Mommy's Little Helper 2

She wants to be where Mommy is! And the floor doesn't cut it. Hannah helped me make dinner tonight from the kitchen sink. She sat and lounged in it but it won't be too much longer and she will be able to crawl out of it. Now if I could only teacher her to dry the dishes!

Mommy's Little Helper

Here's Hannah sitting in the middle of a stack of wreaths while I was working. She has been a real trooper through all of my wreath making. We have spent what feels like an entire month in a little room in the shop making and decorating wreaths. Hannah needed a new distraction and playing with the wreaths was a great one.

Sled Ride

We went back to Medicine Lake today to cut more boughts for my Christmas wreaths. Here are a few pictures of Hannah being hauled around in the sled.

Rolling Play Pen

I started a small business last year called High Mountain Wreaths. This year another woman and I will make evergreen Christmas wreaths that I sell locally and ship. All of the materials are collected locally. Today we made our trip up to Medicine Lake...well not quite to the lake, to collect the fir. Of course Hannah went along since she enjoys being outside. My Mom (aka Grandma Mary) came along and turned the back of her car into a little play pen. Hannah used to be content to spend most of a day just laying around sleeping or just looking. Not anymore! She wants to be free to move some. So, Grandma Mary and Hannah spent some of the day playing in the car. Hannah also got to spend some time out cutting boughs with Grandma Mary and MaMa, as she says.

Hannah cutting boughs with Grandma.

Hannah playing in the car and sitting up on her own.

These were taken with a cell phone and Hannah loves cell phones. The lights, sound, and vibrations are fascinating.

Hannah had enough adventure for the day and was kicking back and warming up in the car for the rest of the afternoon.

A Horse is a Horse

I was debating whether or not to dress Hannah up for Halloween this year when her Uncle Luke sent her a horse costume. Problem solved! Today Hannah was working hard with us as we cut the accent material for our Christmas wreaths. While cutting the Juniper I thought it might be cute if she was dressed up petting a horse. She normally loves to pet the horses but today I think she new she was dressed up. We could hardly get a smile out of her. So here's Hannah as a horse with a horse...the best we could do.

We made one "trick-or-treating" stop today. We went to see Grandma Bevie. There was a lot of candy consumed but it wasn't Hannah. I think Daddy was enjoying himself more than Hannah. :) Below are the last few pictures taken before the Halloween costume melt down. She looks happy but don't let that deceive you. There were many tears of displeasure this afternoon. Naps are a good thing...if I could only convince Hannah of this!

6 Month Check-up

Hannah had her six month check-up yesterday. Either she can already remember and associate things or it was a coincidence, but the minute I started to take her clothes off on the exam table she started to scream. She was fine when I held her but the minute I laid her down to have her shots she cried again even before they were given. Everything otherwise went well. She weighs 15 pounds 4 ounces and is 25.5 inches long. This puts her in the 50th percentile for those measurements...just an average baby. She is doing well developmentally. Her second bottom tooth has cut through. I will post the evidence when it's more visible in her mouth. We are thankful to have a happy healthy baby!

1/2 Birthday

Last night in honor of Hannah being six months old we celebrated her 1/2 birthday. She didn't get to eat any cake and we didn't really need to eat any but we did. Please ignore the poor cake decorating skills. At one point while I was just about done frosting it, the whole thing jumped off the cake pedestal onto the counter top.

6 Months Old Today

Hannah is six months old today. I guess time flies when you are having fun! She is becoming more vocal all of the time. She can say "ma ma" but we don't know if she knows who or what she's talking about. She can sit on her own if she will stop wiggling long enough to do it. She's always on the go, so stopping to sit in one spot is not on her agenda. Lately she has been rolling across the living room to get to her toys or to tear apart my plants. We will be going to the doctor this week so I will update you later with all of her new statistics. Here are six month pictures for you to enjoy. She is a little girl of many expressions so that's why we have shared so many pictures.

It Won't Be Long

Hannah is going to be crawling before we know it. She practices her push ups all the time when she is on the floor playing. Sometimes she even gets her knees up under her and tries to move. She has become pretty proficient at rolling and is already getting into anything at her level. She moves pretty well backwards on her belly but hasn't mastered going forward...yet.

Hannah went to her first Klamath Basin Potato Festival today. We woke up to snow this morning so I wasn't expecting it to be very warm today. I thought, "We'll go and see how it is." When we got to Merrill this morning it was 41 degrees and the wind was blowing. We did a little bit of shopping and then got bundled up to watch the parade. I lasted for a few floats and then decided it was just a little too chilly so we went into the Civic Center and looked at the booths and exhibits. I didn't even feel like the free lunch was worth standing in line for and I'm a sucker for BBQ. Needless to say we didn't last too long. It could be that I was still frozen from watching Tulelake's homecoming football game last night where it was in the low 40s and windy.

Seeing Black

It has always been my dream to have a herd of registered Black Angus cows. For the past five years we have been running a small herd of commercial Angus cows. Pasture has been getting tight for us and it has been a hassle with a new little one to be moving the cows from place to place. We decided to sell off our herd this coming spring and buy just a few registered cows this fall to keep at the house.

This was the weekend to buy the registered cows. Hannah, my Mom and I spent three long days in the Redmond-Madras area. My best guess is that there were 350 animals for sale over the course of the three days. By the time I was done all that I could see was black. They all started to look the same and it felt like I couldn't tell one end from the other. We went to a sale each day and came home with three new cows. They are a little bit on the old side but we have to start somewhere. It wasn't really in our budget to buy the $40,000 top selling animal. My Mom spent some time watching Hannah while I sat through the auctions. Hannah did really well overall. She is currently on car seat strike so we will probably be hanging close to home for the next few days. We made it home late last night and picked up the cows today from our friends Ty and Brooke who hauled them home for us. They seem to have settled right in with the rest of the herd. We are expecting a calf out of one of them early next month.

All bundled up and ready for the sale on Saturday. She could hardly move in the suit.

We're ready to go look at cows!

Hannah and I trying to find the cows we want to look at and then trying to decide which to buy.

The munchkin clan. Brooke, Cade, Hannah and I.

Hannah and I at the sale on Sunday. It got very rainy and cold shortly after this picture.

Hannah trying to give me a kiss!