It's All About the Pink

My sweet husband lives in a land of pink....he does so happily and never complains. But he is seriously outnumbered around here, and a little guy space never hurt anybody. He had this space until a few days ago.

Down in the basement, which is 3/4 playroom, Daddy had his own little corner, he has some guitar stuff down there and his workout equipment.

Recently, his space has been taken over. The girls discovered a few days ago, that the bars on his weight bench are just the right size to hold the hangers for their doll clothes. Now, they delight in hanging up the clothes and each girl's doll has a side for their "closet".

He's a good Daddy and doesn't seem to mind! Somehow, over the last four years, he has come to the point, where he doesn't even notice a few doll clothes draped over a workout bench!

2010 Stick Horse Grand Prix

I was feeling bold today, so we skipped naps and I took all three girls back to the Stockshow, so they could watch Miss Debra judge. They were so excited to go back and had a great time watching the horse show. We watched, until Gracyn couldn't sit still anymore and then headed out to explore the grounds. The girls were delighted to find the rodeo clowns. Reagan especially had fun with them!
Then, we wondered upon the Stick Horse Grand Prix and decided to enter. The girls were precious racing their horses around the obstacle course. Addison was on a mission with her horse, "Mia". She ran the course in 32 seconds and claimed her blue-ribbon prize. Reagan was hilarious!!! She skipped around the course and paused at each jump to do a little hop over. She too was proud of her ribbon.

Next, we headed to the Children's Ranchland. There we saw chickens, rabbits, cows and sheep. We learned about farming and played on the Rainbow Playsets. There was a carousel with real ponies, a train ride, and lots of photo opportunities.

Finally, we headed back to the arena to watch the show a little longer. Miss Debra came up on a break to say good-bye to the girls. We have had such fun out at the show this week. I think we may try to squeeze one more trip in before it ends. On a final note, I promise Gracyn was with us, she was just strapped to me in the Bjorn, and didn't make it into the pictures!

Bliss

See that girl, she is blissfully happy! While I cleaned the kitchen tonight, she extracted this pan and spoon from the dishwasher. For the next 30 minutes she happily sat in the pan and played with and talked to the spoon. Funny that the littlest things can bring them so much joy! Again, where are all the Christmas presents?

Western Weekend

Saturday morning, we headed to the airport to pick Miss Debra up for a visit. She is here to judge the Paint Horse portion of the National Western Stockshow, but came a few days early to see us. She mentioned when accepting the offer to judge the show, that she had family here and they generously provided us with a parking pass and grounds admission for the next two weeks, food vouchers and great seats at the rodeo yesterday.

We headed right to the rodeo and had a blast. There were fireworks, dancing horses, clowns, a glow-in-the-dark grand entry, and all the typical rodeo fun. By the end, Gracyn and Reagan were both asleep, but Addison watched the whole thing. They also got to see some of the most enormous cows and bulls I have ever seen. Reagan even got to pet one.

I didn't take my camera, because my hands were full, but I did actually remember to take a picture after church on Sunday. Pappy and Miss Debra gave them these precious horse outfits for Christmas. Reagan was on her way to a nap and wasn't really up for all the picture taking! Later that night, the girls had their own rodeo at our house. They got out the stick-horse and "barrel raced" around cups in our living room. I timed them with the handy stop-watch feature on the ITouch. Each girl "won" a belt buckle for their prize barrel-racing. They were having so much fun....the whole time I was thinking, "We just got hundreds of Christmas presents and here are my children, thrilled as can be, racing around cups on a broken down stick-horse we have had forever!". Love those precious times!

ITouch for Preschool

Daddy is recovering from a stomach bug that he and I both had, but he is never to sick to snuggle. Addison curled up next to him and played a few word-building games on Mama's new Itouch. Why do I think we are going to need 2 of these?

A First

Gracyn wins the award for first Guess baby to be able to climb out of the safety ring in the bathtub! Since Reagan was champion climber of the world, I am sure she could have, but she never did. Gracyn twists right around in that thing and stands up!!! How is she big enough to do this??? By the way, the water is brown, because there is Aveno Oatmeal Bath in there!

Also, I have a few first words to document for my girl. I think she might be an early talker like Reagan. I have evidence from others to support each of my claims....according to many witnesses Gracyn can say, no-no, go, mama, down and dada. I left her with a neighbor for a few minutes on Friday, while I picked our older girls up from school. When I arrived back at the neighbor's house, Gracyn saw me walk in and said, "Mama!" clear as could be. She did the same thing when I picked her up from the nursery today. She says "Go" with me all the time, when the big girls are racing, and I think she learned "Down" from the Leapfrog table. Love all the babbling, and I love it more now that I can start to tell what she is saying!!!

Keep Praying, Please

This picture was taken just before Trey got his trach put in last week. I am giving you an update, based on their facebook notes. Since the surgery, they have had to keep him sedated and in a paralytic state because he struggles so much when he is awake. Each time he has been awake, he has fought his ventilator and pulled the trach tube out of his throat. He gets upset, can't breathe and his numbers drop to deadly levels. Cliff and Elfin expected that they might be headed home a week after surgery, but they just haven't had a good week. Please keep them in your prayers.