Best Weekend Ever

Last weekend was one of those all time greats.  My little family unit went from egg hunt to egg hunt, and celebrated Cubby's 5th birthday somewhere in between.  My girls wore pretty, delicate dresses while holding baskets of colorful eggs.  J.D. hunted for loot as well, and smiles were had by all. It really was a glorious weekend.  Spiritually, it was the most glorious weekend in the year of a Christian!  And boy, did we worship our Savior!!  

But first...to the hunt we go!

Gigi was so proud of her many eggs.

This is Danny's favorite shot of the day.  Sweet little E is posing with her newly barren gumline, while J.D. looks on, clearly discontent, even a bit critical.  Ahhhh...siblings.

Cubby is the picture of Easter!

Gigi hunts through the flowerbed.

Wow!  That's a lot of eggs!  And that's a beautiful smile to boot!

Sometimes grandpas have to be called in for assistance in opening a few eggs.

Grandmas, too.

The big girls love getting their Cousin Ellie and wrapping her in a big hug.  She doesn't seem to mind.

Boy am I lucky or what?  Look at my two sweethearts flanking me!  That's a very blessed mom there in the center!

Wow, did I say blessed?  I mean it!

That basically wraps up one Easter hunt.  Now on to the next celebration...

Cubby's 5th Birthday Party!

Uncle Chris helps out J.D. with a new bunny rabbit friend named Oreo.  Gotta love a big ol' sweet uncle!

And here's the birthday girl in all her glory, cuddling her bunny, Sarah. Unfortunately, Sarah took the long walk to bunny heaven the day after this party, but Cubby recuperated when a loving friend dropped off another bunny (a beautiful, fluffy white bunny) that Cubby named Lily. 

Sister friends.  What lucky girls they are to have eachother!  Although they have times when they certainly don't feel that way about the other, for the most part, they get along incredibly well.

The cake blow!  

Cubby requested Rapunzel's face for her piece of cake.  And no, she didn't even come close to finishing this gigantic slice!

The proud grandparents surround their herd of loving grandchildren.  

And here it is.  This may be my favorite gift from the birthday party.  This long, Rapunzel wig, was exactly what Cubby wanted, except nobody knew it!!!  Luckily, Aunt Carrie & Uncle Chris knew and understood and bought exactly what their little niece desired.  Thank God for aunts and uncles!!

And there she goes, off to climb her tower and wait for her prince to ride up and rescue her.  Not really.  She's just on her way to look in the mirror at her new long, luxurious locks.  

Maybe it doesn't seem like much, but this was one of those outstanding, amazing weekends.  There is something special about that Easter day, the obvious which is what we celebrate and sing about in church on Sunday, of course.  But also, there's just a feeling in the air, an unquestionable understanding among believers, that our Lord is alive.  He is alive and well and working and interceding for us, and we can call on Him and He will answer.  We can be comforted in that and also rejuvenated in our faith to serve and love and follow Him.  I thank God for His sacrifice!  

Love to all!  Happy Easter!

A Little Slice of Heaven

Yesterday morning I woke up and I felt super restless.  I felt a burning itch to get out of town.  So I called my mom (known as "the Jambronee" in my house.  Pronounced jam-broh-nee, this name is a silly take on "grandma."  I know, I don't really get it either), she agreed to go, and an hour later, we were headed out. 

This is yet another area where God has truly blessed me in that I have a mom who is retired, and owns a beautiful property in the mountains only an hour and a half away.  

The kids were thrilled.  After a quick glance at the weather, jackets and hats and vests were packed, and along with a fully stocked pack of snacks, we arrived to 59 degree breezy weather.  Compared to the dusty, windy warmth of the Valley, the chilly mountain air felt cold and yet heavenly at the same time. 

We rolled into town and immediately went to the little local library, which is, the most awesome, beautiful library I've ever seen. It has a great kids' section.  Cubby immediately signed on to the computer to play games, while Emma browsed the early reader section.  J.D. and Gigi pulled apart every puzzle then proceeded to walk away, already bored.  What's the point of putting a puzzle back together? Just kiddin'.

After a while, mom and I couldn't contain their noise any longer.  So we checked out a handful of kid movies, and headed over to lunch.  Only cheeseburgers would do for this ravenous crowd.  Not for me this time, oh no; that cup of tortilla soup hit the spot.  Everyone's tummies were too stuffed for pie, so instead of buying pieces we bought our whole caramel apple pie with crumb top.....yes, you heard me right....CARAMEL apple pie WITH crumb top!  Whoever decided to pour warm gooey caramel all over a freshly baked apple pie is a genius.  Nothing short of brilliance.  Seriously.  I highly suggest you try it, you might keel over from pure joy.  

Time to head for the cabin, lovingly termed "the cabin-et."  After racing up and down the stairs a few times, a toddler requirement, the little ones settled down to watch a movie and enjoy their piece of heaven...I mean pie.  

Once the movie had wrapped up, we wandered the property a little.  We gathered firewood, checked the level of water in the pond, spied on the new neighbor, picked up ladybugs, peered through binoculars at a huge hawk eating something gross, and then decided to load up for home.  There was some moaning, possibly some gnashing of teeth.  But homeward we must go!

I took my camera along, but it was so cold out, my hands were stuffed into my dad's jacket that I was wearing.  I caught a couple of funny shots before we left.  Enjoy!

A little background is necessary.  So, I asked the two of them to smile.  But Emma is now in an artsy phase, so she gives "interesting" looks at the camera.  J.D. gave me a full on smile, but before I could snap the picture, he double-checked that his big sister was also grinning.  Not so much.   

And here's yet another use for a hammer.  Yep, sometimes a tree just needs a good whack.  Not so sure what the squirrels and birds thought about all this, but I guess that's what you get when you put a tree right smack dab in the path of a perfectly good hammer.  And a two-year-old-tool-loving-little-boy.

Ok, so I am only a tiny bit biased, but is this not the most handsome little boy in the whole wide world.  Clearly a mini-Danny, this boy can't help puttin' on the charm.  Seriously, he doesn't have a clue about charm.....yet.  

And that's my slice of heaven.  A beautiful day in the mountains, surrounded by my herd of perfectly wonderful children, assisted by the most awesome mom a girl could ask for, and finished off with a piece of .....need I remind you?  CARAMEL APPLE PIE.....and a little hammer time.  

Jeepin'

When Danny and I were dating, he took me out on quite a few "desert dates." We hiked and picnicked out there, and for the most part, I really enjoyed it.  We off-roaded quite a few times as a young, in love couple, but as the years have gone by, our desert trips have almost vanished.  I realized lately that when Danny and I were dating, I was not really into the desert, I was actually really into Danny.  He could have been totally interested in the art of Indian pottery, and I would have walked right into that museum with him, all smiles.  

So needless to say, we haven't kept up the desert adventures like Danny would have liked.  Sand isn't too conducive to diapers, I would say.  But as the kids have grown older, Danny has taken them on more and more short desert excursions, and they come back thrilled with the adventure of the great open desert-scape they experienced.

Well, this Saturday was a glorious day.  Maybe a tad windy, but altogether another glorious spring day in this desert I call home.  My parents called our house early in the morning to ask if we wanted to go jeepin'.  Jeepin'?  We don't have a jeep!  

Well, that ain't gonna stop us!!

Check out my dad's new toy.  

He's awfully proud.  He insisted I take a picture of his grandson alongside his new prized possession.  Love it!

"So happy together...."

Little Gigi loved climbing on the rock, but she took a spill, and only grandma would do to kiss it and make it all better.

All of these pictures were taken on our drive into Split Mountain.  The kids got out and ran around, pretending the cave-like spaces were Indian encampments.

Here they are huddled under shelter from a brutal, snowy winter.  You can see that my oldest had gathered some firewood to provide a little warmth.

Check out Emma's big ol' gap!!  The other front tooth will be gone by the end of the week...mark my words!

Awww....

We saw lots of cool things on our desert venture.... Here you can see a couple of native children sneaking along a narrow ridge.

We also saw these beautiful purple, daisy-like wildflowers all over the desert floor.

Look at that mountain goat!  Nawww...  but Cubby sure is steady on those rocks, she's a mountain climber, just like her dad.

Emma loves to pretend.  This time she is an Indian princess preparing a fire so she can cook food for the lost little children.  I just love her active imagination!

And here's my dad's awesome new baby, climbing over rocks and taking charge!

Here's my ride.  I made it blurry, because for some reason I couldn't get that song "Dreamweaver" out of my head when I saw this picture.  Sorry, I'm just wierd.

Cutie pie Jeep.  

Another picture of the whole fam-bamily. I love these five people!!!  Maybe the desert isn't so bad after all, especially when it brings such joy to the people I love.

Hunny Bunnies and a Couple of Hens

As a young kid, I was very lucky to always have a lot of animals.  Being an animal person, this was a source of great joy.  My family lived in a very small town (only a few miles from where I am today), and our house sat just on the outskirts of town.  We lived close enough to make quick trips to town, but far enough away that it still felt like we lived in the country.  Our house was on a half acre lot, and my parents also owned the acre across the street.  We lived on a dead end, so it was like our little country out there, since no we had very little traffic, and we were surrounded on two sides by fields.  

Anyway, we had a menagerie of animals on the property at one time or another including, goats, chickens, ducks, a pony, lambs, miniature schnauzers, fish, a parakeet, rabbits, and roosters.  Across the street, we kept our horses and my sister had a calf in FFA for a couple of years.  

I have been wanting to get more animals, at least chickens, for the past year or so.  But one thing has always held me back.  Button. Yep, our sweet faced little schnauzer is a terror to large and small animals alike.  She is completely untrained (thanks to me) and would not be able to stop herself from slaughtering a whole herd of chickens just for fun.  I'm not at all prepared for the amount of tears and loud wailing I would hear from the kids after that catastrophe!

My mom, who is fairly like minded in terms of a love for animals, took the fall a couple of weeks ago.  My sister brought over a large bunny rabbit names Suzie that she had bought from the barn sale animals, as well as a couple of fancy chickens named Fifi and...... the other name escapes me.  Actually that chicken keeps escaping from the pen, even though its wings have been clipped....twice! 

  

So, here are Cubby and Little G meeting Suzie for the first time.

Little G loved that bunny.  She had to learn how to pet an animal without petting it too hard.  "Gentle, Gigi, gentle...."

Awww....love at first pet.

And.....here are the hens.  The kids weren't super interested in them.  But the hens were totally o.k. with the fresh bugs in the dirt!

Then it became clear who the real animal lover in the family really is.  

The petting goes on and on...

Nope, we didn't even plan this.

More petting....

and still more...

....you get the point.

A week ago, my mom confessed that she was concerned about how happy the bunny could be since it was solo all the time.  Luckily, our good friend called with news that baby bunnies were for sale!

Meet Sparkle (the black one) and Sarah.

The girls were pretty excited to meet the new members of the pet family.

And the love affair began...

Cubby named this one Sarah, and she would not let her go.

And Emma named this one Sparkle.  Sparkle has sharp claws.

But she sure loves carrots!

Cutie pie, honey bun.

Poor little chicken.  You don't see anybody holding the hen on their lap and petting her over and over. Chickens aren't really known for cuddling.  We love our new pets!