You Might Be a Farm Kid If. . .

. . .your dad takes you to the bus stop on his way to the elevator in a semi filled with grain. Honestly, there are some times I stop and look at my life, and just have to laugh. Never in my mind's eye of my perfect suburban family did I see my little girl hop up into the cab of a bright teal semi. Anyway, with harvest going great guns, early mornings and late nights are the norm for Joe. He hasn't seen his youngest daughter awake since Monday night, as Joe's been getting up early to haul grain to the elevator, and is back long after Amelia has gone to bed.

Anyway, part of our agreement in the taking and picking up of Anna (she catches the bus at my cousin's house, as she would have had to ride nearly 2 hours total each day, eek!) is that Joe is solely in charge of taking her in the morning, en route to his morning chores, and back up in the afternoon, mainly for bonding purposes. Today, as he came in after his second load, I, still in my pajamas, sleepily asked him if he was still taking our kindergartener up to the hard road.

The answer I hoped for was a yes, without hestiation, as I still had two other sleepers. However, the answer was a hesitant maybe. What???? Am I going to have to put my bathrobe on, wake up the little girls, and do the ultimate stay-at-home mom thing that is to take the kids to school in my jammies? Plus, didn't Joe know I had to teach the study at our mom's group today as well as take Josie to preschool? I mean, come on, man. . .I have a schedule to keep and coffee to drink!!!

Upon replaying the situation of strapping in two sleepy toddlers (as I know a lot of you moms out there do, and kudos to you!), I begged Joe to reconsider his self-made schedule. They hadn't started combining yet for the day, and Joe was simply being the over-achiever that he is. . .which I love, somewhat conditionally! Thankfully, he reconsidered, and loaded up Anna's car seat, to my surprise, in the teal blue semi, full of grain.

Now I don't care who you are, whether the girly-est of girls or the boyish of boys, riding to the bus stop as a kindergartener in a semi is pretty awesome, and when Anna saw her dad load her booster, she flipped! She was so excited. As I watched her tie her shoes (I know, she's a prodigy), I told her that not many kids will get to ride the bus and in a semi in the same morning. As she finished her second shoe, she stated with the utmost certainty:

"Not many kids are lucky to be a farm girl like me."

No, they are not.

The Littlest Farm Girl

We have had a big day so far, and it's not even 10AM!! Anna headed to Kindergarten today, just for a half day, but off to the big school nonetheless. We are all excited about this new endeavor for her, all except Josie.

Josie is three. She is a lot like me, not just in her physical appearance (curly hair she'll despise as a teenager, big toothy grin), but she is extremely emotional. While Anna took today in stride, having only a little bit of nervous energy as we got closer to school, Josie was a mess from last night on. She cried this morning at breakfast, cried when I left to take Anna on this special day, and cried when her little sister accidentally bonked her head with the door. Emotions are high today.

However, a new chapter for my middle child begins today, all thanks to the farm. Josie is the one riding with Dad in the farm truck with the dog, headed over to my uncle's to check the cows. She put on her big girl work jeans ("not the fashion ones, Mom"), asked if maybe she could get a new pair of rubber boots, and headed out in the crisp morning air with Daddy. Jos is the big cheese at our house. . .until the end of the school day!

I believe with every fiber of my being, that even though the farm is unpredictable, both financially and scheduling-wise, dirty as all get-out (check out the inside of my SUV's door frames. . .YIKES!), and sometimes frustrating, being a farm kid is completely worth all the stuff that just makes my life a little inconvenient. What a blessing this opportunity is for our middle child, who some times is too little to do what her big sister is doing, but too big to be the baby. She is lucky that nearly every day is "Take Your Daughter to Work Day!"

We are anxious to hear about Anna's day. I am excited to hear about the schedule, what she did, how many new friends she made. But before that, I will have a full report from my littlest farm girl. Unlike Anna, who is her father and will report matter of fact-ly about the basics, and offer little details, Josie, my girl, will give great detail in regards to not only the happenings on the farm, but the state of the interior of Daddy's truck, the conversations they had, and the dirt collected on her pink running shoes.

That's my girl!