New Adventures on the Farm

The year 2011 proved to be a tough year on the farm. I even nicknamed it the "angel of death" of animals that is.  We have buried 1 horse, 2 Cows, 3 calves, 2 dogs, an unknown amount of cats have died, and I believe 9 chickens. I never thought that I would get use to the death of one of our animals and I never thought that my sweet little 4 year old would already be "use" to animals dying on the farm. Last year we got "use" to animals dying, we weren't all that surprised anymore when another would die, but it did take a toll on us.


Brandon has always loved having cows, even when we first started dating I remember him talking about his dreams to run like a hundred cows on all this land that he was someday going to own. It took some getting use to but I knew when I said yes I will marry you that I was going to be married to a man that would always live on a farm and at the time I thought we would always have cows.


When we bought the house we live in, we bought it with the Cows in mind. There were other houses we looked at but none of them had the buildings and the land lay out that this house has. We sold a lot of cows just to have money for a down payment for the house, and then we moved up here with I believe 10 Cows (I don't know Cows, Calves, Steers, heifers, etc total I believe there were 10). Brandon was prepared to rebuild his "herd", he kept the best ones, and was excited to have cows at his own place. But not everything went as planned, cows started dying, money started getting tight, and things were just tough.


So this past summer Brandon started thinking about selling the rest of the Cows and getting pigs. He mentioned it to our very opinionated daughter, Teagan and she started crying. She didn't want to sell the cows, and she definitely didn't want pigs!! We prayed a lot about what God had planned for us and Brandon decided that selling the Cows was the right decision. The cows went right from the pasture to the buyer so it worked out really well. Teagan still talks a little bit about Vanessa her favorite cow but she has really enjoyed helping Daddy go pick up the pigs and feed them. 


This was a really tough decision for Brandon and I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing husband he is. I was a little worried about him selling the cows since I knew that was his dream and what he really wanted, I kept saying are you sure?? is this really what you want to do?? Brandon's response was that he wanted what was best for his family, priorities change when you become a husband and a Dad and the  pigs allow him to still have his love and hobby of having livestock but he will have more time for his family now without the cows and that he will be able to provide better for his family. Yep, He's pretty amazing!! (most of the time)  :) 


So now we have Dora, Piggy, and Diego with some more coming in Feb...................


On to New Adventures at the Sowers Ranch! 

Teagan Kennedy is 4!!

Teagan Kennedy is our New Years baby and she is officially 4! Wow, I know everyone always tells you how quickly it goes by but you just don't expect it. Sometimes however there were days during those "Trying 3's" that I thought 4 was never going to come!!
Teagan had a busy fun filled birthday!! We started celebrating Thursday when Teagan got to go to her first movie, The Muppets. Teagan invited her friend Maleah to join along and we had a great time. It was Mommy, Teagan and Maleah so we had a total girls night filled with pizza, and the movie. I loved just sitting back and listen to two 4 year olds talk about the sparkles on the shirts, that their favorite colors are rainbow and purple, and the gifts they got for Christmas. We just love Maleah she is so sweet and Teagan and her just get a long so well.

Teagan all ready for her night out.......She dressed herself and I put a little makeup on her she was so excited!!

Teagan and Maleah ready to eat at Pizza hut.....aren't they adorable??!!


Then Saturday we got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Kennedy and Great Grandma Woehl. The weather was again wonderful and Teagan got to even ride her new bike outside. She had a great day there!!

 Thank goodness Teagan got a Hippo from Great Grandma.....It had to match the one Harper got for Christmas. Teagan and Harper with Margo and Harry :)

Teagan Blowing out her candles.............

And again we had to blow them out when we ate the cake that night too :)

Sunday Teagan's "Real birthday" as she called it, we got to spend with the Sowers family. We enjoyed having Christmas and Teagan's Birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Sowers. 

Teagan opening birthday gifts with the help of her sister and cousins....

Teagan's Birthday present from the Huff Family (Aunt Dana)....

Seriously It is Dec. 29th??

I would be the last person you would hear complain that we didn't have snow for Christmas. And truth be told if Brandon said hey Hun I got a job in Florida and were moving, I would be totally ok with it minus the leaving our friends and family I would not miss the weather here in Iowa one bit!! The last few winters have been enough to about driving me crazy (or Brandon would tell you that yes I am indeed crazy!) But this year has been great almost nice enough that I would consider staying in Iowa :) 

Dec. 29th almost 50 degrees, no wind and we played and played outside!!! 

Teagan actually said "It's hot out mom!" Lol she would have been in shorts and a T-shirt if I would have let her.

Our puppies enjoying the day 

Making Christmas Tree Feet

This was such a cute idea I just had to do it!! We made Christmas tree feet for my Grandma :)

Teagan's foot painted and ready to stamp......

Harper was so funny she laughed the whole time because she thought it tickled......

We weren't able to get a picture of Blakely because she screamed the entire time and it took two of us to accomplish the task!

Here are Blakely's feet Christmas 2011... 

Harper's Feet........ 

Teagan's Feet...............

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve service, it is always one of my most favorite services. I love the candle lights and I'm really thankful our church takes the risk and has real candles :) Even though Teagan burned her hair last year, this year was a success. This year I had the privilege to be a part of the Christmas Eve service with my praise team that lead worship. It was amazing being up front singing and seeing everyone in their pews holding their candles and reflecting the real reason for the season......Jesus.  We had a wonderful evening and Brandon was able to handle all 3 girls during the service since I was up front. 


I tried really hard to get a picture of all 3 girls in their pretty dresses for our Christmas Eve service at church and this is what I got, this........

 and this..................

Then this...............

And this....................

And gee doesn't this look familiar this...............

So I gave up and went the easy route and got these 3 beautiful girls

A Visit to Santa

First I have to be honest and admit I stole this idea from my friend Marissa :)

We always get new pj's for Christmas Eve. Which is a Sowers tradition that we have carried on to our kids. This year we got pj's a day early and went to see Santa and  drive around to look at Christmas lights in pj's. 

Getting our new jammies :)

My 3 sweet little girls 

They didn't care too much for Santa......

But Teagan decided the Elf seemed ok :)

And Santa let her wear his hat.....ho, ho, ho 

Maybe next year one of my girls will sit on Santa's lap.....haha oh well it's just fun. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I love being able to make memories with my girls, and I hope they remember making sugar cookies every year like I remember the memories of eating (oops I mean making) sugar cookies with my mom. It wasn't until I had my own kids I realized how unbelievably stressful it is to make sugar cookies with kids!!! But I learned this year and it made it much easier. First I made the dough a head of time, then I divided two balls for each girl to have and they each got about 4 cookies to cut and frost out of their balls. Then I made the rest on my own :) Win win situation!