Dog Bones

  Dozer and Chloe both got huge bones from Nana this Christmas. It's so funny to see what they do with them. It's not the normal "lay down and chew on it for hours" that you would expect!

Dozer carries his around while he's chasing the kids on their snowmobiles. He also just lays there with it guarding it form Chloe!

Chloe, on the other hand, buries her bones. She sneaks and lurks around for a long time and when she thinks no one is looking she buries it!

I have seen her re-dig it up a couple of times and re-locate the prized bone.

Needless to say, she has since stole Dozers bone and buried it as well!

Have a wonderful New Years!

Cheech

Grayse and 4-H

                               Grayse recently started dog and horse 4-H. She has absoutely loved it! We took her new horse, Rosey, to a 4-H ride last night and she did great! What a nice little horse she's been so far.
Grayse just loves these rides every sunday afternoon and they've turned out to be a regular family affair!
                       

One of the best parts of 4-H are all the nice friends Grayse has made. It does my heart good to see her walking and chatting with the girls.

Cheech

Reading time

   Each day, after the kids get their homework done, I have them read for about 15 to 20 minutes. Sometimes they read aloud to me and sometimes I just let them choose a book on their own and find a nice quiet place to read. I love to see where they choose their little "reading nook" for the day.



                                   This particular day Grayse cozied up on the couch.

And Dylan ended up upside down on the chair.

                     
       It really makes no difference to me where or in what position it's done. As long as they develop a love for reading.

Have a lovely day,

Cheech

One of our funnest days this Summer!

A friend of mine recently told me about a fun water park only an hour from where we live. Yesterday, we finally got to go check it out! We were not dissappointed! It was so much fun!! We kept it a total surprise for the kids and they couldn't believe it when we pulled up! We will be making this place a regular spot next Summer!

The water slides were just fast enough for the kids and not too scary!

They had a huge grassy area with lounge chairs and huge trees for shade.

Here's Grayse sitting in the kiddy pool unger the shade "shroom''! The kiddy pool was only about 1/2 an inch deep at it's shallowest!

In the end the kids were pooped, probably from climbing these stairs to the top of the slides all day long!

I'm always so excited to find fun family things to do that we all enjoy. On top of that this place only charges $2.50 for kids and $3.50 for adults. And that's for the whole day! The snack bar has sno- cones for .50 and hot dogs and nacho's for $1.00! As well as many other munchy things for under a buck!!

If you live in the area this place is located in Quincy, Washington.

Have a great day!

~Cheech

Grand Blog Opening Giveaway!!!

Hello everyone! In celebration of my new blog, I'm having a giveaway! If you win you will be able to choose from either of these cute little cowgirl garments! Head on over to Back Country Drive to enter!

Have a great day!

~Cheech

A stroll in the feild

Yesterday, Grayse's horse finally got a shoe put back on his front foot. The poor old guy.....he has one bum foot and if he doesn't have a shoe on he can't get around very well let alone be ridden. Well, Grayse was so thrilled to be able to ride that she took him out for a spin today. She asked brother to come with her down to the feild. His ride of choice was the Gator.

Have a lovely day!

~Cheech

I have a new blog!!

So, I have decided to start a new blog. Down Home With the Cooks will be used as my personal/family blog. It will contain all of the happenings of our little family.

The new blog is for all my projects and ideas and inspirations. So, please come visit me over at Back Country Drive ! And please bear with me as the new site is still under construction! Look for a Grand Blog Opening Giveaway soon!

~Cheech

A little furniture Redo

Lately, Grayse and I have been eyeballing this darling little antique bed out in the garage. I originally bought it as a prop for my Farmers Market booth but never did use it. I decided to fix it up and give Grayse a new bed. Her other one was cute but was a darker wood and since this one was already sanded down, I went for it!

A little Primer and paint and.....

Voilla!

It gave her room a much softer feel and it's tall enough to fit storage units underneath, which is a must!

Foot and head board $10 at antique sale.
Primer and paint $12
Total: $22!!!


~Cheech

Grayse's new dress

My dear, sweet daughter, Grayse, was blessed with her daddy's broad shoulders and stocky build. We have a hard time fitting her into regular "store bought" clothes so, I make alot of her clothing.

The other day we were at the local Goodwill store and I found this darling sheet for $1.99. My mind automatically started dreaming up ideas I could do with it and a few days later I ended up with this plan.............

I had this pattern [on the left] that my sister had just found me at a garage sale the week before that I used as the basic pattern. I used some of the instructions from the other pattern, as I'm not very good at just "winging it" on my own.

I started cutting away and coming up with ideas in the process.

"Hmm....the top part of the sheet could be a ruffle of some sort and the little squares with flowers on them could also be a cute pocket!"

This is what we ended up with!

Grayse wanted pockets so, we used a couple of squares off the ruffle and placed them on the front.

I just love how the ruffle turned out. So vintage!!

The pattern called for a zipper in the back but from past experience we have learned that zippers don't give Grayse enough growing room. So, I managed to figure out how to put elastic through the back. It was the perfect solution. She will hopefully be able to wear this dress for a couple of years.

I don't know if it's the cutest dress I have ever made but Grayse absolutely loves it and keeps saying how comfy it is. She wears it almost everyday and that's all that matters! For 2 bucks how could I go wrong?

~Cheech

I am linked to these places! House of Grace

                                          Creative Juices

                                          DIY Showoff

                                          The Girl Creative

                                          

Farm Kids

The term "Farm Kids" can mean alot of things. Today, this is what it meant for us. Kids don't get much "farmier" driving around a John Deere.

Hope you all have a lovely day!


~Cheech

Warning! Long post about one fabulous weekend!

A couple of weekends ago we decided to take the motorcycles and the gator up into the hills for a little ridin'! We packed a picnic and hit the road. Actually, the hills are only a few minutes from our house so, it didn't take long at all to get up there.

Halfway up the hill the kids decided to roll down their windows. The sudden stench that came through the car was horrible! If I didn't know better I'd of thought that we all had bad body odor. Seriously, that's what it smelled like. It turned out to be this beautiful flower. Who'd have thought this lovely specimen could be so stinky?

We set up camp in a beautiful grove of Pine Trees that provided much needed shade. Everyone was hungry when we got there so we ate quickly and got ready to ride!

Poor Dylan. He was so excited to ride his bike and it wouldn't start. Let me tell you, this bike never skips a beat. It always starts right up and we have never had any trouble with it. So, he was pretty dissappointed when he couldn't ride it.

Lucky for him, he has a very generous sister that let him cruise her 4-wheeler.

And we were off!!

Grayse and I and the Dogs drove the gator.

And of course, Grayse and Dill shared the quad!

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous!

And then we came upon this stunning little stream. And the kids had to play in it! It was super cold!!

         All in all it was a super fun day. Dylan had been asking to do this for a long time and we were finally able to go. What fun memories made!

~Cheech