Cave Woman

We have some friends getting married this weekend. We've known the groom for years and his bride just moved to town a few weeks ago. She stayed with us her first week and I have been able to get to know her a bit. The groom asked me awhile back to help out with the wedding and I gladly agreed.

Tonight the guys had a bachelor party planned. They went prairie dog hunting on our ranch and then were planning to bbq and have a campfire. However, the wind is horrendous today so I offered up our home for the "cookout." And they took me up on it! They began to "invade" while I was trying to cut The Prairie Kid's hair. I quickly finished up, made a salad, grabbed some chips and a glass of water and a bunch of other items including the laptop and headed to the basement. So, I am "staying put" for the evening. Actually, it's 20 after 9 and the guys just starting eating dinner at about 9. The Prairie Daddy brought me a plate of potatoes and steak and some more water. : )

I turned my bedroom into the "wedding head quarters." Wanna know what happens when you lock a girl in her room with a box of pine branches, spools of ribbon, flowers, and scissors?

Yep, that once was my bedroom floor. You shoulda seen The Prairie Daddy's face when he first come down and found me out!

But I did accomplish much...24 tables' worth of centerpieces! That just saved me some time on Saturday! Here is a sample of what they are going to look like...expect they'll be in the middle of a table in an auditorium in Cody instead of on my bedroom carpet!

The ribbon is lavender, and there is ivory and olive green tulle hiding behind the pine but you cannot see it all that well in the pictures.

I did manage to get my hands, good sewing scissors, and gardening shears covered in sap. Good thing we have baby oil around! I guess I could either start on the arrangements for the bridal party table or clean up the big mess on my floor. Hmmm. Wish I had some chocolate in my cave. (Actually, I did have a little bit that I already ate so I cannot complain that much!)

Her First Cake

Do you remember I told you that I was the 4-H project leader for a friend's daughter? Well, we got together yesterday for her to decorate her first cake. It was the red velvet cake she made with me last time when we decorated Easter cookies.


I had a special occasion for her to decorate a cake for. I loved how willing she was to decorate her first cake for an occasion she wouldn't even get to be at. Hopefully I can save her a piece of it!

Here she is putting on the crumb coat. This was tough as the cake was so moist that chunks of it were starting to come off!

And then the final coat.

Ta-Da! Pretty good for a first time cake by a 5th grader!

Her choice for an accent color was purple. Great choice!

This is the trick I taught her to put her icing bag in an empty glass to fill with frosting and avoid getting the frosting all over the upper inside of the bag. Helps keep things clean when decorating.

Fluting the bottom...

Fluting the top...

Filling in the letters I spelled out for her...

And Wah-Lah! One happy girl and a great first cake!

Galaxy Finale

Last week was our last night for the Wednesday night program at church, Galaxy, until next school year. What a privilege it was to be able to coordinate such a program. I learned a lot, grew a lot, was challenged much, got to know such great people, and much more. For our final night with the kids we had quite a celebration. I put together a program for the parents so they could get a taste of what their kids were up to this year.
The Prairie Kid was in his first program! I wasn't sure how he'd do getting up in front of over 100 people; I know I wanted to throw up that I was the program's MC and had to use the mic and everything. But he was a rock star! Literally!

Here he is getting ready...

And here I introduced the "Stone Rolling Band"

And he could sing and play guitar simultaneously (wink, wink)

Break dancers are a little distracting!

It was a great night and I was so thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lord in this way this year. I will be coordinating the program again next year as well. I feel like this first year was my "training" and now I know what to expect!

On Saturday this past weekend we had another chance to serve God and other people. Our church has started a "CSI" program...Community Service Initiative. This was the second church-wide community service day that we've participated in. The difference this time was that we put together a project in our little town instead of driving to the town our church is in which is 30+ miles away. We contacted some local senior citizens and offered to do some yard work for them. We only had two families to work but we were able to accomplish quite a bit. We raked a double lot for a couple and worked in the yards of two widows. It was really neat to get to bless them this way.

Here is the crew working away...those pine trees dropped a lot of needles and cones!

The kids were such great helpers and had more endurance than I expected

Rebuilding irises for Ruth

Cleaning up Gene's yard

The Crew

The mission statement in our church is to love Jesus supremely, proclaim Him passionately, and serve others sacrificially. This was a great chance to serve. I hope to see these seniors again soon.

Did I Tell You I Love Comments?

Hey blog fans! This post is to let new readers know, and remind the old, that you can post comments to my posts! I love hearing from you all about how my little life on the prairie and my sacrifices as a mom of a resilient, creative little boy keep you laughing and entertained. Please, PLEASE post comments! I can even reply to your comment posts by leaving comments! How fun!

So, if you would, just click the underlined comments link at the bottom of a post and fill in the comment box with your name at the end of the comment (unless you have a Google account). Then, if you don't have a Google account select "Anonymous" and hit "Publish Your Comment."

Thank you! Happy commenting!

Fightin' Mad

This is a special post. A very special post. You will most likely find this fun, funny, hilarious, great, awesome, entertaining, wowing, etc. I, however, do not share those same feelings at this time. I am not sure that I have any idea when I will be able to share those feelings. Probably not as soon as I usually can share in those feelings after an "entertaining post event."

I cooked lunch for the cowboys today. They were preg checking cows, weaning and vaccinating calves. Since I knew this weekend that I would be in Billings all day Monday I decided to do my food prep on Sunday afternoon. Today all I had to do was stick stuff in the oven and frost the cake I made. I got the cake all frosted and pushed it back into the corner of the counter.

Later after showering I came upstairs to find that "someone" is tall enough to swipe their little fingers across cakes pushed into the corner of the counter.

This wasn't a big deal. It made me smile. I did a "quick fix" on it and we teased the vet that he would get the piece that The Prairie Kid got into (that would have been one big piece!)

So when I got home from the barn I had dishes to conquer. I thought that The Prairie Kid was outside with the dog. I didn't hear him playing inside. After I finished some of my dishes I went outside but didn't see him anywhere. I came in the house and hollered for him. No response. I knew he hadn't taken off again cause his boots were in the mudroom.

I went downstairs to find him and his bedroom light was on but I couldn't see him in there. I did find something suspicious on the floor though. Watch this video to see what I found...

Yep, that is toothpaste. A LOT of toothpaste. Smeared well into the recently cleaned carpet.

I realized The Prairie Kid was hiding in his house. I asked him calmly, "where is the toothpaste tube?"

"In your room."

Here, go on another video adventure with me....

After I calmly took my video I got angry. Angry that I would now have to figure out how the heck to clean up all this mess. I believe in kids solving their own problems but a 3 year old cannot take care of a mess of this magnitude.

I don't get mad, truly mad, very often. Thank God for His grace. And thank God for this blog, because I seriously saved my child extra wrath and preserved clean language in my thoughts by focusing on how I could present this stuff on my blog versus smoldering in thoughts about the incident.

I disciplined The Prairie Kid and made darn sure he knew not to move from the couch. I then Googled "how to get toothpaste out of hair" and was disappointed that there weren't brilliant answers to my inquiry. I went downstairs and smothered the carpet spots with carpet cleaner and went to get Fluffy.

Poor Fluffy. Not only is she not meant to mingle with toothpaste, she is not meant to bathe. I locked her and I together bravely in the bathroom and wrestled her like I've never wrestled before. It wasn't a pretty sight. If someone were around to video tape it I would have either won America's Funniest Home Videos or been arrested for animal cruelty. I have never given a cat a bath before in my life and I hope to never have to do it again. The noises coming out of her were wretched (and I made sure to go out and see that The Prairie Kid was listening to what he caused his poor kitty to suffer).

After the torture I let Fluffy hang out in the bathroom to dry off a bit. Poor Fluffy....

I put The Prairie Kid right to bed. And I made it clear I didn't want to hear a peep from him. I have never been this upset at my child. Thankfully, after a good nap time for him, a break and time with Abba Father for me, and a glass of wine I was feeling better.

Until.

The dog was in the house for a little while. I forgot that he was in when I went downstairs to check on Fluffy, who was allowed to stay in the house and wander around to get dry before going back out. I found her curled up on my bed (oh yeah, did I mention the toothpaste I found on the bed, which led to me having to remove and wash the duvet, change the sheets, scrub the carpet and scrub the dust ruffle?). I picked her up to bring her upstairs and put her out and as I exited my bedroom the dog came running for us...for the cat...and she responded with hissing and claws ready for attack. I kicked and shouted at the dog, trying to turn my body from him and get away. He was relentless. RELENTLESS. I kicked him several times (another animal cruelty charge is pending), almost tripped over and ripped my pants, and did what I could to no avail.

The cat freaked out and decided that I was a good target. She not only sunk a claw into my chest but also my shoulder and ripped my shirt! Can you believe this? I let her go, (okay, she repelled off of me with her claws as her anchor) and I grabbed the dog with fury. I whipped the dog upstairs and kenneled him fast. I couldn't retrieve the cat from the nooks of the storage room so she is still there, hours later. The Prairie Daddy took pics of my war wounds to prove I deserve a Purple Heart for Mommies of Prairie Kids and Animals.



The Prairie Daddy is being a single parent right now. He may be that for the rest of the night. I might hide away (in the nooks of the storage room) and feel sorry for myself. : )

Wow. What a day. I think I should go to bed early to reduce the risk of further "cat-astrophe." Hee, hee. I am cracking myself up.

Actually, I am well aware that my troubles are nothing in comparison to the real issues that many suffer with. At least it makes for an entertaining blog!

Spring Snow

The Prairie Kid played so nicely all morning. I rewarded him with a movie. He also got some popcorn. I was working in the office on some thank you notes toward the end of his movie and never knew that not only was it snowing outside, but it was also snowing inside.

Don't all kids love to roll around in the snow?

After the fun and games he got to clean up his mess.

And then I sent him to bed early for his nap as a consequence. Now it is popcorn and movie time for The Prairie Daddy and Mama since it is snowing. The only difference will be that we won't get sent to bed for throwing popcorn and our movie isn't rated G!

My "Little" Baby

I am not sure I will ever get over how fast these little people in our lives change and grow! Again, I am asking "how?" Where does time go? This post is recent pics of The Prairie Kid...this is my baby...when did he get so big?

Cutie Big Boy ready for church last week

After working with Daddy outside

Goofer

Really Goofy

The World's Cutest/Most Ferocious Lion

And The World's Cutest Lion Backside

And this morning we found our "little" baby trying to swing in the baby swing stored in one of the guest rooms!

Little Actor

What was really funny was a little later we heard him yell and cry out and The Prairie Daddy went upstairs to check on him and he couldn't get out!

I know I can't stop him from growing or slow time down so for now I will just cherish the moments!