Happy Things!

I know. I know. I should be ashamed of myself. It's been, well......a while. I do have excuses. Busy summer. Busy kids. Books to read. House to clean. Places to go. Things to do. You get it. And we are still busy. Even now as I write this, I am also chasing around a turbo charged toddler, trying to explain directions for a packet of worksheets to an information hungry preschooler, and I'm pretty sure I am going to have to stop what I'm doing here for a sec and change a poopy diaper. And the only reason I am making myself do this now is cause of the Aunt. The Aunt that would like to see some pictures of her nieces and nephew. So - this one's for you, Aunt Chels!! ;)

What's new with the little dude? Well, he is a typical toddler. He likes cookies, dancing, balls, being outside, getting dirty, rocks and sticks, climbing, food, sips of pop, kitties and puppies, and his dad.

 On our way to and from the Leithead reunion this summer we got to look around Yellowstone Park! It had been such a long time since we had been there. It was so fun to see all the animals and sights...nature is so awesome!!! 

It has also been a very long time since we have made it to a Leithead Family Reunion. We are glad we were able to see everybody this year! The girls had so much fun camping and playing. Lots of wonderful memories were made!

One of the biggest highlights of our summer was that we broke Anastyn of her thumb-sucking habit! Way to go Anastyn!!! Thank you to the genius who invented the Thumb Guard. Anastyn was such a trooper wearing these little things for five whole weeks. But I think we all agree that it was well worth it. And now we have to start saving for that trip to Disneyland that we promised her!!

 Matty started first grade! She has really taken to being a "Meeteetse Longhorn", and she LOVES her new teacher, Mrs. Horsen. She is a super-fun lady and I think Matty is going to have a fabulous year!! Isn't she a cute little first-grader????

And, thanks to Grandma-Great, we had the pleasure of taking care of seven...uh-huh, I said seven...cats this summer. They provided many, many hours of entertainment for the girls. Thankfully, we found homes for them all and kept our two favorites, Cupcake and Mittens. Anastyn loves to take care of them. She makes sure they have food and water and plenty of attention and love. She likes to carry them around in baskets and is thrilled that they are finally getting playful. She loves to tease them with balls of yarn and crumpled paper. Cute, cute, cute!

And last, but not least, we signed Matty up for soccer. She is so excited to be playing. She loves getting all dressed up in her soccer clothes and heading to Cody for her games. Mainly she chases butterflies and chews on her sleeve. But once in a while she actually kicks the ball!! It is such a hoot to watch these little guys play! Yay Matty! Go Strikers!!! 

For Your Entertainment...

I don't typically like to make fun of myself, but today is your lucky day! I'm taking one for the team cause I feel like making you laugh!!!

The girls have been in swimming lessons, and we have to get up and moving a little early (for summertime, anyways). Last night, in an effort to make this morning go more smoothly, I took my shower. Now, when I shower at night, my very thin and fine hair is usually stuck to my scalp in the morning and it is nearly impossible to style it very well. Knowing this, I decided it might be nice to put curlers in my hair so I would have some volume in the morning. Except I really didn't want to sleep in curlers - I actually did want to get some sleep.

So then I started thinking about how back in the olden days women did pin-curls. I don't know how to do pin curls, but I figured it probably wasn't rocket-science.  So I just twisted my hair up into little curls and inserted some bobby pins.  Then I went to bed. And I didn't sleep very well. Turns out bobby pins aren't a whole lot more comfortable than curlers. :) And when Kyle got up this morning to get ready for work, he actually looked at me like I was a freak. (He was asleep when I came up with this little plan the night before).

When I finally got up, I ran excitedly to the bathroom to remove the bobby pins - sure that my hair was going to be so glamorous today!! Not so much. Actually, my hair was an absolute train wreck. I looked like a poodle with a bad perm. I know. Nobody gives a poodle a perm. But just imagine what that would look like.....My hair. This morning. Are you laughing yet? Good. Now, if I had wanted to make you pee your pants, I would have taken a picture and posted it. I was not feeling that generous today. :) I tried to work with it a little bit - but it was just going to look bad no matter what! So, I ended up back in the stinking shower, and I went to swimming lessons with wet hair.

The Big {ONE}

HaPpY BiRtHdAy, MaSoN bEaU!!!!!

This little family of ours couldn't have asked for a

sweeter, cuter, funner, or cuddlier little boy!

At One Year Old, Mason:

• Walks like a maniac
• Still does not sleep all thru the night...or in his own bed
• Is getting the hang of a sippy cup
• Seems to always be sporting a bruise (or two) on his forehead
• Loves to push buttons, turn knobs, take things apart and put them back together
• Is so happy when he is outside in the fresh air
• Enjoys teasing his older sisters
• Is happy and easy-going almost always
• Loves taking showers and baths
• Loves his mama, but is also a HUGE fan of daddy
• Is adored by his two big sisters. They both think he is absolutely awesome, and they love to take care of him and play with him.

All Kinds of Things to Tell You About!...

Roasting S'Mores in our back yard...

 A couple weeks ago I found this nasty critter snackin' on Anastyn! She must have some tasty blood because this is not the first time we have had to pull a tick out of her skin!!! Still makes my stomach churn to look at these pictures! As usual, she was a brave little trooper. I couldn't get the dang thing out so she had to wait for Daddy to get home from work to save the day!!

 This here is what happens when Daddy refuses to let you leave the table before you eat your dinner and Anastyn refuses to eat! There are a few stubborn people in this little family of ours...

 Mason at the Mustang Days Parade rockin' the sweet Beatles t-shirt Aunt Chels gave him for his birthday!

 The girls collecting a ridiculous amount of candy at the parade. Thank goodness for Aunt Kacee, or Matty wouldn't have gotten any. She wasn't quite as fast as the other kids! ;)

 While Chels and KJ were here, we all went up to 5 Springs to kill some time. This is me with anxiety because the creek was running so high and fast. I wasn't about to let these kids out of my sight!!!

 Our little "Rambino"!

 Dad kickin' it on the picnic table!

 Kyle came home from work yesterday with these beautiful wildflower arrangements for his girls! I think he would make a dang good florist!
 

My Family

We had the best week hanging out with my family! We did the whole Mustang Days routine, went to 5 Springs, ate lots of food, visited, played, relaxed, went to Cody, and just enjoyed eachother! I am so glad that Chelsea and Kage got to come home. The kids had a blast bugging them! There is just nothing better than being with family. NOTHING!

Lucky #7!

Matty celebrated birthday #7 a little over a week ago!

In honor of the 7 years our family has been blessed

by this little lady, here are 7 of Matty's current favorite things!

Favorite Song:  "I Am A Child of God"

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Person: Mom

Favorite Toy: Tangled Doll

Favorite Movie:  Hannah Montana

Favorite Food: Hamburgers and Popcorn

Favorite Thing to Do: Play with Anastyn

Gradiversary!

Matty is officially a First Grader!! Last Monday we got to attend her Kindergarten graduation at the Meeteetse School. It was a wonderful ceremony complete with red caps and gowns, a sweet slide show that brought tears to our eyes, diplomas, and refreshments!! A big THANK YOU to everyone (in Lovell and Meeteetse) who has been involved in getting Matty this far! She has made progress in leaps and bounds and we are so very, very, very PROUD of her! Yay, Matty!!!!!



Special Ladies: Mrs. Campsey, Matty, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Hiser

 We also had the pleasure of attending Kaleb's High School Graduation. What a fun day of celebrating everyone's accomplishments!! Kyle and I celebrated an accomplishment of our own that day - 13 whole years of marriage! Whew! Now that's somethin'!!

And just for fun...here are Matty and Anastyn singing "I'm A Little Teapot". They came up with some very entertaining and rather unusual actions to this song! In the second picture it looks as though Anastyn is rapping! You go, girls!

My Super Heroes

This is Anastyn "flying" around the house in the exact cape that I used to "fly" around in as a little girl.

Super heroes never go out of style!!!

 Today Matty was supposed to dress up as a "cowgirl" for school! Now, the average student here has to look no further than their very own closet for their costume. We had to raid someone else's closet! :) And I still didn't get it right! Notice (unless you are as clueless as I) that the chaps are on backwards! Fortunately, Matty's teacher fixed her wardrobe malfunction as soon as she walked in the door!

Another Unforgettable Moment...

My middle child is kind of known around these parts as a "spit-fire". And that she can surely be. She throws her fair share of tantrums. (In her defense I must say the majority of the time she is a real sweetie.) The other day she had a significant melt-down over a very insignificant matter. I told her to go to her room. She would not. When I finally got her to her room, I went back to whatever I was doing before. In the meantime I had the pleasure of listening to what can only be described as "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth". I was tempted to get out my ipod and crank it up.

After a while when the noise finally died down, I called for her to come upstairs for a minute. She ignored me and I called for her again. Then I heard her yell back upstairs in a sweet little voice, "Okay, mom, I think I know what you are going to do." Well, I didn't even know what I was going to do. I suppose I was going to have a discussion about what had just transpired and let her know that if she acted like that again I would blah, blah, blah. So when she made it up the stairs I asked her what she thought I was going to do, to which she replied very matter-of-fact, "Give me a hug."    Oh.    Well.    What else could I possibly do?? So that's exactly what I did. We hugged and made up and went on with our day. If nothing else, at least my child knows I love her no matter what she might have done. That is a very good thing. :)

For The Record...

There are things that our kids do and say that we think we will never forget. There are times that I've thought to myself that I should write that down. But, I guess out of laziness, I talk myself out of it thinking that I could never in a million years forget something that crazy, or funny, or whatever the case may be. So I am noting some recent shenanigans. :)

One that has been providing frequent chuckles in our family circle:  The other day Mason got a small cut on his finger. There was a small amount of blood. I was looking at it when Anastyn came strolling by. She saw it and exclaimed, "Bloody Hell!" I was stunned. What???? I gave her that 'what-did-you-just-say' look, to which she explained, "Well, Harry Potter says it!"  We are really working on which words are appropriate to say and which aren't. It's really hard, because even the cartoons take the Lord's name in vain (which is not okay in our book) and include some inappropriate language. It's really confusing for kids...and its so hard to monitor and filter. It's dreadful. So, if you happen to hear one of my children say a 'bad' word...please know that we are trying to teach them. :) And, yes, I do have to confess that my mouth needs a good washing out with soap once in a while. Shameful.

A week or two ago I had to take Matty to the doctor in Cody. We drove thru McDonalds and got her a kids meal to eat while we were running errands around town. I had to run into Walgreens real quick to pick up her prescription and figured she and Mason would be okay in the car for a second. I forgot she still had the little bag of sliced apples from her Happy Meal. I came back to the car and got us out on the road when I heard Mason make a strange noise. So I asked Matty if brother was okay. She said 'no'. All of a sudden I remembered the apples. I asked Matty if she had given anything to her brother. All she said was 'apple'. Holy Crap!  I freaked out thinking Mason was choking on an apple. I swirved through the opposing lane of traffic to pull into the Holiday Inn parking lot - barely missing an oncoming vehicle - threw the car into park, jumped out of the car landing in a huge puddle of water, and prepared to yank my baby out of the car to get an apple out of his throat! I opened the door and found Mason sitting there....just fine. I talked to Matty. She had never given him an apple. I guess she just felt the need to watch her mother have a heart attack. Took me a while to settle myself down and get the heart rate back to normal after that one.

So, what else is going on around here?

Mason is going on 10 months now! He is crawling, pulling himself up to stand, climbing the stairs, occasionally playing in toilet water, and running around (literally running) in his walker! He is so proud of himself, and we are proud of him too! He is such a joy!

Easter came and went. There were fun Easter baskets left by the Easter Bunny (which I have no photographic evidence of). There were spiffy new Easter dresses and clothes. I have no pictures of those either - probably because we were in too much of a hurry to get off to church. We drove to Lovell to have Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma Tippetts - there were Easter baskets at their house as well! We also visited Grandpa Leithead and the cousins! It was a lovely day.

We drove the kids out to the 91 Ranch to see the baby calves, sheep, and to ride horses. They were so excited about this trip...they could not wait to get there! And they weren't disappointed! The Love's showed us a great time and even fed us a delicious dinner! Big thanks to them!

Drumroll Please....

You asked for it...you got it!

 (see previous post)

Can you see by the looks on their faces just how much trouble they were in?? Don't mistake the stripes on Anastyn's face for master face-painting skills...those are just the tracks of her tears. Ugh.

Found these pictures on my camera. I did not take them. Both of the girls denied using the camera. Lol.

 And someone decided that Mason needed a few more rice treats. How helpful.

Ready or Not!...

My kids. They entertain me. Today we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Tippetts. We spent a few minutes outside in the almost-spring weather. (I can feel winter disappearing thank goodness.) Anyways, my dad and I stood by watching and giggling at the girls' version of Hide-And-Seek.

Anastyn:  "Matty! You hide and I'll count!"

Matty:  "No, Anastyn! You count and I hide!"    (he he he)

Anastyn: "1...2....3....4...18...19....18...19....18....19....18....19....18....19....18....19..."

As Anastyn was counting, Matty ran behind the BBQ grill. You could see her from a mile away. :) Anastyn started running in that direction, so Matty hurried to find a different place. Grandpa took Matty to help her find a real hiding spot. In the meantime, Anastyn totally forgot that she was playing Hide-And-Seek. Poor Grandpa and Matty were hiding for quite some time while Anastyn's curiosity led her in a tour of Grandpa's garage. I got Anastyn back on task, but Matty was tired of waiting to be found. She decided to go look for Anastyn instead. Way too funny.

Yes, indeed, they are funny kids. They are also, at times, very, very naughty. Last night I went to Zumba. I was so glad for a break from home and children. (No school on Fridays can be hard on a mommy.) And I got a great workout. On the way home I was thinking to myself how nice it would be to go home and take a nice, warm shower. And then pop Season 1, Disc 1 of Glee into the dvd player and spend 4 hours on the couch with my husband.

I did get a nice, warm shower. And I did get to watch Glee with my man. Just not as soon as I had expected....

I entered my home after Zumba and before my shower to find what looked like two little Aboriginal children standing in the kitchen in nothing but their underwear. Their faces were completely painted. Anastyn's was black. Matty's was red and blue. In their tangled hair was more paint and about a pound of glitter. They were both standing there with sad, pouty faces as their dad was recording them with the camcorder and giving them a lecture about what they had just done (which also included some artwork on the walls).

Since we can't bathe the children at our house - oh. my. heck. - this required a trip to town to sweet Jeanie's house to use her bath tub. It also required some clean up after bath time. Little black fingerprints all over Jeanie's bathroom. It also required a much earlier than normal bed time for my two "angels" as. soon. as. we. got. home. I can't wait to see how my new Dyson vacuum handles the glitter in the carpet all through the house. And the only other thing I have to say about this incident is THANK HEAVENS FOR MAGIC ERASERS!!!!!

This and That...

There are so many things I want to blog about. Just not enough time in the day. Lots of things going on around here. My baby boy is growing up. He is sitting up, on the verge of crawling, has been issued two brand new teeth, and is a pure joy. He is so fun. One of his newest mannerisms is sticking his tongue out. When he is smiling he likes to stick it out the side of his mouth and curl it up. It is adorable! Everybody loves Mason – and he is getting so big. He is starting to look more like a little boy than a baby….

Matty is doing GREAT in school. I was so worried to leave Lovell Schools and wondered if Meeteetse would be a good place for her. But I haven’t been able to complain one little bit. The teachers are AWESOME!!! The school has made sure that she has everything she needs. They communicate with me. And most importantly, Matty is happy. She loves it there! We couldn’t be more pleased. Recently the Longhorns celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Matty is a huge fan of Cindy Lou Who, so naturally we had to fix her hair accordingly. She was the Cat in the Hat’s meow at school!!!

And then poor Anastyn nearly got her eyes scratched out. We won’t mention who did it. Because even though there was some shrieking and a lot of tears involved, Anastyn was very quick to forgive. She has a big heart and is such a good sister….I mean person. And "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" was really, truly sorry. She even said so.  :)

Here, Anastyn is cheering on her sister - who made a CIRCLE out of her play-doh! An amazing feat, I know. But apparantly they thought it was a really big deal! Yay Matty!!!! :)

New Pics

We were so happy last Saturday when we had company in Meeteetse!! Kristin and her girls, Tyler, Kari and Gracie, Kacee, and Grandpa Leithead! Grandpa and Tyler and Kacee were fishing in the Meeteetse Ice Fishing Derby so the girls got to hang out all day. We had such a good time - and we always feel loved when someone comes all the way over to the edge of the world to visit us! Thanks for coming guys! Also, Kristin was a sweetheart to endure the freezing temperatures to snap a few pictures of us. We really needed an update!