Catching Up

Yes, yes, I'm still here. I have been getting my pictures posted on facebook but not on here, but I'll work on that. But for now I wanted to share my kids' personalities (ok, namely Jessica's)...

We were driving along and the conversation went like this...

Mackenzie: "Hey! Look at that weird orange car!"

Me: "That IS a weird orange car."

Rebecca: "Yeah, that IS a weird orange car."

Jessica: "That guy is WEIRD."

It's all in perspective, I guess.



So here's a little update on what's going on in our household:

Stan is working double time right now because he is now without a boss for the second time this year. But hopefully they'll get someone who is actually qualified this time.

The girls have started back to school. Mackenzie is in 5th, Rebecca is in 2nd and Jessica is in 1st. So far so good, but it's only the second week of school. Soccer started this week, and so begins the crazy season. Mackenzie will be getting her braces off next month. Rebecca is next in line.

Jake is holding his own with his terrible three's little self. But he's so dang cute. Last night I was tucking him in bed and he smacked his lips, wanting me to give him another kiss. So I kissed him again. Then he says "one more" so I give him another one. Then he says "one more" again. After that kiss he says "last one" and wanted one more. Funny little toot.

This summer we had the distinct pleasure of replacing the entire septic system. Nice. So this past weekend we planted more grass. Hope it takes!

I got a shiny new purple laptop!!! And I love, love, love it! Stan got a rough and tough dirt bike (XR 400R for those of you who know what that means). Jake really likes it. And so does Jessica. The other girls - not so much.

So there's the Reader's Digest version of what's a goin' on lately. I'll try to be a better blogger now that things are back to crazy normal.

Welp - gotta go switch the laundry...

More camping and boating

We went camping last weekend...and I remembered the camera! Aren't you proud of me?!

Once again...in no particular order:

We went to the same lake as last time but camped at a different spot. The kids liked playing on the tube at camp:


It was warmer this weekend so we could go boating and tubing more:

Jake didn't do any tubing but he likes wandering the boat and swinging from the rails:

Jake is making sure the girls don't fall off:

And getting excited about boating:

You can see our camp in the background:

Here is our campsite from further out:

Packing up to go home:

We stopped at the top of McDonald Pass and took some pics while we were there:

On the way home:

Camping and Mowing and Swimming

We went camping a couple weeks ago and of course I forgot my camera so we stopped and got a disposable one to accommodate my brainlessness.



We went to Holter Lake, close to Helena. Here are the pictures in no particular order (because I can never seem to get them uploaded in the order I want and it's a pain to move them around after they're on here):

It was a little cool that weekend so the kids stayed in the bottom of the boat to stay warm.

This is at our campsite:

Also at our camp site...not a bad view to wake up seeing!

One of the kids took this:

Hanging out at camp:

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The girls took swim lessons earlier this month. Mackenzie is at the bottom of the picture. She was the only one in her class this time...usually there are around 5 or 6 in the class.

Rebecca and Jessica were in a class together...that is Rebecca floating on her back with the instructor helping...and Jessica is next to the instructor, watching:

Here Rebecca is helping Jessica float on her tummy:

And this is Jake who is mad that he can't swim too. I guess basketball will have to do for now.

After swim lessons. It was in the 60's and low 70's the whole two weeks they did lessons. Brrr!!

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Rebecca's turn to mow the lawn. We mow around the outside and have the girls mow the middle.

Garden Fever!

Well, the girls caught the garden fever. As I was planting more flowers this year the girls asked if they could plant some too. We had some extra pots that came with the house, so we set them up next to the bridge.

We went down to a local nursery and the girls each picked out a 4-pot of annuals to plant. I also dug up several stray violas that went crazy in the flowerbed so they could add them to their pots too.



Here's Jessica's:

And here's Mackenzie's:

And Rebecca's:

Look it! Look it!

I know this is extremely and unforgivably a tad late...but look what I got for Mother's Day!!!

A fun bridge to go over our irrigation ditch seasonal creek!

And a wishing well to go over our real and unsightly well!!

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do around the well. I want to make a flowerbed around it but I cant decide on the shape or size. Any ideas? I can't go too crazy because the driveway is there on the right.

And here's the flowerbed this year. We're still waiting for some things to bloom here since it's been such a cold spring.

This is the newest flowering addition! We put two rose plants in the back and I'm hoping the hostas hide the ugly concrete jutting out. The rest are all annuals. There are red, purple and yellow, even though you can only see the red ones.




These pots are my favorites for this year. It was fun picking out the flowers and arranging them.