Through the eyes of a 16-year-old boy

I handed Kurtis the camera on our annual pilgrimage to Baby Animal Days and this is what 90% of the pictures ended up being...
Jenessa.

AKA, a cute blond that my brother is gaga over.

More pictures of Jenessa's flawless skin and pearly white, straight smile. I think he took these just to rub it in my old face that I'm wrinkly, pore-es-ly (is that a word?), bags-under-the-eyes-tired, and weathered.Seriously, stop Kurtis!While Kurt was busy taking pictures of Jenessa - who ironically looks a lot like our cute hair desser, Shayla - Cole decided to make a move on her.
You snooze, you loose Kurtis!A few observations about Baby Animals Day 2011. The snowy, rainy, miserably wet and cold spring weather hampered our secret of going to B.A.D. on a non-official B.A.D. weekend. You see, for the past few years we've gone on the weekends where there are typically just the animals out, no vendors or extra activities (like these cowboy cutouts) that the American West Heritage Center puts on during the real B.A.D. opening weekend. But since they extended the actual B.A.D. two additional weekends, and today just happened to be the nicest weekend weather-wise all month, everyone decided to come out to the festivities. We had to actually wait in line to ride the train and ponies! Not to mention squeezing into the animal pens with about 300 other kids and parents lugging strollers, cameras, and purses around. Boo. The secret is out now.

Second, Cole needs a farm. Seriously, the kid LOVES animals! Maye it's because the only books I seem to read to him are about animals. He pointed and babbled at every furry, feathery creature he could see. And unlike his sister, he wasn't afraid of touching them.This poor little goat got a nasty b-slap (pardon my french... I needed the graphic description for Jeff to get the full effect) from Cole after they babbled and "maaaa'ed" back and forth to each other for a few minutes. I wasn't really expecting it either since moments before Cole had been gently petting the goat. For a second I thought I thought Cole was going to get a head butt in retaliation.Cole also had quite the fun with this little calf. This calf was very friendly! He ran over to Cole and Jenessa and started licking Cole's fingers and shoes. Cole giggled and giggled! It was hilarious.
Speaking of calves, here I am begging my Dad to let me take this one home with me. I'm not bitter or anything, but when I was 15 I wanted a calf really bad. One of my Dad's coworkers offered to give me one as a learning experience. He gave me a resounding "no" several times, even with my well-thought out plan to keep my calf at my Grandpa's fields. Maybe Jeff will let me keep him...This would have been a good picture had Kurtis told me to open my eyes!This one is better. We were lucky to have Ruby and EZ join us this year. Every other year, Ru-bug has been sick. I had to tell Pearl this was a treasure map to the train (her favorite part about B.A.D.) in order to trick her into carrying it around. I get nervous every time Pearl gets on a horse. She got bucked off a pony ride a couple of years ago, actually twice on the same day on two different horses! She seriously flew up on the air and Jeff happened to grab her jacket before she would have hit the ground. Ever since, she has insisted someone walk beside her, except this year. She actually told me, "Mom, I can do it by myself!" She gave us a big thumbs up after the ride was over.
The only animals Pearl said weren't stinky, and for which she would grace with her presence for more than 5.2 seconds, were the pigs. Go figure.I'd say B.A.D. 2011 was a success!

Early Easter

Somehow I've managed to create a tradition of having my entire family down for Easter. I think it's because we have the biggest backyard.

OK, so it's really because I love Easter. And it gives me an excuse to make a real ham dinner, complete with homemade rolls and funeral potatoes. The whole bit.

This year we did things a bit differently.

First, we had our Easter celebration a week early. It worked out perfect because we've got plans next weekend. That and my brother, Kurtis, had to go to prom so we had to cater to his love life. Sheesh. He didn't even wear his tux for the Easter festivities.

Second, I put Kurtis in charge of pictures. He's taking a photo class in school and borrowed my camera for his homework. It was nice to not worry about trying to take pictures amongst the cooking, lugging Cole around, and enjoying the fun. The bad thing about this was wading my way through nearly 500 pictures afterward! I found quite a few pictures like these ones.... hmmmmm.
Isn't my sister gorgeous?! And that little boy is pretty handsome himself.We did force a few family pictures for documentation purposes. Thanks to our neighbors for letting us tromp all over their yard!Cole loves all the inflatable bunnies. He points at them and babbles every time he sees them. I'm pretty sure my Dad wears this same shirt every year. I had to give him a hard time about it... but he sure is a handsome fellow! Third, we changed up the egg hunt a bit from previous years. Rather than stuffing all the eggs with candy and hoping Ruby doesn't get all the good eggs, I (well, technically it was Jeff's idea) put Grandma and Grandpa Easter bunny in charge of prizes. Everyone had to find as many eggs as they possibly could, then turn them in for a prize. The kiddos, including Kurtis, each got a basket filled to the brim with goodies! Hopefully they aren't disappointed when the real Easter bunny comes next week. Even us old foggies got to turn our eggs in for treats in the adult-only basket. Look at this loot! Best idea ever to put my mom in charge of the eggs.What doesn't change about the egg hunt is my lame attempt at hiding the eggs. I don't get too creative with them yet. I'm going to avoid spending hours really hiding them for a few more years until Pearl and Ruby need something more challenging to keep them entertained.
Here we go!
I love this picture because you can see Kimmy is just as excited about finding eggs as two little pipsqueaks. I guess she's sort of like a big pipsqueak herself.Every year I hide camouflaged eggs for Kurtis to find. When he was a little boy he was obsessed with the army... my dad even painted his room with camouflage. He had to be stealth-like to find his eggs.
Cole's fascination with balls really help with his egg hunting. He seemed to know exactly what to do. He would pick up an egg, throw it in the basket, and then when he had found enough of them, proceeded to dump them all over the ground.
Apparently my brother Jesse needs to take egg hunting lessons from Cole. Had I not given Jeff a clue about this egg in the bird feeder, I'm fairly certain no one would have ever found it.Fourth, we had special surprises from the Easter bunny for the kids. This was all Jeff's doing. He hide notes in three big eggs. One for Kurtis, one for Pearl, and one for Ruby and Cole. Oh, and a note inside the soda refrigerator that said to stay out of the soda... drink some water. Kurtis laughed hysterically when he read his note... "Kurtis, you do not have a special surprise. The Easter Bunny." Good one, Jeff.
Pearl's egg lead told her to go and look in the dirty clothes hamper. She found a new Rapunzel Barbie doll and to say she was excited was an understatement. She came running around the corner waving it in the air shouting at us that she got a Rapunzel doll!Then it was Ruby's turn to read her note. Her note said to go next door to David and Vickie's house and to make sure she took Cole with her. So all 11 of us headed over to see what David and Vickie had up their sleeves. Or in this case, in their garage. Our neighbors rock. There is a story behind this. You might remember they gave Pearl a 4-wheeler for Christmas. Well, the first one they bought was red. Then Pearl saw a pink Barbie one and said she wanted a pink 4-wheeler. So they went out and bought the pink one. But the red one was already assembled and sitting in their garage. And since they should be getting a new vehicle anytime now, they needed the garage space. Oh, and Cole got an early birthday present. We each have our own 4-wheelers now. It's ridiculous. I can't get my crazy kids and husband off of them. We might as well rip out all the lawn and lay down a track in the backyard. Have I mentioned how much we love our neighbors?And lastly, I put my sister-in-law, Emily, in charge of dessert. Double-layered raspberry cheescake with a chocolate crust. New tradition, I think so!I think it's fairly obvious why I love, love, love Easter!

Nearly dead

It serves me right.

I gave Jeff a lot of crap when he became old.

And tomorrow it's my turn.

So in my state of being "nearly dead" as Jeff so affectionately calls it, I thought I'd mourn over the loss of my 20s. I'm having a hard time leaving them. They were so good to me, most of the time anyway.

Seriously, this 30 thing is really getting to me. How on earth did I get so old? I feel like I'm falling apart! I'm blaming it on two kids. They age you at least 10 years... each! I swear I should just be graduating from high school or at minimum college. Not be 25 minutes away from dying, again as Jeff has reminded me will happen tomorrow on my birthday everyday for the past month. How did this happen?

I often look in the mirror and think to myself, "What happened to me? I used to be skinny. I used to not be so flabby. I used to not have bags under my eyes. I used to be outgoing. I used to be fun. I used to be young, sexy, with long, gorgeous hair, a beautiful smile, and loads of attitude and energy, tons of goals, and an ambition to conquer the world. I used to be...."

I used to be. It's a saying that often floats around in my mushy brain these days. It can be a paralyzing thought for me. I can't really describe it but I have a hard time not comparing myself to everyone around me and even comparing myself to, well, me. I know everyone changes, grows, and morphs into new selves throughout their lives but lately I've been thinking I haven't done much of anything except just get old. Does anyone else feel like that? Like you're sort of two people... the "old" you back in the day and the you now. Don't get me wrong, I never want to relive high school again and I wouldn't trade my kiddos or husband for anything I had back in the young, single days but this geezerhood business isn't such a fun thought.

Walking

Here's the proof that Cole is trying to walk. He loves, loves, loves these little bikes at daycare. So does Pearl. He pushes this around all day, ramming his way through toys, books, and babies who aren't as mobile as him yet. I usually take the bike out into the hallway and let Cole run up and down my office building. It's impressive but I always forget my camera for it.

The other morning Pearl wanted Cole to push her around on the bike. Cole was more than happy to join in the fun.

He is getting so big. Way, way, way too fast.