abelet.

We have a new little someone living at our house... (outside of our house, actually.)

He gets his own milk mixed up in a bucket in the mudroom... 

{Do you see Gretchen holding her nose?} 

And feeding him requires a little walk out to the barn...

Where he comes running to meet you when you call his name... 

That's a pretty sweet little face, right? 

Abelet. (We usually just call him Abe.) His momma was one of my dad's cows, but she didn't make it and Lawson thought he was ready to try his first bucket calf. 

These two are buds. Lawson loves to get in the pen and run around with Abe chasing him.

These two aren't really buds, yet. (Even though they are almost exactly the same size.) Marley gets pretty jealous of all the attention that Abe gets.  =)

Gretchen loves going to visit him and talks about him all the time. But she's still trying to work up the nerve to actually touch him. =)

We're all pretty smitten by this cute furry face... 

But I am clearly still needing some new boots if I'm going to be hiking out to the barn at 6:45 am to help feed this little guy.

That walking to the barn at 6:45 am to help feed him... that's a whole post in itself...

tractor ride.

Blurry picture, but she was so excited that she was making the front go up! 

{I should probably know what that front part is called, huh...}

Looking at these pictures is bittersweet to me. 

The same night that I took these, there was a 5 year old girl 3 miles from our house that was killed in a tragic, tragic accident. 

She was riding in the combine with her daddy... they hit a bump or sinkhole... the windshield shattered... she went into the header and then up into the combine. 

Horrible, horrible, horrible for so many people. 

The parents. Her sisters. Her family. 

Her teachers. Her classmates. Her friends. 

The paramedics and first responders. The mechanics who were called in to take apart the combine. 

So, so tragic and awful. 

Will you please pray for this family? For all the people involved? 

I have known too many people who have lost a child. 

I've seen how devastating it is. 

But I cannot even begin to imagine how this family is hurting. 

Her funeral is today at 1:00. 

Will you pray hard for them? 

And then pray even harder? 

family party.

Last weekend was busy, busy, busy with parties and celebrating my girls. 

Friend party Saturday, family party Sunday, and then I hosted a potluck lunch for our staff on our inservice day Monday. (I think I counted up 34 people that were here in 3 days. Why waste a clean house, right?) =) 

My sister and her 7 kids were for a week on their way back to Texas from Colorado. It was perfect timing for them to celebrate with us! This year was our largest family party yet! (And we were even missing Aunt Heather, Uncle Brian and Madi!)

The trampoline is always a hit... although one cousin was mad I wouldn't put the sprinkler underneath it. =) 

Our house was invaded with 400 flies. My mom and mother-in-law were on a mission to kill as many as possible... (and the flies were retreating to the high ceiling.)

{ I literally just fished a dead fly out of my coffee cup as I was working on this. Why did no one warn me about the crazy flies when you live in the country?! }

These two make me smile... 

I loved having lots of family over... having the basement for kids to play in (and make a mess in)... having lots of room for people to spread out and eat and talk. It made me happy. =)

A hot pink full length mirror for her room...

Still can't believe she's 4... 

pajama party.

We only do "friend parties" every other year for our kids. I'm not really sure how we started that tradition, but it works for us. Last year at this time, I was barely keeping my head above water, so I was pretty relieved that it wasn't the year for a friend party. 

We talked about some different ideas for a party this year, but Sophie really had her heart set on a sleepover. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of sleepovers. Everyone comes home tired and crabby and no one likes tired and crabby. So we compromised with a pajama party. All the girls wore their pajamas... we decorated pillowcases... ate pizza... watched a movie... and drove everyone home when the movie was over at 9 pm. 

(Thanks, Mom, for sewing the pillowcases for me! You're the best!) =) 

Someone was pretty sad to be trapped in the mudroom and missing out on all the fun... 

Sophie's requests were pretty simple. She wanted to eat pizza... drink pop (with mustache straws) and watch Monte Carlo.

She really wanted some of the crunchy cake toppers that were shaped like mustaches (I have no idea why...) but we couldn't find any. (The night before the party when I was finally shopping for party supplies...) so we bought some black gel frosting and she made her own. 

We took a break halfway through the movie for opening gifts and having cupcakes...

I love that these two are still best friends, despite our move. I hope they always will be. (And not just because Abi still needs her mom to drive her up here to visit. That's just a nice little bonus for me.) =)

Happy birthday, sweet girl. You're my favorite 11 year old. =)