Cornfed Decious'

Queen Bee

2009-07-24T04:20:00.001-07:00

Our beautiful baby Sarah Beth has been a suprise to us in SO many ways! From her unexpected beginnings to the funny things that come out of our mouth at 20 months old. She seems to have us all wrapped around her little finger! In theese pics, she has taken her rightful place on the throne...only problem is---that throne is suspended over a table 3 1/2 feet off of the ground and is held in place by a teeny tiny pink ribbon. The really scary thing is that Taylor and Raegan, who are both in contention for world record tattle tailing, must think this is normal, as they didn't even look up from their coloring!

A Day in the Life!

2009-07-24T04:06:00.000-07:00

Just a peek into our daily life. Spent outside riding bikes, walking lambs and tending the flowers. Peter and I are so blessed with three wonderful girls who are turning into wonderfrul friends and playmates!

Home Improvement

2009-06-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

My ever increasingly handy husband has embarked on several new projects this spring and summer. Bless his little pea pickin' heat! While being our muscles, fitter and truck/trailer driver for our various jonts acros rural Iowa, he has also been blessing us with his "inner engineer". He has built fence for our horses (they are forever greatful) and has aquired a shed for my chickens...which are ariving next week. He has to re-roof our beloved shed and build a door as to secure my cluckers at night and then they will be snug as a bug in a rug come winter time! Our lovely horses have helped him immensley by checking the integrity of our fence, thus leading us to install an electric fencer, for which they are not so greatful! We love looking out our back windows and seeing three beautiful creatures grazing on a pasture of green! We are eagerly anticipating having fresh eggs and home raised chicken to fry...hopefully by fall!

I am also enjoying a beautiful year in my flower garden! I am giving all credit to my mother, as she has an extremely green thumb and helped me early on. It also helps that it is the third year for my landscaping...time helps! I can't believe we will be starting our fifth year in Iowa on June 27! Time flies!

The Big Day!

2009-06-20T17:45:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

We are trooping through our journey through "lambville". Today was the day Peter and I have dreamed of for atleast 6 years...maybe more. Taylor showed her first animal today! We have been working hard with them at home and had our family goal was for Taylor to not let them go while in the ring. She showed her whether (Ty) and had a very nice young man show her ewe (Rosie). She did very well and we stood middle of her class. We learned a lot, had lots of fun and Taylor is anxious for her next show. The day brought back so many memories for both Peter and I. We look forward to many years of fun times together as a family. As my mom and dad always said..."this is the REAL quality time". Some families go camping, some play sports...we go showing!

They are HERE!

2009-04-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

The lambs have arrived...or should I say, "The grand experiment has begun!". Peter and I have been planning the first time Taylor would walk into the show ring since before she was born. We probably wouldn't have guessed it would be with lambs, however, none the less, here they are. Meet Ty (the bigger one--Short for Tiger {go MIZZOU}) and Rose (the smaller black one). Peter and Taylor welcomed them to our humble acreage last weekend. They both seem to be setteling in nicely, and are currently learning to walk on their halters. Taylor is learning lots, at the same time. Her primary concern is that they were "dirty and needed a bath" followed closely by the fact that they "were just toddlers, mom...you can never tell what they will do". Shearing and baths are in the works for this weekend. Do you use woolite on a lamb?

Easter

2009-04-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend! Peter and I spend Good Friday in preparation for the busy weekend. We had a fabulous photo shoot with the girls in their Easter dresses (good news!!! Sarah Beth figured out how to pick her nose during the shoot!). We then took time to have a good ol' Iowa breakfast with the girls at a family diner. Saturday was marked with daily preparatons including the coloring of the Easter Eggs and going through the resurrection eggs. Sunday was marked by a nice church service and fried chicken lunch. The girls had a great time looking at their baskets and hunting eggs. It was topped off with the annual decorating of the bunny cake, which later had to be pitched due to the sugar ant problem in my kitchen!

Rae's new "do"

2009-04-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful Raegan has a most striking face and haunting eyes...however she has not been blessed with gorgeous golden locks (yet). She doesn't even refer to her hair as "hair", but calls it her "crazies". Fortunatley for her, she has an awesome head shape and can pull off a short do. This compounded by the fact that she viamently opposes any form of "hair pretty", as we call them at our house, lead us with only one solution. We consulted our family stylist, Holly, (or as Rae calls her "Pollywood") with our delimma. She suggested a short, easy, feminine style (posh spice) that we are all ABSOLUTELY in love with for her. We don't fight over keeping hair ties or barrettes in and it takes literally 2 seconds to do in the morning. She feels very sophisticated and confident since, "Pollywood cut all my crazies off!" in her own words. We have decided that she might be our one who is on the cutting edge of fashion and who knows what else...she tends to walk to the beat of her own drum!

THE TOOTHFAIRY COMETH!

2009-04-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

We have entered the phase of "monetary compensation for your loss." Taylor has LOST her two top teeth and has FOUND that it is to her benefit that the toothfairy very rarely has change for a $5. We quickly explained that her new form of income is not viable in the long term, as the tooth fairy only rewards the top two more greatly, as they are the most noticeable. We then had to reiterate this fact when tonight, as she was sitting on the couch, she was trying to loosen another tooth by slugging herself in the mouth, in hopes for another visit from her nocturnal friend! Peter was so proud. She hasn't decided how to "invest" her new found earnings, but has mentioned that it is between some sort of barbie and buying a tent for the "poor christians" in India. (Church missions project). Aunt Alicia was pleased to discover that her "S" sound was only minimally affected by her losses. Peter and I just can't believe that she is growing up so fast! Each time she looses a tooth, we hold it in our hands and reminisce about the day that tooth came in. Morbid, I know, but makes us realize that we only have her for a season, and that season goes by pretty darn fast!

alright already

2009-03-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

OK,

so its been like 5 months since I posted anything on this blog. I have to admit, I got caught up with a nasty little habit called Facebook. Nothing against face book. I love it! I just neglect the broader aspects of communication with friends and family that blogging offers. It is much easier, I admit, to browse through every one's one liners and feel updated on all of the latest, however not nearly as personal. So, here I go in an attempt to reacquaint you to life in our CRAZY household. Since October:

Our princess and the Pea, Sarah Beth has turned 1. She is evermore bossy and ridiculously in love with bananas (she eats at least 4 a day), saying the words "kitty, kitty, kitty" and "juice" and running in her birthday suit up and down the hallway after a bath. She has recently discovered how to climb onto things and is a bit cat-like in that she doesn't have a good exit strategy in mind when she begins. Fortunately for her, she has two ever vigilant older sisters who attempt to transfer her out of peril without mom knowing.

Raegan has new career ambitions to be a singer on American Idol, although most of her songs are original compositions and consist of "no, no, no" along with some other phrases thrown in the mix. She is signed up for preschool in the fall, which she will be attending 2 days per week. It is just down the road from my clinic, so I will be able to be close, which is good for my comfort zone. She is also potty training, which is huge for this household. She is very proud of this fact and it turns into a family cheering section when she triumphantly comes out of the bathroom and announces "I did it...now I want a fruit snack!" She might have rotten teeth, but will proudly wear big girl panties before it is all said and done.

Taylor Reece (who has recently been nick named by Rae "poopsie poops") is our big girl. She is about ready to complete her 1st book in Sparkies for Awanas at church. She co-starred in a skit at school regarding table manners which was performed in front of the whole school, and in her own words "even the 6th graders". She is going to show 2 lambs this summer, who will be coming to live with us soon...more on that later. She is a beautiful, articulate young lady, who we are amazed with on a daily basis.

Peter and I-busy, busy, busy. Between the girls, Strides Therapy and church, at times, we feel that we don't have a spare second. It takes our mothers to faithfully remind us that the Lord has blessed us with so much and we shouldn't complain, but be happy that "we are hyper" (as I write this at almost 11 o'clock at night.) To complicate this matter, we have a longing in our heart to adopt a healthier lifestyle and become self-sustaining. Our first step to this is turning off the TV. Yes, you heard it right. We shut'er down, folks. No Fox and Friends, no Mark and Olly in the Mechegenga, no office or Idol. We are also getting chickens (12 to be exact) this summer. Peter has designed a magnificent plantation style coop with yard. We will see how this project goes. We may be eating a lot of fried chicken by next winter :).

That's a brief update on our lives... I promise to be more faithful in posting, especially when I have no TV to watch. More soon, Kelly

Bumpus' hounds

2008-10-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I sometimes refer to our three dogs as Bumpus' hounds (A Christmas Story movie reference). Those of you that know us, most definately know all of our animal sagas. Here are a few pics of our lovelies...Syd is now 8 and is the Matriarch of our pack. She is quietly annoyed by most things including our schedule that does not revolve around her. She has an internal alarm clock at 5 am which alerts us to her feeding and is unrelenting until her hunger is satisfied. Bailey is 4 and is the martyr of the bunch. If either of the other two are in trouble, Bailey takes on the guilt for her own. Zoey is our newest addition. She is a 5 year old Golden who is soon to be Therapy Dog extrordiaire. She has a very sweet personality, but a keen appetitie for cats (much to the shegrin of our kitty, Hot Chocolate). As you can tell, by the pics, though, she is learning to deal with this adorable little calico.

Raegan's 2nd birthday

2008-10-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, our sweet baby Rae has turned two, with all of its splendor. The terrible two's came in like a lion, and probably won't go out like a lamb. She decided on the Dora the Explorer cake, after much contemplation and opted for a laid back affair with family. She was thrilled by her new tricycle and pluto remote control puppy. Since then, her new hobbies include expressing her most violent opinion to everyone (including the dogs and kitten), throwing herself on the ground and opting to be the pickiest eater this side of the Mississippi (although Peter's mom would beg to differ i.e. oatmeal incident when Peter was 2). Truly and honestly, she is a joy and blessing in our lives and a refreshing break at times from our Drama queen (Taylor) and little miss Spoiled britches (Sarabeth_

Taylor's Big Day

2008-08-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, the day that daddy and I have been anticipating and dreading for the last 5 years, 2 months and 26 days has finally arrived. Our precious baby Taylor started to Kindergarten on August 19, 2008. She was ready, (4'Oclock in the morning ready, as to not miss the bus) and we were not! She troded off into the future whether we were ready or not! Upon her return home, her only report is that Mrs. Schippers is really pretty and that she was "Absolutely exhausted." There are 16 kids in her class at Twin Cedars Elementary school and she seems to be fully adjusted. She is hoping to be the "best rester" soon and get to rest in the tent, however hasn't attained that goal yet, much to her shagrin. She is learning about the word "syllable" and how correctly form her numbers. She was excited to report that the class pet, a hamster named Angel "wasn't lazy today". More to come...I'm sure.

2008 Iowa State Fair

2008-08-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

TAY-RAE-SAY

2008-07-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Needles to say, I'm very proud of our 3 beautiful girls! Taylor, 5; Raegan, 23mo; Sarah Beth, 8mo. As a dad, I love watching them interact. here are several pictures of them playing on the floor. We had fun laughing and taking pictures...you can see that Sarah only lasted so long!

Taylor will start kindergarten in 3 weeks and is very excited. She loves to tell people that she is 5. Answering the phone is her new favorite thing. If you call and she answers and says..."can you hang on a second?....ok, I'm back"...she really is just making you wait for no apparent reason other than to feel important.

Raegan will try to climb anything and everything. We are proud to announce she has been pacifier free for over 2 weeks. Since loosing the passy, she now is talking more than ever....and not the kind of talking that only Mom can understand. I will say, I believe pacifiers are laced with nicotine. The other day Kelly saw Raegan go into the bathroom, shut the door and shut the light off. Clearly something was up...and we now have all of the nail polish hidden. When Kelly opened the door, Raegan was sitting in the corner with....yes she had a relapse...she had a pacifier in her mouth.

Raegan's new thing is to have Zoey by her side at night. So much for keeping the dogs out at night!

Sarah Beth is growing everyday! You can see a photo of her sitting up. She now gets into the crawl position and lunges. She really doesn't crawl but has an amazing reach and seems to get whatever she wants. With two big sisters that dote over her...that seems to be pretty common (her getting what she wants). Her nick name is Princess and the Pea. She loves her sisters - Raegan and Taylor make her laugh all the time...except when they hold her down for a photo.

Super Sized Slip-n-Slide

2008-07-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

This 90 ft stretch of plastic, water, and plenty of joy soap is not for the faint of heart! After some brief research I'm sad to say that this is only 1/6th of the worlds largest recorded slip-n-slide, but I would have to say this was probably the biggest in Iowa, well at least Marion County....OK so, let's just say I'm confident none of the other 476 residents of Tracy, Iowa have ever had a slip-n-slide of this magnitude in their back yard!

As the main feature for our 20's and 30's group's inaugural party (from Liberty Evangelical Free Church)...you could say this was our attempt to stay young. Well, needless to say the aches and pains of Monday morning were there to remind us...we're really not. After two nights of ibuprofen I can tell you...I'm still sore. In the words of Drew Nelson..."you know it's bad when it hurts to staple paper together".

A special thanks to our friends Drew & Jill Nelson as well as Dustin & Sarah Flaherty who organized this party and dreamed up the Super Sized Slip-n-Slide!

Garden Update

2008-07-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

The fruit of our harvest has arrived! The nice thing about container gardens is their efficiency! We've been able to harvest many tomatoes, red onions, yellow onions...this is from our second cutting of lettuce. Not pictured was our peas, which I'm sad to say we didn't pick soon enough, green beans, and 15 lbs of red potatoes!

We're still picking tomatoes daily. The canning hasn't started just yet. The intention is to make salsa and speghetti sauce.

We've used peppers in potato salad...however haven't tried any of the jalepeno peppers yet! more to come on that!

Life in Libby Lu-ville

2008-07-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Taylor is now 5, and being the girly girl that she is, this year we took the big leap. For her beleated birthday bash we hauled 4 of her closest and dearest friends to Des Moines to a swanky little joint called Club Libby Lu. While there, the girls enjoyed an afternoon of pampering of hair, fashion and make-up play. After suiting-up in authentic looking Hannah Montana gear (wigs and all) they did a little ditty to Best of Both Worlds they enjoyed a health concious lunch of pizza, pop and cake. Taylor enjoyed her loot and fine company before heading back home.

The CAKE!!!!

After much research and undulation, Pete and I decided to temporarily enter the cake decoration business. After all, we have watched atleast 73 episodes of Ace of Cakes and are thus fully qualified to "save some money and make the darn thing ourselves". Well, after $83.00 at Hobby Lobby and two nights of experimentation, here are the results of our first run. Not bad, huh?

Horses & Montana

2008-06-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

June 28th - It's a beautiful morning in Iowa! The sun is shining, the dew on the young grass in the newly planted pasture is glistening, and the horses are happy to get their morning feeding. I love Saturday mornings. After a week of waking up around 4 in the morning, sleeping until 5:30 seems quite indulgent. Our older two girls stumble out of bed and my morning Fox and Friends quickly get's turned to Blues Clues.

I thought it ws time to share photo's of our horses and trip to Montana. If anyone wants to donate a couple million dollar's to my Build a Ranch in Montana fund, let me know (this is not a 501(c)3 and would not qualify for a tax deduction). What an amazing state! We went at the end of May to pick up Star and Sugar. We really enjoyed our time.

The top pic is Kelly working Star in our round pen. Star's full name: First Star to the Left. The next picture is Kelly and Taylor waiting for the vet, with Sugar. Sugar's full name: Rising Star's Sugar Cookie.

Star is a 5 year old gelding that is 50% Welsh Pony and 50% Thuroughbred. Sugar is a 21 year old purebred Welsh Pony. We're pretty happy with these two and they are adjusting to their new home in Iowa.

Below are some of our pics from the trip to Montana.

The Girls

2008-06-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our little ones. Taylor is 5 going on 15. She is getting ready to start school and enjoys being the drama queen of the family! Raegan is almost 2 and is our silent but deadly one. If you can't see her, that means she has probably found nail polish somewhere (red is her favorite) and is proceeding to give herself a pedicure. Sarah Beth is our princess and the pea. She has no concept of self entertainment, partially due to the fact that she has 2 very attentive older sibs. She has the squeal down pat and is NOT AFRAID TO USE IT! They are true blessings and we are truly changed by their spirits and love in our lives!

Gardenrifric!!!

2008-06-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

We are ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE gardeners. We have tried, and believe me, the old adage that anything will grow in Iowa soil doesn't hold water in the Decious household. Well, after two years of dwarf corn, dogs eating strawberries, razor thin carrots, grassy lettuce and tomatoless tomato plants, we heeded the advice of my brother (Bryon, you get a small amount of credit for this). With our wonderful (and youthful) friends, Aaron and Liz, we built 4 container gardens and now have garden coming out our ears. Although no one is sure when to dig potatoes (anyone???), things are looking great. All the rain has really made watering a non-issue and fairly maintenace free. Now that's my kind of garden.

Iowa Flooding

2008-06-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the flooding in and near Pella. Things are starting to dry up now, but the damage is now setting in. Lots of crop damage and loss in our area and people are out of their homes due to the water damage. Praise God, we live on very high ground and just had to deal with muddy pens!

Hello all!

2008-06-21T18:20:00.001-07:00

Peter & I thought we would try this blog thing! We are both in our thirites and trying to stay up with all the "modern trends". Yes, maybe we arent the most "technilogically savvy". Maybe our blog isn't the "coolest" or "make any sense at all." Maybe we don't "spell all the words right" or "speak in coherent sentences", but none the less, prepare to be enlightened.