Down On The Farm

Tonight we baled straw. Kayla and I had the job of raking! We raked with BushHog (utility). She whined the entire time. Kyle is grounded from the farm (who knew this would start this so young) for throwing toys a Jackson at the daycare today. He has had a few bad weeks....... so he is on a no farm, no tractor grounding. He had to stay in the house with grandma Clara tonight......I'm sure it wasn't all the bad;) Needless to say, the baler isn't working worth a S**T! So I'm not really sure it is going to get done tonight. After we finish that we only have 15 more acres to plant....then we are DONE planting!!!!! Hope everyone else is getting along okay! Gota study! Until next time.......

I DID IT!

The Nick's Race.....Yes, I did it! Okay, so I had to walk about half, I think. But I still finished it in 35:21. Next year I want to run it all.....we'll see ;) I'm so proud of myself!

MUCH NEEDED HELP!!!!!

I recieved the following email from my aunt this past week. I have two cousins and their family's are affected by this. I know that there are a lot of people out there that are stalking my blog;) So please help us and send some emails and let the legislators know how important these pelople are to us! This is very important to my family. THANKS


Hi!
Just wanted to update you on what's going on with the funding for the developmentally disabled, from which Beverly gets funding for her program at ARC. I attended a meeting at ARC last night--about 100 in attendance. We were give facts and figures as to the size of our problem. They are indeed asking for 1.5 million to be cut from ARC's funding. It is assumed the Governor is using the cutting of funds to the most vulnerable of the state's citizens as a way to get a tax increase. Today a group (85) gathered at David Reis's office in Olney to protest the cuts. Tomorrow a group will be gathered at John O. Jones in Mt. Vernon to do the same. Next Tuesday we will be going to Springfield to a rally to support the developmentally disabled. ARC executive director and the board president emphasized the importantance of more emails and faxes. I hate to be a bother to you, but if you would email or fax (they say faxes are good) everyday or as often as you can, I would appreciate it. Last night we were given a list of our local represention and the five key people responsible for this budget. I will list them below. All you need do is email and say "Please do not cut funding for the developmentally disabled." You might even mention that Illinois is ranked 51st out of 51 states (includes District of Columbia as a state) in funding--that means Illinois has less funding than anyone!! They will be in session again on Tuesday--so time is so important. I know everyone is busy--but I would appreciate your help.

Senator John O. Jones
Phone: 618-242-951
Fax: 618-242-9516> email: johnojones@sbcglobal.net

Senator Kyle McCarter
Phone: 217-428-4068
Fax: 217-428-4089> email: mccarter51@att.net

Senator Dale Righter
Phone: 217-235-6033
Fax: 217-235-6052> email: drighter@consolidated.net

Representative Roger Eddy
Phone: 618-563-4128
Fax: 618-563-4129> emailL: reddyunit1.aol.com

Representative David Reis
Phone: 618-392-0108
Fax: 618-392-0107> email: david@davidreis.org

Speaker of the House Michael Madigan
Phone: 217-782-5350
Fax: 217-524-1794> email: mmadigan@hds.ilga.gov

Governor Pat Quinn> Phone: 217-782-0244> www.illinois.gov/GOV/contactthegovernor.cfm

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno> Phone: 217-782-9404> Fax: 217-782-7818> no email provided

Senate President John Cullerton> Phone: 217-782-7260> Fax: 217-782-3242> no email provided

House Minority Leader Tom Cross> Phone: 217-782-1331> Fax: 217-782-3234> no email provided

Thanks.

I know we are all busy, but please take the time to do this~
Thank you all very much!

Angie

Week two of school

Week two is done, I took three tests this past week. I have only gotten one test score back......I got an 88. I was okay with that score. I am so used to getting A's, but after seeing the material that we are studying I came to realise that I am NOT going to get all A's. So I'm happy with my B. The next two test I had........I'm praying for a B ;) HARD!!!!! All in all it is going well.

This week as been busy. Kayla had swimming lessons at 5:30 pm. She did really well, She's really good at trying to get out of doing the back float ;) But Shelby Matson still made her practice it anyway;) She did really good at blowing bubble out of her nose and mouth. She loved getting the rings. Saturday morning was her last lesson.......with all the rain there was a frog in the pool and Kayla was soooo worried about the frog getting her. Funny.

Back floating and getting the rings

After swimming lessons on Saturday, the kids and I came home and cleaned. It has kinda been put on the side burner this past week with all the tests and lessons. But we got caught up. The kids do really help me on this. I swept and mopped and they picked up there bedroom and the toys in the living room. I decided to rearrange the living room a bit. The kids thought that was SO COOL! It feels fresh again. Or at least as fresh as a trailer can get :) LOL

Last night we took Scott out to eat at "the place where the boys speak Spanish to me" LOL Kayla loves that cheese and chips at the Mexican place here in town.

For Father's Day we tried to surprise Scott with a new framing nailer. He was so adamant about getting one. He wanted to go to Rural King on Friday to get one. I already had it ordered and my Dad had already picked it up. So on Thursday, I gave it to him. He was all smiles. He got a Senco Frame Pro XP. Now we can build our shed, right ;) He can't wait. That man and his tools ! :) Friday night we had several big storms go through. No damage or anything. The electricity was out for a while. It was good drinking weather. AND that led to a good stress reliever! I slept really good Friday night....right through the worst storm. LOL

This picture to the left is what the kids made at Linda's Daycare this week. This particular one is Kyle's. He pick the color red for his foot. To match daddy's favorite tractors! I though they were very cute and so true!

This morning we are going to meet the Meinhart clan at Niemerg's for brunch at 9:00 for our Father's day Celebration. It is so hard to get all of us together anymore. So we decided on brunch. The Jasper Co. Fair starts today. My brother Steve is helping out with the swine part of it. I love the 4-H part of the fair. My nephew, Nate, as learned so much. He definitely has his dad's work ethic! (his mom's too) I'm so glad I only have one test this week, so that I can enjoy the fair. Monday night is the pedal tractor pull. Newton Implement is in charge of it, so Scott will most likely work at it. And of course we will have to go to the big tractor pulls too! Can't wait! Oh my, they are calling for no rain during fair week......is that possible? LOL

Well, I better get off of here. Hopefully I can post some pictures of the Father's Day celebration, tonight! Wishing all the father's out there a very Happy Father's Day.

Until next time.............

Air!

Tonight we are turning on our air conditioning! Yip, we have been roughing it for that last few months. The highest the temp got in the house was 86.....that's when we decided to go swimming ;) Scott told me he was going to start it up tonight.... i was thinking....why? it's nice in here. Then he said it's going to get up into the 90's this week. Yah, it's time to turn it on....getting a jump on it! I'm going to miss my $75 electric bill!

Until next time..............

Angie

School

Well, my first week of summer classes went as well as I anticipated. We had orientation on Tuesday. Boring. We just went over all of the rules of the program. Not stupid rules.....common sence..... but lots of them! Wednesday through today were spent listening to lecture. We did however, get a 10 minute break every hour. And a one hour lunch break everyday so far. Then today, we got out of class at 1:15 instead of 3:00. AWESOME! I came home and wrote a one page paper that is due on Tuesday. I'm not going to have classes on Fridays, but this time we had too because it was supposed to be orientation but it got switched with tuesdays class. We are also supposed to have a half hour lunch 2 days a week and a one hour lunch the other two days. Ronda and I have been walking on campus for 30 minutes and then eating our lunch the other 30 minutes. It gets us up and moving since we sit ALL DAY!
I have 3 test next week....that I know of. Lot's of study guides...... I'm going to take it one day at a time! Until next time........

Step 1

We are going to build us a shed this summer........eventually anyway. So with all this rain this past spring, it gave us a good start on getting our foundation ready. Harold has an old railroad that went through his ground down by the rest area, we have been digging up the rock from there and hauling it home for our foundation. Once it settles we will move onto the concrete.

Our shed is going to be a 30 X 40 with a 16ft lean too on each side. The north side is going to be enclosed with a kitchen and bathroom the south side is going to be open for storage on all the trucks and equipment.

Our backhoe!

Our Shiburu tractor with blade

The kids found a great place to play

Where's the water hose?

Fun at the ball park

Yesterday we went to the ball park in Newton to watch the kids play ball. we were there from 11:45 to 5:30. However, Ben played at 9 but were didn't make it to his game and Nate's team was playing after Zach's but Nate is also playing on an all star team and they had a tourney in Flour this weekend so he didn't play at Newton. So we watched Zach play (lost) they we went to the park and had a picnic. they kid's played on the playground and chased a squirrel around. After that, we went back to watch Brooke and Josie play. It was a long day but very good weather which made it an enjoyable day!

Zach and Gary warming up the pitching arm!

Zach batting

The famous orange and blue park

the squirrel eating a cheese It!

Brooke on second base

Daughter like mother, Josie catching!

Josie on first

Kayla watching Josie playing ball

Kyle not watching the games....too busy playing!

One down...more to go!

I finished my intercession class on Thursday. I took my final after class on Thursday so I didn't have to go back on Friday! I'm sure I got an A because I had an 99% before the final! So my next round starts on Tuesday. I'm ready to get them started. Today we are getting ready to go the the Jasper County Girls and Boys Park to see all on my nieces and nephews play ball. I'll take my camera along and get some good pictures of the kids. Scott is back in the fields I believe after today we will be done planting corn! Yay! So tomorrow we will most likely be helping Scott get the bean planter ready and moving him around from field to field. This is draging out like last year again.

Last night the kids wanted to take a bike ride so I went to the shed to get my bike out. Scott and I both got new bikes for Mother's and Father's day 2 years ago. They were DIRTY! We haven't rode them in a while. So I got them both out and cleaned them up. The kids were so excited that Mom and Dad had bikes. I guess they had forgot about them. So I started with mine. It had a flat tire so I put air in the tires and the front one didn't hold. So I started on Scott's. all looked good a first so I washed it down and noticed the chain was really rusty. I hoped on and the chain fell off. I finally got the chain on and we took a ride down the road. Kyle road his bike too but I believe next time he better take the Rhino (battery operated)!! Hopefully there will be many more bike rides this summer! I guess that's all the news I have for today. I hope to post some pictures of the games today!

OH, My sister-in-law and nephew Nate are heading out soon for Alaska! Dawn's brother Brock and his wife live there so they are going for a visit. So we hope they have a SAFE and FUN trip. We'll be thinking of you!
Until next time.....

Happy Birthday!

Today is my brother Steve's birthday. Happy Birthday Steve! Hope you have a great day!

Love,

The Kocher's