Brrr....

When it looks like this outside....

This is what it looks like inside my house....

I didn't do a really good job of capturing the complete picture.... there was a tent set up in each of the kids' rooms (no way they could all share one!!), my hallway was converted to a shooting range complete with barricades made from laundry baskets, small tables, pillows and whatever else provided cover from incoming Nerf bullets.

Even Butch got to come inside out of the cold.

Boys vs. Girls

I'm no stranger to having a couple of extra kids at my house, truth be told, I enjoy it, but today I had older kids instead of younger. Chance and Blake came over to play. Boy, what a difference. With boys comes noise, roughhousing, and the occasional Nerf dart to the belly. Of course, Matthew could not pass up the opportunity to "keep the boys in line".



Here he is demonstrating the proper way to give a wedgie. You see, by pulling the underwear over the foot, the more the boy wiggles, the worse the wedgie becomes. Pretty funny really.


As for the girls, they set up shop in Riley Jo's room and played with the dollhouse and horses all morning. Nice and quietly I might add.

Magic Blanket Rides

The kids discovered yet another use for the "magic blanket". This blanket has been known to make people disappear, turn everyday kids into SUPERKIDS, and can give any grumpy kid a serious case of the giggles.




The latest trend is blanket rides!!! The kids thought this was way too fun. It must of kept everyone entertained for at least an hour.

It is such a pleasure to watch a child's' imagination at work. Nothing makes me smile like watching from the sidelines as kids play and laugh. It really makes all the tough times worth it.

Little Avery kept trying to sneak a ride with her brother, Cade didn't like that idea and Riley Jo said she was in need of a break. I guess that's my cue to put the camera down and go play. Oh darn! I guess... all in a days work!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful day. As for us, our day was great. We fixed a big pot of chili and just had a fun, lazy, family day. We've started a tradition of going out and getting our Christmas tree in the evening after diner, but we were all disappointed to find all of the tree places closed this year. Friday night my mom came to visit for the weekend. I didn't tell the kids so when she pulled up Friday night, they were pleasantly surprised.

Riley Jo even talked Nana into having a tea party. One of R.J.'s favorite past times.

O Christmas Tree

Our hunt for the perfect tree started Thanksgiving night as it has the past few years. Although this year we discovered that all the tree places were closed. BUMMER. So Saturday morning we all loaded up and headed to town in our quest for the tree. We found one!!! Even better... it was at the first place we looked. It may take me awhile to get into the holiday spirit (especially before Thanksgiving), but our annual tree hunt is so much fun for me. I love shopping for a Christmas tree. All the different shapes and sizes and the challenge of finding the one without any holes, and the smell is just wonderful!!
Here it is in all of its glory!!! Isn't it pretty?!?

By the time we got home the kids were itching to get all of the decorations out and get the house all decked out. My little pine trees were their project. We usually do an M&M tree and they took charge of that job...

The finished project.....

And the Grand Finale....

I guess decorating a Christmas Tree is hard work. Some nice quiet down time is just what they (and me) needed!!

Uninvited Visitor

This is a long story, but bare with me and you might get a chuckle out of it..

Last night we were all playing in the living room and we kept hearing a cat meowing, quite loudly. Matt assured us that he had put Tawney outside and had seen her go. He said that she was probably underneath the house. Although Tater and I kept saying that it sounded like it was coming from the hall, we finally conceded that to the fact that that she was under the house & never gave it another thought. Until... the kids went to get their

jammies on & all of a sudden we hear an awful scream from Tater and he comes running (stumbling) into the living room, white as a ghost, with a look of true fear on his face, (I've never seen that look before.) After a minute of reassuring and trying to calm Tater down, what we got from him was that there was something big, black, and scary in the house. I don't think Riley saw anything, she was just reacting to Tater. (I'm dying of laughter just typing out this story!) Matthew went to investigate and discovered a big black cat in the doorway of our bedroom at the end of the hall, starring him down. Apparently the kids came around the corner and it was sitting in Riley Jo's doorway and when Tater turned on the lights, that's when he saw it. So there it is, at the end of the hall just sitting there watching Matthew. Later I did get Matt to admit that he was a little nervous about this wild cat that's loose in the house and how in the H E L L is he gonna get it out!?!? The whole time we're thinking that it's not running because it feels threatened and it's gonna attack. So Matthew calmly squats down & calls it to him. The darn thing comes right to him. BIG sigh of relief!!! Matt picks up the cat and totes it out to the mudroom. The poor thing is starving, so we get it some food and water. This cat is NOT wild at all. Out theory is that it was someones house cat and it got dropped off out here and found us. It obviously doesn't do good surviving on its own. The poor thing is skin and bones and had one ear that had gotten frostbite and lost the tip. As for his (her?) size, it's not nearly as big as it looks. It's a long hair fluffy critter, SUPER friendly cat.

Once we got the kids calmed down and the cat locked up in the mudroom, one big question remained... "how in the world did this strange critter get into the house?" So we started our investigation and quickly discovered the port of entry....

This is the bathtub in the master bathroom and on the side there is a panel that is removable to allow access to the pipes for the tub. Apparently the cat pushed his way in through a not so tight panel. As you can see, the panel is now secured tightly with duct tape. (gotta love trailer houses!) Upon strong persistence and heavy supervision from the kids, this was done before they could even think about going to bed. We made it through the night without anymore visitors!!! And, amazingly enough, without any nightmares. As for me, I'm just grateful that our visitor picked a night when Matthew was home to make his appearance, and during waking hours. Just imagine... sound asleep, safe and warm in your bed when a big black furry critter with glowing green eyes jumps on you and jolts you back to life from your peaceful slumber! (or brings you to near death just from its presence?!?) I guess, it could have been worse. We'll all be laughing about this for sometime!!

Good Morning Ya'll

This picture is for my family down south. Here is the view from my kitchen window. Just another "yankee" sunrise from the big sky of Montana!!!

My "Little Old Man"

Love those eyes & that dimple!!

Such a serious kid... must have a lot on his mind!?!

Tater is the one who really makes me feel old. I swear he grew up over night!! Every day he still finds a way to amaze me, sometimes not always good, but he's a boy... that's expected!! I'm loving watching him grow into his own person. I'm afraid to close my eyes... next thing I'll know, he'll be 18!!!

My Ladybug

Well, it's that time of year again...pictures!!! Every year I'm amazed at how much my kids have changed in a year, but this year I'm just flabbergasted! Riley Jo is still my baby girl and always will be, but she is far from a baby. I do not know what I'm going to do next year when she starts school. I have really enjoyed our time together.

"Learning the Ropes"

Creative Punisment

The other day the boys had a hard time behaving so, being the creative parents that we are, as their punishment Matt gave them each a small screwdriver and told them to go get every little rock out of all of the truck tires. It kept them out of trouble for a little while anyway!!!

Princess & Soldier

This year Riley Jo decided that she wanted to be a princess, complete with wand and fancy hair and makeup, and Tater had a hard time making up his mind, but finally settled on being a soldier. A pretty handsome one, I might add.

We went trick or treating in town with some friends this year. Here's a shot of the whole gang.

Carving Pumpkins

Oh what fun. . .

The end result... 2 scary(?!?) pumpkins.

Matthew's Elk

Well today was opening day of hunting season and Matthew was chompin' at the bit. He's been just like a little boy with these elk out here and this year he had a good reason to go hunting . . . we need the meat!! This is Matthew's very first elk, and he did good. She's about 600-800lbs. Not bad at all. He got a good close up look at the bull of the bunch, and said he is HUGE. Now I hope that he startled them enough that they head back in the hills and stay put for awhile, it really would be a shame to see that bull to die.

Tater was pretty disappointed that he wasn't able to go on the hunt, but he is very proud of his daddy (and the elk) none the less.

New Neighbors

We recently noticed a small herd of elk hanging out just down the creek from us. There are 2 BIG bulls, 2 cows, and 2 calves. They have taken a liking to the green lush alfalfa right off the county road, so they have developed a tolerance for cars driving by and people stopping to look.

It has been nice watching them for awhile, but hunting season opens tomorrow, so they'll probably be on the move soon. I hope that big bull gets to see another year.... he is incredible. It's just breathtaking to watch him.

Pay no attention to the power lines. It's the only shot I could get! (where's Tabor Craig when I need him?!?)

Sleds and Snowmen

We all decided that we needed to get all bundled up this afternoon and take advantage of the fresh powder. The kids started up the hill with the sled in tow, although for Riley Jo the trek up the hill proved to be a challenge. It's hard to climb a fairly steep hill when the snow is past your knees. Tater got the sled to the top and went down and then hauled the sled back up again, just as Riley Jo was reaching the launch point. She decided that she would go down once and that would be enough for her.

Taking a short rest while waiting for brother .

Aahh... made the uphill hike worth it!!!

Dustin got tired of waiting for Riley tyring to trudge her way through the deep snow, so being the good brother that he is, offered to push her through the field.

After the much exhausting attempt at sledding, we figured we would try our hands at building a snowman. Dustin was to busy moving snow and making roads with his dump trucks, but Riley really enjoyed our task at hand. He's a 'snowcowboy'. (note the cowboy hat)

I found this picture to be a little comical due to the fact of the trees in the background, full of nice green leaves.

Still Snowing

Well here it is day 3 and we have A LOT of snow. My guess is 2.5 feet, maybe even a little more. I really didn't get a good picture of the amount of snow. This is the deck off the back but as of yesterday afternoon the kids cleaned all the snow off, so what's there now just came over night and this morning.



This picture might show how deep the snow is a little better. . .

Not so much fun in the snow

To keep cabin fever at bay, we all loaded up with Matthew and went to feed a bale to the cows. Wouldn't of been so bad except for the really big hill that we had to tackle. We made it up about 3/4 of the way and then we got STUCK. Luckily, the tractor wasn't but a short hike up the hill, so away went Matthew. . . .
In case you can't tell, this is a picture of the back wheel of the pickup buried in the snow. Even 4 wheel drive couldn't save us this time.



My hero!! The one good thing about getting stuck so bad that we needed the tractor to get us out, is that he cleared the road too. Made for a much easier trip down the hill. Yeah Matthew!!!

Fun in the snow

The kids thought they would bundle up and tackle the great white outdoors this afternoon. After they got a trail made, it was great sledding.

Riley Jo wasn't too keen on getting the sled to the top of the hill, but she sure enjoyed the ride down. Tater was a good big brother and pulled the sled to the top for her.

Okay, my best guess is that we have over a foot of snow easy, as of Saturday afternoon. I was surprised how deep it was out in the field without any drifts. Here's Matt's pup, Butch. You can get an idea of how deep the snow is from this picture.