Oh, the weather outside is frightful!

But the fire is so delightful....especially when it is 26 degrees below zero outside like it was Monday night! Today is the first time we've topped the zero mark since last Saturday. It's a balmy 11 degrees outside right now. Needless to say, we've been spending some quality family time indooors lately. Daddy brought an AWESOME Christmas tree home from his last scout campout. I think it is the thickest tree I've ever seen growing in Montana. Plus, it is covered in little pine cones. It looked like it was already decorated before we had hung the first string of lights. The kids are doing great. Shyanne continues to do the caterpillar crawl, who wants a traditional crawler anyway? She has recently started to clap and wave bye, bye. It's adorable. Carter is an endless challenge and an endless joy all bottled into one little body. We hope your holidays are shaping up to be the best!

Mommy and the kids took a road trip with Nanna and Poppa to visit Aunt A and Uncle Dan over Thanksgiving. It was a long trip in the car both going and coming but we made it somehow. It was so fun to visit. The kids had a chance to catch up. Carter and Claire played together well...there were no major injuries to speak of. We spent Thanksgiving day together just relaxing. The rest of the time we shopped till we dropped. The girls got up and were banging down the doors of Kohls by 4 am on black Friday. Here is a photo of Claire and Shyanne together for the holiday.

Huntin' Buddies

Carter and Daddy went hunting together a few weeks ago and came home with Carter's first deer. He was so excited to tell me about the "momma doe buck" that they got. There unfortunately was a little accident while they were dragging the doe to the truck. If you look in the photo you'll see that Carter fell into the creek. He was wet from mid thigh to his toes, but was still in good spirits. Daddy told Carter that every good hunter falls into the creek now and then.

Happy Family

We finally had some family photos taken. I think they turned out nice... You never know what might happen when you're trying to take pictures of little kids. We're doing well. We bought a house in July and we're slowly working on fixing it up. Jason is busy at work, but mostly busy thinking of his next spot to hunt. He got a bull elk with his bow in September and just last night brought home an antelope buck. I feel busier than ever although I'm pretty much staying home full time. I'm working very little at the hospital these days. The kids are growing like weeds. Shy is so close to crawling she just hasn't quite figured it out yet. Carter is so busy that he has decided the afternoon nap is a thing of the past, much to mommy's dismay! He loves to build and paint and color and drive and run and the list goes on and on.

Big Boy Bed

Carter is growing up quickly now that he's a big brother. He goes potty on his little toilet all the time now. When he's gotta go he says "mom, I'm peeing." His pants are dry when he wakes up in the morining most of the time. Thanks to Aunt Sandi and Uncle Ross, Carter has a big boy bed now. He slept in it all night long last night. When he woke up he said "that's fun momma." He stayed in bed all night and didn't even roll out.

Blessing Day

Easter sunday was a big day this year. We had visitors from both sides of the family here for Shyanne's blessing. It was fun to see everyone and spend a little time together. Shyanne was the center of attention and performed very well. The blessing was beautiful-- certainly an Easter to remember.

Hunting the elusive egg

We went to the big town egg hunt. Carter's friends Emma and Ben were there too, in search of some sticky prey. We had a few hang-ups as Carter was frightened by the Easter Bunny and was crying when the hunt began. He got it together just in time and ended up getting some pretty good loot. Later that day the cousins arrived so we put on a family hunt. Carter knew what the hunting was all about the second time around. A fun time was had by all.

target practice

Carter is crazy about guns...I wonder where he got that. we went to the shooting range with daddy the other day. When we got home, dad was cleaning his guns. Carter stole the bolt from one of the guns and set up his own tartet practice. He would "shoot" his gun, then put the gun down and use the binoculars to see where he had hit the target. As you can see from the photo, he was using some pretty big sound effects.

smile!

Shyanne is growing so fast! She started smiling about 10 days ago. She is pretty unpredictable with those smiles though. Of course, she smiles most often at her momma. It is fun to see her starting to interact.

On the Farm

Last week Jason had an optometry conference and was going away for a few days. Mommy and the kids decided to pack up and visit pappa Jim and nanna T. Carter had a great time riding the tractor with pappa-- just feedin' cows. He liked running in the mud puddles and seeing the little lambs. Mommy and the baby pretty much stayed inside. We had a fun time, but it sure was good to come home and see Daddy again.

We have arrived!

We have finally arrived on the blogger scene! Our family is going through some adjusting now as we have a new addition. Shyanne Marie arrived January 24th on a beautiful sunny morning. She came quickly which was okay with mommy- and daddy for that matter. Carter is a good big brother. He loves his baby and is very protective at times. At Shyanne's first doctor appointment Carter stomped at some ladies in the waiting room and said "don't touch baby!" If the baby ever fusses he says "help her, momma." Needless to say, we're doing well and excited to share photos of our cute kids.