Carterman is 10! Laney sadness...

Waking up these bums in the morning is always amusing. They usually end up cuddled together.

We went up to Skyline Park behind Hillcrest one windy weekend. The playground is for kids much littler than mine, but they still managed to have a little fun. Teague's head fit perfectly in this thing!

They said this felt like they were on a roller coaster. Teague's face kills me!

That's pretty cute. My Teagie Pie is in need of a haircut I think.

We went over to Hillcrest for some bigger playground stuff. This slide is ridiculously huge and fast!

We all went down it a few times.

I know this is hard to read, but this is the note Papa wrote to excuse Carter from school. They went on a little road trip to North Dakota when Dad had a long weekend off track. He used to send these to school with me...from 5th grade (for Taco Tuesday!) all the way through high school. Carter's teacher loved it. I'm glad she has a sense of humor (and she knows that my Dad is not actually insane.)

We have been reading my really old "Wizard of Oz" book at night. It has my name childishly scrawled in purple crayon on many of the pages. Teague absolutely loves it!

When Carter was in ND, we made a trek to Missoula. We went into Cabella's just to walk off some lunch before we hit frozen yogurt (we always eat well when we are there!) This is Callie and Teague's " 'Merica" picture. Patriotic guns everywhere...not my thing.

Mmm...frozen yogurt is delicious.

We hit up our favorite breakfast diner in the morning. Nothing goes with breakfast quite like a chocolate milkshake!

We always have the best time with Callie. It's such a short trip. We should head over more often!

Kyle bought a cooler and three containers of Cold Stone. This is why he really wants to go...

More books! I've saved all my favorites from when I was little. Ave and Carter are getting started on a few of these.

Time for some incredibly sad news. I knew my Laners had not been feeling well. She seemed tired all the time and just not herself. She was born with a heart arrhythmia and had started doing this cough all the time. When I looked it up, it was a sure sign of heart failure. I took her for a short walk one night, and she started walking all crooked. I carried her for a few blocks, and Kyle picked us up. When we got home she perked up and ate her customary piece of lunch meat while I made the kids' lunches. She didn't want to sleep with anyone though, which was not like her at all. I woke up at 2 and heard her make a little sound in the hallway. She was laying down and didn't want to move. I woke up Kyle, and we pet her for a few minutes until her poor little heart stopped. I miss her so much. 13 years is such a long time to love something. I miss her greeting us at the door, cuddling with us, and just always being there. She was the best first dog I could have ever asked for and the absolute best big "sister" to our kids. She adored them from the first day she met each of them, and we are glad to have so many pictures of them together. We will never ever forget her.

We buried her in the backyard with her blanket we took on road trips, her two favorite toys (her rubber duck and her Bobo), some treats, and a picture and charm from her leash that Ave made for her. We washed some stones and made an L. Teague added two of her "favorite sticks." We say hello to her often before we head to school. We loved her. Thank you so much for the card Carl and Jenny. I know you guys loved her too, and you know what it's like to lose a dog. They are family.

On to a happier note, my Carterman is somehow 10 years old! Double digits! He had his party at Bounce off the Walls, and this was the second group of laser tag competitors (Liam, Austin, Connor, Nicole, Abbey, Teague, Ave, Madisyn, and Mason!)

Carter doesn't like cake, but likes cupcakes. Who knows? Anyway, we made three different kinds. I was pretty proud of my homemade cream cheese frosting (thanks Martha Stewart recipe!) They were all a big hit.

It's tough to fit ten candles in a cupcake!

Some of his family and friends from around the table: Connor, Austin, Tre, Danny, Colby, Teague (the tip top of his head), Nate, Prestin, Kenny, Carter, Ave, and Karstyn.

It was almost impossible to get a normal smile from him!

No girlfriends yet!

I love this picture of Teague!

Time for some present opening.

He got very spoiled by so many people. Thank you all for making him the happiest 10 year old around!

Teague was showing Kyle how cops should shoot. I'm hoping Kyle brought this pose out when he had to qualify at the shooting range last week.

Our present to Carter was a Nintendo 3DS. He had been asking for it for a long time. He seems to really like it!

His actual birthday was on Tuesday, which was Mackenzie River Pizza Night for Emerson. They brought him a free dessert, and he loved it!

Jordan had her senior prom before Easter. She looked lovely as always, and I'm glad we got a picture with her. It's a tradition!

Spring/St. Patrick's Day!

We've had some very pretty snowfalls this year. We went out and played for awhile in the big snowflakes.

I have no problem with snow as long as the wind isn't howling!

Teague loves to be outside. We'd had some fairly decent temperatures lately, and he can play in the front yard for hours!

Carterman (looking good in one of Grandpa's hats) had us follow a dog that was running around to make sure it got home okay. He's an animal lover (except snakes!)

This is what happens when you play outside a lot. All that fresh air wipes a little kindergartner out!

One of Teague's friends got him a tent for his birthday. Kyle helped the kids set it up and tried it out. He was just slightly too big!

Avers and Laney are best buddies. Ave calls Lane her sister.

Teague loves all my Mom's St. Patrick's Day wear. He always tries on a few things when Papa brings the crate up from the basement. He was calling himself "Irish Cat in the Hat!"

My Carterman's Battle of the Books team won! They studied really hard, and they should be so proud. They had to go to the library and battle a 4th grade team from Whittier for the championship. The questions were difficult, but they won by 5 points. Good job boys!

Avery also likes to read! We let Carter pick dinner that night after the big win and ended up at the Montana Club. Ave had checked out a few books from the library and couldn't wait to get started on them. It makes me happy!

I took Carter and his friend Nate (who was captain of their team) for ice cream the next day. I want them to be proud of reading a bunch of books.

Some  friends and I took our buddy Hattie out for dinner to celebrate her basketball career. She played four great years at Tech. We enjoyed watching her.

Mom bought some Easter kits for the kids to decorate. Ave and Teague loved them! I need to get a picture of the final results. They turned out really cute. Good thing Grandma is artistic!

This is Teague and Ave running around together in a sleeping bag. It looked so weird, but it was pretty funny! I don't know how they didn't crash.

We had a fun swimming day at the Y a couple Saturdays ago. We were all bored. Teague wanted to do a "crab" pose here. He's a goofball!

Spaghetti squash time. For some reason it always amuses me when Dad gets a saw out to aid him in cooking. It works really well though!

Teague has been wanting to go on walks with me and Laney. He's a good little explorer!

This is the main reason he wants to go with me. He is such a little collector. He's sure he'll have enough to build a dam soon.

3 cool kids enjoying a spring day! I love the poses.

St. Patrick's Day is here! Mom's birthday turned out to be gorgeous. Aunt Diane came in, which was so nice of her. Mom and I met her and Terri at the parade. My Mom's friends Dick and Diane Trerise came over from Helena to surprise her also. Nancy and Frank made it too. We had a very nice time together!

There were three companies of bagpipers in the parade this year, but I think the Edmonton group is the best. They got a very loud cheer from the thousands of people all around.

Jon Tester riding a tractor also got a big cheer.

Group photo! Dick, Diane T, Nancy, Mom, Frank, me, Terri, and Aunt Diane!

Sisters picture at the Vu. We went there for some pizza afterwards. It was kind of off the beaten path, so we had a nice visit. Thanks to everyone who made Mom have a great Birthday!

I took the kids down to Dairy Queen later in the day. Teague's little shamrock cheek looked awfully cute.

The Edmonton bagpipers and drummers came to Emerson in the morning. The kids all thought they were pretty cool. Teague wanted to "play the bagpipes" so Ave helped design him his own. They looked great! She made herself a drum also with a nice Irish sash. I was impressed! The turkey baster Teague is using is definitely going to need some sanitizing!

We went to breakfast with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Diane before she headed back to Kalispell. We had a great time with her. It was very nice of her to drive all this way for a visit! I really like this picture even though it's kind of washed out.

Kyle and I took the kids to the Museum of the Rockies. He had to head to Spokane yesterday for training and won't be back until Friday.

We've been wanting to see the traveling exhibit for awhile now. Crocs! Teague was happy to wear his new crocodile shirt there.

I had no idea there were live Crocs there! It was pretty awesome.

We learned a lot about Crocodiles, Kamens, and Alligators.

There was a story about the biggest Saltwater Croc ever captured live. It's name was Gengis, and it was caught in India and later brought to Florida. It died at age 67 from heart failure. This is a replica of it - 20 feet long! I can't imagine seeing a 20 ft long crocodile!

There were four little babies! One in the water and three on the rock. They were pretty cute! Crocodile and Alligators are good parents. We watched a Wild Kratts episode about it once. They also had a video about it at the Museum.

These guys were quite interested in the Montana history section this time. This picture of Butte back in the day was pretty cool. We had a blast! Sorry for the long break in between posts. It has been busy, busy, busy around here. Hope everyone is well!