Love this Pup

 Last night I read a chapter of Caddie Woodlawn where the family finds out that their faithful farm dog is lost... and just as I read that, Lloyded came and lay right beside me.

He is such a good pup.

Speedster

 This little boy is a speedster... as long as he's not walking.  Walking, he pretty much has no interest.

Family Fun!

 After the incredibly busy and stressful last 3 weeks we have had with new jobs, new schools, and trying to settle in a new house, nothing does my heart better than an afternoon of family fun!

Celebrating Friday

 This is how we celebrated Friday...

Can You See It?

 Can you see anything?

How about now?

Now look again.

Colorado Wildlife

 Of all the wonderful, majestic Colorado wildlife that could have appeared on our back porch, this is not the fellow I would have choosen...

Wednesday

 

Fun Weekend

 I tried to take a lot of pictures this weekend because I feel like I don't see my kids at all during the week.  Lots of pictures are never a bad idea...

He Knew

 I have a stressful week ahead … so I dished myself up a generous bowl on ice cream. 

Then I got into bed and saw this post from a friend… and suddenly I see my stressful week and bowl of ice cream from a totally new perceptive. 

Sharing

 They were walking around today sharing a purse...

Literally!

 The morning of the second day of school Tracey told me how excited she was to return to school after the first day.  Her words were actually,

"I can't wait to go back to school today.  It is LITERALLY the only fun thing to do in this town."

That's really funny... and I'm glad she likes school so much.

Happy Birthday Grammie!

 Happy Birthday to one of my favorite people in the world.

She's my best friend, my confidant, my cheerleader, my prayer warrior, my workout buddy, my advisor, my safety net, my listening ear, my baby-sitter, and so much more.

First Day of School

 First Day of School in Rangely!

So Sweet

 Our oldest and youngest

Autonomy

 So... as the youngest of 6 very energetic, rambunctious children... especially as we settle in to the new house, sometimes Brady just finds things that I would prefer he not find.  And then he really enjoys his autonomy with his find.

1000 Words

 1000 Words

A Word from Hubs

 My hubby doesn't post things publicly very often, and when he does it is almost never introspective... but last night he did both.

Here's a word from Hubs:

God really does give us exactly what we need.

On the busiest week of my educational career, I left my 86 degree office yesterday and came home to change out of my sweat soaked clothes just in time to have our swamp cooler motor quit. It got pretty hot in the house last night, and we’ve only been in this house a little over a week. Houses aren’t supposed to have stuff break like this right after you buy it, so I was hot, literally and metaphorically.

RW came over this morning to help me figure out what was wrong with the swamp cooler (thank you R!). We went to Junction to do a Sam’s run and get all of our parts to fix it. I got the motors switched out, Howard helped me up on the roof tonight, which was a pretty great father son bonding moment, and it’s finally fixed!

After our swamp cooler broke last night, I listened as Brooke read a bedtime story to our kids. As she took a break from the story, my four-year-old asked her, “Why doesn’t Daddy live with us?” Brooke explained to her that I just had a very busy week with the new principal job, and I still lived with them. That broke my heart.

After I got the swamp cooler fixed, I sat down and reflected on today’s events and realized it couldn’t have been planned any better. If the swamp cooler didn’t break, I probably would have worked another 12+ hour day and gone another day not spending much time with my family. Instead, I got to spend all day with them making memories laughing, traveling, shopping, looking for animals, fixing stuff with my son, and just being together. I was upset when it broke, but I’m so glad it did!

Thank you God for giving me today!

Lessons from Rangely - Evening Walks

 In Rangely, we LOVE evening walks.  We do one loop around the circle of the sub-division where we live and we LOVE it.  We can do a small loop or the big loop depending on how the night is going, and we can lengthen or shorten the walks as needed.  We also meet a lot of neighbors this way.

We done evening walks 5 or the last 8 days we've lived here.

Lessons from Rangely - Mosquitos

 We've lived in Rangely exactly 1 week, and I'd like to start a segment I'll call

LESSONS FROM RANGELY

This lesson is brought to you by mosquitos.

We have knows for a few years that Caroline has pretty major reactions to mosquito bites -- more so than any of our other children.  Her bits will swell significantly, take awhile to heal, and make her pretty miserable.  She also knows that summer is a time we love to be outside, and mosquitos come with being outside... ESPECIALLY in Rangely.

We've been careful to have her long sleeves when we go outside in the evenings... but this week, while I was back to work, a baby-sitter took the kids swimming at the lake.  They had SO much fun... but when they came home Caroline and Tracey's faces were SO swollen with mosquito bites.  Howard and Lee Lee had almost none to speak of, and certainly none that either complained about.

I've been using calamine lotion on the swollen bites, and gave them Benadryl that night before bed to try to calm their body's response.

Yikes!  Here they are blotchy with calamine lotion, but still smiling.

Less Pictures

 When I go back to work, I suddenly have less pictures of my kiddos on my phone than I do during the summer.

I did snap this one last night.

Rangely Girls

 Rangely's newest and cutest girls.