Spiderman's Proudest Moment

This was a very big day.  Spiderman went out for youth turkey season with my man and the weather was gorgeous for a change.  They left at 5:30 am so we waited to hear how it was going.  When they came home around 9:30 am, we were told that they had only heard one gobble all morning.  Of course they were pulling our leg and had a good laugh as Spiderman announced he shot a  huge gobbler.  He was BEAMING!!

My man was just as excited for him as they took a million photos, weighed the bird (a whopping 25 lbs.), and proceeded to cut it up.  Even Spiderman had fun with that.  The men are working on mounting the tail fan which made the boy all that much more excited.  What a special memory they will share.  Way to go little man!!!

Goose's Birthday

We are still alive!  I'm a little late in posting this but my little girl turned 10 last month.  Unfortunately she was pretty sick with temperatures up to 104.3 and slept for days on the couch.  We tried to make her birthday special but she wasn't even up to eating her birthday pizza and cookie for a few days.

One thing I have learned this winter is to be thankful for good health. Maybe that's because it's been so rare in our home this season. I may make some good plans but I can't control whether or not we'll all be well enough to follow through with them.  We had to reschedule Goose's sleepover party for a couple of weeks but at least by then she had the energy to enjoy herself.  Here are the girls who made it to the party.  I took this photo at midnight, right before instructing them to keep it quiet if they were going to stay up any later.  I heard that bedtime was 2 am for most of them.

The interesting twist for the party was that that week we learned the girls final basketball tournament was scheduled for that same weekend.  We ended up driving all the girls to the tournament (all but 3 were on the team), watching the game, and then coming pback to finish the party.  Since we got home from the game close to 10 pm, you can see why they had so much energy to stay up and giggle.

It was a wonderful way to end the season.  Though the girls were not a "championship team", they had such great attitudes and had so much fun.  It was the first year playing basketball for almost all of them and 2 or 3 were actually 3rd & 4th graders (it was a 5th & 6th grade league).  Coach Chang did a wonderful job and they are all hoping she'll coach again next year.

Introducing....Conservationist of the Year for 2010

I don't stop often enough to brag on my man.  Well this post is all about him.  Don't let the tie fool you, it really IS my man (in disguise).  I think he chose this interesting facial hair to try and counteract the effect of a tie and dress shoes. :)

Saturday we all drove to the Lake of the Ozarks for the annual banquet for the Conservation Federation of Missouri.  This was a first for us due our special invitation to award my man the title of Conservationist of the Year.  This was a pretty big deal as the federation is made up of many different agencies in Missouri (I have to brag a bit here).  It was wonderful to see him get noticed for all the amazing work he does day in and day out on the job.  It was even more special to see the respect he has from his peers and superiors.  Way to go Babe!

The kids had a great time and thought that the 300 person banquet in the grand ballroom was the "FANCIEST" thing they'd ever seen.  Good thing they had kid meals on hand as the "Fancy fare" would have been a disappointment to them (though quite delicious).  The best part of the night was seeing him grow in their esteem, especially Goose's.  Let me explain...

(Below is my man with Goose as they headed out to their 3rd annual Daddy Daughter Dance together the night before.))

You see, he was supposed to receive the award the previous evening but he told them he wasn't able to attend because he had a date with his daughter.  It was a sacrifice at the time but he knew this little girl (who had been planning this Daddy Daughter Dance with him for months) would be heartbroken if he cancelled.  What a gift when they told him they would move the presentation to the following night's banquet.  Goose was clueless about the decision, until....

Everyone we encountered at the banquet approached us and asked, "so who were you on the date with last night?"  After this scene repeated itself a few times, Goose asked me quietly, "How do all these people know I went on a date with Daddy last night?"   I had the pleasure of explaining to her how her Dad thought their date was more important than accepting this award and that it had been announced to all these people the previous night WHY he couldn't be there with them.  I swear she walked even taller the rest of the evening as she knew how much her Dad valued her.  I had known for a week the sacrifice he made and knew he made the right choice but I was so impressed to see and hear how much people respected him for putting his family priorities first.  Yep, that's MY Man!  Not just Conservationist of the Year but maybe Daddy of the Year as well.

Congrats Babe - I'm so proud of you!

Welcome to America

We recntly had a special day with some special friends.  We cancelled school and went to St. Louis with "just the girls" for the day and witnessed a new soul become an American.  My dear friend brought home her newest daughters around Thanksgiving and Hope now has two sisters.  Aren't they beautiful?  Due to her age, the oldest needed to come in person to swear the oath of citizenship and we got to be there to celebrate with them all.  Congratulations Yordie (& Hana)!!!

After the event, we visited the Gateway Arch and the museum underneath.  Goose and Boo were glad to come along for the day and I got to spend many hours talking and laughing with my friend during the long drive there and back.  How precious to make such memories together.

Though they didn't choose to eat lunch there, we stopped at the Ethiopian Restaurant and purchased a BUNCH of injera to bring home for the kids.  Spiderman was thrilled when I made his old favorites the next day and had the authentic injera for a change.  Just icing on the proverbial cake.

Some momentus firsts

I just wanted to congratulate some special kids around here.  Though he's been hunting with Dad many times before (and for various animals), Spiderman finally shot his first animal.  The funny thing was that this time he just took the opportunity to hunt in the backyard and it worked!  He was so proud to be added to the ranks of "the mighty hunters" and even better was that Dad used it to make a big batch of "baked bunny beans" to serve at the Super Bowl party.  Way to go!

Here is Goose after her first ever basketball game.  She's been working hard since summer learning some skills and practicing drills and it has finally culminated in "the games".  We've been blessed with an amazing coach who knows her stuff and is so encouraging to the girls.  It's a home school team of 5th-6th grade girls but they let Goose on the team even though she's a year too young for it.  I could see this really being her thing and the outlet of playing with such a good group of girls has been so fun for her.

How fun to celebrate these milestones with my kiddos.  Great job you two!!!

Blizzard of 2011

I love a good snow storm!  Growing up in Utah gave me a deep appreciation for lots of snow.  In my book, you need 8-10" to count as a "good snow".  God gave us a doozy this time (14 inches) but it was wonderful to stay in the house, have the man around during work hours, laugh together, cuddle and marvel at the turbulent world outside the window.  Of course I can romanticize the storm when I didn't HAVE to leave the house, didn't lose power, water or other "necessities".  The only unpleasant part for me was that it was followed by extreme cold the following days (down to -10 degrees).

No matter the temperature, neither the kids nor Frisbee wanted to come in the house.  Our dog is such a snow beast that she sometimes refuses to come in the house when we call her and she'll go sit next to her cable "begging" to be tied up and left outside.  She frolicks like she's a puppy again when the snow is on the ground - silly dog!  You can see she offered to help Spiderman with his tunnel just to be in the mix of things.

The kids were so excited to play in the snow that they tried it out during the worst of the storm.  It was much more fun for everyone once it had all arrived, the sun came out and they could dig tunnels in the big mounds left behind by the snow plow.  From the looks of the weather report, it won't be melting anytime soon.

The local public schools cancelled school for 4 days thanks to the storm.  Usually we don't take snow days since I'd rather take off time in the spring for some fun but this time I decided to give my kids one full "snow day" and they made good use of it.   There's just nothing as great as making some special memories together.  What a gift!

On cloud 11...

I don't know where the time went but my first baby is now ELEVEN!  Jaybird waited anxiously all week to celebrate with his buddies and he had a great time.  They had pizza, chips and frosted brownies and quite honestly, hardly ate much at all.  They were much too interested in playing to pause too long for that.  :)  We farmed out the girls to their friends so it was ALL boys, ALL the time.  I believe Legos were strewn around every room of the house and we tip-toed through the mine field.  Here is one of the new sets he assembled to play with the gang. 

Below is MOST of the buddies who made it, showing off their Lego imaginations.  Unfortunately the two Ben's (or Ben squared as we call them) had to leave early and I missed getting them in my shot.  I'm mean enough to make lights out at midnight, though they weren't tired at all, but it didn't help them to sleep in.  I long for the day they want to sleep til noon instead of 5:30 am.  All in all it was fun for the boys and now it's out of the way for me. :) 

More importantly, my little man is growing up.   I remember crying at the pediatrician's office when he was turned 2 that he was growing up too fast.  How silly, HA!  I treasure those memories of the past 11 years even while I dread him leaving home someday and calling me not nearly enough. :)  The cycle of life is not all easy but I'm proud of who he is and how he is growing.  Now he really is on the launching pad of life.  I see him maturing in some special ways (though not regarding silly "boy" humor) and he is sensitive to wanting to please God and his parents.  He already talks about being a good husband and father someday.  I know I'll always be there praying for him and cheering him on.

Happy Birthday Big Guy!