Christmas Highlights

We hope you had an enjoyable Christmas. Ours was happy and filled with lots of family. Last week my cousin, her husband, and twin boys (5 months) stayed with us for a few days. Hannah loved her little cousins. I'm hoping she does well with a new little sister in a few months. I was afraid she would throw things at them or sit on them, but amazingly she didn't.

We had a few days alone and then my brother and sister-in-law and Ben's brother flew in from parts far warmer than here. We had brunch with Ben's Mom and brothers on Christmas Eve day. That night we had dinner with Ben's family and mine and then attended a Christmas Eve service. We came home and played games and put out the presents.

Christmas Morning

Here's Hannah opening her presents. She actually did fairly well at opening them. We had to start the paper for her and then she would tear it off. About the time she got it figured out she was bored and began carry her presents around and stack them up. She did however demand that each toy be opened after she unwrapped it so she could play with it. This caused the present unwrapping to go on for quite a long time. I'm sparing you from pictures of us after we had just woken up. Kids look so much cuter in their pajamas.

Hannah was lounging around in as few clothes as Mema Mary would let her wear while we got Christmas dinner ready. Here she is enjoying a movie. She (and as a result, we) watched Strawberry Shortcake far too many times on Christmas day. We tired to talk her into some Christmas classics to no avail.

We enjoyed Christmas dinner at our house with some of my local family.

I should have posted this awhile ago. Here's Hannah helping me wrap presents. She was kind of hard on the wrapping paper. I put a name tag on the first present for her Daddy and then she grabbed the pen and made her mark on the present. Some of the presents definitely looked like I had some help wrapping.

Daddy Requested & Hannah Approved

A few nights ago Ben suggested that I make his Grandma's candy cane cookies. I wasn't sure if I had ever had them and he couldn't tell me for sure what they had in them. I tried to call Grandma yesterday but didn't get a hold of her. I settled for some sugar cookie cutouts (that I have never gotten around to frosting) after looking on the internet for a recipe like his Grandma's. Really I knew it was a waste of time since they probably wouldn't be nearly as good.

Hannah and I got home from a little holiday outing when I remembered about the cookies again. I tried Grandma and got a hold of her. She was happy to give me the recipe and I thought I would share it. I didn't take copious notes as she was telling it to me but I will share with you what seemed to work for me.

Candy Cane Cookies (Makes 4 dozen)

1 c. shortening (I used 1/2 c. butter & 1/2 c. Crisco)

1 c. powdered sugar, sifted

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract (I used vanilla)

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. red food coloring (I used food coloring paste until I liked the color)

1/2 c. crushed candy canes

1/2 c. sugar

Mix together. I found that half of this mixture was more than enough.

Cream together the shortening, powdered sugar, egg, and almond extract. Combine the flour and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Divide the dough in half. Color one half with red food coloring. For each cookie take 1 teaspoon of each color. On a lightly floured surface, roll each color of dough out separately into a rope about 4 inches long. Twist the two ropes together and make a hook at the top in the shape of a candy cane. Make one complete cookie before moving on to the next. If you roll out all of the white dough and then all of the red they will be too dry to work with.

Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges have lightly started to brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with candy cane and sugar mixture. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet, or at least until they hold their shape and you can move them to a wire rack. Enjoy!

When Hannah asked for a cookie yesterday I gave her an unfrosted sugar cookie cutout. I later found them partially eaten and laying around the house. Today when she asked for a cookie she got one of Grandma's Candy Cane Cookies. She proceeded to eat the entire thing and then ask for more. They are definitely kid tested and husband approved!

All Trimmed

We finally got the tree decorated. It has been up since Saturday with lights on but we have been waiting patiently for Daddy to help decorate it. Hannah was happy with just a tree with lights and one ornament. For some reason she requested that a snowflake ornament be hung on the tree. Do you think she remembers from last year? I doubt it. I also risked putting the tree out where we can enjoy it a little bit more. So far Hannah has only removed her own ornaments to pack around, and really it's the mostly the mitten we made yesterday.

The tree is always so loaded with ornaments that I generally skip the garland. Or it more likely could be that I never can remember to buy any and have used a rope (lasso) in the past. We like to get a tree from the local forest and not buy one in town. They are not nearly as full as a Douglas or noble fir but we still like the experience of going out and getting it. We don't even have the option of the you-pick and cut Christmas tree farms. On the bright side, it's super fresh when you cut it one day and put it up the next!

The Mitten

Hannah and I did a little craft project this afternoon. Ok, so it was mostly my craft project but I was hoping Hannah would help. I traced her hand and made this mitten from the tracing. I broke out the buttons and ribbon and we started to decorate. Hannah didn't actually want any buttons on her mitten. She thought it was more fun to put them in the jar. I also broke out my puffy fabric paint from high school and wrote her name and the year on the back. I was excited to find the paint was still good since it was pretty old as far as paint goes.

A pair of mittens would have made more sense but I hope we can make this a yearly tradition, and I think we will end up with quite a few before Hannah and the new little one lose interest. Admittedly this was not my original idea. The original post is from here. I have been visiting Crafy Crow to find ideas that might liven up our lives a little bit and that's where I found it first.

It will be fun to watch the mittens get bigger over the years and see how the girls decorate them.

Happy Thanksgiving & A Tree

Happy Thanksgiving! I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any pictures. It was a great day with family and good food. We had dinner with Ben's family and then my parents came down for a visit later in the evening. Hannah had a great time playing with her cousin Colton. She is still asking about him.

On Friday it is tradition to head up to the mountain to cut a Christmas tree. Most of the family came and we had a great time picking out a tree. There was disappointingly little snow but it made for an easy drive up the mountain. It was cool but sunny and quite a bit more pleasant than last year. Hannah got to explore snow and be in the forest for awhile. We packed a lunch of sandwiches made from left overs, hot chocolate, and cookies. Often times we have a bonfire, go sledding, and have snow ball fights. The younger generation isn't up for it yet and I guess as adults we were in a hurry this year. In a few years we will be spending most of the day playing in the snow with the kiddos.

Favorite Outfit

This is hands down Hannah's favorite outfit. Some time during the morning she asks to go oppy (potty). When she gets done she races out of the bathroom before I can get a chance to put clothes or a diaper on her. She runs to find her boots and sometimes her hat...and then it's time to ride!

Pictures & Check-up

Hannah had a check-up last week. She has been any where from the 10th to the 25th percentile for her weight. This time she moved up the 50th percentile, which translates to average. She's a little over 30" tall and her head seems to be growing well. Basically she's doing well. Here are some 18 month pictures for your enjoyment. Do you have a favorite picture? I always have a hard time deciding which ones to have printed.

Visitors

This group of antelope, I presume all gals, ran through our field the other day. They didn't stop long enough for a picture. I was out later where Ben was planting grain and I saw they were eating and laying in another field. We live pretty close what we call "the end of the earth" but don't get much large wildlife hanging around our place. I guess I can be glad that the trees and plants around the house aren't constantly being eaten. It was nice though to see these antelope passing through.

The Festivities

Little Miss Hannah was not excited about being a little lady bug. I tried wearing the antenna and putting them on her stuffed animals to help her warm up to them. She didn't like anyone wearing them including Papa's dog Sadie. We made our trip around to see the grandparents and she wore her costume for a few seconds at each place. I didn't get a picture of her wearing her entire costume where you could see her face so here's it is in two pictures.

Removing the shell.

Wearing the antennae for a bit longer than normal.

The carved pumpkin.

Catching Up

Here's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks.

Baking cookies. Doesn't she look pitiful. I think she was on the verge of getting sick. As a result I got to finish cutting out and decorating the cookies.

Watching the backhoe (a new favorite word) take out a tree and dig trenches for the septic lines.

I thought it would be more fun for Hannah to paint her pumpkin than watch me carve it. With all of the coloring that has been going on on the walls I thought painting would be right up her alley. I guess not. It must be more fun to do art on things that aren't supposed to have art on them. Paint doesn't seem to be her thing and she ended up watching me paint. So, before it dried I washed it off and decided to carve it.

Hannah thinking about helping carve the pumpkin. When I got the top off her first response was "yucky." It's a good thing we had Hannah because I must have been becoming a boring adult. The last time I carved pumpkins was with my college roommate and it had been a really long time before that. I guess having kids allows you to keep being a kid!

Stay tuned for the carved pumpkin all aglow and Hannah dressed up (if I'm lucky).

It's A.....

Girl! We had our ultrasound today and found out we are having another girl. I always thought it would be fun to have a sister. Ben had it right and I was sure it was a boy. Anyway we are still due on March 20th. Don't get too excited about the date. It is +/- 2 weeks. As we went along there were times I could see all 4 chambers of the heart (very cool!) and Ben thought it was at times like watching static on TV.

This picture is honestly the only one worth sharing and it's still not that great. This is a picture of her face with her forehead being to the left of the word "face" and her chin to the right. Her body is headed out of the picture to the right. Kinda looks like a picture just in time for Halloween. They couldn't get the 3-D pictures to work and that's fine with me. They freak me out a little bit.

We are pretty sure everything looks good. The ultrasound tech really isn't the expert (or at least claims not to be) so the final "good to go" will come from the doctor next month.

FYI: To make things a bit more exciting since this is the second pregnancy the name (when we finally agree for sure) will be kept a secret until she's born. So, don't even try to pry it out because it won't be worth your time! :)

Farm Girl

All dressed up and ready to do chores. She does still smile but I think she's becoming a bit camera shy.

Things yet to be done:

1. Preg-check cows and vaccinate everyone.

2. Replace the septic lines (again).

3. Attend several fall get-togethers.

4. Get Hannah's picture taken. It's been way too long!

Craziness

Things have been busy around here since my last post.

Thursday of last week we brought home our cows and calves. I was thankful to make it in two loads because I was tired and Hannah hates riding around in the cruddy car seat I bought for the trailer pulling pickup ("The Ford"). The last load was a tight squeeze but we got every one in. It was a slow heavy trip home.

They were all glad to be home but Friday I weaned the calves in the corrals and Ben moved the cows to the pasture right by our bedroom window. I think he had some logic behind that but I couldn't quite remember what it was that night when I was trying to sleep. The cows were ready for their calves to nurse and the calves wanted their Moms. Who can blame them? Needless to say he got to sleep by himself and I went to a more quite room in the house. Light sleeping Mommies don't do well with constant loud noises 20 feet from their bedroom window!

Definition: We-generally refers to Hannah and her Mommy. Her Daddy has been very busy while local farmers work to get 3rd and 4th cuttings of alfalfa out of the field and into barns before the weather gets too bad.

We finished up with the wheel lines on the alfalfa field for the year and they are waiting to be tied down for the winter. We also flood irrigated the pasture for the last time. It was the most challenging irrigation yet with the pump plugging up almost constantly and the irrigation district not having enough time to help keep it cleaned out. Hannah and I spent quite a bit of time out there keeping it running. I guess that's why I get paid the big bucks! :)

Yesterday we sorted the calves. After decisions were made about who to sell, who to keep as replacement heifers, who to keep to eat, and should I really leave the bull calf a bull, I had a load ready. The brand inspector came by for a quick inspection and our paper work was in order to take the calves to the livestock auction.

So today was the "big" trip to the sale. After breakfast we staked the wheel lines back down because they came loose in the wind yesterday. Then we backed the trailer up the loading ramp. I'm pretty adept at backing up a trailer but to get it in this location is no small feat for me. Hannah played in the pickup while I sorted the "calf kept to eat" off from the others and loaded them in the trailer. Calves are young and dumb and for some reason tend to load up really well for me...thankfully. On our way to the sale we ran across the valley to "The Westside" and pulled a hay sample (another one of my jobs) and then ran it back to the post office.

Now it was finally time to head up the highway. Hannah was already acting like she needed a nap so I knew this could be a "fun" trip to town. We got to the livestock yard and got the calves unloaded and the trailer unhooked. Every time I pull the trailer I find one more driver on the road that really shouldn't have a license. Today was no exception. We ran into town to do a few things, got lunch to go, went back to get the trailer and headed home.

I'm almost done (for awhile)...I think. I have two registered calves to get weighed soon and cows to preg-check at some point. There's one other project we have been working on but I want to wait until I'm done and have pictures before I say much more.

Fall Chores

It seems like our days have been fairly uneventful yet very busy. We are irrigating our alfalfa field one last time just to make sure the plants go into winter nice and healthy. We also have cattle to feed in the corrals and more will be coming in this week. We have the last few cows and calves to bring home and then we will wean the calves. I never look forward to the sleepless nights of cows and calves bawling for each other. Other than that we have been cleaning up outside and trying to get things ready for fall/winter...which ever comes first around here!

Hannah ready to help Mommy irrigate this morning.

Hannah helping feed the heifers in the corrals.

Pregnancy Update

I'm not sure if you are wondering but since I had a doctor's appointment today I thought I would give a little update on how things are going. There actually isn't much to report. Things seem to be going well. I have gained a little weight...the only time in my life where this is a goal....and my pants are close to being too small. We heard the baby's heart beat today. It was moving around so quickly that we didn't get to check it's heart rate but it sounded good. I'm starting to feel some better and finding something to eat that sounds good is not quite the challenge it used to be. Otherwise, things are good. Hannah is keeping me busy and we are headed out to get the field ready for the third and final cutting.

The Fair

The fair was this weekend. I told myself I wasn't going to spend much time there but let's face it there isn't much to do around here so we ended up at the fair at least once a day.

Thursday: I had the brilliant idea to go at 10:00 when it "opened." I don't think I will be doing that again. Nothing was quite ready for the big "opening." The exhibit buildings were supposed to be open and the doors appeared to be. Hannah and I were enjoying our stroll through the building until a lady explained to me that the building was in fact not open and she was afraid that people might steal her items in the isle that she was still trying to get set up. Do we look like we need random hydraulic parts? We must! I decided at that point to head back home and come back another time. I would rather not cook during the fair so we headed back with Daddy that evening for some dinner.

Friday: Daddy would have rather not gone back to the fair but they were having the Farmer and Rancher Appreciation dinner. It's tough to turn down free BBQ from one of the best caterers around. After dinner we cruised around and looked at all of the exhibits and animals.

Saturday: Do we go to the fair? Do we stay home? Do we go to the fair? OK let's go I decided. Hannah was running around the house refusing to be dressed and I began to wonder if I really wanted to go. I asked her, "Do you want to go to the fair?" She immediately brought me her clothes and sat down to be dressed. I guess she wanted to go. We went in a little bit early and got some lunch and then watched the parade. I had been wanting to take Hannah into a farm play area for little kids so we waited around for it to open.

Here she is digging in the dirt for potatoes.

This was probably the highlight for Hannah. It was a very large box filled with whole corn and lots of sandbox toys. At one point I took her out and she jumped back in while I was trying to get the corn out of her britches.

"I'm so exhausted Mom but I don't want to get out."

I guess Daddy was tired of fair food and was looking forward to some home cooked dinner but he made me believe otherwise and we ended up back at the fair for dinner. We should of just had cereal or something because it was absolutely crazy trying to get something to eat.

Sunday: We attended the church service at the fair and then had lunch with some of the grandparents.

I'm kind of pooped from all of the activity but we still look forward to it every year.

Catching Up

We have been busy here but I haven't gotten much posted on the blog. Here's a little taste of what we have been up to.

Playing with Play Doh

Feeding the heifers

Riding the Bouncy Horse

Sliding (and climbing on everything!)

Baking

Hannah prefers her tractors and Mommy made some Craisin scones.

Playing in the sand and water. I'm hoping this will be a good thing to help us get through the winter.

Swinging

Playing in a tube

Sliding with Mommy

I definitely exceeded the age limit of 12 years old. We crossed our fingers that we wouldn't exceed the weight limit!

15 Month Check-Up

Hannah had her 15 month check-up on Monday. She weighed in at 20 pounds 5 ounces and 28.75 inches long. There's not much else to report other than she's busy, busy, busy and learning lots a new words. I'll give a go at listing her current vocabulary (please forgive the bodily functions).

Mama
Dada
Doggie (also with barks to follow)
Cracker
Tractor
Apple
Bottle
Baby
Bye Bye
Hat
Hot
Poo Poo
Pee Pee
Papa
Bull
Moo
Baa
Peas
Please

I'm the Big Sister (Part 2)

Just in case the picture yesterday didn't speak louder than words, here are the words. Yes, we are expecting. The new little one should arrive on or around March 20th. Daddy is sure it's a girl but we will be happy with whatever we get. Hopefully we will find out the sex of the baby in about 4 months. If you are doing the math this will put the kiddos about 23 months apart. Hmmm....I think that equals a very busy Mommy for a few years!

If you are getting posts in your email (FeedBlitz) I wanted to let you know that there it a "baby ticker" at the top of the blog that shows our progress. If you ever wonder how far along we are or what the baby is doing you can look there.

I'm the Big Sister

A Fort & Swimming

Hannah has been getting a little bit bored around here. She likes to be outside but that only goes so far. Yesterday we made a fort in the living room with chairs, a sheet, and a big box. She banged her head many times as she would try to steady herself on the sheet and it would give way. Overall she had a great time. Daddy even took some time to play in the fort with her.





Last night we went to Family Night at the Malin Pool. You are supposed to shower before you enter the pool. I walked in, turn on the shower, and Hannah immediately screamed bloody murder. We made it quick. We skipped the hair because we weren't going under water anyway. Daddy claims he never showered when he went. At the threat of being kicked out if we didn't comply we quickly followed the rules.

This was not a good start to our first "big pool" swimming experience. We got in the water and Hannah wined, wined, wined. We got out and played with the fence and tried a few other distractions. We got back in and it wasn't much better until Mommy started blowing bubbles, and then she was sold. She loved it! We swam for about an hour until I decided that she was getting too cold. Unfortunately she didn't fall asleep on the way home but bedtime when very smoothly after all of our activity.

Medicine Lake

Today Hannah, Ben, my Dad and I spent the afternoon at Medicine Lake. It was pretty warm here and we thought rather than work around the house we would go play a little. Hannah absolutely loved the water! This summer she hasn't been in anything deeper than her little pool and she loved walking out into the water. She would purposely throw herself off balance and into the water. A couple of time she went face first into the water and didn't seem to mind. Here she is trying to dog paddle.

Then I tossed her up again and again.

And then we did the "back stroke." Wow, was my back sore after this.

Daddy fished. He didn't catch anything other than "rock fish" but I think he enjoyed just sitting back and relaxing.

Papa Lee went out on the lake in his kayak. I also went out for the first time right when we got to the lake. I was trying to see how fast I could get it going but my Dad wasn't up for a race!

Hannah being cute in the car as we were getting packed up to leave.

Mommy's Little Helper Gets Bigger

Hannah, Gus and I have been diligently watering the alfalfa after first cutting. Emma doesn't help yet. She willingly runs to the house when she hears the Gator start up. First cutting went well and now we are trying to give second cutting a good start.

Hannah has been going with me every time I change the wheel lines since Ben has been way too busy to watch her while I do it. Really we haven't seen much of him at all, but at least he's got work to do. Hannah has been enjoying the water changes a little bit more than she used to. She's still not a fan of having her clothes and diaper changed while she's asleep only to awaken to a sweatshirt being pulled over her head, then finding herself riding on Mom's knee through the brisk morning air down the bumpy field road, and is then made to stand in the field while the wheel lines are moved. She has found the evenings to be much more enjoyable as you can see from the pictures.

She really does know how these things work. She tries to do it for me. Soon enough I'm sure she will be able to. In the last couple of days of watching her I won't be surprised in the least if she ends up being a left-brained thinker...but she would come by that honestly. She is definitely watching and figuring things out.

I couldn't resist this last picture for some reason. It's like she's posing by her valve opener. Only a farm girl!