new dress

we are planning on having an easter party this year-and the best way to inspire a party is with a new dress-right?
this one was supposed to be emily's-but it was a little snug on her-so i ordered another one in a different pattern-we are anxiously awaiting it's arrival in the mail. anneliese didn't mind at all...

dress is from mini boden

hurry up and slow down

i kept thinking this title all day-seems like we either want to do one or the other. my goal this weekend was to practice being in the moment and not worrying about either one. very hard. saturday was cold and it rained, creating huge puddles and making the seeds happy. we sat on the couch, ate popcorn and watched basketball and then the kids went out and played in the puddles. notice a big 1st in this picture?

we all know she likes mud-but did you notice she is wearing jeans? i think the 1st time since she was about 18 months old. thank you to sharon and lexie for providing some encouragement :)

sunday was warm and windy-we planted more seeds and bobby hung up the trapeze bar in the barn. emily was insisting that she needed to practice her gymnastics :)

rock chalk! 

and tomorrow will be like being thrown into a cold pool after lounging on the beach-2 jobs, all 3 kids, special day, wish me luck-can't spring break last another week? 

this morning on the way to church grant said, "this has been a really long spring break" 

it's been a good one-with not too much hurry up...

spring arrives...

it really shouldn't snow on spring break-that is just not fair-but the weather decided to try and pull it out and make up for the cold spell. and it worked-boosted everyone's spirits and made us want to dig up the ground and plant seeds. we also had an anniversary to celebrate. 9 years. wow-it sounds a little mean to say it seems like a long time-but a lot has happened in those 9 years-and it seems kind of strange that we have changed so many things in less than 10 years. great changes though-and we keep saying it's all about the story-so we have to keep making it interesting...
sharon and tom are back from their annual winter in texas-and so they graciously watched the kids for us so we could go out to dinner. she also took them horseback riding. it is a long time passion of hers and it is so fun to watch her pass that on to them. they of course can't get enough, so when she asks them "want to go again?" i kind of laugh to myself and think we will be at the stable all day if she phrases it like that. it is so important to love something and be enthusiastic about it. that's what i'm craving these days..enthusiasm. and i love when people have that enthusiasm to share their passions with kids-it is a special gift and i'm so grateful that the kids have people in their lives that care enough to nurture and teach them. it can be as simple as reading to them, talking about basketball, or getting a vase for a heartfelt bouquet. i love that i don't feel like bobby and i are alone in raising them be passionate, enthusiastic and giving-

so i went off on a little tangent there...
anyway-sharon took the kids horseback riding

                                            on thursday-i got a new wagon and the kids had fun playing. it reminded me of jack and jill

my mom came up and helped us get the garden started. bobby rented a "dingo" which is like a ride behind digger to try and solve some of the basement flooding issues-but it also worked out well to help start a new raised garden. he pulled several old tractor tires down and we will hopefully be documenting the growth of beets, onions, lettuce, and spinach. the girls were so excited to plant-it kind of made up for the melt down about having to share shovels. you think i would have learned by now to always have 3 shovels..

spring break-the first 4 days...

the trip down to muskogee was filled with more than just a cute new puppy-named Max. we arrived at the ranch house on friday night and the weather felt wonderful. the 38 degrees was left behind and we were welcomed into a delicious 70. on saturday i even got sunburned-since i don't think my skin had seen the sun since last summer...

it is always so nice to return back to the ranch house-the kids pick up right where they left-running around, playing with roy and dale, finding those doll clothes and trunks of barbie dolls. it is like an oasis. i know we bring a chaos with us-so i really appreciate my mom and dad letting us camp there for 4 nights. i'm sure it feels like being on a roller coaster in a tornado-it my take them awhile to recover...

and we are so lucky that visits to the ranch house mean that we also get to spend time with ryan, becky, roy, and dale. it is such a pleasure to watch them all play together-and i've entitled several of these pictures 

"why every girl needs an aunt becky"

on saturday we brought home 2 new puppies-ours is Max who is all white and nana's is Truman. Truman has some brown on his ears and the most serious puppy dog eyes you have ever seen.

we took them on a walk-and they had a little too much fun barking at the cows and splashing around in puddles. becky had to herd them back under the fence and when we got them home they promptly fell asleep for hours.

saturday afternoon was so lovely that we couldn't help but staging a little practice photo shoot. my cousin rebecca, who is a quite accomplished photographer, wanted to get some pictures of me-since that doesn't happen very often. i am so grateful to her for capturing some lovely pictures. it was so fun to play around with props and lighting as well as talk about photography-since most people don't want to go on and on about iso and aperature and shutter speed...we are already planning our next class/session/fun time.

 we were hoping to get some of all of the kids-but the boys had shed their shirts and looked like something out of lord of the flies and the older girls were not too interested in posing. so we will have to figure out something for next time to get the other kids involved...

remember the thing i said about how everyone needs an aunt becky! the one on the left is one of my favorites

i had this idea for a white sheet on a clothes line, a colorful quilt and a pennant line with cool fabric triangles-it was dreamed up as i looked through a mini-boden catalogue in the middle of the blizzard. we didn't get the triangles cut-so they made some fun babooshkas. we didn't start singing sunrise sunset-but we could have...

sarah's birthday is coming up and she is having a princess themed party.  

on sunday we were invited over for lunch to help celebrate my uncle tom's birthday. it was so much fun to be back at that house-where we have celebrated so many occasions with family. my aunt debbie is an amazing host and tom is always so joyful. he fixed his plate and then came out to sit with the kids. happy birthday!

the kids had a great time playing football in the empty lot next to their house-but the real fun was scouring the railroad tracks for treasure. rebecca and john reminisced about the hours they used to spend walking that same track. those were some different days.

 it kind of reminded me of the box car children when i first walked out there.

after dinner i headed up to broken arrow to spend some time with my friends thuy and michaele-it was such a treat to get to sit on a couch, hold a sleeping baby and talk for several hours with such long time friends! thank you to nana and becky for making this trip possible!

and not to worry-eventhough we didn't watch selection sunday in full-grant did get his bracket filled out before going to bed :)

and on monday-when the weather turned cold and wintery once more-we took the kids to the oklahoma aquarium in jenks. it was packed-since it was spring break and such a cold day-but i love these shots of the kids in the shark tunnel. 

i love these reading pictures-

and on tuesday we returned to the farm-and no matter how great the oasis is-it is a magnet feeling when we start heading home. the farm felt good-and the weather was even cooperating. the girls were hurling themselves down the hills-

i am currently reading the agrarian essays of wendell berry on a recommendation from david mccullough (the author) our family has worked our way through all of his books. brave companions is a collection of stories-and he also includes a speech he gave at a graduation ceremony. in it he lists off books you should read, places you should travel and other great advice. for my dad's birthday i ordered most of his suggestions. 

the first essay is called 'native hill' and it talks about really knowing the land in a personal way. i couldn't help but think as the girls were rolling down the same hill that their nana and aunt beth (another amazing aunt!) used to roll down.  

 hard to beat pictures of a boy with his dog

and the kids flocked to bobby-

i love that the girls dance on his feet-pure sweetness :)

spring break

the kids and i headed south for spring break-and the whole way down to nana's we discussed possible puppy names. wagtaily, rocketbox, speedy, pooty...these were some of the popular choices :)

my mom saw an ad in the muskogee phoenix for great pyrennes puppies and we wanted to go visit them. we love our dog emma who we adopted when we moved to the farm and thought it might be time for her to help raise a puppy. so we went on an adventure on saturday to the puppy place and had fun playing with four bundles of fluff that looked like polar bear cubs. we had kind of thought we would get a female-but grant became attached to one of the boys.

and they were so cute that my mom decided to get one too!

so now we are having fun watching 2 fluff balls run around at nana's-and they are exploring every inch of the place