Princess 'dress'

I had to work for a few hours this morning, so Mom & Dad came over to hang out with Paige. I was at work for like 15 minutes when I get a call. "Where is the nail polish?" Paige could only direct Mom to my room and say Mommy had it there. A little while later, another call asking to wear her Christmas dress. I said if we have to. Paige has been on a huge dress kick lately, and I should have figured she'd try to con Gramma into letting her wear it. I have been saying no and there has been considerable drama because of that decision.

I come home, expecting to find my daughter all dolled up with her beautiful dress. I find her wearing this:

This is NOT her beautiful Christmas dress but a Barbie nightgown (with matching hair ribbons)that has been hanging up in the closet because its a size 4, and we've had it for 2 years. I can't remember who bought it for us, but thank you. It has given this 2 year old a 'princess dress' that she has been wearing all day. I have been trying for hours to get a picture of her, but this was the best I can do because she is starting to run from the camera! Note multiple layers of shirts, leggings, etc. she has on to stay warm with this beautiful 'dress.'

Weekend fun

We are home from our family weekend in Bismarck. Going to Bismarck is not normally a big deal for most people; but Cowboy generally doesn't get to go anyplace where there are not cows on a weekend. Plus, it doesn' hurt him to go some place that actually has stop lights and more than 2 lanes of traffic. So we went to see our niece play basketball (which she does very well) and to spend some time with our extended family. We spent most of Saturday afternoon running around a few stores and then hanging out at a few basketball games. We finished up the day with swimming and pizza--which was the highlight of Paige's day. We had been hearing for days about how much she wanted to go swimming. I also got my new camera, but need to read up on all the features so I know what I am doing. A few shots of the girls swimming ended up really blurry. But it has a great zoom and such so I took lots of shots of the basketball game. A few turned out pretty good, some not so much.

Focused during a free throw.

Making a free throw.

Jensen, Cowboy & Peanut this morning in the pool.

Farm Girl

Paige and I went with Cowboy to the ranch for his birthday weekend so we could spend some family time together. The weather didn't cooperate too well (really windy) and my banker blood is not used to being outside in temperatures that low! But Paige got to drive a tractor and go in the pens with Daddy to check on the calves. She proudly reported to me that Daddy didn't drop her. She keeps thinking we are going to drop her on the ground since its snowy/icy--apparently we tell her to be careful enough that she has realized we need to as well. Anyway, we had fun and both had good naps that afternoon!

Snowy Sunsets

So there is something pretty about some snow. . .

Taken on Sunday night at the ranch. If only I would have had my new camera! I am getting an upgrade next weekend--very exciting.

Happy Birthday Cowboy!

He is the big '30' today. I found a few old pictures from a scrapbook page and thought it was my duty to show a few baby pictures to embarass him. That's what wives with access to the internet are supposed to do! No big party or anything planned for today, just business as usual. So we are all going to the ranch where he'll work hard, and us girls will at least cook him a fancy supper. We are planning on celebrating in a few weeks with the nieces and getting away for a few days then. So 'Happy Birthday' and we love you!

'I made a one"

"Mom, look--I made a one!" is what I heard from the backseat of the car this morning as we were driving to daycare. I look in the mirror and see a little hand with several fingers folded over, and . . .she's flipping me off. She was so proud of getting those little fingers all folded over witih the one still pointing up. I told her good job but said it works better to use your pointer finger and then showed her which finger that was. We'll see how many people she showed '1' to today! I did warn Kim so that she wouldn't think I was teaching Paige inappropriate guestures.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year one and all. May your 2009 start out better than ours did with a bad cold and icky gunky eyes that manifested into pink eye! Its the first work day of 2009 today and I have already had to use a sick day. Oh well, hopefully Miss Paige will be on the mend in a day or two and we'll back to our normal schedule. Anyone who has brilliant methods for getting eye drops into a 2 year old multiple times a day, let me know. She's not a fan of them. Her little eyes look tough, but she's been pretty good. So we will be laying low for the next few days until she's not contagious. Hopefully that means some good naps (for both of us) and minimal Disney movies. I have now became very familiar with Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbell (which I think is super cute.) So have a great weekend all and stay healthy!