Look!

Sierra: "Mommy, Mommy, look, come see!"
Sierra: "Look! REINDEER!!!"

There were three deer out our front window across the street. It was pretty exciting that the girls spotted the deer all by themselves and were so excited to show me. So we went outside and sat on our front deck and watched until the deer walked out of sight.

My Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. We celebrated it on Friday (because I worked Sunday). I cleaned all day Thursday so the house would be super clean for me on Friday. I had the whole day planned out. Eyebrow appointment with Megan in the afternoon and date with Jake in the evening. That was it. Nothing else but relaxing. Gotta love those days. Well, my day started out good. Then on my way to my appointment I got a flat tire - were talkin' driving on the rim for two blocks. So, that was fun. I did make it to my appoiment but had to go to the tire store after. Luckily the place I took my tire to be fixed is right next to the mall. So we hung out at the mall for an hour waiting for the tire. By the time I got home it was already 5:00 (there went my peaceful, nothing to do afternoon). Jake got home shortly after me and brought me this BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers. He said there is suppose to be 100 blooms. I would say it's close. We went out to a nice restaurant that we had never been to before - The Willow Creek Cafe. It was a nice to spend an evening without kids (Thanks Megan!)

Today, the girls made bird houses. I found a cute pattern online and was anxious to try it out. I think they had fun.

I think the eye thing Sierra is doing in the picture is her new thing to do for pictures. She closes the one eye everytime I tell her to smile for the camera. Hopefully that won't last long....

At some point today Maddie managed to take off her overalls (her favorite pants) and turn them around and get them back on. She looked so funny wearing them backwards.

Flowers

Sierra and I made these flowers the other day. They are made out of magazine pages and a pipe cleaner. So cute. I was going to make a vase for them, but I didn't know what to make a vase out of, so I stuck them in this plant instead. It looks so cute, but I am just waiting for the day that Maddie decideds to touch them with her messy food hands and ruin them. At least I can make more if I need to.

Easter 2009

We had a really fun Easter this year, so much fun that I am going to do two posts. We took a lot of pictures. :)
Megan came over on Saturday and spent the night - of course the girls loved that. They love their Aunt Megan. We started the day off with finding eggs and baskets. Jake informed me that the Easter Bunny doesn't know how to hide eggs very well, because Sierra found them way to easily. Oh well. The girls got little buckets (baskets), little shovels and gardening gloves for Easter - I figured since we have an unlimited supply of dirt - this would be a good idea. Luckily the weather was beautiful so the girls could try out their new stuff. After spending the morning playing outside in the dirt, flying the ever-so-cool inflatable kites and eating egg shaped pink pancakes for breakfast we went fishing - where Sierra caught her first fish!

If you look closely, Maddie has her mouth full of candy. She loves candy - I don't know where she gets that. This is also a good picture of our new coffee table Jake made for our new home. He decided to paint it instead of stain it. He went for an antique look with a black undertone. The color turned out to be more of a rose red- a little pinkish, but it still turned out very nice. I like the new look. Adds a little color to a very brown space.

The girls enjoying their new toys. Surprisingly, they didn't even get their dresses dirty and they wore them all day - even fishing. :)

Sierra flying her kite all by herself. The Easter Bunny gave the girls inflatable kites. They actually worked very well. Great for little kids.

Easter Fishing 2009

Jake wanted to show me a natural spawning spot that his boss had showed him. It was only about a 30 minute drive from our house. It was actually really cool. There was a fresh water pool that the fish lay their eggs in. They have to swim upstream and then jump through a culvert that is gushing out water (they have to jump in while the water is gushing out) to get to the pool. The fresh water is so clear you can literally see the fish swimming up. We saw probably 30 fish while we were there.

Here you can see the fresh water stream and the muddy (due to spring run off) Missouri River. The green plants in the fresh water stay green even throughout the winter.

Can you see the fish? He is resting getting ready for the big jump through the culvert.

This is where the fresh water meets the Missouri River. It's kind of cool to see the difference in the colors.

Right next to the river is a train track. Trains come by pretty often - we saw three in the two hours we were there. We were pretty close to this train as it came by. Sierra loves trains, so I was glad she got to see one up close and in action.

Next we went fishing. Well, Jake and Sierra went fishing. I don't have my fishing licence yet...

Jake's big catch. A nice rainbow trout. The river he used to fish (the one right behind our old house) has much smaller fish than this, so this is a big fish to me. I think it's cute that you can see the excitement in his face.

Sierra's big catch that got away. Sierra caught her first fish! It was a nice big rainbow trout. Almost twice the size of Jakes fish! It took a while to bring it in and Jake had it right there (I should have taken a pic while it was in the water), then the line snapped and the fish was gone. Sierra didn't seem to mind, but it would have been cute to have a picture of Sierra and her first fish. They tried again, but no luck. We needed to go home anyway. I had a ham in the oven and it had already been in there an hour too long. I guess always expect fishing trips to take longer than expected. But the ham turned out great (thanks to Brandi's ham glaze recipe).

Can you see him?

If you look hard you can see Jake hard at work. These pictures were taken while standing on my back deck. It is so nice to have Jake working so close to home. It is just way too convenient.

Home Sweet Home

Jake's boss' wife was going to come over this morning to take some nice pictures of our house to put on their website. I got up early and started cleaning - then she called and canceled. Since my house was clean and ready for pictures, I figured I would take some of my own to show you..... finally! I still have lots of decorating to do, but I've got time.

Our house!

My favorite place in the house. I absolutely love having a dishwasher (this is the first one we have had since we have been married). I love the counter space and the cabinet space! I just love the look of the whole kitchen!

The living room. The wood door is the front door. We have picked out a rug to go in the living room, but haven't ordered it yet. Jake is also going to be making a new coffee table to match the new house - this time painted, not stained. If you haven't noticed we have a lot of brown in our house. Color coming soon.

A different angle of the living room. Jake is also going to be building a new entertainment center, custom for the space. We will also mount the T.V. on the wall eventually. I love our new wood burning stove. It is so little compared to our old one and way more efficient.

The entry. Nothing too exciting. I just wanted to show you the slate and the cute light fixture. I love all of the light fixtures we picked out for the whole house. I especially love the kitchen and dining fixtures!

The dining area. The door on the left is the laundry/mud room and the door on the right is the master bedroom.

Sierra and Maddie's room. I love the purple paint. It makes the room so fun and girlie.

The master bathroom. Very plain still, but roomy.

Another angle of the the master bathroom.

The girls bathroom. Sierra wants a green bathroom, so eventually I will get green towels or something but for now it is tan.

The girls were being so good for me while I cleaned and took pictures.

Pictures from the last few weeks

Sierra showing off her cute fish she drew.

Maddie and chocolate pudding do not mix.

The girls made beds for the dogs - complete with babies.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Say Cheese

Sierra with her new camera. I love how you can see her eye through the lens.

When we were visiting cousin Olivia and cousin Elsa, Sierra discovered her cousins' fun camera. She was having so much fun with it, that of course, I needed to get her one. Yesterday we took a trip to the "city" (Bozeman). Sierra was being so good while we were shopping so I just had to buy her a new toy - a camera. I walked up and down every toy isle looking at every camera offered. Originally I was thinking about getting her one of those kid digital cameras - but quickly decided against it (for now). It took a while, but I found one that I knew Sierra would love and user friendly. She now goes around taking pictures of everything. Her and Maddie take turns posing and saying cheese - so cute. Jake informed me this morning that Sierra took a picture of me sleeping. Boy am I glad her camera doesn't have film.

Ha Ha. I just noticed that Sierra is wearing the same shirt in both pictures. I guess she likes that shirt.

Sierra playing with Elsa and her fun camera.