This is me as a baby, and I just thought I'd prove that one of my kids looks something like me. Wyatt has my nose, and chins.

What's Goin' On Up There?!

I love Wyatt's surprised look. When he looks up you can see his little skinny neck under his big jowls.

Here I Am!

This was just another incident where Ezra was demonstrating my lack of skill with power tools. I put child locks on a while back, and they are 100% inefective. As seen here.

Loving them to death. I think she ws wishing for death at this point....

Can I Help?

Again, this is another reason it takes longer to do stuff. This is nosy Sniff.

Lights, Camera, Action!

You wouldn't believe the trouble I actually went to for this picture. My camera was on the other side of the counter from me, and I would have had to walk past Ezra to get it, in which case he would have seen me, and left the cat alone. So, I crawled over the counter, and then laid on the floor peeking around the corner to get this picture.
I hope you all appreciate the picture, because I've got bruises on my knees!

Check Please!!!

Ezra almost always gets a healthy breakfast, and I figure that he's probably a little tired of scrambled eggs. So, this morning I decided to give him a treat. Banana and Lucky Charms. The banana was to make me feel like I wasn't feeding him straight sugar and he ate it like he always does. The Lucky Charms were an entirely different story. He ate the cereal part, and then licked the marshmallows and stuck them to his face. He's not a wimpy kid at all, but he hates to have his hands sticky, so you can see where this was going. I couldn't wash him quick enough, and for once he wasn't thrilled to have his picture taken.

This right here, Ezra clinging to my legs, and tripping over cats, is why I don't get anything done. My phone was ringing, and I couldn't take a step! As much as I like having pets, they don't speed anything up.

It's been quite a while since I just posted some random thoughts and a little bit of an update on our day-to-day life.
I think it's actually been since before our Spokane trip. So, here goes.
We are pretty much doing the same things that we were a while back. The boys are settling into the house pretty well, although I just moved Wyatt to his own room today, so we'll see how the night goes. I'm not too worried, he's a trooper.
We got two cats, Scratch and Sniff. Sorry, there was no prize for picking the names. It kinda fit them, because Scratch, the little yellow one is feisty, and Sniff is VERY nosy. I told Ben on our way home from picking them up that I felt like a normal person again, and he looked at me like I was just some crazy cat lady. Later, after he'd been watching them he said that he understood what I meant. It's been two years since either one of us has had a pet (the fish I killed don't count). We are both pet people, and it just seems to complete the picture. Now all we've got to do is acquire a couple thousand dollars in credit card debt and we'll be living the American dream..........
We are hoping to get to Spokane for New Years to see everyone, but at the moment it looks a little iffy. My dear old car is sick. Really, 247,889 miles and now it's gonna quit? I love my car. It was my first car, and it's been good to me. I'll put a picture of my beloved car on one of these days.
We are excited for Christmas, but a little sad too. It will be hard not to be with our families, but hopefully this is the last year it will be this way. Lots of pictures and phone calls are in the near future.....
I hope this caught everyone up a little, and that you could follow my scattered train of thought. I'm sure I'll post again soon.......... The Big Red Mama

This is Scratch. She is a little stand-offish, but really pretty. I guess pretty girls really do get away with being mean....

This is one of my favorite parts of having cats.... Having them snuggle with you when you're watching T.V.

Life On The Edge

This is the friendly kitty, Sniff. She's not so smart, and got very wet just moments after I took this picture.

Ezra is loving them. He wants to hold them all the time, and now has decided that he wants to hold everything smaller than him, including Wyatt. I'll get pictures of that pretty soon....

Aint Nothin Like The Real Thing Baby

This was Wyatt's first taste of solid food. He wasn't such a huge fan, but hopefully it will convince him that he's full.

These are the two new kids in the house.

They don't have names yet, so if anyone has suggestions leave a comment!! They are both females, and I'm horrible with girl names.

Crazy Cat Lady...

I am the official "Cat Lady" in the neighborhood.

My sister put it very well, Ezra might actually love them to death.

Melt Down....

I never thought I'd be one of those moms who locked their kids out side. Turns out, I am. I understand it now too, some times you just need a few less obstacles in the kitchen. We had plenty with out kids yesterday. For example, there wasn't enough oil to fry the turkey, so Ben had to go to the store. We wound up not eating until three hours later than we'd planned. Both boys were getting cranky by then end of the day, and voicing what everyone else was feeling, but too polite to say out loud. We had very gracious company who never complained or cried, or threatened to leave.

All in all it was a pretty good day, and a definite learning experience. I learned, I need my mom to help me. Or at least remind me to thaw the turkey.....

A Watched Turkey Never Cooks.....

Well, I said I'd post to let everyone know how it went. We're still waiting to find out. Yea, an hour and half after we were supposed to have been eating, we're still waiting on the bird. Not because this one was frozen, but because there wasn't enough oil, and Ben had to go to the store... Thankfully everyone is being very patient, and not crying, or yelling, or even drinking heavily.

Again, I'll post later to let ya know how it actually turns out.

Forgetful Me

This is how we spent our day-before-Thanksgiving. Climbing insane amounts of stairs. We went to Mt. Rushmore with Tim and Ashley, and Tim's parents. You can't see it in this picture, but there are LOTS of stairs. A little over a half mile of them actually. That might not seem that bad, but strap a couple kids to your body and you've got yourself a heck of a workout.

Most people would probably be home, cleaning, getting food ready, but not me. I was out hiking and forgetting that you can't thaw a turkey overnight. Yeah, I forgot the turkey. I know I know, TURKEY DAY!!!!!!!!!! Who forgets the turkey?! It all worked out, because the turkey that I'd bought to begin with turned out to be much too big for the frier (I'd like to point out that this was not actually my fault) and we had to get a smaller one anyway. So, as they say, all's well that ends well. I'll post soon and let you know if it ends well.

Dress Up

This is what Ezra would look like if I let him dress himself. This is actually a car-seat cover for Wyatt, but don't try to tell Ezra that.

I let him get a little frustrated trying to figure it out on his own, and it's kinda cute.

House Keeping

Ezra loves to help me with whatever I'm doing, and being my Swiffer man is a good job for him. He is very interested in the vacuum, but it makes that job REALLY slow when he helps.

The swiffer breaks down and I can make it a perfect size for him, and he loves it.

I'm sure there are plenty of comments I could make about him going to work for the government someday, but I'll leave those to your imaginations....

Typical.....

This is just the sun setting over Rapid City. I think it's really pretty. If you look at the horizon really closely, and compare it to the last picture, you can kind of guess as to where Rushmore would be.

One of these days I'll actually have my camera around when I'm getting up, because the sun-rises here are beautiful as well.

Room With A View

So I keep saying that you can see Mt. Rushmore from my house, I though I'd put a picture on here to prove that I'm not as crazy as some might like to think (Ben).

I took this out my dining room window yesterday. The little red circle is Rushmore. I promise. If I thought I'd actually get the film developed sometime this year, I'd take a picture with my 35mm, with the zoom so you could actually see it.
I can see myself investing in a telescope soon.

The Order Of Things

This is how pictures are taken here. One of Wyatt (or whatever else I want a picture of), then One with Ezra's hand reaching for the camera, then half his face, then him very close up, and yet another picture of him even closer.

Buddies

Wyatt is becoming a very happy little floor dwelling baby, and Ezra is like it. He can kiss him, or use him as a pillow whenever he wants to. Fortunately Wyatt is alright with both of those things.

You though I was joking about the pillow thing didn't you?

Sittin' And Spinnin'

This is actually Ezra's toy, but so far he hasn't figured out how to use it. He's not quite strong enough to spin it himself, but he likes to sit on my lap and let me spin us.

Ashley decided it looked like a good toy for her, but almost vomited after not very long. Funny how kids can do stuff like this for hours and not get sick, but you hit that "grown-up" mark, and everything changes.

Prelude To A Nap

Naptime is very important to us. Thankfully Ezra likes naps, and is very willing to take them. They haven't been coming early enough for him these days, and he's barely making it through lunch.

Our Friend

This was this morning, before it started snowing. Gregory came out to say hello, and Ezra was pretty excited to see him.

The Fam

Here is Aunt Meredith (on the right) , and Aunt Debi (on the left) with Wyatt. He was a pretty big hit with the aunts and cousins.










Wyatt was also a hit with uncles, especially 'Fantastic Uncle Mike'. Ben's uncle doesn't want to be a "Great" -I think it sounds too old... So 'Fantastic' it is.

Ezra's Harem

Here is Aunt Amy, and Ezra. Amy and Alicia had a little competition to see who could buy Ezra's love. Amy and the M&M's were working well, until Alicia swept in and let him play with her camera- something he doesn't get to do at home.

We actually got him to say 'Amy', or something sort of like it. I'm sure she won't mind being called Mimi. I can see a gift of blue eye shadow in her future....



This is Alicia, and of course that's Ezra with her. Alicia is a little harder to say than Mimi, but she tried hard to get it out of him. Just look at his little blue stained lips from all the candy....

Wyatt's Harem

This is Wyatt with Shannon. They are so different. He's quite solid, and she's shall we say, petite? I'm sure she'll be able to hold her own though. I guess that's the difference in having big parents or not.

This is Meredith holding Wyatt, and her niece, (Wyatt's cousin) Leah. Leah is almost six months, and so much fun. She is quite the flirt.

This is the Clifford/Abston/Farrar family, or at least what would fit in the living room of Ben's parents. Unfortunately we were all together for Max (Papa) Abston's funeral. He passed away Monday after quite a long battle with more than one health issue. It was a bittersweet gathering, and we miss him dearly.

We don't actually have a picture of Papa, but you can look at Alicia's blog if you like. Because I'm still relatively new to this, I'll just have to add a link here. http://www.aliciadiane-myadventures.blogspot.com

Big Star

You can't see it, but this is a star that Wyatt is wearing. It was Ezra's, and now it's finally cooling off enough for Wyatt to wear it. It's so cute, he looks like Boo from Monsters Inc.

Yum! Cotton!

I've posted plenty of pictures of Ezra being chubby, well, this is how it happens. There was peanut butter on his shirt. So he tried to eat the shirt. We're fortunate not to have a picky eater. He's got about two things he doesn't like, and they aren't something that he'll die if he doesn't eat. Jello, which if you ask my dad is like eating scabs before they are crusty.... and mushrooms. That one is Ben's little quirk. They both pick out the tiny pieces from cream of mushroom soup, and nobody's ever even told Ezra that they were icky. I guess he's just observant. When he was little(er) and every time he put a bite in his mouth would say "Yum!" you could hand him a mushroom and he'd pop it in his mouth, gag and say "Yum!" while he was spitting it out. At least he's mostly polite.

" !!!"

I absolutely love this picture. There was a bunny (not Gregory, but a friend of his) down next to me, and Ezra was very excited about it. Obviously. He's started watching our neighbors dog (so have I really, she's a bloodhound, and VERY cute) so now when he see's the rabbits, he barks at them. He's had a little bit of a cold the last few days, so now when he barks it sounds like we had his 'bark' removed. It's really funny.

This is just a random picture of Wyatt. I like it because he was holding his toy himself, which is a pretty recent thing.

I know, he's in the swing a lot in these pictures, but believe it or not, he doesn't live there. As I've said before, it's a safe place.

Oh yeah, another thing I like about this picture, you can see a little bit of hair! He's very bald like Ezra was, but without the tufts on his ears.

Hangin' With The Boys

As I've mentioned before, Ezra likes to play with Wyatt's toys. He doesn't fit so well, but he tries hard.

Wyatt is starting to sit up on his own a bit, as you can see in this picture. He isn't very stable yet, and falls forward a lot. He'll grab hold of the toys in front of him and pull, but then can't get back to where he started.

A Friend Called Gregory

As far as I know, these are Partridges. I've never seen a bird like this before, and the folks who lived here before said they lived under the porch. (the birds, not the former residents) There is also a little bunny that lives under the porch, but he's too shy to get a picture of just yet. I've decided to call the bunny Gregory. Ezra was chasing him in the back yard earlier today. I think it won't be long before Gregory is more of a pet than anything. He actually hung around and let Ezra get close enough to stay interested in chasing him. Every now and then he comes up on the porch and looks in the windows, and I can't help but think that maybe Gregory is lonely too.

A Future In Rodeo? I Hope Not

Wyatt has started trying to sit up on his own, and like everything he does, it's cute. It looks to me like the swing is out of control, and he's just looking to make his eight seconds.

Bite Me

Again, he's too cute. I'm sure he already knows it too. I can't help but tell him all the time. It's either tell him he's cute, or bite his chubby cheeks. It sounds weird I know, but just wait 'till you all meet him. He's bite-able. I've never seen fat be so cute.

Ezra loves hats, and looks kinda cute in them too. I think he looks a lot like Ben in this picture.

His Goose Is Cooked

I can't wait to get my child locks on.... Need I say more?

Daddy Time

Ezra was talking to Ben and looked way too cute. He's got a lot of words, nobody knows what they are yet though...