A family photo

That's pretty close to a 'good enough' family photo, right? 

Every family has one...Logan was one, my brother Ted was one...the ones that silently goof off during family photos and you don't know it till you get the pictures back. Ours is Kase, and Coy usually has the funky attitude. They crack me up! 

I see all these perfect family photos on Pinterest and Facebook...perfectly positioned family members, outfits original and adorable, skinny moms that have had lots of kids...it's saddening what I "compare" ourselves too, then only too late realize that it's pretty unrealistic. Kids were sedated and bribed with sugar, mom spends all her time at the gym instead of with the kids, the adorable expensive clothes were bought on maxed out credit cards. Of course that's not all usually true, but in case it is, it makes me feel a little bit more real. Haha. 

We were down at the river in the first place to take Nick and Beth's pictures since the kids were home from ID. So here they are folks, our bestest friends you hear so much about. Beth, Talon, Abi and Nick. 

Now that is one good lookin real family!

Reset

My last post, about our beautiful Saturday morning, ended up to be a dreadful day...attitudes from everyone, a super failure of an attempt at a family photo shoot, a mommy melt down...

Sigh. Life is adventuresome, beautiful and sometimes not quite so fabulous. But by the grace of God, we try again and again, and sometimes get lucky enough to succeed. 

So it's Monday and we are trying again. Again.

 We've taken our classroom outside to the bitterroot river. 

I got my coffee, baby on my back, wandering boys, and sunshine...

Happy Monday, y'all!

It's just a plain ole' Saturday morning here on the short range. The morning sun showed off the trees and mountain as I nursed Reid and drank my raspberry tea. The choice breakfast for the  boys was Multigrain cheerios with local whole milk and spinach/strawberry/banana smoothie. I had a hot mushroom and spinach omelet with smoked salmon. Boys are now playing farm with their animals and panels and I'm about to fnish breakfast dishes while Logan is doing his second to last farmers market.

It's not an exciting life, but it's our life. And I love it.

the sewing business

Since I had another creative epiphany and another crazy dream, I had been collecting fabric, cutting (with the help of Beth), sewing organic baby clothes, sewing on cute tags...

Until I made this ad for the new line of clothing from my Brown Cow Cotton Baby Co online store about to re-open. 

This is the quote;

“Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

When re-reading my ad, I thought "hm, what I'm about to do does NOT support this quote that I love so much!"

I was about to burden myself down again, chain myself to the requests of others, to the media, and take time away from my kids and the beautiful land I live in.

So, I quit. Before I even started again.

And shoot down my next idea. Please. My REAL JOB right now is my boys! <3 p="">

We've had half the worker set here and the other half has been up the road at Nick and Beth's. Sunday night we met here for amazingly healthy nachos, Dutch Blitz and a little gospel polka! Ha! It was actually just Heidi with her accordion, and a few taught notes from Beth and I. It's really a lot of brain work (at least for a blonde mommy brain!) but oh, so fun! 

Today we spent a bit on the Bitterroot River. It's our most favorite place to go...there's a trail along the river and through the woods and shallow (during late summer) rocky waters safe enough to wade out for a little bit. 

Coy discovered massive amounts of algea!! I touched it (really! I really did! Ew!) and he chased his brothers around with it. 

When we are there...the big boys run off on their adventures but this little guy gets left behind. But that's ok, cause he's as much a fan of cuddling as I am! 

I cut his hair!!! I'm so so sad! I loved his long hair...I braided it (once it twice) and combed my fingers they it which was more therapeutic for me than him I think :) It was getting in his eyes and it was only when we were home that we could put in a "pony hair", so decided to give him a trim. A trim turned into more than that.abd pretty soon there was no going back. Now he looks about 12 :(

Here are the 4 boys. Their current ages are newly 6, coming up on 5, barely 3 and 20 months.

Autumn Awesome

If there were ever a place with year-round fall, we would need to move pronto. So because it's passing quickly, we're enjoying the weather tremendously!

Mom, remember Paddle to the Sea? We've read it more than once and I love it. Still. I read a bit to Kase in this picture while cuddling and attempting to learn to crochet. The cuddling comes more natural for me than crocheting!

Beth, baby J who she babysits, the boys and I went to the pumpkin patch the other week. There was a single stack hay bale maze for the tykes, a petting zoo, obstacle course, photo props and a pumpkin patch, of course!

Kids met kids. 

If it doesn't have a railing, a child will without a doubt launch himself off of it. Within reason, don't worry. 

For his birthday, Nick and Beth got Coy a compound bow and some arrows. His very first shot with it got just outside the bulls eye and blew my socks off! However, since then we've spent most of the time hunting arrows in the field :)

I got to join some ladies and workers from our field for a 5k race! I finished the 3.1 miles in 39 minutes. I love running and hope to get my joint pain under control enough to get more running in! I know I have a running partner in Heidi :)

We measured our pumpkins with the big block Legos after the pumpkin patch. I love that we can find teaching/learning oppertunities in our everyday play!

This boy makes me swoon. Can it be possible he's 3 already?? I missed posting it, but he turned 3 last month. Three and full of fire ;)

The big boys have really done well at soccer! Bentley made a goal and lots of good passes during the last game, and Coy has been a good teammate to the Stevi Seahawks! 

We went to the Lee Metcalf wildlife refuge this week with some little buddies. The trees, the river, the smells of fall were so beautiful and I was so grateful to be out and able to enjoy it! 

Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge

Stevensville, Mt. 

Be there or be square.

;)

We made our weekly hit to the science museum on the day they studied and made fake animal scat this week. That was a fun one to take home. Haha!

We are working on memorizing a poem about the four seasons. We read it all, then work on illustrating and copying a new line every few days until we can recite it all! We tried to get a video Friday but it just was not in the cards :/ 

We buzzed up to Beth's last night for a cozy October bonfire! Nick made popcorn and we brought apple cider fixins. We always enjoy our time with them...we are lucky to have them so close. A mile-and-a-half kind of close!

This morning I got to go to a quiet local coffee shop....all by myself!! Imagine! :) I chatted with Auntie Mary and then ordered myself a plain latte (extra foam) and made the next few weeks schedules. When I got home, the boys were sorting Legos and I got to cleaning for our worker company for the next few days. It's now blustery and raining so it's feeling extra cozy inside. Hope y'all are having a great Sarurday! Cheers!

S.i.x

In the blink of an eye {they say it was 6 years} this boy grew up. 

Happy 6th birthday to our incredible firstborn, Coy.  We love you more than monkeys love bananas.