Cowboy and Cowgirl

I

 Howdy y'all!!! If these two ain't the cutest little twirps on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, I don't know a cow from a chicken. Sweet nibblets, I love these two!!!

My middle two have always been quite a pair. Like any siblings they have their fair share of fights but for the most part Lilly and Gus are like two pee's in a pod. They always have fun playing together and can do it for hours. Today they decided to dress up like a couple of cowboys. They are planning on washing the car while pretending it's their horse.

A little bit about my cowgirl: She's sweet and feisty all at the same time. She rises early with the birds and is like a ray of sunshine in our family. She loves attention and has very little patients. Like her big sister, fashion is a must. She loves to wear black because she says "all the girls who dress nice wear black." She would wear high heels everyday if we let her.

A little bit about my cowboy: This little guy is an all around boy! Though he has traded some of is rough and tumble spark for some sweet and sensitiveness. He gets his feelings hurt very easy but is (usually) quick to forgive. He is also very good about apologizing all on his own to his mama when he has been disrespectful. Up early with the birds he is NOT! Gus would sleep until lunch if I let him.

Welcome to the blogging world

My sweet Drew has started a blog. She is one creative cat so I can't wait to see what she'll do with it.

I am sure it will include funny stories of her days and feature some of her art and school work.

She would LOVE for you to check it out but we have made her blog private so just comment or email me if you would like to be invited to follow her.

Just a little math

lilly's gymnastic show + family and friends over for treats + birthday parties and fiestas + sleep overs + sunny weather + snuggling on the couch until falling asleep with gus (my fave part) + playing games with my girls + working in the garden + hanging out with my aunt and cousin + thoughtful and handmade gifts from my kiddos + church + brunch with ma and pa + relaxing and laying in the sun + a walk with my family + banana split + long chats with hubby
=
a happy, proud and thankful mama

Happy 1/2 Birthday Evie!!!

6 months already! Yes, I can believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was changing my tweens diapers!

Evie is hitting the miles stones fast. (with the exception of sleeping through the night) She loves to chow down on food, rolls all over the place, has great hand eye coordination (she can find her binky, put it in her mouth and flip it over if it's upside down) and this past week she started sitting up and drinking from a cup. I am really excited about her sitting up cause she would much rather play on the floor then in one of the zillion baby contraptions we have and sitting up will make it much more enjoyable for her (I hope). She laughs and chatters but really loves to growl. When we were in the hospital Clint started doing a low growl to get her to stop crying so I blame him for having a growling baby :)

As you can see her hair on top has grown a ton and she is now a pigtail girl...SO CUTE! But the hair on her sides has been falling out. A few of us have come up with our own ideas of what it looks like...Clint: She looks like a Tom Boy! (he loves it)
Heather: It looks like old lady hair that is thinning.
Mom: It looks like a dollar store barbie dolls hair. (If you've ever bought a barbie from the dollar store you know what I am talking about)

Whatever you decide it looks like, we think she's the cutest baby ever :)

This next pic features another one of her fabulous hair styles.
This is the "pigtails aftermath" doo. Doesn't she just melt your heart?

Happy 1/2 Birthday Evie girl!!!
We love you little lady.

Flashback Friday

Drew and A.J. (2003)

Weekend Review

All and all it was a good weekend at the Mitchell house. The girls and I had made some treats for Clint to take to work on Friday and from what I hear they were a hit! I was pretty excited about that since I had come up with the idea all on my own. I took those Snyder's pretzel nibblers, (free from couponing) rolled them in melted chocolate and then sprinkled them with crushed peanuts. Since it was my creation I got to name them.

What do ya think of my Lincoln logs?
Clint got home from work early on Friday and then we went to community group. It was a great night at group. The women and men broke off from one another and the women discussed the first chapter in Feminine Appeal. We had a great discussion that lead to a very intimate and honest time of sharing. Definitely a time of bonding and a time of mentoring one another. It sounded like the men had a great time too. We are blessed with an amazing group!!

The Herald newspaper had offered Amber and I tickets to the Silvertips Hockey game and since she was busy Clint and I had a date night. The game was fun and FREE and it was awesome to spend some time with my hunk of burning love!

Speaking of my hunk of burning love... I am so thankful for him! Here he is on Sunday evening in the dark and rain outside fixing something. He is such a hard worker and pretty darn handy to have around. I am also so thankful for the wisdom and guidance he gives me. I would be running around like a basket case 99% of the time (as apposed to my current 50%) if I didn't have him to help me balance and prioritize the things in our lives that will most honor our loving God.


Sunday night my sweet Evie had her first taste of mush. She quite liked it I must say! I was hoping it would extend the amount of sleep I would get but it did not prove to be the case. Maybe tonight...

She immediately grabbed the spoon out of my hand and was wanting to hold it in her mouth. SO CUTE!

Today we ran some errands and I was able to get a coat I had my eye on for quite sometime now at a fraction of the price!!! Sometimes it really does pay to wait. Then we cashed in one of our gift cards for a yummy lunch at Red Robin. I LOVE Red Robin!!! Clint and I split our meals cause everything looked so good and we couldn't decide what to get.

Well I better sign off now as the Family move night is about to start without me...

Baby Girl

4 months ALREADY?!?!

Time does fly when you're havin' fun! Evie is just a sweet baby and we love her to pieces. In the last 4 months she-

practically doubled in size

smiles all the time

coos and chatters (sometimes in her bed at 3am)

chews on her fingers while drooling all over

rolls and rolls back to front and front to back like our very own little steam roller

likes to bat at, grab and chew on toys

loves her siblings and soaks up all the attention they give her

Even if it means putting up with this

My buddy and me

Yesterday my buddy, Gus and I had some special time together. With 4 kids it is not very often I get to spend time with them individually, so I very much treasure the time when it comes. He picked our first activity which was a game of hide and seek.

See how good at hiding he is. (so cute)

Before going to the pet store to check out all the cool animals...

mom decided her buddy needed a treat!

My buddy and me had so much fun! I just love that little guy. He is so sweet and so much fun to be with. I look forward to the next time we can hang out, just my buddy and me.

"Love for my homies!"

Yes, that's what she always says. Along with "peace out" and "sup". She is one cool kid fo shizzle!!! Clint and I are so proud of this girl... she's creative, fun and clever. She loves animals, wearing bright colors and playing WII. She is learning sign language from Amanda and Kaitlyn but can't wait to take a class for it next fall at EHRC. She love to eat Grandpa's steaks, Nana's mash potato's and gravy and eats popcorn almost everyday. She still likes to wrestle with her dad and being like her mom. She is not a morning person. She is a night owl. She hates milk or any kind of juice and only drinks water or coke. Oh wait, she likes chocolate milk shakes too! Her favorite restaurants are Red Robin and Susumos Japanese Steak House. She loves going to our community group and often can't hardly wait for Friday nights to come. She plays soccer and likes to ice skate. She has 2 frogs named Diamond and Pearl. She hates to brush her hair but loves to accessorize. She often helps me cook and take care of her siblings. She would rather empty the dishwasher then load it. When she grows up she wants to run an animal shelter. I could go on and on but I'm off to a birthday breakfast with my little lady.

December 31st 1999

8lbs 3ozs and 22 inches

8:22 am

The Atonement Christmas

When we arrived at my Mom’s house I think we were all a little unsure how it was going to go. It had been years for Clint and I and the first time for our children to spend a holiday with her. We sat and visited for a while and it was nice and relaxing. Then while the enchiladas were in the oven she let the kids open their gifts. She was absolutely over the moon at the kid’s joy. My Mom has never really had much money and when she did she never did anything good with it so it made her feel real good to be able to treat the kids to some nice gifts. I was pretty surprised how well she did picking gifts out for them when she doesn’t really know any of them that well. She had gotten Gus these really cool wooden blocks and he used all 150 of them to make village on her living room floor. It was clear to me she had Lilly figured out when she opened a very fancy dress and fancy hair bows. And my little artist Drew was excited to get some Blendy Pens! We gave my Mom a framed family picture and she was thrilled. She even had Clint hang it up for her before we left.
After gift opening we had a yummy dinner followed by a pogo stick jumping competition in her kitchen. My Mom and Willie (her boyfriend since I was 12) had a kick watching all of us. Clint and I smoked the kids on the pogo stick!!! Well, Clint smoked me too. We could tell that my Mom, though having a great time, was getting a bit tired and the kids were about ready to get going to so we took a photo of all the grand kids with them (- Cameron) and said our goodbyes.
It was a real nice time and I know we all hope to be able to do it again. My Mom has called me 3 times since then telling what a wonderful time she had and how special it was to her.

I do believe for my Mom this was her atonement Christmas.

Spoiled Rotten Kids

Gifts, gifts and more gifts!!! I guess there are far worse problems to have. Thankfully I am proud to say I don’t have the problem of spoiled rotten children, despite all of their Grandparents efforts to spoil them rotten. LOL!
Clint and I were just blown away by how appreciative the kids were and how quick to say thank you they were. No matter what the gift, Drew lit up like a Christmas tree and expressed her thanks. She is a super example to the little critters watching her closely. Just a few pick of the festivities…


There's some of that appreciation I was telling you about!

Evie got some cute bows for that pretty hair of hers!

Don't you just love when they are this surprised? (digital camera)

First reaction to the train table!
They're even excited for a gift they new they were getting!

Finally she won't have to beg Drew to use her DS!

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! These next pictures might shock you…

Proceed without judgment please.

This is what 1400 square feet, 2 adults, 4 children and 3 sets of grandparents will do to your house at Christmas time.

The living room with the rug rats playing WII rather then cleaning...

The playroom...I believe it had a floor a couple days ago???

and just where will we eat dinner now?

It's far worse then you can tell from this picture.

once again this picture does not do justice to how bad it really is.

I would have taken pics of our room and Drew and Evie's room but they both had people sleeping in them.

Don't worry, I am working on this mess. Hopefully will post "after" pictures soon (ish).