My boys Growing UP

Todd took Nolan down to Grampa Dancy's farm this past weekend to mow. Nolan is 12 years old but has not, as of yet, mowed our lawn yet. I LOVE to mow and just have not been able to share the responsibility with him. Our yard isn't steep but I do have to put some muscle into it to get it over the slopes we have. 

Nolan was so excited to get to mow on the riding lawn mower. Todd said he did a really good job and even talked Grampa Dancy into letting him get on it again and ride around. I so appreciate that he asked him to mow - he even paid him. I know that he's at the age where he needs to learn and take responsibility for things like this. Nolan has quite a few chores at home and does them, usually, with a great spirit.

I forgot to give Todd the camera so that he could get a picture, but I somehow pictured him looking like this....

I was trying to find a pic when he was standing up on the mower with the hat in his hand.

Out of the mouth of babes...

Todd found a recipe for some "no beans" chili. He asked me to brown the deer meat that a friend had given him and start the pot with the other "fixins" in it. Well, the meat was on the stove but when my dad came over to get me to help him print out something of importance. I turned the stove off and went to help him. We tried on the Mac and the PC to get the form to pull up with the information in it. It took us a while to figure out that it was a secure form and it wouldn't let you copy, send, only print from the original email. Dad even tried pulling his email up from our house to make sure. Anyhoo..the stove didn't actually get turned off. Nolan comes downstairs saying that the meat is on a burner that is still on. Of course I tell him "Silly boy, I turned the stove off, it's probably still hot from the mac and cheese I cooked". A few minuets later he comes down saying "It stinks and there is smoke in the kitchen." 

This of course gets my attention and as I run upstairs I see that he and Emma have opened the windows in the kitchen and Emma ran to get her "survival gear".

Kids, ya gotta love 'em!!!!

Montana

Ok, it's a little late on the Montana pictures but the scanner has been out of commission.

These are from when we lived there. I couldn't find any of the ones that would show the then and now of the house but here goes.


I remember my mom learning how to drive a stick shift on "Big Blue". I'm surprised that we didn't get whiplash riding in the back as she jerked down the road. I'm the one with the big WHITE socks sitting on the back of the truck.

This is our horse Rebel. We didn't realize that Tinker, see below, was pregnant when we bought her. We only got to ride him once before we moved.

This is Tinker. I'm the one in the yellow (I look a little like the Morton's Salt girl), Amy is on Tinker, and Ashley and Mom are on either side of me.

This is a shot of the backyard. Of course when we lived there, it was just a field behind us.

This Mountain which was on one side of the "valley" we lived in is called Sleeping Giant. If you look closely you can see the face of a "giant" lying down on his back.

Here is a shot of the front of the house.

And a picture of the gorgeous mountains on the other side of the valley.

Flag Football

Well, today was Nolan's first flag football game. He and Todd have been out in the front yard throwing the ball and running drills for a while now. Only 4 of the kids showed up for the game so we had to borrow two from the other team. Nolan's team, the Jets, won 30 to zip with Nolan making 3 of the touchdowns. I'm not sure just how good his team is since there were only 4 of them there, the two guys we borrowed seems really good. I'm sure the other coach can't wait to play us again with all his team. Here are a few shot of Nolan on the field.
He also had his friend Ethan spend the night so after lunch we headed to Star Wars the Clone Wars movie. I was actually hoping that the American Girl Kit Kitridge move was still playing so Emma and I could go to that, but no luck.

First Day of School

Today the kids started school. Nolan is now in 6th grade (wow) and Emma is in the 4th. They were both so excited about their teachers this year and actually excited about starting school.

The first picture I made the kids smile and the second picture is how they said they really felt.

I'm done

After I went to get the book at 12:10 that night I headed back home. I still had not finished listening to the last book in the saga so i stayed up until 2:30 that morning trying to get it done. I fell into bed exhausted only to be woken up the next morning at 5:30 ish by my friend Lee asking me where I was. It took a while to clear the cobwebs from my head and listened as she said "You were suppose to be here at 5:00 to sign Emma up for art lessons." The sign up actually started at 9:00 but in the past years people began to get there earlier and earlier to get the spots they wanted, until now you can get there at 5:00 and sign a list so that you "save" your spot. I threw on a hat and tennis shoes yelling to Todd that I had to go sign Emma up for her art lessons and that I would be home later. I guess Todd is so used to me doing bizarre slightly irrational things that I all I got from him was "call me before you head home so I'll know when to expect you". I arrived at the church about 20 mins later and joined the already growing crowd of people in the lobby. I was number 27 on the sign in list. We eventually went to eat breakfast at Panera Bread and when 9:00 rolled around she ended up being number 9 in the class with all of her friends.

I continued to listen to my story until I finished about 2:30 or so and then I picked up the 700 some odd page book at 3:00 Saturday afternoon and finally finished it at about 11:00 Sunday night. Not too bad for someone who had to work Sunday morning from 7:15 - 1:00. I was VERY anxious at how this was going to end. Bella being in love with a vampire and a werewolf, who of course are mortal enemies...who would she choose, who would get hurt? I have to hand it to Stephanie...she did a great job of creating an ending where you feel that nobody was left out!!

I was feeling good about the twilight saga (this is what it is actually referred to instead of Vampire Love story) and was thinking that I would take a little time off from reading. About that time my mom calls and says "I've got a new book for you I just finished", well, I can always sleep next week!!

How old am I??

I feel like some teen again. Let me explain. As you can see on my sidebar I've listened to all three of the Vampire Love Story books. Well, tonight at 12:01 the final book in the series is released. I have opted not to go to the "blood party" that starts at 10:00 at our local Book-A-Million and just went there at 9:20 to buy the voucher for the book.

I am SO HOOKED on these books...







and now the newest and last one in the series.



i don't think I've been this into a series of books (not even Patricia Cornwell) since the Left Behind series years ago. Poor Todd, just like the Left Behind series..I have a feeling Todd will be a book widow tomorrow!! I'll let you know how it goes when I finish the book.