Horse Show Fun

I took Nicole to her first horse show with the new horse, Zeus over the weekend. It was great fun and Nicole did very well. She loves her horse now more than ever!

We drove down to Candi's house in Lewiston Friday night to bathe him and get ready for the show. The plan was to stay overnight and be ready bright and early Saturday morning.

The first step was using the clippers to trim him up in a few places. I don't know why I didn't take the clippers and do it myself. I'm a little taller than Candi is, but they're her clippers, so I just stood back and watched!

Step two was a bath. Candi has this magic purple potion that is supposed to make white markings brighter. Isn't that special?

Step three is to blanket them and wrap their legs and tails in an attempt to keep them clean. This is Candi's three-year-old, "Nifty." Doesn't he look fabulous in his hood?!

Poor Zeus was shivering after his bath. I think he appreciated the warmth of the blanket and hood. He may not have appreciated the look of it. We were calling him racehorse. He may be scarred from all the teasing I'm sure he got from the other horses.

Keuterville Fun

Some local Mule trainers (yup, that's what they do for a living and you'd be surprised the kind of money you can make on a well-trained mule. Hmm, might have to look into that.) organized a fall harvest party in Keuterville this year. We checked it out last weekend. They had free mule rides and mule-pulled wagon rides and a pumpkin patch.



Disregard the small children in the foreground. We don't know them. I was trying to get a birds' eye view of the mule power.

Ellea pulling our pumpkin haul. "Mom, not another picture!" My poor children! Someday they will appreciate my record-keeping of all our fun memories. Just not today.

Sadly, we only were there for 15 minutes before they closed up shop to go home. Poor planning on my part, but we got a wagon ride in and bought a pumpkin for each child. Nothing like power shopping for pumpkins! Stay tuned for the finished results!

Yummy in my Tummy

The only reason my family eats so well is because I like food. A lot. I'm lucky that my metabolism has been so forgiving most of my life. It's not as forgiving as it once was, sadly, but still I have a healthy appetite.


I've been especially ambitious for some reason these past few weeks in the menu department. Maybe because I'm unemployed and I feel guilty sitting around all day. Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade noodles is a big favorite around here.

And Lasagna is another one that gets rave reviews.

Too bad for the family that I'm job hunting. Then it's back to Hamburger Helper and frozen pizza. Not really! I like eating too much to subject myself to those items very often!

Idaho Potatoes

It is incredibly satisfying to dig potatoes in the fall. It's like a treasure hunt!
I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a few more spuds, but I think I needed to water the plants more often. I'll do better next year. Glenn and I really like red potatoes, so it's a good crop to invest a little time into.

This was my biggest and my littlest! Thankfully, there weren't too many this tiny!

Can You Spot the Children??

We're still in the throes of Red Ribbon Week around here. Yesterday was Camo Day. The girls aren't owners of anything camo so I suggested that we could do camo face paint. Ellea passed, but Nicole was game and Morgan was all over it, of course! I think it's in a boys' genes to be drawn to to all things camouflage!

Ellea donned my Uncle Larry's old army jacket so she could be in the camo spirit for the photo. Imagine. She actually posed for for a picture with full knowledge that it would appear on my blog! She must love me!

Sister Time

I don't have any sisters, of course, but I imagine they can be pretty delightful. Luckily, Glenn's three sisters invited me along on a rendezvous to a craft fair last Friday in Pullman, Washington (90 minutes away). Nancy and I drove to Lewiston together, hopped in with Dori and met Donna who is living in Spokane with a year and a half left to finish pharmacy school. (Go Donna!!)

There were lots of cool things to look at. Plenty of beautiful jewelry which was tempting to buy. I discovered it's much easier to buy Christmas presents for me than for my family! One guy even tempted me with a beautiful hand made one-of-a-kind hair comb. He convinced me to sit down in a chair and he showed me all the wonderful things this hair comb could do with my hair. He showed me all kinds of beautiful up-dos.
I was sold.
Until I asked him the price.
Oh.
Only seventy-five to ninty-five dollars for this one-of-a-kind piece of art.
Okay.
Well, I don't normally wear art on my head, so I guess I won't start now. (Although they were beautiful and if my husband had handed me a hundred dollar bill and told me to spend it on myself, I would've bought one. Alas, Glenn rarely--no, never--hands me hundred dollar bills.)


My favorite part of the evening was the yummy food we ate after our power shopping. There's this great little Italian restaurant in Pullman called Basilio's that knocked my socks off! And not only was my food delicious, the price was right, too! You can't beat that.


I had the Romano Chicken. I'm salivating as I type this. I'm going back ASAP.

Hippies

The kids have "Red Ribbon Week" this week. It's an anti-drug program. They get to dress up to different themes every day.

Yesterday was hippie day. Nicole and I were excited because I bought her these crazy bell-bottoms from the Halloween stuff at the Grangeville thrift shop that we volunteer at. They're great pants. Ellea thought they were pretty hideous, but that's what's so great about them! Velvet, paisley, bell-bottoms? Wow.

Nicole's my hippie with attitude! Ellea didn't dress up for this one. Maybe tomorrow, although she might not want her picture on the blog! Morgan wanted a mohawk. Not sure that's in the hippie dress code, but whatever makes him happy! You can't see it, but his shirt has peace signs on it and he has a peace sign necklace. And he got to wear his favorite jeans with holes in the knees. Now, that qualifies as hippie-esque.

Peace out, man!

Hand It Over!

That little Andie Kaufman likes her binky.


She wasn't too happy with me when I tried to steal her binky to get a smile for the camera!

I tried holding it out towards her to see if I could elicit a smile. This is the closest I could get.

Hand it over, lady, and no one gets hurt!

What a Guy!

Glenn picked me up to head to Lewiston for our day together on his birthday. I got into his pickup and immediately noticed he had two wrapped roses and a small stuffed animal on the center console. He wanted to drop these items off for each of our children before we left Cottonwood.

"Um, It's your birthday, Glenn," I kindly pointed out just in case he forgot.
"I know, but my kids are my best birthday gift, so I wanted to give them something," he wisely replied

Awww.

They were each pleased with their gifts. That Glenn sure is a nice daddy!

Birthday Morn

We started out Glenn's birthday with breakfast and presents. Yummy sausage links and homemade waffles. We never have hot breakfasts on school days, so it was a treat. I even set my alarm clock for 15 minutes earlier than normal. (That doesn't sound like much, but this is me we're talking about! That's 15 precious minutes of morning sleepin'!)


Glenn tells me that he had considered cancelling on our "plans" to have dinner with friends in Lewiston that night. He was feeling guilty about not including the kids. Sure am glad he didn't try that. Don't know how I would've fixed that one! Probably just pouted. It would've been tough for him. Does he please the kids or please the wife?

You know what they say. . . . "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!"

Party On!

I still can't get over the big group of people who took time out from their busy lives to join us in celebrating Glenn's 40th Wednesday night. But, then again, it is Glenn we're celebrating.

Ellea sure was happy to get her hands on cute little Ben. He's so irrisistable! And he missed his afternoon nap....... nothing seems to ruffle that kid! I sure hope his mama gets another one just like him!

Then there's Andie...... She gets ruffled a little easier than Ben. We were all floored that she got anywhere near Unlce Hal's lap, but he was the closest to the cake, so she forgot about her sassiness for a few minutes. After a few bites of cake, she moved on!

And then there's the birthday boy, himself. What can I say about him? He's wonderfully fun and free-spirited and goofy and mine. Here he's modeling the life jacket that my brother, Tony, got him from NRS (Northwest Rafting Supply) where he works.

What a guy. Here's to another 40. I'd like that.

SURPRISE!

Phew! I pulled it off. Twenty-six family members (and Marv and Candi, but they're almost family!) were waiting for us at Main Street Grill, a Lewiston restaurant, for a surprise party for Glenn's 40th birthday last night!! He was blown away!

Glenn and I spent all afternoon together in Lewiston shopping and hanging out. It was fun, but I stressed all day that he'd try to change the restaurant on me, or mess up my plan somehow! I didn't sleep well the night before either! Surprise birthday parties are more stressful than I imagined! I'm not used to keeping secrets from my husband (a good thing!).

Glenn tells me today that that restaurant was not his first choice. But that guy is such a gentleman that the didn't argue because he could tell it's where I wanted to go! Am I spoiled or what? He hinted around that he might not want to go there, but never came right out and said it. I'm so grateful that I didn't have say, "I know it's your birthday, but I insist we go there!!"

My sister-in-law Dori ordered this cake for me from Costco. Don't you like the cows and trees? Very appropriate! My niece, Jen, picked up the cake from Costco. Only trouble is, she doesn't have a Costco membership! Costco was very cool about it. I called and told them the situation and they had her stop by the membership desk and gave her a temporary card.

The restaurant was fabulous to work with. They took a space for 20 people and made it fit 26. They offered to put out balloons and this great hat for Glenn. They happily kept our orders on separate tickets and provided the plates and serving pieces for my Costco cake. And they fed us yummy food!

It was fun. Glenn was surprised.

I'm tired. I think I'll take a nap.

Is He a Cat or a Dog?

Ellea's cat, Vandal, might have identity issues. You can often find him laying on the dog bed.
Zoey doesn't seem to mind. Our Schnauzer Zip, on the other hand, isn't such a fan of the house cat!

Cat or dog, it's a good life.

A Night on the Town

Actually, a night in Kamiah, which isn't much of a town! But plenty of fun was had. Glenn's sister, Nancy, and her hubby, Hal, invited us to join them at a dinner and dance function put on by the Cattleman's Association. We enjoyed a delicious prime rib dinner and danced to a live country band.

Glenn and I even managed to dance to more than one or two songs! We normally get winded after a couple dances. Gone are the days when we danced all night!

The kids stayed home alone and put themselves to bed. Oh, life is good!

A Boy and His Slingshot

Morgan was so tickled with himself when he found a slingshot at a yard sale a couple weeks ago. It's a nice one made out of a piece of wood. And it was only fifty cents!



So far, no injuries. I'll keep you posted on that statistic. I don't expect it to last long!

English

Not the language. The saddle. Nicole has been itching to try out my old English saddle for a long time. We finally located the saddle pad and cinch. We were going to put it on my horse, but he was too fat! So out came Joe. Only a little less fat, but it fit!

She was so tickled to finally get to ride English! We might have to get this girl a few lessons. Glenn says, "What's the difference? Riding is riding." True, but it's different. Trust me on this one, honey.

Science Class

Nicole had a fun project for science that parents were encouraged to help with--thank goodness, because I couldn't help myself! I'm such a nerd.


She had to make a model of an animal cell. She wanted it to be edible. The only rule was you no jello because it couldn't be refrigerated in the classroom. We came up with baking a cake in two big bowls. Then we went to Winco to buy all the candies in bulk. I thought the cashier would look at us funny for buying two of everything, but she didn't bat an eye.


We had so much fun putting this together and Nicole was very happy with the results. It's been a couple years since I've taken biology, but I can throw candy on a cake with the best of them!

Bats

I volunteered in Morgan's classroom this week. We did a craft project (yippee!).

We put these construction paper bats in a salad spinner (yes, you read that correctly), the kids picked a few colors of paint to put on their bat and we did a little spinning!! It was way cool!

I think I've finally found a use for my salad spinner!

Coloring Inside the Lines

I've always enjoyed coloring. In coloring books. With crayons. Sharp crayons. I recently invested in a big box of Crayola Crayons. With a sharpener.


My mom always removed the sharpener from those sorts of boxes when I was a kid. She thought we'd waste a bunch of crayon with needless sharpening. I can imagine that I would've been sharpener-happy. But I do enjoy a sharp crayon.

The girls and I were pretty proud of our handywork!

Cat Woman

Homecoming week at school and Nicole dressed up for "Hero" day on Monday. Unfortunately, she and one other girl were the only 7th/8th graders who did. I was afraid she'd be mortified, but she was so tickled with her get-up that she just didn't care! You go girl! I'm so glad she has the confidence that I lacked at her age!


I wanted a picture before she got on the bus. Ellea said, "You know, if she takes your picture, she'll put it on her blog......" To be polite, I asked Nicole permission to put it on my blog. "Sure," she said, "I love it when you put my picture on your blog." Yippee. A willing victim to my crazy blogging ways!

Chocolate Crunch Brownies

I took a chocolate dessert (of course!) to the tailgating event on Saturday. It got rave reviews. It was only the second time I'd made it, and I think it's my new favorite. If you like chocolate/peanut butter/marshmallow and rice-crispies then this is the dessert for you!

I found the recipe on the internet. I did a google search after sampling similar yummyness at a church picnic. This is what the internet version of the recipe looks like:

Maybe in a perfect world. My world ain't so perfect.

They might not be as stunning, but they go down just fine!!

Chocolate Crunch Brownies
1 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
6 Tbs (or heaping 1/3 cup) cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
7 oz jar Marshmallow creme
1 c creamy peanut butter
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 c rice cereal

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs; stir in cocoa, flour, vanilla salt. Spread into greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Spread marshmallow creme over cooled brownies.

In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the cereal. Spread over marshmallow layer.

Chill before serving. Store in the refrigerator.

Think fondly of me every time you indulge.

Tailgating

We had a fun day on Saturday basking in the glorious sunshine, eating lots of food and listening to the vandal football game on the radio. Well...... some of us listened. Other's just said once in awhile, "What's the score?" It was never good. We lost. That's pretty normal any more. We had fun anyway!

It was homecoming at U of I. The fam went up Friday night and stayed with Tony and Paige. The kids and I went to the Homecoming parade with Paige and her girls. Emily invited Nicole to join her on the parade float that she was on. She's helping with a Halloween haunted house that's a fundraiser for some wonderful charity that I cannot recall right now. Emily and Nicole got to dress up in costumes (scary clowns) and throw candy. I was heartbroken that I didn't have my camera. I'm hoping if I bribe Paige with some high quality chocolate, she'll send me a couple pics to share......

After the parade, it was off to the Kibbie Dome for some tailgating with Glenn's family.
Morgan plays nicely with his cousins. He played with Sam a fair amount. He only got hurt by Sam twice. Sam can be a tad rambunctious. Here Morgan is "racing" Ben.

Jen kindly took a picture of me and Ben. She understands a blogger's need to have photographic evidence of all things.

Ellea is always grateful for a little Ben-time. Andie was there too, but has no use for us Poxleitners unless her parents are away!

I also got to snuggle a new baby. Ben's Auntie Beth and her baby Clara were there. She was sick, but that doesn't keep me away! Ben's Oma. Cynthia, was there also. I enjoy her. The first thing she says to me? "I totally Blog stalk you!" That's the biggest compliment she could've given me!

Hi Cynthia. Have a great day!

Snow, Snow, Go Away

This is what we woke up to on Thursday morning......

Ugh! I'm not a fan of the white stuff only because it always overstays its welcome. If we could have snow for three months, it'd be a treat. But we'll likely have snow on and off (mostly on...) for 6 months.

Morgan and Ellea were delighted with the new arrival. Morgan even dug out his snow pants and boots and went and *played* in it, although there wasn't much to play with! It was gone by late afternoon, but still. It's a sad, sad reminder of what's to come!

Firewood Season

Sadly, it's that time of year again. It was a balmy 34 degrees here in tropical Keuterville at 10:30 Thursday morning. Brrrr! Thankfully, Glenn had us on schedule to get our firewood. We can't do it too much earlier in the fall or there are lots of bees to worry about.

My logger man.

This is our four-horse trailer. It holds LOTS of wood. Thankfully, Glenn didn't mind tossing the wood into the trailer instead of stacking it (only the last row is stacked). I'm not a fan of stacking the wood more than once at the final destination. I'm not a fan of hard work and firewood is hard work. I am a fan of warm houses, however, so I grin and bear it (I think!). The kids are a big help with firewood. Thank goodness for slave-labor!

Dessert Drinks

I don't do much drinking, but when I do, my drinks must be yummy. Sweet. Like little desserts in a cup.

Strawberry Daiquiris fit the bill.

Candi introduced me to another sweet drink that was right up my alley..... Chocolate Cake shots. What?!! I love all things chocolate, so how did I not know about these things?! And the craziest part? There's no chocolate liquor of any sort in the drink (there's also no cake, but I assume you know these things...). It's some trick of the taste buds or something. It's Hazelnut Liquor and Vanilla Vodka. You're supposed to follow it with a lemon, but I don't understand that part. Why would I consume chocolate and then torture myself with a sour chaser?

It was probably a good thing that she only had enough mix for one shot each. And then we pigged out on her chocolate candy stash, so it was all good!

Sixteen Years of Wedded Bliss

A month after the actual date (due to the county fair and general busy-ness), we actually went out on a "real" date to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. We invited our friends, Marv and Candi to join us and they talked us into trying a new restaurant that they are very fond of called the Brass Lantern. It's located in the tiny town of Genesee, Idaho (population 900). It had a surprisingly nice ambiance and very yummy food.

I *gasp* forgot my camera! Thankfully Glenn's new smartphone has a decent camera built in. This has been coming in handy lately when I see blogworthy topics and am camera-less. Those around me maybe don't appreciate Glenn's camera as much as I do.

I imagine Marv and Candi would've been fine if I failed to document the evening in photographs, but they didn't complain (out loud).

This is the main reason I needed my camera. Glenn's huge Prime Rib and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. And this came after a trip to the very nice salad bar.

Another good reason for a photo. Bite-sized steak (I think it's a local favorite--tender steak lightly breaded and deep fried. Yummy AND healthy!) and a baked potato. I should've taken this photo after I loaded my potato with butter, cheddar cheese and real bacon pieces. Can you say delish? Seriously, people, this is good stuff. Are you paying attention?