March 22nd

This is a date that I have etched into my subconscious.  If you are around my four year old son then this date is also etched in your mind. The kid is crazy obsessed with Angry Birds. I have mentioned this here before. Well the insanity continues because on March 22nd the newest Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Space, comes out. Since he's finished all the other games, including the facebook and Chrome versions, he now is just waiting on the new one. In the mean time he tells everyone he comes into contact with about the new one coming out. I mean everyone. Post office ladies, grocery store clerk and librarian. He even told the little old lady that was behind us in line at the post office about it. And poor Miss Cindy, his preschool teacher. She told me that he talks about it non stop at preschool. The kid is "ob", wait for it, "sessed".

So every day we take down the calendar from the refrigerator and put an "X" through the current day so that he can see how many more days until his precious Angry Birds Space comes out. The other day he dragged a chair over to the wall and just sat there starring at the calendar and the big black circle around March 22nd. I'd like to say I have no idea where his obsessiveness comes from but I know where it comes from. Both his parents are obsessive people. Once we get some idea in our minds we tend to dwell. Poor kid never had a chance.

I decided to make this obsession work in my favor and made a deal with the kid. Every night he cleans up all the toys before he goes to bed and he gets .50 cents towards buying the new game. It's marvelous! I get a clean house and he works towards a goal. March 22nd will be a bittersweet day, great because I never have to hear that date again and sad because I'll have to start cleaning the house again each evening.

The calendar watcher.

Children's Museum

My sister and her family is in town for the weekend so we decided to take the kids to the local children's museum. We went there when Wesley was just a little dude, not even walking yet, and couldn't really enjoy many of the exhibits. Boy how a few years make all the difference! He really enjoyed himself and Greta was even old enough for a lot of it. Fun times!

He's a happy dude.

Making a stained glass window....had to drag her away from here.

Catching some fish.

Flight simulator.

Medieval time out....wish I had one of these at home.

Family shot.

Emery waiting on chow.

Grandma with hungry youngins.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Picking wildflowers for Mom

The Wednesday Write-Up

-Wesley had Kindergarten round up last night. He's officially enrolled for kindergarten in the fall. He got to sit down with a teacher and write his name, draw a picture of himself and count blocks. He did great and I'm proud of him. One observation from the evening: I've never seen so many five year olds in cowboy boots, can't tell we are in a farming community. I got kind of sad last night thinking about him being gone all day at school. I've had my little dude home with me for so long it will be very strange with it just being Greta and I. She won't start kindergarten until 2015 so at least I'll have a little sidekick for a few more years.

-Greta disappeared for a few minutes the other day and I went looking for her only to find her dipping her head repeatedly into the toilet. Yep, life with a 2.5 year old is always exciting!

-I just baked a nice hot batch of chocolate chip cookies for the kids. Not for me since I have will power and I gave up sweets for lent. See? If I just keep telling myself that I have willpower I can do this. Who am I kidding, this is so darn difficult. Four and a half weeks left. The count down is on until Sugar Day.

-I just finished up another book last night. I've been devouring books this year and seem to have finally found the time to take up reading again. Last month I read the Hunger Games (all 3 books) because of everyone talking about them. In all honesty they were just ok. Nothing I'm going to rave about. The writing wasn't all that great and the story was weak at best. I always felt like the author had no plan when she started writing those books. I'd give them a B-. Looking forward to seeing the movie though. Then I picked up a book in the new book section of the library, titled "The Call". I'm drawn to stories about veterinarians so this book was right up my alley. It was about the different calls that came in for a country vet but then it took off on a strange path involving a space ship. Strange but fun. B+. Then this morning I finished up a book called "Wednesday Letters". Grown children clean out their parents house after both died to find all the letters their Dad had written their Mom every Wednesday. Geez I cried a lot. Good book A-. This afternoon I went to pick up a book the library was holding for me. It was highly recommended and is called "The Night Circus". It's a good sign when the librarian nudges her fellow librarian and says "Hey, she's getting ready to read The Night Circus" and the other lady goes "OHHHH, you are going to LOVE it!!" Can't wait to dive into it.

My very first handgun

I experienced a "first" this weekend. I attended my very first gun show. I've been married to what I like to call a "gun man" for over ten years now but have never went with him to a gun show. It was.....er....interesting. It was held in a building that I had been to for two other occasions. The first being a miniature horse show and the second a dog show. So to enter the building after seeing it full of cute tiny horses and fluffy show dogs was sure a change of scenery. Guns piled high on table after table and more black leather than I've ever seen in my life. I must admit that the people watching opportunities were worth the price of admission all on their own (the winner by far being the large hairy gentleman in the kilt).

It was actually pretty fun (can't believe I'd ever see myself write that). I've come along way with my attitude toward guns. I used to be very anti-gun when I was younger but things change. I don't know if it's living in the country or the need to protect my family and animals but I fully embrace guns now. Perhaps I've just become more of a redneck. I think it's a good thing to know how to shoot a gun, even though I hope I never have to find myself in a situation where I need to shoot a gun. Recently I saw a billboard for a conceal carry class and I though to myself "now that is something I'd like to do". So the first step is buying a handgun. We aren't new to owning guns, we have a couple of shot guns and used to have a rifle but this is my very first handgun. It's not just mine but it has to be something that I feel comfortable using, so it was pretty much my choice. I contacted our friend and fellow gun enthusiast about which gun he would recommend for me. He immediately suggested a compact revolver. His wife has a hard time racking a semi-automatic pistol so a good alternative is a compact revolver. His recommendation was a Ruger LCR. I don't have great hand strength and need to keep my hands protected because of all the sculpting I do so this sounded like a good alternative to the basic semi-automatic pistol. 

So that's what we had our eye out for when we went to the gun show yesterday. We'd done our research online and knew what we were looking for and what to expect price wise. Hubby said it was much nicer going in with an idea of what you were looking for, rather than just drifting around looking at everything. There were so many guns it was over whelming but we only found five Ruger LCR's. I tried out several different compact revolvers but did end up liking the Ruger the best. It was light and the grip was really nice.  So I am the proud owner of my very first handgun. Isn't she purdy? 

Don't worry we are going to buy a gun safe within the next couple of weeks and in the mean time we own no ammo for this gun (and it has a lock on it). I believe guns should be locked up tight with kids around. I am looking forward to shooting it. In true redneck fashion we will be moving a large pile of horse manure over to the back corner of the property and making a berm to shoot into (no neighbors back there). So now you know the story of how I acquired my very first handgun. 

Tidbits

-Lent started last Wednesday and I decided to give up sweets. We're talking cookies, cake, candy....pretty much anything with sugar in it. I thought it would be easy but it's been rather difficult. I didn't think I ate many sweets but it turns out I would sneak stuff during the day without even realizing it. You know, opening a package of gummy snacks for the kids and taking one before handing the package over. Or eating the leftover half cookie that the kid didn't eat for lunch. Even ice cream has been calling my name and I don't even like ice cream. I give the kids some and usually eat what is left over on the spoon. So yeah, it's been tough. But nothing prepared me for what the hubby brought home last week. My willpower hasn't ever been tested as much as when he sheepishly plunked down six boxes of Girl Scout cookies he got from work. Two whole boxes of Caramel Delights, my personal favorite, which he got just for me (such a sweetie). So I promptly cleared the back of the freezer, shoved five boxes back there and stuffed food in front of them to hide them (Hubby ate the sixth box). They will hopefully be forgotten until Easter when I can devour them in their entirety. Six short weeks from now. Nom nom nom.

-Let us bow our heads in mourning of Greta's nap. It's done. No more. I stick her in her crib, lay her down, cover her up and she spends the next hour singing songs, dancing in her crib, pulling stuff off her walls, chewing on her crib....doing anything but sleeping. Then yesterday she learned how to climb out of her crib. So I give up. It's a sad sad day. No more peaceful hour to myself while Wesley is at preschool. It's ok though, she now joins Wesley in his quiet time with cartoons and does pretty good. The upside to all this? She goes to sleep promptly at 7:30pm and sleeps all night until 8:30am. RIP nap time.

-There is something wrong with the dog. Cody, the black lab, sleeps in our living room each night. The other two dogs sleep in their crates. Cody never liked the crate, even tried to do himself bodily harm to escape from it. This arrangement has worked pretty good until about six months ago. Every night he wakes me up once or twice and I let him outside. He runs out there, does his business and runs back in.  It's getting old. It's like having a baby in the house again. I'm exhausted. He's got me trained well and I just don't know how to curb it. If you leave him outside he barks all night to get back in. If you take the water dish up he wants to go out to get a drink. If you leave the water dish down he drinks all night and has to go outside to urinate. So darn frustrating.

-I'm back out on the road running. Yesterday was the first run since I sprained my ankle four weeks ago. The doctor said 1-2 weeks for it to heal, yeah right! Apparently I'm a complete wuss bag. It's still not "right" and gets all stiff at times. But it did pretty good on the 6 mile run/walk I did yesterday (mostly walk). I'm glad to be back to training....that half marathon in April will be here before I know it.

Angry Birds

There has been a bit of an infatuation happening in this house for the past several months. Who am I kidding, it's been a full on obsession. And it's happening to my four year old. Let me back up a bit. Last Fall I started playing Angry Birds on facebook. It was a fun way to pass the time. Wesley started standing next to me as I played, somewhat interested. That progressed to pulling up a chair and rooting me on as I made little birds fly through the air and smash piggies. Then he started asking if he could play the game. So I downloaded the PC version so he could play the full screen game. Thus started his love affair with a computer game. He lived and breathed Angry Birds. Oh and he was good! He would whip through levels that stumped Sean and I. Even give us pointers while we played. The first game was conquered in a month, then he pleaded for us to buy the next game. He played his way through Angry Birds Rio and Seasons in no time at all. He was so disappointed to find out that there were no more games once he finished Angry Birds Seasons. So I challenged him to go back through and get 3-stars on all the levels. That's where he's at now.

When he gets frustrated he'll ask us to Google the level and watch a walk-through on how to achieve 3-stars. The kid is obsessed. We have to limit his computer time because I think he'd be on it all day if left to his own devices. So a couple of months back he was looking at Angry Birds merchandise on Google and ran across some figurines that an individual had made. He wanted them pretty badly. I, of course, said "I can make that!" I, after all, do sculpt part-time. So off to Michael's I went in search of colored clay (I use uncolored clay for my business). I loaded up on nearly every color and started sculpting Angry Birds. That is what I've been doing for nearly two months now in my off time. I still have a few more pigs to make but the birds are done, whew. The kid LOVES them and that makes my day.

My personal favorite.

The madness continues. Miss Cindy, his preschool teacher, informed me that we were celebrating his half birthday (since his birthday falls in the summer). So I decided to make Angry Bird cupcakes. Each one had a little red bird made out of clay that the kids could take home. Apparently it was a hit among the kids, who all knew what Angry Birds were (I wasn't sure four year olds all knew what AB was, I was wrong).

Taking orders from their leader. I had fun if you can't tell.

As if that all isn't enough, I decided I needed some Angry Bird earrings. If you can't tell I've been having fun with all this sculpting. The earrings have been a hit, I even have a couple of orders for more from friends and family. So now you know what's been going on in our house.

Diaries of a Potty Training Mom

Sometimes I say that I'm lazy. I'm really not a lazy person. I work my butt off. I'm a stay-at-home Mom and if you aren't familiar with that job title, that means that I'm a: full time cook, housekeeper, butt wiper, zookeeper, groundskeeper, entertainer and wife. Oh and we mustn't forget my other job. I have a part time sculpting business that I start once the kids go to bed...you know when most people lay down and relax for the evening. So when I tell you that I'm lazy when it comes to potty training, I'm not really lazy per say, just extremely tired.

I remember potty training Wesley. It consisted of puddles on the hard wood floors, little streaks of poop on the wall next to his crib and soaking wet underwear 45 seconds after putting fresh undies on. Luckily potty training with Wesley was done during summer. We spent much of the day outdoors surrounded by Mother Natures toilets (trees). So now Greta is in the midst of potty training. I want nothing to do with this. I'm lazy. I would rather just change her diaper for the next 3-6 months until she's serious about this potty thing. The beginning phase of training is torture. It consists of constantly removing diaper, running through the house naked while screaming happy screams, then squatting behind the recliner and peeing all over the carpet in her brothers room. And this is a good day. Bad days consist of poop. Poop in the sink, poop in the tub. Disinfecting surfaces for what seems like hours. I just don't want to do it.

I'm thinking duct tape might keep that diaper on.

But she is a persistent little thing.
So I tell myself this too shall pass.
A year from now I'll have a fully trained little girl and it will be so worth it
So for now, Miss Greta will potty train in spite of her Mother.

A day with Greta

So Valentine's Day has come and gone and the kids were super excited to get a box from their Granny and Papa from New Mexico. Thank you for thinking of them! The cute part about it all was once the gifts were given, the box became the hit of the day. Greta played with that box for at least half the day. Exhibit one:

Exhibit two:

 She then proceeded to run around the house with the box on her head for a good long while. It was hilarious. Exhibit three:

Since I'm talking about Greta, I'll share what she did yesterday. She sat at the table with Play Doh for about an hour making these:

 She then got down from the table and went up to Wesley and said "Here Wesley, have a turd." I thought I heard wrong so I asked her what she just said. So she came up to me and said "Here Mommy, you have a turd too." She then put her arms in the air and said "Turds for everyone!" I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time. Potty training is in full swing and she is obsessed with poop. Fun times!

Showing off her Play Doh "presents".

I Love....

Ok, time for the traditional LOVE post for Valentine's Day. I hope everyone is having a great day with the ones you love.

I love......making snow men with two bundled up kids......little naked Greta asking to put her swim suit on first thing in the morning....my sweet, good looking husband....our new high speed internet (finally we got it out in the sticks!)......watching Vampire Diaries every evening.....reading library books with one kid on each side of me......sculpting Angry Birds for Wesley......a warm bath and a good book (just finished the three Hunger Game books, pretty good).....how quiet it is living out in the country.....the sweet little things my husband does to let me know he loves me....good running music.....making cupcakes with the kids for no other reason than to glutton ourselves on cupcakes.....goat kisses.....streaming NetFlix because of fancy new high speed internet.....afternoon bubble baths for the kids......Roomba......running on the dirt roads with the sun on my face.....my new oven out in the shop devoted just to baking sculptures.....Greta's curls.....watching my two kids play together......little Chance curling up under the blanket next to me.....little 2yr old Greta singing (think Boo in Monsters Inc.).....fresh, still warm chicken eggs.....preschool and precious time to myself.....picking seeds out of a catalog for a Spring garden (can't wait!).......being a Mom to these two wonderful little people.

Funday Sunday: Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Alrighty folks, don't think twice just get in the kitchen and make these. They are delicious, gooey chocolate things that are gone in no time. All I had was whole wheat flour in the fridge so I looked up a recipe for something sinful with no flour. Voila! Plus they have no oil or butter and no leavening. Seriously, go make these.

Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and sea salt.Whisk in egg whites until just moistened. Add in chocolate chips.
3. Spoon thick fudgy batter onto cookie sheets in small mounds. Chill for 5 or so minutes to keep them from spreading when they bake.
4. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until tops are glossy and lightly cracked.

Notes

These cookies are considered “gluten-free” if using gluten free chocolate chips.

Weekly Winners

We did it again! We dropped the kids off at Aunt Jessica's house and spent 36 wonderful, relaxing, kidless hours in another town. Hubby had yet another job fair to do for work at the college so I tagged along. We went to an awesome movie (Chronicle was fascinating), stuffed ourselves at a nice restaurant, and stayed in a hotel. Then yesterday, while the Hubby was working the job fair, I strolled through the mall buying way too much and got my hair done. It was fabulous and so very much needed. A huge giant THANK YOU to Jessica for letting my two heathens into her house. They sure did enjoy themselves. My sanity meter is back in the normal range, unfortunately poor Jessica's meter is in the red.

Since I haven't blogged in awhile I thought I'd do a picture blog, they are piling up on my camera.

Sean gets attacked by two little people when he gets home from work.

Cecil, the leopard tortoise, enjoying a nice warm soak. Cecil turns 10 years old this year.

Wesley's favorite pastime in the whole wide world, playing Angry Birds with Dad (or Mom).

Rambo Greta in her swim suit. Always in her swim suit....in February.

These kids are serious Play Doh fanatics. Note Greta in her swim suit.

Wesley's use of the potty has lead Greta to use her own little potty. We had our first Greta initiated pee pee in the potty last night. And yes, her swim suit is under her clothes.

More Rambo girl.

Figures

As I mentioned in a previous post, the half marathon training is in full swing. I've been logging about 9 miles during the week on the treadmill and then I do one long(ish) run on the weekend. So yesterday I head out at nap time (or the glory time as I call it). I mapped out a nice six mile run on the dirt roads around our house. I've learned to enjoy running on the dirt roads. It's much lower impact than pavement, nicer scenery, almost no cars. The down side is when a car does go by you get eat dust and there are dogs. I'm not a fan of free roaming dogs, they almost always seeing a running person as a target. So I got myself a nice can of Mace that straps to my hand. At least I feel a bit more prepared in case a set of pit bulls start heading my way.  Anyways, the long six mile run went great. I got a phone holder for my arm that holds the hubby's smart phone. He loaded a running app on it that keeps track of my speed and distance. It was awesome and will be used for future runs.

I get home from this run yesterday, pick up the dog to take him outside and proceed to fall down the back steps. Heard a snap and the next thing I know I'm laying in the dirt, the dog ran off (but came back) and my ankle hurts like hell. Sprained the darn thing. I've sprained my ankle many times in my youth but this had to be the most painful one. The whole evening I just laid on the couch like a veal. Ice and Ibuprofen seemed to do the trick. Poor Sean got to feed the kids, bathe them, get them to bed and feed all the animals. I'm sure thankful to have him around! I just got back from the doctors office, had to rule out a broken ankle. No broken bones, just a whole lot of swelling. Thank goodness. Doc said no running for at least two weeks. Dang. Figures, I have a nice long run with no problems and then fall down two steps when I get home.

The unintentional goat post.

Wow it's been a long time since I last blogged. I have been nursing a sick goat for the past several days but luckily she's doing a lot better. Tuesday Dym the goat stopped eating her grain. Always a bad sign. She was active and moving so I didn't freak out. Plus she was still somewhat eating hay. So I took her temperature which was exciting (please note the sarcasm). If a 150 pound goat doesn't want a thermometer up her bum then she's going to get her way. Naturally I was too lazy to lead her into the shop where the milking stand is still set up. With her head in the stanchion I would have easily been able to get an accurate reading on a thermometer. But as it was I ended up shoving her up against the shop, grabbing a hind leg (she she couldn't run off) and getting that thermometer where it needed to go. Seeing as she's got some weight on me I was thrilled to have won that battle. Her temp was a little low but not too bad. I wormed her and gave her some probiotics to get her rumen working. I also made her some MAGIC (which is equal parts molasses, corn oil and corn syrup) to give her some energy and iron. She loves that stuff. Next day still wouldn't eat grain but ate her hay with a vengance. Finally got her back to eating grain yesterday. Still don't know what was wrong with her so I'm going to get a fecal done at the vet clinic, maybe they'll have some answers for me. 

Dym's babies turned a year old on new years eve. Coco, the girl, has turned into a flirtatious little thing. She had her first heat and was romancing the heck out of GoatMan. GoatMan hasn't been romanced ever so he was really enjoying it....to say the least. I was under the impression that after a goat had been neutered they would loose all of the hormones that would make them "flirty" with the ladies. Boy was I wrong. I just stood out there watching this in shock and awe. Coco would come dancing up to GoatMan, nuzzling him, batting her eye lashes, then turn around and flick her tail in his face. This would drive him nuts and off they'd go, rutting like crazy. I had to cover the kids eyes at one point because it was a bit too graphic for their young eyes. Plus, it lead to way too many questions. I'm just seriously hoping that they castrated GoatMan correctly and didn't miss a testicle, because I don't think I can handle another round of goat milking.

Looks like this is turning into an animal post. Last weekend Sean was nice enough to scoop out the corral for me. Manure really piles up in the winter since I'm too lazy to go out and shovel it when it's cold. I would LOVE to own a tractor with a front end loader. That's what I drool over on Craigslist. But spending 8-10 grand on something that would be used for scooping poop just doesn't add up. So Sean gets out the old Cub Cadet with the front blade on it and shoves the manure into piles in the back of the pen where it composts and I can then scoop it onto the garden in the spring (with the wheel barrow). Maybe one day I'll have a nifty small tractor that I can play with.

It's been such a mild winter that I discovered several brussel sprout plants still alive out in the garden. Here's a little video of the animals enjoying it.

Fresh Sand

I know spring is far off but lately it feels "spring like" around here. The balmy 65 degree weather makes me itch to start projects. Outside projects. So this weekend we hopped in the truck and went and bought eight 4X4's. Why you ask? The kids outgrew their sandbox about a year ago and it was time to upgrade. So now they have nearly an 8X8 foot sandbox filled with a half ton of sand from the quarry (I love living only a couple of miles from a quarry...1/2 ton of sand for $2.94). Thanks Sean for all of your hard work! The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and it's going to be hard to keep them out of it now that the weather has returned to 30 degrees. At least that's one spring project marked off the growing to-do list. 

Concrete slab with "old" tiny sandbox.

Sean and the frame for the new one (he screwed in the lag bolts from the bottom so it's upside down right now).

New sandbox, hardly got the sand unloaded before the kids were in it.

"Helping" me unload sand.

Sophie and Cody hopped right up to help me sweep out the bed.

Wesley got a sand digger from Santa for Christmas, he loves it! Thanks Santa!

Accountability

So I'm going for it. I found a local half marathon the end of April and I'm officially training for it. Although not much is changing in the training department. I am now running three miles, three days a week and then doing a long run outside on the weekends (either Saturday or Sunday). My "long" run on the weekends has been only four miles because I lack motivation to make it any longer. That is going to change now (I hope). The only roadblock I can foresee is the weather actually becoming more like winter. It's been unseasonably warm lately. Like 60 degrees, kids playing in the sandbox warm. It's awesome.  I suppose the dreadmill, I mean treadmill, will work in a pinch for the long run but for some reason I hate running on that thing when the kids and hubby are around on the weekends.

One thing that is making the longer three mile treadmill runs doable is our fancy new cordless headphones (Santa brought them ;). I put them on, go to streaming NetFlix and run while watching a Vampire Diaries (don't judge me, they aren't all that bad...Sean even watches them). A 45 minute show makes running almost enjoyable.

I can't forget to mention the music. For the long outside runs I've been venturing out and listening to all sorts of music. I used to be a strictly country music gal. But it's difficult to run to country, so I've been experimenting with pop and rock and like it! I'm now a big fan of groups I'd never even heard of six months ago. My current favorites are Coldplay and Mumford & Sons, but I'm sure I'll be into something else by next month. Gotta keep it fresh. I'll definitely need some fresh tunes to run the 13.1 miles on April 29th. Can you tell I'm pumped?

Sick Day Bubble Bath

The kids have been pretty puny lately. They caught some bug which produced a pretty high fever, one that couldn't be brought down with medicine. So the scary kind of fever. They've been moping around so we decided to have a fun afternoon bubble bath to lighten their spirits. It worked wonders!

The Hunt

One of the Hubby and my favorite past times is playing Playstation 3. We each have our games that we are into and this time of the year is when we start back into playing them. Well, my favorite game series of all of them is Ratchet and Clank. I've played all of them since they released the first one back on the original Playstation. A new one (All 4 one) was recently released and I received it for Christmas (well actually I bought it for myself). The fun thing about this one is that it's a multiple player game, you need a partner to get through it. So Hubby and I have been lounging around on the couch in the evenings playing this game like a couple of kids. It's been something I look forward to doing all day. It's quite fun. So last night we prepare for our evening of play and go to put the game in, only to find the disk and case completely gone. It's stored next to the TV, up high on the built in entertainment center. Frustrated, we scoured the house last night. Looked in cupboards, under couch cushions, in toy boxes and behind drapes. We looked everywhere. The only conclusion was that one of the kids took off with it. Meaning it could be anywhere (for example the oven, or the trash can, or the toilet). It's always a surprise (please note my sarcasm).

So first thing this morning we asked Wesley if he remembers taking the game down from beside the television. He thought for a while and said:

"Hmmm, yes I remember watching cartoons and taking it. I put it in a lunch box with three beavers."

Sean and I look at each other and immediately look into the shelves where some of the toys are kept in the living room. We dig back until we find a yellow lunch box. Pretty much the ONLY thing we didn't look in. Sure enough it's sitting inside of it with a few Alvin and the Chipmunk toys on top. At that point we are just busting up laughing. Such a pack rat, that one. Having kids has been such an adventure. A strange, exciting and often hilarious adventure.

Resolutions

2011 was a big year of personal growth for me. I hope 2012 is equally enlightening. With the beginning of a new year brings new resolutions. Here are mine:

1. Be a happy mom. It's simple to write, I wish it was as simple to accomplish. Being home with my children every day is great. I'm happy that I can do this for them. But if we are being honest here, sometimes they drive me nuts. Hide in a closet nuts. By the end of the day I'm counting down the minutes until the Hubby comes home to take some of the crazy off of my shoulders. They are young (4 & 2) so I'm hopeful that this is a stage and the crazy screaming, running through the house hitting each other phase will at some point fade and they will be easier to handle. But until then, my resolution is to be a less stressed, more well adjusted, non screaming, happy mom to my kids.

2. Keep running. I've found that the key to my happiness lies in a piece of equipment in the living room. The treadmill. Running keeps the crazies away, and it's a whole lot cheaper than therapy. Ever since I started running regularly (back in May) I've been a much more even keeled person. The ups and downs of life are easier to handle, as are the children. Endorphins are magical things, I'd even go as far to say that I'm addicted to them. I'm logging about 10 miles a week right now but hope to increase that gradually as the weather warms up. Running is time just for me, no kids screaming at me, no dogs barking, no worries at all. It's much needed "me" time, something that we all need...not just the mom's of the world.  This year I will keep running.

3. Have more dates. When kids come along it's really easy to fall into the rut of being a parent. After all, it consumes every waking hour. This year I will make time to have more date nights with my husband. We are also planning a trip to Hawaii (a second honeymoon perhaps?). Now just to find a babysitter that will take the kids for a week.

4. Blog more! I've taken a little hiatus from blogging over the past several months and I'm going to try and get back to it. Here's hoping!

Happy New Year?

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are ringing in your new year on a better note than we are in our household. The dreaded stomach bug from hell has been visiting for the past few days. I swear I've never washed more bedding in my life. The washing machine has been going for the past two days without stopping. Greta threw up on Wesley's bed, then Wesley threw up all over his bed then it hit Sean and I. Luckily we've just been queasy....so very queasy. Like a roller coaster ride you just never can get off of. I ventured out to WalMart yesterday for my weekly food run, the whole time wishing and hoping I wasn't the cause of "clean up on isle 4". Luckily, I made it home without losing my lunch....oh wait, I haven't eaten much of anything in days....not much chance of losing anything.

Not a whole lot happening around here. I thought I'd share my newest rodent story. Yes, I know more rodent stories. I seem to be fixated on them. But I swear I've never had so many issues with them until recently. I'm starting to think Kitty did more to keep them at bay then I thought she did before she passed away. Anyways, while we were out of town for Christmas my friend Jessica came over to feed the animals. She's a life saver in the fact that I don't know of anyone else that would be willing to come over and feed the 20+ animals that we have. We'd never go anywhere without your help, thank you Jessica! Unfortunately things seem to happen when she comes to take care of the animals. Not her fault of course, just bad timing. The morning I left, I noticed one of the chickens wasn't walking very well. This hen has done this before and recovers just fine so I didn't worry too much. I asked Jessica to look in on them that evening. She came over, after dark, wearing a head lamp (you know, those flashlights you wear on your head?). She opened the door to the hen house and had the feeling that the floor was moving. She focused her headlamp on the floor and the ground was covered with mice, all of which stopped what they were doing and looked up at her before flooding the door way and spilling out onto her boots. She said there were so many she couldn't count. The whole time resisting the urge to scream like a little girl. *shiver* Poor Jessica. I knew we had a mouse problem in the hen house but I didn't know it was to that extent. She went in after the automatic light had gone off for the night and the hens were all roosting for the evening. I don't go out that late so I think I was oblivious to the problem (I'm going to tell myself that anyways).

So I decided to declare war on the mice. If you'll remember we built the hen house in the shop with an outside aviary attached. Things I didn't realize when doing this is that we are providing a prime real estate location to hundreds of mice. They live in the shop and go into the hen house to feed on all of the uneaten chicken food (chickens are very messy). I even have a constant supply of heated water in there. Plus our shop kitty passed away this fall so they don't even have predators. Well, they have me I guess (insert evil laughter).  Two nights ago I placed 24 mouse traps on the floor around the hen house. It took half an hour and while I was baiting the traps (with peanut butter) I actually caught two mice. By the next evening I had caught 23 mice. Twenty three! So, I bought 16 more traps yesterday and will probably catch 16 more mice by tomorrow. Yuck. Talk about wiping out the population. I will just keep traps out there at all times from now on.

Oh and that chicken that wasn't walking well? She was dead by the next morning and her sisters had cannibalized her. They literally ate her. So poor Jessica had to scrape her half eaten frozen body off of the ground. Apparently caged chickens (non free range like mine) are prone to cannibalizing each other. Even after seven years out here with animals there are still things that surprise me. Let us all hope the new year brings fewer disgusting animal stories. Or maybe I should just stop sharing them?