1st Grade, Here we Come!!

Morgan had his Kindergarten graduation last week. They sang us a couple of songs, accepted their "diplomas" and ate cake. It was all very short and sweet. Those who plan the "real" graduations could learn something here. Don't talk much and feed us sugar. After receiving their diplomas from Mrs. Bruegeman, each child was asked to share what they want to be when they grow up. Several boys said Police Officer. A few girls said Doctor (rock on!). Morgan? He said Rock Star. Alrighty then. Rock star it is.

They wore these great mortarboard hats that they made the day before. They painted cardboard and the teacher glued coffee filters to it. They looked fairly authentic, but when they moved their heads--or breathed--the hats fell off. Oh well. Morgan was all smiles.

Go Vandals!

Ellea has decided on a name for her kitty--at least until she thinks of a better one! She decided his name would be Vandal in honor of her favorite Alma Mater, University of Idaho.

Our dog Zoey really enjoys having a kitty around again. She is so patient with Ellea's kitty and really seems to enjoy playing with him--claws and all!
He's so fun to watch. He discovered the cursor on my computer screen the other day and had a grand time chasing it around! We were watching a movie the other night that started out with a close up of a goldfish and that REALLY got his attention! It's a good thing we don't have fish. It's surprising we don't have fish. We have almost every other animal a person can have without a special permit!

Fish Tales

On day two of The Sleepover Extravaganza for Nicole's 12th birthday, we took the kids to our pond property. They had all kinds of fun catching fish.

They fought over who would *get* to use the Barbie Fishing Pole that Ellea got several years ago. There was also a Spider Man fishing pole that was popular. My favorite line of the day was when Spider Man caught a fish and, Stephanie, who was using Barbie says, "Well, anything Spider Man can do, Barbie can do better!" Too true. Us girls gotta stick together, you know! And Barbie did have a stellar record that day!

In an attempt to catch more fish, the girls started throwing out fish food (little cat food-looking pellets that smell rather fishy) and dragging their lures close to the food floating in the water. It was amazing how well that technique worked. It wasn't very sportsman-like, but it was fun!

And then, Ellea finally succeeded in catching a fish. Granted, she caught it by the tail, but you take what you can get. Glenn said it was the biggest fish caught all day!!! It was easy to unhook him and throw him back in. We might be on to something here. . . . .

Oh, to be Young Again

I am so rude. I laughed in Nicole's face, when she asked if she could have EIGHT girls for a sleepover for her 12th birthday. Eight. Just for some perspective, I have only allowed 2 or 3 in the past. I know other people who have that many girls for sleepovers, but eight sounded like a lot to me. I'm such a party pooper. So, we considered six guests and she decided on 4 as her final offer. I took it and ran. I think they did all kinds of fun things, but again, I'm a party pooper so how good of a judge can I possibly be?

Trike races. Fun for all.

Bubble Gum Races. You bury a piece of bubble gum (think: Bubbalicious) in a pile of whipped cream. The contestants have to pick up the gum with their mouth. The first to blow a bubble wins. Fun stuff, I'm telling you.
A scavenger hunt at the Keuterville Cemetary. Find a child's tombstone. Find a Poxleitner. Find the oldest tombstone. etc. etc. etc. A little morbid, I know, but these are 12 year old girls, it's hard to impress them at this age!

In keeping up with expectations, Glenn made a rather large fire that was nearly impossible to approach with roasting sticks. We need to have someone make us 10 foot long roasting sticks so you don't scorch your eyebrows when trying to brown a marshmallow. As you can see (kind of) in the above picture, they decided that the trick was laying on your belly to avoid as much heat as possible while roasting. It looked like an army crawl. I was joking that they were "sneaking up" on the fire!

Yes, we have a couch (Nicole is on the far right) that we drag out by the fire pit area. We are rednecks, you know. I bet you've never sat by a campfire on a couch. It's an experience. Quite cozy, in fact. Come try it sometime.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time (a very short time!), there was sunshine. It was warm. We sat outside and ate our meals.

And then it snowed. And rained. And the wind blew.

Meals were moved back indoors.

And they lived happily ever after in their winter clothes and snow boots.

The End.

Name That Calf--Results!

Well, it took forever, but Nicole seems to have picked a name for her calf from the many suggested in our first every, big-win online contest.

Some of the suggestions from friends' comments left here and on Facebook:

GoFer (as in, she goes for the door and she goes for Nicole!)
Lucky
Bella
Alfalfa
Galena
Clementine
Midnight

And, after MUCH deliberation, Nicole has decided. The winner is. . . . . . Alfalfa! Sadly, I seem to be the only person using the name, but maybe if I use her name in every sentence I speak, it'll catch on. Maybe. That means someone will have to be listening to me when I speak. Hmm. Better work on that strategy.

As you know, the lucky winner can now come pet Alfalfa any time she pleases! Granted, said winner lives in Post Falls, Idaho, but I know one day soon she will show up on my front porch with her petting-hand ready!

The Hair of the Dog

I am the resident groomer for our little schnauzer, Zip. I am so not a professional, but I'm cheap!! The job doesn't pay so well, so I tend to procrastinate. I also blame it on living in the semi-arctic. I can't very well shave him down to there when it's so cold outside, now can I?? You should've seen him in the middle of the winter. He had dredlocks. Very Rasta, man.

As you can maybe discern from his body language, this is not his favorite thing to do. This is Zip in the semi-shaggy state (as opposed to uber-shaggy). Granted, he can barely see through those eyebrows, but what can I say?

Here we are half done. Again, you should've seen the pile when I shaved his dredlocks in the middle of winter.

Voila!! All groomed up and no where to go. . . . Oh, wait, I know--he can go eat cow manure or fill his fur with cockleburrs (a special skill) or any of his other delightful habits from a long list of delightful habits.

But he's mine, all mine--dredlocks, cow manure and all!

The Redneck Life

Our friend, "Aunt" Candi always spoils our children on their birthdays and Christmas. I think she especially enjoys buying for Nicole because, like Nicole, Candi is also Horse Crazy. This year, Nicole received a lunge whip for her birthday from Candi (and husband Marv, but you know how it is--the gift is picked out by Candi!). A lunge whip is a very long whip used when you're lunging a horse around you on a long rope. It's helpful to know how to "crack" the whip to encourage the horse to move forward--with the sound rather than contact with the whip.

So, Candi gave Nicole a whip cracking lesson in the parking lot of Red Lobster. I'm sure people were wondering what exactly we were doing, but we didn't mind.

Then, Marv and Glenn somehow got started rocking the bed of Marv's pickup with the kids in it. Apparently that was more fun than you can shake a stick at, because they were begging for more! Oh, the joys of being a redneck. We're so easily amused!

Band

Nicole had her Spring Concert last week. She's been playing the clarinet for two years now. Eariler this year, she loved band. Now, not so much. She's not sure yet if she'll take it next year. She's expressed an interest in learning the drums, but isn't sure about that either. I was a band nerd all through high school and most of college so I feel like she should want to do band. I need to get over it.

Cheers!

We had an interesting server at Red Lobster in Lewiston on my birthday. She was very nice and did a good job keeping us happy, but was the tiniest bit quirky! One of her delightful habits was to say,"Cheers!" in response to anything we might say. It was either Cheers or Sures, but since cheers is in the english dictionary and "sures" is not, I'm going with the former. Some examples:

Me: Could the kids get a refill of their drinks?
Her: Cheers!

Me: Yes, you can take Morgan's plate, he says he's full
Her: Cheers!

Me: We live an hour away, so we're heading home now (when she asked what was next on the agenda for my bday)
Her: Cheers!

At the end of the evening, I looked at friend Marv and said, "Does she keep saying Cheers?" Yup. Well, then.
Cheers!

Horse Crazy Kid

Nicole had a horse 4-H event last Saturday. It started with a horse judging contest in the morning and then she saddled her horse for a horse clinic to work on her riding skills. She was a very happy (if hot) kid. Here she is hard at work judging one of four classes of horses. We don't know yet how she did. The poor girl was wishing she hadn't worn a long-sleeved, black shirt. I should've thought to tell her to dress in layers, but I didn't. We were expecting rain, so we were pleasantly surprised (and HOT!) when it turned out sunny and warm. We were right on the Salmon River so the view was fabulous.

She did great with her horse, Jamaica. Sometimes he was a hand full, but her confidence seems to be soaring. It's so fun for this horse-crazy mom to have a horse-crazy kid!

Birthday Fun, Part Two

I have so many dear friends! I felt very loved when a few of them got together for a little birthday celebration in honor of little ol' me! I was busy all day on my birthday (read: I had to work), so they planned it for the day after my birthday. I thought we were just getting together for coffeecake, so I had a little breakfast beforehand. Turns out, there was a full spread. Never fear, I always have room for more! Marilyn made a yummy sausage casserole and Sheila brought the coffeecake. She assured us it was calorie-free, so I had plenty!

Sheila, Marilyn, me, Della and Shirley (again, Morgan with his new picture-taking skills! He was such a good sport--he played with Marilyn's toy-supply and left us entirely alone. He's such a great kid!)

How beautiful is this?! I hated to eat it, but LOVED the raspberries! I never buy them because they're so expensive. (Thanks, Marilyn, for not being as cheap as I am!)

And, yes, we drank wine. That was my favorite part of the whole thing. Marilyn has these adorable little glasses, so you don't feel like a lush drinking wine at 9am! Sheila brought this yummy grape/huckleberry wine that was just a little bit sweet. Aren't I a lucky girl to have such wonderful friends?! Thanks guys, for making me feel so special!

Birthday Fun, Part One

What a great birthday week I have had!

May birthday girls--Maureen, Chris and myself

Monday I met with two friends with May birthdays at the local coffee shop. We had a wonderful visit and Morgan and I split a yummy cinnamon roll. Morgan took this picture of us. It was his first time taking a photo. He did very well for an almost-seven-year-old. A little cropping on the computer and we were good to go! (You can't see it well, but if you squint, you can almost make out my new zebra striped purse hanging from my chair!)

I was scheduled to work Tuesday (my actual bday). Work isn't my favorite thing, but I only work one day a week right now, so I just stuck with it. I'm glad I did because co-worker Sylvia brought in cupcakes for everyone for my birthday. She brought in both chocolate and yellow cupcakes. She asked which kind I wanted and when I hesitated, she suggested I just have one of each. Well! I couldn't very well be rude and say no, now could I?!! They were both delectible! I had been craving a yellow cake with chocolate icing and I'm always about chocolate cake, so it was the best of all worlds!

I managed to get away from work a little earlier than usual and Glenn took the kids and I to Lewiston for the evening. We did some shopping to start with. I got to pick out my birthday present--an anti-gravity recling lounge chair. It's a fancy lawn chair. Glenn has one that I got him for his birthday a couple years ago, but I always seem to be the one sitting in it, so he thought it was a great idea for me to have my own!

After shopping, we met our dear friends Marv and Candi at Red Lobster for dinner.

The waitress talked me into having this yummy Mai Tai. It was delicious! If it hadn't cost almost $6, I might've had a second!

This is the wonderful shrimp dinner that I ordered. You'll notice it is partially eaten. . . . I dove right in before I considered capturing a picture for longevity. You understand.

The fat and happy Red Lobster crew--Glenn, me, Ellea, Nicole, Morgan, Candi and Marv

The waitresses (and Marv--he must really be concentrating!) singing me happy birthday. I don't think they were too happy I was taking their picture. Not too many people probably do that while they're singing! Remember my mantra--gotta take a picture for my blog!!

Stay tuned. . . I'm not done celebrating just yet!

Babies galore!

Our Ellea sure loves babies! She was very excited to hear were going to have a few visiting over the weekend. Some are more cuddly than others, but they're all fun to play with and have around.

This is Glenn's nephew Steve and lovely wife Christina's little Ben (almost 1 year). He is a delightful little guy and every one's favorite baby to cuddle. Mostly, because he's willing to cuddle. Note he's holding a baby doll. He was fascinated by this baby doll and I suggested he should have one at home to play with. His dad was a little alarmed at the idea, but I told him Morgan had one. That seemed to make him feel a *little* better.

This is Glenn's nephew Joe and his lovely wife Jen's daughter Andie. She's about one and a half. She's got a definite mind of her own and only cuddles with a select few. Ellea did get some time holding her and enjoyed it. With this girl, you take what you can get!

This is one of the twins (lovely Jen's twin sister, Amy's, girl. Got it? There will be a test.) Sorry, but I can't tell you if this is Kate or Glory. I can't see her earrings (one twin has pink, the other purple), and I don't remember who was wearing this outfit. Any-who, the twins are 2 and a half and Ellea was great about playing with them. This girl is totally in her element when she's got babies or small children around. She says she wants to be a babysitter when she grows up.

She's been pestering me to have another baby for over a year. She's planning for said Poxleitner baby to sleep in her room. She will get up with it during the night. She will change all the diapers. I told her she better pray pretty hard about it. She says she's working on it!

Future Horsewomen of America

Welcome to our Horse Farm. I was unaware that I was the proud owner of a Horse Farm, but I am told that the Eddy twins have really been looking forward to visiting the Horse Farm. Who am I to argue with two pint-sized future horsewomen?

This is Joe and Jen's Andie. She pet the horse briefly, but didn't seem too sure of him.

This is Glory (I think). She was riding the pony previously known as Joe. She decided his name should now be Scarlett Girl. I didn't have the heart to tell her he is a boy. I don't think it would've mattered much.

This is Kate. She was having a grand time. Her mom kept reminding her to hold on with both hands. I asked her if she knew her horse's name was Dakota. She said no, that his name was in fact Chili. Okay, then. Good enough.

Horses and Kittens and Calves, Oh My!

We had an EPIC day of fun on Sunday. We were descended upon by the Kaufman/Eddy Clan, et al. There were 10, count 'em, 10 bodies under the age of 18. (Sorry Jeff, you're still included in that group!) The weather wasn't anything to get excited about, but we powered on in our quest for fun.

We took the Eddy twins on their first horse back ride (another post about that soon).

We checked out the kittens. (No animals were injured in the creation of this post.)

Nicole showed us her bottle calf. Look at the size of that bottle!

We said hi to the pigs. One of the twins asked why, if she stuck her fingers through the fence, would the pig maybe bite her? Good question. I'll have a talk with them about that kind of behavior. (No fingers were injured in the creation of this post.)

Some people braved the rain enough to go to the pond and do some fishing. A fun time was had by all (except maybe the fish). Most of the moms and small children stayed warm and dry at home. We had a yummy "Better than Sleeping Through the Night" cake made by Jen in honor of the May birthdays.

Phil and Jeff played a rousing game of "Operation" with Morgan and Noah. (No humans were injured in the creation of this post.)

It was all good. The Kaufman/Eddy clan is welcome to come back anytime.



Hummingbirds

I've found my new calling: hummingbird wrangling.

This little guy showed up in my garage last week.  He was beating himself against the closed window.  This will happen regularly throughout the summer based on past history.  They fly through the open garage door and try unsucessfully to fly out the window on the oppostie side of the garage.  I come along with a small rag and play catch and release.  It's actually pretty cool to get to see them up close and personal for a moment before they fly away. 

Anytime you need a hummingbird wrangled, you know who to call.  I'll try to squeeze you in.  I'm sure I'll be in high demand the moment the word gets out.  Thanks for understanding.

The One that Got Away

We had a fun if brief trip to our pond (on property we own a couple miles up the road) on Mother's Day Weekend.  The weather wasn't exactly stellar, but it could've been worse.  It was our first trip to the pond this spring and we only brought one fishing pole along.  On my first cast I caught a nice 12-inch fish.  Of course, my camera was in the pick-up, so I was very hopeful we'd catch another.  All the kids took a turn, but no one else caught one for the longest time.  Finally, Morgan caught a very nice fish--even fatter than the one I caught.  He was mortified at the thought of even standing next to it for a picture!  He was paranoid that Glenn would touch him with it or something!!

While Glenn and I sat by the pond, the girls played in the creek that runs out of the pond.  They love playing in that creek.  Who needs expensive electronics when you can play in running water with rubber boots?!

On the way down the road, the girls wanted us to stop and look at a tiny little waterfall where the water was really "blue," according to them.  I saw a good oportunity for a photo op. 

This tree was across the creek.  Luckily no one fell in.  Ellea was actually in a pretty precarious position!  They're such good sports!

Horses and Sunshine

It was a true miracle.  All the factors for a horse back ride with friends came together not once, but twice this week!  The weather even cooperated.  Nicole was a tad bit annoyed that I was riding while she was in school.  She suggested that I could pull her out of school to join us.  I momentarily considered it, but good sense won out!



She did get to ride in the round pen on my friend Candi's 3 year old gelding Quarter Horse.  It was cool for her to get to ride him as he was born on her birthday 3 years ago.  When you're a horse-crazy kid, that's an exciting event!  I rode him also and I lead Morgan on him.  We were the first people, besides Candi, to ever ride him.  He was a perfect gentleman.  (He also happens to be for sale, in case anyone you know is looking for a nice horse!)


Me on my horse, Dakota, Marilyn on Jack and Candi on Nifty


Ride #1 was on Wednesday.  Marilyn, Candi and I went for a 2 hour ride (with dogs in tow!).  Ride #2 was on Friday with Marilyn, Sheila and Aurelia (Sheila's daughter) for another 2 hour ride.  When Nicole got off the bus, she and I went out for another hour.  I even got a little sunburn and I'm not sore--another miracle!  Oh, life is good!

Where Does the Time Go?

Nicole had a birthday again yesterday.  I tried to prevent her from getting any older, but I have no control over that girl!  I took her out of school and went out to lunch with her.  That was fun.  Glenn brought a carnation to school to give her at 2pm (the time of her birth).  He did that a couple of years ago for her 10th bday also.  He knows how to make a girl feel special. 

She claims it was her best birthday ever.  One of her presents from Glenn and I was a piece of paper that says we'll take her and a friend to the Lipizzaner horse show in Pullman on June 2 (I see a blog post coming!).  We gave her another piece of paper that says we'll repaint her bedroom.  I was feeling guilty about giving her so many pieces of paper for her birthday.  She thought it was fabulous.  Who knew it could be so easy to shop for this girl?!!

Here she is with her chocolate cake with powdered sugar (and mint chocolate chip ice cream on the side), just as requested.  You might notice that part of the cake is cut away.  Don't know how that happened. . . .  It could be that after opening presents, I was so ready for a piece of cake with ice cream that I dove right into cutting and dishing it up.  Ellea had to point out that we hadn't sang happy birthday to Nicole yet.  What a stickler for detail that Ellea is!  I'm glad she said something.  I wouldn't exactly qualify for Mom-of-the-Year if I failed to sing happy bday and have her blow out candles on her 12th birthday, now would I?!

And here are the horse earrings (made of glass--cool, no?) that my cousin in Illinois made for Nicole.  I sent her pictures of Nicole's horse so she could make them look like him.  I love the earrings, but I was paranoid that with Nicole's definite sense of style and what she likes, she wouldn't want to wear them.   Thankfully, she fell in love with them and proudly wore them to school the next day.  Ain't that a cute little pony hanging from her cute little earlobe?!

p.s.  You can check out my cousin's other amazing lampwork beads on etsy.com.

p.p.s.  Where did the last 12 years go?  Let me know if you find them, I want them back.



Who can resist a kitten?

New kitties, we have baby kitties!!  We already had two outside cats, so what's FOUR more, right?!!  The bigger news is that Ellea talked us into letting her keep one as a pet of her own--a house cat.  We haven't had a house cat in years mostly because I so dislike taking care of the litter box.  But guess what?  If it's Ellea's cat, Ellea gets to clean the litter box.  And if she doesn't, he can join his brothers outside!  It's the best of all worlds.  I can enjoy it and she can take care of it!  She says she'll clean the litter every other day.  We'll see how long that lasts. . . .

They're beautifully marked. Two black and white boys...

And two orange and white boys.  (There's a reason we chose boys--I'll blog about that in a couple months.  I know.  You can't wait.)  The one in front is Ellea's.  We're still debating names.  Do I hear any suggestions?!  And, yes, their "home" right now is a Keystone Light box.  We're rednecks.  We can't help it.

We're not sure how old the kitties are.  Their mama was an outside cat and kept her babies well hidden until a week or so ago.  We were waiting until they were eating solid food to take them away from their mom.  They started eating solid food a day or so ago and sadly, the mama kitty showed up with a mangled, broken leg yesterday.  The vet said they had to amputate or put her down.  They chose to put her to sleep because she'd have a hard time keeping away from all the dangers of the outdoors (racoons, etc) as a three-legged cat.  Very sad.  Welcome to the country.