Cuteness

I can't believe I caught this

My old man

No, no, not Tony.

Kandeaux has never wintered well. Each year he gets older and older and each spring he is skinnier and skinnier. The vet was out and gave him a clean bill of health, all but the fact that he's loosing his teeth. So since they don't make equine dentures, Deb (who owns the stable) has put him on some different feed and has been hand grazing him in the field. He is in good hands. There was a day when I would have been out there caring for him myself, but six children later...

But today I was able to get out there and see him. We groomed him until I thought my arms were going to fall off. And he munched on the lush grass the whole time. The warm wind kept the bugs away and the temperature couldn't have been more perfect. I sat in the field, watching him graze, while the kids played with the cats and jumped over ground poles. I wanted to stay right there all day.

There was a day when that big, open field would be but a blur as I galloped across it. Ok, ok, loped. Cantered, at best. Kandeaux never galloped for me, well, not on purpose. As soon as I let the reins go, the bucking began. But let's just say for story's sake that I was going moderately fast across the big, open field. Forget the helmet, forget the saddle, just the feel of the wind whipping through my hair.

All right, enough of that. Those days are over. I'm an old lady now, and he's an old horse. But it was plenty refreshing enough just to spend a few hours at the barn.

Yum

Cousins

Birthday party night. I just love birthday party nights. And I love it all the more when it is warm enough for the kids to play outside. The girls (Gracie, Beka, and Lyvi) were playing together and they were just so cute, I went over to get a few pictures of them. Do you think they would cooperate with me? Oh, no. While I was struggling with the girls, I almost missed this moment. Caleb and Joshua had quite the conversation about Caleb's little balloon.

Our kids look so much alike. Most of them. But these two... they don't even look related. Even their personalities are opposite. Can you tell which one is the outgoing one?

Did everyone enjoy our snowstorm? Ah, I just love winter. Ice on the tulips...

Nap time. We don't normally just all crash in the living room. Today I left Paige in charge of putting Joshua down for his nap while I dropped Courtney off at her piano lesson. This is where I found him when I returned. Grace fell asleep in the car, which is unusual for her. And that girl is heavy so this is as far as I felt like carrying her. It made for a nice, quiet afternoon.

OK,  you've taken a long enough nap. Now, wake up!

Can you tell me how to get...?

Thanks, kids, for posing so nicely for me. Well, a few of them look good.

Our trip to the museum... I just wanted to show you what a super cool place this is. The Lego display is still up (the main reason for our visit) so the boys got to do something they never get to do- play with Legos.

We went shopping in the Wegmans for short people.

Joshua sang some songs with Elmo. He quite enjoyed seeing himself on TV.

I don't even know how to describe this thing...

We walked down the super hero hall of fame and the kids (the little ones) were able to turn themselves into supermen. The boys were quick to tell me just how lame this was but it wasn't too lame to wait in line to give it a try.

Hang on Gracie!!

(she took her shoes off. I guess she thought it was a ride or something)

But the best part of the day? The gift shop, of course. No, I didn't buy them any more Legos.