer's photos (I was so excited to drop the cake off and get to the wedding that I forgot my stinking camera).  Thanks for the photos, Ann Steward Photography.  And thanks for letting me be a part of such a beautiful celebration, Jessica and Bobby.  (They are one seriously cute and dangerously fun couple!)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend...we've got some rickety fair rides to attend to!

More Pics :-)

In case anyone's curious, here some of my other favorites from our recent shoot with Shauna Welch.  The first collage I posted had a lot of my favorites in it already, but of course there are more.  These photos are melting my heart tonight...how did my babies get so big!? 

These are my favorite "outtakes"...starting of course with the serious model, blue steel faces...

 Haha!  I love Shauna for trying, but this is a perfect example of why posed pictures just don't work for us.  Cohen is trying to slip from my grip, Addy's struggling to make the hand-on the-hip pose look natural, and I won't even start with what the heck Jason and I are doing...
 Continuing to struggle with the hand-on-the-hip...

 Checking out her split ends maybe??

 There was a lot of this...and honestly people, can you blame him for running?

Ask Shauna (OK - actually please don't...she knows far too much J), it was a hot mess but worth every minute.  Nitey Nite!

Hi-Ya!

It's an honor to get to do a wedding cake, but there's something so stinking fun about a cake for a kiddo...

~~

So as to my promise from earlier this week.  Jason has spent the last month working on a job a little over two hours away (2 hours away plus 10 hour workdays equals only coming home for Saturday and Sunday).  For me, this has meant a taste of life as a single mom.  After a measly month, I have a whole new appreciation for military wives and single parents.  We did the skype thing, Addy did her dramatic, "I've always needed a daddy" thing, and I got used to throwing up my hands and laughing in the midst of the chaos that was me versus the kiddos.  I didn't sleep so well without Jason in the bed to "protect" me.  This may have had something to do with his impromptu instructional on the use of our handgun and his "dead men don't tell lies" speech.  Anyway, it didn't seem wise to shout from the rooftops that I was home alone and paralyzed with fear.  So after the kids went to bed and the chores were done, I watched embarrassingly horrible TV shows (gulp. Real Housewives) and worked until I fell asleep.  

Like I said, I have a lot of blogging to catch up on now that Jason's back, but for now, I've got a Sunday night movie and popcorn calling my name. 

Seacrest, Out.

sneak peek...

I know it's been a while, but I wanted to share a sneak peek at our most recent family photos (to capture Cohen's 1 year and Addy's 3 year milestones).  This is all we've seen so far, but I can already tell that Shauna Welch did an amazing job...we look nothing like the hot messes that we actually were.  That's a story for another day - a day when I have even more redeeming photos to share.  :)

I promise to be back this weekend with a cake and an update on where I've been (obviously not blogging).  There have been some changes around here and I have lots of blogging to catch up on!  Toodles!  (yep, I said "toodles"...that's how stinkin' happy I am at right now)