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LOL.  I started this post forever ago.  Oh well.  I'm not finishing it - moving on - just getting it out there...

It's funny.  Typing in that title, for the first time in my life, that word feels true for both where I'm living AND for Kansas, the place I've always "called home."

Anyhoo ;)

We're "home," west coast, rainy, lovely, home.  And as of today, Superman has half day vacays for a few days!  He works the looooongest days (his half days are basically a normal person's regular workday), so this is a Huge treat.  I have a million things we "should" try to get done around the house and have yet to do a damn thing for Christmas (blech).  But I'm pretty sure the boys would like to veg a large percentage of our staycation ;)  Lucky for them, I totally effed up my perineum in the Denver airport (Little Bits suddenly had a speed burst on the moving walkway and I turned and dove to divert disaster) and was easily talked into resting my bod while Z naps.  They are happily ensconced in front of some movie, cuddling.  I give E a total of ten minutes before he's out cold ;)

So, photo round-up of Kansas!

Z, lover of all things furry, thought her grandaddy's trophy's da bomb.  giddy-up;)

Z is also obsessed with shoes.  She wants to try on Everyone's shoes and clomp around in them.  Mom pulled out my first pair of cowboy boots and Z shoved her fat feet in them Every Day.  

For the love of BB

Just real quick- there's never time to blog these days, but I hate forgetting the little details that will get me through old age ;)

P and I were at a friend's bday party yesterday and the little girl got a Magic 8 ball from someone. P asked what it was and she told him. After the opening was over he quietly went over and picked it up and looked it over. Then he tested it with a basic question. Read the answer "yes." Then he leaned in and whispered to it. He asked me to read the answer, "Yes, Most definitely" and his eyes widened. I asked him what his question had been.

"Will BB, in my lifetime, come alive?"


This kiiiiiiiills me.

Fishing

Wow.  Our little ex-vegan is full on fisherman these days.  After a brief foray in Florida, he was hooked (har har;).  He built himself a pole with bamboo and his knife and we sat by the water, waiting and waiting and waiting.  Nada.

Gramps, always one to encourage hunterly pursuits, took P to Cabelas and got a little pole and they waited and waited and waited.

Learning how to cast

Multi-tasking cast practice

The next day they went back to Cabelas, got a better pole and some minnows and they didn't have to wait too long... Bass for dinner!

A friend came over to filet the fish and P was a bit shocked at the actual killing of the live fish part.  He will, apparently, add some goodbyes and a small thanks ritual next time.  But he insists that there Will be a next time, shock or no shock.  And the fish he caught (6 biggies)?  Grams fried them up yummy and the boy declared them the best. fish. Ever.  If only Grams (a fabulous fisherwoman) or Gramps lived in Oregon, as Mama and Papa are ever so less eager...

Horseback riding

It's moments like this that make memories that will warm my heart if ever lost on the tundra.  P wanted to take a little ride this time home.  And Z, she is positively mesmerized by animals.  I mean, the girl freakin LOVES animals (funny after P, who was kinda meh on the subject).  So P decides to invite Z up for part of his ride.  (Be still my heart.  I know too much about horses to think this is a good idea, ever.)  But the little ride was fine, Z was So happy and P?   Whenever he told anyone about his ride?  He talked about his sister :)  I eat that shit up as a mother :)

The Mechanical Mule

I have about a billion pics of the kids on the John Deere here.  P has always loved this thing, but Z, holy cow, Z is obsessed.  Between the two of them, they can spend the better part of any decent day driving around :)  Phoenix seems to absolutely adore having someone to join him in his little cart after flying solo for so long.

Z quickly had her first car accident.  P popped out of the driver's seat to practice some bow shooting and Z craftily clambered into his spot and accidentally hit the gas.  The little craft zoomed forward and hit my brother's car tire and the baby bounced out, quite surprised ;)  Live and learn... She now stays buckled tight unless she's in my arms or completely away from the machine.

When the battery dies on the little one, we climb into my father's real mechanical mule and putz around the property.  Z asks for a ride Every Day.  Fortunately, since P is teaching himself to drive the machine, he is just as happy to hop on it as she is.  He's getting pretty good and I don't clench my teeth quite as much anymore.

He hugged her allll the way home that day.

Thanksgiving and too much fun

Without my father's email reminders ("Red, your last blog was over two weeks ago, Daddy.") and all the fun we've been busy having, I'm falling behind here! So here's a quick (my posts are never quick, are they:) catch-up for the last, er, month...

The flight here... well, we survived :). The kids quickly switched time zones and Z settled into her new home without much drama. P, of course, was so relieved to see his grandparents it was heart wrenching.

Tgiving was all good. We had E's family at lunch and mine at dinner and felt, again, incredibly lucky that holidays are so easy with our fams. I wondered how P would share attention with Z this year, now that she can play games and such, but he was fab, often instigating her inclusion. And then, when he didn't want her, well, he was very clear about that ;). But with our fams, there's always plenty of Aunts and Uncles to go around ;). P's play is finally settling down a bit. I mean, there's still plenty of the wrestling his Uncles started him on as a baby, but it was mixed in with games of chess and chit-chat. Z, typically the party girl, seemed slightly mellow with all of the mayhem. Miss Chatterbox barely said a word, choosing to watch for a change.

And the food. I was über excited to eat and eat and eat this year after just apples last time, but was surprised to find how limited I still was with the traditional dishes. (It was still easier ;). I had desperately grabbed some Chipoltle (my very first cheat in over a year!) a few days before (hey - they say au natural!;) and Z was quickly covered in a head to toe rash and misery, so I tried to be pretty good Tday to make up for that ;). My mom was incredibly thoughtful in her preparations and Z and I feasted for dinner at the loveliest table I've ever seen.

I'm going to split the pics up into lots of separate posts or, looking at all of the pics that are queuing up here, this could get silly long. There's not really any pics of Tgiving - I was busy actually interacting with everyone (it is SO GOOD to see family when we are home!!!) that the phone didn't come out that much.  The rest of our visit has been ridiculously documented though ;)