Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas 2009


We had a great Christmas this year! Maddie was especially excited for Santa to come. She got up early Christmas morning, dug through her stocking and climbed in bed with us, candy and all - little stinker. We even found a candy stash hidden under her pillow later that day... gotta watch that one.
We all had a lot of fun opening our presents- who wouldn't?


Santa brought Sierra some make up (she is a true girl), and couldn't wait to put it on. She made Maddie look beautiful too. I passed on that one. I think Sierra must have got her make up skills from her aunt Megan....

Thank you all for thinking of us this holiday season!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Christmas Program

Sierra had her first Christmas program at school lastnight. Sierra was Mary. They did a little summary of the birth of Jesus, then the kids sangs a few songs. Sierra was pretty much clueless about what was going on. I wish they would have told us which songs the kids were going to be singing, so we could help them out at home, but they didn't tell us anything. It was short and sweet, and fun that they had a Christmas program at her preschool. Maybe next year she will get it a little better.

In the video, Sierra is the short one in front. I seriously think she is the shorest one in the school (both AM and PM classes). I didn't realize she really is short. When I brought Sierra to school the first time both of her teachers commented on how little she was. I thought it was funny - but it is true.

Friday, December 11, 2009

A Little Bit Of Christmas

I just wanted to show everyone some of our Christmas stuff. We bought a new tree this year. We have hated our old tree for years, and actually had it up with lights on, then decided that we really hated it. So we went out and came home with a 7.5 ft, pre lit tree! I love it! It fits the window spot perfectly. And it looks so good from the outside looking in. I didn't notice when I was taking the picture that I cut off the top- oops. There is an angel up there (sorry about the blurry pics).
This is our first year of actully putting lights up on our house. I think we never did it before because we haven't had our own house - it's just not the same decorating some one elses house for the holidays. We had intended on putting up more lights - around the windows and down the other two posts, but I think we just settled with what we have for this year. I love it! I love coming home from work at night and our house is the only house still lit - looks so Christmas-y! See the tree? :)

For a few years now, I have been wanting to have home made stockings. I didn't really know what I wanted. I first thought I wanted knitted stockings - so I attempted to learn to knit - solely for the reason of knitting Christmas stockings - well, knitting is not my thing. So, I learned to crochet, thinking I can crocket stockings, but I never found a crocheted stocking that fit my idea of what I wanted. So finally this year, I decided to sew some. So I went out and just bought a bunch of different fabrics - came home, mixed and matched and this is how they turned out!I LOVE THEM!!! Exactly what I had been wanting for years! I threw out our old store bought, boring stockings (Jake still has his origianl stocking that he grew up with - he will not part with it, so just us girls got new ones). I just found a stocking pattern online and went to work. This one is Maddie's. She fell in love with the fabric before she even knew what was going on. She was so excited to see the final project. I just love the holly berry on the cuff.

This one is mine. This was the first one I attempted - the demo. It love these fabrics together - very home made to me.


Sierras stocking. She wanted a red stocking, but I didn't want to use plain red. I didn't have much to work with, since I only bought a few fabrics, but I think she is happy. I didn't really know what to do to embelish it- I thought it looked a little masculine - so I added a bow with a button. Now it looks girly. I love ribbons and buttons! I am very happy with the stockings- I just hope they hold up for Christmases to come.












Monday, December 7, 2009

Sierra Loves To Draw

Whale



Turkey


She copied the snowman that you can see off to the left. If you notice in her drawing, she added the two patches on the front of the snoman, one of the patches has a button on it. I think she did a pretty good job!


Snowman



Person.




I was confused by this one at first. I thought it was a dinosaur or dragon. Sierra kept saying it was a hippo. Then that night when we were reading books I saw the hippo. She copied the hippo character in the Sandra Boynton books. Then it all made sense. It looks just like it!


Butterfly







Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Most Wonderful Time

Here are our 2009 Christmas ornaments! My family has always had the tradition to make a new ornament every year. We have done it ever since I can remember. Even though all of us girls are out of the house and have our own families, we are still doing the tradition. This year we decided to make a house themed ornament since Nikki, Lena and I have new houses this year. My ornament is on the left. Sierra's is in the middle and Maddie's is on the right. I love this tradition and am happy that eventhough I am way up in Montana I can still join in. :)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

It's Been A Little While

It's been a while since I have blogged anything. I guess our lives are uneventful. Just regular everyday life. Jake has been busy building benches and enjoying his new shop (garage). He has sold 4 of them! Sierra has been having so much fun at school. She has been learning so much. She comes home, sits down and practices writing her numbers. She told Jake the other day that she has a boy friend at school - hmm, I don't think Jake liked that one. Maddie of course wishes she could go to school, but until then she is getting really good at checking the mail. That is her job on school days. And me, well, same old thing. I had my first card class this last weekend. It was fun! Can't wait until the next one!
Anyway... on to the pictures. Sierra drew these bugs yesterday and I thought they were so cute. The top one is a cute little happy lady bug. The bottom on is a cool bee. I just love that she loves to draw!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

My Neck of the Woods!


For those of you who don't know, I have my own paper crafting blog! brookeschall.blogspot.com Check it out!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Sierra


Yes, this is seriously how Sierra is dressed today. She is especially proud of her "X's" on her shoes. She looks very stylish from her head all the way down to her backwards feet. Today was a stay at home house cleaning day - if you couldn't tell.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween '09



We had a great Halloween this year! We had the two cutest ladybugs out there! I loved that the girls wanted to be the same thing. I wanted them to be fairies, and they wanted bugs, so I made them fairy type ladybugs- glitter and all! The girls loved it! Trick or treating was so much fun. The weather was warm-ish, nice enough to skip the mall and go to the streets. Maddie thought trick or treating was the coolest thing ever! She was so excited and ran to every house. It is so much fun to see their excitment.




Megan and her friend Bianca came with us. They were fun and dressed up. Jake and I didn't.



Maddie was so stinkin cute, but I was having issues with the camera and couldn't capture it. But I got a good 'flashy' picture. Just picture a little 2 year old ladybug running like 2 years do, wings and piggy buns bouncing - big grin from ear to ear- so cute!



The girls were very interested about the whole pumpkin carving process. Sierra thought the guts of the pumpkin were cool. Sierra carved a bat (with Jake's help), Maddie carved a scary castle, Jake carved a skull, and I carved a regular jack-o-lantern.




Monday, October 19, 2009

School Days


Today was Sierra's first day of pre school! She has been so excited for months to go to school. The pre school in Three Forks wont take kids until they are four, so she had to wait until her birthday. Which was only a week away by the time I got a hold of the school. We have been counting down the days - and today it finally arrived. She was so excited to take her backpack to fill it with papers from school to bring home. I have been so excited waiting to get her into school. I knew she would just love it. She has been needing an activity - and this is perfect! We had been prepping her for us to leave her at school and later Maddie and I will come and get her. Sierra did fine. Maddie on the other hand had a breakdown. We should have been prepping Maddie the whole time. She wanted to stay and play with friends. She cried the whole ride home and I had to talk her into getting out of the car. Next time, I think I am going to have a special activity planned for Maddie, so she doesn't feel left out while Sierra is having so much fun at school. When I picked up Sierra she was so excited to tell me she got SNACKS at school! Funny. She told Jake she met friends, made pumpkins, sang songs and talked. They did some cutting with scissors, so as soon as we got home Sierra wanted to start cutting again. I can't wait to see the pumpkin she made in school. They left them there. I knew they were making them (out of paper plates), and was bummed when Sierra told me they left them at school. I am so glad Sierra had such a fun time. I was a little worried it wouldn't meet my expectations, but it does to a "T". So excited! She gets to be in pre school for two years until Kindergarten. I am excited about that too. I think I am more excited than Sierra is. I think I am just so happy that Sierra finally has something fun and educational for her to do. :)


Sierra has also learned to write her name. I love her "E" and "S". She really is growing up...


Saturday, October 10, 2009

Sierra's 4th Birthday Bash

Sierra had such a great Birthday! Thanks to everyone for the phone calls, cards, and gifts! She felt so special and loved every minute of it! :)

For her Birthday dinner we all made our own pizzas. We rolled our own little dough pieces and topped them all with pepperoni and cheese. It is so easy and pretty much a guarantee that the girls will eat their own creations.


After dinner we went straight to the presents. Fun for everyone!

Maddie checking out one of Sierra's gifts.
After the presents were all opened, it was cake time! Sierra has wanted a bee cake for months. One day she sat and look through all of my cake idea books. She still talks about her castle cake from last year. At first she wanted a dragon, then a dinosaur (not that there is much of a difference), then she saw a bee. Kind of a weird selection, but that was it... a bee! She talked and talked about a bee cake. She was so excited for her birthday so that she could have a bee cake. So, when the time came to make it, she was right there by my side the whole time. Checking out the whole process. After I cut out the shape and started frosting the yellow and black strips, it clicked in Sierra's brain. She could see how that was her bee cake. The one she has been dreaming about. She told me she was "super excited" for her cake! She was very pleased with the results. I stressed a little over it (which I do with every cake), but it did turn out cute.
We all had a fun time celebrating Sierra's 4th Birthday! Love that girl!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A Moose In Elk Ridge


I got a phone call yesterday while I was still in bed. It was Jake on his way to work, letting me know there was a moose down the road. So I got the girls up and we drove down there as fast as we could so we wouldn't miss it. I don't think moose come around here very often. It isn't what you would call moose country.
When we drove up all we could see was her little ears poking up through the frosty weeds. The moose wasn't very happy to have us hanging around. She got up, walked around a bit and kept snorting at us. We hung around for about 10 mintues or so, watching, then the girls talked me into getting a little closer.

So we drove down to the lower road. Soon as we got there, the moose started walking in our direction. If you look at the picture you can clearly see in her eyes, that we were not wanted. She walked across the road about 30 feet in front of us. It was very intimidating. If she were a male moose, I don't think I would have been comfortable being that close. Luckily she just crossed the street and headed up into the hills. It was really exciting to see a moose out here where we live. We may never see one out here again.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Eagle Ridge

Now that the weather is cooling down a bit we have been outside a lot - taking lots of walks. We were walking down our street and I was watching the girls run and chase the dogs, and I was thinking how much I love my new neighborhood. There is nothing around (except a few neighbors and deer). The girls and the dogs can just run with nothing to worry about. I just love it. So I decided to take the camera on one of our walks to show you our neighborhood.

Red Shoulder Lane - our street. Sierra is way down there chasing Daisy, while Zoe and Maddie are way behind. Everyone was having so much fun.

Our Neighbors. All three of them. Our house is the red one on the end. The tan house, the one closest in the picture is vacant. I believe it has been sold though. So we actually only have two neighbors. Which are both very nice.

Our Neighborhood. Acres and acres of empty lots. This will be a fun before picture before more houses are built.
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While I was at work today, Jake and the girls went on a ride to find deer. Just down the hill from us they came across a herd of about 40. Here are a few pictures of the deer.





Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Daddy Date


Jake and Sierra went on a day date last Saturday. Jake had been dying to take Sierra fishing, so off they went. They left in the morning, and went fishing for a while - didn't catch anything. Then they went out to lunch and made their way to the mall to get a hair cut from Megan. I think they both had a fun time. A nice change of pace. :)