Thanksgiving 2014

Spent in Kalispell. Brists welcomed us to their place for the day. Alvins, Dianne, Doug and Mary, Jewel, Glen and Tanya, Laura, Tess and kids, Susan, Kracks and us. All the (older) kids (15!) had fun playing. We went back up to Alvins on Friday so Rodney could help with the barn wood cutting. Weather was a bit wet (rain in November?!), but they got some cut. We took off Saturday afternoon and headed to Helena for the night, enroute to Townsend for Special Meeting. Had some dicey roads, but we made it.

A few pictures- forgot to get the camera out Thursday until the evening-

what kids can do to a room in a minute

Friday-

teacher beth reading to her students - such good attention they have

took a walk in the drizzle to see what the guys were doing

November 2014

Howdy-

November was a month spent on the road for Rodney. After returning from National FFA Convention in Louisville late Sunday the 2nd, he had some days to get ready for the John Deere Ag Days in Bozeman the 13-15. He put on the mechanics contest that Thursday there. The kids did well; placing 2nd in mechanics, 5th in livestock and 5th in parlo pro. They went to the Bobcat football game that Saturday afternoon. The girls and I went over there with him, but didn't stay for the game. It was cold and snowy. That following Tuesday morning, the 18th, Rodney and a couple other MAAE officers flew out to Nashville for the National Ag teacher convention. He enjoyed his time there and got a few new ideas for school. He came home late Saturday night. Our FFA Alumni held their annual auction that Sunday. Dale and Bonnie came down for a couple nights at that time. Then it was Thanksgiving break. Rodney had a half day that Wednesday, so we headed to Kalispell for the holiday. Sorry to miss out on the family time in Fort Benton, but we enjoyed our time with Alvin and Danica and the gang. Rodney helped Alvin get some lumber cut for the barn they're building. We got to join the Ashley Lake friends for Thanksgiving at Rob and Tess's. We left Saturday afternoon and headed to Helena to spend the night with Dale and Marie on our way to Townsend Special Meeting the next day. It was rainy for that Thursday and Friday, but on Saturday it turned cold and snowy. The roads weren't the greatest, but we made it. Not much else happened this month. Had some snow off and on. And some cold. The beginning of the month was warm for November, but that changed over night it seemed. We sold our calves, except one that is here at the place, and one open cow. We still need to bring the rest of the cows home from the pasture. Rodney was able to fill his deer tag. There had been some nice bucks come through our pasture, but never when he was home. Well, one Sunday morning there was a 5 point (that would be a MN 10 point) that was tempting him as it stood in the pasture for quite a while. We've heard that we need to remove our temptations, so...that buck has found his way to our freezer. :) The girls have enjoyed the snow. We haven't been able to make a snowman yet like Hannah wants, though. Janell has rolled over a few times. She's still a smiley happy baby for most of the time. Hannah knows how to write a few words and can recognize a few others. She's got quite the memory on her. Nicole is surprising us on how many letters she knows and she can even write a few. Not sure where she's picking that up. We got rid of our dog to the neighbor, that's where Molly wanted to be anyway. She's going to see if she can make a cow dog outta Molly. The girls don't seem to mind, as the cats are around more now. I better clock off before this gets too much longer.

'Til next time-

Rodney, Amanda, Hannah, Nicole and Janell

sunday mornin' cuties

Janell loves her bath:

sleeping beauty found her thumb

it snowed!

whoa, it's cold out here

Oh dear...

The girls were playing:

N- "It's time to go to sleep."

H- "Mom, I'm 18. I can do whatever."

Hannah observations:

"When I'm a mom, I'm not gonna have any kids."

"I was born back in the old days."

"Mom, apparently I'm a princess."


And a Nicole story:
We received a popcorn tin in the mail at Christmas time and after opening it and seeing what it was, the girls were ready to dig in. Since it wasn't the most opportune time for a snack, I told them that they needed to wait until bedtime and they could have it as a snack then. Nicole leaves and comes back shortly with her jammies on.

Must be bedtime when you get your jammies on, eh?

Laundry nowadays

I sure wish I knew what was clean and what was dirty before I put the girls' clothes in the washer. They tend to go through multiple changes a day, multiple times. When they're playing and it's nighttime, you need to have pajamas on. And then it's time to get ready for meeting and you can't wear the same outfit you had on before. And then you're going on a trip so you need to pack a bag. And then...

Oh well. Job security for the laundry lady. Wouldn't want to put her out of a job.

:)

October 2014

Howdy-

Kinda hard to believe October is here and gone already. Rodney was kept busy with school and getting ready to go to the National FFA convention in Louisville, KY. He took 11 students and 4 other adults and they flew out of Bozeman early Tuesday (28th) morning. The Parli Pro team competed and came in 29th. Tonight they're in Nashville, TN. They went to the Opry this evening and are planning on seeing downtown Nashville in the morning. They fly out tomorrow (2nd) about 5 and get into Bozeman late. We're ready for Daddy to be home! For MEA a couple weeks ago we went to Missoula, as that was where Rodney's teacher convention stuff was. Spent a couple nights there and was reminded again why we don't live in a big city. This little corner of the world works great for us. Spent an evening with Logan and Elissa. A house of boys and a house of girls collided...and had a great time. Last Friday we worked cows; vaccinating and preg checking. Nicole was sure watching Rodney for the first few cows that he preg checked. Hannah remembers it from years previously, but it was a refresher for Nicole. The life of a farm kid. Other than that, I don't think anything else happened except for the daily living. Janell is a growing and a changing. She's into blowing bubbles at the moment. And she's just about ready to full-out laugh; we've been getting some giggles outta her. For the most part, she's been sleeping through the night for the past couple of weeks. Which is nice. :) Not much else has changed. Nicole and Hannah are still amazing us with their skills. :) Nicole has really gotten into doing puzzles and Hannah likes to write her letters, asking how to spell words. Can't think of anything else to add, so...

'Til next time-

Rodney, Amanda, Hannah, Nicole and Janell

 

 

The camera was MIA, so here's a few pics from the month that we had on the ipad:

H's writing on the ipad

big sisters brought her lots of babies to play with

 

 

art project

cute little chubby cheeks

hangin' with daddy

 

huh. guess she didn't want to be put down. even if i did want to get a picture of her in the cute pink bibs

jack-o-lanterns

drawing faces with markers on one side...

...but we didn't get the other side carved. next year

happy halloween! :) had a cow and a princess to go shopping with. and "mommy's cupcake". but didn't get any other picture but this one. we were gonna go to the story hour at molly's library, but a low tire on the van changed our plans. we ended up going to butte to get a few things and then we stopped in whitehall at allen and linda's and david and peggy's for trick-or-treating on the way home. then i decided to go down to dillon so the girls could show auntie linnet and papa george and gramma nec their outfits.

For story hour at the VC library that week, the kids (and others) dressed up:

craft that day was coloring trick-o-treat bags. that i forgot at home on halloween.

shoes are usually on the wrong feet :) she was so excited to finally be able to wear the cow outfit that was been hanging in the closet for the longest time (to her).