ElleAnna's New Adventure

Yesterday, Elle had an amazing new experience. I so wish I had taken photos, but I didn't... the look on her face was beyond priceless. ElleAnna went to her first salebarn! My parents were selling calves and Elle got to watch. The annual day the fat calves are sold has ALWAYS been a big deal in my family. When Ranelle and I were at home, my parents would often come get us from school even so that we could be there. When Bryant and Alex were little, and my husband was farming full time for my parents, they too got in on the excitement.

ElleAnna loved seeing the animals in the arena. She counted how many "brown" ones were there, how many black, how many had a white spot on their head, etc. She knew Grampa's cows had blue tags in their ears and recognized them as they came inside to be sold. Actually, when we drive down the road ALL the cows she sees are Grampa's cows, so he has a bigger herd than he ever realized! :-) She wasn't bothered by the loud auctioneer, but she was amazed when she told her daddy later about the adventure that he could talk just like that too!

When Mom and Dad's calves were about half done selling, Elle needed to go potty. As I was taking her out, she got mad, wanted to stay, was afraid she would miss something... I told her we would hurry, but if she needed to go potty we had to go now and not wait for the cows to be done. When we came back in, they had just finished and were moving on to another farmer's livestock. Elle didn't really notice and went back to her counting game. She did not want to leave though when Grampa and Grama were ready. There were still cows selling for goodness sake, it was not time to go! We went to the dining room though and she ate M and M's and drank hot chocolate to her heart's content though, so that made it a little easier to handle!

It was great to see the sparkle in her eyes and know that this was something that she would have NEVER experienced without coming to us, to our family. She is greatly loved and none of us can imagine our world without her in it. I know that when she fights with her brothers over me and says "MY MOMMY" that I am loved too. She is full of spunk and energy and I am glad that we can help her along life's journey just as she does for us!
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TOP TEN - 2008 - YOU VOTE (PART 5)

ABOVE - Photo # 21 - Bryant kissing Elle

ABOVE - Photo # 22 - ElleAnna by the Bales, Fall 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 23 - Elle and Dayton with Popcorn, Fall 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 24 - Yes, she is crazy

ABOVE - Photo # 25 - Conlee thinking they are weird, Fall 2008

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Pretty soon, I'm just going to have to quit looking - but this gives you an idea why something that I thought would be so simple, has evolved into something VERY DIFFICULT!

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TOP TEN - 2008 - YOU VOTE (PART 4)

ABOVE - Photo #16 - Elle as Snow White, October 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 17 - Ken and Elle in the Garden, Summer 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 18 - Elle and Mrs. Claus, Christmas 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 19 - Conlee and Elle at his School, Fall 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 20 - Ranelle and Elle Reading, March 2008

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TOP TEN - 2008 - YOU VOTE (PART 3)

ABOVE - Photo # 11 - ElleAnna and Alex, Fall 2008 on the Bales

ABOVE - Photo # 12 - Elle Sparkling at Football, Fall 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 13 - Bryant and Elle at Alex's Party, August 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 14 - The Airplane Locators, Summer 2008

ABOVE - Photo #15 - Alex and ElleAnna, September 2008

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Vote as many as you want, as often as you want... I am not sure I'll get them all posted tonight, but I am going to try!
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TOP TEN - 2008 - YOU VOTE (PART 2)

ABOVE - Photo # 6 - Dayton, Conlee, and Elle at the Lake, Summer 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 7 - ElleAnna in Denim, May 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 8 - Does this look naughty? May 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 9 - Five Grandkids in Wheat, May 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 10 - Three Kids with Flags, May 2008

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TOP TEN - 2008 - YOU VOTE

ABOVE - Photo # 1 - ElleAnna and Grampa - May 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 2 - Alex, ElleAnna, and Bryant - May 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 3 - The John Deere/Angus Kids - March 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 4 - ElleAnna and her Citizenship Papers, January 2008

ABOVE - Photo # 5 - ElleAnna feeding her babies, January 2008

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Because I am totally unable to decide which ones are the best (there are far too many), I am going to post them... and you need to vote on them. I will title and number each one... Unfortunately, it will take me a few posts because there are slightly more than ten. Anyway, HAVE FUN DECIDING! Invite your friends, get them to vote too! The more, the merrier!

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Pix from Today - January 4, 2009

Ken's youngest brother, Paul, and his wife, Kim, came from Texas to spend a little bit of time with us this weekend. It was good to see them. Here are some photos of everyone. Ignore Bryant's attempt to appear to be smoking. It was cold outside and he could see his breath. Of course, that photo of us five is the only one where everyone is smiling, so I am kinda stuck with his naughty antics...

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As for my attempt to select the top 10 pictures of 2008, I have come up with about 30 of them... so, it may be the top ten with twice that many "runner's up" - SMILE. Again, if you have any favorites that I have posted in 2008, let me know as I am interested in your "votes".

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This week, Ken and Elle return to school tomorrow while the boys go back on Tuesday. Starting that day, we'll have the first of three evenings of basketball. Dayton has his third birthday this week - HURRAY! We also have an EMS meeting and an American Legion Meeting. That will make for an extra busy week. We hope you each have a good one and I'll try to catch my breath enough to get the "Top Ten" done.

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COMING SOON

I am going to work on a 2008 Top Ten List of our favorite photographs. If you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to let me know. I already have some in mind.... Hopefully, I can get it done this weekend to share with you.
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