Rodeo Queen

We had our first big horse event of the year last weekend.  Nicole has dreams of trying out for local rodeo queen programs in the years to come.  She was excited when she found out about a riding clinic in Lewiston that was going to work on some of the skills needed for rodeo queen try outs.  She even paid for the clinic herself by doing some reffing at the junior high volleyball games.

Her poor horse, Jasper, hasn't been ridden much lately due to our glorious winter weather, but he was a gem.  Some horses don't do so well after sitting all winter, but he's one of the good ones who can handle a little winter vacation and then get back to business.

The trickiest task for Nicole was practicing the "Grand Entry" when the contestants run around the arena waving at the audience.  Apparently, getting the wave just so is harder than it looks.  Her version looked a little stiff.  That's a pretty good day of riding if the biggest thing she needs to work on his her wave!

Cool Dude

Every year, the local after school program sponsors a play by the Missoula Children's Theater.  This program brings two directors to town to put on a full play with all the costumes, props and backdrops provided.  The kids try out on Monday after school and then practice every day after school and perform two shows on Friday.  It's an intense process, but a great opportunity for the kids.

Morgan decided to try out this year and was pleased with the part he was given.  The play this year was Pinocchio.  Morgan was one of four boys who were "Candlewick's Crew."

It was a small part, but he did great and had fun.  He played one of the "bad" kids who encouraged Pinocchio to give up his responsibilities and go to "Pleasure Isle."

The poor kid who he stood back-to-back with was quite a bit shorter than Morgan.  At one point during the play, that kid (who's at least a year older) was standing on his tip toes in an effort to not feel quite so short!

That's one cool (tall) dude.

Piano Lessons

I have been so pleased with the amount of piano the girls have been able to pick up with just a tiny bit of help from me.  Nicole learned a fun song from a friend recently and taught it to her sister (and me!).  Ellea convinced her dad to sit down with her at the piano and she taught him some of it last night after they got home from track practice.

It was so tricky to get a good picture of them sitting in front of this sunny window.  I don't love the exposure in this picture (glaringly bright piano keys, really?!) , but I love their expressions.

Ellea's blurry in this one!  As a perfectionist, I don't love this picture, but as a mom, I sure do.

Dad was a good sport (as always).

And a pretty decent piano student!  If he keeps up his "lessons,"  I'll load a video of the final result!

Spring Basketball

Spring must be coming, 'cause we got the basketballs out last weekend.  Of course, Glenn plowed the snow off the concrete just the week before, and we'll still have cold weather and snow in the weeks to come, but it was nice to be outside without a parka on!

The kids let dad do the janitorial work.  It's hard to play basketball on concrete covered in gravel!

Our two basketball stars.

Glenn doing a little coaching with the boy.

Growing up

 This is what we were shopping for on our big girls-only shopping spree a couple weeks ago.....

This beautiful young woman has been asked to the prom of a nearby school.  She is also going to her own prom (with the same young man).  We found this gorgeous (and affordable - woohoo!) dress at a consignment shop in Lewiston and she couldn't be happier!  (She might need to stop drawing tattoos on her arm, though!)

Girl power!

My little girls are growing up, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  They're turning into amazing young women who I am so proud of, but I know it's not long until they leave this nest and I'm not ready for that! Guess I just need to savor every moment.

Horses

The horses weren't as excited to go for a ride as the dogs were.

It may appear in this picture that they like each other, but that's not usually true.

It's more a matter of tolerating each other.  Sometimes in a cranky way for my horse.

But, if you separate them, there will be complaints about that, especially from my horse.  Horses are funny.  Just like us humans.

Dogs and Horses

Nicole and I had our first spring horse back ride last weekend.  And it was *mostly* warm!  The horses were very well behaved.  Especially considering they hadn't been ridden much in months.  It was so nice to get outside and enjoy a ride together.

The dogs are always excited for a horse back ride, too!  Are you ready yet?  Hurry up!  Let's go!

But then we found a little deeper snow and that's hard to walk in when you're a short dog.  So, I invited Zip up on my lap.  He laid right down and hung out until we got back to where the snow wasn't so deep.  Not sure he liked it, but that dog would do about anything for me, so he tolerated the ride nicely.  I think was preferable to trying to plow through eight to 12 inches of snow, but just barely.   Gotta love a nice March ride with your favorite horse and your goofy dog!

Girl Time

The girls and I had so much fun together shopping last weekend.  Here they were trying on clothes at our favorite consignment place.  Cute clothes and reasonable prices.  That makes everyone happy!

Apparently they took a break from the hard work of shopping to take some pictures!

Nicole was drawn to this ski helmet and goggles at the sporting goods store where we bought them some new running shoes (track season!).

And while we waited for our pizza, they couldn't resist a little Ms. Pac Man.  They'd never played it before and it's harder than it looks!  Those darn ghosts are always eating you!

Not sure what's going on here..... something bad it looks like!

Rocking Chair

The girls and I had a super fun day of shopping and hanging out on Saturday - just the three of us.  We drove by a furniture store in Moscow that has always had a huge red rocking chair out front.  We've talked before about the need to stop and take a picture in it.  Nicole brought up that she wanted to do that sometime.  I figured there was no time like the present, so I pulled into the parking lot.

Ellea was mortified.  What if we got in trouble?  I assured her it would be fine, but she didn't believe me.  The only thing that would appease her was if I went inside and asked permission.  They, of course, had no problem with my request.  The guy said the governor had even taken a picture in their chair once!  So we're in good company!

She was still a little disturbed by all the cars driving by.  How embarrassing!!  They started waving at the cars and one even honked at us!

It was fun.

It was great to have a day to ourselves.  We'll have to do it again soon.

Marbles

My mom found this very fun marble activity at the hospital thrift shop where she is the "toy lady"!!  It has these pieces with magnets on the back so you can put it on the fridge in different combinations and then send your marble through the maze.  It's more fun than you would imagine.  Glenn and I found ourselves standing in the kitchen playing with it at times!

It was well used when we had our special Kaufman guests.

This little man especially enjoyed it.

He's just too cute, this one.  Two is such a fun age.  Don't get me wrong, I remember it to also be a challenging age.  I'm grateful I don't have this age under my roof (most of the time).  But it sure is fun to have them in the family to enjoy.  (And for someone else to wrestle with!)

Snow Fun

We had a fun visit with a few of the Kaufman clan a while back.  Little Natalie requested that we build a snowman.  Morgan was a good cousin and packed the snowballs for her.  Natalie just sat back and waited.

She was all about the decorating process.

Morgan has this cool snowman decorating kit with different hats, mouths, etc that he let Natalie use.  She was pleased with her creation.

Jen and I stayed behind with baby Henry and had a good chat while the dads took the kiddos to the snow hill.  And a good time was had by all!

Zoom-zoom

Glenn brought home the company snowcats recently.  We have one of our own, but it was fun for the girls to go out with their dad and give them in a spin in the hay field.

It was a tiny bit concerning that Nicole seemed fearless about driving her own snowcat and then she started talking about how much she loves movies with fast cars and going fast and zoom-zoom.......  Had to have our "but you don't need to be driving snowcats and cars fast" talk.  "I know!" she says.  Ugh.  Can I just lock them all up in the basement?!!

Band

The girls played in their respective bands at the aforementioned jazz concert that Nicole made her fancy cake for.  I'm so pleased they both have had the opportunity to play an instrument and stuck with it for a few years.  Sadly, our band director is retiring and few students have signed up to take band next year.  The school has decided to combine the junior high band with the high school band and have one 7-12th grade band.  Not sure if my girls are going to keep playing or not.

Gotta love the psychedelic art on the wall behind them.  Makes me feel a little dizzy!