Must catch up...Some Aug/Sept 2010

I cannot believe I am nearly a year behind on this blog.

This is a photo of Jonathan starting Kindergarten, last year...

This is what happens when your kids get Transformers for birthdays...Daddy has to read the instructions that baffle Mommy. Kiddo catches on quickly.

Jonathan carrying the Husqvarna chainsaw to Daddy. He's a good, strong boy!

Annisia was excited about our cucumbers and the one zucchini that grew in our garden! Look at that grin! She's a good helper in the garden.

Gramma and Papa came over for lunch one day and the kids talked her into reading to them. 

Wily rascals!

Michael loves his hammock, and the kids do too. So the one he's had for many years, long before we were married, was getting trashed. I decided that was going to be his birthday gift. So I ordered him this one from Hammocks Rada in Mexico, and we really like it. I was hesitant to order from Mexico; wasn't sure how long it would take to ship here, currency exchange via internet...you know. They are the BEST! Everything is handled on the website, you know exactly how much it costs in US dollars before purchasing, and it was here within days. So quickly, in fact, that I wasn't quick enough to remember to tell Michael not to open any packages from FedEx and he opened it at the office!

Found these sweet footprints climbing up my stainless steel fridge. "Hmmm," I wondered, late one evening on my way past it. "How did one of the kids climb the fridge? I know they are good climbers and all, but that's pushing it." Then Daddy fessed up to helping Annisia walk up the fridge.

One Friday morning, I found this scene in the living room. I wonder what Yogi bear did to deserve being run over?! Poor bear.

One Saturday, we got going cleaning the windows. (shhhh, don't tell anyone I do windows. I really don't. Michael does!) I asked the kids to pick up some toys for me while we were busy. Well, they don't listen so well. Then I grabbed the vacuum cleaner to vacuum while the furniture was moved away from the wall. They still didn't pick up their stuff. So I did. Then I put them to work doing what I could have been doing while they should have been doing their job! Ha! That'll teach them!

Annisia dusted,

while Jonathan vacuumed!

He's pretty good at that! Hmmm...food for thought.

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.

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!

Michael's Birthday Gift

I wanted to do something fun for Michael's birthday. I got a brainstorm. (Yes, a brainstorm...even blondes get them!!;-) I called our friends in MT, up by Glacier. Michael loves Glacier National Park, and we love our friends Keith and Jolene. So! Early the week of his birthday, I called about showing up on their doorstep in a few days. And they were gracious. "Sure, sounds good!" The dilemma? Crash in their house on such minimal notice (which is a tough decision for me, the queen of 'I don't want to put anyone out at the risk of feeling guilty for a lengthy amount of time') or pack the trailer? (which meant Michael would have to drive the whole distance because, yes, I don't drive the truck with it's intimidating stick shift, and, even if I did, I wouldn't want to while pulling a multi-thousand dollar trailer behind it, thank you very much!) I couldn't figure it out, and, despite trying to keep our destination a secret from Michael, I had to call him to get advice. "Sweetie, if we were to go somewhere where we could either bring the trailer for ease, or not so I could help with driving, what would you suggest?" And what did he say? "Are we going to Glacier?" Waaahhh! I should have known he'd figure it out!

We drove to Keith and Jolene's on Thursday...most of the day. The kids were really good travelers. We are always pleased when that happens. They enjoy LeapPads and snacks. Oh, and don't forget the CD of 150 kids songs we have. We have stayed away from getting a DVD player thus far, and are going to try very hard to keep that policy. We had some fun playing the ABC game..."I see something starting with an A..." We made it to G, I think...impressive for a 5 year old, I think! Some good books for long car rides? Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go and Usborne's Machines that Work, both full of cool pictures to look at. We arrived around 10pm and were heartily welcomed by our friends despite their having to get up early the next morning.

Friday morning, we got up and got ready to go for a small hike at Logan Pass. Here are some collages of things we saw. We really like Glacier National Park. It's a beautiful park; you really need to visit it to understand the beauty. Photos do not do it justice. It's valleys are created by glacial carve which is evidenced by U shaped valleys. (V-shaped valleys are usually created by uplift, not glacial carve.) Unfortunately, the glaciers are quickly receding...in 2001, I believe, we heard on a nature hike that the glaciers could potentially be gone in 30 years. Yikes...

Anyways, here's Logan Pass, some wildlife we saw,

the red cars, the kids on our hike,


That Friday night, we all met for dinner at Keith and Jolene's. Keith told Michael he had been invited to go on a hike with some friends. Michael was stoked!! But the law was laid...the rocks had to be laid in the flower bed that evening...;-)
See this pile? Yep! It needed to be shoveled into the flower bed.

So, the guys got to work and finished it. Then, early the next morning, they got up and headed out to do a big hike...the summits of Pollock Peak and Bishops Cap. Jolene, the kids and I drove back to Glacier ourselves and did the Trail of Two Cedars hike...maybe a mile long walk.



Click on the comment bubble (left bottom corner) of the slide show to see Michael's comments on the epic hike!!



The next day, Sunday, was a nice day with meeting at Keith and Jolene's, lunch at MacKenzie River Pizza Company with some more friends, a nap, the kids dressing up into all sorts of costumes, and birthday cake (German Chocolate) with still some more friends...

'Tis the season of bike rides...

We are enjoying the summer and the bike rides we get. I spend some of my week in group cycling classes, so Michael does some morning bike rides alone. (Between you and me and the fence post (which we don't really have any of...hmmm, an expression that doesn't really work for me...), I think he really enjoys that!) This was one morning in July. He rode off around 6:30am. Jonathan met me in the living room just after 7am and asked where Daddy was. I told him Daddy had gone on a bike ride but should be coming in soon. So we looked out in the garage, but he wasn't home yet. Then we looked down the road and here he came! Jonathan was SO excited, he squealed and hopped around. Then he asked, "Can I go on a bike ride with you, Daddy?" So he got his shoes and helmet on and off they went, down to the stop sign and back, 1 mile. Jonathan thought that was SO cool.

Annisia wanted in on the action too! Daddy indulged her!

French Toast Saturdays!

French Toast Saturdays are a favorite tradition. Michael and the kids work together to make us a fabulous breakfast! Jonathan figures out how many eggs to use, they count them out for Daddy to crack. Then they move over to the mixer where they add milk, honey, and the spices. One morning, Michael was gone when we needed to get going on it. Jonathan knew everything to put into the mixer! I was so proud of him...especially since I didn't know what Michael uses! ;-)

One little imp, n0?!

The proud chefs!

Red Lodge, March 27-29, 2009

On Friday, March 27, Michael and Jonathan headed off to Red Lodge around 8:30am. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive, so they stopped in Billings to get lift tickets at Costco. (a great savings trick, btw. $70 for a pair ($35 ea) full day lift tickets compared to $47 full day/$37 half-day on the mountain) They got there in time for a half day Friday. The skiing was great! This first pic is of the snow on the lift line.

Jonathan already having a great time! Isn't he cute?!

Powder hound!

Then they took a few rides on the Magic Carpet.

That evening, Uncles Bret and Jon arrived. And the next day was a blast with them...as usual! Here's a taste of the fun they had. Bret and Jon were on snowboards. Check out this great wipe out by Bret. At :10, Bret says, "Did you get it?" Haha! I think it's great he wanted to make sure Michael got the video of the fall! At :27, Jon snowboards up to Jonathan, "Braack" (like a chicken) and says, "come on, get up!"



Jonathan was ready for the next step...an intermediate (blue) slope. Here are Uncle Jon, Jonathan, and Michael at the top of the Lazy M, a fun intermediate run.

Here's the video again of Jon messing around and Jonathan giggling about it.



And this one shows again how far up the spectrum Jonathan has come. At :25, Jon says, "What?!" And Jonathan says he's going to take a rest. "Oh, come on..." And Jonathan responds, "It's OK!" So cute!

Riding up the lift with Uncle Jon.

Cruising...

Uncle Jon, in his perfect ski form, (I mean, look at his parallel skis! beautiful!) demonstrating "post and turn" to Jonathan. Jonathan says Uncle Jon is saying, "Pokey turn!" because he pokes his pole into the snow when he turns.

Middle of the Lazy M. Isn't it beautiful?

That white ridge below is Miami Beach.

3/29 Jon left the night before, but Uncle Bret stayed on. More snow was blowing and falling! Jonathan was getting used to powder. At :45, he says, "Uncle Bret, I like the powder!" He kept going over to the side of the run where it wasn't groomed.



This is a sweet pic of Jonathan resting his skis on Daddy's snowboard while riding the lift. Michael is so proud of Jonathan coming up the curve so fast. He feels comfortable snowboarding while J skis. Just need to watch out getting on and off lifts. Once we had a big pile-up.
Finally, lunch at Midway Lodge! They always knew when Jonathan was hungry. He started getting whiney and not listening on the slopes (a dangerous thing, you know!). Jonathan really likes the waffle fries there! Looks like he had a corn dog too.