pancakes

January 17th-23rd:

This week it snowed a lot. We had to stay indoors mostly all week. We went to Socorro, celebrated Ace's birthday, and I did normal mommy/wife chores.

Here is a few pictures of the end of Mom, and Trujillo and Charlottes stay. They left very early on Monday morning, which was good because they beat a big snow storm. I thoroughly enjoyed their visit. Family is so important to me. I am glad I have a great relationship with both mine and Ace's family.

This picture is blurry, but I really liked it because it shows how much fun my brother and husband have together. Until I was married I didn't realize how import it would be to me that they were friends. Two totally important men in my life.

Mom taking a little snoozer on the couch. In the winter the warm fire really puts a person out, not to mention dealing with 5 grandchildren all at once.

Trujillo just wanted to be outside in the middle of nowhere. He loved the feel of freedom being away from work.

Charlotte fixing Ralayna's hair. She is such a good mommy.

The kids all ready for church. Denim and Blazen were very excited to have Ralayna and Abraham in primary. Denim told Ralayna, "Our church is different than yours, it is small." When we went in to sing songs for primary, Ralayna looked around and asked where the other kids were. We told her it was just us, and now we had double the kids with her and Abe.

Denim and Ralayna were comparing dresses and shoes all morning. Whose was prettier, ect. What a nightmare-little girls. Ralayana wanted a long dress like Denim; Denim wanted pretty shoes like Ralayna. The boys could care less about that stuff--well maybe not---they both needed their cowboy hats. I guess all kids compare.

Denim and Blazen enjoying some outside time. They like to climb the hill. Sassy is kind of a pain in the butt to them.

It was Ace's birthday this week. 34 yrs old. Crazy. I can't believe how time flies. We went to the doctor this day. All is well. Then we stopped in Datil on the way home and ate at the Eagle Guest Cafe. Ace had a steak, I had chicken fried steak, the kids had chicken fingers and fries. We got Ace a new shaving kit and all the inside stuff, since his got stolen in Albuquerque before Christmas. I was normally going to go to the doctor the day before, but the roads were horrible and Ace couldn't go with me, so we changed it. The kids were able to go and listen to the heartbeat.

Daddy loves his little girl.

We sat at the table by the fire, so nice.

Denim was very sweet this week and tried hard to help mom. She is cleaning dishes voluntarily. She was in the doctors appointment and picked up a lot. She told me, "Mom I have to help you, the doctor said you need to rest. I will be your helper." She was very serious and dedicated in this endeavor.

Ace clearing off the windshield.

Lots of fluffy snow.

Feeding the horses hay cubes. They are grateful!

The mud under the snow has not made life easy to drive in and get to the cows.

Our ranch truck is getting fixed in Albuquerque, so we just have our blue truck. It gets so muddy on the ranch. We have to feed the cows though.

With the cold weather the kids have gotten creative in the house. After watching Barney, they decided to dress up like mice. They have my black tanks on and then we made them noses out of egg cartons. They were mice ALL day long.

We have been pretty consistent with school. One day a week we write letters. This is Blazen's letter. Last week Denim wrote Santa, this week Blazen wanted to write him. Normally this happens BEFORE Christmas, but nothing is normal around here.

Denim drew a picture of me. I thought it was so beautiful, I even have eyelashes. She is signing her own name. The lowercase E has been difficult, but she is doing good.

On Saturday we don't do school, so this week we made it special by making special pancakes. We used food coloring and candy sprinkels. LOTS of sprinkels. I then made little bity pancakes because they wanted to eat a lot like "Little Black Sambo," a classic children's book that I have read since I was a little kid at my great-grandma Lola's house.

While we were cooking the kids found a fabulous secret hiding place.
GUESS WHERE THEY ARE?

PEEKABOO! They unloaded all the pots inside and had a blast. The silver wear drawers misteriously went in and out, in and out above them. I have NO idea how that happened.

The little pancakes cooking. Purple and blue.

When they were done, I stacked them with peanut butter in between to make them stick. The kids thought it was fabulous to have a tall stack.

Ok, so I must say I was impressed with my pancakes, thus so many pictures. YUMMY!

I alternated mine.

We got creative with toys and games to stay entertained, cooped up. We got out the baseball game Nacona gave Blazen for Christmas. Denim just loves standing on her head on the couch. This is an every hour accurance.