My good friend, Holly - of Our House, is a Very, Very, Very Warm House fame - was recently diagnosed with Colon Cancer so to celebrate a positive progress, we had a St. Patrick's Day-themed Girl's Night with me, Mer, Debbie, Holly, Paula, and Paula's sister.
Easter is usually a sign of Spring to come, but not around Montana. If it's cold and dreary, it must be Easter! This year we broke with tradition and instead of going to family, went to visit friends who are like family in Big Timber, MT where they had just moved into a house in the country (but, to be fair, everything in Montana is "in the country"). Jacob's high-school friend, Matt, and his wife, Chelsa put on an amazing display of delicious, home-cooked food, we were treated to a last-minute dance performance by the older kids to some song I've never heard of by someone I've never heard of. Adrianna Grandes, or something. And we got to catch up with old, good friends.
Getting reacquainted. Matt and Chelsa first met Holden when he was about three weeks old. Then when Holden spent some time in Denver, they happened to be in the next hospital over and rushed to his bedside and stayed with him. If that's not what Godparents are, then I don't what is.
Matt and Chelsa's daughter, Alex.
Winter coats? CHECK! Must be time to go Easter Egg hunting!
Egg-hunting, Montana-style.
Even the puppy had too much fun!
See. Cats are total assholes.
The blizzardy drive home. Happy Easter!
Around Easter it was also Jacob's birthday. We spoiled him with treats and homemade cards, and his parents spoiled him with new pots and pans! I was so excited, I wanted to say thank you but didn't know if that would have been appropriate since it was *his* birthday and all.
Meeting the newest members of the McIntyre-Metzler herd, chickens!
Cousin love. Little boys can be so surprising. They're so wrapped up in their world, which is new every day, and mainly consists of cars, TV shows, the gross thing his friend at school said, the latest tooth he just lost, and the dinner he doesn't want to eat. Layne is all of those things but he's also AMAZING with his Cousin, Holden. He is so sweet and cute, genuinely excited to see him, and loves to help out. And after spending his years herding Zoey and Libby, I think he's also probably excited to have another boy around.
After playtime, it was Holden's job to whip up Daddy's birthday cake.
Also enjoying a birthday in the Spring was Zoey's friend, Eli (my friend, Ashley's son), so off to his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party we went!
Played some hoops.
Hopped some scotch.
Can't talk. Eating.
Pinata time!
Even Ninja Turtles need a cupcake break. And wear sparkly Hello Kitty shirts.
Look at that face!! Holden's aint bad, either. ;-)
It was, really, just another weekend day except that everyone was trying harder than usual to be nice to me. Since it was Sunday, I went to work in the morning and came home to homemade cards and Jacob making breakfast. I took a shower and didn't hear any griping about the Hallmark Channel being on all day (which it usually is during most weekends. Hey! Start playing some movies during the week! A girl can only take so much Little House on the Prairie!). I decided that I didn't want to worry about cooking and/or the dirty(er) kitchen, and wanted a cheap fishbowl of alcohol so Applebee's we went! As it happened, that was THE place to be for Mother's Day; our across-the-street neighbors were there as was a guy I used to work with.
Well, at least interesting to Holden. The kid LOVES doors. He loves to push them closed then pull them open. The only problem he runs into, of course, is when the door latches shut and he can't figure out why he can't get his fingers in there to get it back open. Then he usually looks up at me and starts whimpering. He could sit there all day just pushing the doors around. Zoey loved chairs. She'd run to a chair from across the room, exclaiming, "Chair!"
Oh, you know; just livin' the mom-life. Hashtag: where my Bon Bon's at?
Beastmode. Oh, yeah? You and what army? Me and my fur-army! And that one licking himself in the back there... Hashtag: matching socks are for suckers.
I dunno, Dad, I think it's the doomaflachy.
What up, Girl? I don't usually look like this - my mom usually wipes me off after I've downed a jar of sweet potatoes but she probably figured I'd get dirty outside anyway. (For those of you lucky enough to follow my Instagram or be my friend for life on Facebook and have seen the black and white version of the first picture, now you know why; to hide lunch remnants.)
As the weather gradually became nicer, Mother's Day quickly approached. God planned that just right in my book, even though, aside from celebrating the greatness of my own mother, mother-in-law, and Grandma(s) (two of which are at the giant card table in the sky) I generally scoff and roll my eyes at the "holiday," dubbing it Do Everything You do Every Other Day Only You're Worshiped for it Day. Watch the Season 1 Mothers Day episode of The Middle. Just sayin'.
Twinsies!!
We, of course, did a lot of staying at home, so here are some interesting - well, as interesting as it can be - pictures of that:
I am by no means a "photographer," but I've watched America's Next Top Model enough to know that some photogs take a bunch of the same picture then save/edit the best one. This is one such photo, before or after the "best" photo, but still one of the best. That Montana wind can be a real bitch!
Weather-speaking, we were lucky enough to have summer creep up on us this year. And also lucky enough that we didn't get some of the rain and moisture we've gotten in previous Spring seasons. Now we're deep in the throes of summer and...wait for it...
TODDLERHOOD
DUN DUN DUN
Pray for us...
