December was a pretty busy month! We started it with a trip to northern MT to visit Chuck's Aunt V and see some friends and pick up my new dog. We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone! I was really bad about taking pictures, so the only ones i got were of deer and elk. Go figure. LOL!

On our way home. VERY very cold at this elevation! 4 below zero when i took this pic!
A deer out in front of the Slaybaugh's house


A huge herd of 400+ elk between Kalispell and Bozeman



Then my birthday came. I turned 25 AGAIN this year! 26 sounds too old and too grown up, so i'm sticking with 25 for a couple years! My sister came up and watched the boys for us and we were supposed to go to Parsons Christmas party (the company Chuck works for) but we decided that going to see New Moon would be MUCH more fun! The movie was GREAT, and it was so nice to get out and be Chuck and Crystal and not Mom and Dad for a couple hours! Although, i dont think my sister will be watching the boys again anytime soon. One kid was running around the house like a crazy person, the other one screamed at her for a while, and Trip had a cut on his face from getting to know the new dog and it decided to rupture and bleed all over too! It was NOT a good night for her!

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is all the Christmas special shows that are on TV all month. We've always joked that Wade is our little Linus (from Peanuts) because he has a blue nigh'night that he drags EVERYWHERE, and he sucks his thumb. So i just could NOT resist taking this picture! It's my favorite part of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and my little boy loved it too!

Wade just loves to go out and help Chuck and I get wood for the stove. One night Chuck went out to get wood, and next thing i know, Wade has his boots on over his pajamas and is running outside in the snow! It was REALLY cold so the snow was that fluffy powder and Chuck kicked some on Wade. He didn't think it was very funny! Lol!

December was an extremely COLD month for us up here in the arctic tundra! My laundry room is in the mudroom off the back of the house. That room was added on to the original house and whoever did it didn't insulate it, so that room gets frigid cold in the winter. Well it was SO cold that the pipes to my washing machine and the washer itself froze the week we got back from Montana. It broke something in my washer so it doesn't work right anymore. So not only did i have tons of dirty laundry from being on vacation, now i couldn't even WASH it! Thank goodness for mothers that have extras of everything! We got a washing machine from my mom, and i'm ALMOST caught up on laundry now! lol!


Do you see the little yellow box on my computer screen in this pic? That box is the Weather Channel thing we have that tells us the temp outside. It says NEGATIVE 22 degrees! THAT is why my washing machine froze! Lol!

December has been a fun month with Wes. He's learning to talk and smile and even almost laughing! And, of course, growing like crazy! I love my chunky little baby!

He's starting to really notice things and was totally enthralled by Chuck's shiny belt!

My little roly poly man after a bath!



One of the reasons we went up to MT was to get my new dog. I've been wanting to get into bird hunting, but Chuck didn't really have an interest in it, and as smart as Trip is he is a bit gun shy so he wouldn't be much of a bird dog! But over Thanksgiving Chuck took some old friends from MT deer hunting in Idaho. One of the guys has bird dogs for trials and wanted to get rid of one. So we ended up with a really great dog! He's a four year old german short hair pointer. He made himself right at home when we got him back here, and is part of the family already! He even sleeps in Wade's bed with him at night! He's a pretty good bird dog too!


Me and Tug on our first hunt together!
This is where Tug thinks he belongs!

December has been so cold this year that we've been able to get out on the ice and fish sooner than we usually would. Wade is old enough now to really get into it and enjoy it, so Chuck has been taking him with him a lot. Which is really nice for me. I forgot how much easier it is to get stuff done (or get a nap in...) with just one kid in the house! lol!


Got one!


Waiting patiently!


I think i got one! (By the way....that hole isn't as big and kid-swallowing as it looks. It freaked me out at first too, but really it's a little hole with lots of slush and water on top of it because it was so warm that day!)

Chuck has been out fishing with some friends too, and caught a couple of pretty good ones. He brought home a couple and cooked them one night, and they were pretty tasty. For fish....lol!


We always take Trip with us. He looks kinda chilly is this picture!


Our friend Tejay caught this cool native!

One of Chucks fish

So that's our December! I'll do Christmas in another post!!

Kitchen Project!

One day i decided i was going to paint over the weird green color that was in my kitchen. Chuck had taken down the ugly paneling that was in there and replaced it with barn wood, then the ugly green was the rest of the way up. ALLLLLL i wanted to do was paint the green with the same tan that is in the living room. That's it. Just paint. But noooooo. I mention it to Chuck and he says if i'm going to paint, we might as well do it right! SO down came the barn wood, down came the paneling in the hallway, the wall paper border, all the trim, everything. Then we have to re-texture everything too...gotta love 1940's lathe and plaster walls! lol!

Re-texturing was a pain in the butt. We had our good friend Jason come help so it didn't take us nine years to finish it! Meanwhile, i'm waiting very patiently to PAINT.

This is what was behind the paneling in the hallway. LINOLEUM? Seriously?


Buh-bye ugly green!
You can see over on the right the lathe and plaster that was behind the wood, and why we had to re-texture!


Wade was SO much help!

Messy boys taking a break!

Sasquatch...err....Jason helping us texture!

Texured and ready for a coat of Kilz!

No more green! And that wood box between the stove and fridge is our garbage box. Looks kind of neat, but is kind of a pain in the butt. Garbage seems to miss the can a lot when it's hidden!

No more ugly paneling in the hallway!

Kinda bright orange!

I really like the barnwood trim! Jason even made a switch cover out of it! It's good to have carpenter friends! lol!



When they were done and i finally got to paint, i was about sick of the project! I wanted my kitchen back, i was sick of the dust and the mess, i had a halloween cake to make and Wade's birthday cake i SHOULD have made. The excitement of a new color on the walls had lost it's intrigue. I just wanted it DONE at that point! But i started painting anways. After i finished painting, Chuck and Jason used the barnwood and made trim out of it. I picked a fall colors bird hunting theme for my kitchen. Unorthodox, i know, but it fits us! I think it actually turned out pretty good! The orange i picked is WAY more pumpkin orange than i wanted. It sort of blinds you at first, but you get used to it and can eventually take off the sunglasses in the house! lol! Someday when i get another sudden impulse to change the color of my walls, i plan on putting a darker glaze on the orange to tone it down. I have no idea how this technique works, but i'm sure i'll figure it out! And HOPEFULLY Chuck wont turn it into a huge project when i do it! :D

November

I'm getting so far behind on my blog i think i'll just catch up on everything once a month! I'm a little late for November, but here's what we were up to!

First of all, my little boy turned three years old on November 5th! It's simply amazing to me that i have been a mom for more than three years now! It's even more amazing to me how much this tiny little baby turned into my big boy!

Wade- 4 months

We had all our family and a bunch of friends over to the house for chili for Wade's birthday. He had tons of fun opening presents and eating cake! The week before the party we remodeled our kitchen, so i didn't have a chance to make him a cool cake. Crazy, i know! Chuck actually ended up decorating his cake while i cooked! He did a great job. It was a belt buckle that said "Mutton Bustin' Champ" on it! His big present this year was his bow. He is facinated watching me and Chuck shoot ours, so we figured he'd enjoy one of his own. Now he has his own little Bear Scout bow and he LOVES it! It's so much fun to let him shoot with us! He walks around like he's so big and cool with it!




Then, of course, we had Thanksgiving! I made pumpkin pies to take to my aunt Lisa's house for dinner. Wade just LOVES to help me mix things, so that was his job! A huge bowl of pumpkin pie mix, a big spoon and he's a happy boy!


Dinner at my aunts was great! It's always fun to get together with family and good food!

Wade hanging out with uncle Carson, watching some football!

My little Wesser man!

My new baby boy learned how to smile! It's just one of the sweetest things you've ever seen! His little eyes scrunch up and his whole body wiggles when he smiles! And he's got the same big huge wide-open-mouth smile that his big brother does! I just love it!! It was really hard to catch him smiling on camera, but i DID get him sneezing! lol!


I love seeing the differences and similarities in my boys as Wes grows up. Wade never was really chubby. He was always in the low percentiles for weight and really high percentiles for height. But Wes is my little chunky guy! I just love his chubby legs and chubby arms!