Best Dad Ever!

Mark is such a wonderful Daddy. He adores his little girl and works so hard for us every day. Thanks Daddy!! We Love YOU!

So Maysie has the best Nursery teacher ever at church. They made these adorable T-shirts for all the dads on Sunday. Mark was so proud of it he wore it to the County Fair that afternoon where we watched Auntie Caitie in the wheelbarrow races. It was a brutal race with giant obstacles and a four foot deep water/mud pit. They had to fill their sand bags with what they thought was 30lbs of sand. Cait overestimated and carried an extra 12.9lbs through the race (if you underestimated you were disqualified) It was really exciting, I don't think I've yelled that loud since high school or maybe fire academy.

Maysie got to ride a pony after the races and was in absolute Heaven! Her pony was named Silver and he was very cute. I know she would have sat in that saddle all night. Someday Maysie, someday:)

One Fishy Two Fishy, Live Fishy Dead Fishy

After some thought we decided that Maysie was ready for a little jar of fishies. First I have to include this cute narration of our pre-fishy picking.
Mommy: Maysie would you like to go to the "animal store" and pick out some fishies for your very own.
Maysie: Uh huh
Mommy: What kind of fishy do you want?
Maysie: (Thinking, thinking, thinking) How bout....a MERMAID!
Mommy: I don't think the animal store has mermaids
Maysie: Oh....how bout a Nemo! And his daddy! (thoughtful face) But NOT the big scary monster fish with sharp teeth!
Mommy: Ok
So we got a Nemo fish and his daddy. Maysie picked them out and I found this cute giant size Ball mason jar at Walmart.

Maysie and HER fishies!

Danner and HIS fishies!

So I thought our little fishy habitat was perfect. It was pretty, the fishies were swimming and eating and they had a bubbler. All was well. The bubbler was noisy though and Mark and I thought it would be a good idea to give them a break from it at nighttime. Sunday morning arrived (note that Nemo and his Daddy had been members of our family for less than 24hrs)

And Nemo was DEAD! Yep, dead. Nemo's Daddy was near dead lying on the bottom of the perfect fishy habitat. Maysie wasn't up yet and so I quickly scooped Nemo out of the jar and turned the bubbler back on. Then I used a fishy lifesaving technique I learned from my dad when he did catch and release fishing. I held Nemo's Daddy by his tail and moved him up and down in the bubbles to help him move as much oxygen through his gills as possible. By the time Maysie got out of bed Nemo's Daddy had been revived. Maysie took it really well. She still looks at the jar with only one fish in it and says plainly," I'm sorry the other one died." I'm sorry too. But I guess it was probably the best circumstances in which to learn about death.

Note: The fishy bubbler doesn't get turned off for any reason now. Gee, I hope the power doesn't ever go out! I'll have to blow bubbles through a straw til it comes back on:/

Mostly Green Thumb

I'm so excited that the swiss chard I planted from seed is doing so well. I picked my first little bunch of chard and spinach the other day for my smoothie. It was delicious! My herb are doing awesome as well. They make green salads and sandwiches so yummy!

Our beautiful (FINALLY) garden! As soon as we got home from MT on May 20th Mark went right to work rototilling and fence building. I planted right away since we were on the late side for garden planting and I already had most of the veggies started in pots waiting til we got home. Everything was looking lovely and then in got cold and rained and rained, and rained some more. I ended up with some sort of itty bitty grub munching away at my poor little sproutlings from the inside out and killing them off one by one. I tried all sorts of natural concoctions to kill the little buggers off and nothing was working so I resorted to pouring garden safe Seven around the base of each plant and low and behold they died or ran away or morphed into whatever it was they were supposed to be and flew off. All I know is the sun finally came out and my plants stopped dying. YAY!! Picked our first peas yesterday. We have little baby tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. All of my herbs are doing great. Have a wine barrel full of strawberries but what little it produces doesn't make it into the house. I'm just so happy that the sun is warm and shiny and my garden is growing!

I wanted to post a picture of the beautiful hydrangea plant that Grama Warner started and gave to me. It is so pretty and healthy. The blooms took the longest time to start to turn color and for a while I thought that Grama had given me a green hydrangea (not even sure if those exist) anyway she assured me that it would turn a pretty color eventually and it did! There were two big clusters of flowers on it but Miss Maysie was thoughtful enough to pick one of them for me:/ And it didn't last long in a jar of water in the house. Oh well. You can see the beautiful daphne plant I bought for myself so that my patio could smell like Grama Varozza's but it didn't bloom this year. Maybe next year:)

My Latest Creations

This is the rag wreath I made while we were in MT this spring. It turned out so cute! It hangs in the kitchen and decorates our otherwise boring door into the garage. When I got home I added the little stuffed felt star, ribbon, and some of the lace I had left over from making the kitchen curtains. It makes me happy:) My mom made a cute patriotic one while we were there and it turned out just as adorable!

This is my newest creation/invention. I'm pretty proud of it if I do say so myself. You see, the flowers (made from scrap fabric) have velcro attached to the back, as does the felt flower mount on the wreath and so I can move the flowers around and change them out for the seasons! I already made some cute red and green flowers for winter time and I'm thinking about making some pretty silk flowers with orange and yellow and brown silk fabric for the fall:) I just figured it would be a waste of money and storage space to have three to four different wreaths for the front door.

**If you like it, or the rag wreath, let me know, I may start a little side crafting business;)

Smiles and Flowers

Maysie loves sniffing flowers!! I'm surprised she hasn't snorted a bug up her nose yet:)

Montana!

Hitting the road! Maysie was such a good girl for our two day drive both ways! She should get a medal or something! We had such a great time at my mom and dad's house this year! The weather wasn't as warm as it has been in the past but we bundled up and enjoyed the beautiful country anyway. We are so thankful for wonderful family and their generosity and hospitality. We miss you already mom and dad!

Hold on Maysie, we're almost there! :)

These are the neighbors longhorn steer. They're cute and fun to look at but they are quite the nuisance. Believe it or not these top heavy creatures are really good jumpers and hop back and forth over the fence lines as they please. Which is really not good when the crops are trying to grow!

The entrance to the park in town. We met Granna on her lunch break almost every day and went and played at the park. It is so beautiful and well maintained!

Montana cont.

I thought the lighting was so pretty in this picture. That and she almost sorta kinda still has wrist rolls :) and it makes her look cute and babyish:)

This is a picture of Mark in Heaven! He got to roll the fields before the seed was sown. I went out to take some pictures and to tell him that dinner was ready and his reply to me was," I'm a farmer now, I'll come in when I'm done." I laughed.

YAY! A tea set:)

Picking dandelions with Papa Doodle

We went on a little fishing trip to Martinsdale Reservoir one afternoon. By the time we got there Maysie was asleep in her carseat wearing Mark's beanie and it was pouring rain. The boys decided to brave the storm anyway and their efforts paid off big time! Mark's biggest fish wouldn't even fit into the cooler! We had a delicious feast the next night.

I think I've finally taught my fingers to go in the right direction. It's nice to have some more options when it comes to styling my two year olds insane amount of hair:)

What? The kid likes words

Maysie's most favorite place in all of Harlowton! The market!! Why you ask, because they have miniature shopping carts!

It turns out Maysie is a huge fan of corn on the cobb! She won't eat it off the cobb, but this was a big hit! And also extremely adorable. I'd post a movie of her enjoyment but blogger doesn't like my video camera format.

Papa made the coolest kite for Maysie to fly! We got it to go really high! And the best part was there weren't any trees to get the darn thing stuck in:) It was fun to be able to do something constructive with the relentless wind!

Papa Doodle and Granna got Maysie, Evan, and Landon a special gift. Henry Golden Boy .22 caliber rifles! Maysie was so excited to get a GUN!!! that was just for her. She's not quite big enough to hold it up on her own yet but she sure had fun shooting it with daddies help:)

This is how Maysie's and Scout's kick it at hotels. The bed looks weird because I pull the mattress off the top, you can see it leaning up against the wall behind them. I pull it partially out into the entryway of the room to create a partition so Maysie can't see us and will actually go to sleep in the crib the hotel supplies us with:) Strange I know, but it works! If the hotel staff saw what we did with their furniture during our stay we probably wouldn't be allowed back.