The Power of a Fence...I Mean a Mother???

So, from my last post you will recall we are taking down our fence.  No biggie, right?  Well, apparently it's a pretty big deal to someone.  Check out the Mother's Day gift I received from Bennett below.

Bennett brought this lovely Mother's Day writing piece home from school.  If you click on the photo you can enlarge and read the sweet things she wrote about the impact I've had on her life as her mother.  The usual is listed...and the unusual, namely the importance of taking down the fence.  She mentions that crazy fence business more than once.  "My favorite thing to do with you is take down the fence..."  "Thanks for teaching me how to screw the bolts off the fence."  "One of my favorite memories with you is fixing the fence and carrying the parts to the shed."  Really?  Are you kidding me?  I mean, we did have some family fun tearing down the fence, but I had no idea it was such an amazing experience.  Never underestimate the influence you or your fence have on your children.  It's the little things, you know!

Whose Kids Are These? Oh, Wait...They're OURS!

 Bennett and Ainsley are a joy these days.  I love the young kid years.  Here are a couple of examples...

They are becoming increasingly helpful!  We decided it's time to take down the hideous fence around our yard.  Both girls had a blast helping us with the bolts last night.  They cannot wait to continue work on this task!

Ah. Making memories.

And this is rare but it's becoming more frequent.  The incidents of affectionate embrace are on the rise.  I took this photo this morning before school.  So lovely!  Now mind you, we are soon to embark on summer vacation and the first few weeks can be rough.  Too much togetherness, you know?  I'm thinking about blowing this photo up to poster size as a reminder to these two that indeed, they DO love each other, come June.  We shall see.  Anyway, Bennett and Ainsley are a complete joy 98% of the time.  What a blessing!  For those of you who are living the baby/toddler days, hang in there.  Your glory days are coming! 

Getting Excited!!!

 Nice weather means the fire bowl is out again!   We decided to roast some Peeps last week.  Two observations were made...1 - Toasted Peeps are way hotter to the touch than regular toasted marshmallows.  2 - Toasted Peeps are quite delicious!  You should give it a try some time.  The spring weather, fire bowling and Peep roasting is getting us pretty pumped for some camping!   We've got some of that scheduled for early June.  In the meantime, we'll just Peep roast away!

Pony Up!

Well, we just had a super fun weekend!  A pizza party with friends, a birthday party with family (pics to come) and an afternoon at the ranch with more friends!  Here are some photo highlights from our horseback adventures. 

Our friends Levi and Laci invited us to go riding with them.  Laci's family owns and operates an equestrian center.  We were so, so pumped to ride horses, for the first time as a family, and there is no one we'd rather ride with than Levi and Laci!  Sorry for the sideways picture, but can you tell Bennett is excited?

Bennett was a little nervous at first, but not Ainsley.  She got right on her horse, Angel, and was ready to learn!

Laci spent some time teaching us how to ride and lead the horses, and then we set off on a trail ride!

Is this a bizarre sight or what?  If you know Dad well, you know that he's not really into animals.  It was so weird to see him up on a horse and liking it!  He had a fantastic time riding Deluxe!

Out on the trail...it was chilly, hence the hoods and stocking hats.

After the trail ride, we rode a bit in the outdoor arena.  Laci taught us how to command the horses to trot.  That was super fun and super bouncy!  Ainsley and Bennett got to ride by themselves in the outdoor arena, and Ainsley even got Angel to trot.  It was so cute!

The girls enjoyed the horses, but they equally enjoyed this white kitty who lives in the saddle room.  Bennett, get away from the cat!  Achooo!

After we finished riding, the girls got to reward their horses with a sugar cube.

 This is a sight I never thought I'd see. Dad, grooming a horse?  Say what?!  And Levi examining a scar on a horses behind?  This is so not them!  Way to take one for the team, boys.

We also got to see a two week old baby!  His name is Prince and he is darling!

Here is Bennett, giving Levi and earfull, I'm sure.  She adores him and she will just talk his ear off!

And not only were their lots of horses, there were lots of dogs...nine, I think? Bennett, stay away from the dogs! Achooo!

Here is Ainsley, putting a horse away for the day.  The girls are already begging to go riding again!  Thanks for the wonderful time, Levi and Laci! 

A Double Rainbow!!!

This morning on our way to school we saw the most amazing thing...a HUGE, vivid double rainbow.  It was amazing.  I have never in all my days seen such a full, bright rainbow.  Simply incredible!

Honestly, it's also simply incredible that we made it to the school parking lot without crashing the car.  I did not have my eyes on the road much, and I was snapping the camera repeatedly while driving to try to capture the rainbow.  In my defense, I was not the only driver I saw taking pictures.  There had to have been a fender bender somewhere in town because of this amazing rainbow!

The girls kept saying, "A DOUBLE RAINBOW!  WHAT DOES IT MEEEANNN???"  If you've seen the YouTube video of the crazy guy in the mountains who cries like a baby when he sees a double rainbow, then you will understand.  No one in our family cried over this rainbow, but it was really sweet!  Such a great reminder of a faithful and awesome God who always keeps His promises.  Oh, and about the bathrobes...it's Pajama Day at school today!  Yessssss!

Weekend Sitings

Here are some fun things we spotted over the weekend.

Lots of beautiful tulips and two cute little girls to go along with them!  These two are embracing as if they might actually love each other!

A van with a painting of itself on the side?  What can say about this really?

Ainsley laying on Bennett's lap while watching a show.  I guess that settles it then.  They really DO love each other!

And....a man riding a segway on his way to a gas station.  Just before I took this he was multitasking by also talking on his mobile phone.  This photo is a bit blurry, kind of like a bigfoot siting photo.  Honestly, seeing someone on a segway in our neck of the woods is about as rare as bigfoot.  Weird!

Fly Swatters...Who Really Needs Them?

We have this one super pesky fly in our house.  We cannot seem to get rid of him and he keeps not dying on his own.  We cannot find either of our fly swatters either.  Bennett is fed up and she decided to take matters into her own hands tonight.  The fly trap pictured above is on our kitchen counter this evening.  It features a partially nibbled Reece's Pieces candy, a sunflower seed, a small chunk from a Three Muskateers marshmallow bar and a Corn Nut (I'm surprised Bennett was willing to spare the Corn Nut.)  It also features lots of tape and a bit of signage.  Apparently our fly is literate.  He is certainly smart enough to have survived in this house for days on end.  It will be so awesome if she actually catches the little pest with this thing.  I do think I will pick up a new fly swatter as a back up the next time I'm at the store. 

Triple Yay!

The lost camera has been found!  Three cheers for Grandma D., who located it under her couch.  If you ever lose something, chances are good that it is under Grandma's couch, at least it seems to be the case for our family.  The found camera is the first "yay" I am happy to report.

On the found camera, I found pictures from the weekend that show a second "yay."  Our beloved sit outside and eat ice cream shop has opened for the season.  We enjoyed our first spring visit with Grandpa C. and Grandma D., as well as Aunt K. and Cousin S.  And in case you are wondering, yes, Bennett just got clip-on sunglasses.  Is she 45 years old or what!?

I just had to post this picture of S.  He looks like KFC's Colonel Sanders with a white ice cream goatee thing going on as he stares into the middle distance. 

And the third "yay" is Bennett's Weekend News from school.  She writes one of these up each Monday, and we get quite a kick out of them.  This week's entry is one of my favorites from the entire school year.  Click the picture to see it up close, if you are having trouble reading it. 

Fun stuff!

Ear Candy

My camera is still missing.  It's not where I thought it might be.  As Bennett would say, "Oh, snap!"  I don't like living life without a camera.  Anyway, while I continue to hunt for it so I can download some recent photo happenings, I give you a link to a good tune.  Our entire fam REALLY loves to listen to this fellow, and it would be worth your time to give him a little listen, too.  To warm you up to the idea, this link is a cover he did of a Whitney Houston song.  Not her best song ever, in my opinion, but now that Ben Rector is singing it, it's a pretty stinking good song.  Enjoy a little bit of  "ear candy" as the search for the missing camera continues.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BW_ugyj0lw

This Old House

So, I took my camera with me while we were out and about this weekend and it is now missing.  I am not feeling good about this.  I am hoping to retrace some steps and I hope that some kind soul turned it in.  Until I find it, I give you a couple of pictures about something I do feel good about. 

Before the camera went missing, little Ainsley got her mits on it Friday night.  She took these two pictures.  Photo one is of a bunch of old tack strip.  What does it mean?

The nasty carpet is finally being ripped out of the living room!  Major happiness!  And to make things better, here we have some delightful old hardwood that I think we'll just wax and leave uncovered.  I love hardwood and I also love not spending money on new carpet.   Joy, joy, joy.  The girls are pumped because now they can "ice skate" in a larger area.  It's going to take us awhile to get all the tack strip and the bazillion staples up, so the skating will have to wait a bit.  I am so glad we finally decided to see what was under the carpet.  Not all of the surprises you get with an old home are fun, but this one is pretty fantastic!