Free Range Family

Yesterday, Alan hopped on a hopper ball for the first time ever! You know, like the ones with the handles on them? He looked so cute! I was so proud lol! :) Today we will be going to get our oil changed in our Cadillac for our camping trip. I am a little anxious about having Alan there with me for the duration of the oil change, in the super small MasterLube lobbey with no doors! And the heat uggggh. Its supposed to be 80 degrees but we were already woken up this morning by the heat. It feels like it might be 90 degrees out there now. Blah wish me luck! I'm gonna need it! :) Here's Toddler Talk Thursday!! This week's topic: Emergency Kit for your babysitter. Do you have one? What is yours? Lon and I are pretty picky when it comes to babysitting. He has ONE babysitter his whole life, and that is my mother. My sisters and brothers will help out but she is the babysitter. We don't let any random person watch Alan. He has never been watched by a young teenage

Found this on Words by Katie's blog and I thought I'd play along this morning. Today is another hot and busy day, I have my Preschool art class today (and art show!) and then I work 2 to 8 in Child Watch. Blaaaah! Last night after Alan went to bed, Lon and I went out on our roof and sat out in the night for a while. :) It was nice, just still really stinking hot! But then it got darker and it cooled down, and it was just perfect! We might do it again tonight, I only hope its not hot tonight like it was last night! This Mama Currently is... Listening... to Alan's squeals of joy as he runs and plays throughout my house. Oh and the two rivaling tvs lol. :) Eating... nothing. Still contemplating what I'm gonna make. Maybe just eggs and toast? We're all out of bacon. Via Drinking... Dr. Pepper. Still trying to keep up with Alan's energy level lol, and I don't drink coffee. Wearing... my Rockin Rudy's t-shirt, bra and undies. Its too hot ou

I know that I have posted about our plans for the fourth on here before, I think its just been on a blog hop or something. I thought I had already written a whole post on it before, but alas I haven't. So here you go! We are going camping at Canyon Ferry Lake for the fourth. This is tradition with my side of the family to go camping here every year. Last year we went up for a few days, and had a wonderful time! Alan loves to see his family and camp with them! He loves being outdoors! We will be leaving this Saturday morning, around like 11 am and will not be back until Monday night, around like 10 or 11 pm. I will not be taking my laptop with me, nor will I probably have service, so I will be absent from the blogging world for a while. But I plan on keeping a notebook "journal" for each day, so I remember our daily events! I can't wait to bring back many stories and hopefully pictures, I will probably have to do a week marathon of posts! I will not be participatin

Today should be a crazy day, as it always is on Tuesdays lol. :) I have two art classes, two art shows and work in Child Watch today. Ahhh! I hope I can spend all my extra time today outside. Cos its supposed to be 94 degrees today! Ooh baby! Top Ten Activities to do at Canyon Ferry Lake (Or almost any lake or camping area lol) #10 Fourwheeling or Dirtbiking My dad is a member of the Billings Motorcycle Club, and he is a big dirt biker. He owns a fourwheeler, and several dirt bikes of various sizes. Including a mini 50 bike (Alan could "technically" ride it next summer!!! Not sure how I feel about this!) that is the coolest. And normally the one I choose these days. But anyways, we all will go riding around camp and on the trails. Except for Alan. Lon participated last year though, and he is addicted to riding as well! There's something about dirt biking on trails. :) Love it! #9 Fishing Via I love to fish. I believe it is one of the most peaceful t

Today was a sad day for Alan and I. Alan's BFF Korbin and his family are moving to Seattle on Wednesday, and today was Korbin, Keanu and Erica's last day at daycare. :\ We threw them a potluck party and I tried to make them chili but we didn't have any meat. And the bean chili tasted nasty lol. So I brought pop. :) Alan and I had a talk about Korbin moving this morning, and I think he understands. He tried to be really nice to him all day today (sometimes they rough house and fight like brothers) and even gave him hugs and kisses. They played cars and dinosaurs together. And they shared their snack (even though it was the same thing lol). They even played ball and tag with the big kids. Unfortunately, Alan fell asleep in the high chair and Korbin left before he woke up. :( But I talked to Erica and maybe we will meet up just before they leave town to say goodbye for real. I am so sad though! Alan's last really good friend moved to Arizona when Alan was nine months

Today, here are three wonderful quotes from the brilliant Helen Keller. She overcame so much in her childhood and her life, what an amazing person. Enjoy! "When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." Helen Keller "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." Helen Keller "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." Helen Keller

I'm not feeling that hot this morning. I was up all night last night with a gruesome stomach ache. :\ It finally went away at like seven, you know, an hour before I had to wake up. Blah. At least today I only have one art class and work only from 3 to 8 in daycare. I might be sleeping the rest of the time... Ha! I wish! Here's Meet Me on Monday! What is your favorite food? Probably spaghetti. Ooooh I love me some spaghetti! Any pasta really, but there's something about how easy it is to make (SUPER EASY) versus how delicious it is (SUPER DELICIOUS) that makes me just want to eat it all the time. Yum! Too bad Lon feels the EXACT opposite way about spaghetti. So we eat it like... once a month. Boo! What color scheme is your bedroom? We do not have a color scheme. Lon is an eccentric inventor and I'm a hippie (duh lol) so we don't believe in conforming to a specific color scheme for just about any room. In our bedroom alone, we have my purple tapestry, bl

I am super exhausted from today! We just got home for the first time since like ten this morning and I am just beat!! :) My feet are killing me and I feel like I carried twenty men, instead of just one toddler. I could very well possibly be sunburnt. And Alan? He's still running laps around me lol. Ahhhhhh, where does all that energy come from???? :D We did have such a wonderful day today though! It was all worth it!  This is funny: I let Alan pick out his clothes again today, and in spirit of the Cars 2 movie he chose a Lightning McQueen pajama shirt and Cars swim trunks. :) We let him wear it the whole day, we are such awesome parents!  Anyways, the morning started with Alan and I waking up early to watch Cars lol. You know, we had to refresh our mind from... yesterday when we watched it. :P Then we went and got the tickets. Alan was so smart he started asking, "Cars? Cars?" when we were walking up to the theater. Little did he know we were only getting tickets an

Today was another hot one. 84 degrees almost right away when we woke up at 7:30. I had to work this morning in Child Watch and teach my Kindergarten art class plus Lon was finishing up his sixth folf basket, so Alan came with me to daycare. The first hour Alan was the only kid in there, so he got to decide which side he wanted to play on. He changed his mind about every... ten seconds lol. But then more kids started showing up, including on of Alan's older friends he hadn't seen in a while. They ran and played ball together, and had a wonderful time. I had to leave him at daycare for my art class and he didn't even care! :) Lol art class was good. We made Summer Collages and Hand print Birds (I feel like I've already typed this before lol, maybe earlier in the week!) and my chatty girls finished their kites from last week. We will be moving this classes' art show to the Saturday after next, due to one student's absence for the holiday weekend. But we still dis

Today is another hot one lol. Ugggggh! Today we probably will go run through the sprinklers at Grandma's house and then I work from 2 to 7. Not too busy of a day lol. Tomorrow we will be going on a playdate with two of Alan's friends at Sacajwea Park, and then we will be going swimming at Rose Park with Grandma, Unlce Kalvin, Erica, and Korbin. Keanu will probably also be there, but he won't be swimming lol. :) And then Sunday we plan on taking Alan to see Cars 2. The Symphony in the Park is also Sunday night, which we will be attending with my YMCA crew (Erica and kids, Sarah and kids, and Kari). Lets hope this weather stays nice and not too hot because we will be outside almost ALL weekend. Yahoo! :D I can't wait to see this movie! They are going to Japan! Sooooo cool! Via Oooooooh can't wait for this weekend! Saturday get over here!!! :P Ahhhhh, he's Five Question Friday for you now. What is your current favorite tv show? I don't really have a

I can't believe that I forgot to mention this morning that today is also our two month anniversary. But it is! The only reason I mention this even is because my wonderful husband surprised me with a homemade steak and potato dinner for us, for our two month anniversary. I knew there was a reason I married that guy lol! :P Just joking! Wow these first two months really flew by for us, but we have been through so much in that short time. It has only made us stronger though. I feel like we are still so much in love too! Lon is always doing little sweet things for me like saving the last pop in the 12 pack, or waking up late when Alan fusses. He is such a sweet guy. I love him. :) He is a wonderful father to Alan as well! Oh I love how much they love each other. You can just tell! I got really lucky when it came to picking the perfect dad for Alan, because no one else could ever replace Lon! They are perfect for each other! Happy 2 month anniversary Lon! I love you so mu

Today is a hot one. I didn't have any art classes to teach today, so we thought we could sleep in a little. NOT! We woke up pretty much when the sun did, because of one thing. THE HEAT!! Ahhhh I've been up for like three hours now and its only getting warmer outside. Why don't we have AC????? Where is the nearest swimming pool???? Is it considered offensive if we continue this somewhat nudist colony when we got out in public???? Cos its too hot for clothing! :) I can't wait until it gets to be a hundred and ten degrees.... NOT! It is a month away from my birthday today! I will be turning a wild 22 years old lol! :D Not really... When I go out for my birthday, I will be going out to drink only for the third time ever! I hardly did any drinking when I was 21 and I think it will be the same when I'm 22. So not really wild at all lol. But still, tune in to see more birthday posts, because I am still excited for my birthday! Here's Toddler Talk Thursdays guys!

Today at my art class, one of my little girls brought me flowers that she and her father had picked together from their garden for me. :) This is seriously the sweetest thing! The flowers are so pretty and they smell delicious! I will keep them in my kitchen window until they start to wilt and then I will hang them upside down like I do with most of my flowers (the other I press in books). But this made me smile and completely brightened my day! This is why I teach! I love and care and think about each and every one of my students, and its nice to be reminded that they love me just as much. Simple gifts from the heart are such a blessing that I will never take for granted. Thank you again sweetheart! :) I forgot to mention this the other day, but Alan used sidewalk chalk for the first time! We bought some Crayola Giant Chalk from Walmart and Alan responded really well to it! I was a little anxious about him not liking the chalk dust that would cling to his hands, clothes, etc. But he

Today is a crazy day for me, I'm surprised I even get a chance to get on here. With my art classes and Child Watch combined, I work from 10 to 8 with an hour break. Ahhhhhhhhh! :) No outside time today for me, unless I convince everyone to go outside at daycare. Which I might... :P Here's Top Ten Tuesday! Enjoy! My Top Ten Favorite Bloggers!! Before I start this list, I want everyone to know that I read like 100+ blogs a day lol. So if you made it to this list, at all, your pretty special in my book. :D But this are my favorite bloggers, who I probably check their blogs at least once a day. Some of them I acutually know, and some are just blogging friends. But they all are wonderful ladies with amazing stories to share! Check them out! :D #10 Jodie@ Its All Good in Mommyhood I love this gal. She makes me laugh almost all the time! :D She is a bit older than me and has three more kids than I do, so I like to go to her blog for advice sometimes. Or for just a goo

I am linking up with Jen and Motivational Mondays this week! I will be sharing another excert from the Dhammapadda titled Thousands. These mantras are aimed at making a distinction between quantity and quality in life. Enjoy! Thousands Better than a thousand sayings composed of meaningless statements is a single meaningful statement on hearing which one becomes calm. Better than a thousand verses composed of meaningless lines is a single line of verse on hearing which one becomes calm. Better than one who recites a hundred verses of meaningless lines is one verse on hearing which one becomes calm. Though one defeats a million men in battle, one who overcomes the self alone is in fact the highest victor. For one who is self-controlled and always disciplined in action, victory of someone like this cannot be made into defeat, even by a god, an angel, or a devil. Even if someone performs ritual sacrifices a thousand times every for a hundred years, if he honors a self-cultivated

First I want to say have a wonderful trip to Java @Never Growing Old, who hosts this blog hop! I hope you have a great time in Mexico!! :D I also wanted to wish Miss Sophie a happy first birthday today!! :D Saturday was her birthday party, but today she is officially one! I will have to get Alan to stop calling her "Baby Sophie" now (he's been calling her that since she was born lol)! Happy first birthday beautiful girl! We love you so much! Today will be a good day. I have one of my Kindergarten art classes this morning and then I work in Child Watch from 3 to 8. If the weather stays nice (it looks like it could rain) then we will be playing outside again all day! Yes!! :D I love these summer days! Here's Meet Me on Monday!! What feature of the opposite sex do you notice first? Their eyes or their smile. For Lon, it was actually his hair lol, but that was only because he was wearing sunglasses and he had GORGEOUS blonde locks back then. *Swoons* Ooooooh

Today instead of going to a park like we planned, we went out to Great Grandpa Andersen's ranch. His ranch is about a two hour drive from Billings, out by Forsyth. We went out there with Grandpa Steve, Aunt Ariel, Uncle Tyler and Uncle Chase. Great Grandpa Floyd and Great Grandma Joyce were out there camping in their motorhome. Alan fell asleep on the ride out there so when we first arrived at the ranch, Great Grandma Joyce offered to watch him so that Lon and I could sneak out on a walk. We walked out into the foothills and surprisingly, got lost. :P Lon swears he knew where we were but after about an hour of walking around in the hills, we were found by Grandpa Steve in his truck. Then Steve took us to go see Turtle Hill. Turtle Hill is this cool rock structure on top of a hill that looks like a turtle peeking its head out of its shell. It was the coolest looking thing ever, there were even indents for eyes! We climbed to the top of it and the set up a gun shooting range acro

Lon just woke up to a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and watermelon from me. Alan spent the night at Grandma's last night so we could enjoy our wedding date, and once he gets dropped off here, we are gonna get going. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the oil changed in the car, so we will not be going to Red Lodge for hiking. :( But I still have grand plans. We will be going to either Riverfront Park or Phipp's Park or maybe even the Yellowstone River for a picnic lunch and a little hike with Alan. Then we will be going to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a barbecue dinner. Grandpa won't be home from camping until around then and we want to spend time with him as well. :) Sounds like a good day! Via To my father: You have always been there for me, since day one. You taught me how to ride a bike, tie my shoes, ride a dirtbike and four wheeler, drive a boat and play football. I know everyone says that Natalie is the daddy's girl, but I think I am as

I felt like a chicken with my head cut off all day today, but I enjoyed the majority of it. I started the morning with one of my Kindergarten art class. We made Father's Day cards and Kites. This Kindergarten class is an all girl class, were as my Monday Kindergarten class has one boy and two girls. So the girls got a little chatty about their beloved dad's so I decided to start writing down what they were saying. I heard adorably funny things like, "My dad is the best ever. My mom is also the best too though." and "I like when dad makes me eggs and lets me use chopsticks." or even "He taught me how to ride my bike and now we ride bikes everywhere!" Then Alan, Lon and I went to our second cousin Sophie's first birthday party at Pioneer Park. They were having a barbecue, and while we waited for burgers Alan and I enjoyed strawberries and cantelope. Yum! Alan was really shy and wouldn't go wish Sophie a happy birthday, even though we had be

Before I tell you the story of Alan's Day Out, I must tell you about Alan's accident he had Wednesday night. The three of us were outside on our front porch, playing in the cooling evening air. I was sitting next to Alan on the steps and Lon was on the porch. Alan was practicing walking up steps by himself (I was still supervising him) and holding onto the railing. He was on the second step when his foot slipped and his fell towards the step. I yelled and reached for him, but didn't catch him before he made contact with the steps. :( These porch steps are quite decieving too, they are carpeted cement so they look softer than they actually are. He smacked his lip and cheek real hard on the steps. :( We took him upstairs, and he was bleeding from his lip. I started freaking out (there's something about having my own child bleeding that makes me sick to my stomach) and had to remind myself that he will be okay, even if he bleeds a little. We cleaned the wound and stopped

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo endlessly grateful that its almost the weekend. I am so beat from this week, and we have quite the eventful weekend planned. Saturday is Alan's second cousin Sophie's first birthday party and my friend Chelsey's wedding, which Lon and I will be attending toddler-free!! Thanks to Grandma Melanie! Then Sunday is of course Father's Day. :) Alan and I will be treating Lon to a nice hike in Red Lodge. Alan also made Lon a wonderful card. I hope everyone else has a grand weekend as well! And now onto Five Question Friday! What is your favorite summer time activity? Swimming! Alan went swimming without me yesterday (Grandma Melanie and my siblings took him while I was at work) and I was sooo jealous! Lol my favorite thing to do during a hot summer day is just jump in the pool and float. Or logging is fun as well. This is a photo of my favorite place to swim and go logging! Canyon Ferry Lake! Our fourth of July d

Hey, hey, whaddaya say? What we gonna learn today????? Sorry lol, I'm watching Sid the Science Kid with Alan right now while we have breakfast. :P This is his fourth favorite show, just behind Seasame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba and Dinosaur Train. I think its so great that toddler's shows these days are teaching them more advanced things like hypothesis and experiments. Alan kept saying "Perimint" all last week, and this morning I realized that he was trying to say experiment! Wow that's a five dollar word for a toddler to be saying! And we owe it all to Sid the Science Kid. :) Here's this week's Toddler Talk Thursdays! Hope you enjoy it! This week's Topic: How do you keep your toddler busy during the summer? Alan is a crazy active toddler. He has so much energy we have to wrestle with him at night sometimes just so we can wear him out enough to want to go to bed, and then we normally end up wearing ourselves out instead. :) So we have a lot

I hope today is another warm day like yesterday, because we will be spending ALL the time we can outside. I have two art classes today and I work in the daycare from 2 to 8, but the rest of our day will be spent outside in the sun! I also hit 3000 page views yesterday! I have been averaging around 100 views a day, how awesome! Thank you to all my readers and followers. I appreciate it endlessly! I love you all!!! Here's my Top Ten Tuesday- can you tell what my mind is on??? :) Top Ten Dream Vacation Spots (that we will one day visit!) #10 Utah Lon is originally from Utah, and the majority of his family lives there. They have all come up to see Alan several times since he was born, but we would love to go down there to visit them one of these summers. And we'd take Alan to Lagoon!  #9 Las Vegas Via This August, there is a WTE September '09 babies second birthday get together in Las Vegas, and we would just LOVE to go! I have been to Las Vegas twice

I hope everyone has a great day today! I have one of my Kindergarten art classes this morning and then I work at the daycare from 3 to 8 tonight. Nothing too exciting, but its a nice day out again so hopefully we can go outside in our free time! For now, here's Meet me on Monday!! What is your favorite yogurt flavor?  Like regular yogurt or frozen yogurt? Cos both of them are pretty plain lol. :) For regular yogurt, I like just about any yogurt with fruit chunks in it, but strawberry yogurt is my favorite. I'm not really into the whole flavoured yogurt thing, I like my yogurt vanilla with fruit chunks in it lol. Via For frozen yogurt, I like chocolate frozen yogurt. I know lol, pretty lame!! Via Ankle or knee socks? and on the same theme, white socks or coloured?? No socks if I can! I prefer to be barefoot all the time! But if I have to wear socks, its whatever I can find to wear lol. I'll wear long and ankle socks, but only knee socks if I

It was a beautiful, partially sunny partially rainy, 87 degree Sunday! We had a great day together, the three of us. We woke up nice and early, then snuggled and watched Seasame Street before getting dressed for the day. Then we played cars and watched Cars twice while Lon made breakfast for us. After breakfast, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Alan ran almost the whole way, laughing and yelling and chasing anything moving lol. We had a great time. :) We even walked through the Moss Mansion gardens on the way home. Later we picked up Aunt April and Uncle Kalvin to go have a picnic and hiking and climbing on the Rims. It was raining lightly when we got up to Swords Park but most of that went away by the time we found our picnic spot. We sat down close to the edge (but not too close) and had PB and J sandwiches with carrots and apple slices. Alan chowed down on his sandwich and some apples but wouldn't eat any carrots. Hmmm, I can only ever seem to get him to eat carro

I didn't post a third post yesterday like I planned but that's because we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. However, I still wanted to get in a post about Aunt April and more about Rosalie. But bear with me lol, this will be a random post lol. :D Aunt April and the girls of Diversity Dance did a beautiful job Thursday night at the Alberta Bair. Aunt April did eleven dances total, and I was able to see ten of them (I only missed the opening number because I chose to walk from work to the theatre). She did a lyrical dance, a tribal dance with the younger company, a hip hop dance, a cool ballet dance to "Funhouse", a punk rock themed tap dance, a dance involving mad scientists and robots, a cool karate influenced jazz piece and the finale. I also really enjoyed the ballet to that Ratatouille song and the umbrella dance that was a statement about children being more free than adults. Plus, I just loved Leah's senior choreography and her solo.

April's dance recital last night was just breathtaking. She and all of the other girls danced so beautifully! I was amazed at how much my former students have grown since I had last seen them. Those cute, silly 8 and 9 year old girls are now in high school and are beautiful young women. :) I saw one of my girls dance her solo and it brought me to tears. They are almost adults now. Where did the time go? This also made me realize how fast my own baby sister was growing. Already 12 years old, and in a dance company, going to Las Vegas for Nationals this summer, dancing in a way that would make Mia Michaels faint, and cleaning up after her dance sisters. Wow. :) Today feels kinda like a 3 post day to me lol. Already posted earlier this morning for Rosalie's birthday, and after I wanna write a more in depth post about Aunt April's recital. So stay tuned for another post later today! Have a great Friday and an awesome weekend! Here's Five Question Friday! How cl

Today would be Rosalie's fourth birthday. That is, today is the fourth year anniversary since her due date. June 10, 2007. I like to think of it as her birthday though. It has actually helped me with my coping process, thinking of today as a day to remember her positively instead of remembering this as a day that did not come for her. I have made piece with her passing, and some day our souls will meet again. My family has a very interesting theory about the afterlife that we like to believe. We believe that our soul becomes a energy force that can choose to embody any and all things. Its kind of like rebirth and reincarnation, only we believe that a soul can embody many different things at one time. We like to think of Rosalie as a free spirit now, able to go wherever she pleases. She will always have a place in our hearts though, I feel like she is always with me. I hope that wherever she is, she is at peace and she is happy. And wherever she is, she has a happy birthda

Today will be a good day for us, I only work once today at three. I'm am glad because I have been missing out on spending time at home with Alan, just hanging out and playing. I will be able to spend most of today with my boys, just chilling. :) Unfortunately, it is a rainy day outside, so we will probably not be taking any trips out to the front yard today. But we will make the best of it! :) I'm also very excited for tonight for two reasons! First reason is Aunt April's dance recital after I am off of work! She is preforming eleven beautiful dances and I get to also watch some of my former dance classmates and students preform. My last classmate still with the studio graduates tonight too, that'll be emotional. :) My second reason is because Alan will stay with his daddy tonight! :D I will be able to enjoy Aunt April's dances, without having to worry about him being bored. This will be my first night out without him since Lon's 23rd birthday (over 8 months a

I haven't been posting like I should normally. I feel like I'm not posting enough. Even though I've only been missing around one post a week, I still feel like I am not adequately covering Alan's life. Lol, this is what happens when you're stressed and over thinking things. I'm worrying about a BLOG??? Really? I still apologize for not posting at all yesterday. Monday night and all of Tuesday were very hectic and stressful for me, in more ways than one. Monday night was really scary for us, Billings and Yellowstone County in general. There was a tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warning placed on Yellowstone County. I got home from work and we had dinner. After dinner we were putting Alan in the tub, when I got a message from an old co-worker that in FIFTEEN MINUTES there would be a tornado on the rims. We live in a second-story apartment of an old building, where the basement is its own apartment. Thus, it was locked and we could not use it as sh