Holiday Cowgirl

Here is our little cowgirl in her new duds.  Notice her serious look - cowgirls use the serious look, don't want anyone giving them any trouble, you know?

Christmas Cousins

This does not happen too often - a picture with the cousins together! When is the next time this will happen? Not sure, but it is never soon enough. They have a lot of fun playing and the time is always too short.  One of the best things about the holidays is definitely being with family!

NOT a PETA Member

 

Weren't expecting Ms. Crockett in front of our tree, were you?  She actually found a coon hidin' in that there tree, picked it off with one clean shot from her pistol, and made herself a hat just in time for the winter storm that's a comin'.  Or maybe Santa Claus brought it. 

In the Spirit

The hat on this girl's head is actually a baby hat - but she loves it! Ever since we unpacked it with the rest of the decorations, she has been slapping it on her head and dancing around the house as our little elf-in-residence.  Every house needs one.  Usually we have three at our house - our kids have no problem being in the Christmas spirit!

The Beautiful Baker

It is always a treat to be invited to school for a special activity.  Today ARM's class hosted us for their Gingerbread Reader's Theater.  They each had a few lines of a poem about baking Christmas cookies that they had memorized which they recited for everyone while dressed in aprons and their custom chef hats.  After that, their class went to the cafeteria and transformed small milk cartons into gingerbread houses with graham crackers and icing and then decorated them with candies.

Going Downhill

Today we managed to find a hill that still had enough snow to for sledding - yippee! And no one else was even there...not too surprising given all of the hills in this area.  This hill was not super steep but let us pick up a little speed and coast a while. ARM is helping her Mom, brother and little sister get moving with a push in this picture. ARM was more interested in pushing the sledders than riding down the hill herself, but she has never been the risk taker of the family and she was not about to start today!

Hot & Cold

Is there anything better than drinking hot cocoa on a really cold day? This face says it all!

Congratulations and Good Luck to the New Grads!

Over the weekend we were lucky that the roads from our direction were decent enough for us to travel down to witness two of our favorite people and a very big accomplishment! These two graduated from college - both with excellent grades, and my little brother is wearing that medal for high honors! Since he is a veteran, he also has the red, white, and blue cord with his gown.

Another thing that is rare about these two is that they did the last half of their college career married - so not at all the college experience that many people their age have.  They both worked during school and after the holidays they will be moving to a new state and starting a new life together.  Russ has a new job and Emily will soon!  We are so very proud of them and are happy we were there to celebrate their big day.

Big Kid, Little Kid

 Most aunts and uncles probably underestimate how much fun kids think they are.  Our kids just love that attention and always look forward to it and hope that they can "play" longer.  (By the way, talking is boring.  And this is where adults should listen to the kids and get up and play!)

Here EMM (the little kid) is goofing off with his uncle (the big kid) on his graduation day.  The kids knew that this was the last time the would see their aunt and uncle's little college apartment, which they had so enjoyed visiting, so it was bittersweet for them.  But on to new adventures, and a nicer place to live - this was not necessarily an apartment to miss!

The Vanishing Violet

Have no fear! The Vanishing Violet is here! She can rescue anyone from a bad mood with her purple mask, fuzzy bracelets, boa belt, and lilac dress.  Quick as a flash, she can dress a naked doll! Her beautiful songs can calm even the most violent tempers.   Will we ever discover her true identity?

Royalty

Much to our oldest daughter's dismay, it is a rare occasion that her little sister will play dress-up.  When most girls find out they have a little sister, they probably instantly dream of playing dolls and dressing them up and so far BGM has not wanted much to do with any of that!  Today they both seemed to have fun.  And ARM really made this enjoyable for her sister and was so motherly to her, it was sweet to watch!

Obsessed

ARM loves all things horses/unicorns/cowgirl...  Her art, her clothes, every other thought in her head!

iPhone Self Portraits

Look who decided to take his mother's brand new iPhone 5 outside and take some pictures with it? Had a great time looking at some of the ones he snapped - this is one of my favorites. I at first blamed his older sister for the electronic abduction because she is the one I found using it to take a picture of a honeybee.

Super Sweets for Super Sweeties

These two are taking licks of homemade popsicles - super sweet strawberry ones that we made earlier in the day!  Somehow this is the first time their Mom had ever made a homemade popsicle...not sure why it took so long! These were a huge hit and we have decided that we MUST try out more popsicle recipes.

Meet "Sking"

What are these two up to? They are checking in on the new little friend they found outside - "Sking." That is the name they chose for the small lizard they discovered living under our driveway. Where, oh where, do they get their inspiration for names? They have been having fun spying on this little guy and chasing him off the front porch and out of the garage. They also have a box full of sticks, leaves and a water dish in case they happen to catch him.  Good luck, guys - he is fast!

Dad's Special Day

This is the man...the man we love so much! DAD! The kids had a lot of fun preparing his Father's Day surprise...they designed the neckties for the homemade gift bags themselves and since they are EXPERTS at taping, they attached them, too. 

We had an all around fun day with no home improvement projects and plenty of kisses and "I love you's!"

At One With Nature

Today, Mom had to do A LOT of serious cleaning.  And a bit more packing up.  So with three kids and an empty rental house, I wondered how the day would go. Would they be complaining about being bored? Fighting non-stop? Wantng to take off down the street? Tracking dirt in and out where I had just swept?  NO! These lovely children just dug up worms and pill bugs out of the mulch the entire time.  It kept them so entertained and they were so excited with how many bugs they found.  They had covered the bottom a big box with them!  So I guess our next step is to set up a bait shop and put our three kids in charge of finding all the merchandise.

Driving Without A License

Had some fun meeting up with some friends over the holiday weekend and of course, the kids jumped on a few rides at one of our favorite festivals! Looking at this picture makes me think that kids might be more content riding in the car if they had their own steering wheels to steer with.  Love our backseat drivers!

They Could Live Outside

There is nothing better than a lovely spring day! Our kids do not want to stop playing to come in to take baths in the evenings and it is hard to blame them! Here is ARM decorating the driveway with the sidewalk chalk that the Easter Bunny brought.

New Grad

This little girl makes us so proud.  She had a great year of kindergarten and learned so much.  She is reading well above grade level and does well in math, too.  Mrs. Steiner, her teacher, knew how to make learning fun for the kids and made each child feel important.  Here they are on "graduation day" - a day when many parents (definitely me) had tears in their eyes.

ARM chose to wear this white dress, which was also her Easter dress, and a headband she picked out at a craft show we attended together.  We had fun taking pictures with her friends and going for ice cream at Annie's Frozen Custard with her pal Sydney afterwards.

Sydney surprised everyone right at the very end of school by chopping off her hair and donating it - so she looked completely different to everyone with out her long thick hair!

A funny story from the custard stand: the people at Annie's thought it would be fun to kick off summer by putting some fun toys on their patio for kids.  Not just any toys...water toys.  It was a beautiful day and there were definitely other guests enjoying ice cream there.  After EMM finished his treat, he grabbed a water gun and shot it straight into the air, raining down drops all over a man and his high school age daughter.  They did NOT look happy.  After a quick apology, we packed it up and headed home...but definitely a funny memory!

Dining Al Fresco

Everyone has really enjoyed the little patio at the rental house.  Since the kitchen is small, it was nice having the extra space.  And no matter how messy these children were, those crumbs were just bird food!

Something Must Be Done

 Yes, it makes a really cool tub mohawk, but I think Evan is due for a trip to the barber! Summer is coming and this little boy is really warmblooded. The minute he starts running around his hair gets sweaty so we normally opt for a pretty short do when the warm weather hits.

May Flowers

This colorful bloom came home with EMM today.  The picture was taken after a few of the seeds (black beans) had fallen off, but you get the idea.   

Pick-me-ups

What parent doesn't like little love messages left for them? Melts your heart!

Under Cover Agent-baby

She's not going to like that I am blowing her cover on the blog, but the undercover agent in this picture is actually BGM! Her sister sent us this picture of her (truthfully it was her photo editing job) with her mullet and sunglasses and apparently she is going by the name MacGruber.