Sledding

I have really enjoyed all the snow Denver has seen over the last week. Sure it make for a longer commute, slick streets and sidewalks, but it means moisture. Moisture we (my pastures) so desperately need. The snow is also beautiful and white - not brown and dead like the grass underneath. A welcomed change of scenery.

Yesterday Grandma's day was at our house. I had a farrier appointment scheduled for the morning and Grandma offered to just come out to the house. After shoveling a path though all the drifts to the barn, plowing the driveway with the tractor and shoveling off the deck... he canceled. 

It was so beautiful as I shoveled and plowed. Not a stitch of wind. The sun was shining. A little morning workout under a crystal clear, blue sky. It was so beautiful I had to share.

I bundled up the crew (even Grandma) and we went out to look for a good sledding spot.

The maiden voyage.

Although not documented, it went a little something like this...

Pose for a picture - Cheese!
Grandma giving us a hefty push... with a residual right hand drag.
Not at all in the "planned" direction.
More so in the worst possible direction.
Straight for the only two trees my neighbor has on his property.
Pine trees... with low branches.
Attempting to lean and steer was useless in the gigantic snowmobile sled.
A little quick thinking as I yelled for my Brown Eyed to duck while simultaneously shielding Mr Blue Eyes' face and ducking my own.
Right though the tree branches.
Halting shortly afterwards. 

Nice one Grandma!

A few more attempts and we just weren't able to get a good rush.

Not even with the little solo sled.

Here is Grandma's attempt.

I can appreciated her thought precess with utilizing the ice on our neighbors drive way in addition to the slope of the hill. I really thought she was on to something.

Unfortunately...

That's all she wrote. About 8 feet.

Then Grandma put our Brown Eyed Girl on the solo sled.

A pretty good run for a four year old. However, I also knew this was not going to turn out the way Grandma had envisioned.When she yelled for my Brown Eyed Girl to "bring the sled back up here" I couldn't help but giggle. There was no way!

So off she trucked.

Knee deep in snow drifts.

I told Grandma to just be thankful that she didn't go out there any farther - she laughed.

Little legs bound in snow pants just don't work well in a foot of snow.

Go Grandma! Go!

Careful! You might lose her!! Hang on baby!

Easy Grandma!

After that run we were off on a hunt for a new spot.

After pulling both kids across the horse pasture in our back yard - this workout is brought you by the letter S and the letter F - we reached the highest point in the pasture.

It really was such a beautiful day!

We were in position. 

Charlie scouted us a path.

A big push...

... and we almost made it to the horses.

But not quite.

Two more lack luster attempts.
A hungry blue eyed boy.
Frozen terrier paws.

We decided to call it a day.  

And as I drug an old lady Grandma, two kids and a dog through the snow and back to the house...

I worked on a heart attack.

It was a great day!

I love little kids with rosie noses and cheeks and hat hair!

Morning Snuggles

Man it's cold outside. One look out the window and all I want to do is crawl back in bed with my cup of coffee and stay snuggled up in blankets all day.

My children agree.

I See London, I See France

I saw this floating around social medial the last couple weeks. It is 100% the absolute truth. I can think of a million relative stories.

For instance, my Brown Eyed Girl has a few pairs of My Little Pony underwear that were her very first pairs of undies during potty training. They are a size 2T. She currently is a 5T. However, she loves her pony underwear and refuses to let me remove them from her drawer. If so needed, she has no problem demonstrating the fact that she can still squeeze into them. I often worry about the loss of circulation to her legs, but she insists they are very comfy and still fit perfectly.

Well unfortunately for this pair, they finally became exhausted and she had a large hole in the back where the waste line began separating from the elastic.  

Finally! We can throw these ones away.

Correction.

Once I mentioned throwing them away, she refused to surrender the undies, tears welled in her chocolate brown eyes, lower lip quivering...

I was asked to sew her underwear.

Oh my...

Agreeing to look them over more carefully, I convinced her to hand them over and exchange them for a pair of new Little Mermaid undies.

Once distracted, I shuffled over to the trash can, undies cupped secretively in my left hand, and I began lifting a layer of garbage in the trash in order to bury the ponies once and for all. I'll admit it, adrenalin spiked a little. As soon as the deal was done, I vacated the trash can vicinity like lightning.

Before I could recover from the underwear heist, I had to smuggle out the last of the birthday balloons. All I know is today I am thankful for the opportunity to work from home around appointments while the kids are at daycare.

No witnesses!

 

Let the trash hauling begin!

Cat Nappin

Mr Blue Eyes has reached a new milestone at daycare. He has finally graduated from the pack-n-play at nape time to a big boy nap pad.

When my sitter sent this picture to me at nap time the other day, I told her to put him back in the pack-n-play. I am not ready for Mr Blue Eyes to be a big boy already!

I think he enjoys the ability to really stretch out. Arms extended. Legs sprawled out. the picture of comfort.

Just don't get any ideas Mr Blue Eyes. You're staying in the crib at home. As long as I can contain you, you are stuck in that thing. I can't deal with two Whack-A-Moles popping up in the middle of the night just yet.

I also received a picture of my Brown Eyed Girl. An expert nap mat sleeper, I am told she likes to strategically position her nap pad in the sun light. Soaking up the natural warmth like a little kitty cat.

 

My two sleeping beauties. 

Big Wheels Keep On Turning

Yesterday while driving though my childhood neighborhood, I was admiring the sun, the clear winter sky, the crisp dormant grass, trashcans neatly arranged at the end of every drive way.

Before I fully realized what had happened, I found myself stopping my vehicle in the middle of the street, backing up fifty feet, putting my car in park, taking off my seat belt, getting out of my car, walking over to someone's pile of trash, and rescuing a pink and purple Big Wheel. Without hesitation - a brisk pep to my step - I opened the back of my Suburban and placed the Big Wheel in the back of my car.

As I climbed back into the driver seat and reached for my seat belt, I realized...

OMG I JUST BECAME MY PARENTS AND WENT DUMPSTER DIVING! 

I couldn't help but smile as I threw my get-away-car into drive. I suddenly felt flush, like I had just committed a crime. I couldn't help but laugh.

And then I remembered the wooden giraffe coat tree...

When we were kids, my mom or dad plucked this cute, wooden, giraffe shaped, coat tree from off the curb on garbage day. I remember being really excited when they drug that thing home. We hung our coats and other miscellaneous items on it for several years. It lived in the living room, my room, and Rah-Rah's room over the years. Eventually, the old giraffe made its way to the basement. After a few years of non-use, my parents lugged the old giraffe coat rack back out on the curb for trash day.

Wouldn't you know, before the trash man made his rounds that old coat rack had been saved again by another family in our neighborhood. We laughed and thought it was funny.

A couple years later I was driving home after school and there, on the side of the road, next to the trash was the very same wooden giraffe coat rack. I laughed so hard - we wondered which neighbor had been digging in our trash. The next morning on my way to school, the giraffe coat tree was missing! Maybe it was a change of heart... More probable, it was rescued, yet again, by another family in our neighborhood.

It makes you wonder and think about movies like Toy Story. Oh the stories that old wooden giraffe coat rack could tell.

My Brown Eyed Girl was more than thrilled to see her second hand new Big Wheel. It is purple and pink after all - love at first sight. 

Mr Blue Eyes thought it was pretty cool as well. Unfortunately, he needs to grow about six inches or find some platform shoes.

 

Oh the miles this Big Wheel will travel this summer.

One Mans Junk... Is Another Mans Treasure!

Sickly

My poor Mr Blue Eyes was under the weather all weekend. Fever. Cough. Snotty nose.

Friday, was Grandma's day at our house. As the cold started to claim his poor little body, all Mr Blue Eyes wanted to do was cuddle. No playing. Just cuddling, snoozing and more cuddling.

Although it was nap time, I told Grandma to take advantage of rocking and cradling him as long as she could. Mr Blue Eyes is getting so big and before we know it he will be a little boy and not our little baby anymore. Time is slipping away right before our eyes.

Makes me think about having more...

Nahhhhhhhhhh

I do admit,  I love when the kids lay on my chest like this. Heart to Heart.

Nap, nap, napping. All Weekend.

This is Mr Blue Eyes sick...

This is Mr Blue Eyes on Motrin...

Short lived moment from this weekend, but so darn cute!

Co-Captain

When we first moved out to our little house on the prairie I was working as a horse trainer by day and a restaurant/bar manager by night. Eventually I wanted to get a little more serious in the equine industry and I accepted a job as an assistant trainer for a well established training facility. I learned a lot, got paid very little but the best perk as a full time horse trainer (besides getting to ride 6-10 talented horses each day) was the opportunity to take the Boji dog with me every day to work.

Without a doubt, I would say those were the best 6 months of his life. He got to get up with me every morning, ride shotgun in the truck to and from work, hang out all day on the ranch, get pet by every client that showed up for a lesson. No fence. No kennel. No sitting at home alone all day waiting for his family to return. Boji's own little piece of heaven.

When I quit working as a trainer to take a job at the Arabian Horse Association (a desk job), those first few weeks were really hard on Boji. Boji would hide behind my car when I walked down to the barn to feed in the mornings. We had a really nice set up for him in the barn with a large run. He didn't care. I would call him several times trying to coax him to the barn. He would peak his little nose around the corner of the tire, make eye contact with me and then slink back behind the car - as if I didn't see him. Some mornings he would just lay down by the car and refuse to come. Yelling didn't help. I could usually convince him with a couple throws of a ball.

He hated getting left behind all day while I went off to my new job. Like I said, he loved that summer.

Now that I am working near my mom's house, Boji gets to ride most mornings with me and spend all day playing with Samantha and Charlie at Grandma's house.

I drive a Suburban these days. Boji's view is from the back. Behind car seats and diaper bags, strollers and laptop bags. He doesn't care, as long as he gets to go.

About a week ago, I bought a treadmill from and estate sale - Operation Italiano - for $25. Yep, $25 and it works. The machine took up the entire back half of my car.

There was no room for Boji except in the co-captain seat.

Looking over, I felt a wave of nostalgia all at once. I missed this face sitting next to me as I drove. It seemed like yesterday we were headed out to the barn.

Of course since then, the vehicle has changed. This new ride has a seat weight sensor that can tell when I have a passenger. A passenger who is not wearing his seat belt. After the third wave of annoying dinging and a red light...

I was able to fasten the seat belt behind him.

I am sure the manual addresses this situation. Ridiculous as it looks.

Eventually, he found a comfortable position and settled in for a scratch.

Just like yesterday.

Just me and by buddy driving around.

The only things that have changed are the ride, the gray in our hair and time.

I may have to let him sit shot gun more often.

We only have a few more years of sunny drives, my co-captain and I.

Sacked

Thank you blue skies.
Thank you fresh air.
Thank you trees.
Thank you little birdies in the sky.
Thank you yard to run in.
Thank you swings.
Thank you sunshine.
Thank you dirt.
Thank you grass.
Thank you puffy clouds in the sky.
Thank you slides.
Thank you rocks.
Thank you doggies.
Thank you horses.

Thank you playtime.

Thank you for wearing out this little boy.

Thank you for this moment of silence.

 

Thank you nap time.

Be By Valentine

I pinned this Valentine's Day idea a few weeks ago and I thought it would be perfect to send to Grandparents this year. (Please note that yes, I completed this project last night. The night before. They were mailed today - Valentine's Day. They will be late. But they are precious.)

There were no directions with this post so I decided to post it here in case someone ever wants to borrow the idea.

My Brown Eyed Girl and Mr Blue Eyes' little hands will only be little for so long. I only have a few more years of capitalizing on their tiny little features for gift ideas. By the time they are 10 and 12, it will be gift cards at Christmas and plain old cards for other holidays.

Cogliere l'attimo! (seize the day)

Okay Pinterest friends. So I knew I wanted to make one for each kid. I decided to make my Brown Eyed Girl's hand print on pink construction paper and Mr Blue Eyes' on red. Off to the craft store!

I knew I had to make more than one set and I didn't feel like fooling around with the kids any longer than I had to. Meaning, I made one master stencil. Mr Blue Eyes actually was better at holding still, but I knew that my tracing opportunities would be limited. My Brown Eyed Girl was all about having her hand traced; however, she barely kept her hand still for me to trace it once. She kept trying to watch the pen as it went around and while peeking kept wiggling. Best solution for all was to just get one good stencil.

I took a piece of colored construction paper and folded it in half. Then I made sure to place each child's index (pointer) finder and thumb on the crease line. When opened, the connecting points are what form the heart.

Keeping the paper folded, I cut out the hand print making sure not to sever the connecting points.

It's okay that the index finger and the thumb are not rounded at the tips. If you round them, you will end up with two, separate hand prints. We want these points connected.

Once the hand print is all cut out, flip the hand print up side down. The index finger and the thumb form a heart. Awweee

And that really is it. Pretty simple. They take a little time to cut out. But they sure are cute.

I added the words "LOVE YOU" to the front of each one to help orient the hand the right way for our Sweat Hearts. I also wrote each kids name and the date on the back. I just used a ball point pen. I caution using a Sharpe marker for this. Although the words will stand out more, on a test piece of paper the marker bled through to the other side. Upon opening, the marker smudged up the hard work put into this craft. I am sure you could find a better quality paper, maybe even some patterned scrap booking paper that might work well and not allow the marker to bleed though. The Sharpie just did not work well on the construction paper.

For a last minute Valentine idea, I thought it was a Pinterest success!

I will admit for a split second I thought about making all of my Brown Eyed Girl's classmates the same Valentines.

Then I got lazy...

I pulled out the pre made sucker Valentines I bought. Fed the suckers through the pre cut slits in the center. Wrote her name on them.

And I called it a night.

Pinterest Lesson #1: Know when to quit while you still think it's cute.