Thirty-nine

I turned 39 last week. My last year in the 30's. Not sure how I feel about that. Mostly, it's just a crazy high number. I really struggle to remember my age these past few years. I spent part of the past year thinking I was turning 40 this month. Math's not my forte, can you tell?

Ellea was confused, too. The day before my birthday, Glenn mentioned how old I was turning. Ellea wasn't buying it.

E: You're not 39, you're 40.
L: No, I'm 39.
E: No, you're not.
L: Yes. I am.
E: No, you're 40.
L: No, Ellea, I was born in 1973, so I won't be 40 until 2013.
E: Hmm. I still think you're 40. (She's normally much better at math than me, but in her mind, math had nothing to do with it.)

She was still talking about it the next day. I think I finally convinced her, but it wasn't easy!

Ears

I blogged a year ago about my friend, Candi, breeding her mare to a donkey.

The proud papa. Not really. I don't think he keeps tabs on his offspring.

Meet "May." How cute is she? Thankfully, mules tend to look more like their horse mamas and not their donkey dads so much. Except for maybe those ears!

Nicole and I fell in love with her sweet personality. She seems much more inquisitive and friendly than her other horse baby that Candi has had. And she has this adorable tendency to kick up her back legs when you scratch her rump. Not sure how cute that would be when she gets older...

Mother's Day, 2012

Mother's day this year was spent in nearby Palouse, Washington with some of Glenn's fine family. We were invited to participate in the baptism of the newest member of the clan, William Henry Kaufman. Sadly, we missed the church services due to our pig emergency that morning, but we made it just in time for the celebration afterward.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. There were a lot of people competing to hold the beautiful (and incredibly sweet) baby, but Ellea was by far the biggest threat to me getting any baby time!


This girl sure loves babies. She even has the touch to put them to sleep. She's had many offers to move in with her cousins and become a nanny. She's tempted, but I think she should finish school before she moves out.

Cold Bed

After the fun Survivor-esque challenges at Nicole's birthday party, the girls were determined to sleep outside around the campfire. After all, contestants on Survivor don't sleep in camp trailers, right?!!

They were fully informed of the predicted low-temperature of just above freezing, but they were not to be deterred in their quest to suffer on the hard ground in the cold air. Not me. I helped pile them sky-high with blankets and happily retired to my comfy bed.

Zoey's in there somewhere....

Nicole being the smart girl that she is, eventually moved into the camper. Later, when she came into the house to go to the bathroom, she couldn't resist the pull of her bed upstairs. She thought she'd sleep there for an hour or two and then go back outside. (Yeah, right! Didn't happen.)

The other five girls all stuck it out by the fire for the few hours that they actually slept. I was impressed. They're either tough, or dumb.


Despite exhaustion, Nicole was her (mostly) delightful self the next day. I only received a couple of eye-rolls. Not bad for a thirteen-year-old.

Snow Day

We finally had a "snow day" from school yesterday. No, we didn't get three feet of snow (thank the Lord!), but the power was out and wasn't going to be restored until about noon. One would think they could do some school work with natural light and even do some stuff outside, but apparently not. The Elementary school concert was scheduled for today, so Morgan was the tiniest bit disappointed that school was cancelled. He got over that feeling pretty quickly.

Ironically, power was back on just after 8am, before school would've even started. Don't know why it took so much less time than predicted. Officialls were probably kicking themselves, but we enjoyed a lazy day at home.

You'd think I would've caught up on some future blogs, or given my dog and my son (not necessarily in that order) a hair cut, or organized the messy areas in my house, or one of another million things I should do. But I didn't. And I'm glad.

Birthday Island

Nicole's theme for her 13th birthday party was Survivor: Birthday Island. We're good parents and we've succeeded in getting our daughters hooked on reality television. Survivor is one of our weekly rituals!

The kids had a great time. They had "buffs" (matching team bandannas), built shelters, made tribe flags, competed in tribal challenges and went to tribal council. If you're not a Survivor fan, all that means nothing to you.

This was the "immunity idol." Again, that will mean nothing to you if you're not a Survivor fan! She bought this beat up old horse for twenty-five cents at a yard sale. Nicole is wearing her "buff" that we got from the dollar store.

The first of many Tribal Councils. Glenn got to play "Jeff" (the host of Survivor). He had a good time with it, as you can imagine.

One of many challenges. They had to do a relay race with an egg in a spoon. They walked down the log and had to duck through the soccer goals. Ellea (and a couple of her friends) got to participate also, so that they'd have enough players.

A fun time was had by all. No one actually got voted out, they just voted for who would lose points. Ellea's team had the most points at the end of the evening, so they won.

Nicole told me after it was all over that she and her friends enjoyed it so much that they were going to have individual Survivor competition over the summer.

We'll see about that!