Woman turns 40. (2nd installation)

After doing the whole Locks of Love thing, we went out of town for the weekend. Michael made arrangements to have Jonathan go to Gramma and Papa's and Annisia went to Aunty Ang and Uncle Mike's house. What a guy!! So, we left town Friday afternoon and drove to Bozeman for some good eats and some skiing. If you're ever there, try Ted's, and Montana Ale Works. Yummy food, both.
And Bridger Bowl was a fun place to ski. We are hoping to take the kids there next season. The lift lines were short, I hear they have great ski schools for the kids, the rates were good, Michael liked the powder (I don't like powder...), and they were cool! I skied 1/2 day, then got my boots on, grabbed my scrapbooking stuff, hopped on a lift and went up to the upper lodge where it was quieter and worked on a little album while Michael snowboarded for a while. The lift guys were great. They stopped the lift for me to hop on and off...kind of neat.
Here's a collage of our day...Click on it to see it larger.

Woman Turns 40...(1st installation)

I turned 40 this year. Meh!

Actually, who cares? Everyone I tell I am 40 says, "No way!"

So it's just another number...

This is the VUNDERBAR gift I received from my sweet li'l boy. He helped Daddy build this beautiful butcher block style cutting board for my birthday. Jonathan helped glue, sand, and finish it. He looks so proud, doesn't he?!
Daddy is so good getting the kids to help with things. I find I get impatient very fast, but Michael just plugs along, teaching. What a good man!

I did something a little drastic on my birthday. Something I have been pondering occasionally for awhile. Usually I think of doing it when I am having a bad hair day, then I dismiss the thought because that's really not when I ought to cut my hair. So, instead I decided to do it on my milestone 40th birthday and donate it to Locks of Love.

12 inches came off...
My instructions were simple. "I need to still be able to put it up." Because that's how I usually wear it. That's my comfort zone. And that's what I like. So, it's all long enough for me to still style it up in my updo like I like, or a ponytail, or just the front back in a barrette occasionally.

Then the hairdresser styled my hair for our upcoming night out. She had to spray my hair to even make it curl! That made it interesting the next morning when I was trying to get ready for skiing! (crack, crunch, and other noises that sounded like the curls were just breaking off!)

Dinner at Ted's in Bozeman.

March...

Well, working on updating. Maybe by September you'll see pics of summer...OK, OK, I'll try to get a move on here...

You know me, I like videos of my kids singing and such. So, here's one of Annisia singing "All My Life Long".



"All my life long, I had panted
For a drink from some cool spring
That I thought would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.

CHORUS:
Jesus, Saviour, I have found him
Whom mine eyes with joy have seen.
Jesus satisfies my longing.
By his blood, I am redeemed.

Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free.
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My redeemer is to me."

repeat CHORUS

She is still learning some letter sounds like "th". (It probably doesn't help she sucks her thumb!) So she is trying to say the words "thought" and "thirst", but they are eluding her!!

Jonathan posing with his pistol and gun belt.

A new job for the kids (really for Jonathan). Taking out the compost!
Annisia got to carry the bucket...

...but Jonathan has figured out how to dump it without getting all yucky!

OK, so I like checking in on the kids before I retire for the night. Occasionally, I find something I HAVE to take a photo of. This was one such night.

I have NO idea why Annisia is holding the baby brush...no idea. Almost as strange is the way she was holding it when she fell asleep.

Angelic, isn't she?! You oughta see her during the day when she needs a nap or doesn't need something she thinks she needs, or when Jonathan takes something from her, or...

This a different day. Daddy went in to lay down for a nap and told Jonathan to lay with him, nap or not. Just rest. Well, Jonathan said he wasn't tired, didn't need a nap, wouldn't fall asleep, if Daddy made him nap, he's never play again, any other day...you get the picture!

Isn't the photo priceless?! I thought it was so funny how he fell asleep..."nope! Not gonna sleep. Just going to hang out with Daddy. Yep. Just hanging out..." zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A New Cabinet!!

Michael made me a new pantry cabinet for the kitchen!! I guess I have complained long enough about using a bookshelf in the garage to stack boxes of canned goods, then needing heavy crates to store other things like rice, chips, nuts, spices, and anything else I was worried about mice getting into...that Michael built me a GREAT new pantry cabinet!! WooHoo!

This is what the kitchen area looked like prior to the new cabinet going in. You see the fridge? Well the cabinet over the fridge was only 10.5 inches deep, so, I stacked stuff on the fridge. The other cabinet to the left of the fridge is also only 10.5 inches deep. So I crammed as much into it as I could, but there was a lot of storing going on in the garage.

Here's what it all looked like from the side. You see the depth relation between the "old" or original cabinet and the fridge. (Oh, and the sweet, beautiful entry bench on the bottom left that Michael built for my birthday a couple years ago. But, I digress...)

They unscrewed the 10.5 inch deep cabinet from the wall and moved it over. Here's Bret, Michael's brother, using a sawzall to cut out the old over the fridge cabinet. You see, the cabinet above the fridge and the cabinet to the right of it were built as one unit. (Michael's dad and brothers built all of the original cabinets, by the way.) So he sawed it out...

...then they brought in the new cabinets and put them together...

then set them up. They leveled, connected, and voila! I have approximately 48 square feet of additional accessible shelf space! A comparison? 2 foot wide by 24 ft long shelving! This is accomplished with the drawers he installed. These aren't just shelves, they are very cool drawers that have a neato feature that prevents them from slamming. You give them a shove, they go in, then slow down and finish pulling in by themselves. Sweeeeeet!

All put together. Isn't it sweet?! Oh, and that's the little footstool Daddy made for the kids' bathroom so they could reach the sink. Don't you like the handles and the cut out heart?!

My sweet Michael with his beautiful creation.

And the happy (spoiled!) homemaker showing off her cabinets! See the drawer above the fridge? Uber cool, isn't it?!

Here's sweet Annisia helping Daddy put the hardware on the next morning. She's holding the vacuum while he drills so there isn't a lot of sawdust falling. I have such good helpers!

Some more February pics...

Just a video of the kids playing on their swings...they really like to spin, so if you get motion sick watching someone twirl, don't watch this video! You have been warned!



These photos are from Jonathan's Valentine's Day party at school. Again, he stood and watched everyone else sing and dance. The little squinker...
He did enjoy the little square dance type of dance the children did with their parents. Michael got to join in this time. It was quite cute...

What's a Woman to Do?

Here I am, posting pics of the kids working in Feb when it's already July. Woe, woe is me...

Anyways, we had some cold days this winter, despite our lack of snow. Cold enough days that I needed help bringing firewood up to the house. What's a woman to do? Yep! You guessed it! Put yer kids to work!

Good thing I have two kids and two sleds! I'd pitch wood into the sleds and off they'd go!
Look at my big boy...off and running with his sled load!

Then, they'd pull their sleds full of wood up onto the deck...

...and stack it! Whhkshh! (cracking whip!) Get to work, kiddos!!

Then, gasp! One day we got snow! I know, I know...hard to believe. So, what's a woman to do? Snow on the deck, kids in the house...yep! You guessed it! Put yer kids to work!

Then let them play.

Nice snow angels!

And let them eat snow...

Princess Annisia!!

One fine morning, Annisia dressed up in one of her princess dresses. I find various dresses at MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) swaps, Goodwill, & second hand stores. She loves them. Anyways, she had her very cool sunglasses on so she could view the world through rose-colored lenses. That's my ever optimistic daughter!!!

Watch the video...she's quite a little princess. She knows how to twirl, curtsy (not sure where she learned that!), bow, wave, and blow a kiss. Who needs blue blood? She's royal enough, isn't she?!

A lovely sunrise a few days later...