Teenagers are Detrimental to Your Sleep

OOHHHHH. If I had known that teenagers cause you such lack of sleep, I would have slept WAY more in college to make up for it. Why don't they just go to sleep? And why do they want to talk about everything under the sun at 11:30 pm?? Can't they do that at 7:30pm? Don't get me wrong - I WANT to talk about everything under the sun with my kids, but I mean, heck, we homeschool - we are here all day together....why is said kid not worried about how he wants to record the vocals on that song or what guitar he wants to use at 8:30? Just wondering why those things are not important until the "it's time for mom (and YOU!) to go to bed" time. Can't they remember that at 7 am, when I come down to drag them out of bed, they will be in a totally comatose condition because of this?? Doesn't he know that I am OLD now????

Hillbilly Haven

I am pretty sure that most people are not boiling bison heads in their backyards........lucky me. Yep, and not your ordinary bison head - a full grown bull head. It has been sitting at the house in a trash bag - not IN the house, mind you - for a couple of months and since it has started to thaw around here, we figured something had to be done before it started stinkin'. It isn't everyday that you come across a full grown, bison bull head - you either have to pay for a nice, big bison hunt, or one of your stubborn bulls that won't come home to the herd has to die out in the wild and get half eaten by animals....then you get a bull head. We got ours by the latter means......jealous? Yeah, I didn't think so. We didn't have anything big enough to boil the doggone thing in, so we had to get a feeding trough. Then McGyver set up the system. It started out as a big fire with steel poles and sheet metal holding up the tub and it progressed to all sorts of other creative means to get the thing to boil. It was Boy Hillbilly Haven here this weekend. Some of The Miller boys came over to watch the festivities. Oh my. At one point there were 3 fires going and the pyromaniacs came in to get one of my cast iron pans, bread, and butter - they made toast on the open fire.CJ and Josiah sat around playing guitar on the steel poles so that they wouldn't bend into the fire.

HOURS later, just like a roast, the meat fell right off the skull. Just for the record, we did NOT, I repeat, we did NOT, eat the meat or make head cheese as my husband suggested we should. I am sure he was kidding....pretty sure he was just trying to get a reaction out of me...pretty sure. Now, we have to figure out how to bleach the skull so that it whitens up. And then, what to do with it.....Brad says it is going over our bed....I laughed real hard and passed it off as a great joke. ha ha ha ha.....aaaaaaahhhhhh! There is no way I am sleeping under that thing. We will keep this one, though, and find some great place to put it - like maybe out in the shop. Or, one day, maybe we will have a huge stone fireplace and we can hang it there. I would love to have an artist paint it some funky colors - Carol Hagan-ish maybe.

In Which We Miss Church Because We Don't Know it's DayLight Savings

Say it with me, now .....LAM-O!! It never even crossed my radar - not even once, but when we drove up to church 6 minutes early (so we thought) and the entire lot was packed and no one was walking into the building, Brad said "oh no.....daylight savings" (I said, "HUH?"). Apparently he had noticed earlier in the week that today was the day. Josiah noticed that his phone was an hour later this morning, went to check the calendar and since it didnt' say anythig about Daylight Savings there, he decided that his phone must have freaked out. So, we went to get coffee instead of going to the last 15 minutes of the service. Rotten.

Adventure Boy Turns 15

Adventure boy turns 15 today. In honor of this memorable occasion I am posting fifteen things we love about Josiah and photos. I scanned some photos from our albums with Brad's phone (it IS smart) so that I could have some non-digitals. Love it.

Fifteen Things We Love About Josiah:
1. He has a great sense of humor. He's been that way from earlier than he should have been. It just didn't seem right having a 4 year old being funny, not because he was a kid, but because he really was funny. He used humor in ways that none of our other 4 years olds did - well, except for Micah (and they are my most similar kids!).
2. He is very musical - a kid after my own heart that way. He plays guitar, piano, and is learning mandolin. Music is his passion - it makes him tick. He is pretty much self taught (except for some early instruction by Mr. Lee....thanks, Gale!) and he is good.
3. Josiah is a thinker....which makes for great conversation. And he likes to talk!!
4. He is compassionate towards others
5. He knows Christ as his saviour and wants to follow Him all through life.
6. We have the same taste in music - and that is really fun.
7. Josiah is a great friend - he is very loyal.
8. He is a quick learner and is good at just about everything that he tries to do.
9. He is determined.
10. He has a great sense of style.
11. He is extremely athletic (see #8 for more details!)
12. He is our in-house go-to techy guy.
13. He is so much fun to be around - one of my favorite people.
14. He plays a great devil's advocate which helps anyone (and himself) understand why they believe what they do.
15. He's my son and first born to boot - that's the thing I am most thankful for in Josiah....I thank God that, in His sovereignty, he gave Josiah to all of us in our family. I don't know what we'd do without him.

I love this one!

Always in costume. For years, he was a "fire guy" wherever we went.

the King and Queen.

First grade - don't you want to just pinch his little cheeks??

First Tee Ball team. He was very serious.....all the other kids were picking daisies, but Josiah was in the World Series. also, each time he got to base, he'd pick up the base, dust it off and put it back down.

The Incredible Hulk showing us how big his muscles are and how NOT skinny he is.

2nd grade cute little punkin'.

The mighty Celts. Homeschool history at its finest. Check out Elias - he has been crazy from the get-go.

He loved his baby sister.

With Grandma Riggs

With Dad before one of his All-Star games

Goober - first day of school photos - homeschooler.

Still loves his baby sister.

He is happiest with his guitar

Happy Birthday, Josiah, we love and thank God for you.

petting a bison

We just got a bison hide back from the tanner for a customer. It is a beauty. It is really fun because hides are as different as human fingerprints. This one has a dark stripe down the center of the hump and then is really blonde around the stripe. Then it gradually darkens down to the legs. And this one is really large. Bison hides are so thick and luxurious. I have never been a hide type of gal, but these things have changed me. Beautiful, soft, warm, and hairy, they make me want to snuggle up and sleep on them. Maybe it is my attachment to the animals themselves - I am sort of partial - that makes me love these. Maybe it is that I always wish the bison were snuggle-able. I long to pet them. Even Arnold, the bison that was bottle fed and would come right up to us, wouldn't let you pet him - he'd give you a nice big head butt instead. I guess these hides are the closest thing I'll get to petting a bison. I'm okay with that; it is much less dangerous.

Happy Birthday, Micah

My sweet Micah turned 8 years old today - how do the years slip by so quickly? I hate that one day my little girlie that I love and snuggle and can't stand to be without, will run off and leave me. Micah is a dear, sweet, spunky, musical, hilarious, crazy, witty, totally fun-loving, compassionate, sarcastic, sensitive, affectionate, capable, take charge, fearless, dare-devil, dimple-sporting, cutie-patootie. Micah makes us laugh so hard - not because of funny little kid stuff she says, but becuase she has a great sense of humour. I thought that I would post some photos (digital ones - so sad that I cannot get all my film photos on here or I'd post some of her darling baby photos). I miss those pudgy cheeks.

She and her buddy, Elias. He takes good care of his little sister.

Drew's wedding. Love that face - goofball. In our family photos when she was three, she smiled and crossed her eyes - no one noticed until we got the photos back

Cute or what???

serious bedhead! How in the world did it get like that?

crazy bubby-girl

Nice outfit. That's a leotard on her head. That's what you get when you let a 2 year old get out the dress ups alone.

Her daddy calls her A.B. - Angelic Bubby. Doesn't she just look like an angel here? The rest of us have other substitutions for the A. part......like Amplified or Agro

Here is my baby, today at 8 years old. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of Micah. Happy Birthday, dear girl.

The Wylds

We just watched The Wylds last weekend. The movie, made by local film maker Andrew Wiest here in the Flathead Valley, is sort of a modern, loosely adapted version of Pilgrim's Progress. It stars Solomon Ray (Crystal Lewis' son; their daughter also was involved and wrote the end song). I knew it was an independent, small budget film and, although I thought it would be decent, I wasn't expecting anything incredible - films are tough to do without a big budget. Also, I knew there were some weird sci-fi/special effects scenes that made me skeptical. I was totally impressed - we all loved it. The script, the acting, the special effects and the filming were exceptional. It is one of the very best low budget films I have seen to date; WAY better than the films that have won a certain high profile, Christian film festival that many of us are familiar with! ;) There was none of the "cheesy factor" that often exists in lower budget films. It is even more impressive knowing that most of the actors were locals. One thing that I didn't care for was that Evangeline (Evangelist in the real Pilgrim's Progress) was a female preacher. I think that kind of limits the film's market and might make some people stay away. Although that is contrary to scripture, and I no way agree with that interpretation, I totally enjoyed the film and would recommend it to anyone. It is nice having movies that the entire family can watch and enjoy together. And imagine - right here in little 'ole Kalispell.