I just realized that I only posted 6 entries for this blog for the entire year. Sheesh, what a slacker I have been. As I went through all the pictures that I would have put on here, I realized there were around 100 so I decided to make collages instead.
So this was Easter time. We always go out to the farm and have an outside easter egg hunt. This year it was extremly cold. I love to see how the kids differ in eating their chocolate bunny. I love how Maci eats it from the side and Aleck, well, as long as it makes it into the mouth he is good.
This is the little man's 2nd birthday. We were at the end of our remodel so we sat on the floor to blow out the candles and eat the cupcakes. We love to celebrate with Paula too so we got to sing happy birthday to her. And how special it is to have a rainbow on their birthday. There was a light rainstorm with a double rainbow. Aleck go some clothes, a book, a Danel Tiger dvd and toy, and a football, basket ball, and soccer ball his size. He was a happy boy!
These pictures are just some fun and silly ones from the summer. We were able to see a complete solar eclipse. The clouds were trying to block our view all night but it was still a magnificent sight!
The only way to eat peanut butter is with a spoon out of the tub! David always has ears that iche and often leaves the Q-tip in his ear. Well, his son sees that so often that he loves to copy dad!
In August we had small family gathering over near Missoula. We went on this awesome bike trail called The Hiawatha Trail. It is 15 miles long with 10 train tunnels and 7 sky high trestles and all downhill with shuttle buses that take you and your bikes back to the top. Maci rode on a tag-along with David and Aleck rode in a trailer behind me. We packed a lunch and leisurly rode along. It was so amazing, I would love to make it a yearly tradition. After the wkd, we all parted ways and we headed north to Canada. We were going to sight see our way back to Glendive but the boader patrol wouldn't let us into Canada with a weapon. Guess that is frowned upon. So we headed to Glacier.
Most of the summer, Glacier had some fires but we had thought they were put out. The previous evening we entered the Park and the air was clear and it was all beautiful. We decided we didn't have enough time to do all that we wanted in one day so we searched for a motel. Our search ended us to the KOA which was quite spontaneous for us. Our little cabin was cute and the kids had fun on the bunk beds. So we had our bfast at the KOA and off to the MAZE we went. The kids had lots of fun with this. However, as we got to the end, we got a little lost and couldn't find the hard way out. So............... we crawled under! UGH, we cheated!!! (don't tell anyone) I am so embarrassed! But, we backtracked to see where we went wrong. It wasn't far. We then went for a boat ride and squirted each other with water. Maci loved that! Then we were off to the park. We quickly saw that the clear air was not so clear anymore. As you can see, it was very smokey! When we reached the top, we were hoping to get out and walk up the trail but we must have circled the parking lot for 20 minutes and never found a spot. So we continued on. The fire damage was hard to take in. Reminded us of Yellowstone. But we still got to see some neat views.
So Maci had been looking forward to playing soccer for the first time this year. Her team name was the Rockets. Her first game was a little rough. She was mad she couldn't get the ball or score or that others were taking the ball instead of her. So by the time the next game came around we had made up some rules to follow: 1) Listen to your coach 2) it doesn't matter if you don't get the ball and 3) always have fun. Games got a little easier after that. She never scored a goal but she was always throwing the ball in from the sidelines. Overall, she loved it and it was a great first experience.
This fall we were able to go to Papa's Pumpkin Patch in Bismarck, North Dakota. It was alot of fun. There was a boy scout trail and lots of rides. We even picked out some cute little pumkins to bring home. Not as big as those huge ones though ;)
Maci's 5th birthday celebration was a few days long. We opened giftw with gma and gpa Steffen on the 5th. She got an encyclopedia, Legos, My little pony book and coloring books with crayons and some Frozen sneakers. Since April, when Bentley had a pinata at his birthday party, she had talked about having one. I have a video of the pinata fun, I will have to see if I can post it later. Chelsea came a couple days later to visit and join in the celebration. She had made this beautiful picture frame with a picture of her and Maci in it. She wrote on the outside, "How lucky am I to have someone that makes leaving so hard." So now what to do with a 5 year old???
