Mi Vida Loca

October (already?!)

2011-10-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had 4 cross country meets, 3 football games and a team BBQ!? Colt is running cross country for the high school and Cade for the middle school. Colt is running about a 18:02 5k. Cade is running an 8 minute mile. Jared is a lineman on the middle school football team and Jake is a lineman on the high school team. Jake plays both JV and Varsity, so he has two games a week. I am actually glad Colt is driving now because he brings all the boys home from practice. That is particularly helpful when one of them has a game or meet.

Colt has had some fun with his truck. He's driving a 1993 Ford F350 crew cab. It's a stick shift so he had to learn to drive it. That was bumpy at first. Then brakes went out. He made it home safe, but he had to replace the rotor, calipers, pads etc on one side. He did most of the work with the help of our friend Toby. Next, the truck died on a mountain road. Kelly left it in first and it rolled about 25 feet down a cliff. Colt was standing next to it when it happened. I can only imagine his face as it rolled past him. We used my suburban and Kelly's truck to pull it out. We towed it until it started and it ran until we got it home. It would not start. Turns out the ignition coil was bad. Colt replaced that himself too. Now, his truck goes and it also stops as it should.

The kids have been in school for a month. They are in 3rd, 6th, 7th , 10th and 11th grades. Grace loves her teacher and also has a student teacher who is "nice." Cade is being reevaluated for his learning disorder. He receives help in reading and spelling right now and also attends speech once a week. Jared has an advanced algebra class this year. Jake is taking Spanish. He also has zero hour weightlifting. Colt has college history and is taking an independent study calculus class through a college. I started school a couple of weeks ago. I have Astronomy, Western Civilization and US History from the Civil War on. I will be done with my AA after this quarter. I was accepted into EWU for anthropology, but I will have to wait since it is at least an hour drive each way to get there. Gas prices are too high for me to drive that much right now.

My last heart procedure did not work. I am now on the "live with it" plan. I go back in a few months for another echo, but there is nothing else they can do. That stinks.

We have a kitten now. His name is Smudge. He is 11 weeks old. He was mouser in training until this morning when he caught a mouse. He brought it to Grace. She was both grossed out and proud of him.

They rest of the menagerie is good. We still have goats, rabbits, a tom turkey, chickens, roosters, ducks and geese. There's 12 geese now. No one comes in the yard uninvited. :)

August 2011

2011-08-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy summer. There was driver's ed, football camps, cross country running, weight lifting and a couple of 5Ks for the kids. I feel like I spent all summer in the car. But, Colt is now a licensed driver. (Yay and not yay!) His dad bought him a 1993 Ford F350 to drive to school. It's a crew cab, so he will be driving his brothers home from practices too. It is a manual transmission and he is learning to drive it. He's getting better at it, but the first few drives were very bumpy. Yay for all that. Not yay for our car insurance, even with the good student discount.

Jake started football practice last week. Colt starts cross country this week. They all start school a week from Tuesday. They will be in 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th and 11th grades. Two high schoolers, two middle schoolers and one in elementary. Jared's football practice and Cade's cross country practices will start the first and second days of school. Grace isn't doing any sports yet.

I go back to school next month. I ditched the yoga class I was going to take for a beginning swimming class instead. That is in addition to chemistry, history and health classes. I will take the first two on campus and the other two online. I will be done with my AA after this quarter. I won't be going on the EWU yet. I am quite sad about that, but with gas prices so high, there is no way that I can drive that far, even a couple times a week. It is more than an hour one way. I am worried though that if I don't keep on with my school now that I will never go back. Sigh.

I had my second catheter ablation for my irregular heartbeat in July. It was way more traumatic than the first. They put me all the way under this time. I had some issues with clotting, so they had to leave the catheter sheaths in place until my clotting times improved. That was about 5 hours after my procedure and then I had to lay there for 4 more hours to make sure I didn't bleed. That meant I had to lie flat on my back for for more than 9 hours, without lifting my head or moving my legs. It was midnight before I could get up. I didn't really get up during the night, but was allowed to take a shower in the morning. I noticed then that I was having some blurry vision, but thought it was because I was tired. I was discharged and laid down for the rest of the day at home.

The next morning I went to put on my eye makeup because my sister was coming over. I noticed I could not keep my right eye focused and my pupil was huge. It didn't look like it changed at all when I looked towards the light. Kelly called our family doctor to see if it could be a side effect of anesthesia. They said to call my cardiologist. He did. They took a message. When they called back, I talked to them. By that time I was having some trouble speaking. The words were fine, but the order was mixed up. It was like the words were trying to come out in the wrong order and I couldn't stop them. It was very frustrating and pretty scary. The nurse said she would call back after she talked to the Dr. She called back almost four hours later and said I should just go to the emergency room. I did.

They took me right back. I could hear them whispering "possible stroke." My blood pressure was 166/102-very high for me. The speech issue was getting worse. I was sent right to MRI. The doctor told me that the MRI looked normal and that I was probably just having a migraine. She said it was something like what that newswoman had on air that was posted on youtube a few months ago. (I am not prone to migraines. Most of my headaches are from my neck or jaw. I had no pain other than some eye strain from being unable to focus.) They loaded me up with meds. and sent me home. I passed out when I got home and slept that night plus almost all of the next day. When I woke up, there was no blurry vision and my pupil was back to normal.

I go back to the cardiologist on Tuesday. I have to say I don't feel any different that before either surgery. I am still tired, still have chest pain and still feel my heart beating too fast and skipping beats. I think I am having more dizzy spells than I was before. I don't have high hopes for what the doctor will say.

I mentioned my sister was in town. It was way too short of a visit and I wasn't feeling well, but it was great to see her, her husband and my nieces. I wish they lived closer.

I noticed how long this post is and told myself I should write here more often instead of waiting and writing a book. :)

Change in Plans, Kids stuff etc.

2011-05-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

Since the last two quarters have been so difficult for me, I have decided to take the summer off and finish up my AA this Fall. This delays my entrance into the 4 year college I have been accepted to until winter. I've talked to admissions and its okay. My GPA is still good, but with my health problems, I really struggled to keep it that way. I was so exhausted that I was sleeping about 12 hours a day-pretty much all day while the kids were gone plus nights too. I didn't know that other people really noticed. One of my professors that I had taken before mentioned that he noticed a big difference in me and my work. He said he had wondered what was going on. But, I didn't realize how bad things were until I looked at my checkbook a couple of days ago. I guess I haven't balanced it correctly for months(at least 5). That's really not like me. It's a good thing the errors were in our favor.

I registered yesterday for my Fall classes-intro to Chemistry, US History 2, Health & Wellness and Yoga. That's the final 14 out of 90 credits I need for my AA. Two classes are online, one is 4 days a week and 1 is only twice a week.

My house is a disaster and that's something else I need to tackle this summer. Not to mention all the driving I will be doing. Colt has driver's ed for a month three days a week. He also has running camp, practices and workouts. Jake has two football camps, two wrestling camps, practice and workouts. Cade and Jared will both have a football and wrestling camp this summer too. Grace doesn't have any plans except to ride along to where ever her brothers have to go.

The kids all have bikes now, once I get one we can go on bike rides too. The boys go almost every weekend. Last weekend, Colt and Cade saw a bear on their ride. It was about 100 yards away and ran off when it saw them. That worries me a little, but the loose dogs they encounter worry me more. We are debating letting Colt carry pepper spray. I just worry he may end up spraying himself or one of his brothers.

The kids are all doing well in school. Colt and Jake are just finishing up their track season. Jared is getting ready to go to camp for school. Cade won third place in our state for freestyle wrestling! Grace is babying a new batch of chicks and ducklings.

Recovery

2011-05-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

I went to the hospital early Wednesday morning for my catheter ablation. They put me in the cardiac procedure area to prep me. In the procedure room, there was at least a half dozen people to hook me up to various tubes and wires. I was awake for the entire procedure. I watched (though it was blurry without my glasses) the whole thing on the monitors. I needed to be awake to make sure my heart didn't relax too much that the irregular rhythm didn't occur. The sites where the catheters were inserted, both femoral arteries, were numbed so I could not feel that. I was given pain meds. off and on if my chest got too uncomfortable, which it did. It took about three and a half hours. Sometimes the pressure in my chest was very uncomfortable, particularly when the doctor made my heart beat faster to find the trouble spots. The doctor thinks he took care of 90% of the problem spots. I have more, but he hopes that I will be down to under a 1000 PVCs a day instead of 30,000. I was on complete bed rest in the hospital on the cardiac floor with orders not the move my legs or even lift my head. They released me the next day to bed rest at home for a couple of days. I am up now, but still quite sore. It will take about 4-6 weeks for my heart to heal before they know for sure if it worked. My thighs are really bruised. I even have bruising across my pelvis. I have knots where they inserted the catheters into my arteries. That will all heal in the next week or so. I am still having chest pain and I feel intermittent bouts of the irregular heartbeats, just not as often. I go back to the doctor next month.

Heart update

2011-04-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

Not the greatest news...I saw the cardiac specialist yesterday. My last 24 hour monitor showed that my medication is not working. I knew that. I am now having about 30,000 episodes of premature ventricular contractions a day. That means almost every other heart beat. I have tried two different types of medications. There is only one more and I can't take it because it makes asthma worse. I don't want to take medication forever anyway. The doctor feels that my best option is to go ahead and have the catheter ablation to get rid of the spot that is malfunctioning. So, on May 4th, I go to our hospital's heart institute to have that procedure. I will be the first procedure of the day and I will have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. They will go into my femoral artery and up into my heart. I guess then they do dye so they can see everything and find the spot that is causing the problem. They already know it is my right ventricle outflow tract. Since it is every other heartbeat, they shouldn't have any problem finding it. He said there is a 75-80% chance that it will fix this. I suspected that this was where I was headed when my cardiologist referred me to a specialist. I am not excited about this, but I am hopeful that I will feel better.

My Broken Heart

2011-03-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

My doctor's office called yesterday with the results of the 24 hour Holter monitor. It showed that my medication is not doing what it is supposed to. I am still having many episodes of tachycardia. My first go 'round with the monitor showed 7000+ episodes a day. I didn't ask yet what this one showed. The woman who called told me I need to see a different doctor in their office who specializes in "this." Whatever "this" is/ My appointment is scheduled for April 18th.

It's kind of weird going into the cardiologists office. It's three floors down from our regular doctor's office and takes up the entire floor. I had no idea it existed before I had to go there. We've been seeing our doctor for almost 13 years, but I've never ventured to other floors besides the 6th. There's at least 20 doctors in the cardiology practice. The waiting room is always crowded with old people. I feel like they are all staring at me wondering what I am doing there. I know they are thinking I am too young to have a heart problem.

I don't think I am going to die. Most of the time, I'm really not worried about it. Although I will admit that when we go places I wonder if they have an automatic defibrillator just in case. I do worry about what this might be doing to my lifespan and how it might effect my future. I plan on living forever and I hope this doesn't put a kink in my plans. It does scare me to be dizzy so often. The pain and pressure in my chest is also quite unnerving. It feels like someone is pressing into my chest with both hands and I can't take a full breath. Our bedroom is on the second floor of the house and climbing those stairs takes my breath every time. TMI-Relations with my husband makes me feel like I might croak right there. That wouldn't be polite, would it? Ooo baby, clunk.

If anyone has any info about RVOT tachycardia and/or experience living with it, I would love to hear from you.

March 2011

2011-03-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated my blog in awhile because I've just been too freaking tired. My house isn't getting cleaned, my checkbook is unbalanced, I barely made it through the last quarter of school. I copied and pasted most of this from my online women's group, but it explains what's been going on with me for the last few months. I will get to telling you about what my family has been up to soon. They are all happy and healthy and just as busy as ever.

2-2-11
I volunteered for a echocardiogram at my college for extra credit for my A&P class. The tech was having some trouble with some of the measurements and called in his instructor. She told me I have an arrhythmia. I think she said trigeminy. I guess I have a premature beat. It feels like it goes beat beat pause, beat beat pause and then five normal beats, then back to the wonky beats and pauses followed by normal beats. They told me I needed to see my doctor. They gave me a disc with the full exam on it (which is cool and the kids thought it was neat to see my heart). When I was done, the tech followed me out in the hall and told me a second time to go see my doctor.

I feel somewhat worried about the wonky rhythm, but the thing that makes me worry more is that I haven't been feeling well lately. I've been having dizzy spells for quite some time and I am so freaking exhausted. I have been blaming that on my weight gain and the fact that I am a full time student and mom of 5 and it's winter and any other excuse I can think of, so I haven't been in to see my doctor yet. I called today and I have an appointment Friday afternoon.

2-5-11
I saw my doctor this afternoon. She did an EKG and blood work. EKG showed trigeminy with premature atrial and ventricle complexes. It just looks like a mess to me. She is sending me to a cardiologist as soon as they can fit me in. I should hear from her on Monday for that and my blood test results. She is testing my heart function as well as my thyroid. It is very possible that this is thyroid related. Graves disease runs in my mom's side of the family.

2-9-11
I saw the cardiologist. She confirmed that I have trigeminy with both atrial and ventricular premature contractions. She said I don't even need do the take home monitor because I have a very clear pattern on my EKG. She is reviewing my echo, but what she looked at so far shows a normal, healthy heart. She said about half the time, they can't find a cause for this particular arrhythmia. It could be a precursor to some sort of issue that may come up later with my hormones or thyroid. She drew more blood to check my magnesium and calcium levels and is running more tests on my thyroid, including one to check for Grave's disease.

The abnormal rhythm is basically acting like a slow heartbeat because of the compensationary pauses, so she is going to treat it with an anti-arrhythmic for a couple of months. She said the "slow" heart rate is probably what is making me feel so tired and dizzy. I go back on the 23rd for another EKG to see how the meds. are working. In a couple of months, she will wean me off the medication to see what my heart is doing and if I still need to take it. I could be on it for the rest of my life. Whoopee. So no real answer, but there is hope that I will feel better.

3-9-11
I've been to two more appointments with my cardiologist. The medication I was on was helping some, but I was still having chest tightness, intermittent chest pain, dizziness and exhaustion (I still am). She decided to send me home with 24 hour monitor. I just went back this afternoon for the results on that. The medication helped somewhat with my trigeminy, but the monitor showed that I had over 7000 episodes of right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) tachycardia in that 24 hours. My resting heart rate was up to 174 on the one page of the report she showed me. Once again, they have no idea why and checked with the cardiac electrophysiologist. I am supposed to stop the anti-arrhythmic today and start a calcium blocker. I go back on the 18th for another 24 hour monitor. She said some people need a catheter ablation if the meds. don't help. Hoo-ray.

3-24-11
I wore the 24 hour monitor Saturday (my birthday) and mailed it back on Tuesday. Now, I wait for the doctor to look at it and call me. I have to say that I don't feel like the meds. are helping. I am still exhausted, having chest pains/tightness and off and on dizziness. I don't really feel my heart beating any faster or slower, but I do feel "weird" in my chest usually accompanied by shortness of breath, chest pain and/or a dizzy spell. I am not sure how I feel about this right now. I just want it to stop.

November 2010

2010-11-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

October was all kinds of awful. From car trouble to my kids getting hurt at school, one thing after another seemed to happen last month. My email account ended up suspended due to suspicious activity, so my blog was closed too. I still don't know what that was all about. (Back your blogs up people! It would be a shame to lose all your work.) By the end of the month, I was seriously tempted to hide under my bed and suck my thumb. But, we made it through and things can only get better, right?

My kids are happy and healthy. That's one thing I kept telling myself last month. They are doing great in school. Jake and Jared are wrestling for the high school and middle school. Colt has decided not to wrestle and will be concentrating on his running this winter instead. I went to Cade's IEP meeting and he is still making progress with his reading and writing. Grace is great. She is just as sassy as ever. I have conferences right before Thanksgiving for the three younger kids. I anticipate that they will all have awesome grades.

My grades are okay. I think I have a B in A&P. Dang, that's a hard class. US History and Art Appreciation, my online classes, probably aren't getting as much attention as they should be, but I am still doing well in those two classes. I talked to the transfer counselor today and found out I still have three quarters after this one before I have my AA. I have a meeting scheduled next month with the counselor from the college I will be transferring. I want to make sure all my classes will transfer and that I am taking the right ones.

We lost our turkey Melodi last night. I suspect the neighbors dog attacked her a couple of days ago and she ended up with an infection from a bite. I brought her in the house and kept her warm and comfortable yesterday, but there was nothing else I could do for her. Poor girl. That dog was in our yard when I got home from school. I knocked on the neighbor's door to talk to them about it, but they didn't answer. I really don't want to shoot their dog, she has pups (again), but if she keeps coming back, I am going to have to. Neighbors please keep your dog home!

It is getting quite chilly here. I think we will have snow very soon. My birds really hate snow. They will be grumpy until spring. Kelly doesn't really like to work in it. I don't like to drive in it but it sure looks pretty from inside the house while I sit by the fire.

I guess I should get busy with my homework. I have to write a paper about whether photography for the sake of beauty or photography for social cause is closer to what art really is. I've been looking at photos by Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Lewis Hines and Dororthea Lange. Lange's photos of migrant mothers really got to me. Wow! The emotion you can feel from a simple black and white image. You can see some of the photos here.

So, I enjoy writing and my blog is a place where I can write about my life and document what's going on in our little world. I might print it all out someday so the kids can read it when they are older or so I can remember what went on, but I know it isn't any kind of masterpiece. I have no clue if anyone is reading my blog. I think I may even bore people to death with our mundane happenings, but, out of curiosity, if you read this, drop me a line in the comments please. : )

I can't find my crystal ball...

2010-09-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I just started my second year towards my AA at one of our local community colleges with the intent of moving on to a 4 year school next Fall. My classmates are a diverse group. The ages range from high schoolers in the Running Start program to sixty+ year olds and everywhere in between. Some of them are shiny high school graduates or women who's kids are in school and the finally have time to go to school themselves There's professionals and executives who have been laid off and people who want to/have to change careers. It's a pretty good mix. I fall into the somewhere in the middle age range and the SAHM (stay at home moms) whose kids are in school and it is finally time for me to get an education category. I've been thinking about what I want to do with my life for years while I was home with my kids.

I have a couple of classmates in my A&P class who are oldish like I am. They have both been SAHMs and are back in school now that their kids are either grown or mostly grown. They are both in the nursing program. We've been talking and neither one of them is sure they are on the right path. One of them is on the verge of a total freak out. She has those crazy eyes and you can see she's worried. I am worried about her. She is recently divorced and a new empty-nester, so maybe it's a mid-life crisis. Is there really such a thing?

Most of them time, I am pretty sure I know where I am going with my life. I know I want to go into Biological/Physical Anthropology. I have my classes mapped out for the next year. I know what 4 year college I want to go to and that I want to get my Masters as well as my PhD. But, life changes often and without warning. It seems like as soon as your make plans, something happens and you have to revise them. So, how do I know I am on the right path? I don't freak out. I am pretty laid back and just kind of roll with things. It's funny, but I worry that I am not worried enough about this. Lol!

I know for sure that I don't ever want a 9-5 job where I am locked into someone else's schedule. I don't like being told what to do. I would imagine there aren't a lot of jobs out there that you can walk into as instant boss. I have looked in the classifieds and I have not found any job openings for Queen, here or abroad. And what about my husband? Am I going to be starting my career when his is winding down? He can't work such a physical job forever. Plus he isn't happy there. I am feeling a little bit of pressure to get my education done, get a job and take some of the burden off of him. It isn't easy being the sole provider for 7.

Are you where you thought you would be in your life? Is this what you planned? Is this just a temporary place? Do you know where you are headed? Do you just roll with it and decided as you go? Or are you a control freak like me?

September 2010

2010-09-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

In August, we drove to San Diego to see my family. We left on a Friday and drove straight through to get there on Saturday afternoon. The kids were awesome. We bought two DVD players and redboxed movies for them, they listened to their music and we played games. When we arrived, we stayed with my sister who is living in my Grandmother's house to do some renovations. Grandmother passed away about a year ago. It was kind of sad to be at her house without her there, but there's so many happy memories there.

My sister and her husband have two little girls E & C. I had met E before, but not C. Later that night, my brother and his family arrived. There was my brother, his wife and his three kids H, E & E. We all stayed at my sister's. 6 adults and 10 kids ages 2, 2, 3, 8, 10, 10, 11, 14, 14 & 15. We had met two of my brother's kids before, but it was 7 years ago. Our 10 year old and my brother's 10 year old were best friends the instant they saw each other and contributed quite a bit to the noise level in the house. My Grandad, Aunt and Uncles came over for a family dinner. You should have seen Grandad's grin when he came in the house. All three of his children, all three grandchildren and all 10 great-grandchildren all in the same place for the first time. I only wish it could have happened before we lost Grandma.

We kept pretty busy. We all went to Sea World, the kids to the beach, the movies and an arcade. We had a "Happy Birthday Everyone" party with cake and ice cream. The kids popped the pool in the back yard, sorry sis. We stayed Friday-Thursday and then left for Arizona to go see Kelly's Granny. We also met his cousin and his family. We took the scenic route home and ended up driving through 10 states total on our trip. WA, ID, OR, MT, CA, UT, CO, WY, NM, AZ. There was a torrential downpour in New Mexico which soaked the luggage on the roof. I have a couple of soaked books to take back to our library.

The older boys started sports practices right after we got back. Jake is playing freshman football and Colt is running cross country. Games and meets will keep us pretty busy for the next couple of months. Both boys will do wrestling this winter and will be on the same team, so no trying to be in the same place for once.

The kids went back to school on Wednesday. It seems too soon for school to have already started. Summer just flew by. Colt is a sophomore this year. Jake is a freshman. Jared stared middle school as a 6th grader. Cade is a 5th grader. Grace is in second grade. That puts my kids in 4 different buildings. That makes things fun.

I go back to school on the 19th. I am taking Human A&P, Art Appreciation and US History. I have one class on campus and two online.

It's already getting colder here. We've already made our first fire of the season and it isn't even Fall yet. Our last fire was in June and we just made one in August. That means that the only month we didn't was July. It's been unseasonably cooler here. It's weird. It makes me wonder if this winter is going to be really cold. I hope not.

I am enjoying the brief break before I go back to school while the kids are at school. I have accomplished nothing on my To do list, isn't that great? : ) I have tons of pictures that I will post eventually, I promise.

7-17-10

2010-07-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

Bounty Hunter-4

Although I am not a Jennifer Aniston fan, I like this movie. The end was predictable, but it was funny. PG-13

I threw myself down the stairs last night when I was headed down to brush my teeth. I have a softball sized bruise on one cheek and it hurts to sit. One of these days I am going to fall and actually break something. Kelly told me I need to quit falling down the stairs. Duh, like I try to bounce down 15 wooden stairs on my @#$. I usually do fine on the stairs, but sometime I miss the top step and it's all downhill from there. The banister needs to be reinstalled. It has been on his honey-do list for almost 5 years.

I guess there's a bright side. I can justify laying in bed all day reading books and surfing the web. : )

We've discovered RedBox

2010-07-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Our little town has two Redboxes and we've been watching movies like crazy. Here's what we've seen so far this summer and what I thought of the movies. I've rated them on a 0-5 scale. 0 means I absolutely hated the movie, 3 is an average score and 5 means I loved it. * Means I didn't watch and can't rate it. It's a long list...

The Spy Next Door-3
Kelly and the kids liked this one. It's full of slap-stick action. Not my kind of flick, but somewhat amusing. PG

District 9-4
I liked the story line on this one, but I could have done without all the gore. R

Old Dogs-3
This movie was exactly what I expected it to be-something along the lines of Wild Hogs. Kelly and the kids liked it. PG

Zombieland-*
I couldn't bring myself to watch this one. Kelly and the older boys watched it. They liked it. R

The Lovely Bones-4
So very sad. Kept me interested, but was disturbing for sure. PG-13

Princess and the Frog-2
I hated it. Too much singing. Grace loved it. G

Inglourious Basterds-2
Another movie that just isn't my kind of movie. George Clooney is always George Clooney in every movie he is in. The oldest boy and I went into fits of giggles every time Hitler spoke. It's a good thing we didn't see it in the theatre. R

Four Christmases-4
I like Reese Witherspoon in almost every movie she is in. I thought this movie was amusing and a bit sappy. Vince Vaughn's on screen family seems vaguely familiar. : ) PG-13

Valentine's Day-5
I was a little worried when this movie started that there was going to be too many story lines for me to keep track of, but they all came together quite nicely. PG-13

Tooth Fairy-*
The kids liked it. I didn't watch it. PG

When in Rome-5
You might be able to guess what type of movies I like by now. I really enjoyed this movie. It had just the right balance of comedy and romance. PG-13

The Men Who Stare at Goats-2
What an odd movie. Unique concept, I will give them that. George Clooney again. R

The Box-4
I enjoyed this movie in a can't stop looking at a train wreck kind of way. It was distressing, but I had to know how it turned out. Would you open the box and press the button? PG-13

Gnomes and Trolls-*
The kids were not impressed. PG

Alvin and the Chipmunks-The Squeakquel *
I haven't seen this one or the first one, but the kids loved them both. PG

The Imginarium of Doctor Parnassus-1
I'm still not quite sure what this movie was about. It was so very weird. PG-13

Bad Lieuenant-Port of Call New Orleans-*
Kelly says this was not an especially good movie. R

Edge of Darkness-*
So, so according to Kelly. R

17 Again-3
Fairly predictable and done so many times before, but still good for what it was. PG-13

From Paris with Love-4
Surprising enough, I liked this movie. It's graphic and the body count is quite high, but I liked Travolta. Some funny scenes too if you can stand the high body count. R

Dear John-5
I really liked this movie, even after reading the book. I was kind of sad that it ended where it did though. I wanted to know what happened as time went on. PG-13

Daybreakers-4
Bloody and gory, but an interesting take on the vampire story. And bonus-noone sparkles in this movie. R

Astro Boy-*
The kids said it was pretty good. PG

Free Willy:Escape from Pirates Cove-*
Grace loved this movie. The boys, not so much. PG

Planet 51-*
The kids also liked this one. PG

Hachi: A Dog's Tale-*
The kids didn't make it through more than 20 minutes of this movie before they got bored. G

Cop Dog-*
Kelly and the kids liked it.

The Road-4
Scary, but not in a killer at the door kind of way. More in a this could happen kind of way. I think the ending was a little bit indulgent. It wrapped things up a little too well. R

Youth in Revolt-*
Just the sort of movie I steer clear of. I am not an American Pie or Knocked up fan either. R

Extraordinary Measures-3
Pretty good movie. I liked Harrison Ford in it, but to me, Brendan Fraser is still George of the Jungle. He just wasn't believable. PG

Barbie in a Mermaid Tale-*
Grace love, love, loved this movie. Jared thinks it shows how scary it is inside the mind of a girl-all foo foo and pink, with singing and dancing around for no good reason. NR

The Messenger-2
Not a particularly enjoyable movie-sad subject matter. I didn't care for Woody Harrelson as the choice for the lead role. R

Shinjuku Incident-1
Dubbed into English. Violent, bloody. I think there might be quite a bit things that were culturally relevant that I did not get. It amuses me that their mouths don't move in time with the words. Most definitely not my kind of movie. R

The Wolfman-2
Worst werewolf costume ever. It looked like a cheap gorilla suit. Predictable and dark story line. Unnecessarily bloody and gory. R

The Book of Eli-4
Even though I predicted how this one would end and it was pretty violent, I liked this movie. R

Mama Mia-1
Hated it. It could have been a cute movie without all the blasted singing and goofy dancing. : ) PG-13

Where the Wild Things Are-1
Such a depressing movie, plus the monsters kind of ooked me out. PG

Legion-4
Another bloody, gory movie that I should have hated, but I thought was pretty good. Scary though again in a what if it happened kind of way. R

The Time Travelers Wife-3
Kelly really wanted to see this movie. We thought it was pretty good. Sad. PG-13

The Blindside-5
Great movie. The whole family liked it. PG-13

Sherlock Holmes-2
Kelly fell asleep watching this movie twice. Rather a dark film. Was okay. Sherlock Holmes mumbles a lot. PG-13

Couples Retreat-2
Okay for what it was-a corny romantic comedy. I usually like those too, but this one was kind of annoying. PG-13

Alice in Wonderland-*
The older kids watched this. They said it was not worth my time. PG

Leap Year-4
I really liked it, so did Kelly. A little bit cheesy and goofy at times, but cute and enjoyable. PG

2012-*
I didn't make it through the whole movie. I got bored. PG-13

Another June post?

2010-06-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, two posts in a month. I haven't done that for awhile.

I told you in my last post that it has been raining. It rained again today! I think that makes rain at least 5 days a week for the last month and a half. If the summer continues like it started, I will be ready to be committed by the middle of July. I may even go voluntarily. : D

My kids drove me absolutely nuts today. I've been trying to get my spring cleaning/organizing done (yeah, I'm a season behind) and I swear the kids had no more than a two second attention span before wrestle-mania would erupt in the middle of whichever room we were supposed to be working in. What the heck! Is it a full moon or something? Tomorrow, I will send the kids outside, even if it is raining. They won't melt.

Speaking of melting, the morning started off with the ice maker jamming. There was two feet of water inside the freezer when poor Jared opened the door and experienced a tidal-wave right there in the middle of the kitchen. Once set loose, the tidal-wave caused a torrential downpour from the ceiling of the laundry room. Many towels later, the freezer is an ice cave that I will have to chip loaves of bread and bags of peas out of. Fun times, fun times.

June 2010

2010-06-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

School's out! Now, if only the weather would cooperate! It's a beautiful day today, but we've had so much rain. The yard is full of mushrooms and mud.

The kids finished school last week. They did great, of course. ; ) Grace will start 2nd grade in the Fall. She is reading very well and calls herself a "math geek." She enjoyed both the math and science enrichment classes this year. Cade will be in the 5th grade. He earned The President's Award for Academic Excellence. His classmates voted and gave him a citizenship award too. That doesn't surprise me because he is always so happy and nice. Jared also earned The President's Award for Academic Excellence and his first citizenship award. Jake will start High School in the Fall. His 8th grade recognition night was at the beginning of the month. He earned 5 awards(!) in addition to his 8th grade graduation award-Honor Roll for a 3.6, Outstanding Achievement in Reading, Perfect Attendance for 4th quarter, The Spike Award for Wrestling, and was voted by his classmates as most likely to be the next Bill Gates. Colt earned a 4.0 all year long and will be in the 10th grade. He also earned the Freshman Math award. He is done with high school math now and will be taking math classes through a college next year.

I finished up my classes and finals this week. Grades aren't posted yet. I am taking Human Anatomy and Physiology, U.S. History and Art Appreciation in the Fall. I need the summer off since the kids have so much going on. (I could use a break too.)

Jake already attended Freshman Football camp. He and Colt will leave Friday for a week long team wrestling camp. Jared and Cade have football camp at the end of the month. Jake starts Football practice in August and has his first game right at the beginning of September. Both the older boys will go to the school to work out in the weight room and run all summer. Colt will run Cross Country this Fall.

Colt scared the crud out me a week ago. He'd had a cold for a couple of weeks, but was getting better and the rest of us had also been sick, so we were just waiting it out. He went outside to feed our rabbits and I guess had an allergic reaction to the grass he was giving them. Jared came in to tell us that Colt was outside coughing really bad. I started out the door when Colt came in. His eyes were all watery, but he said he was okay. The next night was Jake's 8th grade recognition night. Everything seemed fine. Jake stayed for the dance, so I had to pick him up at about nine-thirty. I came downstairs to get my shoes on and Colt was standing in the hall crying. He said his chest kind of hurt. I took him with me, even though Kelly was home because Kelly was going to bed. In the car, I asked Colt if he needed to go to the doctor. He said he didn't know. We picked up Jake. Colt started gasping for air, but kept saying it hurt to breath in. He said his chest hurt on the left side all the way through and it went up into his jaw and neck. I wasn't thinking asthma anymore, I started thinking heart attack, but that just seemed so unlikely in a healthy 15 year old. We headed for the Emergency Room about 20 minutes away. Colt told me that he'd run a mile in PE that day and that was when the pain had started, then he'd run another couple of miles after school and it was even worse. He didn't want to ruin his brother's graduation, so he waited. At the ER, they put us in a trauma room and ran an EKG. That was normal, as was his pulse ox, but the doctor looked concerned when he listened to Colt's chest. I was thinking pneumonia then. They ordered an x-ray and gave him a pain pill and a shot. The doctor came in and said "It's a funny thing..." He showed me on the x-ray that there was a line between his lung and heart sac. Colt had coughed hard enough to force air through the lung wall into the heart sac. It is called a pneumomediastinum or pneumopericardium when it is in the heart sac. It's rare without blunt force trauma to the chest and can lead to a pneumothorax. Basically part of Colt's lung couldn't fill with air because there was air in his chest keeping it from doing so. The good news was that it would reabsorb on its own. The bad news was that Colt could not run or do any other physical activity until it was gone. So, a week later, an x-ray showed that it was almost reabsorbed and most of the pain was gone. We just repeated the x-ray on Thursday and hopefully that will show it is completely gone. I think this goes pretty close to the top of my list for my scariest moments in parenting. Number one on that list is when my daughter fell and fractured her skull. Someone usually needs stitches or sprains something every school vacation, so Colt was just starting the summer tradition early.

We will be going to see my Grandad this summer, but not until August. Cross your fingers that the rest of the summer will be uneventful.

April update...

2010-04-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

I finished winter quarter with a 3.7 and made the President's Honor Roll (3.5 Eng102, 4.0 1st Aid, 3.8 Algebra) All of my classes were online. I got one of the higher English grades, but I think the instructor had unrealistic expectations. My accumulative gpa is 3.86. New quarter starts Monday. I am taking Biology, Anthropology, Psychology and Aquatic Fitness.

Went to conferences for all the kids...

Jared is above grade level in most everything. His handwriting has improved immensely. He has set goals for himself. He would like to memorize all the decimals of uncommon fractions and intends to cut down to only reading 75 pages a day instead of 150. He still participates in the gifted program and is on the math team. He had two articles published in the school's newspaper last month. His wrestling has improved a ton. All of the boys are now participating in the USA Freestyle program and our last little guy's meet is Saturday.

Cade is above grade level for math and science. He is still two years behind in reading, but has consistently been so. He is still progressing about a year at a time. He is still in speech for that darn R. He is also in the gifted program and has chosen to do robotics. Cade is having a rough year in wrestling. He is about a foot shorter than most of his opponents. He has earned 2nd a few times this year, but he's had work really hard for it. Last Saturday, he double arm barred a kid, then pancake stacked and pinned him. He then asked his daddy in his squeaky voice, "what did I do?" His body knows moves he doesn't even know the names of. Lol!

Grace is doing great in school. She is above grade level all around. She is reading chapter books. She attends math enrichment every week. She did cheer camp during basketball season. She also got to cheer with out high school cheerleaders for one of our wrestling matches. She loved it. She is now calling her dad "Old Man," as in "Hi Old Man" when he gets home from work. She is just a bit sassy.

Jake earned a 3.6 and made the Honor Roll. He didn't quite make the list of top 40 8th graders who get to go on a weekend trip for good grades/behavior, but he may get bumped up if someone else can't go. He reads all the time. I have to tell him to stop reading and go to bed. I used to have to force him to read for his homework, now I have to tell him to stop reading and go to bed. He starts track on Monday. He has improved the most out of all of the boys with his wrestling-freestyle has helped a lot. He still has the same girlfriend as last year. : )

Colt earned a 4.0 and made the Honor Roll. He is still way ahead in math and will start math classes through one of our state colleges next year. He is in track right now. He is doing the long distance runs (mile and two mile). He cut more than a minute off his time since last year. He can't wrestle for little guy's but helps coach and does freestyle. He hasn't settled on what he wants to be when he grows up, but has been talking about being a civil engineer. He is studying to take the written test so he can get his learner's permit to drive. : O

Kelly is still working in town. He's trimming the city trees all along the sidewalks on one of our major north-south streets. They have to block one lane off, so he's been cussed/honked at more than a few times this week.

My Grandma passed away last month. My Grandmother died last July. I miss them both so much. We are going to go see my Grandad this summer. We haven't been there for several years. My brother is coming too and my sister lives nearby, so all ten of the great-grandkids will be together for the first time ever! It will be fun!

Spring break is almost over and I didn't get half of the things done that I wanted to. Oh well.

January 23, 2010

2010-01-23T23:45:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Busy here as usual. I haven't updated since Christmas, so here goes. I am taking my classes online this quarter. English 102, Algebra and First Aid. I thought it would be a great idea to take my winter classes from home so I didn't have to drive in the snow. Great idea, but we haven't really had much snow.

Colt is just about finished with his first year of high school wrestling. He's done great! Jake decided not to do year book and can't wait for track to start. Wrestling club starts next month and Jake, Jared and Cade joined the freestyle wrestling club too. Grace enjoyed a week of cheer camp that ended with a half time performance at the high school girls basketball game. Kelly is still working nearby and is home every night. My critters are enjoying the warmer weather and the chickens are laying again already. That pretty much covers things for now. It's almost midnight and I should be sleeping. : )

December 2009

2009-12-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's almost Christmas already!

I'm on winter break from college. I finished the Fall quarter with a 3.97 gpa. 3.9 in English101, 4.0 in Algebra and a 4.0 in Intercultural Communications. I start back on January 4th. I have two classes online so far and one that I am on a wait list to take online.

The kids are doing great. Jake placed 2nd in league for the middle school wrestling and his team took first. Colt is wrestling JV for our high school and took 6th (out of 16) in the Freshman Tourney last weekend. Jared's robotics team went to competition at the beginning of the month. They didn't win, but he had fun. Cade is still full of energy and can't wait for Little Guy's wrestling to start. Grace is looking forward to Cheer Camp. It starts in January and they will perform during half time at a high school basketball game.

Kelly is still working in town and is home every night. None of the boys got a deer or elk this year. My animals are not liking the snow at all, but its way better than the sub-zero temps. we had last week. The kids are out for winter break on Friday.

Football

2009-09-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

Jake had his first football game today. He's on the 8th grade varsity team. They won 30-12. The team they played has beaten the 8th grade team every time for the last 7 years, until today. : ) He's #65.

Sept. Stuff

2009-09-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

The kids have settled into the routine of school. Grace loves her teacher and is excited about going. She only got teary the first couple of days. Now, she's bummed when it's the weekend and there's no school. Colt has a couple of honors classes and is taking both PE and weight lifting. He opted not to do cross-country this season. Two hours of exercise, a day is enough. Plus, it's hunting season. Jake started football and has his first game on Saturday. He made varsity as a guard on both offense and defense. Cade's reading is getting better every day! He's still in speech a couple times a week (those darn R's) and he gets reading help daily. Now, if I can get his teacher to stop sending home word searches for homework. Everything's a word search for kid with dyslexia! LOL! Jared is still humoring us by attending the 5th grade. I think he may be a doctor when he grows up if his handwriting is any indication. : )

The boys all received their results on state testing from last year. Colt and Jared are both well above state standards. Jake is above state standards in reading and is at level in math and writing. Cade is at level for math and reading-yes READING! He's thrilled. (I think they tested him at his instructional level, not grade level.)

It's hunting season. Colt is hunting deer with a bow this year. Jared passed his hunters education class, so he's hunting rifle this year. Jake too. Kelly is off this week and is cutting firewood and hunting all week. I have elected to shoot pictures this year not deer, so I am not getting my hunting license.

We have a raccoon in our woods and we lost our duck Dart and Grace's favorite chick Calibre to it in a very graphic way, so the boys have been hunting that. I want it gone. I worry all night about my birds even though they are locked up tight in the barn and I am positive it can’t get in there. (It has a cement foundation and metal doors.) But they stay out right up to sunset and the coon comes out then. I wish they would go in earlier, but chickens don't go to bed until they are good and ready. : )

I start school on Monday. I have all but one book. (It hasn't been listed yet.) I got a new backpack and binder yesterday, so I am all ready. I also got my hair cut. I had about a foot cut off, so it's chin length now. I donated the hair to Locks of Love to be made into a wig for a child with cancer. Kelly isn't thrilled that I cut my hair, but I like it. It grows back really fast and a short do will be easier to wash and go for school.

Hunting

2009-09-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

August 2009

2009-08-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

August Random Thoughts...

2009-08-13T01:15:00.000-07:00

This could also be titled "What the heck am I doin' up at 2am?"

I might regret saying this, since we have two weeks left before school starts, but here goes...I think we made it through the summer without a visit to the emergency room for stitches and/or super glue. Alert the media, this is a first for us!

Summer has just whizzed by. I can't believe it's almost time for school already. The kids will be in 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th grades this year. Yep, I have a high schooler. That makes me feel ancient. We've received teacher assignments and the older boys already know their schedules. I register Colt and Jake and take them for their sports physicals next week. Colt starts cross-country the Monday before school starts and Jake starts football the day after. This year, I will officially have kids in four different buildings. Grace in one, Cade and Jared together at another, Jake at the middle school and Colt at the high school. At least they are all with a mile or so of each other. I hope cross-country meets and football games are on different days. I hate trying to decide who's event I will attend and having to miss the other. Kelly might make it to some this year since he is working in town for now.

I don't start my college classes until the 21st of September. I will be taking three classes for 15 credits. I have Algebra, English and Intercultural Communications. I plan to get my AA-Lib. and transfer to a four-year college to get my B.A. in Anthropology and eventually my Masters. I am not sure if I am excited to finally be going to college or totally freaked out by the whole idea of being back in school. Colt, Jake and I will all be taking Algebra classes. Maybe they can help me with my homework.

My mom was here for a couple of weeks. We enjoyed spending time with her. She and I took a road-trip to the other side of our state for a wedding reception one weekend. It was nice. The car we drove in was not. I drive a very large Suburban and the smallest thing I've been in for years was a 4-runner. Mom rented a Ford Focus!? It was like hurtling down the road in a roller skate. I will stick to my gas-guzzling Sally thank you very much.

Kelly's family was here last weekend for our annual camping trip. We camped at my house. Lol! The kids and the aunts slept in tents out in the backyard. We played tons of poker. Cade was given a 10 cent limit on raising the bet after he won a $6 pot. A little while later, he was hitting his dad up for a loan. Lol! The kids had so much fun. I think they'd like it if our whole extended family lived in one big house all together so they could see them all the time.

We are down to 3 chicks from the bunch that Zora hatched. She had stopped taking care of them, but they were doing fine with the rest of the flock. We had five when one disappeared during the night. We think maybe a cat got her. It was weird. She went in her cage at night-I put her there-and was just gone in the morning. Something terrible happened to another one. He was grabbed by a big black bird right in front of the kids and Kelly's sisters. It was very upsetting. We've never lost any that way before. The remaining three won't be allowed out of their coop to roam the yard until they get bigger.

I should go to sleep. I have a ton of housework to do that I didn't get done today, which I probably won't do tomorrow either-at least I'm honest. And I started taking down the wallpaper in the bathroom and there's that to finish too. It's coming down quite easily. It's the mess it makes all over the floor that I don't want to deal with, so I am procrastinating on that too. All right, a quick spell check and I will be off. Night.

The Latest...

2009-07-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we went to our favorite mountain to look for huckleberries. We found some! Actually, we found enough for me to make a huckleberry-peach pie and put some in the freezer to make into jam later. The kids brought enough home to make huckleberry pancakes, tarts and to put in their ice cream. I don't like huckleberries, which makes me the odd one in our family.

Cade ate every berry he picked.

I thought we were going to have to send him to the juicer.

The kids also picked thimble berries (and wild strawberries, but they ate them before I could get a photo).

Kelly worked in a park near our house a couple of weekends ago. Since they were so close, I brought the kids down to watch the crew work. They were trimming some trees and removing a huge tree. Jared counted the rings and found out it was 101 years old, but it was dying and unfortunately had to come down.

The kids played at the playground a bit too.

Fourth of July at my Mother-in-Law's-where you are allowed to light off your own fireworks. We were surrounded by them. It's neat and kind of scary at the same time.

Random Thoughts June 2009 Edition

2009-06-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

We have two birthdays in our house in the month of June (and a whole bunch more in the extended family). Jake turned 13 on June 1st. (I have two teenagers now!?) Grace will be 7 tomorrow-actually today, since it's after 1am. (Why I am still awake? I don't know.)

Our summer has been pretty uneventful so far. No stitches yet-I better knock on wood or something, huh? Give them time. Someone will do something stupid soon and you'll get to hear all about it. Sigh. Lots of cartoon watching and swimming going on. I taught them to play Gin Rummy, so they have been playing that a lot too.

Three of the boys have football camp starting Monday-Cade, Jared and Jake. It's two hours every morning for a week. They have really enjoyed it in the past. Colt is too old for this camp, but he's not interested in football anyway. He's a runner.

We are having a summer party again this year, so I need to get that organized. We need to make pinatas for that. That was messy but fun last year. The kids really enjoyed it.

If you pay attention, you will notice that the animal count in the title of my blog changes every so often. Sometimes we lose animals, sometimes we gain them and sometimes I don't know where the heck an extra chicken came from! The kids and I count our chickens about once a month to keep track of how many we have. The count has been right on every month until now. There is an extra barred rock hen. She looks like one of my hens and acts like one, so how have we missed counting her all year? I don't know.

Oh, one of my sneaky hens is setting on at least a dozen eggs. Her name is Zora and she's an Araucana. Chicken count determined that she was missing and we found her all fluffed up over a nest of eggs in the bushes behind the barn. I don't have the heart to take her eggs away-actually, I think she'll kick my tail feathers if I even try-so there she stays. I hope only a few of the eggs actually hatch. I don't need anymore chickens and especially not any more roosters.

I have 12 half grown Araucana chicks that I got through the feed store in May. They hang out during the day in the pig pen. The pigs have gotten used to them and just gently nudge them out of their food dish so they can eat. The pigs will only be around for a couple more months unless Grace can convince a spider to spin a web that tells how terrific they are. Poor piggies, but I do so love bacon.

I don't think I told "you" that we lost our dog Buck just after Mother's Day. He was 17. It was time. I still miss him. I keep looking at the animal shelter's adoption web site, but I don't think we are ready for another dog yet. Maybe the right dog will eventually find us.

I am enrolled for the Fall at our local community college. I decided to major in Anthropology. I think Physical Anthropology, with the intention of getting my Masters and possibly working in Forensics. We'll see. It'll take me two years to get my AA before I can transfer to a four year college. I am starting with Math, English and Intercultural Communications-all required classes. I haven't taken any classes since high school, but I did way better on my math placement test than I thought I would.

I better go to bed. I have to wake Kelly up in two hours so he can go to work. He has been working 6 or 7 days a week. He always does in the Summer, but I don't know how he does it. I really appreciate him working so hard for our family though. : )

Photo Slideshow

2009-05-26T21:12:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day Etc.

2009-05-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

My kids went all out for mother's day this year. Jared, Cade and Grace all made me gifts at school.

Jared made a recipe card holder that consists of a small ceramic pot stuffed with some kind of moss and small plastic flowers. Out of this pot sticks half a Popsicle stick with the teeniest clothespin I have ever seen glued to it. He clipped a recipe card to it which reads: "Recipe-For a loving family. Serves-7. Ingredients- One mom, five cups of kids and one dad. First throw in the mom and the five cups of kids. Then, throw in the dad and one meal a day and cook for 18 years and you're done."

Cade made me a burlap wall hanging on which he embroidered the words Happy Mother's Day, Love Cade. He stitched something on it that resembles both a patch of flowers in grass and a cake with candles. He says it can be whatever I want it to be.

My gift from Grace is one of those "I didn't know I needed it until I got it" kind of gifts. It's so fabulous that I have to share a picture of it with you.

It's a basket, but it's the most beautiful basket in the world. She wove yarn through the sides and attached pom poms to the corners and sides. It's awesome! Just what I always wanted.

Colt and Jake made me a picnic table. I've wanted one for a long time. They used handsaws to cut the boards and had minimal help from their dad. It just needs paint or stain.

The boys found some morel mushrooms in our woods and Cade really wanted his picture taken with them. He ate them yesterday sauteed in butter and garlic.

And just for fun, here's a of shot of Kelly at work. As big as he is, you might have to squint to see him.

Even after almost 18 years of watching him climb trees, it still makes me feel barfy to see him up so high. See where the power line is? Look how far above it he is!

Okay...

2009-05-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

I'm getting tired of calling my kids by nicknames here. I'm calling them by their names: Romeo=Colt Cub=Jake The Professor=Jared Stitch/626=Cade and my husband Bear=Kelly.

I don't know exactly who's reading here, but if you decide to stalk us, keep in mind I pack a 300 win-mag and 6 attack geese. ; )

April Photos

2009-04-29T15:10:00.001-07:00

A Bunch of Random Thoughts...

2009-04-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

I was just on our school district's website and the first item on there is about registration for kindergarten. I just realized that I won't have to register anyone for kindergarten-ever again. But I will be registering one for high school. My kids are growing up so fast.

School is almost done for the year. The kids are already counting down the days until June 12th. I will be done working for the year then too and I won't be going back next year. I will take the summer off and then start college in the Fall.

My 6 year old daughter lost one of her front teeth and doesn't look like a baby anymore. (Sorry, it's a cell phone pic.) She's all about clothes and Hannah Montana. She wants to go to high school now. She likes a boy in her kindergarten class and talks about him often. Her daddy says she can date when she's married.

My 12 year old was trying out different hair-do's last night-not that you can do much with such short hair. There's either a spike or parted to the side (that with the sunglasses looks like the bad guy on The Matrix's hair). He went with the part this morning after a long time in front of the mirror. (roll eyes)

My oldest boy has been invited to go on a three day trip next month with 39 other kids in the 8th grade. They earned the field trip with good grades and behavior. He has had a 4.0 all year and he never gets in trouble, so he gets to go. I am a little apprehensive about it though. He's a good kid and is very responsible, but he has food allergies and I worry. His girlfriend also gets to go, but I worry less about that. The chaperons put duct tape across the outside of the kids' doors so they will know if they've been opened during the night. Punishment is being sent home at their parents' expense. That would be a fun four hour trip home, wouldn't it?***

My youngest son took 3rd place this year at the wrestling finals. He earned a big bronze medal and he says it's way better than the plastic trophy he got for first place the other two years. I remember his first year taking home that trophy, he lost his first tooth just as he climbed up on the podium to get his trophy. I have it on video. He was so cute.

My 12 year old placed fourth and my 10 year old 5th at the finals. My oldest son didn't place this time.

We have piglets. Two of them, but we are supposed to get two more. My 10 year old and 12 year old are in charge of the piglets. My ten year old named his pig Rouge because it means red in French and his pig has tiny red spots on her ears. The other one was named Porkchop by my 12 year old. That is his nickname and what the pig will eventually be. : ( We've had them for a couple of weeks, but they were about 7 or 8 weeks old when we got them. They have tripled in size since then. Rouge is a squealer. Porkchop was the runt of the litter.

One of our geese is sitting on four eggs right now. Her name is Lucy and she is a Toulouse goose. She is almost three years old and this is the first time she has set on eggs. She is very grumpy and will bite if you go anywhere near her. I tried to make friends with her by bringing her lettuce. She ate the lettuce and then bit me. lol!

It's supposed to be in the seventies this weekend and next week. I hope the weatherman is right. We still have some piles of snow here and there. And it snowed about four inches Monday morning, but that melted really fast. I have big plans for my garden, but I can't plant until it stops freezing at night.

Wrestling 4-5-09

2009-04-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

We had our last regular wrestling tournament yesterday. (Next Saturday is the Championship Tournament and the end of the season.) The boys have done well this year. They have all learned so much and we are very proud of them.

All four boys earned medals yesterday. That's a first. Usually two of them bring home a medal at each tourney or three at most, but all four is awesome!

Stitch brought home 1st place!

Cub earned 2nd. (We almost had four 1st placers, but he wrestled hard and there's no shame in that.)

The Professor earned 1st! He was thrilled. He's taken 3rd before, but that's as far as he's ever gotten. He was in the zone yesterday.

Sassy was there cheering on her brothers!

Romeo earned 1st place. This is his first 1st place medal ever!

A sappy side note:

Our wrestling program has more than 150 kids, so it takes a lot of volunteers to help run it. They coach the kids during practice and also for their matches each week. Most of the time, there aren't enough coaches to go around and the ones who are there are kept hopping the whole day. There are only a few who show up at every meet. Bear does. He coaches our kids and any others who need him. He never sits down to watch in the stands with our family, but goes from mat to mat where ever he is needed. Kids come looking for Coach *******. He's usually more exhausted than the kids at the end of the and he doesn't even wrestle.

I was reminded as I watched him hug a 10 year old who had lost his match yesterday that even though he never knew his own father, he is a really great dad and a good man. He truly cares about each kid he coaches, whether they are our child or not. He has a hug and a little pep talk for the kids who don't win and he's so proud of the winners, even if they are from the opposing team. I don't tell him often enough, but I am very lucky to have him as my husband and the father of my children.

Wrestling 2-28-09

2009-03-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our first wrestling meet for the season. It was the largest regular season meet we have ever participated in. There were 900 wrestlers! We had 90 kids representing our team. There were two gyms, each with 8 mats. We arrived just before eight in the morning for weigh-ins and didn't leave until close to five in the afternoon. My boys wrestled in both gyms, sometimes at the same time, so Bear and I were on our feet the whole day. Bear also coaches kids from our team between our childrens' matches.

Romeo is in the 13-14 year old group and weighed in at 117lbs. He's grown a lot since last year when he barely tipped the scales at 100lbs. (This is his last year because the ages are 5-14.) He earned a third place medal.

Cub is in the 11-12 year old group and weighed in at 129lbs. (He is not quite as tall as his older brother, but has outweighed him for a few years. The funny thing is that his nick name at school is the same as his older brother's but they add "Mini" to it.") He earned a third place medal also.

The Professor is in the 9-10 year old age group and weighed in at 94lbs. He was a little upset. There was some confusion with the brackets and he wrestled an extra match and won, but it didn't count, so he ended up in fifth place. He wrestled the best he ever has and we are proud of him, medal or not!

Stitch is in the 7-8 year old group and weighed in at 65lbs. All three of his opponents were taller than him. : ) He earned a first place medal. He hopes to win his third straight year at the Championships next month.

And not to be left out, here's Sassy (goofy face and all).

46+/- Things You Don't really Need to Know About Me

2009-02-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

No, I have the same middle name as my Grandma and Aunt's first name.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Valentine's Day
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Eh, I don't really like or dislike it. It's either illegible or looks like a teenage girl's writing minus the hearts over the I's.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Roast Beef
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Yes, 4 sons and 1 daughter
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Sure
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?

Of course not.***

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

No. I had a tonsilectomy when I was 17.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Not on purpose. :)
10. FAVORITE CEREAL?

Frosted Flakes
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

Every time.

Where's 12?

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

Pistachio Almond or Cookies n Cream.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Eyes. You can tell a lot from their eyes.

15. RED OR PINK?

Pink
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

I worry too much.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

My mom and my sister.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?

Yes, I demand it. Please?
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

Dark blue jeans and no shoes.

Where's 20?

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

The heater.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Orchid or fushia
23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Cinnamon rolls and gardenias.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

Heather
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Wrestling-not WWF. I kind of like watching UFC too. My 12 year old says that's because the fighters don't wear shirts.
27. HAIR COLOR?

Dark Blonde
28. EYE COLOR?

Green
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Yes
30. FAVORITE FOOD?

Pizza
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Happy endings
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

Wanted
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

Sea green
34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

SUMMER
35. HUGS OR KISSES?

Depends who's givin' 'em.
Where's 36?

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

IDK
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

My brother

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

Hiss, Whine and Start Over
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

I don't use one.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?

House
42. FAVORITE SOUND(S):

The kids playing without bickering.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?

Neither.
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

Opposite coast
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Photography
46. WHERE WERE U BORN?

Arizona

In my world...

2009-02-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

Wrestling has started for all of the boys. We have practice twice a week and meets are on Saturdays starting at the end of the month. This is Romeo's last year since it's for 5-14 year olds. :( Sassy could wrestle too, but daddy won't let her. He says "No boy's putting his hands on my little girl!" Just wait until daddy's little girl wants to date. ;)

The older boys received their grades. Romeo earned a 4.0 and Cub a 3.3. They both made the honor roll. Romeo was invited to join the middle school's gifted program, but declined because it is after school and interferes with sports and/or just hanging out time. Cub is working on the yearbook staff once a week after school. He gets to design and take pictures for one page of the yearbook. The Professor joined the Math is Cool club along with his best friend. They are practicing once a week after school to earn a spot for the Math Competition in March. Stitch was tested and invited to join his school's gifted program. The Professor is in it too. They don't really do academics like math or reading, but can learn photography, geology, robotics or anything else that interests them.

I accepted a position at our local high school working one on one with a special needs student. It is a two and a half hour a day, every day position right now, but will probably turn into full days once the student adjusts to attending school. I can still sub in the afternoon if I want. I had planned to start college this spring, but after completing the FAFSA, it looks like I should wait until Fall, so I might as well work while I wait.

We just bought a 1993 Suburban at an auction and upon driving it home, found out that the transmission slips quite a bit. It's going to be expensive to fix. : ( Bear didn't get a chance to drive it before the auction, but we paid about half of Blue Book for it. It's white with red interior and very clean inside. I don't love the red, but I suppose I will get used to it.

Sassy is doing great in school. She is reading like crazy. She writes all the time and is constantly asking me to spell words. She is learning addition and subtraction too. She attended junior cheer camp a couple of weeks ago and they performed at a halftime of our high school boys basketball game. It was adorable. She can't wait until next year so she can do it again.

Bear is working about an hour from our house and is home every night. He is only working 8 hour days, but will switch to 10 hour days when time changes.

It's a mystery.

2009-01-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

I spent the day working on our taxes and assorted paperwork, so dinner was grilled cheese and soup. Actually, I didn't even make it, Bear did. Anyway, he put the soup in bowls and went to the silverware drawer for spoons. There weren't any. We have three sections in the silverware organizer full of forks. We buy silverware in sets, so that means at one time, we had at least that many spoons. I checked the dishwasher and there were only a handful of spoons, so where's the rest? The kids won't admit to taking them. I send plastic silverware in Bear's lunch, since he never returns them, so he didn't take them. We just cleaned the kids' rooms and no spoons. They have to be somewhere. Where are my spoons?

You'll shoot your eye out!

2009-01-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

My oldest boy (14) shot himself in the eye with a rubber band last night. He was aiming for his brother (not okay) and it backfired. I took him to the ER (they never hurt themselves when our regular doctor is open). The ER was packed, but the children's ER wasn't too bad and he got triaged to the front of the line. They dyed his eye and looked at it. He has a corneal abrasion and a subconjunctival hemorrhage-a scratch and a bruise. He will be using antibiotic eye ointment for a few days, but should be fine. We did get to hear "you'll shoot your eye out" a few times and his discharge paperwork says in capital letters not to play with rubber bands or if he does to wear goggles.

Happy Birthday Bear!

2009-01-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's his 37th birthday today.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

This is my front yard right now. That is a four foot fence you can just see sticking up out of the snow. We've had record snowfall for the month of December. Every morning when I look outside, there's at least another six inches. It's beautiful, but I think I'm ready for spring.

Hunting Season

2008-12-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

Cub is the only one of us to bring home a deer this year. (Bear, Cub, Romeo and I each had two tags.) This is his second deer.

Sports Pics.

2008-12-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

Romeo

8th Grade Cross Country

Junior Varsity 10th Place

Cub

7th Grade Football

Varsity 5 wins 1 loss

Cub

7& 8th Grade Wrestling

121lbs. Junior Varsity

Romeo

7th & 8th Grade Wrestling

112lbs. Varsity

School Pics & Report Cards

2008-12-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Professor is in 4th grade. He's a genius. I really mean that. I'm not bragging. He's above grade level in all of his subjects and is in the gifted program.

Cub is a 7th grader. He earned a 3.5 and is on the honor roll. He was also given an award for behavior/citizenship.

Sassy is in kindergarten. She is also above grade level in all subjects. She loves school and wishes she could go every day.

Romeo is an 8th grader. He earned a 4.0 for his middle school classes and an A- in his math class that he takes at the High School.

Stitch is in the 3rd grade. He is doing well in school, but is not currently up to grade level in reading, writing or spelling. (He is newly diagnosed with dyslexia.) He is way above grade level in math though. (See the hairdo? Styled by big brother at the bus stop-with spit.)

11-10-08

2008-11-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

I'm a couple days late with this, but it's been nuts around here. The Professor had his 10th birthday on Monday. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Pumpkin Lane

2008-10-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

I took my three youngest kids to Pumpkin Lane last Saturday. Local businesses hand out candy and sponsor games. There was fishing for prizes at the bank, a jump house and other fun activities. They brought home a ton of candy and shared with Romeo and Cub without being asked. Bear and the older boys were elk hunting. (no they didn't get one.)

Ninja Stitch
The Professor as Elvis

Sassy says she was a star princess.

She is wearing my dress and cape.

10-22-08 How's that for an imaginative title?

2008-10-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have a hard time coming up with creative titles for my blog. I will probably just use the date most of the time.

Romeo and Cub are done with cross country and football as of last Wednesday and tonight. Romeo finished his season taking 10th place for the JV team at his final meet. Cub's last game was tonight. His team ended up with a 5 win 1 loss record. Now, we move on to wrestling. Practice starts on Monday morning. At least they will be in the same sport for this one.

I've had some time off this week since I only work Friday. I have been working at least three days a week for the last month. (I am a sub-parapro for our school district.) I would love to say I have used the time at home to catch up on my housework, but I'd be lying. ; )

Fall is here. The leaves are changing color and starting to fall from the trees. It's been in the mid-fifties during the day and just below freezing at night. We started using the fireplace a couple of weeks ago. I am really not ready for winter and most definitely not for snow. I bet my birds aren't either. You'll never see grumpier chickens than when we open the barn doors and they get their first glimpse of snow each winter. Lol! Bear plows paths for them to walk in between the barn and the house.

My daughter has been seeing a pediatric urologist for the last few months. She's had some trouble with her bladder and UTIs. I guess she doesn't empty her bladder completely and that makes it a prime breeding ground for bacteria. She started taking a low dose of antibiotics last month and it seems to be helping. She is scheduled for a renal ultrasound and xray on Tuesday.

Stitch started working with his new reading teacher on Monday. Conferences are in November, so we will get an update then. He is also supposed to read sixty minutes a week at home. I read to him several nights a week for that. He takes a turn reading too and picks what we read. We are reading the Little House on the Prairie series of books. (We are on the second one.) I've had a cold for a little while and I lose my voice if I read for very long, but he still begs me to read more, read more. I am glad he still enjoys reading, even though it's so hard for him.

It's deer season. Bear, Romeo, Cub and I all have deer tags. We all also put in for an extra deer tag and each got one. We've been out a few times, but haven't brought one home yet. Bear usually gets his deer every year, but it's been a couple of years for me and Romeo. Cub shot one last year, but some guy was tagging it when he got to it. Cub was a little disappointed, but we think the guy needed it more than we did and let him have it. Our freezer is pretty empty, so hopefully this will be a good year for us.

Dyslexia

2008-10-14T14:09:00.001-07:00

Stitch, who is 8 and in the third grade, recently had a full special education evaluation. He has been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Stitch has always had difficulty with reading, writing and spelling. Our school has had him in a special reading program since kindergarten and he's been in speech for three years. He's very good at math and anything hands on like science. He tested high on verbal and spatial skills on his IQ test. His overall score, even with the non-verbal section bringing it down, was still higher than average, but reading, writing and spelling were low as expected.

I have told his teachers, the school's shrink, his reading helper any one else who would listen that he has a learning disorder, but there were other steps they had to go through before they could officially evaluate him. It has to be hereditary since Bear, Cub and I am pretty sure Bear's niece, Miss Q, have similar issues and must have dyslexia too. Next, I meet with the school's resource teacher who will come up with a learning plan.

I am both relieved and sad at the same time. I am glad he is going to get the help he needs. But, I know from what my husband went through that he has a rough road ahead.

2008-09-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

To make things easier, for both me and my readers, I am going to give everyone in my family a nickname so I can quit calling them my oldest son, my middle boy, my daughter etc. You can find their new nickname with their picture on the side of my blog.

I am calling my husband Bear just because he reminds me of a bear. He also has a tattoo of a bear on his bicep. I am calling my oldest boy Romeo. I think his cell phone contact list has twice as many girl's names on it than boy's. My second son is the most like my husband so I am going to call him Cub. My middle son is The Professor or just Professor. He's so smart. My youngest son will be called Stitch or 626 from the movie Lilo and Stitch. He's been called that since he was little. His older brothers' friends thought his real name was Stitch. I am going to call my daughter Sassy because she is.

Football

2008-09-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

My second son is playing football at the middle school this year. He is on the 7th grade varsity team. He's right tackle. They played their first game on Saturday and won 20-0. Their second game is tomorrow after school.

09-20-08

2008-09-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

Happy 14th Birthday to my oldest son!

Two years ago Graphic

2008-09-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Two years ago on September 12th, 2006, my daughter had a serious head injury. She climbed up the chicken coop in the barn to reach a chicken and fell about 6 feet onto the concrete floor. This is what she looked like when we got to our local ER.

After x-rays of her leg and a cat scan of her head, she was transferred to a larger hospital. Our local hospital did not have a neurologist or a MRI and it was determined that she needed both. I rode with her in the ambulance. A friend took the boys home since K was out of town. My mom and mother in law met us there.

She was heavily sedated until they could determine the full extent of her injuries. She was screaming and fighting so hard, that they over-sedated her at first and she stopped breathing. They had to bag her for a few minutes. That freaked me out, big time!

She remained sedated and in pediatric intensive care for another day and a half. I stayed at the hospital at her bedside. Her daddy arrived the next morning. I didn't really cry until I saw him. Then it felt like I couldn't stop.

After all of the tests were done, she was allowed to wake up. She had a fracture next to her left eye. Her eye was completely swelled shut and bright purple. They initially thought she had bleeding in her neck, but they didn't find any on the MRI. She was woozy at first and kind of silly. After studying herself in the reflection of on the window, she told me "I look like a rock star." She also loudly whispered about her young male nurse "he's pretty like me."

The neurologist said that he was 99% sure that she would have no long term damage. We have to watch for developmental delays, but he didn't expect her to have any.

When we got home...

After a day or so, she began to be able to open her eye. The white of her eye was very red. We saw the eye doctor twice to make sure there was no damage to her eye from the swelling. She wears glasses now, but it probably isn't related to the injury. I wear them too and so does my middle son.

It was a rough year after this happened. My daughter started having nightmares the night we left the hospital. She would dream that there was a man at the end of the bed that was going to bite her. She shouldn't remember, but there was a male nurse at the end of her bed all night the first night and every time she would begin to wake, he would inject her in her IV with more sedative. I think that even though she was sedated, she was aware of what was going on.

She regressed back to not being potty trained and had episodes of severe separation anxiety. She had to be touching me at all times and then once she let go, I still had to be in the same room with her all the time.

Slowly, over the next year, she started to return to the happy little girl that she was before her fall. She's sassy and six now. Off and on, we still have a little bit of trouble with separation anxiety, but she is attending an all day kindergarten. She doesn't seem to have any learning problems and loves school. She remembers a little of what happened, but it doesn't bother her.

How it all began...

2008-09-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

About nineteen years ago, this fifteen year old girl...

Met this seventeen year old boy...

They dated through high school.

Homecoming 1990...

Winter dance 1991...

Morp 1991...

Prom 1991...

He graduated in 1991...
He asked her to marry him December 13th, 1991...

Prom 1992...

She graduated in 1992...

They married sixteen years ago today...

And are living happily ever after!

Hunting & Huckleberries

2008-09-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

K is finally home. His flight came in late Saturday night. He has this week off. We are so glad he is home.

We spent Sunday up in the mountains. It's bear and grouse season, but the only animals we saw were deer.

We picked huckleberries. It's kind of late in the year for berries and the leaves are already turning, so there weren't many left.
My youngest boy didn't bother with a bucket. He ate everything he picked.
This is what ended up in my bucket. (I don't like huckleberries.) And sunset from the top of the mountain.

From the Barnyard...

2008-09-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

There's something going on here and I think it's fowl play.

Our birds are free range during the day. At night, they go into the barn by themselves and my boys close the doors. The boys open the doors in the morning.

Every so often, I go out at night and count my chickens. It's impossible to count them during the day. They are all over the yard and never stand still. A couple of nights ago, I went out and counted them. (I keep a tally on my laptop of what kind/color of chickens we have, so I know how many there should be.) This time, I kept coming up with two extra black chickens. I had my oldest boy count too. He came up with the same number. I thought my last count was right, so where did the extra two come from? Either I miscounted before or we have stray chickens showing up again.

About a year ago, a chicken showed up in my yard. She looked nothing like the rest of my flock, so I knew right away that she wasn't one of mine. We didn't have a neighbor within a mile then who had chickens and we don't think she made her way here on her own. Someone had to have pitched her over the fence. (They could have asked if I wanted her, I probably would have said yes.) She was kind of rough looking because she was molting. The very next day, she laid a green egg. I think she was letting my husband know that if he let her stay, she would earn her keep. I never found her owner, so she stayed. She's beautiful now and part of our flock. We call her Chicken Little.

I had to have miscounted last time. It took my hens awhile to accept Chicken Little, so we would have noticed strange birds. Maybe I missed counting them because they are black and blended into a dark corner in the barn. Oh well, it's better to have extras then it is to wonder what's happened to the missing ones. Thank goodness that doesn't happen very often.
Good thing I know how many kids I have so no one can sneak any extras over the fence or into the car at the grocery store! : )

Just to complicate things...

2008-09-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

My oldest boys started sports the day after school started last week. Of course, it's two different sports!

My oldest boy, the 8th grader, is running his second year of cross country. He's been a runner every since he could walk. When he was little he always wanted to run on the roads when we went up in the mountains. We would let him run while we followed in the car. He runs for fun in our woods and uses the treadmill more than I do. He has asthma and is on a daily medication as well as an inhaler when he needs it, but he rarely needs it for running.

Run Forest, run!

My second son, who is in 7th grade, started football this year. He thinks he'd like to be a defensive lineman like his dad. He brought home his helmet and pads the other day. He looks huge in them.
Hut, hut, hike! The boys have practice on the same days, but my older boy has to wait twenty minutes for his younger brother's practice to end before I pick them both up. Meets and games will be on different days, so that will be fun trying to work out scheduling. They will both be in wrestling next season and I think I've talked my younger boy into trying track in the spring. The oldest boy will do track again. (He took fourth place in javelin at the championship last year.)
Little guys wrestling starts in late January and that will be all the boys. K won't let our daughter wrestle, even though girls are allowed. There's something about boys putting their hands on his little girl that makes him want to get out his shotgun. ; )
Throw in hunting and things are gonna get hectic around here. So, if you are looking for me, you will most likely find me in my car on my way to or from some sporting event or if it's the weekend I'll be trekking through brush up in the mountains in search of deer.

1st Day of School

2008-08-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

It was the first day of school for all of my kids. They are in 8th, 7th, 4th, 3rd and kindergarten this year. My oldest boy has to get off the bus at the high school instead of the middle school for his first class. He is a year ahead in math. He was a bit nervous about that. One of his friends does too, so that made it a little less uncomfortable for him. My second son was worried about finding all of his classes, but did fine. My middle son is disappointed that the gifted program won't start until next month. They don't do school work. They get to things like photography, geology, run the school store or work on the school's video news program. My little guy came home in different pants. He found a large mud puddle on the playground and proceeded to slide into it.
My daughter was not happy about starting kindergarten. I drove her to school and stayed until just after lunch. She told me all the way there "I don't want to go to school. I want to stay home with you. I like you." She was still a little upset when I left just after lunch, but she came home on the bus and said she had fun. At bedtime tonight, she told me again that she doesn't want to go to school tomorrow. She wants to stay home with me and make cookies. She will be riding the bus with the boys in the morning. I think once she gets used to going, she will like school. She's already made some friends.

Big Shot

2008-08-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

This is my 8 year old when he was 7. He is shooting a 20 gauge shotgun.

(Don't worry, his daddy is standing right behing him.)

All smug thinking that it will be no big deal...

Getting ready...
Pulling the trigger...
Whoa!!!

New Kid on the Block

2008-08-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

We lost our goat Butty on August 8th. His best friend Elvis was very lonely, so we decided he needed a friend. This is Lionel. He is a 3 month old Nubian wether. He is all ears right now.

Par-tay!

2008-08-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

We had a party at my house this afternoon. The kids and a some friends swam, threw a bazillon water balloons, had a "pie" eating contest, whacked a couple of pinatas and made ice cream sundaes. It was fun.

My middle sons looking for gummy worms in whipped cream "pies."

My youngest son after his brother "helped" him with his pie.
My oldest boy after his uncle got even for the little guy.

Men.

2008-08-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

This is my husband's idea of combing his hair.

He's in Alaska for another 22 days. Maybe it will grow back by the time he comes home?

Trip to the ER GRAPHIC

2008-08-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

We just couldn't do it. We couldn't make it through one summer without a trip to the emergency room. Sigh.

My second son, the twelve year old, came into the house just before seven on Sunday night and called up to me "Mom, come here quick, I hurt my leg." I was upstairs in my room and went running down the stairs sure that he'd be standing there in a puddle of blood. There was no puddle, but he was bleeding.

He had a large puncture about three fingers below his knee and just off to the side of the bone. When I saw it, my stomach did a flip and I knew he needed to go to the doctor. Our local hospital closed a few months back and the urgent care was closed, so we had to drive into town.

Apparently, he was helping his brothers cut down a few small trees in the goat pen when he hurt himself. He pushed on a tree to make it fall and slipped and fell onto the stump. There was a limb sticking out and of course he fell right on it. He said it didn't hurt right away, but he knew it was bad. As soon as he got in the house and saw me, it really started hurting.

The emergency room was very busy. We were triaged and then waited for a couple of hours before we saw the doctor. The doctor checked the wound and found out that it was deeper than originally thought-at least two inches deep and the opening is wider than my thumb. I could see straight into his leg before it started swelling.

An ultrasound was ordered to make sure there were no splinters of wood in the wound. There weren't. I didn't get to see the ultrasound, but my son said he could see exactly where the stick went in inside his leg. Then, the doctor came in and put in a couple of stitches to pull the wound together a little bit. He's going to have a lovely scar.

He's going to be sore for awhile and won't be able to go swimming until his stitches are out. We only had seventeen days until school starts. We were so close.

**GRAPHIC** pics

I took these with my cell phone camera.

The wound before it was cleaned.

After it was irrigated and checked for splinters.

Stitches to pull the wound closed part way. It needs to drain.

The stick he fell on. The boys cut it off the stump so they could save it. The darker part at the top is how far into his leg it went.

Photography

2008-08-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

Mi Vida Loca

October (already?!)

August 2011

Change in Plans, Kids stuff etc.

Recovery

Heart update

My Broken Heart

March 2011

November 2010

I can't find my crystal ball...

September 2010

7-17-10

We've discovered RedBox

Another June post?

June 2010

April update...

January 23, 2010

December 2009

Football

Sept. Stuff

Hunting

August 2009

August Random Thoughts...

The Latest...

Random Thoughts June 2009 Edition

Photo Slideshow

Mother's Day Etc.

Okay...

April Photos

A Bunch of Random Thoughts...

Wrestling 4-5-09

Wrestling 2-28-09

46+/- Things You Don't really Need to Know About Me

In my world...

It's a mystery.

You'll shoot your eye out!

Happy Birthday Bear!

Winter Wonderland

Hunting Season

Sports Pics.

School Pics & Report Cards

11-10-08

Pumpkin Lane

10-22-08 How's that for an imaginative title?

Dyslexia

Football

09-20-08

Two years ago *Graphic*

How it all began...

Hunting & Huckleberries

From the Barnyard...

Just to complicate things...

1st Day of School

Big Shot

New Kid on the Block

Par-tay!

Men.

Trip to the ER **GRAPHIC**

Photography

Two years ago Graphic

Trip to the ER GRAPHIC