New Babies

The new babies on the ranch are getting acquainted with their new home. The calves are so cute! And they look so tiny right now.

When people say how fast kids grow, they're right, they do grow in seemingly a flash. But if you consider how fast calves grow--whoa, nelly, that's a whole other story. Although gestation for both human and cow babies is nine months, once they're born, they have very different growing rates.

For example:

Little Emma has added ten inches and over ten pounds in a year.

The little calves that were born about the same time as her last year have added several feet and over 800 pounds in a year. Many are leaving the ranch already. Just saying that makes me want to run and get a tissue. I guess those are my maternal hormones speaking!

Well, we'll enjoy these little calves while they're still little.

The mama cows are keeping a close eye on all the little ones.

And that's it for today, time to get back to my little ones! Thanks for visiting.

Desert Girl's Party

Well, you only turn one once, so I couldn't resist and we had a big first birthday party for Desert Girl. (Yes, you only turn each age only once, but that first year of life may be the year with the most changes!) And although I knew Desert Girl wouldn't remember the birthday, we took photos so we could show her all the fun.

She started off the afternoon in some new duds. She is cute in about everything (this coming from the totally unbiased mother.) She likes that piano, a lot. She plays it almost every day. Or perhaps I should say pounds the keys every day.

The kids and young-at-heart went upstairs and had fun playing with trains, legos, and more.

Desert Boy had a conversation with Nicole. I'm not sure what he was telling her about, but he was animated!

Downstairs, Emma had managed to lose a shoe on her way to find some food. Uncle Dave was accommodating, and she hung out by him until his food was gone. I have a very smart daughter (of course!). In the background you can get a glimpse of the fun to come.

I had some masks for the kids, and they did a quick parade through the house showing off the masks.

Then it was pinata time! It had started snowing outside, so we made some space in the living room and everyone lived in fear for their body parts for a few minutes while the wild swings took place.

Finally the pinata was broken and the kids rushed in for the candy.

Then it was cake time. I had made a separate cupcake for Emma, and Desert Boy insisted that we put the candle into a little plastic airplane on her cupcake.

We lit the candle, sang happy birthday, and told Emma to blow out the candle.

She didn't know what to think about the candle. Desert Boy was at her side, ready to blow it out.

Desert Girl did know what to do with the cake and frosting. It disappeared quickly!

Here she is in the living room with her little friend Stacia, who's just a couple months younger. I wanted to get a photo of all the little ones. That was much easier said than done!

And Caleb managed to sneak into the photo when I wasn't looking! I didn't even know he was there until I looked at the photos later! This is Juliet, Isaac, Emma, and Stacia. What cuties!

We never could get them all to cooperate at the same time, but it still was precious to see them all squirming all over each other and looking in all directions. They will be so much different in just a year!
Next was some chaotic gift-opening, with the slightly older kids more than ready to help. Emma is so lucky to have so many people in her life.

We are really grateful to everyone who came and everyone who thought of Emma on her special day. It's true that it takes a village...

Now Desert Boy keeps reminding us EVERY DAY that his birthday is coming up. He even knows the date (although he doesn't know what the date means and that it's three months away). Birthdays with kids are sure a lot of fun!

Happy Day!

Oh my, how fast a year passes! It's been great. Happy Birthday, Emma!

Photo Shoot Outtakes

Yesterday after lunch we got all dolled up to take a Christmas photo. Then came the hard decision of where to take it. It was warm, and natural light is always better than flash, so we headed outside. But the cloudless day made for some harsh light. We went by one of our big trees to see if that would soften it up a bit. Then came our next challenge: convincing Desert Boy to stay put.

Then Desert Girl had some issues.

We switched to a different location and Henry wanted to be in the photo while Desert Boy puffed out his cheeks.

Oh yeah, Henry, it's all about you!

One, two, three, kids, open your mouths. At least it was a change from Emma eating the grass.

She was happy eating the grass, though, and it made her smile, so we let her do it.

We kept trying and never ended up with the perfect posed photo. But we did get this one. Sometimes the best photos aren't the posed ones.

Visit with Santa

We went into town last weekend and Desert Boy had a chance to chat with Santa. And he sure chatted. They had a long discussion, and I didn't quite hear all what Desert Boy wanted. I heard dump truck and fire truck, which was a surprise because usually he is too focused on trains to think of other things.

I'm not quite sure what Desert Boy thinks of Santa, but he was happy about getting a candy cane.

They had really cute decorations up, so we tried to get some posed photos. Desert Girl didn't want to cooperate.

Aunt Tana was with us, which was lots of fun. Desert Boy always gets excited to see her and didn't leave her side.

I couldn't get Desert Girl to smile either. Ah, well, it could be worse!

We're going to go get our Christmas tree this weekend--Desert Boy is so excited about Christmas coming. He wants it to be right now so he can open gifts.

Special Night

Last year Desert Boy was fascinated by the Christmas train at the Border Inn. When it was put away, he cried. Almost every time we went out to the Border for the next year, he asked if the train was going to be there. Denys appreciated his memory and invited him to help her set up the train. Of course Desert Boy was more than happy to oblige.

He didn't even bother to take off his coat, he was so excited. This little boy can sure work up a lot of enthusiasm!

He was very curious about how this train worked. It runs on batteries, different from his wood trains at home.

Dad helped a bit, too.

Meanwhile Emma was happily exploring everything and was attracted to the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree. I think we're going to have to figure out a way to keep her out of our Christmas tree at home once we put one up.

Denys set up her village inside the track, and then it was all ready to go. Except for one problem. The fuzzy white snow had gotten caught around the wheels of the train last year, and it wouldn't let the wheels turn freely, so the train kept stopping. Out came the needle-nosed pliers and began operation Remove the Snow.

Nomi graciously corralled Emma for awhile, keeping her from more trouble.

Operation Remove the Snow was successful, and then it was time to watch the train go around and around the track. And around and around some more. And around and around. While we adults went on to other things like talking and chasing Emma, Desert Boy didn't move from the train table. He wanted to watch that train go around and around some more.

My husband tried to get Emma to pose for a photo, but she had other things in mind. She is getting quite rambunctious.

I think we could have left Desert Boy at the train table all night. He was happy as could be.

I imagine that we'll be going back out to the Border quite a few times in December. We had a delicious salmon dinner while we were out there--one of the best dinners we've had at the Border. So it won't be a hardship for any of us to go back!

Silver Sage Band

We were lucky to catch a performance by the Silver Sage Band this last weekend. We usually get to hear them once a year, and we really like their music--and their humor! They play old-fashioned country and cowboy and sheepherder songs.

Desert Girl was entranced. She really likes music, just like her big brother. I hope they both learn to sing a lot better than their parents! Fortunately, they both don't seem to mind our off-key singing. We've been doing more lately to get ready for Christmas. Maybe it's a good thing it's winter and cold and all our doors and windows are shut tight!

Desert Girl was sporting a flower clip that we had picked up from the craft fair held earlier that day. We found lots of treasures at the craft fair. Desert Boy wasn't happy when I told him some of them were surprises and he couldn't look at them until later, like at Christmas. He put on his perfect little pout and declared, "I want Christmas to be now!"

Desert Boy. Blinded by his Mama using the flash. I'm nice like that. And I didn't even give him the camera so he could reciprocate.

I didn't manage to get a photo of any of the dancing. It was fun to watch, with the younger kids doing their interesting dance moves. Later we watched some swing dance instruction. I'd like to learn how to do that someday. I wonder how hard it would be to get lessons way out in the middle of nowhere?

Okay, this photo wasn't taken at the music program, but I figured I should include it since it was musically oriented. Desert Girl loves sitting at the piano and playing. It won't be too many years till she can play better than me!

Ready for Winter

I couldn't resist sharing this photo. They're all ready to go outside and play!

Mud Boggin'

I finally downloaded all the photos from my cameras and found that I had some that I had forgotten about. Like these, from a walk I took when Desert Boy was in preschool. I took Desert Girl in the stroller and decided to take a different route from my usual three-mile loop.

The weather was overcast and it had rained recently, so the desert smelled great.

Nearly all the roads in the area are gravel, which isn't a problem.

It was when I got to the dirt roads that I had some trouble. Because water + dirt = mud.

I take the jogging stroller about everywhere, but this trip was a first - I literally couldn't go any farther. The mud bogged the stroller down so much that the wheels wouldn't turn.

At all.

When I pushed, the entire stroller just slid in the mud.

The stroller weighs 45 pounds empty. And Desert Girl is pushing 20 pounds, so I felt like I was getting a very good workout.

I quickly decided I had better turn around and get back to the gravel road.

Desert Girl was blissfully unaware of all this.

The mud on my shoes was several inches thick, making it not only hard to push the stroller, but also hard to walk.

I had to laugh at myself. It's not often we have to deal with mud, and I was obviously woefully unprepared.

The clouds over the recently harvested fields were a welcome change. They made me glad that I had tried a different route, even if the mud had impeded my progress. Sometimes you just have to try a different path. The stroller still has little bits of dried mud on it from our little adventure, reminding me of the fun walk.

According to the weather reports, we're going to be seeing some more clouds in the next few days, with maybe even some white stuff coming out of them. We've been enjoying some wonderfully warm autumn weather, with golden leaves blowing in a southern breeze and the warm sunshine caressing our faces. I think we'd better get the hats and gloves ready.

Goodbye, Indian summer! We sure enjoyed you while you were here!