My Cowgirl in the Making

This girl loved the rodeo. She wanted to see all the animals. She wanted to pet the bulls. 

That was actually how I almost got french kissed by that bull. She was petting him. 

She asked for Daddy's hat and then hollered, "Yee-Haa!" While waving it around. 

Now if we can just keep her away from the likes of these guys in about 14 years…. 

Yikes! I don't even want to think about it! 

You Soccer Moms Got Nothing on ME ~ or ~ What Happened to May??

Two posts. That's all I got.

As in, that's all I had for May. 

My personal worst! Like going back to the days I started these Ramblings! 

So, this is writer's block?
Kind of. But mostly I've just been busy.
Crazy busy. 

And that means I was driving. A lot. 

So, I thought I would share. 

• Jr high track practice.  No really. This meant that Lulu wasn't riding the bus home so I had to go down and pick her up at 5 pm. Everyday.

Total time spent: 1-1.5 hours 

Total mileage: 50 

• Jr high track meets. Most all track meets in this area are held in the northern town of Cut Bank. They have the best track. And the worst weather.

I don't know how you figure the windchill factor, but I totally believe this penguin. Penguins know about this stuff, especially the Giant Northern Penguins of Cut Bank. Plus, I've only been in Cut Bank, like twice when it wasn't windy. And by windy, I'm talking 40+ mph with gusts up to 80 mph. The chart doesn't even go to 80 mph! Seriously, I've seen it! I've seen my 2 year old's feet come off the ground. It's happened. 

Total time: all day with departure time 6:15 am

Total Mileage:  210

• Softball. Just before track ended, Bean decided to go out for Softball. This is a sweet little girl who has never shown the slightest inkling of wanting to do anything with sports. I was so excited! She learned real quick the phrase, "Softball, ain't nothing soft about it!" She was hit in the head more than once in those first days of practise. She got to the point that she just wanted to quit.

 But she stuck it out and stayed true to her commitment. They practiced Tuesdays and Thursdays, in the evenings. Games were Mondays and Wednesdays, and were stretched out all over. So instead of clearing up my schedule, it really just got crazier.

Total Time: 4 to 6 hours
Total mileage: 50 to 210

But, even though schools been out for over a week, we are heading into our last week of sports… (Well, sort of!) We have softball tournaments this week (so far they are undefeated!) and basketball camp too.

Does it ever really end?
I hope not!
This Mama's having a heck of a lot of fun!

Z is for Zebra Wearing Sneakers and the Rodeo Queen

She's a wild thing, this one. She likes to jump and climb and climb and jump.

This is the zebra that her older brother got from Grandma for his first birthday. 

It's still a hit with the Little Tykes! She was about 18 months here. 

She was jumping and singing. A real show stopper. 

She's gonna be a big hit in the Rodeo! 

~~~~~

And with this, I breath a big sigh of relief! 

I did it! I made! I completed the A to Z challenge! 

Oh my goodness! I need a nap!

(another Z word… zzzzzzzzzz)

 I also want to thank and welcome all the great bloggers I met there. 

It was so fun seeing how everyone approached this challenge. I've got some ideas for next year! 

Thanks to everyone who dropped in, poked around, and commented. 

I hope to see more of y'all!

X Marks the Spot

A while ago my twelve year old drew a bunch of maps of a mythical land. They where very cool.

Then, the other day, while coming home from track practice, she started telling me about a story she wanted to write. She had it memorized! She wasn't just telling me about it, she was quoting it!

We live out of town and it takes thirty minutes to get home. Lulu talked the whole way! I wasn't just floored, I was impressed!

I told her she needed to start writing it. When we got home, I showed her some of my old creative writing journals. She doesn't have a lot of time with school and sports, but maybe this summer we can have a home based writing project!

X marks the spot. {She spells like I do!} 

Then she showed me the drawings she had done of the caricatures and the map of the land.

She's so creative. It will be so fun to see what she does with it all.

I is for Independent

This child is the most independent kid I ever knew. 

Except maybe for her sister. 

And for me, when I was a kid. 

I guess we breed independent women in our family. 

Not at all a bad thing. I'm not apologizing. I'm just saying. 

So she likes to push the kitchen chairs around in order to get what she wants. In this case, she didn't eat her lunch. I was in the process of putting the leftovers way, but had gotten sidetracked. 

The next thing I know, she has helped herself. 

Everyone knows it's so much better when you get it yourself. 

But it's also nice to share. 

Mommy didn't want it. I'll make it for them because the like it, but I'm not eating that!

Now she thinks she needs another spoon. 

Apparently this is how she got the big spoon in the first place. 

I don't think so! I don't think so. 

Embracing the Camera

I'm taking pictures of me and them. Lulu was the only one to question why. 

Because it gives you pictures of me, I say.

I'm always taking pictures, but am rarely in them myself. 

I need to document myself before I'm so old I don't recognize myself! 

~~~~

As you can see, Bear is quite the ham.

The Day Keith Richards Stole The Playground Pirate Flag

Getting ready for the Rich and Famous is a lot of work. Although, the Rich seem to be harder once they are here then the Famous. The Famous usually have a staff who informs the Resort of all the things that must be ready and in their cabin for them to be happy. The Rich, aren't necessarily famous and they haven't quite figured out that if they give the Resort a list of needs before hand, they would have far less to complain about once they reach their destination. 

The best complaint I've heard of was: "The rocks outside my cabin are dirty. Can you please send housekeeping up here to clean them." I kid you not. 

The longest list of requests was from the Rolling Stones. We were busting our butts to get ready for them.

Did you know that they have Casablanca lilies wherever they go. As the in-house florist, I got to do the flowers for their rooms. However, Casablanca's have a vary strong scent. Not everyone wants that smell in their room. Some of the arrangements HAD to have Casablanca's and some of them had to have ANYTHING BUT. I can so see them fighting over the placement of the flowers. There were Casablanca's back stage as well. Someone really loves their Stinky Flowers, as do I! 

Jolly Rodger on the beginning of
Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Now the tale I will share didn't happen at our current Guest Ranch, no, we used to work and live at a ranch outside of Missoula Montana. When the Rolling Stones performed at MSU they stayed at our ranch. And however stressful it was to prepare for our special guests, they were by far, the most fun group to have stayed with us. They didn't want to leave. We didn't want them to go.

During this time, the kids in the employee housing had a playground between their homes. And one of the families had a big Jolly Rodger. A homemade pirate flag that they hung on the fort of the swing set.

Now most of the guest lodging was on the other side of the Blackfoot River. But there was one beautiful home over looking the river that was just below our houses. Keith Richards was there. When housekeeping went out to make up the room after the first night, there was a Jolly Rodger hanging over his door. Pandaemonium struck. Radios were cracking and phones were ringing. Finally my Darling Adventure Man called me and asked, "Did Keith Richards take the Pirates Flag off the playground???"

I had no idea! I looked out the back door to see. It wasn't there! Where was the flag? Adventure Man said that housekeeping said that it was over the River House! 

OMG! THAT IS SO STINKING COOL! By all means! Keith Richards CAN steal the kids Jolly Rodgers! What a great story that would make….

As it turns out, the Mom who made the flag, and who's boys it was, took it down that day. The playground flag had been lowered that day. Probably out of respect for the legend on the banks of the river, who apparently always travels with a pirate flag and flies it where ever he goes. 

But Keith loved the story. And that our kids played under the Jolly Rodgers, as well. 

Jr High Basketball

The last 2 months have been crazy! 

CRAZY! 

My daughter was on the Jr high basketball team. 

That has meant I have been driving. 

A lot! 

 I estimate that I drove about 2100 miles in the last month and a half. 

They were a really good team. They came in 3rd over all. 

I'm so proud! 

It was worth ever mile!  

The Dollhouse Diaries

When I was a kid my Dad made me a dollhouse. It was beautiful and huge and he hand shingled the top and wired it for electricity and had a handmade staircase and…. well, it was just really special. But when we were newly married and living in a little town home and had our first sweet baby girl, they brought it all the way out to Utah to us with all the beautiful (and expensive) furniture. Shortly after that my niece who was a toddler reached in the front door and broke the staircase. It was just too delicate to have with such little kids around. Plus, it was huge!

We sold it in a yard sale. It was one of the hardest things I've ever gotten rid of. 

For some reason I thought I had gotten rid of the furniture too. But the other day my Mom called and asked if she could send it to my older girls. At first I said no! Because I'm always trying to get rid of stuff! But then I started thinking. 

Lulu still likes to play with dolls sometimes. And this stuff is fun to just set up and move things around. She has her own room here but it's really small and most of the toys have been put in the other kids room's. She has complained about not having anything to play with. Or she takes thing into her room and has to take it all back to put it away. I had a DVD shelf in the living room that I couldn't keep DVDs on anymore because Bunny was getting into them. Lulu could use that to set up the furniture! 

Lulu loved the idea, and she asked if I would take pictures of them and share them on my blog! Well, of course I loved that idea! And it's so fun to see the way she sets up the sines and the memories they hold for me! 

So this is the start of the Dollhouse Diaries! 

It's just us having some fun! 

Today, Mama is making dinner down in the kitchen. 

(The lower shelf)

 While Grandma, Grandpa and Papa visit in the parlor. 

Apparently they are discussing their next world travel. 

Grandma is sitting by the fire, which Lulu made herself and put one in every room! So cozy!

The children are playing in their room. The poor little boy had a mishap (see the crutch Lulu made him from toothpicks? Tiny Tim anyone?) before my children learned how delicate the dolls were. 

They are 30 years old after all!  (Oh my! Really???) 

 I wanted to share the master bedroom aswell. Lulu hung a picture of Christ on the wall and she also put the kitchen sink in the corner. That's going to make it kind of hard for Mama to clean up after supper. However, it will make heading off to bed much easier. 

Next time we will share the bathroom! I know you just can't wait! 

Hope you enjoyed our Dollhouse Diaries! 

Fall Concert in Little Town

The Fall Concert was this week. My Lulu is in choir. She loves it! I'm so happy because I was in choir.

Since I was in 4th grade, I have sung in a choir. Well, up through high school anyway. I'm not all that musically inclined and I'm sad to say that none of my kids have had much music lessons either, so band was a little much for her. But choir is fun. And she loves it! And that's all that matters to me!

I wanted to share the night and thought it would be fun to Embrace the Camera at the same time. So here is me and Bunny waiting for it to start. 

Our school is small and the high school and Jr high are in the same building. So the concert included both schools. First the Jr high choir sang, then the high school choir. Next the the Jr high band performed followed by the high school band. Everyone did so great. It was such a great night. 

Bear and Bean, and "baby Dinosaur, Sophie" being so well behaved. For the most part! 

Jr High Choir. They did so great for their first concert! I'm so proud!

Jr High Band. I'm so impressed with these kids! They must put a lot of time in to practicing. And I know so many of them do sports too! Way to go!

And Lulu, it was her night after all! I just can't get over how fast she is growing! She is an inch shorter than me and her feet are bigger! (That's good because I got most of my shoes back… most of them anyway!)

The Tack

Welcome to the tack shed! I just know you folks were thinking how much you love that old smell of worn leather. Man, I love the smell of it in here. I don't want to keep it all to myself, so I thought I would give you a little look-see before we pack it all up for the winter. 

 It looks as if there have been some others who think it's a pretty neat spot! These nest have been here for awhile. 

The staff has been oiling up the saddles and getting them all ready to be stored for the winter. This is our last week of guests and this group isn't riding. 

So I guess I wasn't being quite honest about the number of cowboy boots I have! Na, they aren't mine. We rent these to the guests for the week. Kind of reminds me of a bowling alley. Only you need a helmet if you're under 18 and we aren't tossing balls at pins, so I guess it really doesn't! 

Hanging the cinches out to dry.  

This is where they go. On the wall next to the bridles and harnesses. 

Why yes, those are cow bells! We put them around the necks of the horses who might like to hide from the wranglers in the morning when they go fetch them off the mountain. I think it's a good way to make sure that a few of the horses are humbled and humiliated by their peers. I love the sound of it when they run past the house in the morning. Although I have been known to dream of cows a lot! 

And all the hats are hung. 

 It's been a good season! Thanks for stop'n by!

 

Bunny in the Garden

Bunny wants to go into the garden. 

She pulls on the gate until I come and unlatch it. 

And she's off! 

She loves it in here and wants to show me everything she finds. 

I go grab a few stems of chard for lunch. (Sshhh! Don't tell the cook!)

This isn't my garden (Even though it's in view of my kitchen window)! 

It's the Ranch's garden. 

The organic veggies they grow here are served to the guests. 

But they have a lot of swiss chard, I love swiss chard!

Bunny comes to get me. 

She wants me to see something.

Is it the onions?

No, not the onions.

Where are we going? 

Oh, is it the squash?

No, not the Squash. 

Is it the rhubarb?

No, not the rhubarb. 

By the way, I have been told to take as much rhubarb as I want! 

It's been taking over this garden for as long as 

the ranch has been planting here! 

~~~~~

What the heck do you make with rhubarb??? 

What was I doing? Oh yeah, Bunny! 

What did you find?

A ladybug! How Fun!

There were a few beds left unplanted this year and I'm thinking I will ask for one next year as a family plot. We were just too busy this year… will next year be better… probably not! Ha!