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.