November! 2012! Only 13 days late!

I'm so happy that things are AAAAAAlmost caught up, aren't you?? 

November was fun and relaxing and went WAY TOO FAST. 

 Seriously, though, I feel like it wasn't even here. 

Nothing super exciting happened in November, to be honest. 

We made our Christmas lists.....


When I asked her what she had done to be good she said, "I've done all my chores every day!"
To which I replied, "Uhhhh.... no you haven't."  So together we came up with a plan to make
a chore chart and fill it in 'til Christmas.  Being the johnny-on-the-spot mommy that I am, I still
haven't printed her chore chart.   So hopefully Santa overlooks this mommyfail and still buys her some stuff for Christmas.  I think she's safe.




The only response I could get out of him when I asked what he had done to be good was
"I take good baffs mom! I take baffs!"



Our Thanksgiving this year was so much fun.  My mom and dad (Grammy and Papa Lay) came to visit and spend the holiday with us and it was wonderful.  They brought us a hutterite turkey, we mashed potatoes and had cranberry sauce until we couldn't eat any more. 

It was awesome.

I love big gatherings with siblings and cousins and chaos, but it's also really special to spend one on one time with my parents and let them spend one on one time with my kiddos. 

My dad also brought his rifles and took Mike out hunting.

  Lest you think I forced my Montana ways on to my Californian husband, I'll have you know: it was HIS idea.  Granted, I think he has grown fonder of the idea since moving here and talking to co-workers and neighbors, but I would have loved him just the same if he didn't want to hunt. 

I think he had fun tromping around the mine property with my dad.  They said they didn't see any Elk on the first or second day, but saw a few deer the first day (one of which Mike shot...) and lots of deer the second day.  Mike said he'll be more patient next time and wait for one with antlers maybe. 

But, honestly, we kinda just wanted meat in our freezer and a doe gave us that as well as a buck could have.  Anyway, I'm not sure he's a die hard hunter yet, but he had fun, and I think he'll do it again.  

No, I don't know what Nolan is doing.... 
And yes, our garage is so messy. 
But see that freezer in the background?  It's full.  Score.

So, now that I'm caught up, hopefully I'll keep up with things.  We can always hope!

October

I'm almost there. I can see the finish line. I bet you're all grateful. Marathon posts about anything are just a tiny bit annoying, I know. But hopefully I'll be more motivated to blog from here on out! So here's our fabulous October!

 

 

The next set of pictures were taken by my lil chick.  No point whatsoever, except I think they're funny.  I love looking at life from her perspective and seeing all the things she's interested in. 

This is not even a quarter of the pictures she took. I have quite the collection on my phone.

 

The rest of the pics are just from our busy, random October. 

When he wears shades he always says "I a cool guy, mom."

So suave.

Nolan is obsessed with robots. 
This little one he refers to as his "blue sleeping robot"
 although he's never slept with it and it is clearly not blue....

Happy 30th to me!  Thirty, Flirty, and Fabulous, right?

This is CJ with the blueprints for her future business, "the daycare
of knowledge."  She spent about 20 minutes describing what each room
would be used for.  Everything from a baby room to a school room
 to a diaper room.  I am constantly  fascinated at all the things
 her brain comes up with.



Cecily had a wonderful birthday as well!  She wanted to have an ART party, so I ordered a bunch of junk from Oriental Trading and we partied it up!  There was lots of chaos, but it was fun.  Next year I think we'll limit the numbers a little :)  10 kids ranging in age from 7 to 2 is just.... well...... total and complete pandemonium.

MY GIRL IS FIVE!!! What the heck? 

 

 

 

Blowin out the birthday candle!

 

 

Our "Art Studio" living room

My girl, creating her masterpiece. 

Paint, paint, and more paint!

I ordered a Mona Lisa poster and we were going to play
 "pin the smile on the Mona Lisa.... but it came 2 days after the
 party, so we made do with "Pin the paint on the pallet!"

 

 

Here's my lil man with his blob..... I mean painting.

 

CARVING PUMPKINS!  There's a little pumpkin farm about 20 miles from town, so we went and got a few lil pumpkins to carve.  The kids had a BLAST! And Nolan loved the cows.

 

 

The field behind her was where the pumpkins grew up.

He kept reassuring us that he was "weely trong!"

Cows!!!!

punkin' guts!

We didn't get any pictures of the finished ones!  I know- I am
not thinking straight these days.

 

 

AAAANNNNND, Halloween!!!!

They got lots of loot this year, and were pretty excited about it.  At first, Nolan didn't understand trick or treating and wasn't interested, but after the 2nd or 3rd house he started picking up on the fact that people were just giving him candy and he didn't even have to pee in the potty for it.  After a while, they'd give him a candy and he'd smile up at them and say "One more?"  Some people gave in, but some were unmoved by his plea.

  Mike said he had to apologize for our greedy kid at nearly every residence. 

Oh, the joy.

 

Not to mention that for nearly the entire month of November, Nolan also asked every night as it got dark, "Mom, we go trick treating get candy tonight?" 

 

I kept telling him "Not tonight, but really soon."

 

 

 

Our Anniken Skywalker



Cutest witch ever!

He likes to shoot his gun at people.
 I know, I know, I'm a terrible mom :)

September 2012

September

While October is always crazy in our family, September seems to stay easy and breezy.  My cutie pie started pre-school at a local Lutheran church.  It's the only preschool in town, and people said good things about it.

  I was excited for the social experience of it for CJ, as well as helping her get ready to sit through a day of school.  In about mid-October, however, we decided to take her out of the program.  While it wasn't necessarily a BAD little preschool, we just didn't feel like Cecily was benefiting from it all that much.  Plus, it was 100 bucks a month for 3 days a week, 2.5 hours each class- and they only had 30-40 minutes of academic time!  The rest was Bible stories, free play time, recess, and snack time.  I get that the whole thing CAN'T be academic, but it just didn't seem worth it.

Every day when I asked her what she had learned she would say "uhhhh, nothing."  She already knows her numbers and letters, so most of anything they taught was old news to her. 

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of dinosaur units, and under the sea curriculum, exploring space and all those fun things.  I guess we can't all get exactly what we want, huh? 

In the meantime, we are doing "mommy preschool" which, let me tell you, Cecily was not excited for when I told her about it.  But she's warmed up to the idea. We're going on a nature walk today.  Hooray.

And, I have to mention this, because I think its SO funny.  They would sing "Bingo was his name-o" only they would substitute J-E-S-U-S for B-I-N-G-O.  The first time I heard it I literally burst out laughing because it was so ridiculous (and kinda sac-religious? teeny bit?). 
She looked really cute on her first day, though!



It's official: she rocks my socks off.

The next few pics just show you how goofy my girl is.

Add caption

 

 

 

At the end of the month we traveled to Helena and got family pictures done by a friend of mine from high school.  She did a great job and got lots of candid, beautiful shots of my kids and our family.  While posed pics are great, I love the natural feel of candid shots SO much too.  You can take a peek at them here if you want.  Or, leave me a comment with your address and I'll send you a Christmas card!  Even better!
That Saturday morning, Mike and I also ran a little 5K that was put on through some kids at Carroll College.  It was to benefit Haiti (not sure exactly who in Haiti..... but I'm sure it was really great), so we went and ran our hearts out with a bunch of college kids.  When we got there we looked around and, with the exception of a very few, we were the oldest ones there.  HA! 

Us "old folks" in our runnin' gear.

October is coming and it's going to be another huge post!
 Don'tcha just LOVE 'em????
  Wooooooooooooop!

August (also in November- but at least it's not December yet!! Go me!!)

Here's what we did in August: 

 

My extended family had a reunion!  Wooooooooot!  SO, I packed the two kiddos up and set off for the great beyond.  Well, Helena.  But that's pretty much the great beyond.  Because anything beyond the borders of this tiny town is pretty much great.  Well, once you get to Billings. Before then it's just bluffs and farms and stinky cows.

 AAAAnywhoo- my brother Jeff came up from Utah with his family and my brother Russ and his fam came down from Great Falls, MT and it was a fabulous time!!  I got to see my darling sister Janet (and fam) and brother Kenny (and fam) who both live in town.  We missed Ryan, but I get to see him in a few weeks at Christmas!!

Back to August, though:

 

Nolan and Stephen (Jeff's kiddo).  Nolan let me know
 "We's just fwowing wocks, Mom!"

Nolan is super tall and Stephen is a tiny bit on the short side for his age.
I think at first Stephen thought Nolan was a fun playmate, but then the 2 year
 old-ness of Nolan showed up with the hitting and pushing, and 3 1/2 year old Stephen
got a leeeeeeetle tired of it.  It's ok, though- in a few years they'll be great pals.

 

During the Saturday reunion, there was some down time and my SWEET cousin Beth and her two fun kiddos were there, so we headed on over to the carousel.

Nolan and Jasper- just holding hands.  'Cause that's what cousins do. 

Beth and her adorable girlie-q

Beth totally got the golden ring!  Free ride on the carousel!

All the chickletts



Outside on the playground... or art sculpture? 
We weren't sure, so they got to climb on it :) 

We had a fun backyard splash party at my parents house later in the weekend.  SOOOO many cute cousins!

 

Stevie TOTALLY cracked me up!  He decided he was too cool
for swim trunks, so lightning mcqueen underwear
 was the next logical option.  SO FUNNY.

PS- how beautiful is my oldest?  HOLY COW. 





 

 



JAMIE!!  He is the cutest 'lil thing ever. 



While I was home, I got to go to the cemetery where my sweet aunt Vonnie was laid to rest right after her headstone was placed.  It is beautiful and I miss her.
 

One afternoon we all went to Lockey park and hung out! 



Mike REALLY wants her to be a climber when she gets older :)

These are Janets kiddos, Jeffs, Russells, and mine 
(well, most of 'em anyway).
 

The rest of August was great, but fairly uneventful.  I did get called to be the new Sunday School teacher at Church, so that threw a wrench into my plans to coast along unnoticed.  It's been good though- it forces me out of my comfort zone every week, so that's a good thing. 

AND, once again, if you made it through that mother of a picture heavy post- props to you!  September is coming soon!  Stay tuned.