Matt Turns 3! Joey Loses Another Tooth!

Matt turned 3 on Monday.  We had been warning him all week that as soon as he did, there would be no more diapers.  It's been a long, messy week.

The birthday party was very fun.  We made a chocolate cake, had the Cammons, all the Grandmas and Grandpas, Uncle Sam and Allison, and our neighbor Shan over for the party.  Matthew didn't really care about the presents -- all he wanted was that cake.  But when he actually saw what was in there, he was pretty happy with the gifts, as well.  He got a new scooter from the Manleys, some playground balls from the Kazmierskis, a bubble gun from the Cammons, new garbage trucks from his siblings, and a matching game from Ben and I.  It was a success!

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Also, Joey yanked out his other front tooth.  It took some prying, bleeding, and knuckling, but he got it with great effort.  That kid is tough.  And now he has quite the lisp.

Trek Stuff

This week, Matthew has re-attached himself to his garbage can.  That miniature container has tagged along with us everywhere we have gone.  I have found it in various places, also.  Some of his favorite parking spots are on the shoe shelf, pantry, and right next to the momma garbage can.  I thought it was so cute that he scoots it right up next to the big one for the night.

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 In addition to all my meetings for YW girl's camp (I'm a Jr. Leader Supervisor), Ben and I were asked to be "Ma and Pa" to a group for eight teenagers for this year's Trek in Wyoming.  At our first meeting, we found out who our family is, and what we will need to be preparing.  It's a lot, but I'm glad I get to do this one with Ben.

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To fund the Trek, we held a fundraiser at the church.  Ben had quite the atmosphere going.  He made a faux campfire, had a handcart wheeled in (in pieces, then reassembled, then disassembled, and reassembled again -- a lot of work for a piece of artwork), one of my saddles, chopped wood, one of our guitars, and my Grandpa Kirschenmann's banjo.  He also had The Lower Lights playing in the background.

It was quite the night, and ended with us rushing Joey home for some Benedryl and a few puffs of his inhaler.  He had gone to the allergist earlier that afternoon and had been pricked with egg and a control histamine.  Then he also accidentally ate a cookie with egg in it, then ran around endlessly to get it worked into his bloodstream really good.  I put all that together when he came to me, red in the face, sweating, and wheezing.  We made a b-line for the car, and got him all fixed up at home.  So is the story of our lives.

 

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In other news, Matthew turns 3 YEARS OLD on Monday.  It really is a miracle he's made it, considering his shenanigans.  I'm hoping his birthday wish is to make it to his 4th birthday alive and well.

It's Baseball Season!

In addition to our love of watching pro baseball, we also love local tball.  Especially when Joey is in it!  Now, I don't want to brag, but I will.  Joey kind of landed on a team full of riff-raff, so maybe it's not that hard for him to stand out.  But he does.  Every hit is in the outfield, where nobody is there to catch it, first of all because nobody else hits it that far so the other team doesn't put anybody out there; and second of all, almost all of the kids are too busy rolling around in the grass and dirt to stop the ball before it gets there anyway.

Joey won a hitting and throwing contest at his last practice.  He is the only one on his team, besides the coach's son, who pays even the least amount of attention.  He is the only one who hasn't eaten grass and dirt (and then thrown up - yep, a kid on his team actually did that), climbed the fence, shoved someone's face into the ground, thrown dirt, sat down in the infield, not listened to the coach, or done anything inappropriate with the tball stand.  He is just plain awesome, and he just loves to play the game.  He can't stand anyone else on his team, but he loves to play anyway.  Hopefully next year will be better luck with the teammates.  By the way, I think Coach Will deserves a medal or something for putting up with these kids!

Joey also likes to help out the other kids by showing them where the base is.  He sometimes has to tell them what to do, because they're too busy poking each other in the face or picking their noses.

As you look through these next few pictures, just tell me who is ready to play the game?  Yep, that's right.  Mr. Major League himself. 

Okay, okay, so nobody's perfect.  He does dance a little -- but only between batters!

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Grace did a sweet little Mother's Day Celebration at preschool.  They sang three songs, and we ate the tiniest muffins I've ever seen.  They were made for elves, I think.  She had been really nervous about getting up in front of everybody, but she sang and tapped her foot anyway.  She did a great job, and also gave me a hand-painted jewelry box (which is now in her room with all her stuff in it -- maybe I'll get it back someday).

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The boys bought their own cap guns at Shipton's.  They have been dressing like cowboys & shooting up the neighborhood all week.  I think we are out-of-town people.  We'll probably get kicked out of the neighborhood sooner or later.

One Long Week

It has been one long week.  Ben was out of town from Sunday to Friday, and we missed him terribly.  Although, I have to say: absence really does make the heart grow fonder.  All I can do when he's gone is think of how much I love him, miss him, how great of a person he is, and how lucky I am to have him.  And when he's home, all I can do is nag him to close the shower curtain when he's done so mildew doesn't grow.  I'm so impossible.

Also, it was Opera week, and we managed to pull off two great shows despite a remarkably horrible final dress rehearsal.  Honestly, I was having nightmares that we were going to crash and burn.  But as usual, we managed to pull it together at the last minute.  There's nothing like searing adrenaline for three solid hours to get your heart pumping.

And to add to what was on track to be a particularly horrid week, my Grandpa Bob passed away.  I was lucky to have been with him the morning he died.  I kissed his forhead and said good-bye.

He was truly one of the last real cowboys.  He gave us an exceptional childhood.  He taught us to work hard, ride hard, and play hard.

We did things from taking long pack rides up the Beartooth mountains to fishing and ice skating on the pond in the front yard.  We learned to barrel race, sort and move cattle, brand, and vaccinate animals.  We swam in ice cold mountain creeks and in tepid cattle watering holes.  We went to rodeos, we lit off fireworks, we rode in the back of the pickup all the way through Yellowstone Park (while he continuously pretended the breaks went out).

We drove heards of buffalo, made up songs, listened to him yodel and whistle, and learned to spot wildlife when bribed with money.

We chased bunnies with salt shakers in hand, because he convinced us that if you shake salt on their tail, they would be paralized.

We woke up with deer on our front lawn and the smell of mountain rain.  We learned to garden, muck out stalls, plow fields, and saddle a horse.

We jumped for joy every time he called to see if we could spend the week with him (which was often).  But he wouldn't let us get in the truck unless we had practiced our piano (to perfection).

We learned to eat giant plate-sized pancakes at 5 a.m. even though we weren't hungry because we were in for a very long, tiring morning of work (that we absolutely loved).

We learned to finish all our meals, because he wouldn't let us be excused from the table unless all the food on our plates was gone -- even though he is the one who filled our plates full of more food than we could handle.

He was one of a kind, and I love him.  I'm gonna miss that guy, as wiley as he was.

Matthew found my dad's grave.  The kids really had fun playing at the cemetary.  We've always found it to be a happy place, and I really love spending time there.  We used to have picnics there for Memorial Day.

My Grandpa's casket was really something he would have liked.  His niece, Bonnie, is a very talented artist.  She is skilled at burning wood, and she and my uncle Dusty decorated his casket perfectly.

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 On Saturday we went out to the stables to visit the horses.  Gracie really liked this new mother.  Her colt was just the kids' size, and he was just as wild as they are!

Andrew curried old Red Man before he rode bareback.  He did a pretty good job.  I think he could have kept riding all day long.

Now this is one good-looking cowboy:

Haley and Red Man got along famously.

 

And Zip Cat was his usual naughty self.  He was constantly trying to steal the camera, rip off Eric's pockets, run off with the curry comb, and sample everything: including Joey's hat.

When Grace is overwhelmed, she plugs her ears.  It wasn't loud at the stables at all, but this is the way she separates herself from reality.  We thought it was extremely strange and hilarious.

Eric and Zip Cat parted with a smooch.