A Taste of Heaven

Eureka! Guess what we feasted on tonight??? Our first harvest of fresh honey. And oh boy, was it ever yummy! We couldn't even wait for the crusty bread in the oven-- we just gobbled it raw. Of course, we had to avoid the one dead bee in the corner. But that's a small price to pay for fresh, straight out of the hive, honey!

The girl on the right, is Meagan, our neighbor-- in case you were wondering...

And yesterday, Reesey's preschool had it's Halloween extravaganza. Don't ask me what her costume is-- some kind of goth fairy princess that made a pit stop at the Mardi Gras.

The boy with her is Kamden-- one of the two boys in her class.

The Magic Box

Kean keeps a pretty busy schedule. He had three sessions of therapy this week and he seems to be making great progress. The beautiful thing about his therapy-- is that the therapists come to the house!!! And as I've commented before, his therapists have become like family. On her last few visits, Maureen has brought "the sensory box". It's a big tub filled with beans, rice, macaroni and toys. Kean loves it-- but guess who loves it even more? Yup, Reese.

I don't have a picture of it, but today, Reese kicked Kean out (actually he moved on to other exercises) and took her own turn in the box.

Random Bravery

I had to take Kean into St. Luke's today for some blood work. They are trying to figure out the level of medication to give him for his thyroid issue. My brave little boy didn't cry when they gave him the big poke in the arm. He scrunched up his face, his lower lip quivered... but he kept it together.
Now get this... he totally lost it and sobbed when I took off the band-aid tonight. Go figure.

My mom is taking Holland to the Boise State vs. Louisiana Tech football game tomorrow night. It's supposed to hit a high of 48 and be cold and rainy. Yikes!
On the bright side, if she comes home as a Popsicle, I won't have to scramble to come up with a Halloween costume for her later this week, eh?

Tastes Like Chicken

We've had a little issue with Reese of late... we can't get her to stop talking. She talked nearly non stop on our trip to Montana-- let me repeat that for you-- non stop! And remember, we were in the car 10 hours each way and we made the trip twice. That's a lot of talking!

At dinner each night, we have to tell her to stop talking and start eating. Oh, we are so open for suggestions.

Last night, Byron took her for a little ride. Somehow, they started talking about our old pet goose (click here for a refresher).

http://reincarnatedasamother.blogspot.com/2008/12/old-macbarker-had-farm.html

Reese wanted to know why someone would shoot a little goose. So Byron explained all about the sport of hunting and then eating the meat.

She next wanted to know if people eat people.

(Where does she get this stuff???)

After Byron told her "not really"... she wanted to know if people hunt and eat Grizzly Bears.

He said people don't really hunt Grizzlies to eat their meat.

Here's her response.

"I think they should. Grizzly Bears: mmmmm, tasty!"

A Tribute

As you by now know, Byron's father passed away just a few weeks shy of his 92nd birthday. This picture was taken hours before he was admitted into the hospital (and three days before he died). I doubt Reese and Kean will have any memory of him-- except for pictures. But I'm glad Holland and Greer got to spend a little time with their Grandfather before he left this earth. He looks pretty old and feeble in this picture-- but he was at this point. He could hardly get up and needed a lot of help to even make it to the bathroom. I helped Byron's family write up the obituary and it gives more insight into the man and his life than I could ever try to replicate. So if you are interested, here's a link:
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/app/obituaries/obitshow.php?8770
The family held a graveside service last Saturday. It was a beautiful but cold day and quite a number of people came out for the memorial. Byron (in the white shirt) was one of the pall bearers, along with his brother, Craig, Craig's three sons and Fred's neighbor and good friend, Alvin.
Fred served in WWII and survived five major campaigns (he had quite the stories to tell). He received a military funeral, complete with the 21 gun salute (Reese jumped after every single shot) and the flag draped coffin. I don't know about you, but military funerals are always so stirring. In all, there were about 12 uniformed soldiers (present and former) at attention, holding flags or shooting the guns.

Soldiers presented Byron's mother, Kay with the folded flag and a small pouch containing three of the 21 bullets fired during the memorial.

Our very dear friend, Steve (on the left) was the Bishop of the family's church when Byron was a child. He conducted the service and gave a wonderful talk about Fred and his life. The lady in the middle (Sue) went to high school with Byron. She sang Abide With Me, and also happens to be married to the funeral director (the guy on the right).

This is Byron's mom, Kay.

A very bundled up Kean fell asleep halfway through the service and even slept soundly through the 21 gun salute!

A Montana Moment

Home Sweet Home! We survived. Barely. We spent 9 days in Montana preparing Byron's father, Fred to go into a nursing home. Then, as you know, he passed away while we were driving back to Boise. So we turned around last week, and went back for the funeral. The ten hour drive-- each way-- was brutal with four kids. But we made it (and we are still somewhat sane)! I will write up something on the funeral in the next few days-- it ended up being really nice. But for now, here's one of the fun little moments from our first trip to Big Fork. This is Jim-- one of Fred's neighbors. He's holding up a shirt from when he was 10 years old and Holland is holding up his pants.
Jim tells the most hair raising story from when he was a child. He and a couple of his friends were out playing. Jim had crawled under a bush and was backing out when a big ol' bear knocked him down and started sniffing at his ear. Can you imagine?
The bear must not have found him yummy smelling enough... for it started away. Little Jimmy got up and started running. Now take a close look at those Levis. The bear took after him and took a swipe right across his rear end. The bear knocked him down again, where this time Jimmy had the good sense to hold still.
Meanwhile, his friends had run home, yelling "a bear has Jimmy". Jimmy's mom grabbed-- get this-- a broom and took off. By the time she got to Jimmy, the bear was gone. He told his mom, he was just fine, not hurt at all. But when he stood up, (as you can see on the pants), the bear had taken a chunk of his rear end off-- along with the material of the jeans. It had also clawed the front of both of his thighs. Can we stay stitches?
Isn't it cool he saved these clothes to show off, all these years later? I guess he was quite the little businessman-- he would charge the kids at school 2 bits (50 cents) to see his scars or to see the mangled clothes. My girls LOVED the story and the show and tell (not of the scars, thank goodness, just the clothes)! However, Reese was freaked out for the rest of the trip about a bear trying to eat her.
Then, one afternoon, while Byron worked at securing his father's farm, I took the girls over to "Jimmy's Zoo". He and his wife have 29 miniature horses, several goats, rabbits, dogs, ducks etc.

You'll notice, the horses are about the same size, if not bigger, than Reese.

Kean even had a close encounter with the little horses. By the way, Holland now has her heart set on getting one of them as a pet.

Some of our favorite guests!

We came home from our trip to a fun surprise! Ken and Jan Klingler, also known as Grandpa and Grandma Klingler around our house stopped by for a quick overnight! Ken is Byron's mom's cousin. And when Byron moved away from home at the ripe ol' age of 18, he moved to Arizona to be taken in by Ken and Jan. I adore this family-- they are a huge part of our family and get a lot of credit for shaping Byron into the person he is today. And let me tell you, you haven't been entertained until Ken has performed "The Big Mouth Frog", "Rindercella" or the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" for you. My children never, ever tire of his stories. (Neither do I)!

This was also Kean's first meeting with G and G Klingler.

Her Brain

Reese and her preschool class went on their first field trip-- to a dentist's office. She loved it and was just bubbling over with information when I picked her up. Are you ready for this exchange?
Reese: "Guess what? Did you know if you eat something sticky and you don't have a toothbrush, you can use a healthy food like a crunchy apple and it will clean your teeth!"
Me: "I know. Can you think of some healthy foods, other than an apple, that are crunchy?"
Reese: "Hmmm. I know. How 'bout some carrots or celery!"
Me: "That's great. I didn't even think of celery."

(Intermission, while she thinks for a minute)

Reese: "Mom, when we go on our trip to Hannah Montana, I'm not going to bring my toothbrush. I'm just going to bring celery!"

That dentist would be proud. Just think of all the cavities he can fix on her in the future.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels like times are changing way to fast. I guess I'm just getting old! It's been a smidge over a decade since I traded in my power suits and microphone for the glamorous life as the mother of four little chickens (as we like to call them). My last job was at CBS in L.A. And as if it's not bad enough that many of my dear, dear friends have moved on and left the place-- now the TV station has left the place. CBS at Columbia Square has been a fixture on Sunset Boulevard, well, since forever. And now they've abandoned the old girl and moved to a new location. A friend sent me this link -- a homage to the famous building. It's kind of long, but will give you a look at the guts of a TV station. In case you are interested, a picture of the area outside my old office is at 1:03 into the clip.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ovDBpsTyc&feature=player_embedded

I loved my days at KCBS. Michael Tuck and Anne Martin were our main anchors. In my investigative/special projects unit-- we had Joel Grover (now at KNBC), Kyra Phillips, Drew Griffin and Thelma Guittierez who are all at CNN as our core on-air talent. Plus we had the best, and I mean the very best photojournalists, producers and researchers on the planet. They've all gone on to do great things with their lives. I guess no one stays still, do they?

Another Death

As we prepare for Byron's father's funeral, we had a little impromptu one this evening at our home... for "Popcorn". That's Greer's goldfish.
Holland played a somber number on her school recorder as we all gathered around the toilet.
Greer said a few words before she broke down in tears. So each of us took over and talked about what a pretty fish she was. Holland mentioned she was great in that she never bit her when she was trying to clean her bowl. And Byron, by the way, said she was the prettiest orange he'd ever seen.
Ah, the painful lessons of life.

Meanwhile, another Reesey moment to share with you--- at lunch she informed me she wants to say all the prayers at every meal. Why, you may wonder? Well, she said, "I get really really hungry and if I say them, I can say them really, really fast."
Hey, at least the kid is honest!

I can't wait to sleep in my own bed...

I'm sorry I haven't posted. We just returned from a 9 day trip to Montana. Byron's father has not been doing well. And while we were there, he took a pretty good fall. He was hospitalized on Wednesday but then, after we had left and were headed back to Eagle, we got a call that he was slipping quickly. He passed away on Saturday. He was a few weeks shy of 92 and lived a long, full life. It's sad but also a relief. He did not want to leave the farm and yet, after his fall, a nursing home was inevitable. So I'm glad he didn't have to go through that.
We did manage to have some bright spots in our very stressful trip. I'll post some pictures later.