Natalia!

We are hosting an exchange student from Spain for 2 1/2 weeks. We have just 5 days left with her (sadly) and have just been having a blast! Caroline loves having a "big sister" and Connor walks around the house calling for "Tah-ee!" to come and play. Clayton likes her, but doesn't seem as attached as the other two. But she won his shy little self over pretty quickly the first day (not an easy task with that boy!) I must say, I was a little nervous about how an only child from another country would handle being in a home with three small children, but she has jumped in like it's the most natural thing in the world.

She has more experience with horses than I do, and we took her for a ride in the forest near our home. Partway through the ride, she ended up on my very spirited Paso Fino (with me on her very gentle quarter horse), demonstrated some amazing horsewomanship and very calmy & comfortable finished the ride with that horse doing exactly what he was supposed to. I guess I need more practice!!!

Part of me is really sad we didn't opt for the 5 week gig. But, in all fairness to Natalia, she probably will enjoy being in town with other kids her own age - not so secluded in the country! Here's a peek at some of the fun we've had with her here!

Connor and "Tah-ee" playing with the Playmobil.

Natalia is so patient and takes the time to play with the kids. She is becoming more and more comfortable around them, and they love her to bits!

Caroline, enjoying some quality girl time with her "big sister".

We took Natalia to the rodeo on Independance Day. Lucky her, she got to sit next to a real rodeo princess during the entire rodeo! She also snuggled with a little cowboy for part of the time.

The kids ages 5-10 were invited into the arena to chase calves and try to get a ribbon tied to their tail to exchange for a prize. After the run, Caroline ended up exiting on the wrong side of the arena. After I was unable to find her, I flagged down the bull fighter, who notified the announcer. Natalia said that she was very embarrased to hear her "sister's" name called over the loudspeaker in an attempt to locate her and get us back together. It made me laugh that she had a reaction that typical of a teenager in response to the antics of a younger sibling.

As you can see, there were three very sleepy children by the time the rodeo ended. Natalia was wide awake and loved it! She thinks it's more fun to watch than a bull fight.

Watching the 4th of July Parade in Crawford, NE. We busted out the Cricut machine a couple of days before the 4th, and I let Natalia design herself a shirt for the holiday. She loves horses, and I think she did a marvelous job creating a cute shirt to wear! Unfortunately, it doesn't show up in the photos!

Ace

We had two foals this year. The kids love to visit them, and Connor always points to the mares and says "Mama" and then points to the foals and says "baby!" After preparing lunch for our farrier students last Thursday, we went to the barn to let the class know dinner was ready. While we waited for them to find a good stopping place, we decided to hang out with "Ace" the younger of our foals. He has a "1" shaped blaze on his face - hence the name.

Meet Miss Mittens

I guess the previous post could've been titled, "While the Cat's Away...We get another cat!" But we really are happy to have Jake home. He's pretty irreplaceable. But, we DID get a kitten while he was gone. Hopefully, she'll help keep the rodents down out here in the country. The kids can't get enough of her. She has no tail, but has two cute white "mittens" on her front paws. She puts up with a lot from these munchkins, and I worry that maybe she won't be such a friendly cat if she gets too much from them. Connor especially has a hard time being gentle. He just wants to love her constantly (we've nicknamed him "Elmira").

I'm definitely ready for her to be an outside kitty, but I'm not sure she's made herself at home enough yet to stick around. I hope she figures out that she lives here soon. Sadly, I'm suspecting that I've developed an allergy to cats. Something I never had to deal with before, and quite frankly, something that really stinks for an animal lover like myself.

While the Cat's Away...

...We will play! Jake, Pete and their dad were away this last weekend at a horseshoeing contest. Their mom flew to Utah to help her daughter. Sarah and I were left here to hold down the fort. We decided the fort could hold itself down and took the kids to Riverside Zoo in Scottsbluff, NE. It is a teeny tiny zoo, which is perfect for teeny tiny kids. And, after 60something degree days, it happened to be near 100 that particular afternoon. Fortunately, walking around to see all the critters didn't take long, and the wonderful water feature at the end of the tour kept us all from melting! *Note to self: Next trip to the zoo, wear swimsuits!!!

This poor tiger was pacing and salivating. Slightly creepy.

Slightly creepier was this snoozing lion who kept opening his orange eye to stare at us as we stared at him through the glass window. (And then Sarah and I noticed the electric wiring just in front of each window to keep the big cats from lunging. Creepiest of all!!!)

My little monkey.

Beverage break!

Caroline, Sophie & Clayton!

We loved feeding the geese & ducks. Caroline especially enjoyed it - until the mama goose took a nip at her toes.

Connor couldn't get enough of the water fowl either, but particularly liked feeding the fish that swam in a huge school right beneath the surface.

I love this little diapered bum! It took Connor a while to get comfortable with the water shooting everywhere, but he warmed up to the idea.

Clayton couldn't get enough of it!

And Caroline was just thrilled to not be roasting - of all of the kiddos, she was the one complaining the most about the heat at the end of our visit.

Hello, Clayton's tummy!

Poor Sophie. The second my kids were stripped out of their wet clothes and in the warm car, they both crashed. On her. I think the look on her face says it all!

12 reasons...

...asking your 5 1/2 year old to, "please keep an eye on your little brother while I take a 5 minute shower" is not a great strategy.

You're A Peach!

We've been working hard to show our appreciation for Caroline's Kindergarten teacher, the para in her class who is so sweet and our fantastic bus driver! For the para and the driver, this is what we came up with:

In August I bought 2 boxes of Utah peaches (I try to buy locally, but as a Utah girl, this is my once-a-year splurge that I treat myself to. (Along with the Cache Valley cheese curds that some locals here bring back with the fruit from the orchard near Logan, Utah that they have shares in.)

I bottled half the peaches and turned the other half in to peach jam and peach salsa. It turned out fabulous! It is delicious with grilled chicken or pork chops and I usually serve it with a side of cilantro rice on a bed of lettuce or spinach.

For the Thank-You gifts, I created a tag that gives suggestions for using the salsa. I glued it to the top of the lid and just screwed the ring down around the top of it.

I wrapped some cute scrapbook paper around the jar and glued it in place.

Then I made the "You're A Peach" tag, added a metal rivet for stability and tied it to the jar neck.

Voila! Instant thank-you for the peachy-keen ladies in our life! If you're lucky enough to find some juicy peaches this summer for salsa, and are interested in printing labels to go with them, you can find them here!

You're A Peach Tag

PeachSalsaLabel

An extremely belated Easter post. Or in other words, I'm useless at documenting holidays.

It's always fun when the baby figures out what's going on. I think he ate twice as many jelly beans as ended up in his basket. Oh, well. Breakfast of champions, right?

I didn't take many pictures of our Easter celebrations this year. We had a ball! Saturday morning started us off with the early visit from the Easter Bunny (he likes to visit us on Saturday, because he knows we focus our Sunday on Jesus Christ - the REAL reason we celebrate Easter!) When the bunny comes to our house, he leaves a trail of jelly beans on all furniture surfaces. Clayton described it to his Primary teacher as "the Easter Bunny came to our house and left a big mess!"

The kids wore the cute T-shirts (uh, no pictures) they found in their baskets and loved the books they each got to read, as well as coloring and activity books!

We had a wonderful brunch with the whole Nebraska Butler bunch - including Aunt Sue, Uncle Josh, H & E who were visiting from Washington State! Following was a rousing Easter Egg hunt outside the barn. Again, useless and forgot the camera (Sue and Sarah, if you're reading this, I'd love some pictures!)

Sunday was very sweet and relaxed. Caroline was quick to remember to thank Heavenly Father for the gift of His son's atonement and resurrection when she said the Family Prayer before we left for church. It brought tears to her momma's eyes.

The boys looked darling in matching ties. Caroline's dress (an upcycled find from a rummage sale) turned out perfect. Alas. No photos. Maybe I'll try to recreate some Easter morning shots.

We enjoyed our farm-raised ham for dinner. And a pie buffet later with the whole crew. It was a pretty perfect weekend.

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

I don't think I even attempted creative lettering until I hit Jr. High. Caroline is already practicing her bubble letters! I guess the little notes I write for her lunchbox, labels I make for the treats she's taken to share with her class, and other writing I've done has made an impression

Caroline's Spring Music Concert

She just looked so cute with her long, curled hair and pretty outfit! We were proud of how well she did. It has been so much fun to watch her learn, grow & progress this year. I can't believe she's almost done with Kindergarten!

We Love Our Little Lady!

I'm missing Caroline today. I miss her everyday. You'd think after nearly a year of all-day Kindergarten I'd be used to it. Nah. I miss her amazing imagination during the day. She dreams up the most fun things and I love watching her play with Clayton in the little pretend worlds they create. Yesterday they spent the entire afternoon outside after school. They were picking as many little green grass shoots as they could find, pretending they were radishes. They put them all in a huge planter to make "radish stew". It kept them busy for 2 whole hours. Other things I love about my girlie: 1. She's a fantastic little horsewoman. Her favorite pony right now is "Bart", a very gentle, broke Shetland that she loves to ride. The other day, while she was practicing in the barn, someone came in the side door and the sound startled Bart a little. He jumped and crow-hopped a little, but our little cowgirl held on and rode it out despite being a little scared herself. She's very determined when it comes to being involved with the horses and is convinced she's going to train and ride every foal we have. She loves being in the barn and is quite helpful when it's feeding time. Mucking out stalls is one of her favorite activities right now. Let's hope she continues to like it - I'm not seeing that chore being something that changes on her job list for the next 13 years. 2. Caroline loves all things pink and pretty. She is content playing Barbies, baby dolls, and My Little Ponies. She loves to dress up and will wear anything from princess dresses to her Batgirl cape. She has a little vanity that she sits at to make herself pretty with lip gloss and pretend makeup. Makeovers are her specialty! I frequently visit Caroline's salon where I get gorgeous hairdo's, manis and pedis. 3. She loves to dance, and though she isn't currently taking lessons, she will often come home from school and immediately change into a leotard and her dance shoes and dance around the house for the entire afternoon, practicing all the dance steps she remembers from her class last year. She keeps asking when she gets to take lessons again. 4. She's a fantastic sous-chef and I love cooking and baking with her! 5. She is amazingly creative and though I'm her mama and may be a little biased, I think she shows some talent in art. She draws the most amazing things! Subjects of her artwork include horses, unicorns, pegasus' and dragons. Sometimes people. 6. She loves veggies and her top favorites include: kale, spinach, broccoli, asparagus and avocados. 7. She hates onions but will sprinkle onion salt on almost anything. She loves it on popcorn. 8. Like her mother, she prefers the darkest chocolate she can get her hands (and mouth) on. 9. Reading has come so easily to her and one of my favorite things to do is sit and be read to by her and then take my turn to read to her. 10. She is super excited to be a 4-H Cloverbud and thinks she is going to do projects in almost every category: poultry, sewing, gardening and cooking. 11. She desperately wants a little sister and loves it when her cousin Sophie comes over to play. 12. She is an incredible big sister to her little brothers and is such a sweet helper around the house! I love this little gal with all my heart and am so glad she's the big girl in our family! Caroline recently lost her first tooth. She was super excited about it, and about the tooth fairy's visit! Jake and Clayton got these awesome hats for Christmas. Unfortunately Jake's was too small, and Clayton refuses to wear his. That's okay, because I think Caroline and I wear them quite well!

I Made the Top Ten!!!

Head over to Crystal's Craft Spot to see the Top Ten in the Craft Spot Challenge and vote for your favorite! I'm in love with the burlap lamp and think I'll be recreating one of those for my bedroom soon! Go check out the crafty talent!

Upcycled Cupboard to Jewelry Box!

A while back, Caroline & I found a little chipped cupboard at a rummage sale for 50cents. It wouldn't open, but I loved the way it looked - the aqua blue color peeking through the white is exactly the color I have popping up in various spots in our house. It's been hanging in my room with a wreath hanging from it for a couple months, and I got brave this week and pried it open.

First of all, I discovered that the door (hinge-less and knob-less) was actually in backwards and that on the other side was an old mirror. There were shelves and the faint odor of denture cream. I'm assuming it was an old bathroom cabinet. After giving it a good scrub, I got to work transforming it into something really useful!
I attached new hinges and a knob I bought at the local hardware store (can't wait to go to Hobby Lobby to look at other possibilities!)


I cut scrapbook paper to line the back walls and glued it in using my trusty tacky glue. I screwed in cup hooks for necklaces and bracelets. Then I cut some plastic canvas to fit the two top shelves. I wanted to attach them to hold my earrings, but I wanted to do it in a way that I could pull it out to remove the earrings with backs. While rummaging around in the craft room, I happened upon a package of those report covers with the spines that slide on and off. I decided to try those out. I hot glued one to the top of each shelf opening and slid my plastic canvas right in. It is perfect!



It's now hanging in the same place, with the same wreath, but with the mirror facing out and filled with my jewelry - all together in one place, and freeing up lots of space where everything else used to be. I love it!

Craft Spot Challenge

So I got brave and submitted my Kiddie Card Table Makeover project to the Craft Spot Challenge over at Crystal's Craft Spot. The theme this month was fabric. I'm already blown away by the other talented crafters' submissions! I'm excited to see what else gets entered! You should head over and check out the fun projects!