A Day at the Ranch

Thursday, we took the kids to a local "ranch" where they feed the elk that come out of the mountains in search of food. They feed them to keep them from going into the cities and possibly getting hurt. It's called Hardware Ranch and they encourage visitors. We went late, but we got to ride the sleigh out into the herd. Take a look. BTW, it was like 10 degrees F. We are so Southern, next time we'll be ready.

 

Visitor's Center

 

What's YOUR wingspan?

 

Waiting in line.

 

All snuggly. (she was the warmest of us all).

The Horses.

 

Can you see the icicles on his mustache?

 

There were several bulls out there, the guide said that's unusual.

New Year, New Calendar

Actually, I make a new one every month. I thought I would share what our large family calendar looks like.


Fullsize, December and January next to each other.


The top of January.

I do this in MSExcel.

Just thought you might be interested.

Some Christmas Photos

Well, I thought I had figured out the webcam, so we THOUGHT we were recording most of the day(s) in an easy to post format. We were wrong. Happily, the camcorder was rolling. I'm hoping to be able to upload that to my laptop, but I need some more cables.

Hanging stockings.

She was NOT sleeping, she was looking up (at a light maybe?).







Getting presents!




The aftermath...






Whose WiggleRacer IS that?


"I'm just here for the Chocolate."


We had a Merry Christmas and are now addicted to the Settlers of Catan (atleast Steve, Brendan, Kyla and I).

White Christmas Eve

It snowed nearly all day on Christmas Eve. Steve and the oldest three couldn't resist a little snow play.

Ryann’s 3rd Birthday

It's odd having a child born on Christmas Eve. We still haven't gotten her a "baby's 1^st" Christmas ornament because we couldn't decide which was really her first Christmas (next year, we'll get one for 2004 for her). It's also interesting trying to decide how best to celebrate. Since this is only her third birthday, she really doesn't seem to care. This year, we had a birthday breakfast with candles in her French toast. Here are some pictures:

Birthday French toast!

Opening gifts!

Birthday duds.

No outfit is complete without the birthday sweater.

We’ve had a busy week:

Saturday: Sweet 16 party for young lady at our church. It was a costume party and I won "most far out" with this get-up.

These guys won "cutest"…hmmm.

Jen and one handsome dude.

Sunday: Baby shower for my friend, Wendy. Isn't this cake interesting?

Monday: Mount Laundry

Tuesday: Steve took the day off to mail our packages (I'm such a wimp). Piano lessons and a fun walk around downtown looking at gingerbread houses and voting on our favorites with our friends.

Wednesday: Jen and company came over to bake/make goodies. Too bad you can't smell the chocolate babka or taste the toffee.

Thursday: Snow, snow, and more snow.

Friday: Piano recital for Kyla and Mad (just the families).

Saturday: Quick sledding trip before going to the airport to pick up Brendan.

Tomorrow is Ryann's 3^rd birthday, so we are having French toast with ice cream for breakfast.

The Ticker

I hope you noticed it. It's a big deal, y'know.

We found out that we are expecting baby #5 a couple of days ago. I don't really know the due date, but we are thinking somewhere between the end of July and the middle of August. Let's just say, my body is/was still recovering from Tara and I don't have enough data for that calculation. We will most likely have to have an ultrasound very soon after finding a doctor.

Well, now you know!

We feel very blessed that God has chosen to give us another baby to raise. We are excited and look forward to bringing this little boy or girl into the world.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow….

Well, we have jumped into our new church with both feet. It is a very small Evangelical Free church and Steve and I, after a month or so, decided that we wanted to join. Steve is playing in the praise band (djembe – hand drum) and making them sound great (okay, they were pretty good before he started).

I have gotten involved in the women's ministry. Yesterday, we had Ladies' Craft Time (some ladies work night shift, so we had it earlier) which I organized. The women in our church are all so crafty, it was a natural. We had a great time sitting around, doing our crafts and chatting. We have a Stampin' Up! junky (not a consultant) who led some card making. There were knitters and crocheters, and I was making our Christmas cards (at least working on them). Then, we had a simple baked potato bar and salad. I was really pleased and the ladies all said they had a great time. We're going to do it again monthly (well, that's the plan). I am not tooting my own horn, I don't think that I did a very good job organizing, but it went so well that want to do a better job next time.

It has been snowing since Friday and it is lovely. Sandy really likes the snow too. She has taken every opportunity to dart away and make us chase (& bribe) her. We WILL be putting some kind of fence on the other side of the house so that she may not run away again. She has done it four times in the last week. It's not that she is bad or unhappy, it's just doggone fun to run around and being on a chain most of the time is not fun. We are working on solutions.

Well, it's time for Empowering Couples, time to go.

Girls Day Out

We had an unplanned outing today. Piano lessons have moved to the morning so, I planned to go to a local bookstore near Jen's (piano teacher) house. We went (didn't find any of the books on my list) and decided to walk around "downtown". We had a great time! Ryann was a bit fussy, but Tara slept the whole time.

We went to a Natural Market, I bought some aromatherapy soap, polenta & sweets. Then, we had lunch at the Great Harvest Bread Co. I had the Swede's Turkey, can I just say YUM? Kyla had roast beef with mustard and onions (who's child is she?) on potato dill, she liked it a lot. Ryann had PB&J. I'd never been to the restaurant before, but I'm going back, I can't wait to take Steve.

We then hit the Bluebird Candy Company for a treat. We could see the ladies in the back dipping the chocolates, their hands were covered in chocolate – what a job! By this time, Ryann is covered in peanut butter and chocolate & I didn't bring the diaper bag with me, thinking we would be going home right after the bookstore.

There was a neat garden store that was all about Christmas, so we bought some ornaments. There were some really neat looking trees. I'm happy with our plain-jane tree. We walked through a quilt store (the Red Rooster, Mama). And a great baby store (no Babies R Us here) where I bought some bottles to go with my pump.

We finally ended in Books of Yesterday, a gianormous used bookstore. It almost makes up for the wretched library system here. Ryann was a complete monkey, so we only stayed for half an hour, but I can't wait to go back. I bought Fairy Poems by Laura Ingalls Wilder for $7.00 and a few (only a few) others.

We had a good time. It was chilly but nice. We came home (after a stop at the grocery store) and made chicken soup. I now need to go clean it up (and the rest of the kitchen).

Decorating the Tree

Looks more like apple picking.


Steve gets to put all the mini-drums on the tree.


Kyla's getting pretty good at this.


I wanna help too...

Ryann's New Do

After a quick cut by mom!!

Things that are bugging me...

I know, pretty negative stuff, but I need to get it off my chest.

1. Those dancing people on computer ads. Who dances like that? Why?

2. Kids on Heelys in stores whose parents haven't taught them to be considerate. Shoot, skip the Heelys and they are still pretty annoying.

3. People who don't smile back.

4. My dry, cracked fingertips (painful).

5. My husband being out of town, again.

6. The bright, glaring, white fence behind my house and in direct view of all my good windows. If it were on my property, I would have painted it or planted vines to cover it. It's blinding.

Okay, not a very long list, but I feel better.

Now, off to memorize Philipians 2:14, again!

Winter Wonders

Well, I guess I've ignored y'all long enough (all 3 of you who read my blog). I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post (longer?).

Anyhow, we have been doing fine. Kyla went to TX for Thanksgiving and I really missed her. She had a good time (had Christmas early with Dad and Step-Mom and Brendan). She has decided that flying is boring (whew!). We went over to our pastor's home for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time visiting and watching Amazing Grace (great movie). Steve was off most of the week (wonderful). It has been snowing off and on.

Speaking of snow, it has snowed almost all day today! We got at least 6 inches! I am such a newbie that I actually enjoyed it. I didn't want anyone to disturb the pristine blanket of white all around our house, but we did. Sandy and I took a walk this evening and it was really neat to walk around and mess up the snow all around the neighborhood (some of whom have already shoveled their sidewalks. :-S ).

Okay, here are the pictures already. You probably aren't even reading these words, you probably just scrolled down to see the pictures, I know how it is.

Blah blah blah

One of Ryann's many experiments in "cause & effect" - crayons do melt on hot fireplace glass (it also wipes off easily).

Why does Ryann have a whole banana?

Sisterly love.

A girl, a bunny hat and a dinosaur bowling pin.

What kind of pic-nic is this?

Snow clown.

Getting her started early, none of this waiting until they can actually REACH the sink.

Behind every great baby...

Baby homeschooling.

Can you spot Sandy?

awwww...

AWWWWW....

Daddy, why am I on the patio table in a bunny suit?

Snow buddies.