Branding the Cows

My dad needed to brand all of the new calves so that he could send the cows to Colorado for the summer so it was a branding day at our house. The kids had fun running around like wild cowboys and cowgirls until two of the cows started fighting and then they decided maybe they would just hang out up on the bobcat or in the back of the truck where it was safe.

Mostly I Love Me

One morning at breakfast Shelby says "Mommy, I love you" I say "I love you too." She says, "but do you know who I mostly love?, I mostly love myself." Then she gives herself a big hug so then Peyton starts hugging herself and then Shelby says "take a picture of us loving ourselves" I told them they were pretty silly so then of course there had to be a picture of them making silly faces.

Birdzilla

We have sort of a family mascot named "Birdzilla" that tromps through our backyard every morning as if to remind us that he lived here before we did and he will do exactly as he pleases. The girls get so excited to look out and see Birdzilla every morning cruising through the grass. I finally decided I should get a picture of his majesty.

Lounge Lizards

Here is what I found mid-morning on a May day two little lounge lizards all tired out from morning playing loving each other on my bed.

Picnics

So one of our favorite things to do on our non school days is to have a picnic in the backyard. We grab a few things out of the fridge and a blanket and it's a good 30 minutes of entertainment plus they seem to eat better outside, not sure why that is.

Christmas out of Order

So, just realized I never blogged our entire Christmas trip to Tacoma which was so much fun. We don't get to see Sven's family much since we live way off in West Texas but it was so great to go see them, his brother Tristan was home from China and his other brother Noel and his wife Dawn came up from California so the whole family was together. It was definitely a Christmas to remember. We stayed at Damien and Tiffanies house and the kids had so much fun getting to know each other. Shely loved going to the beach and we threw a kid New Years Eve party with a midnight countdown right around 9pm. So great that they are all to young to know the difference so we got them to bed at a reasonable hour. The grandparents were sooo nice to volunteer to babysit on my birthday so I got a rare fun day out. Sven and I went to a movie and then we met up with Damien, Tiffanie, and Tristan at a restaraunt with an awesome view of the city for happy hour and dinner. I wish we could go see them more often because it is so much fun when we are all together.

Love These Little Monkeys

April was a busy month of school, school, and more school. Sven's job has him traveling all over West Texas so he was busy as well. The girls did great at their school and I was surviving mine. Being away from them was like most things in motherhood, FULL OF GUILT. Somedays I missed them so much I could hardly stand it and felt guilty for leaving them and others I was so glad to have a break and have some time to be just myself and then I felt guilty about that. I know that it is good for both of us though. Here are a few pics of them after school one day playing in the the tree in front of grandma's house.

Easter

The Easter Bunny came to our house in March and brought bunnies and candy and toy kitties and puppies.

Past 6 months

Ok, here goes a big update blog since I have been soo lazy about blogging. I finished my first semester back as a full time student at Texas Tech. It was a bit of an adjustment but was great overall. Straight A's I have to brag a bit about that. The girls went to a Parents Day Out Program at Holy Spirit Catholic Church (no I haven't converted but they had a GREAT program with wonderful teachers) it was Tuesdays and Thursdays which is when I went to school and after the first couple of days of crying at drop off they LOVED it. Especially Shelby who her teacher says is "so smart" like I didn't already know that. Here are a few pics from February of them jumping on the bed and around the house.

I have survied my first two weeks of school. The girls are doing Fantastic at their preschool, Shelby would go everyday If I'd let her instead of just twice a week. The homework aspect is not fun.

Just another morning

Just another morning like any other. Peyton decided she needed to wear her tutu and animal necklace with her pajamas and Shelby a.k.a. "Bindi the Jungle Girl" was busy with her animal friends note the leftover whiskers 2 days after Halloween. That Urban Decay eyeliner is some serious stuff

Dinder and Fluffy

So Shelby has had an imaginary friend for about a year now named Dinder. It's a horse that sometimes is a unicorn and she goes everywhere with us. Sometimes she runs alongside our car, sometimes she is sitting in the backseat. I hear stories about her all of the time. This week I was introduced to fluffy who is also a horse that is Dinder's friend. A while back we were in Sam's Club with my mom and all of a sudden Shelby yells "STOP"! "Dinder's babies are right there on the floor you almost ran them over!" I'm just wondering if I should be worried.

Getting too Big

I tell Shelby "look at these leggies they are getting way to long." She says "yep I sure am getting bigger and bigger." I say "We're gonna have to stop all of this growing." She says "But Mommy, if you stop all of the growing I won't get to be a Mommy."

Went to a Halloween party last night with my girls. They loved the trunk or treating (trick or treating in the parking lot out of everyone's cars), and the costume parade where each kid took a turn walking across the stage and twirling around for everyone to see their costumes. I hate to brag but my girls got the most applause. Peyton was probably the littlest one there that actually walked across and they were playing "Monster Mash" and she started boogeying in the middle of the stage. Most kids were too embarassed to stop and twirl but Shelby marched right out to the center of the stage smiled and twirled about three times with her arms straight out at her sides. It was great.

Pumpkin patch on Wednesday, girls were so cute.
Peyton kept squatting down next to the hugest pumpkins and grunting trying to lift them. Shelby was on a quest to find the "smallest pumkin in the whole wide world" They were just adorable running around and pulling the little wagons. I LOVE FALL!

Getting it down so I don't forget:
Shelby's first words: Zeus: Shoos(our dog) and Shoes : Shoos
Peyton's first words: Cow : Caaooo and Popcorn : Copcarn

Goal for this morning was to complete 2 chapters of reading for my psych class and do an online quiz. It's 1:00 and so far I've cleaned pee off of the floor, a stuffed horsey, and a woobie. Changed Shelby's clothes three times for "accidents" washed my bedding because an entire glass of milk was spilled on it. And cleaned up a flood in the bathroom from giving Barbie a bath in the sink. Seriously?

My growing girls

My Pey Pey and my Sho Sho. Here are a few pics of what they were up to in January. Peyton sitting in her little Bumbo chair on the bathroom counter while I get ready in the morning smiling her awesome little grin and growling like a grizzly bear.


Shelby at Gymnastics which she absolutely loves and does such a great job at. She is such an independent little spirit. She listens to her teacher, but definetely has her own ideas about how to do things. It was a parent participation class and so it was great to have that one hour a week where it's just me and her. She always would remind me that "Peyton can't come cause hers jus a baby".

You might be a redneck if...

You might be a redneck if you've ever killed, cooked, and eaten a wild hog on your own property. OK so my dad and brother and Birch did most of the killing and cooking but I did eat it and it was pretty good. My dad, Tysen, Michael, and Daylon went hunting for wild hogs after Christmas and set a trap. When they came back they had caught 6 of them and proudly brought them out to our house to build a pen and fatten them up a bit. On New Year's Eve after a bit of internet research on how exactly to cook a whole hog, they decided to call Birch, a friend of my Dad's for no other reason than he is from Louisiana so surely he knows how to do it. No stereotype there right. Well it turns out he did so our entire family, the Birch family, and the Sullivan's all got to enjoy pork that had been roasting in a pit for hours. We then had a little firework celebration in the back yard.
Of course you will notice in the pictures of Shelby eating that she just has a hot dog on her plate.
I trusted their methods enough to try it myself but I didn't give her any until we had all eaten and nobody had dropped dead. I can tell you this is not something I ever really thought I'd be doing for New Years Eve. I think my past New Years Eve's were spent at concerts or other parties where things like high heels and cocktail dresses were appropriate. But hey I do live in Texas now and when in Rome...