Sledding Fun!

Another great weekend.

I've decided weekends at home can be kind of fun.  I get SO MUCH stuff done around the house.  I spend a lot of time playing and baking with the kids.  Last night I even got to read about 2 pages in a book.  (it wasn't a children's book)  Of course it's a book I have read like 5 times and it just happened to be under my side of the bed so I picked it up and started to read.  After about 2 pages I found the book (and my eyelids) became very heavy so I had to put it down and go to sleep.

The plan this weekend was to stay home and make sausage, but the local meat markets (all 3) were out of the pork suet that we use.  Now the plan is to do it next weekend. 

We decided not to even go anywhere on a daytrip due to the nasty weather.  On Friday, the high was something ridiculous like -10.  Saturday it was a little warmer but the wind was blowing like crazy.  Today it's probably about 30 but the wind is blowing pretty hard again.

It ended up working out that we stayed home.  Friday night Kimber woke up with croup, and when I took her in she had an ear infection as well.  Poor babe.  Now, we are really hoping that Dane doesn't get it.  But, that is hard since they are always playing with the same stuff and she drools on everything.  We shall see.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend... 

Probably about a month ago Kimber really mastered this movement we call the "seal pup".  I am trying to download a video of it, but I'm having trouble so here are some pictures.  It's kind of like a pushup position and then she pushes herself forward.  I think she may do this instead of crawling cause she gets where she wants to go and isn't really trying to crawl anymore. 

Our little "seal pup"

 Dane found Dad's drill and thought he might do a little home improvement.  He offered to fix the toilet, but luckily Clint had already done that.  Aren't I lucky to have 2 helpful guys in the house?!!?!?

 As always, we had some fun making muffins.  Here is Dane scooping out the pumpkin for me.

 These our the little "Dane muffins".  He helped me fill the tin and everything.  We made some big ones too, but Dane really likes these little ones. 

 and then there's Bones.  He is such a good pup.  He isn't allowed downstairs unless he is invited.  But, if we forget to invite him he will remind us. 

First, he starts at the top of the stairs looking down sadly.

 Then we will notice him peeking around the corner. 

 Looks pretty comfortable...

 and who wouldn't want to come join the fun downstairs...  Kimber has discovered him and thinks he's quite intriguing!

A trip to the cabin... but no ice fishing!

Friday we arrived at the cabin around 11 am.  We ate some lunch, played with the kids a little and then headed down to the Lake for some ice fishing.  Imagine our surprise when we saw open water.  Lots of it!  Most of the open water was in the middle of the lake with the ice still pretty thick and sturdy in the protected coves.  But, with the kiddos, we didn't want to chance it.  (Okay, I was super nervous and Clint is a great hubby, so we decided not to go.)  Well, about a week ago the weather really warmed up and we had super high winds.  The combination of the two ruined our ice fishing plans!!!  Although it is still about 2 feet thick up at Lake Francis, so all may not be lost!!!

Since we couldn't fish, we took another nice drive and admired the beautiful landscape and wildlife!  Then we just enjoyed hanging out with the family up at the cabin and at home!

A whitetail doe checking us out.

The beautiful Rocky Mountains

Dane LOVES setting up his tent in the cabin and "camping".  Here he is having a great time.  I could hardly get him to hold still to take his picture!

A coyote hunting in the fields.

Kimber playing



It was a long day



Another view of the Front.

8

It's a very special number.

Today, Clint and I celebrate our 8th Anniversary.

I can't say how much I appreciate the man that I call my husband.  He is amazing, hard working, ethical, compassionate, tough, a great dad, an incredible partner, and much, much more. 

I think we are a pretty damn good team in this game they call life

I am looking forward to many more innings...

Clint Houston, I love you!  Thanks for making me your wife!

Last weekend was really snowy!

We had record breaking snow last weekend...  9.7 inches in 24 hours.  For us that is a lot!  Since Clint was working all weekend, we just did some things during the day to stay out of the house and let him sleep.  Dane had a good time playing outside and we also had some fun at the museum.  Here are some pictures of our weekend!

Moving some snow with his new bucket



Still outside even though it's almost dark!!!



Mom and Kimber at the Museum

Here is Dane on a balancing board...  I'm not sure if it's his lower center of gravity or what...  but he balances on this thing forever.  I suck and hardly make it for any time at all!

This is also pretty cool...  The ball is suspended in the air.  It floats on a stream of air that comes up through the cone.

Dane made us breakfast this day...  I came upstairs and he had got out sugar snap peas and yogurt for us both.  Yum!  What more could a girl ask for?

Clint has affectionately nicknamed Kimber our "seal pup".  She is quiet chubby these days and although I think she is more than capable of crawling, instead she does this weird pulling herself along type movement.  Although she isn't moving quickly, she gets were she wants to go so I'm not really sure that she is too motivated to crawl.  When she moves along like this she does kind of resemble a seal pup!

Anyway, here is our little girl playing with  blocks. 

Besides that... nothing too exciting going on here.  Today is Clint's Monday, so tonight is his first night back to work.  That means he doesn't have to sleep all day so we are hanging out at home getting things done.  Dane is a little under the weather, nothing too serious, but we decided to get all of our chores done today and then we can play all weekend while dad is sleeping.  Aunt Jeanne (my mom's sister) is flying in on Sunday, so it will be great to see her.  She will be staying with mom, but I know that we will all have a wonderful time!

A chinook has come through, so the weather is going to be warm, but really windy...  gusts up to 60 mph, so maybe it's a good weekend for Clint to work...  it's hard to be on the ice in that kind of wind. 

I am also trying to put a couple random videos on the blog, but it's not downloading very well...  so we will see!

A little fun with Dane!

With Clint on overnights I try to get out of the house with the kids so he can sleep.  One of our favorite places is quickly becoming the Children's Museum.  Dane loves it and they even have a play area for infants in the middle of the toddler area, so both he and Kimber can enjoy their time.  Last Saturday, mom offered to watch Kimber so that Dane and I could go by ourselves and have a little Mom and Dane time.  It was a lot of fun, and a little more relaxing since I could just focus solely on him. 

My mom is also a ton of help right now as well.  We often times go over there to hang out and let Clint sleep.  We all enjoy the "Grandma time"!

Here are some pictures of our trip to the museum! 

This is the dinosaur dig.  (aka sandbox)

 The water learning area (water table)

 Here is Dane playing on the...  okay I don't know what it is, but it is in the area with the fake money and calculators.  So, we play bank and he gives me money!

 Here's the little matchbox car racetrack.

This weekend will probably look a lot like last weekend except tomorrow Kimber and Grandma will join us at the Museum.  Saturday is a birthday party and Sunday, well... we will see what Sunday brings.  Should be a lot of fun.  Then Clint's days off will start rotating to where we will begin having some time off together again.  Woo hoo!