Singing

Our 5 and 3 year old children were singing today and this is what I over heard:  

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring, he went to bed and bumped his head and couldn't get it up in the morning". 

Evidently they know a little something about how a head injury affects labido! Hahaha! 

All joking aside, they DID just learn the song about 5 minutes before so I'm actually impressed they correctly sang the amount they did! 

Out of the mouths of babes :-) 

Been a while

I know it's been a couple weeks since I posted anything but the days are flying by and I just lost track of time. 

Several things have happened since I last posted: 

1. Our oldest son satrted Kindergarten! 

It is bittersweet to have him (already) going off to school. 

We are so proud of him but we miss him during the day. 

To us, starting kindergarten is a big deal. Now starts his school career. We made a really big deal out of the first day and starting school in general. 

Thanks to my loving mom (and best grandma ever) and my awesome older brother Jeremy, our little man has a pretty slick wardrobe. Getting him dressed for school is actually kind of fun! 

We walk him to school each day which is so nice for us because it's about 2 miles round trip so we get some exercise. 

Even though we miss our little guy during the day, it is amazing how having 1 of the 3 of the kiddos gone has made it possible for us to get so many more things done! It's not that our 5 year old is the issue or anything, he's actually quite independent and helpful. It's just having one less kiddo to wrangle is sooooo much easier.  

2. We've completed a few more small projects. 

I made a bulletin board for our little kindergartner's bedroom so he can hang up all of his special little trinkets like his award for mutin bustin' at the county fair over the summer. 

We did some furniture rearranging and other things throughout the house because I was getting antsy and needed change. Luckily we happen to have an extra living room set we can switch out as needed so it worked out and was free. It also opened up the living room quite a bit. 

3. We're preparing to have little lambs soon. Not much to do there but we had to move the sheep into one of the stalls in the goat house to prepare for birthing. This will be a new experience for us because we're hand raising them so they're friendly. They only get to nurse on mom for one or two days to get all the colostrum they can then we're pulling them off and bottle feeding them. 

So, there's some prep work involved there. 

4. I started volunteering in the kindergarten classroom! I love it and think I'll do it more often but I only committed to every other week for now. Eric is volunteering 3 days per week! 

5. We started and finished (we're current) 2 TV series; Drop Dead Diva and Hart of Dixie. I've seen Drop Dead Diva in the past but Hart of Dixie was new to us. We're addicted to both and impatient for new episodes to be released. This tv watching happens after the kids' bedtime. 

6. The 3rd novel of the trilogy I'm reading was released and I started reding it. The problem is that I'm having trouble remembering details from the first two books so I've decided to go back and read them both again before getting too far into this one. 

The books are written by Deborah Harkness and are the All Souls Trilogy. They are an EXCELLENT read. It's just hard to do with the kiddos. 

7. We're preparing for our daughters 4th birthday in a couple of weeks! It's hard to believe she will be 4! Time is going by way too quickly. 

We will be making soap soon and I'll try to take photos of the process to post here. 

That's about all we have going on for now. It's an adventure daily but we're having a lot of fun. 

Farewell Diva

On Saturday, our horse, Diva left to go to her new home.

We "interviewed" many different prospects for her but I was having trouble letting her go. 

Some of the people I didn't trust, some of them weren't familiar enough with Mustangs and some I just plain did not care for. Plus, I kept changing my mind and wanting to keep her since I love her so much. 

However, since I do love her so much, she needed to go to a home where they will train her and use her to her potential. She's a special horse and I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. 

So, when a nice woman named Joanne came to look at her, I was ready to get all defensive again and not really give her a chance. 

When I saw how much she loved Diva immediately and how Diva responded to her, I was a little more interested in hearing more about Joanne and what her plans were for Diva. 

She is skilled at training and has desperately been wanting a buckskin mare. It was obvious she had a "thing" for Diva right away too so I warmed up to her pretty quickly. 

Anyway, we decided that Joanne was our girl for Diva and we agreed to let her come Saturday to pick her up. 

I was sad for her to leave but it was the right thing to do. 

When Joanne arrived Saturday, I felt even better when I saw Diva load right up in the trailer for her. Joanne also told us she bought a new round pen to start her training and was eager to get started. She already sent us photos and agreed to keep us updated on her progress. She also agreed to never send her to a feed lot and I made it clear that if she ends up not wanting to keep her, I'd rather take her back than have her go to an unsuitable home or feed lot. 

Anyway, I'm hoping we will be able to go see her when she's trained to see what she's learned. I cannot wait to see a rider on her, I think she'll look magnificent! 

I will miss her but man, is it nice to go from 7 horses down to 3! Even though I miss them all, it helps with our feeding routine as well as the feed bill. :-) 

Here are some favorite shots of The Beautiful Diva:

Roscoe & Otis

Recently we decided it was time to shave Roscoe and Otis. 

The decision was made for the following several reasons: 

1. We have a serious issue with fox tails and they seem to burro into the skin of the Collies way easier than the Anatolians (Callie & Bear). Otis has them so bad in the spring and summer and even checking him nightly doesn't catch all of them. He then will have an infected lump that we have to tend to and make sure we get the whole fox tail out of or it is really dangerous for them. 

2. They bring all nature has to offer into our home. Leaves, grass, sticks, extra dirt, feathers, fox tails, etc. all comes into our home via the long locks of Roscoe and Otis. This is especially frustrating after we clean the house since I'm delusional and expect it to stay clean for a whole month after we clean one time (haha). 

3. They get serious "dread locks" in their fur. Roscoe was looking especially Rastafarian recently and it seemed like no matter how much we attempted to brush him out, it did not get any better. Otis had a tendency to get the dread locks near his hind quarters and they were really difficult to brush out. 

The main reason was the fox tails, however, since they are so dangerous. 

Anyway, here are the newly made-over Border Collies; Roscoe and Otis: 

Roscoe

Roscoe 

Otis 

Roscoe & Otis 

The clippings 

The clipper set we bought. I ended up being very pleased with this set, it worked very well considering the messy state both of their coats were in and did not cost very much at all. 

I'm loving the new look but Eric thinks they look weird. 

I think they look like puppies again and am loving giving them more scratches and rubs now that I can get my hands and fingers on their bodies and not get tangled in their fur. 

I'm also hoping they'll stay cooler in the summer but research I've done says the longer coat actually keeps them cooler... We have their pool filled and ready for them anyway so they should be fine. 

Here is a "before" pic 

Birthday

Well, another one in the books. 

I'm officially IN my 30's but I really do not feel much different. 

Eric, the kids and I went to dinner with my Brother Jeremy, Sister-in-law Kate, Niece Madison, Grandma Judy, Mom Cindy and Sister Kelsey. It was a great time as usual and also as usual, we didn't take many photos. 

Here are the ones I did manage to snap: 

Madison is such a love and is always a huge hit everywhere we go. I love her! 

Thanks everyone for the fabulous birthday! 

Mother's Day gift

Well, it's been a little while since Mother's Day and I almost have my gift in hand. 

Eric wanted to do something special for me and cast the kids' handprints in plaster as a keepsake. His first attempt I found out was the day prior to Mother's Day but the kids weren't very cooperative so the casts didn't turn out and ended up in the garbage. 

Anyway, he ordered new stuff (with extra) a few months ago and with a small amount of "hounding", I convinced him to do the job yesterday. 

Our one year old would NOT cooperate with his handprint so I have a messy little footprint from him :-) it's perfectly imperfect. 

I love each one and I especially love seeing all of the character of each tiny little hand and footprint. 

They are so special to me and I am betond happy to have them. 

Here is the project prior to paint: 

I am so lucky. Sometimes our little family hits me hard emotionally because I feel so lucky, humbled and stunned that we have these three amazingly smart, beautiful, well behaved children and to see their little hands and feet like this just melts my heart. 

Thank you, Eric! I love you, I love our children and I love my gift. I will cherish it forever.