No No Reoow!

So we've had this stray cat problem in the back yard. Apparently we have nice places to poop. It's made for funny conversations with the kids, including Thatcher describing that the kittys (or reoows as he calls them - you know a version of meow) went night-night with their two 'nummies' (that's what he calls his binkies - and he has two of them in his bed), and various outings into the back yard to yell at them and tell them to go away. So here's Gretchen's solution:



She made these three signs and posted them on three of the windows facing the backyard! I asked her if the cats could read, and she said, "no" in a very "duh!" sort of way.

Sponge thought for the day. . .

A great note from the leadership teaching meeting last night:

"Children are like sponges.
They absorb your knowledge,
They sap your strength,
They soak up your resources
And drain your energy -
But with one big squeeze,
They give it all back!"

Isn't it the truth!

I have a dream. . .

Yeah, so I try to teach my kids values and to be good citizens. . .

If you want any tips feel free to contact me!


You might have to squint a little, but yeah, that says 'nothing', 'I wan't more abilities', and 'nothing'. I must be doing a darn good job!

Happy B Day Chris, and more January vegetables!

So Chris received this awesome new shirt in the mail from Lindsay and Kete - thanks guys!

Chris's boss allowed him the day off on his b day - and we went golfing. It was a beautiful day. Thatcher LOVED it. He is no longer happy to sit in the cart and eat snacks - I even tried to brag him with fruit snacks and he wanted nothing to do with them. He wants to be golfing, and where you are supposed to - like on the tee box and hitting his ball into the hole on the green. I can't even distract him and keep him out of the way! Luckily our golf companions were nice about it! Maybe we have a little Tiger on our hands. . .

So I put this shirt on Thatcher and he kept this hood on for about 5 hours!

Here are some of the beauty vegetables from our Schnepf farms outing. It's always nice to have fresh veggies. Speaking of fresh veggies. . .

My vegetables are thriving - I even have some orange-ish tomatoes! What a weird January!
Look - some broccoli seedlings!

My lettuce looks nearly ready!

The orange-ish tomatoes. And after some major pruning, they even recovered from the Christmas-time frost!

With some help from the President I was able to stake my pea plants! Rather creatively if I must say so.

The President was at our house!

So it turns out we had a presidential visitor! Thatcher has started referring to grandma as "Bama", as in O-bama! Ha ha! It was funny every time.

Oh no! Bama's down! I think they may have killed her!


So here is part of the time when they are jumping. . .

And here's the rest of the time! I forgot how much crying can be involved in having fun! They did enjoy this rainy day in particular -

It didn't last too long, turns out they don't like to be in wet clothes, but look at the beauty rainbow in the background!

The grandparents visiting was fun. We got in some golf, some dining out, some nice walks, and plenty of just hanging out! Oooh - we went to a new restaurant called, Some Burros - it was fabulous!

Me and my dad got to have some fun golfing together. It was overcast, but a nice temp and we enjoyed our twosome of funny old guys from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their accent continually reminded me of the movie "Fargo"! Thanks Joe and Ken!

Grandma's in town!

Daddy's in Dallas for the week for work, so Grandma came to town to play with us! Thatcher even coaxed her on to the tramp! (don't tell her I posted these, she won't be happy!)



So we had a little "movie night" last night and watched Lilo and Stitch. It was horrible! Gretchen started bawling because she missed her daddy (I think the movie was sad and scary and it brought it out). It was lame. Maybe we'll have to try again tonight with a GOOD movie. I thought you were safe with Disney, but I guess not!
We ventured out to Schnepf Farms today. It wasn't nearly as excited as it was supposed to be. It was nearly deserted - I ended up driving on roads I wasn't supposed to because we couldn't find people anywhere! We finally found someone to tell us what to do and had some fun. We rode a train around the farm to feed some deer, giddy-up'd on the carousel built in 1912, petted some kind goats and a donkey, played at the playground, and picked some vegetables! The veggies pretty much sucked - more weeds than anything. I guess next time we'll bag that part and go out to our own garden! They do have peach orchards though that are supposed to be great in May, so we'll have to try that out for sure!
This is Thatcher screaming, "NO!" at me while I aim the camera at him. He can be so pleasant at times!



Thatcher actually pet the goats! That is remarkable compared to his reaction to them at the State Fair in September! And I'm pretty sure they had one of the huge-est bulls around! It was Gi-normous!

Good morning Thatcher. . .

This boy. Ahhhh! Good thing he's so stinkin' cute! This was his favorite book too!
Whatever. His loss, not mine. Right?

Happy Birthday Gretchen!! and other fun. . .

Gretchen is 6!! She had a fun day - taking cupcakes to school, always a hit, and dinner and party with yours truly! She chose her favorite meal of spaghetti with parmesan cheese, garlic bread and salad.
This is Thatcher's smile face - he hates to be left out!



We also had a few parties for her before we left Utah - Nobody wanted to miss out on the celecration!!



We also had some fun at Kangaroo Zoo! The kids loved it! Thatcher was a maniac. He loves it!



These two had some fun with tape on their faces, and then marker on the tape, which then of course ended up on their faces! That's what happens when Grandpa is monitoring!

So it's been awhile. So what?

Ok it's been a little bit. Let me catch you up.

We spent Christmas (and New Year's)in Utah. It was great to visit with family and friends.

Here are my New Year's party companions:

Yeah, it was 10:15!! It was quite the rockin' party. Chris did twitch pretty good and hit the rewind button on the Tivo. Pretty exciting stuff.

We drove home the next day - always a longer road trip than desired, with two kids! - and were glad to get back to some sunshine! It is quite "chilly" here - I do occasionally don a sweater. Oh, and the heat is on in the house. Some of my vegetables froze while we were gone. Another planting disaster. Plants seem to not like me very much.

The kids have been doing pretty well. We gave them a tramp for Christmas and they are loving it. Today is 70+ degrees and quite delightful! I'm off to intervene in the children's screming - peace out. . .