Birthday Girl

C turned 8. I'm pretending that she's only 5, but just tall for her age.

She wished for a slumber party.

My memories of slumber parties from back in the day are kind of crazy. I was a little nervous to host a slumber party, but there was no reason to be. It was really fun and I wouldn't mind doing it again. A few sweet friends, games, crafts, movies, and just hanging out...I think we covered everything that C was hoping for and more.

She is an amazing daughter and I think that she teaches me more about life than I teach her. We love her to pieces!

Here are a few party pics:


We turned the front room into the party room for eating and crafts.



Here are the owl cups from Target that I fell in love with and the doll cupcakes.


C and Nana.



The silliest of the sillies together....the morning after the party.



C with Meme and Poppa.



Her new bike.

I love the bike she chose. She has been needing a bigger bike for quite some time now. As soon as we got home she and G hopped on their bikes and went to riding....nevermind that it was cold and rainy. Oh, to be a kid again!

May we all have her sweet carefree spirit this Christmas season and always!

2011: The Year of the Babies :)

We have had such a blessed year. We have welcomed two nephews and one niece into the world.

Here is our newest little arrival. He is so precious and perfect.



I predict that in a few years he and G will be getting into quite alot of mischief together. And I'm just fine with that. :)

His Wishes

G turned five last week. His wishes for this birthday started as soon as he blew out the candles on his "four year old" birthday cake. He blew those candles out and said, "Next year I want a Buzz Lightyear birthday party at Chuck E Cheese!"

This has been a trend with him starting at two. The day of his two year old birthday he promptly said that he wanted a Thomas the Train party for three, and the day of his three year old party he said that he wanted a cowboy birthday for his four year old party. He is so sweet to give me a year to plan!

He also has other wishes, like getting to play with fire.

So we let him light his birthday breakfast muffin this year.



He had an art show at preschool on his birthday. Super duper cute.



We got to Chuck E. about ten hours early because he just couldn't contain his excitement.



The Buzz Lightyear theme cake.



The crown that he asked for 1,234 times.



Loved his excitement!








Getting to do the ticket blaster that he talked about for weeks before the party. Great marketing Chuck E.


It was a super fun time...and a little super crazy, but he had the best time ever! It was so fun to watch him with his friends enjoying his birthday. I think that all his birthday wishes came true!


As parents, our wish is that he always be this excited about life. Love you G-Man!!

Lovin' This

Birdie Awards

This past weekend was fast and furious, but so fun! We had lots of friends and family here for the opening days of dove season. Shockingly, there were lots of birds. We officially have no water in the creek or the tank so we weren't sure what that would mean for hunting. It actually was the best hunting in years. Nobody was disappointed. (except for maybe the birds)

The kids had a blast. This is the first year they got to "hunt". I think it was mainly that they got to play with friends that made it so fun. I know that's what did it for me. I'm not so much the hunter. More of a watcher. Big surprise, I know.

And now for the long awaited Birdie Awards...

Best artwork for the '11 dove season:


The cutest hunters for the '11 dove season:


Best buddies for the 2011 dove season:



Most scared to hold a dove for the '11 dove season:


Most serious hunters for the '11 season:


Most dove killed for the '11 dove season:



Most shells left in the pasture for the '11 dove season:


Love you Trav! G wants to know when you are coming back. He has been brushing up on his wrestling skilz.

I Chuckle

Sometimes I get the question..."aren't you bored being a "stay-at-home" mom?"

First, let me say that I do not take for granted the privilege of getting to stay home and tend to my people. It really is humbling when I think about it. I do plan on re-entering the workforce soon, but every minute that God has granted us for me to stay at home has been an extreme blessing.

BUT, I do chuckle at that question.

So far today....

Made the lunches.

Kids are at school.

Took the farm truck to get the flat fixed.

Striped the soccer field for tonight's practice.

Killed a snake.

Yes, you read it right.

Big enough to need a hoe, small enough that I didn't have to call a boy.

Got the cows out of the hay pen.

Fixed the fence.

Dishes done.

Laundry almost done.

....and it's only a little past 11:00 AM.

I also managed to squeeze in a Starbucks. :)

Yesterday was the Last Day

Quite possibly my least favorite day of the year. I'm not a negative person, but if I had to pick a least fav day, this would be it. The last day of summer break.



I love the bond that C & G have over the summer. It's like there is no age difference and no gender difference. When school starts that all goes away. G for some reason isn't cool to her anymore.

I love having my kiddos home. Just hanging out with them is probably my very favorite thing in the world.


I wish I could bottle summer.

Minus the heat and the drought.

With that said, today is probably one of my favorite days. A day of new beginnings and adventures for C. We are so excited about the school year she has ahead of her.

She loves to learn.

She has lots of sweet friends in her class.

She has an amazing teacher to spend the year with.

I firmly believe that God puts the right people in our lives at just the right time. Mrs. Jackson is so sweet and we (I mean she...lol) can't wait to spend this year with her!

She was a little nervous this morning...wouldn't eat her special breakfast that she requested.

But, I'm sure she'll do fine.

I'm not sure about her brother though.

He went into meltdown mode as soon as Daddy and Sissy left.

Possibly from missing his sister or maybe he was literally melting from refusing to wear anything but those flannel footies to bed in the middle of the hottest summer ever.

I never know about him.

Proud Cousins

We welcomed our new niece this week!! She is perfectly perfect. The kids had fun getting to meet her. It also made me realize how grown up they are getting. I didn't go into panic mode when they wanted to "hold" her.



I can't wait to get to hold her more!

Wheat Harvest '11

This harvest season marks a year of firsts.

This is the first time wheat has been harvested this early in all of Grandma's 85 years. The drought took its toll early.

The first time to live on our place and watch the harvest through the kitchen window...



The first time for G to be an easy sidekick... He rode all day pretty much every day. He literally cried tears of joy the last day because he thought that it was all done, just to be pleasantly surprised that there was a half day left. I wish I would have had that on video.



The first time the guys had a driving range to wait out the dew drying out so they could get to work...


The first time the forgetful camera lady remembered to get a generational picture during harvest...



The first time to watch our cows eat green grass all year....they've been cut off from behind the house since the wheat matured. Talk about happy campers...all that grass is just about gone!



The first time that the girl that writes this blog has posted twice in one month in a really long time...

Kidnapped

by life.

I stole that line from the Pioneer Woman...she said it somewhere and I could totally relate. Life has been so busy, but a fun busy!

I'm not even going to try to completely catch up the blog right now, but maybe sometime in the near future. Now that we are getting closer to summer, some activities are starting to wind down and I can see that there will be more time for stopping to smell the roses soon.

In the mean time...here are my two little athletes...


I've been coaching C's soccer team and Justin has been helping coach G's t-ball team. Super fun times. G is hilarious to watch. He moves as slow as molasses around the bases. Not sure what that is about because here he is hunting eggs...

Maybe we should put eggs around the bases...there's an idea.


This has not been successful, but he sure has had fun trying...

The training wheels are a little bit cumbersome out here in the country, so this boy is going to have to get with it and learn how to operate on two wheels.

Then....we lost another tooth. She went around like this for almost a week so I had to put an end to that...


She is NOT a fan of getting a tooth pulled, but I must say that the "after" is much better than the "before".


Spring has sprung and we are enjoying living in the country!

This picture cracks me up because you can just see the mischief in that little boy's eyes. Definitely a true reflection of who he is. :)

We hope you are all having a great spring! Pray for rain!!

C's New Smile

When did she grow up?! Stop! This is going way too fast!



Doesn't she look cute? This tooth had been dangling for a while and she wouldn't dare let me touch it. Thank goodness for the most amazing first grade teacher. Mrs. D is an expert tooth puller...and caretaker of my ohmygoodnessi'mabouttopassout little girl. Upon arriving to pick her up from school her friends let me know that C "fell" in class after getting her tooth pulled and would not be coming to the pick-up line.

I know another little girl that passed out in first grade one day. I guess she comes by it honestly. ;)

G's New Smile

There is always a new goofy picture stage to go along with each age and phase.

Here's the new forced smile:





Love this little goofball.

Val, The Pink Ladies, Deer and Sad Kitty

Welcome to the all-in-one animal update.

The ladies got new eartags. I'm so happy about them. They are easy to see now and this is good for so many reasons.


Look at these deer....we drove up to them on the gator out at my parent's place. They just looked at us and kept eating. I think we could have driven circles around them and they wouldn't have cared. So cool.


Meet Val. So cute. Long story.


Meet sad kitty. No inside visits now that Val is here.