Lydia's Birthday

Lydia enjoyed her birthday.  She keeps asking how many days until her next birthday. She got to request what kind of cake she wanted and said she wanted a Princess Lolly cake.  The Princess of Candyland.

At the Party in the park across the street from our house.  She had a lots of kids there but it was only two different families and a couple of stray kids at the park that joined.

Afterwards the kids played on the merry-go-round and Ben and Eli played football.  They had such a great time.

The next day on her actual birthday we were in Helena. We went there for Ben's monthly class.  During the day while Ben was at class, we went to a couple of different parks. 

 We had a little party in the hotel room and then went to Pizza Hut afterwards.

Fun clothes and back pack from Grandma and Papa.

This was the nightgown that Ben and I gave Lydia.

Precious Family Time In Havre

We have lived in Havre about a month.  Lydia and Eli both are enjoying the big town home, the backyard and the park across the street.  We have been to the library and are starting to make friends. Ben is gone during the week and home on the weekends.  Our weekends are often jam packed fun of fun.  It nice to have him to our selves for three full days.

In a search for  wildness we went for a hot dog roast  in the Bear Paws Park.  The Bear Paws Park is national park that has some farming land and a small river and hills that are splattered with a few  clumps of trees.  There is no real mountains near Havre but  the Bear Paws is the closes thing to them

Having our Hot dog roast

A cool park in town

Way up high.

On top of the tunnel.

A tunnel at the park

On another weekend we went to a football game. Eli loved it.  He kept climbing the fence so that he could see better.  At the end of the game he went down by the field and tried to climb to get in and play.  He want to get closer and be in the action.

On the Saturday after the football game there was a parade. It was in  celebration of the Fall Festival days.  It was the longest parade we have ever seen.   The kids enjoyed the candy but about half way through they stopped collecting it and started eating it.  We don't have a lot of sweets around the house.  Later in that same day we went to a rodeo.  It was a competition rodeo that was between colleges. It was fun to see the college teams compete and see th

 e bucking broncos and bull riding.  Lydia and Eli did have fun. I only wished that I had brought my camera. It feel great to build memories.

After church on Sunday Eli feel asleep in his chair.  It just show how we wear out the kids on the weekends.

Eli's Birthday !!! # 2

Our little boy is so big and is now two!! We had a  birthday celebrated his birthday in Montana. I had made a basketball cake for him.  We enjoyed having Great Grandma and Great Grandpa come over and party with us.

Eating Cake

In our Havre home.  Eli picked out a birthday mint ice cream that he wanted They love ice cream cones.

Eli's sword.  A much loved dollar store gift.  I not sure where it is now, but right after he got it he carried it around for two weeks straight.  He would still be carrying around now if... i could find it.  He would have me tie the sheath to his belt and he would pull it in and out in animated matter.  I guess I need to make a trip to the dollar store.  It amazes me how the small things make such a difference.  Children are magical.

Rewind Back to August

August was a busy month of unexpected turns.  Ben got news that he was to be transferred to Montana.  He went to work while we went to packing.  Thanks for all the family help.  We packed up  the house and cleaned.  My sister, Mary, helped us load our stuff and we went to stay at her house for a couple of day. She lives south of Denver in Canon City.  The kids had a fun time playing together.

From her house we left for Star Valley, Wyoming.  All my brothers and sisters gathered for a family reunion.  Nicolina and Scott were in charge this year. They created a strict itinerary. We didn't follow it to the T but it was so nice to have.  We played minute to win it, had great food.  Devotionals and talents.  We also had a ping pong tournament and a hike. It was fun to see everyone.  All of our family is growing up and getting big.

Great Grandpa and Grandpa.

Cora, Nicolina's little girl.

Lydia getting in the water

Playing Minute to Win It.

From the reunion we went to Chrystal's house and played and relaxed.
The kids played in the sprinkler.

Ben came an picked us up and  we all went to Helena. We stayed at a motel and the kids were recovering from sickness. Grandma and Papa came down and picked us up and we spent four day at their house. We went swimming, got to go to the cabin, and ate great food. We also celebrated Eli's birthday while we were there.

Eli

Well I don't have stats like I wish that I did.  I know that Eli has grown up so much and he is growing fast.  Some of the things that he loves are strawberries and grapes.  He actually loves to eat almost any fruit, even mangos.  He really loves balls any type, but I think his favorite is basketball.  He knows that you should dribble the ball  with one hand and can actually do it for a few seconds.  He knows that once he stops dribbling he needs to pass it.  He attempts to shoot it. He loves to score.
This week when we went to library Ben found him a book called Cattle Kids. It all about horses.  He calls them Giddy ups.  He doesn't quite know how to say horse.  He does know what sound a horse makes. He loves that book and doesn't mind reading it over and over and over.
He wears a size eight shoe.  He wears 2T pants but 3T shirts.  He will be in the same size as Lydia soon. Although he is tall and long, he is so active that he seems to me to be solid muscle and he definitely has the Dalton calve muscles.
Lately he was to see everything I am cooking. He will continue to say, "Let me see, Let me see!" until I show him what is in the oven. After he see it he will say, "Wow!"
He has discovered that pants and shorts have pockets.  He will walk around with his hands in his pockets and he will try to put things in his pocket.
He is potty training. It is now day four.

Its Raining, Its Pouring

It rained!! Rain is a much needed in Colorado, and to those you that don't know that is where we moved.  We are slowly getting used to it here and the kids are calling it home.  They have had their ups and downs since we have moved them yet again but they are wonderful kids.  Tonight we had a great family night.  We went out to eat, for french fries, Eli's favorite, and Philly cheese steak sandwiches.This was something that I never had tried.  It was pretty tasty. Ben and I agreed that they need more meat.  Eli also went potty twice at the sandwich shop.  He gave up diapers this week.  He only wears them at night. I am determined to stick with potty training since he completely understands.  He just needs consistency and   Afterword we stopped at Walmart for a few basic things.  I noticed the rain boots were on sale and picked them up for Lydia.  It has been a dream of hers to have rain boots and be able to jump through puddles.  It seemed to be the prefect day to  get them since there was puddles outside.  The only mistake was I should have grabbed some for Eli. I will next week and not a moment later. Lydia jumped through the puddles and ran through the water.  The look on her face was priceless and I wish I had captured it on camera.  As she was running through the puddles she said, " I love this!!!"  We took our time walking back to the house and every little spot of water became a puddle.  Her face and expression brought back the memories when it was just me and her.  What an amazing and optimistic girl!  She is such an example for me. On the way home she wanted to get the mail and I told her that dad already got it.  She said, "Oh I was hoping for a package for my birthday."  I said, "Why!"  She said, "It feels like my birthday!"
We got the kids in pajamas and we were tucking them in bed and it started to rain really hard.  We all gathered by the window and watched it come down.  The farmers in this are sure glad for the rain as well as the firefighters and pretty much everyone.  Lighting lit up the sky.  Eli was standing right near the window. Then a few seconds later there was a huge crash of thunder.  Eli jumped, completely terrified. Lydia started laughing then Eli let out a fake laugh.  It was loud and pretty convincing of him not being scared, but it didn't last long and he came over whimpering to me.  We were all laughing at his reaction and it took a minute before I could muster a sympathetic, "Your okay."
We love our family.  Our children are amazing.  They bring and teach us of great happiness.

Family Snowman Fun!!!

It snowed!! It was the perfect snowman snow. Ben was home so we built a huge snowman.  Lydia donated her hat and scarf and couldn't let us forget the carrot nose.  Eli was a bit tired so and didn't seem to care much about the snow. He just want to be on the swing.

Love her face here. 

We had a snow ball fight. Which Lydia loved.  She doesn't mind the cold or the wet.  The trees were filled with snow.  Ben would shake the branches and it would pile down on her and she would just laugh and say, "Lets do it again."  

Snow is coming down

Covered but happy. Wish I had captured more of her face.  

We couldn't let the snowman melt!  Lydia and Ben had fun knocking it down anyway.

Here is some of the snowball fight fun.