Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies...of kids, dogs, and any other critter that makes you a mommy! (I'm darn near the little old lady who lived in a shoe if you count all the animals currently under foot around this outfit!) I've tried to get caught up on a bunch of my posts this weekend but they managed to get out of order, so you may need to poke around a bit to see them all. My branding pictures from last Tuesday are all scattered around. Oh well. You get the idea! May has started out very busy.


My dad has a tradition of branding on Mother's Day and this weekend was no different. My sister Christy was on call and needed someone to be available to watch her kids in case she got called in, so I volunteered for part of the morning. Mom was taking on the bulk of the watch, but wanted to go up to the branding for a bit in the morning. Christy didn't get called in, so we actually had a pretty nice peaceful morning. Carter and Cade rode up with Gramma to the branding to watch for a bit, Avery promptly took a nap and we had the whole house to ourselves...nice and quiet. Didn't last long but was nice while it lasted. We even got to take to Jess in Kyiv, Ukraine on the webcam. Pretty amazing technology. There was a bit of a delay, but not bad considering how far away she is.


After mom got back from the branding, the kids all wanted to play outside. It was really lovely weather, if a bit windy (big shocker there...much more shocking to find a non-windy day around here). Carter and Riley Jo had fun playing on the trikes. When the branding crew had finished up and came down for lunch, Aunty Gwynny gave all the kids a four-wheeler ride...all at once. Notice Carter has her sunglasses on and is all set for the ride.

Sterling has really taken to Carter and treats her just like a little sister...much better than most big brothers. I'm always amazed at how good he is with her. You wouldn't think he was only 7. In the picture below, he's leading her into the house to get her shoes so she can go down with him and all the other kids to play in the creek.

After the branding, I snuck home for a nap. Robert and Carter were working outside, although it didn't take Carter long to fall asleep either. She woke up just in time to head down to Gretchen's house (our neighbor who gave us Sprinkles) for a birthday party for her daughter Adrianna and my cousin Wynne. My great aunt Ginny and Uncle Jim were just in from California for the summer so it was nice to see them, and one more pot-luck dinner meant I didn't have to cook! It was a pretty good mother's day all in all, especially considering all the yard work Robert managed to get done outside in between riding and branding.