Labor Day 2010

In typical MT fashion, we went from warm and sunny to cool and rainy to winter in the course of two days.

Dani came the cabin with Alex, Allison and me. Mom and Dad met us there and we had a lovely weekend of playing in the "river", hiking to the meadow, listening to the musical stylings of Alex on guitar and hunkering down against the cold.

Grace, Logan, Molly and Kevin came up for the day on Saturday. Kevin went hunting, until a freak hail storm rolled through. Grace and Dani had a wonderful time playing together.
Grace had trouble remembering Dani's name, so just called her "my friend" all day. They're so cute together.

It was quiet, restful and relaxing....well, as much as could be expected with a three year old and three pugs along.

Buddha enjoyed his first visit to the cabin and christened every tree and bush in sight. Chloe and Zoey snarffled around and had a wonderful time frolicking in the grass.

All in all a good time was had.

A Visit with the babies

They are here at last. They'll be here for about 10 days. The living room is cluttered with toys and diaper bags. We've had a sleep over already and have two more planned. There is a belated 2nd birthday party on Saturday and the great grandparents are coming. The rest of the relatives live here in town and all will be together for Dora the Explorer cake and ice cream. We cram a lot of fun into a small space of time. But we are so lucky to be able to get together several times a year for a visit. More pics and fun to follow. It's busy here and I have to do things in snatches for now.

Cutie Patooties

Just got new photos of the peanuts and had to share.

Ricky is getting so big and he's facial expressions have changed from just a couple of weeks ago.

Dani is too busy for her own good and bunged up her hand in a fall. But she'll be fine and life goes on. Can't wait to see them in a few weeks.

Snuggly, huggly babies

This is as good as it gets. We had a safe trip there and back and I got to snuggle these two til they wouldn't let me snuggle them any more. There is no store bought gift that can replace this time together. Seeing them, hearing them, squeezing them and even clean up after them. This was a most Merry Post Christmas. Dani is a chunk. She's as solid as a rock and busier than the busiest bee. She loves to sit on your lap at the computer and look at photos of herself. She likes to push her baby doll around in the stroller or carry her by the leg. Note to self: work on those parenting skills. She doesn't always like to take a nap or go to bed and will amuse herself in her room for "hours" before finally falling asleep. She loves to hold her baby brother but will suddenly push him away when she's done. She's feisty and funny and a joy to behold.

Richard is just perfectly perfect. He sleeps and eats and is so relaxed and calm. He looks around with a quizzical expression but rarely cries or fusses. He's gaining and growing and doing everything he's supposed to be doing at the ripe old age of two weeks. I could just hold him for hours and hours.

I miss them already but they are planning to come out the end of Feb., so I'll hold that thought. In the mean time I need to finish Dani's second year book and start on Ricky's first. I think of the several hundred photos I took, I should find a "few" to work with.

Love This

Day 22

Got this in the mail. This is what all those sleepless nights, all those car pools, all that homework help, all the concerts and class parties and school plays, all the sleepover and temper tantrums and money for braces and whiteknuckle driving lessons and all that stuff, was about. So I can sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor (pun intended). This is what it's all about.

Bubbly Personality

Boy, if that isn't the truth. Miss Thang has been here for a visit and turned the whole bunch of us upside down. She's fast, wobbly, funny, cute, sweet, and priceless. She captivates everyone she comes into contact with. She's not talking in the spoken word much, but she signs like nobody's business. She definately lets you know what she wants. On this day we were out in the front yard playing with a battery operated bubble wand. She loved every minute of it.

Small Town Saturday Night

We may be rednecks, but we sure know how to have fun.

Some Scrappy Stuff

"I Go"...and away she goes. Miss Independant. She's very busy these days and wants to do things herself. I keep reminding her mother that this is good and normal and to give thanks for it. Hollow words for the tired mom who just wants to get 'er done. The second layout is just for fun. Nothing important was happening here. No words of insight or wisdom to dispense. Just a cute slimy baby face and the perfectly colored paper to match. I played with a couple of digi techniques here. Don't know how successful I was on the blur thing in the first layout. Kinda like the big pic on the right side of the second layout. Still learning and trying new things.

The Mojo is back

Haven't scrapped in ... I don't know how long. Haven't even really thought about it. And it's not like I don't have fodder. How many hundreds of photos are sitting there on the hard drive just waiting for some embellishment? But the other day I got a bug. Not the tick that I picked up on my trip into the wasteland that is my garden. No not that kind of bug. A scrappy, crafty kind of bug. Three layouts in three days. I may swoon.

I'm almost caught up with Dani's second year of life book. The only "caught up" that I'll ever be.

Anyway, here's some fun stuff. All digi. All Dani.

Its a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Dani's in the house. Of course so are her parents, but Dani's in the house. What bright little spot of sunshine she is. She currently likes to pull hair, bite the eyeballs of her stuffed frog, slobber and drool, kick and squirm, and delight us all with her sweet baby antics.

The aunties and uncle are in mad competition for her attention and sometimes she becomes a bit overwhelmed by it all resulting in a brief thunderstorm of tears followed almost immediately by sunny smiles and coos. Such a funny monkey.

That's about all for today, but did I mention that Dani's in the house?

Time Flies

Well, I've just enjoyed my first weekend at home in a while. What did I do? Walked the dogs, mowed the yard, tidied up and SCRAPPED. Digital...but still.




















A couple of these I did over the course of the week. I hadn't scrapped in way too long. I guess it helps to get out and do something and take some photos. It also helps to have cool new downloads to ...yes, download. It gets the juices flowing. Now that I've broken the ice that had frozen over my brain, I can start to think about Laura's, CJ. It's Truth or Dare and Madeline picked my Truth. I don't think I can post it, but lets say that it made me think really, really hard and that sorta hurt. But I figured out what I'm going to do. Now for the Dare...again, Brain Fart and some pain. I'll get it, I'm sure, but ouch. Anyway, I'm back in the saddle for a little bit and its pretty good.

Mother's/Brother's Day

This has become a tradition at our house. Alex lets me sleep in and helps to make me breakfast in bed. This year it was a bowl of Capt'n Crunch with Crunchberries, a slice of left over pizza from the night before, and an assorment of dried fruits from the fruit and nut mix Thom buys at Costco. I got three banana slices, a piece of mango and several dried pineapple chunks. Oh and a piece of dried strawberry. Now I told Alex, the night before, that the coffee would be ready when he woke up, but he was all in a flap about not knowing how to make it. The girls said they didn't know how either. Hello....auto pilot. It makes itself, just pour and serve. Thankfully, Thom woke up to save the day and I had my coffee. I got started on my bowl o'cereal and then Alex came in to crawl in with me. This is the Brother's Day part of the morning. He coyly looks at me and asks, "is there anything you don't plan to eat?" I said, "you can have the pizza". So he wolfed that down. I said "could you please help me finish the cereal?" He was shocked. Who doesn't love a sugarladen bowl of Capt'n Crunch first thing in the morning? So he ate that. I had two cups of coffee and a couple pieces of dried fruit and I was good to go. He finished the rest. Allison cleaned the upstairs bath to within an inch of its life. Sarah presented me with a versamark pen and multi tool scrappy thing. Sort of a McGyverish tool. Very cool. Brittney didn't openly loathe me for several hours. Katie sent an ecard and then called so I could "talk" to Dani and hear about Katie's very first Mother's Day. I chatted with Mom who only just realized that you cannot talk on the cell phone while driving through the wilds of Montana on your way to see your baby boy and his betrothed. She kept going through dead zones and trying to call back.....for 2 hours. We did finally have a good chat and then they pulled up to Heather's house where Carl's truck was parked cozily in the driveway and I ceased to exist in her universe again. LOL Alex and I mowed the lawn. First time for him. He was skiddish at first, but finally was willing to push it alongside me. It'll be a while before he's on his own, but it was a good first step. All in all a good day. I hope everyone had an equally enjoyable time yesterday.

2 months

This layout is darling Dani at two months. By this posting she's closing in on three months. How, may I ask, is it possible that she is only three months old? It seems that she's been with us forever. On the other hand, how is it possible that she's already three months old? Such a time warp.

She is fat and happy and healthy. She's over 12 pounds and 25+inches long. What a little pork chop. Allison calls her the sausage baby. She's called her that from the first day. She is a sausage baby, but we don't want her to get a complex.

In a few short months she and Katie will be moving back home. They'll get an apartment and wait out David's deployment here instead of being stuck somewhere all alone. A hard situation for them but better then the alternative. We can hardly stand ourselves for the excitement of having them here. It could happen as early as July, but certainly by the end of summer, if all goes as expected. Poor David. I feel bad for him, as he is head over heels for those two girls and will be very lonely while away. We'll just have to take lots of photos and video and make sure to keep him up to date on all the new little goings on.

Digi kit is Shabby Princess "Vintage Flowers"