A little ice fishing, a little duck hunting, a lot of fun!

Clint is now on overnights which is very bittersweet.  He gets to see us all more; in the morning when he gets off work and then in the evening he is home for dinner and the kids bedtime.  I really like those parts, but he doesn't sleep as well, so that is hard on him.  Then on the weekends we get all crazy and do what we did on Friday.  Clint got home and we decided to head straight out to Willow Creek for some ice fishing.  It was supposed to snow and rain on Saturday and then get subzero temperatures again.  So, we decided to get out there before it got too nasty. 

We had a great time, Dane pulled in his very first fish.  He has helped us before, but his fine motor skills were still developing, so it was hard to grasp the line and pull the fish in without dropping the line a hundred times or getting wrapped up in it.  When this would happen he would get frustrated and tell us to do it.  Well, this was about a 12" trout and he did it all by himself!  I didn't get it on video, but I will try to the next time we get out.  He was so stinkin' proud. 

He was almost as excited about pulling Sis in the sled, and I did get some pictures of that.



Daddy and his Princess




A nice trout on a sunny day!



Then on Saturday we snuck down to the Missouri for a little duck hunting.  We had both kids, so the kids and I were Clint's cheering squad.  It ended up getting really windy and cold, so Dane didn't last too long before saying that he was done and wanted to go home.  Clint did shoot a couple ducks while we were there...  Here is Dane with one of them!



A golden eagle that flew over checking out the decoys



Lastly...  here is a picture of Little Kimber.  She is getting SO big and fun.  I think she will be mobile sooner rather than later...  not necessarily good news for us.  :)  Cause I think we will have our hands full once she can get where she wants to go!

Wearing Papa's hat!

A nice long weekend!

Despite not getting to go ice fishing at the cabin...  we had a fantastic weekend!  I took last Thursday off so that we could spend an extra day out at the cabin, but the weather was really cold and snowy...  I mean subzero temps, about 8 inches of snow in about 24 hours (for us that's a lot) and wind...  too much for us to take 2 little ones out on the ice.  As you have probably noticed, we don't have an ice house, so we are kind of at the mercy of the elements.  The cabin is only a place that we go when we can get out and recreate.  16 x 20 feet is not enough room to stay sane when you are trapped inside with the kids all day...  so we decided to stay home and make sausage.  Woo hoo!  Not necessarily the most fun alternative, but we always enjoy the end product.

I had told Dane he didn't have to go to "school" on Thursday (and Friday) so even though we were processing meat, he stayed home with us.  So with Kimber on our backs and Dane on the chair next to us we got started!

I wear gloves when processing...  mostly because that makes it is easier to go from meat duty to baby duty.  The burger really sticks to your hands and with gloves I just have to wash, not scrub and scrub.

Well, Dane thought he needed gloves too!

Here is Dane helping grind.  We ended up  making about 100 lbs of burger and sausage!

 We did the grinding on Thursday and then we stuffed on Friday.  Here is Dane...  once again a great helper!

Stuffing the summer sausage

 Then on Saturday we went shopping, made our thank you's for Christmas, baked bread, and hung out!  I got a new vacuum for Christmas and one of the parts was broken.  So, we took it back and got a good one.  Holy crap!  I know I'm a weird girl, but I'm so excited about my new vacuum!  It rocks! 

Dane showing his artistic side!

 Of course we played in the snow!

 Dane holding his sis!

 Today Dane wanted to bake, so we made some muffins.  Here he is filling the muffin tin.

Kimber is doing well.  She is a good baby, but doesn't sleep like Dane did.  Up until a few nights ago she was waking up numerous times a night, with teething, a cold, and growing she just wanted to nurse a lot.  Between work, trying to run, keeping up the house, etc, I had reached that point where I was just exhausted.  When I'm that tired I cry too much.  I'm not mean, I'm not really witchy...  I just cry.  My Dad had a saying when I was a kid...  he said "just go to sleep and everything will look better in the morning."  So true.  Anyway, this weekend, I got sleep.  Lots of it.  Like 10 hours two nights in a row!  Kimber settled down and is only waking up once or twice!  Woo hoo!  I feel like a new women!  It's amazing what a little sleep will do! 

Now we are back at it for another good week! 

A Day On the Ice!

Sunday we went up to one of our favorite ice fishing spots for a fun day on the ice.  Kimber hung out with my mom, so it was just me and the boys.  It was our first day ice fishing this year and I don't think it could have gone better...  we had so much fun!  Here are some pictures from the day!

Setting the tip-ups

It was cold and we forgot to bring a blanket or something for Bones to sit on so that he could get off the ice/snow.  Here he is making the best of the situation!

Are you going to eat that?

Sledding was so much fun!

The moon right over the mountains

This was a really nice trout that I was able to land.

Dane and I with a nice Rainbow Trout

Clint and Dane with another nice trout

What a sweet pup!

As you can see we had a really great time and can't wait to get out there again.  The plan was to head out again on Thursday and take both kids...  but we have a winter storm warning Wednesday and Thursday...  they are calling for 6 inches to a foot of snow, winds gusting to 40 mph, and temps in the -10s to -20s.  Needless to say, that isn't exactly great weather to go sit on the ice...  so we will see what happens! 

Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone's Christmas was as fantastic as ours!  We were entirely too spoiled as were the kiddos!  This was Dane's first year understanding the whole "Santa" concept.  Of course we left the snack and milk by the fireplace and Dane was super excited to find that Santa had eaten it.  Clint also put a little snow by the fireplace before Dane got up, and Dane kept saying "that's not nice" that Santa left snow in our house!!! :)  After finding our stockings...  Dane and I jumped in the car and went and woke my mom (Grandma) up at 6:30 to come join in the fun.  She was a super good sport and came back with us to enjoy the morning.

Here are some pictures of the kids!

Dane got this little toolbox from Grandma and it was a total hit!  In fact we had to put it away so that he would open the rest of his presents!  He sure did get some neat stuff...  A tool bench, books, clothes, bath toys, and some Lincoln logs.  What a haul! 

 Grandpa Karl sent Dane a really neat gift.  He sent him a side by side toy shotgun. (a gentleman's gun) This has also become one of the favorites and since playing with it is a supervised activity...  he is constantly asking to play with his gun.   

 Kimber got these cool blocks from Sam and Shannon!  She loves them!

Thank you everyone for all the great gifts.  We missed those of you that we didn't get to spend the day with, but look forward to seeing you again, hopefully in the near future! 

Brock's First Duck!!!!

 Last weekend we went duck hunting down on the River.  It was me, Clint, Brock, Dane, and Bones.  There weren't quite as many ducks as there have been, but there was just enough! 

Brock did great and was able to get his very first duck.  Clint had the decoys set up just perfect to get the ducks in close.  Sure enough Brock was shooting well and was able to shoot a beautiful goldeneye!

Here are some pictures of the happy hunter!

Waiting for them to come in.

A proud hunter and his ducks

 Dane adores Brock.  Brock is so patient with Dane and does so great with him.  Here they are hamming it up!

 We are so fortunate.  Bones is the perfect pup for us.  Not only is he great with the family in the house, but he is quite the hunter.  Here he is waiting for the ducks.  You can't really see it but the water was frozen into a thick sheet on his vest and his whiskers around his eyes had ice hanging off of them.  What a stud! 

Brock and Dane

Clint and Brock

 I even got to shoot this time and add a couple ducks!

Dane and I

 Then we went to the Christmas party that Clint's work puts on each year.  They are so generous and get gifts for all the kids.  Here is Dane receiving his present.

Lastly...   Dane and Kimber.  You could never tell they are related! 

Kimber's sweet giggle!

Good shooting Clint!

Mom's Birthday, playing in the snow, baking, and duckhunting = A great weekend!

Despite the snow and cold weather we got out and had a lot of fun this weekend.  Saturday was Mom's birthday so we all treated ourselves to Chinese.  Clint had to go to work, but then Mom came over and we put up our Christmas tree.  Dane had his very own ornaments to put up.  He really enjoyed it!

We have a lot more snow than usual.  Most of the time if we get some snow, a chinook wind will come through shortly after and melt it all.  This year has been different and the snow just keeps coming!  We love it!  Dane and I made a snowman the other day while Clint was snowblowing for the neighbor.  It was the first one I have made in years...  I forgot how much fun it is! 





 My work decided to have a bake sale, which was such a great excuse to bake some goodies.  Here is Dane enjoying a beater after I was done with it!  I really am enjoying how he wants to help me in the kitchen.  Sometimes it's a pain, but he has to much fun...  it's worth it!

Dane being silly!

Dane pushing Kimber, she loved it and was laughing!

Today is Clint's first day off, so after we dropped off the treats to my work, the kids and I came home and woke him up.  The plan was to go down on the River and hunt some ducks.  It was a balmy 15 degrees...  So we all got bundled up and off we went.  It was a nice sunny day with no wind though, so it seemed warmer. 

I couldn't shoot today cause we had Kimber along.  Clint wears waders so if we happen to wing a duck and need to go out in the water and get another shot then he can.  He can't wear Kimber and go out in the water, so I was on baby duty.  But, I still had an incredible time.  I kept out the camera and had a lot of fun taking pictures!

Here I am with the Princess

My guys!

Waiting and Watching

Dane and one of the ducks

 A Goldeneye drake flaring at the last moment

If you look close, you can see the duck call that Dane has in his mouth...  He is calling them in!

A Goldeneye hen leaving safely.

A great day!