Diva in Red

Just wanted to share this little photo with you all!
Love this girl so much!

Here she is sporting the best $1 I spent this summer!

Natalie and Aleah were both overjoyed when I brought these home from garage sale-ing in Nebraska.  They get worn at least twice a day, once by each girl.  I just happened to catch Aleah in them this day, all dressed in red and posing like a diva for me!

Our Backyard

We are blessed to live in an area with such beautiful wide-open spaces.  Hope you enjoy some of these pictures of our beautiful backyard.

This first picture has the three loves of my life in it.  It is my favorite!!!

The dam.

Neat clouds.

"All people are like grass,
    and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever."

Isaiah 40:6-8

Oh, these panoramic pictures...I really enjoy them!

God's artistic talents astound me every day!

If you look closely you can see the farm off in the distance on the far right side.

A little bit closer image of the farm off on the horizon.

With that said...

I have a little note to pass along for my youngest brother Kevin:

Dear Uncle Biff,

Please hurry up and get here to play in our big backyard with us!

Love, Natalie and Aleah

Who Outsmarted Who?

Aleah was getting on my nerves a couple weeks ago. 

Everything in my kitchen is shoved up as close to the wall as it can get...away from the edge. 

That is usually my quick solution to toddler-proofing my kitchen. 

Well, Aleah drug her stool from the living room into my kitchen and was reaching things I didn't want her to reach.  A few different times I asked her to stop and go play, and moved her stool back into the living room.  Well after about four times of this, I took the stool from her and placed it on the kitchen table. 

And what do you suppose she did next?

She outsmarted me!

"Hah mom...like you think that is going to stop me!"

FYI, that stool is now up on top of the washing machine in the laundry room.

I got her back!

Love you little Aleah!

The Fast Runners

And you thought this post was going to be about me and how fast I could run.

Hah!!!

No way.

I am not a fast runner.

Dream on! 

But, we do have a last name that can serve as an adjective (fast), and we have some good friends whose last name can serve as a noun (runners) so when you put us together, you get a rather exciting time with the Fast Runners.

On July 3rd Tony, the girls, and I headed into Glasgow for a meal and meeting about youth group at the Runner's home.  Following our meeting and lots of extra fellowshipping, we decided it would be fun to haul the Runner kids out to our house for some farm fun. 

We left town with five wide awake and rather excited kids at about 11:00 that night. 

We arrived at home with five totally passed out sleepers at about midnight that night.

Let's just say bedtime was pretty easy!

The next morning Noah was the first up by 6:30am.  I told him he could head back to bed with some books to read and sleep a little more.  YEAH RIGHT!  He was too excited to be here.  So, I rolled out of bed and showed him where the farmtoys were and he got to farming on the living room floor!

After everyone else woke up and breakfast was had, we headed outside for the rest of our day. 

Here was our mode of transportation for the day!

Notice the placement of the kids.  Noah was eager to join Natalie in the back end.  Ava and Silas weren't too sure about this thing and wanted to sit by me and Aleah buckled up.

Off we went. 

Our first stop was the mailbox with some bills in hand. 

Then we headed to the pea fields. 

We stopped and ate peas right off the plants. 

From here we headed to feed the kitties. 

What help 10 little hands can be!

Proof of Silas and Ava growing accustomed to the animals on the farm.

They even gave our dog Buddy a pet here and there.

Now we're off to go pick some Nanking Cherries.

Notice the arrangement of the kids now.  They were all in for a ride in the back!!!

Noah picking some Nankings!

Silas finding some way down under!

Our cherry harvest.  I think more made it into mouths than into our bucket. 

Now time for some sandbox fun.

I think we outgrew our sandbox for the day!

Lunchtime!

After lunch we watched a movie and layed down for naps. 

After naps we enjoyed some festive ice cream cones. 

Nothing like an ice cream cone dipped in red and blue sprinkles on the 4th of July!

 Headed back to town to enjoy the fireworks at the Runner house. 

They live in a prime location when it comes to the grand night of fireworks. 

The girls set up their chairs by Noah.

He was ready for this shot...they were distracted! 

Love it!

A family shot!

Oh, and we can't forget the little mishap that night!

 Notice anything in this picture??? 

How about a sprinkler head popped up in the grass???

Yep, Mr. Seth thought we'd all need a little shower just as the fireworks would begin!

No, he forgot to shut them off...but it was great to see your finished project in action Seth!

Thanks Seth and Virginia for letting us steal your kids for the night. 

We had a BLAST!

Moreso, thanks for your adored friendship!

We look forward to making lots and lots of Fast Runner memories down the road!

The big 1.5!

I cannot believe that our second child, Miss Aleah Lynn, has hit her 1.5 years old mark already. 
It happened.  WOW!  And of all days on July 7th, our 5th anniversary!

1.5 years.
That is 18 months. 
78 weeks. 
547 days. 
13,128 hours. 
787,680 minutes. 
With all that calculated and said...that is way. Too. FAST. 
My little baby girl is so grown up.  As I type, she is 'cleaning' off the kitchen table with a baby wipe in one hand while blowing her nose in with one in the other hand.  Freeze.  I'll be right back.

Okay, as I was typing that last bit about how helpful and independent she is, she decided to start ripping the wipes apart into tiny little pieces and throwing them all over the floor with her teeth...

...see!

You can barely make out the tiny pieces on the floor...oh she was loving it.

Anyways, back to writing a blog about this little piece of adorableness! 

Oh Aleah, how the time has flown by.  You were quite the surprise, but SO meant to be!  You have been such a wonderful addition to our familiy.  One of our favorite things to do is watch you play with your big sister Natalie.  Together you and she have shared many fun moments, teachable moments, moments of screaming, and tearful moments.  There are so many more of them to come, and we are excited for them all. 

God has given you a motherly personality.  You love to take care of others.  You have a servant's heart, willing to help out with any task at hand...praying you'll continue to be that way all through your years. 

You are a 'monkey-see-monkey-do' right now.  Everything Natalie does, you imitate.  She jumps, you jump.  She gets put in time-out, you put yourself in time-out.  She runs, you run.  She is now potty trained, you like to try to potty on the toilet after she does every time.  (Although we have not had any success with this yet.) 

And we can't forget that vocabulary of yours.  Every word that comes out of your mouth, whether it has meaning or is just babble, it at about 10 decibels louder than the rest of us.  Hilarious!

Just the other day Uncle Brian called to talk to you and Natalie.  I had to turn your phone on mute because he couldn't hear a word Natalie was saying as you jibber-jabbered louder with each word. 

Some of your words:

Bah--ball

Nilk--milk

Teddy

Bwaantee--blankie

Sish--fish

Arse--horse

Ti-ee--kitty

Bu-ee--Buddy (our dog)

gock--quack

Juice

Bible

B-b--baby

Dess--dress

El-whoa--Hello

There are many more, but these are some of your most used words. 

We thank God for you each and every day.  We adore who you are as a daughter and sister.  Thank you for the wonderful memories along the way.  May you continue to grow strong and healthy each day, delighting in the wonderful discoveries of toddler-hood that God has placed before you.

WE LOVE YOU!



Over the river...

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go...

Wait, we need to revise it a bit. 
More like...
Past the woodshop and across the yard, to nana's house we go...

Random FMA 2012

Here are some random photos from February, March, and April of 2012.  Looking through them I realize just how much my girls have grown up in the past six months....considering it is now July!  It goes SO FAST!
Enjoy!

Tony loading his hoppers he built for himself for the bin yard over west.

Natalie enjoying some greek yogurt.

And her younger sister loving it as well...can you tell?

Time for a ride on our new side-by-side.  Daddy brought home this surprise...we LOVE it!

Buffing up his new truck.

Daddy and Aleah checking on the snowmobiles.

Aleah strutting her stuff on the woodbox. 

Natalie pulling Aleah on the Bowman farm.

We went and stayed with Kristine, Coy, and Reese while our new kitchen floor was getting installed.

Saying hello to their horses.

The four kids in their snow stuff after our afternoon walk.

Aleah swinging in her snow stuff at home. 

With her big boots and snow pants, it is impossible to put her in the swing the right way, so this is how we do it!

Natalie sporting Daddy's sunglasses.

Playdoh time!

Our little friend this winter!

Let's just say he was loved.

Rest time after lunch.

 

Getting some important work done on their 'waptops.'

Helping dad out.

Aunt Carrie and three of her friends came to visit us for their college spring break.  They got to experience Schmeckfest.  What fun it was to have them visit. 

(Natalie took this picture by the way!)

Popsicles and winter coats.

:)

Jammies and cowgirl boots.

:)

Natalie and her homemade pudding.

Aleah was attacked by the pudding!

Waterpainting!  By the looks of it, most of it missed the paper. 

We actually got some really great masterpieces from this day. 

Natalie has a unibrow if you look really close. 

She mistook this for facepaint at first.

ON.

PURPOSE.

Natalie feeding Aleah her whole pancake at once.