Another Flashback

Someone very special had a birthday yesterday.  She came over and hung out with us for dinner, some Mexican train, and birthday cake.

We made a valiant attempt at making a gluten-free carrot cake, but used my kitchen aid stand mixer and may have over mixed it because it rose a lot and then fell, and wouldn't set up right.  It was more like carrot cake pudding.  Still tasty with a little vanilla icing, though.

Apparently, this is flashback week.  This would be me and my momma in our matching dresses that she made for Easter (way back in the 70's!).  She's still just as beautiful both inside and out.

Hope this year is a good one, mom.  God bless you always.

Date Night

Last night was our first annual Daddy Date Night at the high school.  It's a yearly event of pictures and dinner and an essay contest for girls to write about their awesome daddies.  Nicole wrote an essay.  Glenn didn't get to read her essay until last night and he read it about 10 times, I think!  They both seemed pretty excited about their date.

'Cause this daddy sure likes his little girls (and boy).

And the feeling has always been mutual!

Another

So, I know I just posted a bunch of photos yesterday from Nicole's photography class, but I found this picture on my computer this morning and I was positively blown away.  The wispy clouds, the silhouette of the tree, the fence, the glow of sunlight.  Wow.  Just wow.

Photographer

My oldest is taking an online photography class through school.  She's using my "big girl" camera, 'cause I'm pretty good at sharing.  It's been really fun to share what little knowledge I have and watch her experiment. She's becoming quite the little photographer.

This is our favorite, but she's got a great eye.  Good job, kiddo!  Thanks for letting me share!

Front Row Seat

After some outside fun with the cousins, we came inside for dinner and more play.

After awhile, we turned on the TV and Morgan was laying down "plugged in."  Apparently little William walked right up and swung his leg over for a sit down.  Best seat in the house.

Envy

At the tail end of our time playing outside with our cousins, we noticed that the sky was lighting up with a beautiful sunset.

I was frustrated that my camera wasn't quite capturing the beauty the way I saw it.

After a few minutes, it was getting tricky to have enough light to capture the sky without blur.  Then I looked at Christina's photos of the same sky.  Because she has a different lens that has a bigger aperture (which is what allows light to the image), her pictures weren't so blurry.  I admit it.  I had lens envy.  I went in the house and told my hubby that I needed a new lens.  Okay, I don't need a new lens.  I guess you could get it for me for Christmas.......  And if you didn't buy it for me for Christmas, I'll just buy it myself.  I love adulthood.

I may have lens envy, but I don't have toddler envy!

She's so patient.  I remember those days.  Vaguely.  I had two little girls about the same distance apart as these two.

Mostly, I try not to remember the difficult moments of toddlerhood.  It's better that way.

Horses and Cousins

No trip to the Poxleitner place is complete without a visit with the horses.

Ben, seemed to think horses are pretty fun.  At first he only wanted to sit on him, but then decided he wanted a ride.  And then another ride.

Last time they were here, little brother Will wanted nothing to do with the horse.  He didn't want to be anywhere near it, in fact.  So I was pleasantly surprised that he seemed interested in saying hello this time.  He even pet him.  Cautiously.

But, by the time I got my camera out, he was over it.  Doesn't he look happy?  This is fun, mom.  I like horses.

Boys and Cars

After some fun cookie making and inside play, Ben suggested we should go outside.  These boys love playing outside.

Taking it all in.  Look at those sweet curls.

Will was serious about his truck-pushing activities.

He picked up this dozer and immediately announced it was heavy.

So he pushed it to where it needed to be instead.

And THEN...... they discovered Morgan's remote control car.  It warmed my heart that my boy was able to share this treasure.  Sharing is hard.

Will kept wanting to pick it up (or kick it!).  He seemed mystified that this thing was driving around by itself.  It took some convincing that he should leave it alone.

So Ben drove the car and Will chased the car, the rest of us laughed at Will's fascination, and a fun time was had by all.

Special Guests

We had some very special guests on Sunday.  Ben and Will came to visit along with their sweet mama.  Daddy is out of town for a couple days and we were only too happy to help them while away their Sunday afternoon.

Ellea and Ben helped Glenn make sugar cookies.

Ben is still learning to cover is mouth when he sneezes.  Much to his mom's dismay, he forgot during the cookie making process.  Oh well.  We had a good laugh.  What's a few sneeze boogers in the cookie dough among family?

Ben took the cookie cutting process very seriously.

He had zero understanding of the idea of placing the cookies close together.  Ellea tried to coach him, but it's tricky getting a three-year-old to slow down when it's time to make another cookie!

Lucky for Ben, he could take play breaks with Morgan every few minutes.

But he came back for more cookie making several times.

And baby brother, Will?  He was all about the cookie eating.  Hey, we all gotta participate in our own way.

Mini Golf

We went to Lewiston last weekend as a family for some shopping and tried our hands at Miniature Golf.

Nice thing about mini golf this time of year is you have the 18 hole course all to yourself.  The worker at the bowling alley where they have this outdoor course thought we were crazy, I think, but it wasn't so bad.  With my winter jacket and gloves I did fine.  Those valley dwellers don't know how good they have it!

Snowy Day

 We had our first snowfall of the season last week.  Much to (some of) the kids' dismay, it was gone within a couple days.  They went out and played in it after school one day, and had a good old time.  Well, the oldest didn't go out, but the other two did.  I think she's beginning to take after her mom.  Snow?  No, thank you.

Sledding, snowball fights, then back in the house for cocoa.  It was a good time.

Since daylight savings time, it's getting dark pretty early.  They don't get off the bus until 4 pm, and it took a while to locate all the snow gear.

But that didn't stop them.  A snowball fight in the semi-darkness is fun.  If you're into that sort of thing.  I'd rather just watch from the house.

Lunch Date

A couple weeks ago, Glenn calls me on a Friday (my day off - woohoo!) and reminds of the the annual customer appreciation meal going on at the local sales yard (where we sell our cows and calves).  They have a great little cafe that sells yummy burgers on sale days and once a year, they BBQ tri tip roasts for bbq beef sandwiches.  And it's free!

So, he's in Grangeville, and I'm in Keuterville and he's thinking he's not sure if we should take the time to drive to Cottonwood for lunch.  I'm thinking, "Are you kidding?  A free date, and your hesitating?"  It wasn't difficult to convince him.  I said let's do it, and he said how soon can you be there.

He even bought me a piece of blackberry pie (a la mode, of course).

And it was yummy.

I should have taken a picture of that, but I was so excited to eat it that it didn't occur to me.  I'm funny like that.  Give me dessert, and all I can think about is consuming it!

Hugging

Gotta love a good hug.  A group hug?  Even better.

For some slightly mysterious reason, our local high school has banned hugging.  The main reason is that there were a few hugs between the opposite sexes that were a little excessive.  Even girls were hugging "too much."  That's just silly.  And wrong.

In a society where you hear stories of students bringing guns to school and shooting one another, I'll take too much hugging any day.


Disclaimer:  This particular hugging did not take place on school property.  No one was harmed in the taking of this photo.

Halloween 2013

Another fun year for Halloween.  Only mildly cold - I think it was around 38 degrees.  That is certainly chilly, but some years it's below freezing which is rather torturous!

We had two skeletons and one Iron Man this year.  I know some people have strong opinions about older children continuing to trick or treat, but I figure if they're willing to dress up and go out as a family, I'm good.  The high schoolers who go out without a costume, that's just not right.  In case you care what I think.

We had a fun time trick or treating in Cottonwood.  Hit more houses than we usually do.  I keep telling the kids that means they have more to share with their mom and dad, but some of them don't think so.  That's all right.  I'll just help myself.

I was especially please with the girls costumes.  I found the idea online and they went with it.  (That's becoming rarer and rarer that they listen to my suggestions, so I get excited when they do!!)

Nicole wore her costume to school all day.  Someone teased her that as a skeleton she didn't have a heart, so she added one.

And of course, Iron Man kept us all safe.  Thank you, Iron Man.