Americana

What could be more American than a little, messy-headed country girl running down a dirt road?

 

 

I guess you could add a bus.

 

And a big brother.

 



 

And the rest of the crew.

 



 

 

An old cow dog,

 

and few goofballs. 

 

A sweet, "Mama I'm home" smile,

 

and a "brother I love you" belly-laugh.

God Bless this home, these children and this great nation!  Feeling very thankful tonight.

A smaller than small house renovation update!

We painted!  Ta-da!

Not impressed?  Well let me just tell you that my husband did such a fantastic job.  He took his time repairing and filling cracks and holes, taping off all of the edges and getting the lines perfectly straight.  It was worth the wait!  It is beautiful and light.  We do like to take our time around here.  :)  Next update will be...a longtime from now.

In other news, the kids started riding the bus home from school in the afternoons.  They love it, I love it, we all love it! 
Hi kids!

 If you are sick of Micah pics you are in the wrong place.  I have more.  Here is my girl of many faces.

 

When we say I love you

When she says I'm sad

When I say smile!

When she wants her way.

This is just her everyday look.  Love my girl!

This is a Micah-heavy post...

and I'll tell you why.  She is the only child who is by my side all day, every day.  The others have grown and found better things to do.  But this baby girl still thinks her mama is pretty cool.  It won't be long before she dumps me for daddy though.  It always happens.

 

See, it has already started.  Making breakfast with Daddy is the first step.

What in the world happened to your hair?!?

She is such a stinker but so smart!  She is talking so much and learning to everything the big kids do.

Her big sister loves to dress her up, paint her toes and spray her with smelly-good stuff.

Micah is still trying to figure it all out.  Since I am not a girlie-girl, it is kind of nice for Jolie to give Micah that experience.

And she does look pretty darn cute.

 

 

Plus, this is the other side of her sibling training program.

They really have trained her to laugh at things little girls shouldn't.  Like certain body sounds. :(

They really don't smell very good either and are usually dirty.

 But oh my how they love her!  It's pretty sweet.  And I think any future guy friends
will have to tread very carefully!


 

Terrible. Just terrible.

I am a loser.  A blogging loser.  I have taken no pictures.  I have written zero blogs.  LOSER!  I didn't even get my camera out once at Christmas. 

 

It was glorious.  I enjoyed my kiddos and didn't think once about getting the perfect shot.  I am not saying that I will do that every year but this year was nice.

 

I am preparing to construct my yearly blog book so I will be absent for a bit.  But I will be back in 2014 with much vigor!

 

Here are a few parting shots for 2013...

 

The dudes in a Minecraft haze.

Hi babies!

Always a party around here!

This sweet thing got "boops" from her Grandmolly for Christmas.  She LOVES them!

See Grandmolly!

The girls.  Jolie, Micah and Ridgleigh, Jolie's good friend.

See, always a crazy, crazy party!

 

Winter wonderland is stinkin' cold!

We are in the middle of an Arctic freeze here in the Panhandle.  It is 20 degrees today but will be 17 tomorrow.  Not the coldest we have ever been but it is sticking around far longer than I would like it to. 

 

We have animals secured and winterized.  We have water running to keep the pipes from freezing.  But we have still frozen.  Having to boil water to do the dishes makes me feel like a real pioneer.  That's life on the prairie folks.

 

Praying that you are warm and cozy where you are today.  Enjoy these shots from the Tundra of Texas.

 

I am a mean mom.  I never let my babies go out in the snow.  But I do bring the snow in to them!  (Do you like the beads with the footie jammies?  We like to dress our best.)

Jolie is teaching Micah how to eat snow the right way.

Levi photo-bombing Micah.

These boys couldn't wait to go out!  Asher, who is that snowball for?

Oh!!  It was for Zaddie!

Three amigos.

Love these weirdies.

It is a COLD, COLD winter!

In other news...

Matt's mustache challenge came to an end.  So we took some memorial photos.  Goodbye old friend.

Say hello to MY new friend!!!  5 years ago, when I was pregnant with Levi, my family surprised me with my first Kitchen-Aid.  I used the heck out of that thing!  Many meals began in that mixer.  Tragically, my love for it led to it's demise.  I set some bread to knead one day and came back in the kitchen to a horrible smell!  Smoke was pouring out of the motor.  I was so sad!  But my sweet husband could not let me be without for very long.  Hooray for early Christmas presents!  He got me a professional version which might be more durable for our usage.  I think the color is adorable.  Happy Mama!

 

Canadian trip (part 2)

I'm telling you, this is a beautiful place.

Birdie took a break.

I love this.  If only her face wasn't dirty!

The girls took a turn with the camera.  I think they did a beautiful job!

She is either contemplating her 12 years or getting ready to stomp a brother.

Of course there was some tree climbing.

Gracie took this family photo of us in front of the giant cottonwood. 

Birdie decided to split.

Her big brother wouldn't let her get very far.

Being hidden on these back trails is a little magical.



You don't find this much where we live.  It is a nice oasis on the prairie.

Matt was feeling artistic.

I just love the shots he got.

 

 

These guys were not as excited about our artistic walk.  They were tired and ready for ice cream.

The road home.

We will see you next year!