Fall Fall; How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

Since working on the “farm” for MSU and moving to a “farm” like setting, ok well maybe not an actual farm, just a poorly managed garden and 6 acres, I’ve developed a new appreciation for the Harvest season. I’m thankful Fall brings us bright blue skies, a favorite “football” smell in the air, the trees, the festivals, apples, mums, pansies and pumpkins to decorate with. I love white barn candle scents and gaudy leafy wreaths to hang everywhere. I LOVE Fall. I love cooking with my Beau. We’re making apple crisp for Papa.

I’m not only thankful for this wonderful season, but I’m also thankful for answered prayers. I am so thrilled to announce my Precious Aunt Janis has completed her chemo treatment. Please continue to pray for her complete healing, perfect scans, tests, blood work, her supportive family and that her hair grows back quickly and famously spiky! Pray that we continue to hear sweet words, even complete sentences from her lips. Pray for her complete healing not only from breast cancer but also the massive stroke. I saw with my own eyes answered prayers when she stood in the Bradford family pole barn Saturday night. Not only did she have the strength to stand and sing, but she knew the words, she knew the song and all because we know the Healer, our Lord and Savior.

Here are the pictures we took of us Baker girls to commemorate her achievement. I've had my fingernails fake and painted pink to remember her in prayer, the other girls thought this was cool idea too. Aunt Janis has had fake gaudy fingernails as long as I can remember. Chemo said no pretty nails, so we had them for her. I keep saying it, but I have a very thankful heart these days.

i heart my job

In a previous post, I told you a little about my job, how I’m affiliated with Missouri wine and grapes through the VESTA program. Well approximately 2/3 of my time is with that program and the other 1/3 goes to the Agriculture department. That was part of the deal for me to take this new job - I would still get to work with some of the same great stuff that goes on out here.
Perfect example: School Tours. The past two days at work have been bliss, crazy funny chaotic bliss. Each fall we invite local Kindergartner’s, Pre-School, Head Start and Early Childhood Center’s to tour the Fruit Station. We set up learning stations and rotate the children through them. John brought an observation hive of honey bees. Steve and Randy talked about the apple orchard, put an apple picking basket on a volunteer and then ran the Hydro Ladder to demonstrate picking apples from the tops of trees. We have Miss Stephanie from Missouri Conservation give a presentation on fur-bearing native varmints - always a favorite. We set up a photo op, looked at bug collections, give them a Dixie cup of water and send them home with a Gala apple. Over the past two days, 526 kids, teachers, and parents walked through our program!
Here are a few things we overheard this children say over the past two days.

-”I’m A-Hoo-Chick to bees, but if they’re in the glass, I’m ok.”

-”Where’s the King bee?” “Are there Princesses too?”

-”Wanna hear somethin’ funny? My name’s Bee” and it really was... Beloved.

-”I just can’t do this anymore” a little girl referring to sitting on hay bales in a little skirt.

-While holding up two skunk pelts, one striped and one spotted, Miss Stephanie asked, “What’s this ones’ name?” A little boy yelled out, “Scared Skunk!”

-Miss Stephanie asked the children, “What animal rhymes with water?” while holding up an otter pelt. The children pointed to it in her hand and said, “That One!”

-”I have a wedgie” random announcement.

-John asked, “What do bee’s do?” the first answer, “Pollinate!!” smart little kiddos. We think a few of them watched the Bee Movie this year.

-Miss Leslie offered a compliment to a group of students, “You guys look like good listeners” a little boy said, “We are good listeners. That’s what we do!” with his arms crossed and a confirming head nod.

-I was showing the children a large spider in the garden that had recently caught a bug in the web. I said, “Oh look she’s eating a bug for breakfast! Did you eat bugs for breakfast?” The children all said, “NO!” One little boy said, “I had waffles.” another little boy said, “Actually, she’s sucking the blood out of that bug.” Right.

I love my job, I love the people I work with and I love working in Agriculture. Don’t take for granted the groceries and produce you (and I) casually throw in the shopping cart next time you go to the store. Be thankful to God our Provider and the hands that prepared it for you!

The buses drove through the farm with a tour guide on board

Miss Stephanie and an unlucky red fox

Some of the teachers asked us if they could leave the volunteer kid with us

This is lovely assortment of people I get to work with from grad students (kevin & sonja)to the field crew (erin, kyla, rachel and bre) to one of my office buddies, Leslie and a master gardener volunteer, miss nellie.

Mr Organization

One of Beau’s favorite pastimes is to Sort. By this I mean, organize, take things out, put them somewhere else (obviously a much better place in his mind) and clap to himself for a personal standing ovation. Here’s a small list of things I’ve discovered:

-My slipper in the bathroom trashcan
-A pair of his shorts and a t-shirt in the kitchen drawer
-Big plastic popcorn bowls in the living room filled with his clothes and blocks
-A few blocks in the shower floor
-Some of his clothes will occasionally be in the bathtub
-Swim diapers (that were previously organized in a container on a shelf) all undone and inside his closet with the doors shut
-He takes the sugar and flour containers out of the cabinet. I put them back. He drags them back out. They are really heavy so my theory is he’s proving his strength… or maybe he’s hinting for more cake.

Either way I love all my Beau surprises. I’d like to believe he is creative, imaginative and well organized. He is a wonderful baby. I am really blessed to have such an easy going little guy. From time to time he gets in trouble at our house for pushing buttons on the TV, whining and turning the answering machine off, however these “organizing tasks” are not annoying to me – I think they’re funny.

However, the other day he actually got in trouble at Miss Joy’s house (daycare) for the first time. Joy called me at work laughing about it. Apparently, he unrolled the toilet paper when the bathroom door was mistakenly left open. She sat him on the timeout bench and said, “No No Beau, that’s a bad boy, no no, we don’t mess with the toilet paper…” and on and on. Then the kids gathered around him and were saying, “Oh no Beau, you’re in trouble”. Mr Beau thoroughly enjoyed all the attention! He clapped his hands and said, “ba ba ba ba” for bad boy. She said he was actually laughing. Oh we’re in trouble.

Here’s a picture of him the day he turned 14mos old playing at my bedroom window. Love it.

Top Ten Tips You know you are a new Toddler Mama

10. You hear some strange noise and DON’T go see what it is… it is the toilet paper being unrolled and happily strung throughout the bathroom

9. You come around the corner in the kitchen to find a wet baby and think, hmm I wonder why he’s wet as you are pulling every muscle in your body crashing to the wet floor.

8. You didn’t connect learning to drink from a cup leads to wet kitchen floors.

7. You would never think the floor added so much more flavor to leftover food, trash, small things you didn’t know existed to a one year olds palette.

6. You never know what 4 small tiny teeth can actually chew up until the gag reflex confirms your suspension that he shouldn’t have had that bite he was begging for.

5. You DON’T hear the baby and think everything is fine, or I’m sure my husband is watching him… completely emptying his dresser drawers of neatly folded baby clothes is a quite project.

4. You teach your baby how to successfully climb off furniture due to the fact the head injuries are no longer phasing him as he is constantly climbing on furniture.

3. As you pry the phone away from the Toddler Power Grip, you ask if anyone is on the line before setting it on another hopefully unattainable surface.

2. You can no longer cook a meal without the help of precious dimply hands in the middle of it all begging for a bite of raw meat and or other non-edible materials.

1. You can’t imagine what you did with all this time and energy you so lovingly devote before his existence and would never ever want it back.. I love you Bear.