Dad Always Knows

My Dad always seems to know what I need, even if it is by mistake. I just received a voicemail message from my Dad. He thought I might be interested to know that Hannah Dakota Fanning was born in Georgia on Feb. 23, 1994 (this is all from memory, so if I got something wrong, I'm sorry.) Thus, she will be fifteen this year. I'm not really a fan, in fact it took me several minutes to figure out who he was talking about. So your reaction is probably the same that mine was. Uuuhh, so?!? Thanks Dad for thinking of me, but seriously why do I need to know this? Well, after I listened to my message twice, and thought of all possible reasons for this message I called my Dad. Apparently, my sister had been wondering about her and Dad had mixed up who needed this information. As I write this, I am still laughing hysterically. I laughed while talking to my Dad, I laughed while I fixed lunch, and there doesn't seem to be an end to my mirth. So maybe my Dad called the wrong daughter, and maybe not. I really did need a good laugh. Love you, Dad! Thanks!

Hmmmm..

Looking at my "Mixed Reactions" post it seems that we are evil parents. Not so, I have hardly any pictures of my children crying, that's why these are worth sharing. The reactions are so strong. Truly, though, we were having a wonderful time, up until snow got in places it shouldn't have.

Mixed Reactions

We just got back home from Grandma Karen's where we spent Christmas. So far the consensus is that we had a great time. The kids loved all the snow. There seemed to be a ton, but Aaron said there wasn't that much compared to other years. Of course I took pictures of the kids riding horses, opening presents, reading, making graham cracker houses (this was a first, and very fun! Which reminds me, we forgot to bring them home, Grandma, will you please save them in a special place for us?) I also have pictures of Louie sledding, the Christmas Eve Nativity Story enactment, several caught fish, etc. however, by far my favorite picture of the whole trip is this one of Louie. Please compare and contrast the one of her and Kessie with the one of Lanny. Yeah, quite a difference. Due to shoveling the driveway, multiple times a day, this particular snowbank gets rather large. Aaron's only goal was to chuck us all into it. Yes, I got chucked in a couple times too. It's amazing how soft the landing is. Since Louie's picture is a close up, just know that she had just asked Aaron to throw her in. However, she got some snow in her gloves when she landed, thus ruining the whole experience. I did help her up and console her, but only after I got this great close-up!

Listening and Obeying

We finally got up to Grandma Karen's. It took us two tries and a ton of hours, but we are here. We were getting ready for church this morning, and of course, Louie wanted Grandma to put make-up on her. Wow, Louie, you looked so beautiful for church. As I was brushing out her hair, Grandma got out some new apple scented lotion for us all to try. Grandma put a dab into Louie's hand and then walked away. I wasn't paying much attention since I was still trying to get the tangles out of her hair.
"Why did Grandma put this in my hand?" Louie was a bit confused.
"She wants you to try it. Go ahead and try it, you'll like it." It was just lotion, I mean, what was the big deal. Louie let out a big "EEEWWWW!"
"Oh, come on Louie, it's apple!" I'm sure you've guessed by now, but my sweet Louie, completely trusting in me did exactly what I told her to do. As she started to gag and moan, I looked up into the mirror and saw a big glob of lotion on her protruding tongue.
Yeah, so I felt pretty terrible. We have been having some listening and obeying issues, and of course, Louie finally listens to me and obeys me and what does she get for it? If I hadn't been laughing so hard, I probably could have helped her get the lotion out of her mouth. Luckily Grandma was there to help her while I recovered. We might have a few more issues with obeying after this incidence, but who can blame her.

Wow!

The weatherman said it would get cold, but, "WOW!" it is freezing outside. When I took Lanny to school I looked at the temperature and it said it was -9 degrees (this is with the sun up!) The weather station said that due to the wind chill it "feels like" it's -29 degrees. Because of the humidity in our house, I'm guessing, all of our windows have ice on them, on the inside. If anyone would care to join us, we're having a hot cocoa party at our house until summer!

Christmas Card

I'm hoping to get some Christmas cards out this year. However, in case that doesn't happen here is a Merry Christmas to everyone! We love you all!

Dresses

We just found a bunch a beautiful 2T dresses in storage and got them out for Keston. She loves looking like a princess. She wears several different ones a day. Thought I'd share this picture since it answers the question, "Can a girl be beautiful and brainy too?" Here's your answer---"You Bet!!!"

Louie

As most of you know, Louie is quite intelligent. She can often repeat exactly what I say, but she also sometimes adjusts it slightly so that the meaning is a bit different, unintentionally of course. Like when the children and I were practicing Christmas songs so that we can go caroling to the neighbors when it gets closer to Christmas. Aaron walked in the door from work, all the children attacked him and Louie excitedly said,"We're going over to the neighbors to practice our singing!" Such enthusiasm, but I think the neighbors would enjoy the polished versions better. Today, we were practicing our piano. Louie wants desperately to learn to play, so I got some lesson books. We've had two lessons, 3 weeks apart, yeah, I gotta work on that. She remembered the first lesson, and so we went on and talked about quarter notes and half notes. She picked it up pretty well and at the end of the lesson when I pointed to a note and asked her what note it was there was no hesitation as she shouted, "Penny!" My uncontrolled laughter alerted her to a mistake and she quickly amended her answer to quarter. She is a smart cookie which often makes me forget that she is only four. However, when her cute little oopsies crop up I am reminded of how young and innocent she still is. Oh, I love childhood. I wish I could capture every moment!
P.S. I always ask Kessie to give me a "YEEEHAW" since she is always galloping around like she is on a horse (her gallop is seriously unique and endearing...she looks like Goliath (our dog) with a cactus stuck in his foot). She obligingly hollers, "AAAHAW"!

Christmas List

So I've decided to start my list for Santa. #1---New Bed, preferably a triple King size, but I'd settle for a double King size. I just wanted everyone to see a nightly occurrence. Everyone goes to bed in their own beds, but by morning, well, between nightmares and needing cuddling etc. we always end up like this. Obviously, this was taken after Aaron left for work, and I got up, but try to imagine where the two adults might fit into the picture---exactly!!! That is why we need a bigger bed. So if you see Santa, put in a good word for me!

Tasty Turkey

Here is a closeup of Mia's cupcake! Soooo cute!

Thankful for...

So this Thanksgiving we are especially thankful for good friends who joined us to celebrate. It made our holiday so much more enjoyable. They even tried the wild turkey (which I thought was rather good!---surprise, surprise!!!) The kids had a super time playing and were completely worn out by the end of the day. The adults, speaking for myself, finally had some adult conversation, yes! Aside from the delicious meal, the children decorated cupcakes like turkeys. They did a super fantastic job. And, yes, I did get the idea out of my cool cupcake book. We have so many things we are thankful for and blessed with including our sweet children and also all of you. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

P.S. To celebrate the super cold day, yet special day, all of my children wore their swimsuits!

Future Hunter's of America

Success

They did it! They came back with a turkey. Now we can feast. Well, not actually, she was pretty small compared to a store bought turkey...but that is the price she had to pay for the ability to still fly or even walk for that matter. After getting the turkey, Aaron wanted to travel a little more and try to get a white tail deer, the kids were wishy-washy until Aaron plucked the turkey and that decided it for them.

Lanny--"Louie, do you want to go and see a naked deer?"

Louie--"No!!!"

They liked the turkey until she was naked and that was just disturbing to them. The first thing Louie asked me this morning was if I liked naked turkeys...my answer was the same as hers, "NO!!!"

I think they had a great time. They called me at least 45 times to update me and tell me things that they had forgotten to tell me the last time that they called.

I'm glad they had the opportunity to go. Although, I think as a whole the turkey species is quite ugly (not to diminish the sacrifice they make every Thanksgiving), their tail feathers are striking when spread out. I think I'll have Aaron fan them and hang them up.

I don't think this will be a yearly tradition, but I'm sure they will want to go again. Lanny is planning on using some of the feathers to make pens like in the olden days. He is pretty excited not only for the pens, but also for the Thanksgiving feast!

Thanksgiving Dinner

As we all know, Thanksgiving is only a few days away. King Soopers (our grocery store out here) is having a sale on turkeys. You can now get a turkey over 16 pounds for only eight dollars. But seriously, how many people want to go buy a bird that you just stick in the oven on Thanksgiving Day. I know everyone would rather go buy a turkey license for $16, get up at 4:30 in the morning, drive 250 miles one way, stalk a poor unsuspecting turkey that is happily eating in a farmers corn bin (it is fairly cold out), and yippee, you actually hit the thing, then you have to drive 250 miles back home so you can pluck it (wow, that sounds fun), clean it (even funner), and then stick it in the oven. Did I mention since it is a wild turkey it will probably only weigh 10 pounds or less. Now that is fun!!! So fun in fact that I went with Aaron last night to watch him buy a turkey license, then I got up at 5:00 after he had loaded the car, woke Lanny and Louie up, and got them dressed. I kissed them all and sent them off on a marvelous adventure (yes, I'm sarcastic, but they were thrilled) to get us a Thanksgiving Turkey. I'm supposed to be sleeping, but can't due to the visions of some awful accident befalling my family. I know this sounds like more fun than Disneyland to everyone, but if you don't quite have the willpower to get out of bed that early, or you don't have any turkeys waddling about, stay tuned because I'll be posting pictures of their exciting adventure soon (hopefully, they did take the camera so I hope they remember to take some pictures.) Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tagged

So my friend Marti tagged me! Seriously, she is the coolest thing ever, you can get some insight into her life at her blog martis-world.blogspot.com
Here are the rules. (The rules….link your tagger and list these rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.)
So I know the rules say to tag seven people, however, I don't know seven people with a blog, so I'm just going to tag those I know. But first...
1---I love to jump on the bed. Some of you know that, and to my husbands consternation, I have passed the skill on to my children.
2---I once accused the stop sign of stalking me. (Seriously, it was the middle of the night, and a bit foggy. I got up for some random reason and looked out the window. It may have been the stop sign on the corner, but to me it looked like a fat man was standing albeit very still and watching our house. I woke Aaron up in a panick. Even after he determined it wasn't a serial killer I was unconvinced, the sign still looked like one to me. It terrified me. I still can't look out the window at night without getting chills. I wish they'd move the stupid sign.)
3---I love moose meat. I hate having Aaron away so much, but I really do enjoy eating wild game.
4---So here's a big confession. I love, did I say love, well I meant it. I love High School Musical. I haven't seen the third one yet, but I'm counting the days till it's at the dollar theatre.
5---I pull myself over for the police when I am speeding. So I only did this once, but Aaron won't let me live it down.
6---This comes as no surprise to anyone, but I hate cleaning. I actually do make my bed, and then call it good for the day. If the dishes are dirty, I don't clean them, I use paper plates instead!
7---I so enjoy being a Mommy, but I still hold out hope of one day becoming Miss, more appropriately now, Mrs. America. It has always and will always be a dream of mine. (For those of you who remember what I look like...stop laughing.)
So that's me... here are the friends I've tagged.
Nicolehttp://www.holycolee.blogspot.com/, Marciehttp://cmnorrisfamily.blogspot.com/, Emilyhttp://kansasvacation.blogspot.com/, Emily's sweet son Isaachttp://isaaclarsen.blogspot.com/ he does a great job with his blog, so check it out. Nicole T.http://bigfamilyt.blogspot.com/
Happy blogging! Love you all!

Tumbleweeds

The wind has been showing off its' power lately and yesterday was no exception. We woke up to the howling wind and tumbleweeds racing across the land. The kids and I watched with fascination as the tumbleweeds flew by, veered this way and that, raced across the road, and vanished over the hill. We started cheering on certain ones, my favorite was #7, #56 didn't do so hot, he got stuck in a firmly planted group of tumbleweeds. After a few minutes of viewing tumbleweed races I decided we had to get ready for school. Thus our morning routine started...cereal, yelling, potty break, consternation, getting dressed...well, I did send Lanny and Louie in to get dressed just hoping they would actually obey my instructions, but alas, they didn't. As I was making my bed I suddenly heard a loud shout from their room, "Go, number eight, Go!" Louie was so excited for this certain tumbleweed she could hardly contain herself. Soon Lanny was shouting too. He had picked number one million, a bit harder to cheer for due to the long name, but still he managed. I wasn't going to be left out, so I ran in and cheered on several different ones, I didn't want anyone to feel bad by picking favorites. Many poor tumbleweeds lost the race by getting stuck in our neighbors fence, I'm sure many were stuck in our fence as well, but from our vantage point we couldn't see them. We did eventually get ready and get headed off to school, but the races were a fun break from the ordinary. I really don't like tumbleweeds, but for some reason I love to watch them race in the breeze...so free, I don't know. Makes me realize how blessed I am to live in the open and to be able to enjoy nature and share it with my children!

12 & 13 (See Catch Up Post below)

Kessie likes to be in her birthday suit + a skirt on her birthday!

Catch Up

So, it has been way too long since I last posted. With super special birthday girls, Halloween, and the nice weather, it just seemed like a crime to be on the computer. However, the wind is back, the weather is nasty, and the birthdays are over so now I get to live on the computer. I went through my pictures and have a ton to share, so there will be many without any captions. But I'll give a rundown list of all the great things that we have done in the past couple weeks (some not so great).
#1Louie and Kessie's Birthdays!!!
Can you believe that Louie is four and Keston, my baby, is two! They had super fun birthdays. Louie got a princess bike (princess was pretty much the theme of her birthday, since she is one,) Kessie got a pretend cat, that is very annoying to me, but she loves it and drags it everywhere. (Why would the manufacturer make it white? It needed a bath before she'd had it for an hour. She loves trying to feed it.) The cat, which she promptly named Kit-ty, emphasis on the Kit, even sleeps with her.
#2 Halloween
This is almost as big as Kessie's Birthday, seeing that they are the same day. I think the kids might rate it up there even a bit higher than birthdays. The weather was great, and the kids had a blast riding in a trailer pulled by our neighbors on their four-wheeler, we followed on ours. (That is our neighbor Courtney in the picture.) We went all over our neighborhood, but only to the houses we knew. We only went to about ten houses, but since there aren't a lot of Trick-or-Treaters out here, every house gave handfuls of candy. Talk about a parents nightmare, "No more candy!" I don't think I know how to say anything else anymore.
In no particular order.
#3 Doctor and Dentist visits
#4 School parties
#5 Lanny's Literacy Lunch (Parents are invited to go read and eat lunch with their child.) Lanny is doing great in his reading.
#6 Picnic on the front porch on Kessie's B-day. The weather was great, so she was pretty much naked.
#7 Primary Program at Church. The kids did great. They both knew their lines, and said them loudly. So proud, I know, naughty me.
#8 Kessie got her first hair cut. (And seriously, it was really just one hair.) She has so little, but I wanted to say she'd had a hair cut, so we tried.
#9 Aaron tried his hand at cupcake decorating for the stake Halloween party. Super job, Honey!
#10 Lanny ingeniously taped a cup to his face to cover the smell, while carving pumpkins! (Sorry the picture is sideways.)
#11 I took the kids to the park to take their yearly pictures. Lanny tries, but he always looks like he's stepping on a cactus (I still got some cute ones, though.) Louie loves getting her picture taken, so I got approximately 300 good ones of her. Kessie is darling, however, she refuses to look at the camera. I got several hundred nice shots of her back. Oh well.

#12 Aaron went hunting (shocker) and Goliath made friends with a rattlesnake. He (seriously, we are so blessed) has had no ill effects from it, I don't think he got injected with venom.

#13 Lucky number 13, the wind has returned in full force. With it came the tumbleweeds. Please note, they are almost taller than the fence, by the end of the day there were many, many more. I always thought tumbleweeds were a made-up annoyance to glamourize the Old West. Oh no, they are for real, and for ouchie too.

We have had a busy few weeks. Life is flying by, and we are so excited that we are along for the fast paced ride!

Playing By The Rules

Louie got a pack of games for her birthday. One of them being checkers. I feel like she is a bit young for that one, but she was desperate to play, so yesterday I sat down with her and tried to teach her just the basics. By the end of our game, she had learned that you can't just move anywhere and that you jump people to win. She actually did fairly well. So when Lanny came home from school and wanted to play she readily agreed. Here's a rundown.
Mom --"Maybe you should play something else, Lanny doesn't know how to play."
Louie--"Well, I do, and I'll teach him."
She did set her pieces up correctly on the board, while Lanny just spread his all over. She showed him where to put them. I thought, oh well, here they go.
Louie--"Okay, Lanny, if I jump you than you have to jump my piece. If you jump my piece than I jump your piece. Okay?"
So Louie showed him how to jump her piece, then she promptly took his piece.
Louie--"See. When you jump me, I get your piece. Now I jump over your piece and you take mine."
Well, let's give Lanny a little credit, after two jumps and having his pieces taken he wasn't about to do it again.
Louie--"Your turn Lanny, you jump my piece."
Lanny--"No way, I don't want to jump, then you'll take my piece."
Louie--"You have to jump, that's how you play the game."
Lanny--"No."
A bit of a quibble started, so I tried to help out, but Louie just threw herself backwards flat out onto the ground (they were sitting on the ground) and cried, "Why am I the only one who knows how to play this game?" She was exasperated.
The game continued until all the pieces were gone. Then they counted up their pieces and to their surprise (shock) they both had the same amount. So who won? Well, I guess it was a tie! Which was a good thing, because they can both live with a tie. Lanny however, is thinking twice before having his sister teach him another game.

Trying New Things

So Lanny learned a new song in school and I thought it was so cute. I used my web cam (thanks Dad) to record him and thought I would try and put it up on my blog. So here goes. Unfortunately you guys miss the cute dancing/hip swinging he is doing. Also, at the end, his look of horror is because Kessie is standing behind me while I film and she suddenly decided to chew on some scissors. Everything went downhill from there, but oh well. Happy Monday to all!

Afflerbach Achievers

I received a note in the mail inviting me to come to an assembly called "Afflerbach Achievers", where Lanny would be receiving an award. I was so excited. Apparently, every (I'm not sure how often) teacher gets to pick four students who have excelled in some area and give them an award. Lanny got his in reading. We got to sit on the stage with him (Louie was so thrilled to be up there with him she couldn't stop hugging him.) Then the audience cheered for everyone and they popped some balloons filled with confetti. Lanny didn't know he was getting the award, or that we would be there, so he was super excited! Afterwards his teacher came up and said, "I gave you your award in reading because I had to pick just one area, but you are great in every area!" He really beamed! We really like Mrs. Jackson, she is always very nice and complimentary towards every child.

I was pretty proud as well. I know I'm bragging a bit, but with Lanny being the youngest in his class, I always worry that I did the wrong thing by putting him in school instead of waiting a year. So far he loves it, and is doing well. I guess time will tell all though.

Here's Rosie

And here she is, the star of the Butterfly Pavilion, no not Louie, Rosie! Here are a couple more pictures at the Butterfly Pavilion, including Rosie. Yes, Dad, I did hold Rosie again, she still tickles your palm, and I got a sticker that read "I held Rosie" and I wore it proudly, until Louie stole it so she could wear it proudly!

Butterfly Pavilion

I thought it was about time that I put some pictures up of the Butterfly Pavilion. We had a great time. Lanny loved the bees. Actually, I was listening to him tell Grandma Karen about it on the phone and was amazed at what he remembered. I won't even come close to remembering all that. They got to see stick bugs, huge centipedes, tarantulas, bees, starfish, fish, butterflies, scorpions, cockroaches, seriously, there were a lot of bugs! Louie loved touching the starfish (there was one slimy and one sandpapery.) She also tried and tried to work up enough courage to hold Rosie, the tarantula, but was just too scared. However, she did let Rosie shake her hand (she touched Rosie's leg) and was so proud of herself, as you'll see in one of the pictures. Keston loved the hands on childrens play area, with the big spiderweb (climbing ropes), the honeycomb to climb in, and she could finally run around and be loud. This was a new addition since Lanny and I visited with Grandpa Craig when he was little and I'm glad they put it in, I thought it was great for the kids. I loved the butterflies. They were so beautiful, but I got a flinching disorder, because I was so nervous that I would touch one, and that is not allowed. How can you not though, when as soon as you enter they dive bomb you. One landed on my arm. We had been instructed to just keep moving and say, "I am not a flower," apparently this butterfly was deaf, because it would not get off me. The kids thought it was great!
It is actually not a very big building, but there is so much to see. They even gave the kids a mini-class about the life cycle, Lanny now shares the life cylce of everything with me. During the class, they got to look at a bug that was going through different stages of the life cycle (another picture, you'll see of Lanny). It was pretty neat, and I think that the kids learned a lot.

There is just so much to tell, but instead I'll just put a plug in for the Butterfly Pavilion. It's a great place for kids to go! Fun and amazing! Visit them, or go to their website www.butterflies.org/

Frog (as of yet nameless)

So, I understand that puppies are darling, and kittens are adorable, but seriously, have you seen baby frogs? They have got to be the cutest of them all. I've decided to go into frog farming. They are low maintenance, amazing to watch develop, and so cute! Did I mention that they are cute. I have completely fallen in love with this little frog. He/she, I have no idea the gender, is the only one of the tadpoles that has legs and has started to look like a frog. I don't know why the other ten haven't developed as quickly, but it makes it easy to spot my cutie. I haven't decided what to name him yet, let me know if you have any suggestions. He is very hard to take a picture of since he is constantly moving, but I had to share his fab face with everyone. If you have never had a tadpole as a pet, you are seriously missing out. Feel free to join me if you ever decide to go into frog farming!

Quick Funnies

So I have just a second and I wanted to share some cute sayings that the kids are using lately.
Yesterday, I was standing at the sink and Keston pushed a chair over so she could help Daddy make cookies.She pushed it right up to me and said,"Beep, Beep." It was so cute, she has such a little voice, and I have no idea where she heard it because I don't say it. Too cute, now she's got me saying it, just so I can get her to say it again.
We went to the Butterfly Pavilion and Louie was so excited, she kept asking, "Mommy when do we get to go to the Butterfly Chameleon?" (We have been reading books about chameleons.) She loved it and tells everyone what a fun place it was.
Lanny also has a cute saying. He has been being "the Flash" a lot lately and so he goes everywhere quickly. This morning I told him to run upstairs and get something and he told me he would do it and "be back in a jippy!"
Seriously, I hope my children never grow up. I love their innocence and the joy they get out of everyday life.

Butterflies

Lanny's class is going to the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver tomorrow. I just got a new cupcake decorating book (which had some darling butterfly cupcakes in it.) Put the two together and you get cupcakes for Lanny's class. It was my first time, I can barely frost, so they aren't perfect, but I did get some compliments. I had fun, and the girls loved it, because they munched as I decorated and probably ate about three pounds of chocolate each. I actually am pretty excited to try some more soon, but we have to come down off this sugar high first!

The book is called "Hello, Cupcake!" by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson

Armor of God

So for Hamily Fome Evening (that's what Lanny calls it) we decided to put on the whole armor of God, seeing as how the world isn't getting any nicer. I don't think the kids got it at all, but they had fun and liked it when I tried to beat them up and couldn't because they were protected. I kept trying to take Kessie's picture and she kept stabbing me with her sword, so most of her pictures are of the point of a sword with shoes. The armor fit Aaron, but we might have to eventually get him a bigger size!