Beautiful Scenery

A few months ago we planned a trip over fall break to The Black Hills. We had hoped to be able to stay at Dave's brother's mountain vacation home. It's the second highest residence in the state of South Dakota. When the time came to travel we had three car loads of eager vacationers.

The girl's ooohed and aaahed at The Corn Palace

enjoying pictures of past glories.

The cousins took turns holding each other's hands and chasing around sweet Ava.

They stood still long enough to pose with me in front of the impressive facade of husks.

Then, they watched movies all the way to Rapid City.

For me, I had trouble deciding what I liked better, the wide open plains

that stretched on forever,

the winding mountain roads alive with deer leaping,

the unexpected snow,

the Loft nestled into the trees,

the view from the wrap around deck,

or watching my girls spend time with family and friends.

Quite honestly, I couldn't take my eyes off of both. One moment I'd sigh as I watched my pajama clad little ones snuggle in next to the fire giggling

and in the next moment I'd step out and breathe the overtly crisp air.

Then, I'd return to try and make Ava grin

marveling at the depths in her eyes,

In the morning, I'd smile watching Auntie Rachel play teacher

and then at night I'd find my husband standing in the cool air, perfectly still and quiet except for the snapping of his camera.

Taking it all in.

Jenna's Perfect Pumpkin Party!

It seems impossible that my baby could already be six years old. It feels like only yesterday that I was trying to figure out how I was going to take an infant, an almost two year old and a 3 1/2 year old to the grocery store. Now, I can look back at those days and almost laugh. I can fondly recall how nice the manager at Cub Foods was the two times I lost my keys. I must have looked a sight with my hair in a ponytail, my sweat suit stained with baby throw up and one hand on Shayla at all times to keep her from darting. The bags of groceries were stuffed into the cart, next to the infant carrier and unused coupons spilled from my purse as I rifeled through it, trying to find my keys but coming up with a Dora toy and a pacifier instead. I can remember the joy as he handed me my keys and then told me about the "free" kids cookies in the bakery section . Future shopping changed for me in that moment as I learned how effective bribery can be for a parent. To this day, I feel no guilt and when my kids expect chocolate as a reward, I know it's my fault. When they turn 21, I'll pay for a month of Weight Watchers so they can sort through thier food issues. In the meantime, I chose to celebrate my baby turning six, with a party, 17 girls, and a big chocolate cake!

The number's were on the floor ready for a candy walk

The plates awaited cupcakes and the cups cider

the girls snuggled with their auntie

and Jenna opened a present as she waited for her guests to arrive.

Then we danced, and hopped and crawled

and made silly pumpkin people

and played a game that involved a detective and a pumpkin smasher.

Here's a lil pumpkin that's already been smashed.

This detective had a lot of work ahead of her as pumpkins were smashing all around.

Jenna giggled as she blew out her candles, enjoying the attention

and the girls seemed happy to share chairs so that they could all fit around my big table.

In the end, Jenna's Pumpkin Party was a perfect way to celebrate the life of my little sassy, sweet, six year old. And I was able to celebrate how far we've come!

Halloween 2009

This year Dave and I were recovering from the dreaded flu, H1N1. With coughs that had turned into Bronchitis we weren't really in the mood to carve pumpkins or do Halloween. Quite honestly, I'm never in the mood to carve pumpkins. I'm not a fan of the guts touching my hands and after doing the majority of the work on the girl's carving in past years, I usually just pick the easiest pattern and bang it out quick. Dave is always a sport and guts all five pumpkins, thinning down the walls. This year, I was pleasantly surprised when Shayla chose to do one of my standards, the BAT. Katie chose my other favorite, the CAT. I drew on the pattern with a sharpie and then they did the rest! Jenna even freestyled, creating a cute little face. So, I chose an easy bear and within an hour we were done. It was even fun and set the tone for the rest of Halloween!

That night the girl's hurried to dress themselves, needing just a little help with make-up.

A Black Leopard, a Snow Princess and Cleopatra took the place of our normal kids.

These strangers were very excited and spent quite a bit of time jumping up and down.

Later, these three cuties stopped by to visit and reminded me of how much my girl's have grown and how much work it used to be!

At the end of the night, Cleopatra took off her jewels to sort through her loot, offering her Mom treasures of Almond Joy's and Mounds!

This guy wore his costume all night. Scary!

The snow princess scored the most candy, walking all through our development with a friend. They each thought it was great when I allowed them to eat two pieces before bed. At this rate they should finish their last piece by the fourth of July! By nine I was watching a Movie, grateful for big girls who are good kids even on days when it's OK to be a little bad, girls who don't like coconut!

Sometimes

Sometimes all a girl needs is to feel pretty

and sometimes all it takes is a pair of frog rain boots

and a new dress.

A dress that you'd admired in the store.

A dress that your Mom said was too expensive and impractical.

A dress that you knew would twirl just the right way.

A dress that your Mom decided to buy anyway to surprise you

and then discovered it had been moved to the clearance rack.

A dress that makes you feel on the outside the way you feel on the inside...perfect.

Sometimes all a girl needs is to feel pretty.

If You Plan It They Will Come

This is a story about a guy. A guy with a birthday that just happened to be on the same day as the last Twin's Baseball Game in the Metrodome. He decided that he would buy sixty tickets and invite friends and family. The big question was...if he planned it, would they come?

The answer was yes.

The entire crazy crew was there under the giant mushroom ceiling

waving our Homer Hankies,

laughing at everything,

catching a homerun ball,

sharing way too many treats

and making crazy faces.

Lots of nutty faces,

like goofy, baby cookie-monster faces,

evil smiles

and what is it with people sticking out their tongues? First Melissa

and then Lisa.

It was all about just being together

Father and Daughter

Baby and Momma

Sister-in-laws

Uncles and Nephews

Brother-in-laws

Cousins

Friends

Aunties

Lovebirds

Grandpas-to-be

and those yummy

darling Grandbabies that make every day a party for the Birthday Guy.

He planned it, we came, the Twins won and the memories will be a homerun.

Motivation

Before school started I splurged and purchased for myself a new pair of walking shoes. The old pair were still in great condition even after five years. I mistakenly thought that $55 dollars and a good sale is all it would take to put a new zip in my step and inches off my hips. I now am willing to admit that it took three weeks for me to finally walk out of the house, dog on leash with the intention of walking for an hour. The result, twenty minutes later I would return limping with blisters on both of my feet.

It's now a week later, my gigantic blisters are healed, I just finished eating a snack size bag of Cheez-its and I'm forced to admit that either I buy some new jeans or lose ten pounds to fit into the vast array of clothes already hanging in my walk-in closet. I'm searching for some motivation, some stick-to-it-ness and a little bit of I-can-do-it. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Kitty Cats

I had a Kitty when I was a little girl. Her name was Mitsy and she was a scrappy, mousing, baby making machine. She used to sleep in the crook made by my bended knee. One Winter she chased a squirrel up a tree and was caught in a snowstorm. After days of looking we finally heard her weak pleas for help. My dad, seeing the snowflakes mixed with tears on our faces and hearing her faint mewing, climbed aboard the bucket of a tractor and was hoisted up into the high wind-blown branches. He returned a hero with a skinny, fiesty purring cat.

Eventually, Mitsy was hit by a car and I would go cat free for many years until one fateful day when I would see a "Free Kittens" sign on the side of a road. I would follow the sign to a farm where I would pick Gypsy, the inbred demon cat from hell. The cat that would bite for no reason and corner our friends in the Kitchen where they would fear for their lives. The cat that Dave was allergic to and eventually took into The Humane Society while I wept in the car, having chosen marriage over responsible animal ownership. The cat that Dave lied about for five years, reassuring me that she found a new home with non-allergy sufferers, neglecting to mention the long, padded war gloves the Humane Society workers were forced to don in order to pry my hissing, psychotic pet from her kennel. After that I would swear off cats for the rest of my life.


This however is the exception to that pledge! Jenna and our neighbor girls have embraced the idea of Trick or Treating whole heartedly. With a magic marker they made whiskers on their sweet little faces and went meowing door to door for candy.

They soon figured out that adults are suckers for cuteness and many of us have candy corn in bowls by our front door. Smart little felines!