Family Time...

It's been a relatively busy couple of weeks here..

The five cows that were due to freshen within a few days of Christmas all had their calves a week or three early!  We had three heifer calves, a single bull and a set of bull twins.  It was nice to have the cows freshen early and get any potential freshening "problems" out of the way before the Christmas festivities began!

Since I've been out of commission, the kids have really stepped up to the plate.  Eric's been getting up early and feeding most mornings before school and helping every day over break, and Jenna's been feeding calves before school and helping more in the barn over break as well.  We also have a neighbor who helps, but we're trying to give him some time off before the kids head back to school.  We couldn't do it without them!

Here are a few pictures of our family Christmas at my parent's house.  It might be family photo overload, but we had fun with a photo booth that my sister set up in my parents' basement.

This is a picture of me, my sisters and my Mom. I don't think she looks like she's 81, does she?  (bottom right)

A silly one...

...and then the girl cousins took a turn...

...and the boys, minus one...

Here they all are, outside after lunch.  The weather was so nice...we actually had sunshine!

And just for fun, we had them line up from tallest to shortest.  The second oldest nephew is "only" 6' 5.5", and the youngest is only 11 years old, so it will be interesting to see how this line might change in the next few years.  I doubt anyone else will become the tallest, but the order of the others might change a bit...

On Saturday night we all went to my oldest nephew's new house to have a hot dog roast and watch football.  The impromptu back rub line could have gone on for a lot longer, in my opinion...

It's been good having family around.  Some have already left, but the others will be here for a few days yet.  I'm feeling a little blue since surgery...feeling really good physically, but a bit out of sorts otherwise.  I think it's probably somewhat related to the fact that I'm not allowed to do some of my regular work, and I feel a little useless.  I'm worried that since I'm feeling good, I'll get careless and re injure my back, which would be bad news.  I guess I need to work on making the house inviting and comforting for those who have to do my work!  I see the surgeon tomorrow for my two week post op visit, and I'm curious to see what he has to say.

I hope you all had a nice time with your families and friends over the holidays!