Mama, I'm in loooove!

 

That was Hunter's very adorable comment when I brought all the kittens down from the roof to play with him. As you can see, the feeling is mutual!

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

To my wonderful Mother and Mother-in-law! I was sick this weekend and didn't even think about posting this until today - sorry Moms! Thank you Mom Sayler for helping to raise Michael to be godly man he is today. Thank you for all your time, effort, love, and prayers. I am so blessed - as my friends often remind me - to have such a man as this. And to my own Mommy - there is no one else who knows me as well as you do. You can tell just by hearing my voice if I'm happy, sad, stressed, or even not drinking enough water:) I had to put this picture on of you exploring with some of your grandkids - you are the best! I love you and hope that when my own children are grown, they will love and respect me as much as I do you, Mom. Thanks for your great example, and for passing on your zany sense of humor. It sure comes in handy!

If It Had Not Been For the Lord on Our Side...

I can tell you exactly where we'd be. My wonderful husband would have been a widower and fatherless when he got home from work this morning. God is good all the time! It was only about 20 minutes after Mike had gone to work last night. Katie and Hunter were in the den reading books. I have a miserable cold and was getting ready to go lay down on the couch in the living room. For "some" reason (the merciful guidance of the Lord:) I sat down at the piano and decided to go through the piano books that Mike's mom had brought to Katie last November. As I reached down between the piano and the wall, where the books were stacked, I burned my hand! The wall was literally so hot that I could not touch it! Mike had built a fire first thing yesterday morning, but that had been 13 hours ago, and the wood stove was stone cold. To make a long, adrenalin-pumping story short, I called our neighbor, Chris. He came over immediately, knocked a hole in the wall at the hottest point, and after tearing off blackened sheet rock, he discovered a thin metal door. When we moved into this house 5 1/2 years ago, the previous owners had built a wall around where the chimney was. Mike had accessed the front of the chimney where the stovepipe went in, but we were completely unaware that on the backside of the chimney was a metal door used to clean out built up creosote and ashes. It has been building up over the last 6 winters, and was now at least 18 inches of glowing red coals. Chris dumped almost 2 gallons of water down the stove pipe in an attempt to cool the coals down. Then he shoveled the still red-hot coals into a metal 5 gallon bucket . He shovelled out between 7-8 gallons of burning coals. After he had worked over an hour, and I was thanking him profusely, he said that he was glad I had called. Otherwise, he would have woken up to the sound of fire engines in the middle of the night. The chimney goes directly up between Katie and Hunter's bedrooms. All I could picture was Mike driving down our lane and coming upon a burning heap that used to be his home and family. I cannot tell you how thankful we are for God's goodness and protection. As Katie said when I tucked her into bed rather late last night, "Mama, this will be a story that I can tell my children someday." Amen, and thank the Lord!

Another job well done!

 

Today the project of the day was putting a tongue and groove pine ceiling on our porch. Mike did a great job (with a little help from me:). It really looks nice. Hopefully we'll have the railing on the porch soon!

A Wonderful Spring Day!

 

Yesterday was a sunny Spring day with temperatures in the 60's. Katie played in her final soccer game of the season. Her team won their 6th and last game, with Katie making 5 of the 12 goals She played a great season and loved every minute of it! Her team was undefeated, which was especially meaningful as she was playing in memory of her Uncle Mike. My wonderful husband finished putting this grill together for us this morning - and in about the same amount of time as it took him to assemble the grill in the A.M., he built a much longed-for picnic table in the afternoon. Just in time to have a cook-out with some special friends - the Weavers, Lance, and our neighbor, Chris. Lance brought 3 of his cousin's horses over, and the kids had a really fun time riding them around the yard and down the lane! Hunter wanted to wear his armor and pretend he was a knight on horseback, but I was busy with supper preparations and completely missed the moment:( Ah well, maybe next time. We had a yummy supper of grilled burgers and chicken, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, veggies, iced tea, and homemade strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Great food and even better fellowship - what a marvelous combination!

Happy May 1st!

 

This morning we woke up to snow! Crazy weather - yesterday it was in the 70's. Must be all that "global warming";)

Katie and Hunter's "Mine Safety" Pictures

Every year, the mine where Mike works has a drawing contest for their work calendar. The drawing has to have something to do with mine safety. Here are Katie and Hunter's entries for next year's calendar. (They are due tomorrow even though we don't find out the results until November) Just for entering the kids get a $30 gift card to Wal-Mart and a copy of the calendar. P.S. Hunter's picture is the dinosaur;)

Kittens Update

 

The kittens are 10 days old today. Most have their eyes open now. There are 5 of them - 2 black and white, 1 black, 1 gray, and 1 gray/black tiger. Mike is thankful that they are quiet little kitties, as they are still on the roof above our bedroom:) I dragged the kids' old wading pool up there to keep the kittens from rolling off.

Kudos to Katie

Congratulations to our darling girl. She played in her first public appearance (outside of church) last Thursday evening in the Vision Fair. (Vision Home and Community Program is the publicly funded Home school group in which Katie is enrolled as a "student"). Katie played 2 piano pieces very beautifully and recited a poem called The Secret. She did a wonderful job, and we are very proud of our budding scholar:) Katie also entered a coloring contest held at the Vision Fair and won a $15 Gift Card to McDonald's. Way to go, Katie! (Sorry no photos - my camera was on the blink, but I'm hoping to get some pics that Katie's piano teacher took)

Kittens!

 

Today, the kids were playing outside, and Katie heard a strange noise. She couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Finally, I got a ladder and climbed up on the roof, and SURPRISE - our cat had had kittens in a rather inconvenient spot. So here they are snuggled into a corner of the roof above our bedroom. Oh, is Mike going to love this one - the sound of mewing kittens all night long:)

Congrats to my Honey!

Turkey hunting is on! Now in Colorado, it's hard to find a good place to turkey hunt, and Mike's usual spot still had too much snow for the turkeys to be there yet. So, Mike and Don (a friend from church) went to some private land to hunt, but there were no turkeys there either. On the way home, they swung by a spot where we had seen alot of turkeys last week. Most of the land there is private, but there are a few pieces of public mixed in, and they spotted a jake (young, male turkey) that was actually on the public land. Mike was hoping that Don would get a shot (he's never turkey-hunted before), but from where Don was he couldn't see the turkey. The turkey turned and started going the other way, so Mike shot him. He may not be the biggest Tom in Colorado, but that Turkey-Asparagus Stir Fry sure will taste good! Good job, Honey!

Happy Birthday, Princess

Katie is 6!!! Our little princess is growing up! In fact, today she began writing her first book! It is, of course, about a princess, and she's on page 3 (Katie, not the princess:) I've been strolling again down memory lane today - down 6 year's worth of path. My mom was here and had to extend her visit because Katie was liking the security of the womb awfully well. She was 10 days overdue, and would have been more if it hadn't been for the castor oil! (Yuk! But it worked) Katie was a ray of sunshine from the moment she was born. She has always been so good. She loves to laugh and sing. She is an avid reader - recently finishing Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Katie likes playing the piano, playing soccer, playing with her friends - and just playing. She is a great big sister and a wonderful helper to her Mama and Daddy. Happy Birthday, Katie Joy!

HUNTER IS 4!!!!

Happy Birthday to our big 4 year old! I can hardly believe that 4 years have passed since I gave birth to an 8 lb. 8 oz. baby boy in a horse trough full of water (it was clean, sterile, and midwife assisted by the way:) It was Easter Sunday morning at 3:09AM. Gram Gram Church was here to help with Katie - who was just about to turn 2! What a smart, active, curious, adventuresome boy Hunter has grown to be. He loves everything "outdoorsy" - fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, etc. He calls himself "Bear Boy" much of the time. He adores dinosaurs and has wonderful adventures in Dino Land (AKA the dining room). He says that he wants to play the guitar, the flute, the trumpet, and the harp. (Please - no one tell him that drums are a musical instrument;) He wants to play football and soccer. And he wants to tell people about Jesus so they will know that they can go to Heaven. (This is the part when Mama wipes a tear from her eye). SIGH - my baby is growing up. Happy Birthday, Hunter!

James and the Giant Peach

 

Katie's play, "James and the Giant Peach", was last night and tonight. It went surprisingly well considering that less than 2 weeks ago, one of the main characters (Gabrielle Etter who played the Earthworm) in the play died suddenly from complications from pneumonia. It was a difficult decision, but the cast decided to go on with the play and dedicate the performances to Gabrielle. Katie played 4 small but fun roles in the play. She was a worm, a shark, a Cloudman, and a New Yorker. The kids really did a good job. Above are a few photos from this evening's performance.

Hey Guys - Check out this Rack!

We went antler hunting today in search of a few Muley sheds. But instead - this is what we found! (Actually, Kim found them, but it was a family affair:) Mike thinks this elk rack would score between 320-330. Each of the kids found a deer shed, and Mike found 4 hard whites. It was definitely a fun, productive hunt!

Katie's First Soccer Game

Today was Katie's first soccer game! We were all a little nervous about it, since they had only had 2 practices and only one person on Katie's team had played before, but they did great. The kids all worked together really well, and Katie's team won 8-4 (with Katie scoring 3 of the goals:) She's a natural - just like her Uncle Mike!

Meet Mr. Puffy

Here's the picture that I was hoping to share with you - Mr. Puffy (who is actually doing much better today). Mike is still taking pain meds, but not very often - and he is planning on working tonight. You just can't keep a good man down!

Sick and Puffy

Actually, I've been the sick one. For the last 1 1/2 weeks I've had that lovely (heavy sarcasm here) upper respiratory stuff that included my ears. My right ear, after 8 ear surgeries, doesn't take kindly to any kind of illness - and it protested greatly, in the form of extreme dizziness (no rude comments, please:) and intense pressure and pain. But, as of today, I am feeling MUCH better, and can even function at almost normal capacity. Which is a very good thing considering my dear husband - who is, consequently, the "Puffy One" - had all four of his wisdom teeth out this morning, and is functioning at a decided subnormal capacity. Truth be told, he is crashed out, in a propped position, on our bed. If he will let me, I'll get a picture of him and post it later. Stay tuned...

More Remodeling!

On Mike's last days off, he switched out our exterior door in the Living Room (not painted yet - too cold), trimmed around the doors and windows, and put baseboard down. Here are the fruits of my wonderful, hard-working husband's labors. He is DEFINITELY a keeper;)

Our Newest Addition

Mike has wanted an antler chandelier in the den for a longgggg time. Now, thanks to our wonderful neighbor Chris, that dream has become a reality. Of course, Mike did find all the antlers (Mule deer), and he drilled them, and purchased all the material. But Chris did what we could not - he created a masterpiece. (And all for the price of a few meals - now that we can afford!)