A Good Day

An entire week away from Mattie almost killed me.  Had I been ANYWHERE else, or WITH anyone else I might have actually withered away.  Alas, I have been in beautiful Alaska with my beautiful BF, Micca, so the world did not end.  I did however have some SERIOUS snuggling, loving and admiring to do of my perfect 2-year old the last couple of days.   Don't fear, Alaska pics will be posted tomorrow, but TODAY was perfection. 

It started with breakfast at our house with my dad, my amazing Cottongim family -  Mike and cousin Sam, Uncle Doug and cousin Lacey and her fiance Alan.  We enjoyed our fresh eggs from our chickens (they literally laid 3 of them minutes before we ate) and homemade bread fresh from the over - yum.  Nothing fancy, but there is NOTHING better than FRESH food to me. 

We then loaded the car and all went for a lovely hike up Suce Creek.   Beautiful weather, wonderful family who I love SO much ...  My cup overflows.

How many Cottongims can go ON an excursion IN a Ford Excursion?

Jim Pa and Matine ... "hiking" with sticks.

Everyone in this family has a stick....

After the hike we enjoyed a strawberry shake and corn dog from Mark In and Out and Mattie and I came home for naps.   I then got to enjoy my gal ALL day.

She wanted "ponies" in her hair and she didn't want me to stop at one.  She kept pulling the rubberbands off my wrist asking for "more hair ponies" until I ran out of hair.  With Mattie's hair, it didn't take long to tell her it was full!

Then of course, she wanted to take pictures with "Matine's camera" and this is the world through the eye of Matine behind the lens (not bad I must say).

Mom and Oliver, as captured by Matine (26 months)

She tried taking one of herself

And of course, her favorite animal and friend, Wilbur ... He got his own entire photo session.  I liked this one the best ... Her feet and the pig.   Something about it is just perfect.

We then played and relaxed a bit and picked some rhubarb from our garden to make a pie.  This took hours and the house looked like a bakery explosion, but it was well worth it.

"I mix it."  "I have FOUR pieces on my fork."  "It needs spices momma."  "Taste it momma?  Yum."  "I think it's ready to cook now."

And here is our masterpiece!

Sign of the season - rhubarb pie!

Notice the pony tails are still ALL over her head.   Now they are stuck in place because of the sugar and butter that are now all over her entire body!