Looking for my quilts and creative posts? Visit www.kalicokate.blogspot.com

Monday, January 29, 2007

Weekend gamers

Nana and Bailey recently visited. There were board games, video games, word games, all sorts of games for the weekend. Everyone had a great time.

Tatum and Nana had a rousing game of chutes and ladders on the kitchen table. Rolling the dice had to be done at arms length to keep Keeli from stealing it. There will have to be a rematch, as the day ended Tatum and Nana each recording a win.


Downstairs, Bailey and Rikard were wrestling with characters from Shrek and racing Corvettes. You could actually hear the two of them outside in the driveway! Rikard is a newbie to the video gaming world and Bailey had a great time teaching him to play.


To see how mom and I spent our Saturday learning new and exciting things, visit my other blog at: http://kalicokate.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 25, 2007

WRESTLEMANIA


What do you get when you mix one high strung 35-pound Ninja wannabe, a 40-pound highly ticklish girly-girl, a fiesty toddler whose greatest asset is her ability to scream your eardrums numb and one uncle who loves kids?

WRESTLEMANIA!

It was a 25 minute wrestle-fest full of taunting, screaming, tickling and laughter. Those kids love to visit with Uncle Robert! It all started with Rikard showing off a couple of his new karate moves. It ended in a laughing tumble of kids off the couch onto the living room floor.

Thankfully it all ended peacefully.


Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Let it snow...


Our best winter day of the year happened Jan. 17, 2007. We love the snow and so rarely get any that is it a treat when it comes. This is a cozy little home, covered with snow.

Snow brings a nice quiet blanket with it. The entire world changes when it is snowing. Everything is quiet and still. It is comforting and relaxing.


There were a couple of interesting sites in the snow that I tried to capture on film.

















The leaves were still clinging to the snow covered branches of this tree. They should have fallen weeks, if not months, ago.


Our neighbor's driveway is an interesting site in the winter. The old fencing is falling apart at the corner, the rambling crab apple tree and the large, open, snow covered pasture are just a nice pleasant scene.

Taming the GIANT hillside

Once upon a time in the typically dry, dusty basin, three little children woke to a fluffy white blanket of snow covering their home.

They decided it was time to tame the GIANT hillside. Donning their winter finery, mismatched gloves, hand-me-down snow pants and dollar store hats and mittens they trudged through the driveway to find their sleds.

Daddy had to 4-wheel it to the GIANT hillside. This proved nearly as fun as the challenge ahead. Tatum, a brave girl of 7, took the plunge first. This year, she didn't need her dad's help and she started at the top of the hill, rather than the middle. There were already a dozen kids there, wearing a deep groove in the only safe spot to sled on the entire GIANT hillside. There are a lot of rocks and sagebrush to navigate around while sledding in this country.

Rikard wasn't quite as brave. He wasn't sure about how fast those sleds were going and he did question Rick a lot on how he was going to stop at the bottom of the hill. His first run down the hill was with a bit of fatherly assistance. Rikard's sledding adventure ended when he hit a patch of powder snow and it flew into his face.



For the first 10 downhill runs, Keeli happily stood by and watched, cheering her siblings on. You should have heard her laughing at all the kids screaming down the hill and running back up. Then, she marched right up to Rick and informed him it was her turn. She pulled on his pantleg and yelled, "me, me, me." It was like music to his ears.


But, once was enough for the littlest Holestine.

The last run of the day, Tatum had built up the self-confidence to race with the boys sledding on the hill. They started and were neck and neck most of the way down the hill.

Tatum started pulling ahead of her young challenger. Nearer the bottom of the hill his friends were cheering them on. Like most boys, they were doing crazy things. They were standing in the path of the oncoming, racing, sledders and jumping out of the way at the last minute.

Tatum completley clobbered one of these daring young men. Her sled turned sideways and plowed directly into him, taking him out at the knees. He flew up into the air over her, landing face first in the snow. Tatum was knocked off her sled and rolled to a stop about 5 feet away.

Thankfully neither were hurt. They walked up the hill together, laughing about the entire event. Looking back, it was quite a comical site.

Maybe it will snow again.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Sleeping Baby


I snapped this peaceful picture of Keeli when she was sleeping last night.

She is starting to grow, GROW, G-R-O-W.

Keeli has taken to waking up two to three times a night. She stands at the side of my bed, pulling my arm and whispering "eat, eat, eat." Her favorite 2 a.m. treat is a grilled cheese sandwich. Her favorite 5 a.m. treat is fruit and toast. One night I heard noises and found her in the pantry searching for a snack!