Welcome

I am a God-loving, husband-adoring, mybabyboys-hugging, mind-reeling, photo-taking, life-documenting, yummyfood-cooking, garden-planting, country-living girl. Writing about life, with boys, in the sticks...
this is life... with boys... in the country...
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Visiting the Neigh-neighs…

There aren’t many things that are more ‘country’ in my opinion than horses in a pasture.  As of now, we have the pasture,  but no horses (still called ‘neigh-neighs’ in our house).  We do see lots as we make our drive to town and thankfully a few of our ‘neighbors’ have some that appreciate a visit every now and again.  So the other night we made the trek up the hill, past the beaver pond, to see these nomad horses.  We’d noticed them right by the fence earlier in the day, but when we got there they stayed at the bottom of their punch-bowl-of-a-pasture.  Not sure if it was the stinky dog or the streaks of little kids, but they weren’t sure about us.  Even with Matt shaking a can full of oats and grain, they were tentative.  08-28-10_0990 The white one finally got brave enough and the others followed suit… (see that white shed back there?  I would LOVE to take someone’s photos by it sometime… any takers??)

08-28-10_0996 The one in the fore-ground was awfully sneaky and spent most of his time trying to eat straight out of the jar.  And yes, you may or may not have noticed, that the Backwards Bandit (aka. Cooper) is back … he dressed himself…

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I, for some reason, want to blow this one up and put it on my wall… 08-28-10_1008 08-28-10_1009 As usual, Kaden decided when it was time to move on, so the boys got gutsy and said their good-byes…

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And this one begged us not to go…

08-28-10_1020 We enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we made our way home…

08-28-10_1023 … and I of course had to interrupt the flow of the walk by attempting to pose Gager for a photo.  This was not what I’d intended.  He said the barbed-wire was too pokey and he couldn’t leave the tall grass alone.  Oh well. Moving on (I’m learning to be cheerful even when a photo attempt doesn’t work out)…

08-28-10_1025 …because more often than not, a totally great, totally unplanned photo is waiting to be taken…

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Its a long walk back home, but I like the view…

Monday, August 30, 2010

Meeting Olivia Grace...

We finally got to meet our little niece, Olivia Grace, this past week.  Her mama is Matt’s sister, Marilee, and they live way too far away in Kentucky.  It was so wonderful to spend time with these two lovely ladies and to witness how my rough and tumble little boys totally took to the baby in pink.  Baby girls bring out such a softness in my boys…

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Auntie Meril (as the boys call her) and Olivia…

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And yeah! for a group picture where almost everyone is looking at the camera! 

08-27-10_meyersfamily_0957… I sure love these people.

(and yes, this was day 2 of Cooper wearing the Floatie-tard.  No shame… he as NO shame.)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Remlinger Farms…

This is such a ‘must-go’ place if you have children and live any where near Seattle.  It is located in Carnation, Washington and is a small little wonderland created just for kids. You pay to get in and the kiddos (and adults!) can go on any ride as many times as they want.  We’ve gone for the past 3 years and it keeps getting better. 

Waiting in line for the pony rides…

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0674 08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0675 On the pony ride… (for being ‘country boys’ these kids are really pretty timid about horses…)08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0676 08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0677

Then there is the little steam engine… we’ve been on ‘miniature’ steam engines before, but this one is just ‘little’.  There are box cars that you sit in and it takes you all around the park, where there is lots of wonderful ‘little’ things to see… 08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_067908 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0681 This was the first time the boys discovered the goofy mirrors and it was a hoot and a half.  And kind of gross.  08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0686 The huge pool of hay has become a crowd favorite.  To run as fast as one can and jump as high and far as one can with out the worry of getting hurt when landing is apparently quite a draw…

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0696 08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_069808 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0700 (Gage was working out quite a bit and got just a little sweaty… you can tell by the ‘curlier’ than normal hair, red face and hay stuck to his sweatiness.)

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0703 Everything is farm-themed, so of course one of the rides is the flying pumpkins.

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0706 Amazing that they let little squirts like this ride all by themselves…

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0707 And the roller-coaster… they rode it over and over again, quickly figuring out that the front is the place to be.  Grammie told them that putting their hands in the air makes the ride more fun.  Coop agreed.  Gage, not so much. 

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0709 Because Gage really thought he was driving this old buggy, we went on this ride several times, as well. 

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0711 The merry-go-round wasn’t all that fun until the boys figured out they could stand up while it spun around and around.  Because the sign clearly said “Remain Seated while Ride is Moving” I thought they’d get reprimanded… but the teen-aged boy running the ride was too busy texting to notice my kids rebellion.   

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0716 08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0717 Here’s Cooper, trying to bug the peacock into showing its pretty feathers… 08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0718 And Grammie with my boys… without her, I’d never attempt an outing like this. 

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0719 And me and my boys…

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0721…and me comforting Gage after he totally lost it because he couldn’t take a picture without squinting his eyes.  He was devastated that he’s going to ruin every picture with “Squinty-Eye”.  I assured him he didn’t ruin any of our pictures, but inwardly prayed that his eyes won’t always be this sensitive to the sun. 

08 19 10_Grammie&Papas_0722 What would a farm be without the tractors… and behind the tractor was the pig pen! With real pot-bellied pigs.  Which made Kaden cry. 

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Until next year… the end. 

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Happy Anniversary…

Happy Anniversary to my parents… as of today, they’ve been married for 39 years.  And because they were high-school sweet hearts, they’ve been together for something like two-thirds of their lives.  Crazy.  Crazy WONDERFUL.  Our love to you both… 

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Floatie Unitard…

I have to bump in and double up postings today because I couldn’t wait to share these photos with you… this is what I have to deal with…

And let me ask you.  What do you notice first?  The teeth? The socks with sandals? The obvious attraction to neon green?  Or the floatie unitard?

I know, its hard to wrap your head around any of it…  08-26-10_Coopersunitardandm

All day yesterday, Cooper wore the floatie unitard.  I have no real idea why he wanted to, but if I had to guess I’d say he was trying to envision himself swimming so that next time we go to the lake he won’t be too scared (like he was last time) to jump off the dock to Matt. 

I got a kick out of it but had to practically pry it off of him for our trip to town.  He wanted to nap in it, but I assured him that wouldn’t be comfortable. 

So as soon as we had dinner, back on it went.  When I told him we were going for a walk he timidly asked, “But can I wear my floatie?”  as if he anticipated a negative answer… “Sure, bud.  Why not.” He flew out the door with glee. 

08-26-10_Coopersunitard_get08-26-10_Coopersunitardlog_08-26-10_Coopersunitard_089 And he went about the walk as he does all the others.  Despite the fact that it was actually pretty cold.  And I couldn’t believe he never even once asked to go swimming in the pond.  It was as if he wasn’t wearing a floatie unitard at all.   

08-26-10_Coopersunitard_090   Isn’t it great when kids are so inhibited?

08-26-10_Coopersunitard_088And you can just let them be?  Without worry?  We could have told him “No, dress like a normal kid!” but in this case, why?  He loved it, and having something to laugh about during our entire walk was awesome! 

Priceless.   Silly little Tupu.

(Oh, and by the way… he just woke up and came into my room as I finished this post, with, guess what in his hand… the floatie unitard.  And even though its a bit dirty from him rolling down the hill in it last night, I put it back on him because I need to embrace humor whenever possible.  Floatie unitard, in full effect.)

New Discoveries for Kaden…

While at Grammie and Papa’s, Kaden hit a few milestones and made a few discoveries. 

First off, he popped through his first tooth – FINALLY. I haven’t gotten a picture of the little bitty thing yet, because his tongue is always messing with it…

The first night we were there, he discovered that if he cried for long enough in his bed, eventually Grammie would rock him to sleep in the hammock… 08-16-10_Grammie&Papas_079208-16-10_Grammie&Papas_079308-16-10_Grammie&Papas_0795  He also got to join the ranks of the dozens of babies who have eaten in this high chair… and he discovered that sitting backwards in it is much more entertaining than sitting forwards.

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And better yet… trying to climb out of it…

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As you see in both the picture above and the one below, he also discovered that he enjoys the taste of old wooden furniture… 

08-17-10_Grammie&Papas_Edsh … but NOT the taste of cooked carrots…

08-18-10_Grammie&Papas_0731 And a few more foods that he discovered (thank you Papa) that he LOVES are:

Pickles…

08-18-10_Grammie&Papas_0734 08-18-10_Grammie&Papas_0735 08-18-10_Grammie&Papas_0736Cherrios (by the handful).

Whipped Cream.

Corn on the Cob.

Chicken bones…

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He also rediscovered his Grammie’s talent for quilt making… she threw together this one make out of 1930s fabric and we love it…

08-20-10_Grammie&Papas_0660 Lastly, he discovered taking baths in the kitchen sink… while sitting.  I was too distracted by keeping him from climbing into the other side of the sink to get a picture… but trust me, he would have spent all of his time in there… 

And if he had a chicken bone to gnaw on, all the better.