Little Late

Well, I'm a little late on this one but it was fun nonetheless. I always loved carving pumpkins. We did it as kids and it was always something my dad was in charge of....being an artist and all, our pumpkins were always brilliant!! I have a lot to live up too.

Last year it was smiley face or scary face. This year it was a tiger or cheetah for Trey. I opted for the cartoon-ish, sorta tiger-ish face.

Breanne wanted a butterfly or Mittens the cat (from the movie Bolt) All my attempts at a Mittens type cartoonish sorta cat looked just like Treys tiger. Soooo to the Internet I went and to the printer I printed a blown up copy of one!Just by looking at this photo can you tell who my neat freak with a spoon and my I love gettin' dirty kids are?Every year the kids pick out the tiny cute pumpkins in the patch and as much as I try to talk them out of it they become too attached to the small ones and I cave every time! Unfortunately when Arlan saw the size of them he turned red in the forehead meaning.. How the heck am I going to carve those things, Dana!! So out came the power tools.

I was worth the hassle don't you think???? Well, I like them. Arlan doesn't want to talk about it till next October!

Go, Go, Go!!!!!

It's fair time! And you know what that means.......Tractor Pullin'This was Bre's first year to enter and they were practicing hard in hopes to get the "blue" ribbon as they put it!Well, as you can see we got "green"....do you see the "I'll smile even though I'm disappointed" face here. She got over it by the time we hit the rides.
Trey was doing good but kept stopping at the finish line before his sled got over too. I think he had a misunderstanding when it came to the "rules" conversation.

Anyway, he got green too and we were on our way. Better luck next year.

Princess in Town

Way back in September (yeah, I know I'm a little behind here) I took my mom and Breanne to the Opera House to see a production of Cinderella.

It was FANTASTIC!!!! I can't say enough about it. Breanne was glued to her seat and thought so much of the performance was cute and funny. (she now likes the step"sisters" as much as Cinderella because they were so funny!)
But we were hungry after the show (despite the free Twizzlers they handed out to the kids afterwards) and headed to the Creamery for yummy ice cream. That was our lunch....you got a problem with that?

Breanne sure didn't!! Although I'm sure my mom went home and consumed something healthy and bland tasting to even out her splurge......notice I said my "mom" did that....I didn't....you got a problem with that?

Sports...What's the Big Deal?

Well, as some of you may know my son is more interested in identifying all the intricate parts of our tractors then playing any game of football or baseball out back. However, hold the tractors back, we found a sport that he finds completely fascinating! It's golf! (we haven't dusted off the ice skates yet for hockey on the pond so Arlan's not ready to rule that one out yet.)Look closely at the torn up grass and our crazy dog laying right in the line of fire.

I think Charcoal, our dog, finally got the the swift idea to move after seeing Trey's killer swing.

I've Become One of "Those" Mommies

I just can't believe it....I can't.....I JUST can't!!! Trey has been in school for a week now and I just can't believe it.

Trey has entered Kindergarten!!! He loves it and I am trying to love it too. He begs to go on the bus even though I always volunteer to take the 7 minute drive for him. (When he's 13 and begging me to drive him I'll need to retrieve this from the vault)

The first day of school was for students and their parents so we went together and walked the classroom, met his teacher and tried out the playground. We wrapped up the orientation with a trip to the cafeteria and that's when it happened people....the walls started closing in....my chest got tight and heavy and the stinging in my eyes...oh the stinging...it just wouldn't go away. So I whipped out my folded "parent paper" and started fanning the tears away.

I'm such a goober....but there was nothing I could do about it .

So Trey spends his afternoons reassuring me that "big boys are meant to do this" and somehow and at some point I'll get it! Right?

You can barely see him but he's coming off the bus and ....that's right....that young guy is his teacher!! Trey says he's great...........he better be!! (but not better then me!)

Beach Baby

We just got back from a wonderful family vacation at Bethany Beach. It was relaxing, it was busy, it was exciting and exhausting all wrapped into one! The kids really got into the beach this year and surprising to us Trey was the first one to get his feet wet and begging for a boogie board. He took wave after wave!

Of course Breanne, having the competitive spirit that she does, had to give it a whirl too. She did great as well

I love this photo because from where I sat this was the view I saw most afternoons! Bre gave orders while Trey dove in "head first" to get the job done!

They also had "wave" races to see if they could outrun the break!

My favorite part of the trip was evening at the abandoned beach with the cool sand between my toes watching the kids play. Trey loved his kite and I honestly thought the kite would lift him off the ground a few time! He so serious about the angle of his flight and keeping an astonishing height! Well done!

They also did a good job of spelling their names in the sand. (even if Bre insists on putting about 8 lines in her letter "E")

But we're home now and we say goodbye to summer as school is just days away. Till next year!

Country Ties

One of my CWAM (Cowboys With A Mission) gal friends and former staffer wrote about a favorite blog of hers and as I checked it out I found myself being sucked in to reading it for hours. It brought back so many memories of my "cowgirl" days. (now I know all you Wyomians are shaking your heads saying....'you're NOT a cowgirl Dana' but to the easterners here they'd never know the difference. I did own and wear wranglers, ropers and a Stetson for a period of time. Brief as it may have been.) One of the posts about the "Hay Monster" took me back to the days of bucking hay with Jason and Vangie and the 1999 DTS. Unfortunately I fell off the top stack of the hay cart and got banged up pretty bad so I was demoted to driving the truck. I'll have to dig up old photos for a future post.


There is a big part of me (thank goodness because I have become a full time farmers wife) that really thrives and feels comfy and homey in the country and working hard! This blog by Ree and her life as a ranchers wife is such a hoot and beautifully done. You'll have to check it out!


http://thepioneerwoman.com/confessions/