Learning to Braid

A few weeks ago at a volleyball game, Ellea asked her dad to braid her hair while we were waiting for the varsity game to start.  Turns out Glenn has never learned how to braid.  I know, crazy, right?!

He managed pretty well.  I imagine it was trickier than he thought it would be.  But maybe not... he probably knew it was gonna be tricky.

He managed though.  Not sure that he's Ellea's new favorite hair stylist or anything crazy, but he now knows how to braid!

Finished Product

Ellea decided she wanted to paint her dad a picture for his birthday.  She's taking art this year and really enjoying all that she's learning.  She decided her subject should be our dog, Tasha, who Glenn and I adopted the year we were married.  We searched through all our old photos looking for a good one for her to paint.

Sadly, I didn't take as many pictures back at this time.  There weren't many to pick from.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Tasha.  She was such a great dog.  This was Halloween.  She didn't mind her garbage bag cape at all.  I'm sure she thought we were pretty crazy, but most of our dogs do, I think.

This was Ellea's finished product.  There are things she would change about it, but for a first attempt at this sort of thing, we thought it was pretty fabulous.  She used a new technique they had discussed in art class where she drew grid lines over a photocopy of the original picture and grids on her paper and used the grid as a reference of what to draw where.  Pretty cool.

Good job, kiddo!  I can't wait to see what else you create.  You're very talented and we're so proud of your efforts in art!

Happy Birthday, Glenn!

Glenn had a birthday this week.  Sadly, I was out of town for work, but I hear the kids took good care of him.  And Nicole made us a lovely lasagna dinner and chocolate creme pie on Saturday.  

She'd never made either a lasagna or a creme pie before, so she was having a good day in the kitchen and we all paid off.  This picture really doesn't do her pie justice.  Photographing food might not be my forte.  I'm too excited to just eat it! :)

Happy Birthday, Glenn!  Hope it's another great year.  Thank you for all you do for me, our children  and our community to make our life on this planet a meaningful one.  You're a great guy and I love you more than ever.  God bless you always.
Love,
Loretta

Getting Away

I've been at a conference and work-related meetings this week in Boise.  Missing the fam, but always fun to get away for a couple days.  No cooking.  No washing dishes.  No dirty diapers.  Wait, there haven't been dirty diapers for awhile.  For that, I am grateful.  Still, it's a nice break from daily life for short-term.

Had a super yummy dinner last night at P.F. Chang's.  I loved that they had a scarf on their horse statue.  Turned out to be a breast-cancer awareness thing.  They recommended selfies with the horse, so I complied.  Not sure that selfies are my gift, but I try.

As an aside, I appreciated these bricks in the sidewalk for having so much Vandal Pride.  You have to use your imagination a little, but don't they remind you of a capital I?  The friends I was with thought I was little crazy, but you have to appreciate Vandal support wherever you can get it.  Especially in Boise, where our biggest rivals Boise State University is located.  I think whoever picked out this style of bricks was a secret Vandal fan.  I will take it to my grave.

Pink Pirates

Sadly, volleyball season is now over.  The girls had their last game last Thursday.  It was the annual "Dig Pink" game all about raising funds for local breast cancer needs.

So proud of these two.  Both of them gained so much in confidence and ability throughout the season.  Can't wait for more volleyball next year.  We're all a little sad it's over, but I bet it will be nice for them not to have practice after school today. :)

All of us in pink (Morgan stayed home).  Go Prairie!

Sharing Babies

Lucky for her, Ellea inherited my love of babies.  Usually there is much jockeying and dissension about who gets to hold the baby in the room.  I try to be the mature adult that I am, and give her more holding time, but it's hard.  I'm not really that mature, or that adult-y.

To remedy this dillemma, our sweet niece, Jen, decided to have twins.  Because you know how much control a person has on that sort of decision. :)  Well, whether she was part of the decision or not, she sure did a good job bringing them into the world.  These two sweet girls were huge (especially if you know how tiny their mama is!).  Cecelia was 7lbs 6 oz and Beatrice was 6lbs 3 oz. Those sound like normal baby weights to me, not twin baby weights.  Wow!

The night before we came to visit, they were fussy and didn't feel good.  When we were there, they were sweet and snuggly and Ellea and I couldn't have enjoyed ourselves more.  I'm sure our presence made all the difference.  Just call us the baby whisperers.

Ellea is such a pro at handling a baby.  I joked that she should move in with Joe and Jen and go to school there.  Jen was all about it.  Not a joking matter.

One quick picture before we had to leave and daddy Joe suggested I better hold both babies.  I've never held two newborns at once, before.  It was fun, but I can't imagine this being my daily reality.  Overwhelming, perhaps?  So, prayers for the Kaufman's as they figure out their new normal (they have three other kiddos, as well!).

We'll be back soon for some more baby holding.  I might even share with Ellea.

Of Donuts and Moderation

Nicole's FFA group was selling Krispy Kreme donuts as a fundraiser.  The kids and I helped deliver a few boxes.  And we ate a box of our own thanks to sweet Aunt Wanda buying us one!  Thanks, Wanda!

A nice glazed donut is always better fresh, so I let these two hooligans each have two donuts.  They were a little surprised, because usually mom is all about moderation.  Always keep 'em guessing!

Two by Two

Something crazy happened this weekend.  

All THREE of my kids got excited about going for a horseback ride! 

Problem is, we only have two horses right now.

So riding double all around was required.

My horse has never been a big fan of riding double, but we managed.  And we were bareback.  That was an adventure.  I think we'll try the bareback pad next time for extra padding.  His spine gets a little uncomfortable.

 We rode down to the nearby little "town" of Keuterville and bought the kids a pop.

It was a great little adventure.

These two thought it was especially fun.

And then, the kids went out for a ride again the next day, just the three of them.  What?!!  Not sure Glenn wants another horse to feed, but I wonder.....? :)

(If only we still had Little Joe, huh Barb?!)

Life on Horseback

I haven't made time (or been able due to ankle injury) to ride my horse much this year.

And I hardly ever get to ride with this guy.

I talked him into going for a brief ride with me a couple weeks ago.  We both agreed we need to do it more often.

And when we got back to the house, this sweet girl and I went out for another little ride.

So fun to get two rides in in one day.

And last weekend, we went to a friend's house and  went for a ride.  Always fun to ride with a friend and catch up on life from horseback.  I have a pretty great life. :)