Such a happy day!

Rodney went hunting and look who he found! He had 3 happy girls! :)

Diesel, our momma cat, has been MIA for months. I think it was because of the tomcat around here, but after we fixed him it was only a few days later when Diesel showed up (towards the end of November). And she's been hanging around ever since. It probably doesn't hurt that Hannah likes to let her in every day and lets her finish her cereal and milk. :) And it looks like Diesel is getting a tummy on her...so maybe she came home to have her babies. Either way, we are happy she's back!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year. Rodney's folks are in Wisconsin and it's too short of a holiday to go to MN. First time with cooking Thanksgiving dinner...I say it turned out pretty good considering! :) Now, I won't have to cook much for the next few days!

Nicole style

Nicole has started doing her own hair...

JD Ag Expo (Nov. 15-17)

This year the girls and I went along with Rodney and the FFA kids to Billings for the John Deere Ag Expo. Quite a few contests are put on during the few days. The livestock team placed 1 (with 3 kids placing in the top 10), parli pro team placed 3, mechanics placed 5 and I can't remember what the other teams did. Both girls did great (naps sure help!).

Nicole's first bus ride

Hanging out in the hotel room

neither wanted to look at the camera

here either :)

Snow!

A couple weeks ago, we had us our 2nd winter storm. We usually get a little snow now and then, but it doesn't amount to much or stick around very long. This time we got at least 6 inches over the course of a couple days and it stayed for about a week. It's so pretty when it's nice and white.

she crawled into the chicken coop and came out carrying this hen

packed her around for quite a while that day before bringing her back

what our yard looked like after a couple nights of deer coming to feed

Hannah's shopping cart

Happy Halloween!

We had twins this year :)

Girls and their kitties

FFA widow

At the end of October, Rodney went to the National FFA convention in Indianapolis. He and two other parents went with 8 kids; he had a sales team competing. Sales team placed 11th in the nation! 3 of the 4 kids placed in the gold division. Afterwards they went down to Nashville and went to the Grand Ol' Opry. Lots of fun was had by all.

The girls and I stayed home this time. The convention part isn't really "kid" friendly. The motel not being in walking distance of the convention center makes it hard since you have to be out and about all day. That was a l-o-n-g week without Daddy home. They left early Tuesday morning and got back Monday afternoon. Being alone made me really thankful that it didn't happen often. Made me think of all you "oil field widows"....how hard it must be to have your other half gone for 2+ weeks at a time.

Some photos from that week. Girls' being silly (blurry photos, but still cute).

 Snow! It was also COLD for a few days that week.

Helpers in the kitchen

Hannah likes to help in the kitchen...likes to do the dumping into the bowls...the stirring...the making of the mess. :)

No toys to play with

At supper tonight, Hannah said that she wanted to go back to George and Denise's so that she could play. I told her that she could play here. Which she replied "No toys here."

Then what are these things that I pick up?!?!

Another stay at the Young Bed-n-Breakfast

And it was a good one too (they all are, though). Mr. Young made pancakes in the morning and we were served some of their homemade chokecherry jam (yum). Caramel corn and puppy chow after Bible study. If you are ever in the area, hit them up for a stay! :)

Rodney's MEA stuff was in Billings this year. We made it to Alvin and Danica's for meeting and then filled the kids up with a *little* sugar. Thanks again for taking us in!

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose and Ring Around the Rosy

And some videos to entertain:

And, to top off the wonderful evening, Hannah got to have her first "sleepover". She was pretty excited to be able to sleep by Beth! Once they settled down, it wasn't long before they were asleep.
Sorry the pictures are blurry. Didn't want to use the flash in case it woke 'em up, but I seriously doubt it would've.