A Lovely Ranch Visit

The Langston Family
(At a big and pretty cool park near the ranch.)

   Posers

Peace.

Kamryn kinda freaked her mom out climbing so high in slippery cowgirl boots.

Aunt Kati and Uncle Brad....still so young.

Teagan said, "Mom, I want to show you something."  Then he ran over, climbed on a big log and tried to do the karate kid crane thing.  Totally cracked me up!

Grandma giving Kamryn a push on the ginormous tire swing.

            




         Papa and Kati giving the teeter-totters a try.

Brody on the huge, fun slide.

Grandma, Kati, and Liam trying to catch Uncle Brad at the end of the slide.

Have you ever seen a playground like this before?  Me neither.  It seems a little 60s space themed.  The kids had a ton of fun.

The kids could not visit the ranch and not be able to ride the horses.  It was a little warm outside, but the horses humored the children for a couple good rides each.

 Even though I am not necessarily a big horse lover, I'm grateful that my children have the opportunity to enjoy these beautiful creatures.

Little Ms. Kamryn truly loves the horses and is fearless.

Waving.....like a true rodeo princess would.

                   "I really can do this by myself, Dad."

Liam also really loves the horses and was not happy to let someone else have a turn riding.

   




Pure, pure joy.

Kati and Brad are always a huge help with the kiddos and of course, the kids wouldn't have it any other way.  They love every minute they get to spend with them.

Kamryn, Aunt Kati, and Brody.....sticky fingered and stuffed full of s'mores.

Brody enjoying the fire before s'mores.

Kamryn, Teagan, Aunt Kati, and Liam....warm and toasty.

Daddy and the two little ones on a walk back from the barn.

Kams on the ever-popular tire swing.  Look at that beautiful, sweet face!

Another highlight.  And another thing that Liam did not want to share.  It's tough being almost 2 years old.

Silly Brody's turn on the tire swing.

 Obviously Liam had a hard time leaving the 4-wheeler seat.  But the other kids didn't seem to mind him riding along.

Daddy and Brody.

"Patiently" waiting for their ride on the 4-wheeler.  (I love this picture of Kamryn.)

 More waiting.  (I also love this pic....her chin is still in her hands.  Ha!)

Liam flying solo with Daddy.

Uncle Brad and Aunt Kati teaching Liam how to fly a kite.

 (I'm not sure why the 2 photos above are causing me so much grief...but these next 2 are no different.  I know I'm not a computer whiz, so I'm going to move on.)




A little dirt sand won't hurt.

Yes, she truly thought she needed to make sand angels.  Although, she didn't much appreciate having her tangled hair combed out after washing it and not having conditioner to help out.

 Liam and Kati watching the kite.

Uncle Brad's cool kite.

Uncle Brad patiently teaching the munchkins about kite flying.  It was a perfectly beautiful sunny, windy day to fly a kite.

Liam's turn on the tire swing.  He kept that smiley face during his entire time on the swing.  I could look at that dimpled smile all day.







It was a wonderful visit to the ranch.  The kids love it and love being able to spend time with Grandma & Papa and Aunt Kati & Uncle Brad.  John was able to help brand cattle, and I truly enjoyed the company and quiet that the ranch provides.

Terrible Mother Moment

Brody was taking forever in the bathroom tonight before bed, so I went to check on him and found him asleep on the toilet. So, of course, I grabbed my camera to take a quick picture before waking him up. After I snapped the shot....I noticed that his hand was completely purple with little white spots on it...obviously cut off from blood circulation. Kinda freaked me out. Made me feel really bad that I took the time to grab my camera and indulge in a cute picture....which actually looks a bit creepy with the purple hand. Eeeeeeee!

Easter 2012

 We took the kiddos to our community Easter Egg Hunt....and well, didn't get many pictures because all the kids went at the same time and they were too fast!!!  But, they came home with tons of teeth-rotting treats and big smiles!

 Easter morning, the Easter Bunny left the kids some new toys, etc in their buckets and also hid a few eggs around the apartment.

 Starting the search.

 Cute child.

 Weird child.

 What's in the "golden egg?"

A whole dollar!  $$$

How We Do Breakfast

 Stocking caps are optional at our breakfast table.

No elbows allowed on the table....that would be improper.

Forgot

I forgot to mention in my previous post...that we have a big bathroom/laundry room, big walk-in-closet (which currently acts as kids toy/playroom), and a big walk in pantry. I'll take the drafty walls/floors for all the space. :o)

Our "New" Home Sweet Home

Well, here it is. For those of you who have been wondering where we really disappeared to, this is our new home. This is my mom's store and we are living upstairs in the back 1/3 of the building. It's large, spacious, convenient, and drafty...not to mention, free at the moment...thanks to my very sweet, charitable mama.
31 steps. 31 steps every time you want to come in or out of the apartment. Although, it's not too bad, unless your arms are full of groceries, children, or anything else. I keep a child lock on the door to the apartment because I am terribly afraid of Liam falling....because, seriously we had 13 steps before at our old house...and this is 31!!! I'm the only one who has bit it hard, so far. And luckily I was going up the steps. But I still had a whopper of a bruise on my leg and arm that hurt for a couple weeks. (That's what I get for thinking I can run all the way UP the stairs without my legs going a little funny and losing 1/2 inch lift.)


This is one view...on a rainy day. (For those who are not farm savvy...those are grain elevators in the background.)
This is another view...which I can watch Teagan on his walks to school from....all by himself! This would be the local gas pumps--credit card only....and the school bus office/garage. The school is a few blocks behind, where all the big trees are.
All 4 kiddos share a room.
And there's even open carpet space for playing.
John and I are currently sharing a bedroom with our dining room. The other room with the apartment is basically outside of the apartment and frankly, I didn't want to have to run a giant circle to reach my screaming kids in the middle of the night....or worse, they try to come find me and tumble down the 31 stairs!!!! So, we are happily cozy in the dining area.
Pretty big functioning kitchen....yes, that's a dishwasher! Who would have thought a building built in 1905, in Endicott, would have a posh apartment with a dishwasher in it one day?!?!
Kitchen looking into the dining/bedroom.
Entry in to the living room. Ignore the boxes. Look at the cute children, instead.
Living room w/fireplace and our desks.
Living room again.
Living room again....and can you say "holy giant windows!"

So that's it. Our "New" Home Sweet Home. We're happy and getting settled in. Still job searching, but kinda enjoying our together-family-time as well.

The Birds

This was in Utah in December, but I forgot to post these pics and I thought they were pretty cool. We thought it was hailing or raining really hard this particular morning, but when we opened the curtains, this is what we found. Pretty cool, yet a little creepy.

Toothless Teagan

So far, Teagan has lost 5 teeth. This week he lost his 2nd top tooth. He was so excited because he lost it at school during his science class.
I tried to get a good picture.....
but.....

getting this boy to smile, his normal smile........is like trying to pull teeth. ;o)

Moments

These are the moments I live for. I love seeing my children getting along. Their legs are even touching and yet, they are still alive and enjoying a book together.

February Randoms

Since John was in Washington on Valentine's Day, the kids and I decided to send him a sweet little card. This is what we came up with (with a little help from Pinterest).

Teagan found a new favorite place to read. Liam found a new favorite place to nap.

Teagan-getting ready to ride in the cop car to the city hall to have lunch with the mayor. He was so excited to have earned Student of the Month again.

A couple days after we arrived in Washington, Teagan lost his first top tooth. He walked around for over an hour with floss tied around it and finally mom couldn't handle it and caught him off guard by reaching over and yanking it out. Mean mom. He cried for a minute, but then was super excited!

Dancing Kamryn

Before we knew we would be moving, we signed Kamryn up for a dance class. And even though she missed her last couple classes, we still let her do it and she LOVED it.
She was a natural and listened intently to her teacher.



Look at those pointed toes!
Oh, this girl is terribly cute!