Project 365: Week 33

Day 224/365:  The fair

We had a play date with one of Kat's closest friends (my angel in a 2nd graders body).  And it was her birthday.  And the fair was in town.  Seemed only appropriate that a Ferris wheel ride was in order.

Day 225/365:  Big Hiking Girl

12 Kids, 11 adults, 2 miles each way.  Memories to last a lifetime - priceless.

Day 226/365:  Only family...

... will make faces like that.

Day 227/365:  Ice Cream Date

Our family stayed with us for two nights on their way from Denver to Phoenix (moving for PA school).  So what does the indulgent auntie (that's me) do?  ICE CREAM!!!!

Day 228/365: In awe

We treated the girls (and Jerome's sister) to lunch at one of our favorite diners this week.  Crazy place.  Stuff everywhere.  Enough stuff to keep little minds occupied for quite a while.

Day 229/365:  My love

 

His eyes are closed.  I look like I have 14 chins.  But he is, and always will be, my sweetheart.

Day 230/365:  Object lesson

We finished our first two-week unit in school on Friday.  And celebrated by making a cake decorated to look like the world.  It tastes fabulous.  Kat did the continents.  And they can all name them.  All of them.  We have a song.  They sing it in the grocery store.  I laugh.

Good Ol Cow Hand

I took these pictures from my camera phone before Christmas, and just now remembered that I had them. How sad is that?



When my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and niece came to visit us, we also spent some quality time with the livestock. Actually, two of the steers needed to go visit the neighbors farm (read: butcher) and the rest needed food. My nephew Hayden asked to go along because, well, he likes to be outside, and he likes to be with Grandpa. Madison asked to go because she adores Grandpa, Hayden, and her Uncle Kevin. So that meant I went too.



Madi loves to visit her cows. Yes, in her world, they are all her cows. They are just temporarily on loan to Grandpa.



She helped sort all the cows (read: stand behind the fence with Mommy and moo at them). Then we helped feed the cows.



Here are Hayden and Madison getting ready to throw hay into the stalls.

Had we let Madi do all the feeding, we would have been there all day. Granted, she cannot grab an entire bale of hay by herself. Not even a half a bale. Or a quarter. But she can grab a few morsels. And she did.

Come here baby cow! Come eat the hay!

After feeding, we had to stack hay to get ready for the next week. Madi supervised.

She makes a great supervisor, by the way.

Easter Fun

As I was looking (snooping) on Jerome's pictures while in the hospital, I realized that I never posted our Easter pics. The Randols stayed with us Saturday night, so we took the opportunity Sunday morning before church to photograpth the entire brood in their Easter Finery. I think they're a pretty cute bunch!




Madison discovered that there's money in the cards from Great-Grandma! Violet played with the card.



Violet and Old Grandma got to play together. I know she and I will both cherish these photos someday.


"Peek-a-boo, Grandma! I see you!" It's kind of funny now that Violet has an oxygen tube that matches Grandma's.


Ahh, the princess and her prince.

Katrina displaying both her new Easter dress and her booty from the egg hunt. She had a little bit of trouble understanding that her little sister and cousin Pax needed some eggs too...the competitive spirit is emerging in this one!

Madison on her hunt. She would find the egg, then make me put it in the basket.

Pax throughly enjoyed hunting for eggs. And throwing the eggs. And throwing the eggs some more. They looked like balls, what can I say? His mom & dad were enjoying the knowledge that they were going to get to eat most of the candy.

Madison loved her bunny that Teri, a family friend, mailed from Fort Collins.

Violet, again, being entertained by Papa. She loves to have his undivided attention.

New Cousins!

Our cousins, Jess & Doug, are down for the week from Denver. They had a beautiful baby boy named Tyler 2 months ago, as well as their gorgeous little girl Averie. We got to have them over for dinner Wednesday evening, along with her mom Rita and sister Josalyn. We don't get to hang out with this set of family very often, so it's always a sweet time to catch up whenever we can.

This is Katrina with her cousin Josalyn. She absolutely adores Josalyn. We do too!

Here's the new baby boy, Tyler. He is so sweet, loves to smile, loves to coo at everyone. Just a precious baby boy!

Doug with Averie. Averie is an absolute joy. She is curious, loving, and so smart. But, as her cousin, I may be biased... Oh yeah, Doug's pretty cool too!

The "big" girls eating their dinner together. And look, Madison is happy!

And, of course, we completely missed gettting pictures of Jess & I. Oh well, I'm sure I can find at least one embarrassing photo from our childhood... hmm, I may be on to something...

Cousins!

Christmas Day, my brother Kevin, his wife Crystal, and their three children, Riley, age 14, Hayden, age 10, and Katie, age 7, drove down from Grand Junction to see the Durango family. They had to drive over three mountain passes in a white-out to do it, but they made it safely. It was really fun getting to hang out with our siblings, nephews, and niece and see how much they've grown. This was their introduction to Violet as well, since we haven't been able to get together since she was born. All in all, it was a wonderful couple of days spend with some very precious family.

Enjoying the new bowling alley in Ignacio - Jerome won the first game & Kevin won the second

Playing Halo 3 together. It took Madison all weekend, but she finally warmed up to Uncle Kevin.

Katie & Violet

Hayden & Violet - He is normally such a "tough" guy - it was fun to see his softer side come out with his baby cousin.

Katrina was far too busy, by the way, running around totally crazy with her cousins to be bothered by photo ops.