Parker turns 8!

Hard to believe that 8 years ago, we were just bringing home a healthy, happy baby boy. Now, 8 years later we are still blessed with a healhty happy boy, just not at all a baby. We celebrated Parker's special day with a pool party, followed by supper and a sleep over. His two good buddies, John and Tate, joined us as well as little cousins, Coy and Cayson. Grammy, Aunt Jenny, Sheri, Mom, Pake and Pryce helped celebrate this wonderful occassion. We partied on into the weekend by taking a tubing trip down the Middle Loop (and froze our bahookies off!) Watched fire words at Thedford, went to Cindy's at Sutherland and watched the rodeo that night.

Sunday, Jason, Coy and Cayson came to practice and we lit off the rest fire works, compliments of Dad. (South Dakota fire works ROCK!)

What a fun way to celebrate an 8th birthday!

Pake's first catch

 


Pake was so excited to rope his first calf at the Frauen Branding. Dad had to warm up Isante before hand. He was pretty scared of the branding fire, but after he realized he wasn't going to get roasted he settled down. The other guys were really patient and everyone was wonderfully encouraging. Pake was so excited and pround that he "finally" got to rope and drag a calf at branding. I was excited too, this was way better than landing in the ER and getting stitches like last year. Fun day!

Spring Arrives

 

 

 

Boy are we ever ready for spring to be here. We celebrated St. Patrick's day with a family trail ride to the north edge of our pasture. It was so beautiful and warm! The wheat is starting to come up and the land looks like it is coming back to life. I realize how much I appreciate green growing things. We are all excited to get a garden planted again this year and be able to play outside. It feels like we've been cooped up a lot so I will remember this when I am sweating this summer and not wanting to mow my lawn!

The Basement

The paint is up and the cabinets are in the process of being stained. Here are some of the latest pics. Our favorite is the log siding wall. It looks sooooo cool. We are so exited to get it done. Still have trim and cabinets to put up, plumbing in the bathroom, flooring and a huge wall mural in Parker's room. We're getting there and when its done, we'll be ready for a big ol party~~~~

Home Improvement

Here are some home improvement picture. This was taken from the kitchen looking at the living room. Pictures are great, yet, they don't quite do justice~ It looks and feels like an entirely different house! I am amazed at how paint totally transforms a space.

Do You Know this Kid?

 


I realized that I don't have a lot of pictures of Pake and Parker on this blog. This pictures changes that doesn't it? UMMM HUMMMM..........this is the most recent of Parker's funny faces and it seems to instantly appear whenever there is a camera nearby. We certainly hope it is not permanent, though it has made several appearances in the recent months. I don't know how many times, we've said, "Parker, make a normal face!" and then a thought hits, what if this is his normal!!!!!!??? I can't wait to show him this when he is 15, perhaps it will make it in the high school yearbook............

Home Improvement

 

I spent the last weekend preparing the laundry room for its new washer and dryer. After a week of research and investigation, we found a nice set that will hopefully last as long as the 'ol Maytags we've had since we bought the house in Maywood in 1994.......a few years back!!!

We had to finish our tile project so that we wouldn't have to drag the new units out later to put in tile and paint. With the help of my very dear and dedicated friend, Ann, we are going to transform the main level while the basement is getting wrapped up too. We are much closer to being done. The walls are up, electricity in and dry wall is being sanded. It is all coming together though I still have to remind myself to be patient!

The blonde color, which looks more like a Tuscan yellow totally transforms the room. It quickly changes the energetic feel of the room. I am so excited to see the change in the rest of the space. Ann, if you are reading this, get good sound rest this week, I need you to be well rested for this fun transformation! Don't worry, you'll be rewarded......I have a surprise or two waiting for you.

I will add pictures of the basement soon. At the moment there is a piece of dry wall nailed up to capture the oh so fine dust the seeps through so easily. Larry looked like a snowman today and not because he had just come from outside! We will miss seeing him every day, though we are ready for the basement project to be complete...........there's a garage project that is in the works and that could keep him around a bit longer. Pryce would sure like that!

This is what happens when mom is doing home improvement!

 
 
 
 


I knew there was a reason that the door to Pryce's room was shut. When I stopped grouting and went to go look at what was going on behind closed doors, this is what I found. Pryce had put Otis in with all of her stuffed animals, which would typically mean death to all those belved stuffed animals. On this rare day though, Otis didn't exercise those chompers, he was sitting like a good boy, playing school with Pryce!

Love these pig tails. I finaly got Pryce to wear something other than the old Thomas T-shirt or worn out "horsie" shirt. This is a rare moment when she actually smiled for me to take her picture. I had to have proof for her scrapbook that she actually can wear matching clothes, most of the time this does not happen. She prefers to wear her camo shirt and bright pink shorts with purple hearts. Watch out fashion world!

Happy January!

We are now back in the swing of things. The boys have a week of school under their belts for '09.

Pryce is happy to have free range over all of their toys and her space back to normal! I've been cleaning and reorganizing for the past week with more to go. We are all preparing for our big move in about a month. That is.........the big move to our basement. Thank goodness we aren't going far in miles. At times it feels like it though. I have gone through every room in the house, every nook, cranny, drawer, closet and cupboard. Daunting yet necessary. I can't believe how much stuff we've accumulated! We need to pretend to move every other year. It is looking good. I will have pics posted of the basement progress. We are making headway. It looks so different from where we started a few months ago! Quite the transformation. We are all ready for more space.

Hope everyone is keeping warm. The boys come up with a good way to stay protected from the wind!