A Hard Day's Night...

Mark, asleep in his favorite chair after a long day.

Pots and pans

The Lap-rador

Oof. I don't know Elizabeth could sleep under that, but Grindle and Seamus thought they needed to sleep on her!

Bunnies

Trelawney checks out a new rabbit cage by getting up close and personal in it. (She might have been easier to contain at the rabbit show had we let her get all the way in...)

Meet Molly, our new Flemish Giant sandy doe. Hopefully we will eventually have another Arthur (buck) so they can have "little" Weasleys.

Swimming

I took Hannah, Elizabeth and Trelawney to Abilene for the Smoky Hill Rabbit Show this weekend, and our hotel had an indoor pool. The kids had a blast!

Here, Elizabeth gives Trelawney a ride around the pool in a borrowed floatie.

CatDog

Not a great photo, but I wanted to catch Grindle the Labrador (or is that lap-rador?) and Katy the Kitty sleeping together in the chair.

Snoozin'

Trelawney rolled over and hugged Seamus in her sleep. He was amenable to snuggling, so they slept like that for an hour or so.

Snow, at last!

With apologies to Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Snow at last, snow at last... Thank God Almighty, we have snow at last!

4-H, again, some more ...

It feels like we've been busy a lot with 4-H lately, and particularly with rabbits... at 4-H Monday night, Elizabeth gave her project talk on Rabbit Showmanship.

County Club Day

Superbowl Sunday was also the Haskell County 4-H Club Day. I goofed and didn't get any photos of Noah, but here are the results ("Top Blue" means they go on to compete at Regionals):

Elizabeth -- Project Talk, Top Blue

Hannah -- Illustrated Talk, Top Blue

Hope & Hannah -- Violin Duet, Top Blue

Hope -- Violin Solo, Top Blue

Noah -- Trumpet Solo, Red

Elizabeth -- Violin Solo, Blue

Hope -- Clarinet Solo, Red

Noah -- Violin Solo, Red

Hannah -- Violin Solo, Blue

Hannah -- Flute Solo, Blue

Cloverleaf 4-H Model Meeting -- Blue

Christmas in February

Mom and Dad met us in Tribune at Aunt Donna and Uncle Gerald's house on Saturday to deliver a car to us (more about that in another post) and also to have CHRISTMAS, finally, in February!

We have been sick for months, and finally only I was still coughing, so we met them for a few hours. It was great to see them!

Trelawney loved messing with the wrapping paper.

Like mother, like daughter ...

Hope, nose buried in a book...

Best TV show ever

Sadly, it only lasted three seasons thanks to the idiocy of the "New CW" network ... but "Veronica Mars" was one of the best-written, best-acted TV shows ever. If you haven't seen it, trust me -- you'll like it.

Even if it doesn't sound like something you'd like -- which is what I foolishly thought -- you'll like it.

Thank you again to my wonderful friends who RAK'ed me with these DVD sets! I watch them all the time!

Frozen

My beloved, Mark, gearing up to go out and break ice on the horses' water tank for the third time today. Wind chills were 30 below this morning, but are slowly climbing -- thank goodness!

No school today, but not due to the weather... it's teacher inservice day. No school Thursday and Friday either, thanks to teacher-parent conferences. However, we couldn't go anywhere even with five days off (including the weekend) because the junior high basketball tournament was scheduled for these three days and Hannah had to be there. So, we're staying in and staying warm -- except for Mark!

What blizzard?

The view from my living room window looking west ... yep, the Blizzard of the Century once again missed us. We got *maybe* an inch of snow, which mostly blew away.

Bitter, howling, nasty winds made the wind chill 27 degrees F below zero when my kids went to school this morning, and dropped all the way to 35 below before climbing back up a bit. I think it's appalling we made kids go to school in that, but hey, I don't make da rulz.

BFFs

Harry and Oliver, doing what we should all be doing when the wind is howling and the windchills are below zero ... snuggling for warmth!

Another something I love

Opus IV, the beloved iMac that connects me with friends and family, provides me with the means to earn a living, and offers a world of information at our fingertips.,

A busy Kansas Day

We saw parts of the Sunflower State on her 150th birthday, first going to Hugoton (Gas Capital of Kansas) for a rabbit clinic, then to Garden City (home of the world's biggestt hairball) and then back to Sublette (flattest place in Kansas but little else).

Sadly, we also lost our fifth baby rabbit to the same mysterious ailment that took four others. :(

Somebunny loves you

Hannah and Remus

Things I love

Harry and my Kindle

The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth

Trelawney's other front tooth finally erupted today, after six months of threatening to do so. That makes a total of only 4 teeth, at 13 3/4 months of age.

(In contrast, Hope had 4 teeth at 4 1/2 months. A picture of Noah at this age shows eight teeth.)

A general update for posterity while I'm at it ... she only weighs 19 pounds, walks about 5 steps max at a time, and has almost no interest in solid foods, though she will snack a little. And maybe someday I'll write this all in a baby book for her. :)

Genius, indeed

Part of my stack of cloth diapers -- and these things are pure genius. Why didn't I ever try cloth diapering before? These are bumGenius! 3.0 diapers made by Cotton Babies (www.cottonbabies.com) and invented by my friend Jenn ... and SHE is a genius. They are every bit as easy as disposables, and so much cuter. :) They come in lots of fun colors, and if *I* who was an avowed disposable diaper girl can master them, anyone can.

The stack of clean diapers makes me happy to look at in some bizarre way. :) And they save a lot of money! We still use disposables half the time, but soon I intend to use cloth diapers the majority of the time.

And a free throw

Hannah also sank a free throw after the shot below. Sublette MS B and C team girls both defeated Cimarron in a battle of the birds... Larks vs. Bluejays

She shoots, she scores!

Hard to believe I got the moment with my phone camera, but Hannah scored a basket against Cimarron. Way to go, Hannahnannah!!!

What I'd rather be doing 1

Lightly dozing, like Crokshanks...

What I'd rather be doing 2

...or snoozing hard, like Harry.

Lego Mama & Daddy

The kids presented us with Mom and Dad reimagined as Lego people... Mom on the couch; Dad in his chair with a beer and remote. LOL!

Of course, there's also Hagrid in the kitchen, Draco Malfoy in the bathroom, and a house modeled after the one on Jersey Shore or something.

At least they got along for a little while, though!

My BIG project

This is something I am proud of... the Haskell Township Library remodel and addition. I served on the library board for two terms and then got elected twice to the Township Treasurer position. When I was on the library board we remodeled inside. Now after much planning over many years, we are finally adding on and really remodeling! I live next door so I have gotten to watch it daily. This will be the new children's section and classroom.

Ice, ice, baby

trees in our yard and the neighbor's yard

Uno!

Elizabeth and Mark played Uno after dinner tonight while Hannah baked a cake, and then Mark and Hannah played Scrabble Slam. The kids enjoy this so much -- we really need to make more time for game nights.

Rock-a-bye puppy

Grindle is growing fast!

Sunset

As reflected in my living room window

A Portrait of the Artist?

Ainsley said these people she drew got their big muscles from roller skating.

Forgotten photo

I forgot to add this last night. Hope's feet weren't so princessy.

My Fairytale Princess

I can't believe my baby is headed out to her first Snowball formal-ish dance. Wasn't she just a little girl headed off to preschool?

Have fun, Hope. We love you!

How I Get Through the Day

My favorite, caffeinated, no-HFCS beverage.

And a bonus: Fun With PhotoShop. :)

Sisters

My sweet Trelawney and Ainsley.

this is my first post directly from my phone... pretty slick!

Catching some Zzzzzzzzzs...

Ainsley stayed home from school today with a sore throat, cough, and fever. Grindle found her to be a comfortable spot to sleep on.

(The funny part was later, when Grindle went outside, and Peeves the Cat took the same spot ... and when Grindle returned, he sat in front of the couch and barked at the cat to get out of his spot until the two of them woke Ainsley).

Appearances can be deceiving

Noah and Elizabeth don't look very thrilled to be here in this photo, do they?

But they were. Along with Hannah, they were excited to start the 4-H rabbit meetings up again for the year. They go to Hugoton once a month for the meetings, where they learn a lot about rabbit breeds, fur, body styles, care, etc. I don't know what was up with the frowny faces when I snapped the photo!

Notice the McDonald's cups? That's because if we went to Sonic, we'd have been late for the meeting. We did stop there after the meeting, and it took 20 MINUTES to get one hamburger, 3 onion rings, and a junior breakfast burrito. That is the slowest service on the planet ... well, second only to the Colby McDonald's.