Snow...remember that?

This is a picture of something that's not around here much anymore. Last weekend, we had about two feet of snow in the yard. Right now there a couple of spots where the sun can't get that's still harboring some snow, but with another day like today, there's not much left in the valley anywhere.

It's 70 degrees right now.

This is the view from the parking lot at KBOZ facing southwest.

Here Ducky Ducky, redux

You may remember here we wrote of feeding the ducks at MSU. A couple of weekends ago we went to the symphony(!) and afterwards, took a couple of loaves of bread we had been saving along with some buns to the duck ponds. I also brought some lettuce thinking that might be a treat for them. Turns out ducks don't like lettuce...or at least Romaine.
The ducks at MSU have no fear of humans. In fact they can be pretty damn impatient if you're not quick enough on the draw. The one behind my right leg is pecking at me trying to get me to hurry up and turn his way. If you wait long enough, the closest ones will peck at your pantlegs until you give in and feed them.
I discovered one way of stopping the pecking...throw a handful of bread the other direction. It works for about ten seconds. At least they don't draw blood.

Peek!

Nuzzlin' Nozes

Snuggling with the Duck.

Snuggling with Mama.

Washing Clothes 101

This is how you get ready to do the wash:
First, sort the clothes.
Second, beat the dirt out of them.
Third, put them in the washer.

(Colter demonstrates step #2)

A recent conversation

"Hey, look! Daddy's home. Let's watch him get the mail."

"That's not a man."

"Daddy's a man."

"No, he's a Jay and you Jenny."

A, B, C easy as 1, 2, 3

Each child at Colter's school has a mailbox. The teachers will provide the parents with bills, of course, but every now and then we'll get a project that the kids have been working on. You know, the various pasting project, a painting or marker drawing, sign language chart. Yes, I typed that correctly, a SIGN LANGUAGE chart. Apparently Colter has been interested in signing his A,B,C's. Not only does Colter sing the whole song, he now wants to sign along with the singing. The best part is the end when he starts signing and signing at the same time, "now I know my a, b, c's (insert signed characters here) next time won't 'wue' sing with me."

Some of Colter's other accomplishments this month:

Counting to 100 without help
Counting to 10 with his fingers
Starting to add (1 duck plus 1 duck = 2 "gucks")
Learning to play Chutes & Ladders
Learning to play Memory game
Used the potty once at home
Putting together a 24 piece puzzle

What did he just say? This coming from the boy who we thought would never speak:

"I'm having a little trouble finding little quack" (having a "little trouble?")
"I'm just going to play cars for a little bit"
"I'm going to go get my water real quick"

Boys and their trains

and 12 hours later he decided to open the rest of his gifts from Santa. 

Ain't it purty, Pa?

Any more doubts why we wanted to move back here?
Merry Christmas from Montana! 

Christmas Cookies!

This is what Colter looked like BEFORE he and Jenn started to make Christmas cookies. To see how it all turned out, go here

 

Finally!

I've been looking at that big sealed up box since my birthday. Mommy and daddy finally got around to opening it and putting it together. It's a tool bench with real goggles! Mommy, daddy, move all your stuff out of the "libin rom." I need space to work. 

Christmas comes early this year

Yep, the "tee" was up the day after Thanksgiving this year. I'm feeling the spirit since Colter kinda has an idea of what's going on. However, he's not so fond of the big red guy just yet. We saw one of Santa's helpers at a pancake breakfast we recently attended and Colter gave the jolly old man the stink-eye. 

Hay!

We spent a beautiful fall afternoon at a local farm that had hay rides, a pumkin patch and goats. Yes, goats! I bet the big city folk don't run into goat-jams on the freeway! Well, we don't here either, but...hey, we have hay!

First Snowfall of the Season

Well, had to break down and go find a shovel at Home Depot today. Nice snow for the first real one of the season in the valley. Out at work, there was close to two inches on the car when I left at 6:30 tonight. Colter shows no signs of wanting to get out into the snow so far. Of course, as fastidious as he is (neat-freak-genes from Mom), he may have a bit of a fit if he actually gets snow on him...or his clothes.

Here Ducky Ducky Ducky...

Momma works with the ducks, and Daddy works in the mountains. At least, that's how Colter sees it. You can see the view from my work below. This is the duck pond at MSU where Colter and Momma went to feed the ducks yesterday. We took another trip to Yellowstone today. More pics from there to follow very soon.

A Beautiful Big Sky Morning

This is what happened on Thursday night last week. It got a tad chilly and some precipitation fell. Of course, it wasn't until Friday afternoon when the clouds lifted that we could see the snow on all the mountains around us. The snowline on the Bridgers fell a little farther each day as did the snowline out by my work in Hyalite Canyon. It was cloudy and sprinkly all weekend, but this morning, nothing but blue Big Sky. This picture is of the Spanish Peaks (the eastern side, so there's more snow) from the parking lot at the studios. 

At the cabin

Our little Jay, er, Colter reading at the "cabin" in Billings. This was taken precisely 6 hours before he spilled his cookies on mom. He was out of daycare for the week with fever, malese and general "icky-ness." 

Vrooooommmm

or what I like to call "mama, 34 years ago." 

Smoke on the water

We spent part of our Labor Day weekend at Chico. This was Colter's first trip. He was a little hesitant of the water at first but once he got his feet wet we couldn't get him out. Unfortunately the forest fires have been so bad this summer that we were unable to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Chico is surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in the country and we felt like we were looking at it through a cotton ball. The visibility was less than a mile and when we left the smoke was so bad it literally smelled like a campfire outside.