06.29.2011

I almost forgot to take a picture today.  As Macy and I were finishing up watering the garden and flowers, I ran inside to grab my camera so I could photograph her working.  Instead, I photographed her playing (it was still above 90 degrees this evening).  I was so excited to find rainbow water trails in the screen. 

(cross-process action on picnik)

06.28.2011

These are four new perennial flowers that I planted this spring.  I wanted to have their names down for reference next year.  What better place than my picture a day blog!

Someone remind me next year that when I add more perennials, I need to add some that will add color earlier in the summer.  I still have no color in my yard.  All my perennials are late bloomers.  Elaine, my wonderful mother-in-law, offered me some of her peony bushes and I think I'm going to take her up on it.  (I wonder when the best time to transplant them is.  Probably not right now while they are flowering.)  Although I love the huge white ones she has, I think that to add some color to my hard I'm going to have to ask for a couple pink ones.

06.27.2011

You are not going to believe what I did.  Today, when I was getting out my card reader, I realized that my CF card was still in it.  You know what that means, don't you?  The pictures I took today are lost.  I didn't have a card in my camera when I took them. 

In the sense of staying positive, I should be proud of myself for trusting my judgement enough not to check the first image before shooting the next one (or 20) on manual mode.  In the sense of being negative, I was so excited to upload the images because the kids were being so cute and I thought I had great angles. 

The images were of two kids who had been best friends all day long (Macy and Jeffrey).  They played together, helped eachother, and worked together.  It was a great day.  They were soaking wet from watering trees (and everything else in the yard) so I had them take their clothes off outside before going inside to take a shower.  Well, instead of going inside to take a shower, they played on the swingset...absolutely nakey.  Maybe I can have them recreate the scene tomorrow

06.26.2011

While I was out mowing the lawn this afternoon, the kids were supposed to be taking a nap.  I found out that they were not when Macy came running out on to the deck, crying and screaming, and then ran back in to the house.  There are times when you know your kids are being overly dramatic and there are times when you know they are seriously hurt.  I could tell by Macy, that something was definitely wrong inside.  I walked inside to find a blood trail from my room, to the back window, to the bathroom down the hall only to see Jeffrey standing nearly naked with his head over the toilet.  He nose was dripping profusely.  Blood was everywhere on the floor, walls, rugs, toilet,garbage and Jeffrey's body.  Macy was being the best little sister ever...she was wiping up the floor, getting more tissues for Jeffrey's nose, and even holding the tissue on Jeffrey's nose while he peed.  (I seriously cracked up at that sight!)  Luckily Jeffrey was not seriously injured, the bloody nose made it look far worse than it was.  Hopefully he learned his lesson that he needs to be a little bigger to be able to do a front flip without a trampoline!

06.25.2011

Jeffrey and I went to Nesson Valley with Tyler this morning.  Just as we got there a rain storm was approaching and Tyler pointed out that I should take a picture of the flag with the clouds in the background.  It's a good think he did because I have been pretty poor about taking pictures lately.

06.24.2011

Evening Storm Clouds

(sooc)

06.23.2011

“I’m convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile.”

– Tom Clark

(you can click on the picture to see a larger version)

06.22.2011

Macy and Anny (short for Granny) waving bye as they are getting ready to leave for Cut Bank to visit Great Grandpa Jim and Great Grandma Nancy.

06.21.2011

These two have been best friends lately.  I hope that it continues for the rest of the summer.  It is a lot more fun to have them around when they are getting along versus when they are fighting all the time.  :)

06.20.2011

Jeffrey and Macy have been working on a cat trap for several days now.  I'll send them outside to do chores and come out to find them working on the trap.  So far, no cats have been caught.

(sooc)

06.19.2011

Didn't I just say that people are always making faces at the camera? 

06.18.2011

Lindsay and Jason at their wedding dance on June 18th.

I always think grooms are so cute getting the garter off their wives legs.

06.17.2011

Shells from Florida

06.16.2011

"Keep your eye on the ball and watch the ball hit the bat."

06.15.2011

These are the little kids watching their older sister and brothers play t-ball.

06.14.2011

While getting ready for branding, we found a pheasant nest in the fence where all the cows and calves go for sorting.  I decided that the kids and I should try to incubate the eggs because the other alternative was the eggs getting trampled.  Today, our first egg hatched.  Macy loves animals and is a little mother hen to the baby pheasants.

06.13.2011

I've been asking Tyler to make me raised gardens for a few years now.  I'm not really sure why I think I'll be more successful in a raised garden than in the ground, but I just think I will.  (And I think they are cute!)  Tyler finally gave in and made them for me for my birthday present this year.  He did tell me when he was done that it is a lot easier to just walk in to Ritter Brother's and pick out a charm for my bracelet.  Isn't he sweet?

06.12.2011

Tyler is busy getting McCall's (a spot of land down by the river) ready to move our cows to for the summer.  I pretended to help him today also, but really spent most of my time taking pictures and helping Macy walk over all the sticks in the grass.

06.11.2011

2011 Branding

This little calfy was just a few days old so Jeffrey and Macy got to help hold him down while Jenna gave him shots and branded him.  The day was long, but the weather and help were great!

06.10.2011

Papa Dale called and asked me if I could help him get ready for branding today.  I said yes in a second.  I love helping with work like this.  Jeffrey got to come along also.  You can see that although Jeffrey and I were a great help in getting the panels loaded and the corrals ready, we were too busy playing around here to be much help.  I wonder if Papa Dale will ask us to help again?

06.09.2011

You see these, they are Jeffrey's new cleats for t-ball.  There is just one thing wrong with them, they are still clean.  You see, the first t-ball game Jeffrey was going to play (we missed the actual first game while in Omaha) was canceled due to rain today.  I hope that's not how the rest of June turns out.

06.08.2011

This toy truck was my dad's when he was a little boy.  Jeffrey and Macy both love to play with it now.  The front shovel lifts up and back all the way to dump in to the back end.  The back end can then lift and dump onto the ground.  It's a pretty sweet truck for all the bales that needs to be moved when the kids are farming.

06.07.2011

 "During"

(The "After" won't be ready for awhile...I need to get some sand paper for my electric sander.)

06.06.2011

This is Hallie, my friend Rachel's daughter.  Hallie is competing in the Little Miss Montana Pageant next week and needed a photo.  Let me tell you, everything just came together for me and taking pictures and Hallie and looking sweet and the weather because there were way too many pictures for Rachel to choose from.  Rachel narrowed the pictures from nearly 200 to 10 and Hallie picked this one for her final decision.

(Side note:  She won!)

06.05.2011

Jeffrey lost his first tooth!

06.04.2011

"Before"

A chalkboard that I got for free at an auction sale.

06.03.2011

On the way home from Omaha, we stopped in Fargo to see Julie and Al's addition, Gabriel Alf.  He is a sweet little baby, but I didn't get a great picture of him so these four crazies got to be in the POTD.

06.02.2011

Grammy Robyn is always willing to play with the kids.  No matter how busy Grammy is, she is alsways willing to sit down on the floor and build, run around and chase, go down slides, swim in pools, play sports, put puzzles together, play board games, push on the swings, and even participate in jumping off the swings contests.

06.01.2011

The kids have been horrible about letting me taking pictures of them.  They run away from the camera, put their hands in front of their faces, and turn their backs as soon as they see me with my camera up to my eye. 

At the zoo today, Grammy Robyn bought the kids tickets to ride the carousel.  After the ride, I asked the kids if they would take a picture with Grammy as a thank you.  They wildly and readily agreed.  I was shocked. 

The first meltdown happened when Abby and Jeffrey were faster at getting a spot next to Grammy on the rocks.  Macy (long past her nap time) got ticked off and threw a fit.  She promptly removed herself from the picture.  After Macy calmed down and sat on the other side of Grammy, Abby got up and started looking at some birds.  When Abby got back, Jeffrey got distracted and started watching the train. 

Needless to say, we didn't get a picture of Grammy with the kids. 

05.31.2011

We went from highs in the 60's at home to nearly 90 degrees here in Omaha.  Jeffrey and Macy better appreciate the hot weather here because it might be the only swimsuit weather they experience the way this summer is going. 

05.30.2011

Four Cousins:  partners in crime, giggling buddies, sleepover friends, antagonists, teammates, co-conspirators, mother hens, helpers, tattle-tales, friends for life.

Payton (26 months), Jeffrey (5 3/4), Abby (so close to 7), Macy (3 1/2...and don't forget the 1/2)

05.29.2011

We finally arrived in Fargo this afternoon.  The kids went straight to the backyard to play.  I pulled weeds.  Grandma took a break from it all and paid bills.

05.28.2011

On the first leg of our trip to Omaha, the kids and I stopped in Minot at Pam's to help her get ready for graduation.  We were there for the afternoon and then headed to Wilton to stay at Papa Jeff's before leaving the next morning for Omaha.  We had to go outside and check out the garden the kids helped plant last week while they were staying with Papa and Grammy.

05.27.2011

Today was the last day of school, which I also consider the first day of summer.  Tyler and I originally planned to have a "Last Day of School" party down at the river.  However, as most of you know, or are experiencing for yourself, much of North Dakota is flooding and the Yellowstone is no exception.  I had already invited at least 40 people to the party so there was no way I was going to cancel so we simply moved it to our house.  The afternoon weather was okay, and the big kids played baseball against the little kids.  The evening was cruddy, it was super windy and cool, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  I feel like I had so many people out and that there was so much going on that I didn't really get to have a decent conversation with anyone or take any pictures of the group.