Stow Aways: Diary of 2012 random stuff so far

Ok, blogging when you are not in a great mood is probably not the best idea. But, I am looking at the next few weeks and if not now, then it's going to be a while. My calendar is giving me hives.

I'll vent for a moment. I'm officially an old lady. I kind of have always been an old lady. But, you know you're an old lady when you walk (not run!) 7 miles one day and can't. move. at. all. the next day. I haven't slept in a few weeks. Either a child has been sick, I have been sick, the person sleeping next to me has been sick, or a child has been waking up with nightmares. Boo-hoo, I know, all you people with newborns wish you were so lucky as to have only gone 3 weeks without sleep. But, then again, you aren't old ladies either! My darling daughter, Harriet, has given me a giant run for my money. I am giving 100% effort to be patient with her and work through her issues, but the math doesn't add up and apparently, in our math-alternate universe, I need 200% effort to get the job done.

Enough venting. On to my magical world of blogging where only the awesome is highlighted!

This is what we've been up to since last time (I'm sure some of this is out of order. Time is a blur lately.)

Well, let's tell the truth about this photo. It was the only one we took of our last ski trip to Santa Fe. Harriet was just starting to come down with what would be an epic virus that would run through the whole family. She is in the pink jacket at the bottom of the photo on the magic carpet. She went to ski school for 2 hours and then collapsed into a tragic pile of weepy winter gear with a girl inside somewhere, crying that "she could NOT go back!" She wasn't kidding - she was sick! I would find out how bad it was the next day myself.

David has been on some crazy muddy bike rides. His car is still full of mud.

Forts and sleep-overs in the living room for the sickies. Velvet slept with them all night. Even though she has 2 cushy beds of her own, she seems to prefer human bedding whenever possible.

Galloping Grace invited us to the volunteer's rodeo dinner night. This was the first time the girls had ever been to a rodeo and watched bucking broncos, bulls, barrel racers, and roping. David's first time too. It was pretty cool - the girls got to go "backstage" with 2 rodeo queens and learn about all the events and see the animals up close.

I have been trying to resist buying something everywhere we go and making the girls use their own money if they want a souvenir. But, I could not resist these darling light up horse necklaces. The kids didn't even ask for them. It was all me.

My favorite quote of the night was from Max before we went back to see the animals. He said "hope y'all have your dirt shoes on!" Of course! Any good horsewoman ALWAYS has her dirt shoes on.

The 100th day of school! Kindergarteners are especially excited to celebrate this holiday because it means that if they have never counted to 100 before, they finally made it! I'm pretty proud of Harriet - she entered kindergarten, barely counting to 20 (still having mistakes in the teens), and is now counting to 200 in her sleep. This was her 100th day of school project - she counted and organized 100 sea shells she collected at Cape Cod last summer.

Oh, and it snowed. It was a total surprise to wake up to it. No snow was in the forecast at all. But, it was completely gone by 11am. My kind of snow!

Snowy volcano - view from the kids' school when I dropped them off early that morning.

Where's the coyote? (he IS in the picture somewhere.) He ran right past the dogs as we were walking. Shadow, Velvet, and Max didn't bat an eyelash. Thanks a lot guys! I feel real safe! Actually, I'm not scared of coyotes. We see them all the time and they never bother us. But, I AM starting to doubt the protective factor of having dogs as they get to be very old.

More biking. Look at that happy dude.

Harriet's animal project for school: Snow Leopard Habitat. She has been waiting for SO long to make one of these as she has jealously watched Grace do it for the past few years.

Grandpa Earl's 81st birthday! Good ol' guy just keeps on ticking. The girls still adore him.

So do the dogs. They always lay right at his feet.

And, the cutest girl with the cutest pig-tails on the planet. Miss Harriet Marie. She was pretty upset that I didn't sign up for individual school pictures on class picture day, so she made me take a picture when she got home.