Baby Bean

My beautifully pregnant cousin Aimee is having her sweet baby boy tomorrow, I will try to update throughout the day on her progress, stay posted for baby pictures!

Second Grade Wrestling

This is a bit of an afterthought considering wrestling wrapped up a couple months ago, but I am so proud of Davis I wanted to share. Wrestling season was a tough one this year, Davis missed all but one wrestling match due to being down with pneumonia. However, even after missing the first three weeks of practice and matches, he came out and won all 4 of his matches on the very last meet in Twin Falls. I'm so proud of what a determined young man he is and how hard he worked and with such heart. His last match he came up against the toughest kid who hadn't lost one match all season. I was so nervous for him, I knew how bad he wanted that medal for going undefeated. He pinned him in 10 seconds....
I have a feeling that this is the beginning of many years of wrestling magic from our sweet son. This is him with a couple of his good buddies after his matches. (Notice the medals around their necks!)

Tonsillectomy Thursday

Ella had her tonsillectomy on Thursday and she was such a brave girl. Much braver than her mother. I had a very hard time keeping it together as they were wheeling my baby daughter off to the OR. I was feeling very brave until the Nurse Anesthetist pulled me out of her room just before taking her and reminded me of the chance of death from anesthesia. "BRING HER BACK! I'VE CHANGED MY MIND!" is what I wanted to shriek at the top of my lungs as I struggled not to fall into a million pieces at the sheer thought of it. I went back into her room, prayed with her and sent her off in the hands of a perfect stranger. God is good and he protected her and kept her through her surgery. Who thought a tonsillectomy could be so stressful for a mother?

Ella did great, she was nauseous and vomited up blood three times after her surgery, but once she got over her nausea she slept peacefully for the rest of the day. I'm so thankful that is over with. Here are a couple pictures of her in recovery. Such a courageous and beautiful young lady.



Hazel was very worried about her sister when she first came in to see her. She was relieved to see Ella waking up, and so was I!

I get you Ella!

So I'm sitting at the table visiting with a friend the other night when my six-year-old daughter comes up, sits down, and sighs. I said, "What's the matter honey?". She replied:

"I like playing with boys, I just have a hard time communicating with them."

Do I really need to say more? "Welcome to my world Ella!" :) It sure starts young doesn't it?

Yard Work Extravaganza

We had a beautiful weekend here in Filer. Saturday was a bit breezy, but the sun was shining and we were very productive. Sunday was perfect, clear skies, and no wind.. We played hookie from church. shhh!

Hazel and I found a big patch of asparagus growing out by the creek in the pasture, I was very excited and pulled out all of the old growth from last year. We were already able to harvest 5 or 6 stalks, yeah! Paul had a friend out who has a backhoe, we got a lot of excavating done that had been on Paul's Honey Do list for awhile. We dug out a swimming hole in the creek for the kids, it is about waist deep on Davis, just perfect for getting wet and cooling off, and big enough that Paul and I can float around and get a little sun!

I got my garden up and going on Sunday, very exciting. We had lots of horse and chicken manure at our disposal, so I am hoping for big juicy vegetables this summer. I am going to have to expand it a few rows to get my corn in... I wasn't thinking big enough I guess! Didn't realize how much room those squash varieties take up. Overall we had a great weekend, it felt so good to be outside doing and accomplishing! I have a nice cherry red sunburn on my shoulders and the back of my legs to show for it too! Too bad when I was lathering kids with sunscreen, I didn't think to cover my own hide, a lesson learned for the year, I hope.

Kids are ready for school to be out, its getting hard to explain to a three year old why she has to go to bed when its "not dark out". Davis is longing for three months of sleeping in and reading what he wants even if it isn't an AR book. I'm with him. I have about 3 weeks of school left, we are in the home stretch. I'm looking forward to summer and actually doing some extra curricular reading, something thoughtless and fun. Paul is going to start back with me in the fall doing an Algebra class... Nice way to ease back in right? Ick. Misery loves company! :)

Nothing but sunshine and pure warmness in the forecast for the next few days, I'm planning on getting over my sunburn and getting outside!

A Very Beautiful Easter Weekend

"Well Good Morning Hazel! Aren't you a ray of sunshine today!"
There is never a shortage of cuteness in the mornings, especially when Hazel gets her hands on Gramma's glasses!

Dying eggs with the children this year was very fun, it became a competition to see who could get the darkest egg. Hazel actually made the darkest eggs and had an amazing amount of patience for letting them sit for a 3-year-old, more than the rest of us! We were using left over egg color from last year, some of which had crumbled so the colors had mixed. We had some unusual, but very pretty, eggs!

Me and the girls all had Grandma Bartons' aprons on. Mine is one that my mother had found that grandma had only half sewn together. She had all the patchwork done, but didn't quite get it completed. My momma finished it for me and I love it! :)

We had a really nice Easter this year. We started the day at church, reflected on the sacrifice made at the cross and the reason we celebrate Easter. After church we spent the day at my moms, hunted eggs with the kids, played ping pong, ate good food and enjoyed the day with family. The children remarkable stayed clean in their Easter best and even though we all had a little too much sugar, it was a beautiful day, we even got a little sun! :)
Paul and I after church, waiting on my moms good food! There is nothing better than going "home" and having your mom cook for you!

Me and my gorgeous girls (This is me happy and dry before my son surprised me from behind by dumping water on my head!)

Mr. Handsome Watching his Dad (Mr. Handsome, SR) play ping pong.

Chickens In My Garden

Case... And Point.

What a mess!

Hazel Feeds Beaty

Sunny Days were definitely made for enjoying the sweet smell of your horses neck and watching the sun dance off your babies hair. Yesterday, was a day just like that. Hazel and I took the afternoon to enjoy ourselves while we waited for the bus to drop off the big kids from school.







There is my happy Baby! All butterfly's from head to toe. :)










We brought Beaty (Short for Beethoven, not a very feminine name for a doe goat...ask Davis.) our apple cores from snack time for a special treat of her own, boy did she think that was neat! There is something kind of sweet about soft little goat lips in the palm of your hand:)

Graceful Hazel

I thought this was blogworthy:)

Sunny Sunday

Davis and Ella made ME the most delicious lunch today. They made hamburger soup in a coffee can over a campfire in the backyard.... Does not get much better than that. Best hamburger soup I ever had! :) Too bad Mom didn't have it together enough to get the camera out to record all of the excitement!








Those of you who have been to our house know that we had a massive antenna that we took out last summer. We are still taking out the anchors from that antenna. One such anchor we took out this weekend. This is the whole that the kids are "helping" us with.










Davis seems to have fallen into the hole and he can't get out, oh no!

Welcome to My New Blog!

I guess it's time for me to hop on the bandwagon and start blogging along with all of my tech-forward friends. I plan to post the newest goings on in our family, along with the latest and greatest from my ever so hilarious children.... So stay tuned! It may take me a little while to get the hang of this!