Happy Friday!

Hello!

I'm so excited to have a guest post running today on one of my all-time favorite stops, Stuff Christians Like. Jon Acuff is super funny and talented and was so awesome to give me this opportunity. So, if you're dropping by the Lenssen Acres Almanac from SCL, welcome! (And if you're one of the eight people who regularly visit here anyway (Hi Mom!) you're certainly welcomed and appreciated too.)

Pour yourself a cup a' coffee and sit for a few. We've got a bit of everything here, really. Like cute stories of funny things kids say? Here you go. Prefer tales of bad mothering? We've got that too. Or are you the tough-and-manly-kill-something-and-drag-it-home type? Gotcha covered. Be warned, sometimes I can get a bit sentimental, as evidenced here. I try to make this little ol' family blog of ours a lot like our little family; Sometimes funny, sometimes messy, sometimes silly and sometimes sappy, but always full of love and faith.

My husband, Dan, is an all-around handy man's-man. He builds and repairs farm equipment (and about anything else) during the day and then comes home to our place where he's got an endless list of home-improvement projects going on, animals to hunt, a two-year old daughter to tickle and a wife to kiss.

Our two-year old daughter, Lana Jean, is, of course, the smartest and most beautiful baby to ever walk the planet (and yes, I'm probably a little-tiny-bit biased).

And then there's me. I'm Shelle and I'm our head blogger. I work full-time in a laboratory during the day. I make sure dinner's on the table at 6:00 and the baby is bathed regularly. I like date nights with Dan, singing silly songs with my daughter and scrapbooking with my friends, and recently, I re-discovered my passion for writing, hence the guest post on Stuff Christian's Like. I've been working on making writing a higher priority and posting more consistently to this blog, as well as doing some freelance article and blog writing. In March I had a HUGE dream come true when one of my stories was published in a widely-circulated collection. I loved writing that piece and am eager to write more. I also enjoy helping others share their stories and lending them my writer's voice until they're confident with their own.

Thanks again for stopping by. Leave a comment to let me know you visited or send me an email (shelle(dot)lenssen(at)live(dot)com) if you want to know more about my writing or just to tell me you think my daughter is adorable.

Have a happy Friday!

A not-scary-at-all-and-actually-pretty-cute Halloween

There was nothing scary about our Halloween, in fact, in our house anything at all remotely scary has been replaced by cute. Don't agree? See for yourself:

 

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Our little Lana Minnie Mouse had a blast dressing up as her favorite character. She dutifully shouted "trick or treat" and got her bucket filled with candy. She ran around the church fellowship hall playing games, throwing footballs and winning cupcakes. She loved that party and wanted to stay and play all night. Even after we had gone around one last time, she still begged for "One more game, Mommy. Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Needless to say, she was not too happy with me and Dan when we extracted her from her fun past her normal bed time.

Some observations and thoughts:
-Trick-or-treating at the mall is a model of candy-grabbing efficiency my friends. Seriously, it's pretty dang awesome. All the stores send an employee to stand out front and you just walk by and they put candy in your child's bucket. A "trick-or-treat" from a giddy two-year old is appreciated, but not at all required.

-When a child sees an opportunity, they'll totally jump on it. Lana walked in the cupcake-walk with her friend Lily. Despite Dan and I telepathically sending messages to the volunteer running the booth, Lana's number was called and she won a cupcake. Instead of opting for one of the mini cakes available, she took hold of the biggest cupcake with the tall swirly frosting and smashed it into her mouth. She's a smart one, our girl. She knows if it's up to Mum and Dad, it's mini-cupcakes all the way, so if she's choosing, it's gonna be the biggest cupcake on the table.

-Watch out for costumed two-year old boys! When we entered the party at the church fellowship hall, Lana saw her good nursery buddy, Gavin (dressed as Buzz Lightyear), and went in for the customary and adorable toddler hug. Gavin apparently had other intentions and planted her with a full on lip-to-lip kiss that lasted an uncomfortable amount of time. I am not ready to see my baby girl kissing boys - not now, and not for a very, VERY long time. If you ever see my daughter getting some lip action, you have my permission, nay, my encouragement, to break that nonsense up and call me immediately. To all those little Buzz Lightyears out there, I'm watching you. And my husband owns guns. Lots and lots of guns.

-As is probably quite evident from the picture above, football isn't Lana's sport.

-See the Minnie Mouse jack-o-lantern? Dan carved that for Lana because she likes Minnie Mouse and he likes doing things for her that make her smile. Yeah, he pretty much rocks.

I hope your Halloween was full of candy, games, appropriate displays of affection and cuteness!

"Look Mommy! Daddy got a buck!"

Indeed he did!

 

My mighty hunter manly-man really, REALLY wanted to get a buck this year. His luck's been down the past couple of years and he needed a change of fortune. He drew a tag for late season, so actually wasn't putting a lot of pressure on himself to bring home a deer early and was not going out all that often, because he knew he'd have the late season which has historically been better for him.
I was more than a bit surprised this morning when he kissed me goodbye at 6:45 to go out hunting in the woods and fields behind our house. I was even more surprised when I got a phone call a couple hours later. Dan was trying to be nonchallant and cool while he was telling me about shooting his deer, but he wasn't fooling me - I knew how excited he really was. He walked back home and got his 4-wheeler and brought back the deer to show off to his girls.

 

Lana was impressed - very impressed. She was very proud of her daddy and wasn't put-off by the carcass at all. (Side note - this is my new favorite picture of Dan and Lana. Their identical facial expressions crack me up! Yeah, Lana's her Daddy's girl.)

 

She even kept wanting to touch it. Later in the car, Lana told me, "Daddy got a big buck. Good job Daddy."

 

Good job indeed!

Grateful

She looked at him fondly; that he had been sent to her, when there were so many other, lesser men who might have been sent, was a source of constant gratitude. That we have the people we have in this life, rather than others, is miraculous, she thought; a miraculous gift.
(From The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by A.M. Smith)

Happy Anniversary Dear Dan. I oh-so-very-much love you!
Goodness, four years just flies by, doesn't it?

I'll have Missing Consonants for $400 Please, Alex.

This morning's conversation with my daughter:

LANA: Mom! Help my b*tches please!

ME: WHAT?

LANA: See? My b*tches fall down.

(I pause, look at her and help her pull her too-big pants back up.)

ME: No Lana sweetie, say britches. Brrrrrr-itches.

LANA: Brrrrrr-itches.

ME: Good Job.

LANA: Thanks helpin' my b*tches Mommy!

(Sigh, maybe we should just call them pants from now on.)

(Or maybe she knows EXACTLY what she means and dang it, pants that fall down all the time really are b*tches!)

September was...

(Dang, I'm getting slow posting these monthly recaps. I first started doing them to force myself to blog more regularly. I wish I could say we've been busy with exotic vacations and days at the spa, but alas, reality is far more mundane and rewarding than a fantasy life of luxury. Anyway, I digress.....)

September came in with a bang! Well, actually more like a chilly, cold frost.

 

Yup, you read that right. The 2011 Clear Creek Killer Frost hit us on September 3rd. It was tough on the whole garden, some vegetable didn't recover at all.

 

These poor sweet peppers didn't have a chance.

Then there was Labor Day.

 

Complete with a Lana black eye. (I think this injury hurt me and Dan more than it did Lana. It was painful to see her pretty face so marred, but she stayed pretty happy and never let it bother her.)

On September 11, our church hosted a community remembrance and picnic, full of tons of activities for kiddos.

 

Lana and her cousins enjoyed the bounce houses and water slides.

Somehow I got the wild idea that I needed a house project that was just mine. I chose to scrape, paint and prime the deck railing and told Dan he wouldn't have to do ANYTHING concerning my project.

 

And here he is, pressure washing the railings. I did (eventually) get everything primed and painted, but it's taken about a month to finish this little project.

We also celebrated Dan's birthday.

 

Complete with home-made made-from-scratch (Cool Whip counts as scratch, right?) Chocolate Cream Pie.

One weekend we headed down to Oregon to visit my parents and watch the Pendleton Round-Up Westward Ho! Parade.

 

Let'er Buck!

And finally, finally, FINALLY, the huge, huge, HUGE flooring project was done, done, DONE!

 

It's beautiful and amazing and so much neater than I ever thought it would be. The floor (and all of Dan's hard work) deserve their own post, so I'll go into more detail and show more pictures at another time.

So, how was your September? Anything of note coming up in October?

My oh my, how things change in a few short years...

Last weekend, Dan, Lana and I drove to Oregon to see my parents and take in a few festivities at the Pendleton Round Up.
We went to the Westward Ho! Parade and that was it (these pictures are from this year's parade). It's a great parade and a fun time, but a far cry from the Pendleton Round Ups I enjoyed when I was younger, specifically in college.

 

My sophomore year, I decided to drive the 8 hours back home for a quick weekend. My parents didn't want me to make the trip by myself, so I asked several friends to go with me. For some reason, the thought of driving for hours and hours, getting up early, sitting out in the sun watching a rodeo and then staying up too late dancing, and driving 8 hours back to school just wasn't all that appealing to many of the friends I asked. Fortunately, I talked my new friend, Alisa, into the adventure. Alisa and I didn't know each other all that well and had just started working together. Alisa was the ultimate city girl. She worked summers as a consultant at the GAP for crying-out-loud, but she was excited for this new adventure.

 

Alisa fell in love with the Pendleton Round Up the minute she laid eyes on her first cowboy. She was full of questions about the rodeo and the animals, but she really took to it when the first cowboy won his event, and in his excitement, threw his hat into the crowd. Alisa looked at me and said, "I want a cowboy's hat." "Okay, that's cool, they're being sold everywhere this week, we can get you one." "No, you don't understand, I want a REAL cowboy hat, ya know, from a REAL cowboy!" I laughed and explained that cowboys generally don't give their hats away, but she would have none of my explanations and was bound and determined to get her hands on a real cowboy's hat.
Later, at the dance, we both spent time out swinging on the dance floor, but she was still set on getting a cowboy hat. We met up with a guy I knew from a rival high school, dressed in his cowboy best, including a white straw Stetson cowboy hat. Alisa turned on her city-girl charm and somehow ended up with his hat on her head. She was beaming and it was obvious she had no intention of giving the hat back. The guy invited us to a party, gave us convoluted directions and told Alisa he'd get his hat back at the party.
Well, his directions turned out to be horrible and because these were pre-everyone-has-a-cell-phone days, we couldn't have gotten a hold of him had we tried, so we just went back to my parents house and the cowboy hat was officially Alisa's.
The following year she had her sights set on getting a belt buckle. Again, she wouldn't listen to my explanations on what she'd possibly have to do to get her hands on a belt buckle. Just like before, at the dance, she turned on the charm and while dancing with a cute cowboy, she flashed her doe eyes and asked, "How does a girl like me get my hands on a belt buckle like that?" She must have some Jedi-like powers because instantly the helpless cowboy TOOK IT OFF AND GAVE IT TO HER. It was an event I'd never seen before and doubt I'll ever see again.

 

Now, all my road trip and Round Up friends are scattered around the country in New York, Nevada, Utah and Wisconsin. It's been fun to catch up with them about our Round Up memories on facebook and online, but we all definitely agree that although those days were fun, we wouldn't go back even if we could. Sometimes it's nice to be a grown up.

 

Because grown ups get to enjoy the parade next to blonde babes who like to wave at the princesses and horses.

A Whole Lotta Cute

I understand the blog's been lacking in all things cute and two-year old blonde girl. Well, never fear, an update is here.


Lana's learning her ABCs and sang them all by herself on Saturday. Lucky me, she even did it for the video camera.


And here we have a not-so-fun Labor Day present. This black eye and beat-up face is what happens when little blonde girls think they're tougher than the toy box. She's healed up since then and is starting to look like her normal, adorable-and-always-up-to-something self.

And then there is this one, my personal favorite cute picture:
Terrified yet jubilant toddler = TOO CUTE!
On Sunday our church hosted a 9/11 remembrance ceremony and community picnic. The waterslide was a big hit. I know she looks utterly terrified, but Lana had a blast and wanted to go again and again. We finally had to stop when she threw a FIT because she didn't want to wait her turn. (Apparently this I-don't-want-to-wait thing is common in two-year olds (even cute ones)? Any tips for teaching patience???)

Happy Birthday Dan!

My Dear Husband and Lana's Wonderful Daddy has a birthday today. In true Dan fashion, he didn't want a lot of fuss and fanfare. Last night he was lovingly served his meal of choice (t-bone steaks, baked beans, baked sweet potatoes), but mostly he spent the long weekend working on projects around the place and taking care of his sick wife and daughter. Today (his actual birthday) he went to work, just like he would on any other weekday.

Well, he may not like a lot of pomp and frivolity, but I pretty much control the blog, so Husband, I hereby post this ooooey-gooey, mushy and cheesy post in your honor. (Oh, and if you're reading this, enjoy it while you can. If Dan asks me to take it down once he reads it, I probably will.)

No matter what Dan's doing, he's doing it with excellence.

 

Whether it's snuggling with Lana,

 

Outfishing me,

 

Lounging in the sun,

 

or playing with the wee one. He does it all better than anyone else I know.

I've said it before, and I'll say it many times again,

 

Dan's the hardest worker I know.

 

He spends months working on my honey-do lists,

 

and still makes times to build Lana a hand-washing and teeth-brushing step.

Dan really is the best and I am blessed everyday to be married to him, and Lana really does have the best Daddy a girl could ask for.

 

Happy Birthday Dan! Your Girls Love You!

August Was...

 

Hike to the Top of the World. (Okay, so it's actually only Kamiak Butte, but in our hill country, standing at the top, you feel like you're on the top of the world. It was Lana's first hike without the backpack carrier. Dan and I ended up carrying her part of the way, but she did walk some of it.)

 

National Lentil Festival.

 

Making music on the dining room floor while sportin' blue shades. Cool Girl!

 

Our garden's bounty.

 

Taking out old appliances to re-floor the kitchen. (That dang little trash compactor was probably the toughest appliance to take out. Needless-to-say, it didn't go back in.)

 

Surely, the happiest girl in the room must be the one with the blue BLUE eyes and the messy hair. Right?

Stay tuned for more in September, including home improvement projects galore, Dan's birthday, more food, and of course, more from the cute two-year old.