We often get asked about the size of our family, from cute sayings to funny looks.  The best one that I can remember is that when I was explaining why we are called "The Country Kids", I told the lady we had 9 children.  She looked at me and said, "On purpose???"  Yes, my husband and I have been married 21 + years and they were all on purpose.  We are now up to 12 children, 7 girls and 5 boys.

Before mums are planted, we have to check the mum field for new leaks and other issues that came up during the off season with the watering system.  When we find an "issue" we flag it or fix it if possible.  The early summer of 2013 brought an amusing story with my 19 year old blondee.  With the water hoses all pressurized in the acre field, Tricia found a leak.  To fix the leak, a simple emitter needed pushed into the hose to replace the missing emitter.  The blonde tried to push the emitter into the pressurized tubing and was squirting water all over herself.  She looked at me and said, "I can do this!"   Determined to "do it", I didn't bother her.  However, after seeing how wet she was getting, I told her, "A brunette would turn the hose off first!"  She had forgotten that there was a turnoff valve at the start of each row, just 3 feet from her soaked body!  She is now attending McKendree University majoring in Elementary Education and this summer is taking on the role as our mum manager for the pumpkin patch.  

Because of the drought in 2012, we found ourselves on MANY occasions having to water the pumpkin field.  So one day I had the 4 oldest Country Kids out in the field helping me handwater.  Number 2 was standing on the wagon filling our watering buckets for us when she suddenly screamed.  We were all thinking that something horrible had happened to her and  we ran back to the wagon expecting her to be seriously hurt, only to find out that her foot had busted right through the wagon floor!  Five minutes later, it happened on the other side!  Note to self:  repair wagon, buy new one, or pray for rain. 

Day one of 2012 for filling dirt pots began with 7 happy excited Country Kids helping wherever needed.  By the afternoon we were down to four.  By day three it was just Mom and the two oldest teens.  The oldest daughter said, "Mom, we should just call this 'Mom and 2 teens' instead of the "Country Kids!"   The following day they were all back helping.  Even the 4 year old was trying to use the scoop shovel trying to fill a pot, which was very unproductive.  The same teen complaining about the country teens said, "Are we running a day care or a business!!"  Yes, dear, we are running a day care, and a business.  Welcome to a farm, kid's style!  

In 2009 we grew mums for the first time.  We started going to fall festivals to sell mums on the weekends.  At the Sesser Fall Festival I brought our then 8 year old boy with me to teach him about the mums, customer relations, dealing with money, etc...  After working the stand for a while, there was a customer that wanted to buy 5 mums.  Dillon told the customer how much he owed.  Then the customer handed Dillon a $100 bill.  Dillon just stood there and looked at the money.  The customer, feeling a little uneasy by this time, asked me if we had enough change for a hundred dollars.  I said, "That is not the problem.  My son has never seen a hundred dollar bill before!"  After the initial shock, Dillon went to the change box, got the correct change, and gave it to the customer.  When we got home that afternoon, Dillon ran inside to tell all the other kids, "HEY GUYS!  WE MADE A HUNDRED DOLLARS TODAY!!"  That year total we had 2 $100 bills and a $50 bill.  They were more treasured than the hundreds of dollar bills.  Nothing is more exciting to the kids than to see the hard work paying off while counting the money.

Update to this story:  In 2016 I was teaching our 6 yr old daughter, Maryanne, a simple 1st grade history lesson.  There was a picture of Benjamin Franklin on the page.  She stopped me from reading and said, "That's the man on the $100 bill!"  Thanks to you, they are now familiar with hundred dollar bills!