5 years

So 5 years ago today at this time I was prancing around in my wedding dress waiting for pictures to begin. It was a snowy icky day; it had snowed all night and there were layers of ice with snow on top of them. It was the kind of snow that wasn't even pretty. We did go outside to take a few pictures; Cowby had to hang on to me so I didn't fall. The day went well, but there were awful stories of everyone getting home the next day. Plus, we left on Monday and I was sure we were going to get killed on the interstate on our way to the ski lodge. But everyone did make it safely. It is just one more reason for me so smirk at Cowboy and say, 'see--we should have went to some beach.'
I know the wedding day is not as important as the outcome, and its been a good journey so far. Happy Anniversary to my Cowboy!

Merrry Christmas!

Paige and Daddy modeling their Santa hats.

So I am a few days late, but it's the thought that counts! We had a very nice holiday and I am using today to catch up on stuff. Putting presents away, laundry, shovelling snow, all that good stuff. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and spent the night in Hettinger. We gathered with all my cousins to open gifts early on Wed. afternoon and them we headed to church. Problem was that my daughter didn't want to put on her Christmas dress; so she went to church in her jeans, snowboots, and princess tiara that she had just received. We got quite a few looks--but they were all very happy looks. She calls it her 'castle' and wore it through half of the service.

Christmas Day was spent with my parents, and then late in the afternoon we came back home and saw the family in town. Rick's kids are all coming home at some point over the next few days; so its been nice to see them. Paige got to spend Friday with Gramma Jane since Cowboy and I had to work. I think Gramma had to watch Sleeping Beauty 2 times and Tinkerbell once. We had a major princess theme this Christmas and Paige has decided that Sleeping Beauty is her new favorite move for the week.

Drinking 'cossee' at Gramma's house.

We all received lots of very nice gifts. Thanks to all who gave Paige clothes; she got lots and I love that! She also got a grocery shopping cart, so I sacrificed one part of a kitchen cabinet so her groceries can live in there. She trucks from the living room and back collecting them and using them up. She really likes her simple toys--including the wooden cookie set I found where you can bake cookies and put the frosting on them.

We had a mini blizzard last night, but today is beautiful with lots of sunshine and lots of snow drifted all over. I was out shovelling early and then Paige and I went out to play. We are both very tired; so here is hoping for a long nap.

Christmas shopping & Birthdays

I am done shopping!! You would think so since Christmas is next week, right? I had to take the afternoon off of work so I could go shop, how sad is that. Anyway, after several hours off shopping I crossed everything off of my list and was home by 6pm. I was also shocked at how busy it was on a Wed. afternoon--apparently everyone else had the same idea to avoid the crowds. I had a few frazzled moments, but survived. I found lots of sales, which meant more presents for Paige. She's the easiest to shop for!


We do need to say Happy Birthday to Aunt Bobbi today--I hear she has the day off so hopefully it was a restful one. Also, Happy Birthday to 'Uncle' James tomorrow. Jayden is next week. I feel bad for all of you who have birthdays so close to Christmas. I hope everyone wraps your presents in wrapping paper that is not Christmas colored. Speaking of birthdays, some Cowboy has a significant birthday in one month exactly. I have 30 days to plan for a big 30 day. . .

Christmas Card Photo

Here is the official Christmas photo for 2008. It took lots of bribing to get her to even sit still for 10 seconds. I think I took about 25 pictures and 2 were usable. I am now understanding why photographers make so much money.

More Snow ?

So the weatherman is screaming Snow, Blizzard, Beware!!! Our plan for the weekend is to hibernate at home and not do anything. Since we are doing that I am sure the storm will miss us! But either way, we will be baking cookies and snuggling by the fire. I am hoping to post some pictures soon. Have a good weekend all and stay warm!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my parents who today are celebrating 28 years of being together! I'll dig out the old embarrasing wedding photo to show later :) Have a good day Mom & Dad. We love you.

Pink Boots

Monday night was the Christmas Stroll in Bowman. The stores stay open late, Santa's there, hayrides down Mainstreet in the horse drawn wagon, the band strolls around and plays, etc. Very nice and cheery. We took Paige to participate in two things--Santa and the hayrides. The hayride was an immediate success because there were horses. Papa Rick, Paige, and myself did the first loop. I did not realize a hay wagon was the junior high hang out--that was a little annoying. Anyway, Paige loved it and didn't want to get off. So her Dad did the second round while I window shopped. I took her to see Santa--big mistake. Got to the door way and she disappeared behind my legs. She wouldn't even walk over and take a candy cane from him. So we don't have any pictures with Santa to post. Oh well, I don't blame her since I remember being petrified of him as well.

We found her Dad in the western store boot shopping. We left with our wallets a lot lighter, a big pair of black boots, and a super cute pair of little pink boots for Paige. Forget about wrapping them up under the tree, they had to stay on her feet. So we cut the tags off and went with it. She didn't want to take them off this morning at Kim's and no one had better even touch them or look at them because they were her new pink boots. She seemed to think her little friend Kyler was going to take them. I guess I didn't really need to waste money on other shoes because I think its all she's going to wear until her toes pop out of the ends!

Happy Thankgiving!

Happy Thankgiving all! We were fortunate enough to spend the day with our family in Williston. We drove up with Rick and Jane to see the Clarke family last night. Our trip is brief and only one day since we all have to work tomorrow. We just finished are fabulous meal--Bobbi made a great turkey and trimmings. We are all resting before heading back to Bowman with our full bellies. Miss Paige ate a ton and has the stained shirt with chocolate ice cream all down the front to prove it. The 'kids' all filled up the little picnic table--even Dani who is taller than me. I think its funny how the three Clarke girls took one side and Paige had one whole side to herself!

Matt the horse

So its official, my daughter loves horses. Its probably not going to get any better since today she got her first official ride with Daddy . Considering she's two and a half; that's a long time time to wait for your official horse ride. She has sat on quite a few of them; even done the circus ponies, but those aren't 'real' horses since they aren't Daddy's. Cowboy has this huge horse named Matt. He's very nice if you can get over the fact that he is the size of a small elephant. But for non-horse people like myself, he's pretty gentle and not too scary. I don't even mind feeding him if I have to. He's one of the few horses in the world whose pen I will actually get into and not fear for my life.

Well today Matt made his winter trip back to our house and will hang out here until spring when he is needed to move cattle at Cowboy's work. This means Paige and I will have to go feed him on the weekends if Cowboy is gone at the ranch--which thrills Paige. She runs for the door in the morning if it means going to feed a horse. The bonus is also now that if it's warm enough out and Daddy's home; they can go for a ride. She was so excited today to get to ride a real horse. She has stick ponies and the edge of the recliner that she rides like a horse, but after today I have a feeling they might not cut if anymore.

Pretty, Pretty

I know I have a little girl--a really 'girly' little one who loves dresses, pretty things, etc. But this week there were a couple of instances that just made me grin, and laugh at how 'girly' she really is. I say this with such pride because I have this fear that she is going to turn into a cowgirl at some point in her life and only speak to horses and her Dad and probably only wear Wrangler jeans.


Anyway, the tale begins with the purchase on her Christmas dress. I found it randomly, on sale, and it was delivered on Thursday afternoon. When we got home I showed it to her and said we should try it on so we know it if fits. That's where the lovefest with the dress began. She stripped down for me in the kitchen and we got the tights and shiny little black shoes out. She strutted around for a while saying, "Pretty, pretty!" while looking at the dress and the shoes--which do click really loudly on the hard floors. She pranced around long enough that I knew I had a problem when I needed to take it off of her so she could eat. There was kicking, screaming, and yelling about taking the dress off. I was so inwardly proud I was trying to not laugh. I could only think of being in college and trying on wedding dresses with Crystal; and thought, this is where that bride instinct comes from--it gets originated at this age. I would have worn my wedding dress for a year if they'd let me; so I bargained with Paige that evening about her little dress. She got to eat supper with her tights and shoes; but no dress. I hid the Christmas dress in her closet and as long as she doesn't see it; I'll be safe for a few days before she asks about it. It so happened the next day was dress-up at day care even, so she got to wear a different dress Friday and get another 'dress fix.'

Cowboy and I went shopping last night to get a jump on Christmas and we got Paige a pair of slippers--little pink fuzzy Dora ones. I gave them to her this morning so that her feet stay warm since she's always tearing off her socks at home. The reaction was almost that of the dress. "Pretty, pretty!" She wore them for several hours, until I needed to go to the grocery store. Immense discussion followed on why she couldn't wear them to the grocery store; but I did win. She got to wear her her fuzzy "Ugg" looking boots with the pom-poms instead. They at least have outdoor soles! They looked fabulous with her pink sweats.

Vermin

So we have a mouse in our house--ick! It completely ruined my Veteran's Day holiday because I was bundled up in the chair watching morning TV while Paige was sleeping--when I saw it dart across the floor. I was paralyzed with fear and immediately called my fearless Cowboy on the phone (he was at work) and despite my pleas, he just laughed at me and wouldn't come home. He also told me not to use the vacuum cleaner hose to suck it up in the event I caught it, like I wanted to do. So I just sat there, and composed myself enough to go get the traps out. I couldn't even force myself to go near where the mouse had been--and that was using tongs to hold the trap. So imagine me in my pjs, huge bed head, a mouse trap held in my footlong tongs, tiptoeing in the room scared to death it might jump out at me. I couldn't even go back in there. I called my hero Rick (my father-in-law) who saved the day and came and looked for the mouse and put traps out. He understands the 'girls don't do mice rule'. Bless him.

But we have caught the mouse since then and my fearless Cowboy is nice enough to check the traps and is fixing things so we won't have more!

Fun in the snow!

Saturday was a gorgeous day and Paige and I played outside for quite a while since Cowboy was out trying to kill Bambi's whitetail dad. After the trip to town to purchase a sled was successful; we bundled up and went outside.






After we tried to go down the one slope that had snow and wasn't terrifying; Paige decided it was more fun to go swing. Note the 8 inches of snow on the swingset--that didn't stop her. I think it was the most fun part of the day for her, in additionto finding the dog and attempting to chase him through the snow.

Cowboy was successful on Sunday afternoon; he was pleased he found a whitetail in the country so he wasn't picky about the rack. It was a nice sized deer and most importantly--he's done!

Blizzard

So we are officially in a blizzard and had a snow day today. Work was closed (and it takes an act of God to close a bank) and almost every other thing in Bowman is closed as well. I don't know our total snowfall; but its piled up several inches in the places where the wind hasn't blown. I can't see out too many of our windows since they are plastered with snow; and I have no desire to go out! Cowboy ventured out this morning and he declared it pretty awful--it takes a lot to get him to say the weather is bad.

So the three of us have hung out at home today--obviously we have power; so its been pretty nice. We didn't even turn on the TV until about 2pm. We had waffles (made from scratch--go me) for breakfast and then have been pretty busy playing and doing some little projects. Nap time was declared and I am proud to say my daughter and I napped together on the couch for a while.

I better get some other stuff done. . .but then again maybe not--its a snow day!

Old Friends

I had a wonderful moment yesterday when a random person walked into work yesterday. I looked up and there was Frey. He was one of the groomsmen in our wedding, a college friend of Ryan's, and a wonderful guy. I got a big hug and we visited for a while before he had to take off. He was traveling through and stopped to see Justin and I since he knew where we worked. I smiled all day long after I saw him. There is something so nice about seeing someone from a long time ago. This made me think of other favorite people (none of them magically appeared at work however.) I did call two of my other favorite people from college that night--I speak to them on a more regular basis than Frey. One informed me he wasn't coming to the middle of no where anytime soon, but I'm goingto keep working on him to visit!

A big girl now

Question--Do you know what is the cutest thing in the world to a mom of a 2 year old little girl? Answer--Princess underwear! Paige has decided to wear them and has been doing really well for a week now--a few minor setbacks occasionally--but overall she's doing pretty good. I am just giddy at the thought of being done buying diapers. I have a bit of time yet since she's pretty new at this, but she instigated it so we are going to stick with it! Here is hoping for dry times :)

Happy Halloween!

So I had a grumpy trick-or-treater. I had to pick her up an hour early from daycare--which interrupted nap time and was the beginning of the crabby period that dominated part of the evening. I picked her up and we stopped to see Gramma Jane at work; went to a few places on Main Street; found Grampa Rick at the Werths and made two other stops on the way home. She was even crabby with her grandparents--you know if a kid is unhappy to see them that something is wrong. I kept hearing "Mom--go home now." So we were home by 5:45 and done for the night.



After some supper she was fine. Oh well. She did get quite a bit of candy and was VERY protective of her candy bag--I heard several times how it was her candy and not Mom's. She's on to me. We'll just see how she deals with it after her Dad inhales all of her Reese cups.

Pumpkins

We carved and painted pumpkins last night. Gramma Jane and Grampa Rick came out and helped us be creative. Paige, Gramma, and I painted while Cowboy and Grampa opted to carve theirs.

Halloween preview

We attended a Halloween party on Saturday night--up in a big old barn loft. Very cool. The gal had set up some little kid games and they played those and had a lot of fun. Paige debuted her monkey costume--which we like; but not necessarily with the hood up. But its very nice and warm.
Playing a game where you throw the rings on the witches hats. She just walked up there and put them on; but it counts!

New Hats & Braids

The other day I attempted to do braids in Paige's hair--they turned out alright. I thought they were cute until I picked her up from Kim's and she had redone them after Paige's nap. Bless her for keeping the curls under control. She's going to be getting a haircut sometime soon as well.

This child has my huge noggin and we are having a really hard time with winter hats. I finally found one that works and is cute--plus its various colors and will go with all of our coats. Paige was so excited that she had to wear it for half an hour the day I got it.

ABC's

So Paige started rambling off letters of the alphabet the other day to me. We've always sang the ABC song--she just watches me and will repeat a few after me. But we have some letter magnets on the fridge and a thing that plays the name and sound--she starts telling me which letter is P, M, D, K & C. We have learned them by saying P is for Paige; M is for Mommy. But she just started rattling off a few by herself with no prompting. It was great. I thought for a moment I had a genius.

BBQ at the ranch

So this last weekend we spent up at the ranch in MT. It was the annual fall party for friends, neighbors, etc. We went up on Friday night and had supper at the supper club--which was the busiest I have ever seen it. Lots of hunters. Anyway, Saturday was perfect--weather wise. Could not have asked for a nicer day. So Paige was up early and we had to go check out the cows. The calves are in the feedyard; so her and Grampa Keith and Daddy had to hang on the fence and check them all out.

Following the cattle inspecting; Paige had to help G'pa Greg block the vents on the house. She learned how to hang on to the screws and hand them to him. Its a valuable skill and will lead to driving lifts around someday. We all have to start somewhere. Soon she'll think she can drive the Bobcat. She got bored so she and G'ma Shelly drove around on the four wheeler and got tired--thanks for that Mom.

Later in the evening after supper, Paige decided she better drive the Club Car with her cousins. She was easily entertained and thanks to the Clarke girls for keeping her that way. She loves to play with the girls and plays very hard.

I had to get a picture of our host, Grampa Keith. He's on the right and co-cook Tim is the other gentleman. They cooked us up a great supper of ribs, potatos, etc. I learned that baked potatos with black bean cheese dip is fabulous and I am stealing some the next time I go up there.

We had a good weekend and despite the major lack of sleep had fun. I met some new entertaining people and didn't have to do the dishes!

More snow pictures

"Daddy, wait for me!"

Twenty something and still likes to make snowmen.

Paige making a snow angel--or rather, her trying to figure out why Mom was throwing her in the snow. But she liked it!

Mood swings

I had just read the other day about toddler mood swings and how they hit about 2.5 years old--and wow, are we there. This week, we are in a "I only want Mom" phase. Tonight, she told her Dad to "Leave me alone!" more than once. I swear she sounded 16. She's also been crying when I drop her off at daycare. Hopefully this is short lived.

Anyway, tonight after she was done eating she wanted to watch some cartoon. I said no. She started to throw a semi fit--then the real stuff kicks in. The lip has officially made its appearance--it juts out a good 1/2 inch. Then the whiney noise starts. Plus, its topped off with this really sad eyed sentence--"You made me sad." I did not laugh in front of her; but Cowboy and I looked at each other like--Wow, this is pretty dramatic. I really hope she doesn't become the whiney kid. The good news is that her fits and moods are very short lived--happy to sad and back in about 1 minute. Lets hope it doesn't get worse--I'm not ready for the attitude yet!

Dress up Day

So last Friday was dress up day at daycare. (Kim has a different theme each Friday.) Since it was finally cold out; we had to pull out the tights and turtleneck. G'ma Shelly found these boots with Allison and the outfit was born. So ladies, this is what the final outcome looks like.

Snowy Sunday

So the weather man has been screaming snow for several days and all we got was a skiff that melted right away. Well he was right today. All I know is it will be gone in a day or two; and Peanut was very excited to go play in it. She was out right away this morning helping her Dad shovel--he said it was very heavy snow and was about 4-5 inches in the driveway. I learned these things about my family and snow today:

One, no matter what kind of hat I buy, its very hard to keep Paige's ears covered up when she's outside. We had 2 or 3 hats on at some point and I was constantly pulling them down. Two, no matter how old a man is, he will always try to do something inappropriate to a snowman. My example is a stick that was placed in an anatomically correct place not appropriate for a two year old to see. She wouldn't understand, but its the point of the matter. Three, its very hard to convince Paige to take her snowpants off. We got inside and she strutted around for an hour before we got them off of her. The same thing with boots. We were leaving Mom and Dads and she kept announcing to G'pa that she had 'fancy boots.' Four, its very hard to play baseball with snowballs. I kept trying to hit the ones Cowboy was throwing at me with a stick and I suck. Five, my family does not like Chinese food. Paige was trying to scrape the rice with sweet and sour off of her tongue. Cowboy was nice enough to choke it down but said he'd be okay if we didn't have it again. Hope you all learned as much as I did today!

Daddy-O & Trucks

As the picture shows; Paige now has a truck to play with, courtesy of G'ma Shelly. She discovered her little butt fits in there and its a lot of fun to scooch around that way. It's also big and tall enough to run with full bore and not fall over. It got played with a lot that first day. It's been sitting idle for a few days now; but that's how the toys at our house work. They are obsessed over right away; and then rediscovered at a later date. There was one Saturday where we were home all day long and I think every single toy was strewn all over being rediscovered. There were shrieks that sounded like the equivalent of 'I had forgotten where this was!'.

The other day Peanut just randomly started her Cowboy Daddy-o. Not sure if that is how it is spelled; but that is how it sounds. We have no clue where it came from, so we just blame it on some other little person at daycare! We hope its a short lived issue because it really irritates Cowboy!

Singing

So Paige is now singing--or at least her version of singing. We aren't real sure what the song is, I just know its the words "action, action" over and over. But she's really into it and has great hip action! By the way, the crank handle on the window is her microphone--it stick out a few inches and is the right height.

"Hi Hon"

So I usually call the Cowboy "hon" as an abbreviation for honey (which I can't stand). I use this without thinking when he comes home, when I have to yell across the house for him, etc. I never realized how often I did it until Paige started calling him that. She did it when she was smaller; which was super cute. Now if you ask him her Dad's name she says its "Hon" or "Daddy" which ever her mood is in. She normally calls him Dad, but you never know when the "hon" is going to slip out.
The comical version of this was last weekend at Mom and Dad's. Cowboy had been hiding from us; and we were trying to find him. We couldn't find him, so I yelled to him to come out. Then little Miss Attitude just bellowed "HON--WHERE ARE YOU? HON!" I sort of giggled as did Cowboy who laughed and jumped out. My mom, who was on the other side of the house; almost had to be picked up off of the floor she was laughing so hard.

The weekend

We had a pretty ordinary weekend. Paige and I attended cousin Dani's volleyball tournament in Dickinson--or 'walleyball' as Paige calls it. Dani played very well; and Paige behaved so it was a double success. We got home late in the evening and Paige was watching Nemo for the 154rd time in our room because we just can't handle watching it ourselves anymore. She came out with some of my clothing on--I thought it was a nightie but it turned out to be my tank top. Ryan and I chased her back into our room where the door was closed and she was hiding. We looked at each other in the hall way and went--oh no, how big of a disaster is it going to be. It wasn't actually too bad; but she was trying on all of my pj's. There were about 3 tank tops around her neck and clothes all over the floor. I had some laundry on the bed to be folded; and it was no way near as organized in the pile as it had been. Oh well; that will teach me!

Today, we had a relaxing day at home. Cowboy was home and fulfilled his honey-do list very well. The AC is out of the window and the coat rack is up. Thanks! Gramma Shelly came over and we ran to the store to get some things. Paige was picking her nose in the car and we were telling her to stop it. I kept asking her what she was digging for. She looked at us and said "Snakes." So watch out everyone, they are now invading noses.

We also played in the leaves for a few minutes--cute picture to follow. We have traditionally had our annual leaf photo shoot in early October, so hopefully if its nice this week we will rake a pile and play in the leaves--and take some cute pictures.

The Big Party

So we survived the big party for my parents. The combined joint birthday party for Dad's 50th last month and Mom's 49th on Monday. We were a little worried about attendence as the day began; and how to grill our pork without ruining it. But everything turned out okay when the food turned out great and we had quite a few people show up. Thanks to everyone who came--Mom and Dad both said the next day what a good time it was. They also compared it to their last raving party (about 30 years ago) and since there were no holes burnt in carpets or masses of beer cans on the lawn; this was much better. I also pointed out that their friends have matured a little bit since we were done partying by 10pm this year.

A few of my favorite things I heard:

Mom: "How's the drink Cowboy?"
Cowboy: "Strong."
Mom: "Good--that's how we like them" and she grinned. (Note: Mom is a 2 beer drunk)

Rayven after she'd been squeezed by Kira: "Stop it, you'll squeeze all of the juices out of me!"

I didn't hear the whole story; but apparently Dr H won for best story of the evening. Raccoons and culvers+guns equal entertainment.

Thanks everyone for coming!

Eyebrows

Sunday morning I was in the bathroom plucking my eyebrows, washing my face, etc. The standard ritual before I shower. Paige and her Dad appear in the doorway and stood there watching me. Cowboy asked Paige what I was doing. She turns and looks at him and says, "Mommy's picking her. . ." (I start to smile because I think, "Wow, she's going to get this right.") She pauses and finishes the statement with ". . nose!" She things Mommy's picking her nose with the large magnifying mirror. Nice.

Boots

So Cowboy's new boots finally arrived the other day. I was walking past the rug where our shoes are and I saw this.

He says I have a lot of shoes; at least I don't have 3 pairs of the exact same shoe! He does; plus his aren't the $20 sale rack specials. I just had to laugh; it looks like a bunch of cowboys live here!

Paige & Mac

Mac is the dog that lives on our place--not our dog but our 'neighbors' dog. He is pretty old--which means he is perfect for Paige. He's not a hyper puppy who jumps; and he's old and doesn't care about much so he doesn't bark. He is kind of big and that intimidates her sometimes. But, she thinks he is just the greatest thing. I realized I didn't have a picture of the two of them together; so I made them pose the other day. He was too busy eating a dead bird (we don't pet him much because he eats dead things. . .ick) but Paige plopped down beside him when he was done. I told her to look at me and say cheese; so she did. Mac didn't look, so she tells him, "Mac--say cheese!" It didn't work too well but we tried.

Footy Pj's

So a few weeks ago it decided to get cold here--like cold enough we realized that Paige had no warm pjs that fit. Plus, our furnace didn't work so it was a little chilly at night in the house--a frigid 62 degrees! Anyway, our friend Sarah was kind enough to get us some when she was shopping and drop them off that day. Paige tore them out of the package and had to put them on right away. She pranced around all night in her new 'jammies' as she calls them. I love that she is still little enought to wear them.

College

Peanut went to Gramma and Grampa's house about 6 pm last night to spend the night. I vegged out and did nothing--read, watched TV, etc. Its odd to watch TV without a little person climbing all over you. I don't know what to do when she's not home; especially at night. I looked in her room about 4 times out of habit. The silence was almost scary--but it makes me think that she can never go to college!

Wi-FI

I love technology-the little bit I know about it! My Mom got me a Palm for my birthday (thanks Mom). I discovered it can access the internet; and I can do it for free with a certain kind of wi-fi card. Well $55 later and three days of staring at the help page; I accessed the internet on my Palm. I don't know how often I will even do this; but the concept is I can. As long as there is a free wireless spot to mooch a connection from :)

Bears

So some little curly haired girl didn't cooperate and take a nap on Sunday afternoon--not entirely her fault since we weren't home and were outside. But we get home and she was almost sleeping--then boom, awake. So we watched Nemo and I fell asleep instead. She got a little crabby as the evening progressed. Cowboy and I were combing her hair after her bath and she was standing on the counter. I told him she was going to be a bear tomorrow unless we got her to bed early. She scowled at both of us "I no bear!" and if she could have; she would have stormed away. And for the record; she wasn't even a bear today. Guess she told us.

Kisses

So Paige is normally pretty mushy, doling out kisses to anyone who asks. Earlier on this week her Dad tried to give her one and she cried out "No". He then tried again and she just smiled and held her hand over her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to grin when she realized it stopped him from kissing her. I tried to kiss her later and she stopped me with "Kisses get me wet." Apparently she's sick of being slobbered on by her parents!

Happy Labor Day

Its been a busy week for us catching up on some things and enjoying the long weekend. As it concludes I thought I had better jot down a few things I have learned this week.

1. There are imaginary horses taking over my house. I was in a different room from Paige the other day and I heard her talking to something. She was saying "Come here, come here" over and over. I closed my eyes and thought, please don't be a mouse. I saw here bending over talking clearly to something only she could see. I watched for a few minutes and then asked her what she was talking to. "Horses." I asked her how many. "Two." They are brown if you want to know that too. They also eat a lot and don't move where they are supposed to.

2. There might be a monkey in the herd. She was upset with something and I heard the phrase "No! The monkey will eat it." I just walked away and am hoping this is all just a very creative two year old.

3. Two year olds will clap when people are done singing. . .at funerals. Cowboy's uncle passed away and we were at the service. Paige was behaving very well and then the hymn was over and she started to clap--thank goodness it wasn't loud and I caught her hands on the first clap. She did it later as well.

4. She knows her name very well. We were all eating supper and I said, "I'm starving." She announces right back, "I Paige."

Lipgloss

I know I have a girl. I have known this for quite some time; but at times I just laugh at how 'girly' she really is. She likes pink, her babies, helping Mommy do anything, playing with my makeup brushes, etc. She dislikes being really dirty and hates bugs.

We were in the car coming home and she was jabbering and she felt 'really sick.' Don't be alarmed by this since she says she's sick at least daily. Plus, everything is 'really'--really icky, really good, etc. She then said she wanted some lipgloss (Chapstick) so I handed it to her in the backseat. She puts in on and then just beams and announces, "I feel better." The healing power it apparently has!

Cowboy vacation

I realized that all of the posts were about the fun Paige and I had; so we had to show the 'fun' our Cowboy had on his week of 'vacation.' Here are Cowboy and Paige filling up the creep feeder last Sunday. Note the shovel in his hands, not mine!

Here is our Cowboy unstacking load 8 of hay during a freak little rain storm that lasted just long enough to ruin my pictures. He hauled 27 bales with each load and did 11 loads. You do the math.

He is one of the friendly bulls we discussed earlier. I thought he deserved a photo since he caused such comotion. Plus, Paige likes to look at pictures of cows. She calls everything a cow--so do I--and it frustrates the Cowboy.

Barking Cows

So the last part of our week off was spent as a family at Camp Keith. I christened the ranch in MT that when we built the shop. It's sort of like a dude ranch in that none of us live there full time but we go and have fun, and then have to go home. Plus, there are lots of fun toys to play with and things to do. It was just the three of us and Cowboy was up at the crack of dawn and gone and then Paige and I got to relax. Its not really roughing it when you can hang out in the central air and watch Direct TV. We cleaned, cooked, and practiced being ranch women. Paige wore her boots for 5 days non stop. She even discovered why you need to wear socks with them--she has a blister to prove it. When Cowboy would come back with a load of hay; she would get to ride to the hay yard with him and thought it was great fun to be in 'Daddy's big truck.' We also made friends with the bulls, cows, and kitten that decided to befriend us the first day we were there. It sensed a sucker when it saw me. It got good food and lots of attention. But no, it didn't come home with us. We named him 'Snowball' and will see how he is the next time we are there.

Cowboy moved all the bulls out from the pasture and put them in the corrals--which freaked out Paige. She saw these bulls being pushed up the fenceline by her Dad on the four-wheeler and almost climbed through the window of the house. She wasn't in harms way but I let her stare from inside. Then when everyone was sorted out and behind fences, she came back outside. We sat on the steps and watched them for over an hour create the heirarchy for their new living quarters. They had to make a ton of noise and snort and butt heads--all that male macho stuff. Its interesting how a huge animal like that acts like a confined toddler. There were fits being thrown and attitude galore. Their noise and atics went on for hours. My highlight was Paige standing on the steps of the house and yelling across the road, "COWS--STOP BARKING".

Medora

The exciting vacation continues in the exotic locale of . . .Medora. Gramma Shelly hadn't been there in years and it was on the way back to the ranch--so we spent Wednesday playing tourist. I find several things interesting in Medora. First--there is so much crap for sale that is western, but made in China. I don't get it. Second--not everyone is supposed to dress like a cowboy. Especially if you normally wear penny loafers or are wearing a fanny pack. I guess my Cowboy is rubbing off on me for this to bug me. Gramma tried really hard to find a cowboy hat for Paige; but she didn't want one. I was secretly rejoicing at this--my deepest fear is that she is going to be some cowgirl and when she's a teenager I am going to get stuck sitting at rodeos and having to haul some dumb horse to them so she can run around some barrels. But that's another story. So the compromise for the hat was a teddy bear with a cowboy outfit on. There is a place to make your own bear--so we have pink teddy bear with a cowboy outfit and a cheerleader outfit. It works. We didn't do the musical so it was an early afternoon for us and we left Gramma and headed to the ranch to go find Cowboy and make sure he was still hauling hay. We got there and Paige was excited to see her Dad and he was happy to see us since we had cooked for him. Poor guy had a long week.

Vacation

So we had a busy week last week at our house. Cowboy and I each had a week off--but we aren't the classic American family and went on a vacation to some far off exotic place. Instead Cowboy and I parted ways for a few days and then ended up back at the ranch--which I am thinking of calling our vacation home. Everyone else seems to have one, but theirs are by lakes and such. I'd feel better if I could reference one too!

So part one is Paige and I going to the ranch last Saturday to help Cowboy get the semi so he could haul hay. That is what he spend the majority of the week doing--not something that is very fun. We left him on Sunday so he could work and we could spend his money. We headed home and packed for our trip with Gramma Shelly. We picked her up on Monday to head to Bismarck for a few days. The Clausen crew were going to be there from Illinois so thought we'd visit. We arrived to do some shopping with Aunt Wanda and Kira--and then all met as a group to do a ride on the riverboat. We had fun and no one did anything dumb like try to jump off of the top deck. We were smart and hung out in the air conditioned main level where the bugs couldn't get us. Plus, that is where the bar was.

After the boat ride, we went back to the hotel to play in the pool. If you ask Paige, swimming was all that she did all week, since it was her favorite part. The Seven Seas in Mandan has a great pool. They have a separate pool with slides, sprayers, etc for the small ones; and a larger slide and larger toys for us big kids. They have these lily pad things that every teenage boy thought he could just run across like they were super Mario or something. Not so much. Anyway, we all played in the little pool until Tara and I were brave and conquered the three story slide. After screaming and learning to shut my mouth when I hit the water; I decided it was fun. I even decided it was safe for Paige and that was a huge mistake. She loved it and my legs hurt the next day after climbing those 36 stairs a million times carrying her up to the top. But us big kids tired out more quickly than Paige and she was the last to leave the pool area.

The next morning we headed to the zoo. We all were tired from swimming and playing the night before so we took this pretty slow. We took lots of family and group pictures and had fun looking at the animals. I think the prairie dogs were one of the highlights--not for me--I hear Cowboy in my head calling them names and saying how worthless they are. But the big cat exhibit had just opend and we saw a few of them. After the zoo, we parted ways and did a quick trip to Target and headed back west. Its amazing how much stuff will fit in the truck of my new old lady car! Paige got a new suitcase at Target--image a 2 foot tall person wheeling a 2 foot pink suitcase around for an hour--it was entertainment at its finest. She didn't even take anyone out in the aisles. But our Bismarck adventure was a fun filled time and thank you to Aunt Wanda and Uncle Joe for hanging out with us. We miss you and it was great to see you.