~Perfect Summer Night~

Ryan's 20 year class reunion is this summer! Yikes! How old does that make me feel? I still feel like I should be in high school, but here I am with six kids and a 5th grader. Wow! When did I get so old?















We tended the Crane's kids tonight. Ashlyn, Brandon and Jace. The kids had such a fun time playing hide and go seek, riding bikes, chasing goats, jumping on the trampoline and getting in the mud. The flower in the middle of my head was put there by Ashlyn. She insisted that I wear it and that she take a picture of me with it in my hair. She could only make it stick in right in the middle of my head.








I made Sam hold some of the chicks so that you could see how big they were getting. They have very little down left, and they are kinda creepy looking with half feathers and half down. Just as I was taking the pictures, the one on the right peed on him! That's why he has such a funny face. I laughed that the chick would pick just that moment to pee on Sam!

The kids were all playing so well, totally entertaining themselves when Ashlyn came to tell me that Max had pt mud on Jace's head. I went out to the back, and they were all muddy. I said "Ashlyn, your mom is going to kill me because you all got so muddy." She looked at me and in a very serious matter-of -fact voice said "My mom doesn't like it when I get my new clothes muddy, and these are new clothes. You should have been out here watching us closer." Boy was she right! I guess I failed as a baby-sitter. But I gave them popsicles, so maybe that made up for it.

The sky was gorgeous tonight, and the weather was perfect. Those are the windmills up on the hill, that white line, and that is our chicken coop, the tan building with the red trim.

This was such a great night. Perfect weather, kids playing hard! At 9:00 p.m. It was still really light outside and all the kids were still playing, and Sam said "Mom, it's 9:00 and we are still all outside! This is great." It doesn't get dark here until 10:00 and the sun is up at 5:00 I love it!

Baby Girl!

Baby Emma! I can't believe that she is already 3 and 1/2 months old. She is growing so fast and has the most kissable fat cheeks ever. She reminds me so much of Sam that it is scary sometimes. She looks just like him when he was this age. I realize that I don't take near enough pictures of her, so today I decided to get some of her. She is certainly the best baby. She loves me to sing to her, and she will "sing" along with me. I love it! She laughs and coos and is so easy to make smile!






Max is always wanting me to take a picture of him holding Emma, I lost my SD card, and it's been a while since I have been able to take pictures, so we got him with her today.

This is my favorite picture of Emma on her blessing day! March 30, 2008. She was adorable.

Sam always wants to take pictures with the camera, so every once in a while I will get the camera and there will be these random pictures on it. I always know that it was him. So today I had him take a picture of Emma and me.

bt

There's too many kids in this tub!



There's too many elbows to scrub!

I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine!

There's too many kids in this tub!

This post is dedicated to my future brother-in-law, Garrett! Who thinks that I am obsessed with naked babies. I am not obsessed. They are just so cute and naked bathtub pictures are the cutest! Do I lie? My kids love bath time, and everyone loves it when Emma gets in the bath with them. Even Emma loves, loves, loves the bath.

My Favorite Things.....

Little girls in Pigtails!!!



Little boys who bring you
in a whole bunch of dandelions
because they think you deserve
them for being the best
mom that they have ever had
(funny, that you just happen to be the only
mom they have ever had!)













Sleeping babies who are angels when they are
asleep as well as when they are awake!







When one of your kids notices that one of the
others is sad, or sick, and they feel empathy
for them....

and try to kiss all their ills better. That is priceless,
and makes you feel like maybe they may turn out alright in the end.

Got Em!! Goats!!!

Mara with Nanny
Max with Mango!

Caleb trying to hold Molly!(Left) Happy Mothers Day to me!!!

So I guess we are finally the owners of four goats. A mom and her three kids. They are so adorable! I love them. I have wanted goats for so long! finally we have them. The littlest brown one Ryan named Mango. She is my favorite! She is a runt because the other two hog the milk from the mom, so she is half the size, but by far the cutest. The black one is Molly and the White one is Nanny. The mom was already named Bambi, so even though Ryan thinks it's a stupid name, we'll probably keep it. Besides, it's pretty cute how Mara says " 'mhere bambiiiii"

The kids were quite tramatized though, the old goat farmer who we bought them from, dehorned them when he got here and the little baby goats were crying and it sounded just like a human baby. I looked at Noah and he looked like he was about to cry. He and Caleb finally left, they couldn't stand it. I felt like leaving as well. It was errie how much it sounded like a human baby. They are fine now, and really I think that it was more tramatic that they were caught and not with their mom that they were crying, not so much that it hurt that bad.

Caleb is the goat wrestler! He gets in that pen and can catch the little ones! It's so funny. They are so fun, and they eat all our dandelions! a bonus for Ryan (since I tell him he can't spray them)

I can't wait until they are used to us and will let us play with them more. We just got them Saturday. In a matter of a week we have turned into quite the petting zoo, or as Ryan's mom says Old Mackoudas' Farm!

Mud Buds!

Saturday we were working in our yard all morning, and the boys must have gotten tired of me ordering them around because they disappeared and the next thing that I knew, I heard laughing and giggling and saw them all covered in mud and spraying each other. It's a good thing that they like each other since there is no one else to play with around here. I am glad there are four of them.

It was all fun and games until it was time to get cleaned off and then Ryan went out with the hose and squirted them all off. They didn't like that so much(actually they pretended not to like it, and screamed like little girls, but they really were having a great time, Ryan had the most fun) The water comes from a freezing cold well clear down in the earth. I came out after Ryan had already squirted off Noah and Max, and only caught him getting Caleb. I was laughing pretty hard, so the movie is kinda shakey. Good times!

Iwas looking out the window and saw a garbage can out by the sprinkler, and thought it was odd that Ryan didn't move the can before turning the water on. The sprinkler past the garbage can and all of a sudden I see the can lift up and legs peeking out from under it and walk around, then the sprinkler came around again and the legs disappeared again. It was really funny. Sam was under there trying to keep from getting wet.

Summer Lovin'!

It really isn't summer yet, but I am itching for it.
I think. I worked all day yesterday, and have a feeling that in order to get this place looking half-way decent, I am going to have to do that all summer long! As you can see even the grass needs lots of work. I have to say that putting in a yard at a new house is easier, because you don't have to tear down before you rebuild.

It was such a beautiful day here yesterday. In the morning it was slightly breezy, but warm and perfect for gardening. I was out all day, it was wonderful. The kids loved it too! Max and Mara wanted lunch outside, so we had a picnic. These pictures are my attempt at getting the dog and two kids to hold still for a picture. It was quite hillarious. Miya knocked over Mara and she was distraught. At this time she was also ready for a nap.

What a perfect moment! I had to speak in church on sunday and I talked about finding those perfect moments of motherhood and holding on to them for those times when you don't feel like you like being a mom or when your kids are stressing you out. This was definately one of those days. A day that I was truly and completely happy about being a mom of six.

Utah Trip!

April 25, 2008

Friday morning I left for Utah with Max and Mara and Emma. The older boys stayed home with Ryan to go to school. The younger kids were so good on the way down! The only struggle was having to stop for gas. The first time that I stopped was in Butte. What a fiasco. I got gas and took the kids to the bathroom, feed Emma and changed her from head to toe because she had pooped all over, got all the kids back into their car seats, and then Mara informed me that she had to go to the bathroom again. I had to undo everyone and go back into the store again, and put everyone back into their carseats again. Oh, how I wished I'd had a older kid with me! That stop took 45 minutes! The whole way down, Max was so excited to see his "best friend" Hayden! I was so glad that he got a chance to play with him. He is still talkimg about it. He has even named the knight that he jousts with "Doug"(that's Hayden's dad's name) When I went to pick him up, he told me that he was not foing back to Montana, he was staying to be Katie's boy. He told me he would obey Katie because she was nice. I was totally offended! I am nice. He said yeah, your nice, but your mean when I disobey! What a concept! Oh the minds of little boys!


Mara got to play with her cousin Hattie and we had a great time watching little girls play !

Emma got to meet her cousins! This is Camilla, the oldest grandchild on the Maughan's side, holding Emma, the newest grandchild my parents now have 19 grandchildren. 12 boys and 7 girls! Finally the girls are coming! We had such a great time!

Ryan, Sam, Noah and Caleb all came down on friday May 2, and I was so grateful to be able to drive home with someone. The drive is not bad at all when you have someone to talk too. We were so glad to go home and see family and friends, but we both decided that we love Montana and the space that there are not so many people. We love how beautiful the skies are and have decided that you all need to move up here, and then it would be perfect!

Rees' Ranch in Morgan

We had such a great time riding 4-wheelers at the ranch.Caleb and Max even had battery operated tractors and 4-wheelers to drive all by themselves. The girls all piled into the "John Deere" for a ride in the country. There is Sophie, Hallie and Mara. They had such a great time they rode the toys for hours until the batteries all died.

The pond at the ranch....what is it with boys and water? Sam and Curtis in the boat and Colin and Noah on the rock.

We spent all day saturday at the ranch. We saw the cows and chased some calves. We also got to see Miya's(our dog) mom and sister. The boys thought that was neat, and they got to shoot a "real" shot gun they loved it. We were so glad that we were invited and that it happened to be the weekend that we were down.