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!!!