Traffic Jam

I love this picture. It was a couple of weeks ago and I had just dropped Wesley off at school and was heading home. The neighbors down the road have a flock of geese that wander. This particular morning they were wandering across the dirt road....very slowly. In fact I had to stop the car and put it in park because they just wouldn't move. I was in no hurry and there wasn't another car in sight so I got my phone out and snapped a shot of this lovely winter morning. I enjoy my morning commute, traffic jams and all.

Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas at home this year. My folks came over early in the morning to help us celebrate it and my sister and her family arrived later in the day. The kids made out like bandits. Wesley was very much into Minecraft this year so he got fun gifts relating to the game. His favorite thing were the books! He got a Minecraft set of books and they haven't left his side. He's always sitting and reading about fun new things he didn't even know he could make. Here he is with my cute mom and his stuffed Minecraft pig.

Greta is into girly toys and loves her dolls and dress up items. She's still very much into stuffed animals and was super excited to open her Granny Randi's present. Randi made her and Wesley stuffed animals this year. Greta got an adorable bunny (she named Rose) and Wesley got an awesome dragon. I can't even imagine how long these took. Truly a gift a love. Thank you Granny Randi!

It was a very relaxing day full of good company and delicious food (which I'm so thankful my mom cooked, being sick leading up to Christmas did not leave me with much energy for meal planning). Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful Christmas!

Holiday Prep

Oh did we have a fun week leading up to Christmas! I always have a checklist of things I want to do with the kids and I'm pretty happy if we get through most of them. This year I was rather sick in the week leading up to Christmas. The basic sore throat and cough that wouldn't leave but I mustered up the energy to get some memorable things done with the kids. We rolled out sugar cookies and decorated them, which is super fun.

I had really good intentions regarding Christmas cards this year. I found a cute idea consisting of fingerprints of all family members that get transformed into reindeer. I went to the craft store and purchased blank cards, googly eyes, puffy paint, craft glue, a Merry Christmas stamp and ink. We all contributed our fingerprints and the cards were made. They turned out cute! I loaded them into their addressed envelopes and ran into a problem. As I was sliding the card into the envelope the googly eyes would catch and pop off. I wondered if they would all just come off during shipping so I sent an experimental card to myself. Sure enough all but two eyes had dislodged. I was bummed out! That was a lot of work to just scrap the idea. Oh well. I thought I'd take a picture so you all could see what your Christmas card would have looked like. :)

I thought since I'm sharing craft ideas I'd show the cute little snow men I made for Wesley's Christmas party.  There really are some cute ideas out there on the internet.

Sanity Regained

I must apologize for my dreary Christmas poem. It was just one of those days. I'm happy to say a lot has changed in the last forty eight hours! The kids are healthy again! I've completed and shipped all custom Christmas sculptures! Presents to family shipped off! Both kids Christmas parties are finished and I can officially let my hair down. It feels good to have so many projects crossed off. There is just one more day of school and then the kids, Sean and I are home for 19 days with absolutely nothing to do but relax and enjoy each others company. So looking forward to that.

Greta has been accompanying me on my various trips into town for all the last minute Christmas things. You know, like tape. I went to wrap something and all I had was industrial strength packaging tape. This is because whenever I have normal tape in the house it is immediately grabbed by a child and poof, tape everywhere. I kid you not. So I just stopped buying it. I took Greta into Wal-Mart this week to buy tape and wrapping paper. I walked out with $60 dollars worth of stuff I didn't need. This is why I don't even go into Wal-Mart anymore. Greta, of course, persuaded me into taking her out to lunch (it doesn't take much to persuade me). There in the pastry window at Panera was the most heavenly cupcake I've ever seen. It was delicious.

While I'm talking about Miss Greta I should mention she had her Christmas program last week. She's been very clingy and anxious about anything preschool related. So needless to say I was a bit worried about how she was going to handle being up on stage. Turns out I had noting to worry about, she did awesome. I'm so proud of her!

One of our Holiday traditions is making gingerbread houses as a family. They make a gingerbread village with four small houses which works out great for us. The kids had a blast as did Sean and I. The most fun part? Eating them when we are done. Gingerbread houses don't last long in our house as decorations.....not with three dogs with great sniffers.

A Christmas Poem

 

My blogging has been dreadful.

The Holiday season is taking its toll.

The list of things to do is endless.

I dream of a deserted island full of pure bliss.

Cards and packages to wrap and mail.

All of this while the children hover over a pail.

Ah yes, tis the season of throw up in our house.

I wish I could scurry into a hole, like a mouse.

The house looks like a bomb went off.

Dog hair, mud....oh and Wesley has a nasty cough.

The FluMist he and his sister received is what I blame.

Last years endless coughing spell was the same.

No more FluMist for us.

I'm sure next years needle will cause much fuss.

The Holiday sculptures are nearly done.

If I don't wait until the very last minute it's no fun.

Once everything is done and the kids are healthy, I promise I'll cheer up. 

As long as I can keep myself from throwing up.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Visit with Santa

I don't think the sun has shone in at least three days. It's drizzling, foggy and all around kind of depressing. We decided to try and bring some cheer by going to the library Santa event. This is the third year we've gone and I'm so thankful that they do this event each year. The kids and I look forward to it. I think the word has gotten around because it's pretty packed. This year it took 2.5 hours to see Santa. Luckily we didn't have to stand in line, rather they hand you a little card with a picture on it when you enter the library and then they call each picture over the intercom. This keep the line small and allows you to go to the other events such at ornament making, letters to Santa and story time. No child, regardless of age, is going to stand in line for 2 hours!

I know why it's so popular, they get a spectacular Santa and Mrs. Claus. I'm always impressed by the amount of time they spend with each child asking questions and talking. It's very special and my children love it. It's was sunny point on a rather dreary day.

Thanksgiving

Hard to believe Thanksgiving was a week ago. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas run together into one hectic time. At least for me. I always tell myself to start Holiday shopping early and, for the most part, I do ok. This year I planned to purchase nearly everything on Amazon and I'm sticking to it pretty good. It's sure nice ordering presents and having it delivered to your front door. Have I mentioned how much I love Prime? I did venture out on Black Friday just because I needed to vacate the house and have some alone time. It wasn't too bad, got some cute clothes.

Thanksgiving was a quiet little event this year. Just the four of us and a giant pot of Snow Crab. I dare say it was too much crab. That could be because I make a turkey breast and shrimp scampi too. It was a massive amount of food. Oh and the pie! I took a vote with the family, I told them I could make an caramel apple pie or a key lime or a peppermint pie. Everyone voted for the peppermint pie. It was delicious and super easy. It's called a Peppermint Snow Pie. Here is the recipe.

Wesley had his 2nd grade music program a few weeks ago. Lots of cute little kids singing and acting out parts. Good times.

Adjusting well

I think he's adjusting to indoor life well. What do you think? I bet he's wondering why he didn't gouge his eye out earlier.

Mayor for the Day

What an exciting day Wesley had yesterday. Our seven year old completed a coloring sheet that was entered into a coloring contest the city put on. He won the K-2nd grade division and was awarded "Mayor for the Day" in the Holiday parade. He got to ride in the mayors red convertible with Santa and throw candy. He had so much fun! They awarded him a plaque with his name on it and $25 (which he's super excited to spend). It was a lot of fun with the singing of carols and the lighting of the tree.

I'm sure this is a memory that will stay with him. I plan to frame his artwork and bring it out with the Christmas decorations each year. What a fun time!

Weekly Winners

The kids are doing well in school. Wesley is the class leader in Rocket Math (a timed math test). He must get his math skills from his father. :) Greta likes preschool but hates for me to leave. It's a struggle but I hope it prepares her for kindergarten next year.  She writes her name well and has even started spelling out words on her own (I'm sure it's because of her big brother). I've been blowing dry her hair after her baths and her curly hair is actually pretty long when it's straight!

We decorated for Christmas last weekend. I get just as excited as the kids to decorate the house. It's very cozy and I try to do it as early as possible (I'd do it the day after Halloween if it was socially acceptable).

I took the camera outside with me when I fed the animals on Sunday during the snow storm. The miniature horses are a bit on the crazy side normally but the snow makes them psychotic. They are entertaining little creatures.

First Snow

We got our first snow of the year yesterday. Apparently it was the earliest snow since the 1970's. Pretty impressive! It was only a few inches at most but it made for a fun day. Hubby was ecstatic that he got to try out the Range Rover on snow. It was the Rover's maiden voyage in inclement weather. We all piled into the vehicle and took it into town for a pizza lunch. It did great. Sean has done a fabulous job bringing it back from the dead and making it a reliable winter vehicle. I married quite a mechanic.

The kids were super happy about the snow too. When I got up yesterday I came into the living room to find this sweet little girl sitting and watching the snow fall outside the window.

They got bundled up and went outside with Sean to play. I then heard the John Deere garden tractor start up (it's pretty loud) and the next thing I see is the kids getting pulled around the yard on the sled. Perhaps the days of pulling the kids around by hand are over. They are getting heavy!

Frankenkitty

Poor Brother Minion had his eye removed on Wednesday. I took him in to the vet for the third time on Tuesday and the vet said we could try some more medications in the hope of saving the eye (even though it would be non functioning) or we could remove the eye. Brother Minion had been miserable and stopped eating that morning and I was getting more than a little tired of hauling him (and Greta) into the vet clinic each week so we opted for eye removal.

He's been home for a day now and he's a whole new kitty. Nearly back to his normal self.

Here is his before picture, he'd been on eye ointment and antibiotics for a week. This actually looks better than it did before antibiotics. Yuck.

Here he is now with the eye removed. He's a bit of a frankenkitty now but so much happier. He'll be resting and recuperating inside for awhile.

He might need an eye patch.

Seriously?!

"Mom, I just wet my bed."

My youngest whispered this in my ear this morning at 6:30, mere minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off.

Waking up to that sentence is not a rare event. Nor does it happen a lot. Maybe every 3 months. It's no big deal.

I trudge into her room, pushing my wild morning hair out of my face, and start collecting her wet sheets. I notice the tablet sitting on the side of her bed.

"Why is the tablet on your bed?" I asked.

"Oh don't worry Mom I put it there before I wet the bed." She replied.

My tired brain couldn't fathom why the tablet would be on her bed at all. Then it clicked. She got up and got the tablet to play games in bed before everyone woke up (like she does most mornings). But this morning she decided she didn't want to get out of her warm bed and go potty on the toilet. Instead, she closed the tablet, put it on the edge of the bed and went the bathroom in her bed. Then came and woke me up so I could clean it up.  

What the heck?!

She's FIVE years old, she knows better.

Needless to say it was not a great morning.

.....sigh.....

FitBit: A year later

It's been a year since we got our little FitBits. I wasn't sure if I would use mine regularly but I'm happy to report I still wear it a year later. It's a nice little bit of motivation in my day. I enjoy the interactive website that takes the data off of the FitBit and tally's it up into nice little charts showing when you are most active, how many calories burned and miles walked.

The other fun thing about the website is your ranking. You can invite your friends that also have FitBit's and it tells you how many steps they have walked which can in turn motivate you to try to beat them for the week. We used to have quite a few friends and family members on the leader board but over the months they've slowly dropped off (either losing their FitBit or just not wearing it anymore). It's down to just Sean and I now.

We have a friendly weekly competition to see who can out step who.

Shhh.....I'm beating him this week.

A little early

I went to the grocery store today for my weekly food shopping and was amazed at the sheer amount of people there. The parking lot was stuffed, there weren't hardly any grocery carts parked inside. It was baffling to me. So asked the check out girl and she said when the weather turns cold there is always an influx of people getting supplies. I suppose that makes sense. We are getting ready for some seriously cold weather starting tonight which I'm a little anxious about. It seems a bit early for 20 degree weather and I'm hoping all the outside animals will adjust. Dym, the older goat, is looking good weight wise going into this winter. I'm hopeful she'll do ok with the low temperatures.

We have one of the minion kitties inside in the upstairs bathroom. Brother kitty decided to screw up his eye somehow in the span of an afternoon (he was fine when I let him out that morning and it was all nasty and bulging that evening). That was two weeks ago. We've been into the vet twice now for different meds and antibiotics. The prognosis isn't good at this point. His eye is cloudy and weeping. Pretty sure he's blind in it and it will have to be removed. Poor kitty. He's going back into the vet this week to see if it's salvageable after all the medicine we've tried.

The kids and I were driving into town last week and turned on the regular easy listening radio station we listen to and discovered they had started their yearly tradition of 24 hour Christmas music. It seems rather early to me but the kids were ecstatic! They morphed into "Christmas frenzy mode" immediately. When we got home they got a pen and paper and wrote out their Christmas list while surfing Amazon for ideas. Greta dictated what to write and Wesley wrote it. Three pages later (front and back) they are done. They drew up a countdown calendar that is taped to each of their bedroom doors and excitedly cross out each day when they wake up. It's pretty funny considering they have 45 more days to go. They really wanted to decorate the house this past weekend but I pushed them off until next weekend. It will be a nice cold weekend (maybe with snow!) which will make for a lovely weekend to decorate the house for Christmas.

Creative Greta made this Santa beard for Sean.

Adventures in Goat Wrangling Volume 47

Sunday morning I went outside to feed the animals. There was a lot of bellowing going on inside the goat house. This is what I was greeted with. A giant Heston stuck in a hay rack. I could not get him out.

"Oh hi there! Mind helping a goat out here?"

I called in reinforcements. I told Sean what had happened and he said "Dumbass" which I heard as "I'll get an ax". I was thinking "we have totally different ideas on how to get the goat out of the hay feeder". Hehe....

Sean came out and tried his hand at pushing the giant head out. Heston thought this was a fun game and pushed back against our hands, in true goat fashion.

He tried prying the bars apart which was futile. He did manage to get quite a few sniffs and kisses.

He then disappeared into the shop and returned with tools. These wire cutters will cut through anything.....apparently except this rebar. It was far too strong. Rich did too well of a job constructing these, we couldn't even break the welds.

Last idea was a crowbar. It worked! The hay feeder is a little bent up but the goat is no longer stuck. Yea!

It's always an adventure owning animals.