So, there I was, folding laundry and deciding what to cook for dinner when my daughter popped her head around the corner asking permission to go outside. She informed me she planned to take her little brother on a field trip.

Thinking it best that field trips have parental supervision, I asked her if I could tag along.

Soon, the three of us were traipsing through the mud and negotiating a cattle guard. I had no idea what she had in mind, but I let her lead the way.

And lead she did! She broke trail for us and called a halt to our procession, as necessary, to discuss strategy with her younger brother. She also let me know when I was getting too far astray, asking me to please get back in line and try to follow her footprints.

Yes, ma’am.

After several moments spent hiking through the field, I finally spied what I thought might be the eventual destination of our little outing.

The horses. More specifically, this horse. Her horse. Mack.

Both of my older boys rode Mack. He is the best kid-friendly horse we have. Nothing phases him. Nothing. The boys learned to rope while riding Mack. Consequently, there were many times they managed to have a rope dragging under Mack’s belly, caught under the back of the saddle, draped between his ears, or looped around his leg. Each time Mack just stopped and waited patiently for someone to untangle him from the rope.

Now, it’s my daughter’s turn to learn to rope. She can hardly wait for warm weather to arrive so she and Mack can get to work.

I might be wrong, but I think Mack and this little cowboy-girl will get along just fine.

We have had a busy few days on the ranch. This is our group of AI heifers and they started calving on Saturday.

In order to artificially inseminate these heifers, we synchronized their estrus cycles, which basically means that they all end up with the same due date. That translates to a fast and furious calving season for these heifers (and the cowboys!).

It has been cold the past few days, so it’s important that we make sure each calf is up and moving around. It’s easy for them to curl up and try to stay warm when the temperature drops. But they really need to be moving around and nursing their mama.

As we drive around the field checking for heifers that look like they are going to calve in the next few hours, we also help each calf get up and guide them toward their mama cow.

As soon as that calf is up, the heifer comes running to check on her baby. A good sign indeed. Love to see that mothering instinct in these heifers!

Each new calf receives an ear tag with the same number as it’s mama. We also write down (on the tag and in our record system) whether the calf had trouble in delivery or if it was a twin. Keeping this information helps us track which bulls performed well with our genetic program and allows us to make informed decisions when it comes to buying bulls or semen in the future.

This little guy was just a few hours old and still in the barn. His mama was quite opposed to an ear tag in her calf. She did a little snorting and blowing, but finally gave her consent…right after my husband told her to “Stay!” in his best dog-training voice.

I laughed, the kids giggled and the dogs ran in circles while wagging their tails.

My three older children spend their days at school: studying spelling words, playing with their friends, wrestling with fractions or learning how to hula hoop (gotta love P.E.).

My youngest child spends his days: reading stories, playing with his toy tractors, wrestling with our dog Lucy and learning how to build cowboy-snowmen.

We had so much fun building this snowman! He tried several different cowboy hats until he found the perfect one for his snowman. He even named our creation: Zane the Snowman.

My youngest spends most days playing with Mom and wondering when the kids will get home from school. He was so excited to show his older brothers and sister his new friend Zane the Snowman. When they finally arrived home he quickly pulled them into the backyard and within minutes they were all busy making their own snowmen.

As much fun as we all had that day, I find myself hoping that spring weather is just around the corner. We are still calving heifers and those little calves do much better if they don’t arrive in the middle of a snowdrift!

Although, if we do happen to get another snowstorm, I think it’s a safe bet that I’ll be in the backyard helping my three year old build another cowboy snowman.

We have a couple of new additions at our place. Two roan colts.

Every winter we look through the colts while they are still on the mares. We are looking for the colts we want to add to our own string. My husband, father in law, and oldest son spent a lot of time looking at these colts. This is always a fun time and something we look forward to each year, but this year was special because for the first time my son was allowed to select a colt for himself.

We had all chosen our favorites and lobbied my son to pick one that we liked, but, of course, he had his own opinion and decided that little blue roan was meant to be his. He named the filly Twinkles and has been happily caring for her every day. Twinkles is out of a popular family of horses that we ride and use for brood mares. Her father is a big blue roan horse that came from Leachman’s in Montana. Twinkles was born late and is a little smaller than the rest of them, but we think she will be a great horse for our son. (She is still a little camera-shy though.)

It’s always exciting to picture what the colts will be like when they are fully grown. It just adds a whole new level of fun to watch a ten year old boy select his first colt.

And the red roan? Well, we thought she was just too cute to leave behind. Plus, she loves having her picture taken!